Does the Old Testament Describe the Gathering of Israel?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to the book of Ezekiel in a lesson titled “A New Spirit Will I Put within You” (Ezekiel 1-3; 33-34; 36-37; 47). The following information introduced the lesson. 

Ezekiel was a prophet in exile. Along with other Israelites, he had been captured and sent to Babylon. In Jerusalem, Ezekiel would have been a priest serving in the temple. In Babylon, he was among “them of the captivity,” and he “sat where they sat” (Ezekiel 3:15), hundreds of miles from the beloved house of God and with little hope of returning. Then one day Ezekiel had a vision. He saw “the glory of the Lord” (Ezekiel 1:28) – not back in the temple at Jerusalem but there in Babylon among the exiles. The wickedness in Jerusalem, he learned, had become so severe that God’s presence was no longer there (see Ezekiel 8-11; 33:21).

And yet there’s something hopeful about Ezekiel’s message. Despite how far the covenant people had fallen, God had not totally abandoned them. If they would “hear the word of the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:4), what was once dead could be revived. Their “stony heart” could be replaced with “a new heart” (Ezekiel 36:26). And in the future, the Lord would establish a new temple and a new Jerusalem, “and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35).

The scripture block teaches the following principles: (1) The Lord invites me to feed His sheep (Ezekiel 3; 34); (2) The Lord wants to forgive (Ezekiel 33:10-19); (3) The Lord is gathering His people and giving them new life (Ezekiel 37); (4) I can find spiritual healing in the house of the Lord (Ezekiel 47:1-12). This essay will discuss principle #4 about the Lord gathering His people.

The gathering of Israel is portrayed in Ezekiel 37 through two symbols. The first symbol is dead bones being restored to life (see verses 1-14). As you read the following verses, consider questions such as the following: (1) What is the Lord trying to accomplish through the gathering of Israel? (2) How is He accomplishing it?

1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.

4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

5 Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

11 ¶ Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.

These verses describe the order of the resurrection: first, the bones, which are followed by sinews, flesh, and skin. Last of all, the spirit enters the body.

You could ask yourself these same questions as you read about the second symbol, in verses 15-28: (1) What is the Lord trying to accomplish through the gathering of Israel? (2) How is He accomplishing it?

15 ¶ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18 ¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20 ¶ And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28 And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

This symbol involves two sticks, which many scholars interpret as wooden writing boards joined by a hinge. The stick of Judah can represent the Bible (since much of the Bible was written by Judah’s descendants), and the stick of Joseph can represent the Book of Mormon (since Lehi’s family were descendants of Joseph of Egypt). With that in mind, what do these verses teach you about the role of the scriptures in the gathering of Israel?

The Bible and the Book of Mormon work together. The Book of Mormon is a second witness to the Bible that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The gathering of the house of Israel began with the publication of the Book of Mormon and continues today.