10. We have spoken thus far of faith and hope in the New Testament and in early Christianity; yet it has always been clear that we are referring not only to the past: the entire reflection concerns living and dying in general, and therefore it also concerns us here and now. So now we must ask explicitly: is the Christian faith also for us today a life-changing and life-sustaining hope?
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Against the background of a disenfranchised and hopeless exilic Israel, Ezekiel received the vision of 'Dry Bones', predicting an eschatological resuscitation and resurrection to life and restoration to the land of Yahweh's covenant people. This article previews the political, social, economic and moral conditions of many African societies as being in a disenfranchised, hopeless exilic state. It nonetheless argues that the theological essence of Ezekiel's visionary imagery of 'Dry Bones' resonates well with such deteriorating and hopeless African societies. It envisages the semblances, relatedness and relevance of Ezekiel's hope principle of a restorative eschatological theology as a possible reality for Africa's hopeless present 'Dry Bones' state. Upon this hope principle, the article proposes a theological framework of faith against despondency and despair for the realisation of such eschatological reality for Africa. It holds that God is equally capable of displaying his restorative power and sovereignty to reverse the hopeless conditions of African nations in demonstration of his love, compassion and care as he did for the apparently irreparable condition of exilic Israel.
While some prophets used more of poetry than prose narrative, others used more of prose narrative with lots of figurative speeches and imageries. Ezekiel, 'portrayed as a prophet of judgment, whom Yahweh invites to pass a verdict of judgment upon a sinful people' (Allen 1990:xxiii), is among the latter. As one whose prophecies grew out of an exilic context but with anticipatory future hope (Robertson 2004:290), Ezekiel used more of sign-acts, oracular dirges, courtroom indictments and symbolic imageries. By taking on oral oracles, visions, symbolic actions and prophetic discourse (Bullock 2007:281) as communicative modes, Ezekiel used the stylistic literary tradition of imageries purposefully. His literary mode of the imagery of 'Dry Bones' held theological implications for his primary audience.
The hopeless socio-political and socio-religious contexts that warranted Ezekiel taking on the imagery of 'Dry Bones' share some semblances with the African situation of its disparaged citizens. To this extent, this article employs an exegetical-theological approach to engage Ezekiel 37:1-28 vis-à-vis the contextual experiences of many Africans today. It resonates the semblances, relatedness and relevance of Ezekiel's theology of 'Dry Bones' to the African situation. It also explores how the theological essence of this imagery, used as a restorative principle to describe the state of the Babylonian exiles and the Jewish race at large, can find relevance to the declining political, social, economic and moral climate of most African societies today. Lastly, it questions why the continent still struggles with political, social, economic and moral issues despite the increase in its developmental indices.
According to Boadt, 'Ezekiel is one of the most highly ordered books in the Bible' (1984:388) with chapter 37 situated in the last order. The weaving thread in Ezekiel chapters 34-48, described as the gospel of hope according to Ezekiel (Block 1998:268), is its restorative hope principle.1 Liberating hope for exiled Israel is powerfully expressed, especially in these chapters (Evans 2015:75). It accentuates the central theme of the glory of Yahweh as the most fundamental concept of the book of Ezekiel (De Vries 2015:326). The actualisation of the hope of restoration from exile was to encapsulate a unification of both evanesced Judah and Ephraim. This hope was to be realised on the basis of Yahweh's covenant fidelity and his mercy and compassion for the people.
Ezekiel 37, a chapter that deals with an 'extraordinary vision' (Taylor 2002:396), is conceptualised as a second exodus text (Eichrodt 1970:510; Idestrom 2009:489, 491; Allen 1990:xxiii; Strong 2010:498) as well as one of four vision narratives all introduced by the phrase, 'The hand of Yahweh was on me' (Blenkinsopp 1990:170). Its 'theological content is primarily eschatological' (Alexander 1986:924). Described as 'the valley of the shadow of death' and 'a scene of total desolation' (Duguid 1999:426), this chapter falls within the restoration section of the prophetic book, broadly divided into two sections - verses 1-14 and verses 15-28. The first section visualises the dead state of Israel (vv. 1-14) in the prophet's visionary experience of the valley of 'Dry Bones'. The second announces the restorative hope for Yahweh's people in exile, visualising the eventual realisation of postexilic eschatological 'reconstitution' (Robertson 2004:306) and reunification of the uprooted and dispersed tribes of Judah and Ephraim (vv. 15-28; see Hs 1:10-11; Is 11:12-13; Jr 3:6-18; 30:1-3, 8-9). The literary pericope of verses 1-14 also divides itself into two other literary subunits - the introductory epilogue presented in a prophetic reported speech (vv. 1-4) and the prophet's reported divine speech couched in a messenger formula (vv. 5-14). Also, the remaining verses branch into two streams by a graphic epigraph on two sticks (vv. 15-19), closely followed by its explication (vv. 20-28). Here the prophetic enactment clearly crystallises 'the message of national reunification as an aspect of Israel's restoration' (Robertson 2004:305).
