Read or Summarize Ezekiel 37
Make sure to emphasize the 2 different symbols, represented in this chapter. Here is an example of our summary:
Dry Bones
Ezekiel was shown a land that was covered in dry bones. These bones were so dead and dry that there wasn’t any sign of life in any of them. Ezekiel asked if the bones could ever live again.
The Lord asked him to tell the bones about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Ezekiel did what the Lord asked, and the bones began to shake and rattle. Then, they started to come back together. Then, their insides and skin came back on their bones. They looked like they did before they died and turned into bones, but they were still not alive. So the Lord told him to speak to the wind. This symbolized calling the Spirit back to the body. When Ezekiel did this, the spirit and the body came back together, and they were resurrected. Ezekiel asked who all of these people were. The Lord said that this was the House of Israel, and because of Jesus Christ they will all be resurrected, and when they come out of their grave, they will know Jesus Christ is the reason they can be resurrected, and His Spirit will be with them.
Stick of Judah and Stick of Joseph
Ezekiel was told to take 2 sticks. On one stick, the Lord told Ezekiel to write “For Judah, and for the children of Israel” and on the other one write “ For Joseph and for Ephraim and all of the House of Israel.” The Lord told Ezekiel to join these two sticks together. The Lord told Ezekiel that this represented what Jesus will do in the last days. He said that He will gather all of the children of Israel and the house of Israel together into one place, and He will be their king and they will all be one people.
Discuss
Latter-day revelation has revealed that the Stick of Judah represents the Bible.
About 975 years before the birth of Christ the tribes of Israel were divided. When King Rehoboam and King Solomon made the people pay taxes or money. During Rehoboam's reign, the tribe of Judah and most of the tribe of Benjamin wanted Rehoboam as their king. They became the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem, where Jesus was born, was the main city. The people of Judah wrote the Bible. This is why we call it the Stick of Judah.
The other 10 tribes and the rest of the tribe of Benjamin chose Jeroboam as their king. They called themselves Israel, and became also known as Ephraim, because Ehpraim was the strongest tribe. Ephraim’s dad was Joseph. So they were of the tribe of Joseph.
In about 721 B.C., Israel was captured by the Assyrians, under Shalmanezer, and carried away, and subsequently, became lost to the knowledge of men. They are now referred to as "the lost ten tribes."
About 600 years before Christ was born, a prophet, named Lehi, left the rest of the other people from Joseph’s tribe and came to the Americas. Lehi and his posterity kept a Spiritual record of their lives and visions, visits from Jesus Christ before His birth and after His resurrection, and even how some of them were destroyed because of wickedness. This record is known as the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the Stick of Joseph, talked about in Ezekiel.
Now, the Stick of Joseph and the Stick of Judah have been reunited to teach us about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Together, they teach us about how we can become like Heavenly Father and Jesus and return to them.
President Nelson explains the importance of the Book of Mormon in gathering all of the tribes together in the following video:
Click the picture below to see how we did this lesson
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