Ezekiel's Plates
The tomb of Ezekiel contained 66 marble plates. Ancient Hebrew letters reveal the entire book of Ezekiel in raised letters on what was the back side of the plates that covered the interior of the tomb. Could they date to the time of Ezekiel? Tests are being done to determine just that.
THE MEANING OF EZEKIEL’S PLATES FOR TODAY
Some years ago, the tomb of the prophet Ezekiel was found next to the Euphrates River in ancient Babylon (modern Iraq). Part of the tomb was covered with 66 12-inch square marble plates. When the squares were removed the entire book of Ezekiel was found in raised letters on the back of the plates. Today the plates are housed in the Yad Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. The 66 plates contain the complete book of Ezekiel almost exactly as found in our modern Bibles today. At present, two of the plates are being tested by the Israel Museum for authenticity.
The last part of the book of Ezekiel is very relevant for today. The first 35 chapters record the prophecies made by Ezekiel that were fulfilled during the Babylonian captivity of Israel during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. Chapter 36 starts with a prediction of God’s judgment on those nations that seek Israel’s destruction. It ends with the promise of New Covenant between God and Israel, and the Millennial blessings to come: Ezekiel 36:
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your
filthiness and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and
ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
This Chapter 37 begins the message that Ezekiel really wants us to understand today. In the first 10 verses he tells how the bones in the valley are to be regathered. Then he explains what the bones represent:
Ezekiel 37:
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel…
Although the interpretation of this regathering refers to the final regathering of Israel after the Battle of Armageddon, there is little doubt that Israel’s birth as a nation on May 15, 1948 is also in view here.
The Sign of the Two Sticks
That all 12 tribes of Israel are included in the regathering is clarified in the sign of the two sticks starting in verse 15:
Ezekiel 20:
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: a d they shall be no more two nations,
neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
The King and the Kingdom
Verses 24 to the end of chapter 1 in the book of Matthew fulfill the prophecy of Gabriel when he told Mary:
Luke 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in they womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Thus it is clear that Christ and not the resurrected David that is to rule Israel during
the Millennial Kingdom:
Ezekiel 37:
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.
According to Daniel 9:27, half-way through a 7-year peace agreement with the Nation of Israel, the terms will be broken.
Isaiah also warns us that Israel will be fooled by the nations and that a peace treaty would soon be broken: Isaiah 28:
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden by it.
Ezekiel 38:
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
At the moment when Israel is about to fall, the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven and roar out of Jerusalem (Joel 3:16, Amos 1:2) to destroy the Antichrist and all his hordes:
Ezekiel 38:
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls
of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep
upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake
at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall beagainst his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and unto the many people that are with him, and overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
After the battle is over the birds and the beasts will be called to the supper of the great God (Rev. 19:17-21):
Ezekiel 39:
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God.
God will then set His glory on the earth in the Millennial Kingdom:
Ezekiel 39:
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for a my holy name;
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
The Millennial Temple
Chapters 40 through 48 conclude the book of Ezekiel with a description of Israel in the promised land during the Millennium. A detailed plan of the new Temple is given with the view of the glory of God once again filling the whole house. Each of the 12 tribes of Israel is given a description of the land they will occupy in the greatly expanded nation reaching from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates.
According to the Jerusalem Post’s original announcement of the Ezekiel plates, “there is an old Talmudic tradition that Israel’s prophets and other great sages were often buried with copies of their writings. One such Talmudic legend held that the original book of Ezekiel was buried with the prophet in his tomb and was left there to be revealed in the last days.”
See - The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/ChristianInIsrael/Features/Article.aspx?id=218495
Some years ago, the tomb of the prophet Ezekiel was found next to the Euphrates River in ancient Babylon (modern Iraq). Part of the tomb was covered with 66 12-inch square marble plates. When the squares were removed the entire book of Ezekiel was found in raised letters on the back of the plates. Today the plates are housed in the Yad Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. The 66 plates contain the complete book of Ezekiel almost exactly as found in our modern Bibles today. At present, two of the plates are being tested by the Israel Museum for authenticity.
The last part of the book of Ezekiel is very relevant for today. The first 35 chapters record the prophecies made by Ezekiel that were fulfilled during the Babylonian captivity of Israel during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. Chapter 36 starts with a prediction of God’s judgment on those nations that seek Israel’s destruction. It ends with the promise of New Covenant between God and Israel, and the Millennial blessings to come: Ezekiel 36:
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your
filthiness and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and
ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
This Chapter 37 begins the message that Ezekiel really wants us to understand today. In the first 10 verses he tells how the bones in the valley are to be regathered. Then he explains what the bones represent:
Ezekiel 37:
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel…
Although the interpretation of this regathering refers to the final regathering of Israel after the Battle of Armageddon, there is little doubt that Israel’s birth as a nation on May 15, 1948 is also in view here.
The Sign of the Two Sticks
That all 12 tribes of Israel are included in the regathering is clarified in the sign of the two sticks starting in verse 15:
Ezekiel 20:
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: a d they shall be no more two nations,
neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
The King and the Kingdom
Verses 24 to the end of chapter 1 in the book of Matthew fulfill the prophecy of Gabriel when he told Mary:
Luke 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in they womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Thus it is clear that Christ and not the resurrected David that is to rule Israel during
the Millennial Kingdom:
Ezekiel 37:
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.
According to Daniel 9:27, half-way through a 7-year peace agreement with the Nation of Israel, the terms will be broken.
Isaiah also warns us that Israel will be fooled by the nations and that a peace treaty would soon be broken: Isaiah 28:
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden by it.
Ezekiel 38:
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
At the moment when Israel is about to fall, the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven and roar out of Jerusalem (Joel 3:16, Amos 1:2) to destroy the Antichrist and all his hordes:
Ezekiel 38:
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls
of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep
upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake
at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall beagainst his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and unto the many people that are with him, and overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
After the battle is over the birds and the beasts will be called to the supper of the great God (Rev. 19:17-21):
Ezekiel 39:
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God.
God will then set His glory on the earth in the Millennial Kingdom:
Ezekiel 39:
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for a my holy name;
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
The Millennial Temple
Chapters 40 through 48 conclude the book of Ezekiel with a description of Israel in the promised land during the Millennium. A detailed plan of the new Temple is given with the view of the glory of God once again filling the whole house. Each of the 12 tribes of Israel is given a description of the land they will occupy in the greatly expanded nation reaching from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates.
According to the Jerusalem Post’s original announcement of the Ezekiel plates, “there is an old Talmudic tradition that Israel’s prophets and other great sages were often buried with copies of their writings. One such Talmudic legend held that the original book of Ezekiel was buried with the prophet in his tomb and was left there to be revealed in the last days.”
See - The Jerusalem Post - http://www.jpost.com/ChristianInIsrael/Features/Article.aspx?id=218495
