The Union of Judah
and
Joseph

  Ezekiel 37 
 and The Two Sticks  
 That 
 Become One! 


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Contents:
1. The Production of the Ezekiel Stick
2. The Ezekiel Stick in Prophecy


The Production of the Ezekiel Stick



Pictures of The Ezekiel Stick
 
The Ezekiel Stick is two spiraled pieces that interlock into a metal tip, and then twist together tightly. At the top there is an ingenious angle cut into one piece that is received by the other piece and locks into place. When brought together they fit very tightly and have the illusion of being one.
I created the Ezekiel Stick as a hiking staff. Hiking staffs are a symbol of protection and authority.  In Biblical times hiking was a way of life. People hiked everywhere, except for maybe Solomon and all his horses. Hiking staffs were personal and a form of Identity and authority. Such as in the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38:18  And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand.  Here Judahs staff was as important as his signet ring. The first mention of a staff associated with the division of the children of Israel is in Genesis 32:10 as Jacob is crossing the Jordan to confront Esau: for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.   I specifically see the Staff in Zechariah 11:14  Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel  as being a kind of forerunner of the Ezekiel Stick. The same staff that was broken to symbolize the split of Judah and Joseph in Zechariah was reunited in Ezekiel. It is interesting to note that the name translated as bands in KJV is the Hebrew word chebel meaning rope or to be tightly wound together. Look at the picture of the Ezekiel Stick, it is spiraled together like a rope.
            To make the Ezekiel Stick I start with two straight pieces of dark walnut, thoroughly soaked in water. In a special machine they are heated with steam and then twisted and held in that position while they are dried. Each piece of wood is an individual; some can take more twist than others, so I only twist them with whatever force they will handle. I have to repeat the process three times before they take the required 1 + turns of twist. I then have to store them in that twisted and stretched state for 12 weeks or more so that they take that shape permanently.
The Hebrew passages are deeply engraved into the wood, and then filled. A new process I am developing is to color the engravings and then fill with a special clear filler. This makes distinct white letters on the dark wood and the clear allows one to perceive the depth of the engraving.
The finish is 4 coats of exterior grade waterproof polyurethane with tedious (if I may say so) hand sanding between each coat. The final coat has been hand finished with 0000 steel wool, then waxed and hand buffed. The tactile feel is incredible, very smooth and the natural beauty of the walnut is very evident. 
The tip is made from copper and brass and is firmly fixed to one of the sticks and the other stick snugly fits into it. The materials and processes are all top quality and are evident in the final piece.
I live in the midst of the Rocky Mountains in Emmett (Hebrew for truth) Idaho. I am a hiking enthusiast, and offer a variety of different, very lightweight hiking staffs.
I am working on a new Ezekiel Stick in cane form, there are a few prototypes available now, see inventory. I hope to have the first batch through the 12 week curing period by the end of 2006. Contact me for more info.
 
 
 
The Ezekiel Stick
in Scripture
 
 
This is the verse of scripture that The Ezekiel Stick depicts. The following is the KJV translation:
 
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:
17  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
 

The following is the actual Hebrew engraved into the Ezekiel Stick, which is read from right to left and on the stick is engraved in the original Hebrew lettering but here it is transliterated since our html program at the moment does not support Hebrew lettering:

"LaYehudah veLeBneiYisrael Chaverav" [first half]
LaYoseph aytz Ephraim veCol Bait Yisrael Chaverav [second half]
Those interested may contact Tom Turner for charts that have the original script with the transliterations, meanings and the Strong number, read from right to left.


The Ezekiel Stick in Prophecy

by Tom Turner

Show us what thou meanest by these? (Ezekiel 37:18)

 

I had the unction to create the Ezekiel Stick long before I had any understanding or opinion of the scripture it is taken from. I dont know why I made it to begin with. Perhaps a challenge, perhaps a vision. If you hold stock in ancient Hebrew letter symbology, then my Hebrew name; Tomas, or Tet Vav Mem Samech symbolically means; One who twists and secures using water (steam), supports (staffs). It was after I had developed the Ezekiel Stick that I then figured I should study the prophecies concerning it.
 
This prophecy is probably the only one that comes with its own interpretation. Verse 18,19 says;   And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?  Say unto them:
From this point to the end of the chapter is the interpretation of this symbol of two sticks becoming one. If I may summarize; Before the coming of the Torah observant messianic kingdom, ruled by David (or descendent,) the children of Israel, currently segregated into two groups and dispersed amongst all the nations of the world, will be reunited. Prior to the reuniting there will be a restoration or cleansing.
This is a lot of information to gather from one passage. Is this Ezekiel Stick prophecy obscure and one of a kind? Just an esoteric Biblical oddity? Is Ezekiel the only prophet who foresees this?  As students of the Bible we should be very cautious about developing theories based on only one passage. So I searched for other prophecies that foresee this same event:
Sister Prophecies of The Ezekiel Stick

 
            The following are just one or two verses that incorporate much of the same events as the Ezekiel Stick. I present them out of their context for the sake of space. I encourage you to go back and read the context of some or all of these quotes and you will find it all very much expounded upon. We will start in the Prophets and progress through in order Isaiah - Malachi. Once again these references are no way exhaustive of all of the references, only the ones contained in little nuggets that are easily presentable.
 
