Interpreting Eze 37?

[Needy1]

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PS9.HTM
Is Eze 37 talking about the ancient Israel, or new heavenly Jerusalem?
If former, when did it fulfill? Did Jews reject these testament by murdering Christ?

If latter, will David the king of Israel be king also in the new Jerusalem, according to 37:25?

 

[Zaccheus]

I am no expert in prophecy but I know that a single prophecy may describe multiple events of the same kind. One event may foreshadow another.
This chapter may be talking about ancient Israel, or about modern Israel or about the end of the age.
Or all three.

One thing I do know. The claim that “the Jews murdered Christ” is a classic anti-Semitic slander. Every human being on the face of the Earth bears their share of responsibility for the death of Christ.
Each and every one of us took part in the Crucifixion. The Jewish people are not more responsible than the rest of us.

@Needy1 I think you didn’t mean to accuse the Jews. I think you didn’t realize how your words might sound. But that is how they looked to me.

If I was wrong then I beg your forgiveness for my assumption.

 

[Needy1]

Eh what. Even St Peter said this, according to acts 2:22-23.

22 You who are Israelites, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.

23 This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him

I didn’t think my words offend anyone though.

 

[Needy1]

Other replies?

 

[Mintaka]

“The Jews” did not murder Christ.

I mean, obviously Mary was a Jew, and she didn’t kill Him. Same thing with St. John.

OTOH, St. Peter was making a speech to specific Jewish people, who had specifically been in town for the Passover, and who were specifically represented by the Sanhedrin. Rhetorically, he was quite justified in saying, “You killed him and used the Romans who were outside the Law to do it, in a way that was not terribly lawful.” Legally, under the Jewish Law, he was correct in saying it.

Now, whether or not they were specifically responsible for not stopping the injustice, it’s obvious that the people hearing him were worried by the accusation. But the Jews living before them were not legally liable, and neither were the Jews living after them, or the Jews who weren’t anywhere near Jerusalem, or the Jews who argued against the Sanhedrin.

That said, Peter’s point wasn’t to argue law or retry Jesus. He was giving a sermon. He wanted people to accept the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood and be baptized. Thousands of his hearers listened and obeyed the Gospel. That is the point.

OTOH, it’s also true that if Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned, and if each of us hadn’t sinned, Jesus would not have had to die. So I killed Jesus, and so did you. Only His mom and Himself are free from this accusation.

Fear God. Repent your sins. Thank Him for His amazing mercy, and His willingness to die for us sinners.

Don’t blame Jesus’ death on somebody else. Shifting blame didn’t work for Adam and Eve, and it won’t work for you on the Day of Judgment.

 

[Mintaka]

All right, now that we’re not calling down the demons of Hell upon ourselves, and trying to fill the concentration camps again, let’s talk about Ezekiel 37 and the Valley of Dry Bones.

Well, obviously the first fulfillment of this was when Israel came back from Babylon. That’s the one that Ezekiel was most concerned with, at the time.

The second fulfillment was in Matt. 27: 52, when “many of the saints” got up out of their graves and walked around Jerusalem, after Jesus went down to Sheol and brought out the patriarchs and holy people of the past. Literally, “The Word of the Lord” spoke to their bones, and they got up and lived. It was a sign of greater stuff to come, and the rest of Ezekiel’s prophecies being still in force. (Which is what the Book of Revelation gets into, along with tying Daniel and other prophets to the Gospel.)

The third fulfillment is probably the foundation of the State of Israel, although I don’t insist upon it, and there have probably been plenty of other minor fulfillments along the years.

Of course the most important fulfillment is the one that has not yet come – when the General Resurrection brings all the dead out of their graves. We know there will be a New Jerusalem on the new earth, and we know that countless numbers of people from the various tribes of Israel will be among the blessed.

Finally, I would point out a Jewish legal point that Scott Hahn is very big about. You can break the terms of a covenant as much as you like, but you are still part of that covenant. Breaking the terms triggers covenant curses, but it doesn’t end the covenant like it would end some kinds of contract.

So no matter how much Israel disobeys, their covenant with God does not end. Jesus has taken the covenant curses upon Himself, and further, He has improved the New Covenant for all who will take it. But God’s covenant is still there, because God and covenants do not have takebacks.

As for the OP’s last question –

Jesus is our “David,” because He is the head of the House of David. He has been King of Israel and King of the Jews since He was born. He reigns over Israel now and forever, as well as over the whole universe. His kingdom will never end. He fulfills God’s promise to David, and Ezekiel’s prophecies, as well as all the other royal messianic prophecies.