Ezekiel 37, Sticks, and Babylonian Writing Boards: A Critical Reappraisal

Abstract

Keck: Ezekiel 37 127 Israelite religion and culture.Furthermore, detailed studies of these passages could provide valuable insights into the history and evolution of Mormon exegesis.One text that has captured the attention of many Mormon scholars, Ezekiel 37:15-28, has traditionally been used to support the divine status of the Book of Mormon.The text reads as follows:2The word of Yahweh came to me as follows: "Son of Man, take a stick and inscribe on it: łJudah and the descendants of Israel, his associates'; then take another stick and inscribe on it: 'Joseph (It is the stick of Ephraim), and all of the house of Israel, his associates.'Hold them together as if they were one stick, and they will be as one in your hand.When your people say: 'Will you not tell us what this means?' say to them: Thus says Lord Yahweh: I will take the stick of Joseph (which was in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel, his associates, and place it together with the other, i.e., the stick of Judah, and I will make them as one stick, and they will be as one in my hand.The sticks on which you have inscribed will be in your hand before their eyes; (then) say to them: Thus says Lord Yahweh: I will take the descendants of Israel from among the nations, wherever they went, and gather them from all around and bring them to their land.I will make of them one nation in the land, upon the hills of Israel, and one king will rule all of them.They will not be two nations anymore and they will not be divided any more into two kingdoms.They will not defile themselves again with their idols and their despicable things and all their rebellions, and I will rescue them from all of their backsliding by which they sinned.I will then cleanse them and they will be my people and I will be their god.My servant David will be king over them and they will have one shepherd.They will live according to my precepts and they will keep my statutes and will do them.Then they will dwell upon the land where your fathers dwelt which I gave to my servant Jacob.They and their children and their grandchildren will dwell there forever and David, my servant, will be a prince to them for eternity.I will then make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an eternal covenant with them.I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place my sanctuary among them forever.My dwelling place will be among them and I will be their god and they will be my people.Then the foreign nations will know that I am Yahweh, the one who sanctifies Israel when my sanctuary is forever in their midst. Most Mormon scholars, especially Hugh Nibley and SidneySperry, have wanted to see these sticks of Joseph and of Judah as the Book of Mormon and the Bible respectively.For them the passage prophesies the appearance of the Book of Mormon in modern times (Nibley 1957, 271-87; Sperry 1963, 226-28; 1967, 74-85).However, some LDS scholars, most notably Heber Snell, have argued that Ezekiel's sticks cannot refer to scripture and, following many biblical scholars, interpret the passage in the more general 2 All of the biblical passages quoted in this essay have been translated by the author.