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And now, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel. – Ezekiel 36:1

God grabbed me. God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.

He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Master God, only you know that.”

He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'”

– Ezekiel 37:1-4

God instructs his man of the hour, Ezekiel to prophesy to the mountains. Go speak to the mountains. I find that odd. I can imagine Ezekiel out talking to the mountains. Speaking softly, maybe getting fired up and yelling. Using hand motions. To the mountains. What would that look like? What if someone came by. “What up Zeek?” Zeek: “Um, just talkin’ to the mountains about God.”

Did it make Ezekiel feel like a crazy? What is the purpose of speaking to a mountain. They don’t respond or move or say “thanks” or anything. Just a mountain. But Ezekiel did it. God said to do it and he did.

Cooler than mountains have to be dead bones. Ezekiel’s next assignment was prophesying over some dead bones. Same as the mountains, except that the bones came to life. Check out the whole story, it’s pretty incredible.

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Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and son has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather thank for my flock, therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them. – Ezekiel 34:7-10

God puts some pretty strong words in Ezekiel’s mouth. It seems that God always holds the leaders to higher standards. Teachers are held accountable for their influence. Here, shepherds are as well. Maybe God knows that we all have the ability to turn inward. We start out the journey wanting to help others. Somewhere along the way we forget why we were so attracted to the kingdom in the first place. Wasn’t part of it, maybe most of it, this compelling desire to live outside ourselves?

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