Ezekiel 37:16
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
The two sticks are the two divisions of divided and scattered Israel, Judah with his companions holding two tribes and Joseph called Ephraim with his companions holding the rest. Their joining in one hand is God's promise to make Judah, Ephraim and all His children one people and one nation again if they forsook sin and returned to Him wholeheartedly. Because Israel largely failed, only a small remnant returned and the national restoration received only a weak and partial fulfillment, so the promise will now be fulfilled more gloriously and differently at the second coming and the final gathering. The king called David my servant over them is David second, Christ, reigning under the new covenant over spiritual Israel, Christians from every kindred and people including Gentiles as well as Jews, not over the natural descendants restored nationally to Palestine. The stick of Joseph is not the American continent nor the joining of the Book of Mormon with the Bible, though those who held the other teaching make the stick of Ephraim the Book of Mormon and the stick of Judah the Bible joined together. The dry bones and the one land belong to the resurrection at Christ's coming, when those who sleep in Him are raised with His Spirit to immortality and given the new earth and the New Jerusalem for an everlasting possession.
Sticks and Historical Setting
The verse names two sticks, one inscribed for Judah and the children of Israel his companions and the other for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions. Judah's house holds two tribes and Ephraim's holds the rest, so together they represent the two divisions of divided and scattered Israel, the ten tribes and Judah with their associates. Their joining signifies God's purpose and promise to unite Judah, Ephraim, and all His children again as one people and one nation. That reunion illustrates the future union of God's people through Christ the one Shepherd, who gathers them into one fold, and it will take place at the final gathering of God's people when Jesus comes.
The verse belongs to a chapter promising resurrection and the uniting of Israel's scattered hosts and kingdoms. It is presented as a prophecy of Israel's future restoration and glory in figures and language familiar to that time, with the vision dated to about 587 B.C. during Ezekiel's exile. It stands within the larger prophecy from chapter 36 to the close of the book calling Israel to return to God and promising restoration on condition of faithfulness. That context does not itself explain the stick imagery or their names.
The stick of Joseph identified with Ephraim does not represent the American continent or Joseph Smith, and the joining of the sticks is not fulfilled by combining the Book of Mormon and the Bible. The two sticks represent Judah and Ephraim, standing for divided and scattered Israel and for the reunion of restored spiritual Israel in God's coming Messianic kingdom, ruled by Christ as My servant David. That restoration will be fulfilled after Christ's second advent, and in a spiritual sense the redeemed in God's everlasting kingdom belong to the twelve tribes of Israel. An opposing reading identifies the stick of Ephraim with Joseph Smith and later with the Book of Mormon, and the stick of Judah with the Bible, so that the two sticks joined together represent the Book of Mormon and the Bible together. This identification implies that Ephraimites would favor their own book.
Conditional Promise of Restoration
The joining of the two sticks is God's purpose and promise to unite Judah, Ephraim, and all His children again as one people and one nation. That promise was conditional on forsaking sins, yielding to God, turning from evil, and returning to Him wholeheartedly. It would have been fulfilled then, including when Cyrus decreed restoration, if Israel had repented and put away sin. The promises were first given to Israel during the restoration from Babylonian captivity, and their fulfillment then depended on that yielding.
What God would have done was to restore the captive nation, gather honest-hearted people from the nations and those of the scattered tribes who came back, and make Israel alive again as pictured by the dry bones. He would have resurrected the faithful who had died, defeated enemies, cleansed from sin, filled with His Spirit, and made Jerusalem a praise, with the reunited people living in their own land under David's rule as a light among the nations. Because Israel largely failed to meet the conditions, only about forty thousand returned. The promised national restoration therefore received only a lesser shadow, small-part, or weak fulfillment and did not occur as described.
Had Israel obeyed, the prophecy from chapter 36 to the close of the book would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail, including the burning of weapons and the offered temple with its attendant sacrifices in chapters 37 to 48. That fulfillment is to be read under the conditions of Jeremiah 18:7-10, and that literal detailed fulfillment will now never take place and the sanctuary will never be built. The chapter's promises remain only a faint type of what God will do at the second coming, though the type is not fulfilled in every detail and not necessarily in Ezekiel's specific details.
Because the first fulfillment failed, the promise will not be fulfilled exactly as first given but will be fulfilled more gloriously, broadly, and differently in the last days and in the new dispensation. The fuller fulfillment is connected with the second coming of Christ and the events surrounding it. Then Israel and Judah become one people at the final gathering of God's people when Jesus comes.
Fulfillment in Christ's Kingdom
The one shepherd set over the united people, David my servant as king over them, is David the second, who is Christ ruling as My servant David. The first Israel under the first David belonged wholly to the old covenant, and the second Israel under David the second belongs together with Him under the new covenant, so the reign of David the second is over the second Israel. That promise has not been fulfilled in the past history of the nation and does not remain to be fulfilled to the natural descendants of Jacob.
It relates to the spiritual seed, Christians from all kindreds and tongues and peoples, who are Israel in the highest sense, Israel second, Israel of faith. All who accept Christ by faith are Abraham's children and heirs, gathered into one fold under Jesus the one Shepherd, with no difference of Jew or Greek. Israel's rejection did not defeat God's plan to gather a people who prevail by faith, including Gentiles as well as Jews, and any reading that excludes God's gospel work to the world for all alike goes astray. The promise therefore belongs to Israel in the spiritual sense, the new-covenant people of faith, not to a future restoration of Jacob's natural descendants or a national return of the Jews to Palestine.
The joining of Judah and Joseph into the whole house of Israel means the resurrection of the true Israel. The dry bones are the whole house of Israel sleeping and restored to life, raised from their graves with sinews and flesh and skin, with God's Spirit put in them so they live, and brought into their own land. That return happens in the resurrection and in the new earth, not by re-establishing the Jews in their own land during mortal life. The present state of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, and people must await birth from the dead and the change to immortality. The land belongs to Christ the one seed of Abraham and to all in Him by faith for an everlasting possession, which is the new earth and the New Jerusalem, a thing impossible while death reigns.
Their joining illustrates the future union of God's people through Christ the one Shepherd, who gathers them into one fold. The true Israel will be redeemed and given a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new, while Gog and Magog representing the northern nations are punished in part in this world before and at the coming of Christ and ultimately at the end of the thousand years. The passage belongs to the same prophecy as Ezekiel 38-39, in which Persia is joined with the great power ruling over the north parts. That gathering of God's people from among the nations where they have gone, from every side into their own land, is now due while the powers of earth take their position for the fast-approaching Armageddon. It is done by the worldwide gospel of the third angel going among Persia and the regions round about, with missionary evangelists gathering out God's children there.
The chapter presents the resurrection of the dead as the hope, the only hope, the blessed hope of God's children. The Son of God will come with all the shining angelic host, the dead shall hear His voice, and those who sleep in Him shall come forth to everlasting life and immortality through faith in Him at His coming. If Christ's resurrection and second coming do not occur man is forever lost, since eternal life comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming and the resurrection, which does not exalt man but glorifies God and Christ Jesus the Lord. That resurrection power is found in the Word of God, so when people feel with Israel of old that their bones are dried and their hope is lost, taking hold of God and His mighty power as revealed in this book revives them.