The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. – Ezekiel 37:1

Today's Scripture Reading (August 20, 2023): Ezekiel 37

On December 30, 1916, Grigori Rasputin was murdered. Rasputin was a Russian mystic and holy man who is probably best remembered as a friend of the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire. Rasputin had many enemies, and folklore says there had been many attempts to kill him with poison, and he was once even stabbed, an event that took place on July 12, 1914. But these attempts failed and increased the rumor that Rasputin was immortal. But on December 30, 1916, he was finally stopped by a bullet in the head. The conspirators then wrapped Rasputin's body in a blanket and dropped the mystic into a river. But on January 1, 1917, his body was found and given an honorable burial the next day. Plans were also made to build a church over the grave of Rasputin, further honoring the mystic.

But that church was never built. His enemies and the enemies of Russia's First Family dug up Rasputin's body after Nicholas II abdicated from the throne in March 1917. What was left of Rasputin was then burned and scattered so that no one could use his grave as a rallying point for a counter-revolution. But maybe the deeper reason for the desecration of his corpse was that they didn't want to give honor to Rasputin. For many of our societies, especially in the past, burial was part of giving honor to the one who has died. Admittedly, with the popularity of cremation, that attitude is slowly changing.

God leads Ezekiel in a vision to a valley of bones. The valley was full of bones, which likely means that they covered the ground. There was no place where the prophet could step where bones were not underfoot. It was a vision given to Ezekiel by God, but it may have had a real-world origin. The vision might have roots in Ezekiel's memory of the Israelite dead he saw outside of Jerusalem or along the desert road that Ezekiel and his compatriots were forced to travel as they went into exile.

But the fact that they were just left on the ground means that these bodies had not been given the honor of a burial. An unburied corpse left to suffer the effects of the weather and the attention of the carrion eaters has the height of disgrace in Near Eastern culture. It was an unthinkable response to the death of someone. And as Ezekiel looked at the bones in this valley, they had obviously been denied the honor of a burial, and therefore they now suffered in shame.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 38