Question:
Please give me an explanation of Ezekiel 37:16-20. What is meant by the two sticks?
Answer:
The sticks used in this parable were simply symbols of the two divisions of Israel—the northern ten tribes and the two southern tribes of Judah. Ezekiel was bidden to join the two together so that they would become one, which was a symbol of what God would do finally for His children.
He would have done that when Cyrus made his decree to build the temple of Israel. It was the privilege of all the tribes to return to God with all their heart. Then would have followed the building of the sanctuary which Ezekiel describes and the division of the land as he told in his last chapter. But these were based on the condition that they repent and put away sin, and they failed to do that. They did not heed God’s call and were not united as a nation. Then the Lord Jesus Christ calls them individually, and though some tribes are broken off by unbelief, others are grafted in by faith, according to Romans 11. In Christ, all shall become one, not only of those born Israelites after the flesh but also those who accept Christ by faith, including the Gentiles.
In brief, this is the meaning of the scripture. Out of all the nations, God is going to gather His people. The servant David referred to in verse 24 is a symbol of David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus, and Israel will be all the saved of God that enter in through the twelve gates of the city described in Revelation 21 and 22—gates named after the tribes which enter through them.