Isaiah 11:11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
 
Isaiah 27:12  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
 
Isaiah 43:5  Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
6  I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
 
Isaiah 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
 
Isaiah 56:8  The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
 
Jeremiah 3:18  In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
 
Jeremiah 23:3  And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase
7  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8  But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
            (Its going to be bigger than parting the Red Sea!)
 
Jeremiah 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
 
Jerimiah 30:3  For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
 
Jeremiah 31:10  Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
 
Jeremiah 32:37  Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:
38     And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
 
Jeremiah 50:19  And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.
 
Ezekiel 11:17  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
 
Ezekiel 20:34  And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
 
Ezekiel 20:41  I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
 
Ezekiel 28:25  Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
 
Ezekiel 34:12  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13  And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
 
Ezekiel 36:24  For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
 
Ezekiel 39:27  When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28  Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
 
Hosea 1: 11  Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
 
Hosea 8:10  Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
 
Amos 9: 9  For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
 
Amos 9 14  And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15  And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.:
 
Micah 2:12  I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
 
Micah 4:6  In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
 
Zephaniah 3: 19  Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
20  At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.
 
Zecariah 10:6  And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
7  And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
8  I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
9  And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
10  I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
 
            Thats enough from the Prophets. This theme of the Two Houses is also present in the Abrahamic Promises. This following verse is what G-d spoke down from the top of Jacobs ladder:
 
Genesis 28:14  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
 
            Then at Jacobs death bed:
Genesis 48:21  And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
 
            Moses prophesied a complete history of the children of Israel in Leviticus chapter 26.  Here are a few highlights pertaining to the theme, but you really should read the whole chapter.
 
Leviticus 26:33  And I will scatter you among the heathen
38  And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39  And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
40  If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
42  Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
44  And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
45  But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors .
 
            Then in Dueteronomy he repeats this prophecy in much more detail, even verbose. Chapter 28-30
 
30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
 
Here Moses refers to all these things  being the prophecies listed in chapters 28 & 29. 
 
2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
4  If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
5  And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
 
            The Psalms arent a big source but there are a few:
 
Psalm 106:47  Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen
 
 Psalm 107:1  O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
3  And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
 
            Finally, let me add a few hints. Not clear unambiguous prophecies but esoteric foreshadows of the future event. These of course can be discounted as only my perception.
 
Numbers 21:16  And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
17  Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it:
18  The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves.
 
Genesis 32:7   Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
8   And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
9   And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
10   I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
 
Leviticus 25:10  And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

 
 
 
            I hope that wasnt too tedious. To see a prophecy repeated in many diverse settings is what we need to truly understand and believe. I searched for verses that contained certain key words such as gathered. I came up with the above 37 passages that clearly state a theme of division, exile, restoration, regathering and reunification. Whether or not I have taken these snippets out of their intended context is a question only you can answer. But I challenge you to examine the context of these passages and you will find that these 37 only scratch the surface of the vast body of prophecy concerning this theme symbolized by The Ezekiel Stick.
            So, what do you think? Is it obscure?  This theme of the division, exile, restoration, regathering and reunification, is it a major step in the end times? Or is it a minor prophecy that can be fulfilled with the discovery and immigration to Israel, of a tribe of a few thousand Torah keepers from some remote area of the world? No, I dont think so. It is BIG! I think this passage sums it up best:
 
Jeremiah 23: 7  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8  But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
 
 




Tom Turner
Edote Products
Home of the Ezekiel Stick
#70 Monte Vista Dr
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Idaho 83617
USA

(208) 365-2252

Tommy704@aol.com


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Tom Turner also produces a
Jerusalem Table Piece
of great interest and superb quality.


The piece is carved out of walnut
(or apple-, according to choice) wood.
It reproduces the contours of Jerusalem with an outline of the Old City. It can be seen how the River Valleys of Gai Hinnom, Tyroppean, and the Shiloach encompass the city and intersect it forming the triangular shape of a SHIN which represents the name Shadai which is a name of the Almighty.
It also shows a protrusion on the Temple mount like a shofar.

To Illustrations of the Ezekiel Stick and the
Jerusalem Table Piece.

Yair With The Jerusalem Table Piece
Produced by Tom Turner

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