Significantly, the prophetic engagement of imageries largely has recourse to the relationship of Yahweh with his covenant people. The core of imaging linguistic expression in Ezekiel captures this weaving thread and controlling centre, and the vision of 'Dry Bones' is one among the many stylistic literary imageries found in the book of Ezekiel. He uses elaborate symbolic actions, visions and literary allegories and images (Boadt 1984:390). As a leading restorative hope imagery, this vision appears as the most striking in Ezekiel, a communicative device captured in visionary mode, which forms an integral part of Ezekiel's prophecy (VanGemeren 1990:327). Ezekiel himself, in view of his crucial role, is described as 'the most remarkable individual during Israel's period of exile' (Boadt 1984:386). Here, the visionary imagery of dry bones deals with the idea of life and existence against an irreparable exilic context. Its theological import for exilic Israelites is pursued in the subsequent section.
For certain, the vision in chapter 37, described as 'the doctrine of resurrection of the dead' (Feinberg 1969:212), is directed at a despondent nation, a people living in despair and pessimism. Yet, despite such socio-psychological conditions, dead national and spiritual Israel in the Babylonian captivity would physically be resurrected (Hs 6:2) on the basis of their being a covenant people. As Tuell confirms, 'texts from around the time of the exile use gazar for separation in a more abstract sense' (2009:262). It is in such a hopeless condition following the demise of Jerusalem and all its political and religious institutions that Ezekiel took on this vision as a 'moment to comfort the godly [of national Israel] with the hope of the restoration and transformation' (VanGemeren 1990:327). Here, he:
The condition of the Israelites in exile in Ezekiel's day was apparently helpless, hopeless, pitiful and practically irreparable. It was a total collapse of the priesthood and its rituals, the monarchy and its respect, the temple and its glory, the city and its integrity, Yahweh and his honour and glory, and the people and their national and cultic pride. These national repertoires had all been lost following the dispossession of Israel's ancestral land and subsequently her forceful rending and deposition in a foreign land. And worst of all, the people now 'lived in an alien culture that denied the truth of their ancestral faith' (Gowan 1998:123). Accordingly, there was practically no 'likelihood that they could achieve and maintain an identity that could preserve the uniqueness of the Yahwistic faith under these conditions' (Gowans 1998:123). The lamentation of the exiles, then, that 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off' (Ezk 37:11b NIV) clearly expresses such a helpless, hopeless, pitiful and disparaged condition. But the imagery of the 'Dry Bones' was to reverse this condition.
According to Allen, this section consists of a thesis of despair and a counter thesis of hope (1990:183). The despairing lamentation of the exiles here was as a result of their cessation as a nation. The demise of Jerusalem 'as the ultimate guarantee of their survival as a nation' had 'given them up to be the prey of death'; consequently, exilic Israel had been 'deprived of the last remnants of life' (Eichrodt 1970:510). Conversely, 'the restoration of life to the bones is a parable of Israel's national resurrection' (Bruce 1986:838) with a clear restorative theological focus via the 'Dry Bones' imagery (vv. 11-12). The prophetic narrative reveals that the promised restoration, captured in the imagery of the grave, would begin with Yahweh's excavation of the graves and the exhumation of the dead bones from them (v. 12). Yahweh was to soon demonstrate his miraculous acts by breaking through the prison door of Babylon and bringing forth those imprisoned in the tomb then actualising their revivification and departure (Eichrodt 1970:510). Such a miracle was to demonstrate God's gracious act of transforming his covenant people from a Gentile context (Robertson 2004:306).
Dead national Israel is restored to life and would no longer experience disunity or an acrimonious relationship. Block grounds the necessity for a restorative theology on national losses when he said national Israel had 'lost all hope in their future and all hope in God. The nation obviously needs deliverance not only from their exile in Babylon but also from their own despondency' (1998:372). This physical national resurrection, then, would culminate in the reunification of the Jewish race, pictured by the symbolic act of the prophet's inscribing on two separate wooden sticks and of joining them together to become one stick (vv. 15-22). Block (1998:376) concedes a dual element in this restoration - a physical restoration of the Israelite state and a spiritual revival of a restored relationship of Israel to Yahweh. 2ff7e9595c
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