Ezekiel 37:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

The hand of the Lord was upon me— It is the general opinion of the best commentators, that all this passed in vision. The first and great object of this prophesy seems evidently to be, the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. Bishop Warburton observes, that the messengers of God prophesying for the people's consolation in disastrous times, frequently promise a restoration to the former days of felicity; and, to obviate all distrust from unpromising appearances, they put the case even at the worst, and assure the people in metaphorical expressions, that though the community were as intirely dissolved as a dead body reduced to dust, yet God would raise up that community again to life. Though the generality of commentators, says Mr. Peters, regard this vision and prophesy as no other than a figurative representation and prediction of a return of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon, or some other of their captivities and dispersions; yet, perhaps, we shall find upon a more attentive consideration, that whatever hopes it might give them of a temporal and national deliverance or prosperity, yet there was evidently something farther designed; and that to comfort them in their distressed situation, with the prospect of a future resurrection in a proper sense, was at least as much intended by the Spirit of God, or rather more so than the other. See on Ezekiel 37:10.