1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know. 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!
5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
 
This Old Testament parable has to do with a preacher told to preach to broken bones. In fact, it wasn’t just people suffering with pain, but dead people and bones scattered all over the place. It was the Valley of the Dry Bones.
 
One Thanksgiving service I preached from a stool with my broken ankle in a cast. I had fallen down some church stairs while I was moving a file cabinet with a Trustee; it fell on my ankle, and I could hear the bone break. I’m not going to get into the prophecy or end times, I will just say that when the nation of Israel was in bondage in Babylon, God wanted Ezekiel to tell the people the nation will be restored again.
           
In Scripture, broken bones are related to different things. Num 24:8 “God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. They devour hostile nations and break their bones in pieces;”
           
Both physically and politically the expression “breaking their bones” refers to being overcome by the enemy as if an army would beat up and physically harm the people or take over the country and beat them as a nation.
           
David used the broken bones expressing his feelings in Psalms 6:2 “Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.” Crushed and broken bones for David was a grieving spirit that hurt all over. He was grieving over his sin. He felt as if God was punishing him and it was righteous punishment. One’s sadness is as broken bones.
           
The phrase broken and hurting bones talks also about being in grief, or illness, or agony. It is a lot easier to heal a broken bone than a broken heart. The figure in Eastern language is a lamentation with crushed and broken bones. In our language we might say our hearts are broken.
 
This week I will write about some times when Scriptures refer to broken bones

Application: Let us show grace to others, we may not see their visible brokenness.

Prayer: May our Almighty Healer grant us healing in our hearts and our bones.

Dale