4. What does Ezekiel’s next action with the two sticks illustrate? (See opening picture.)

⁴ Ezekiel was further instructed to bring the two sticks together “so that they become just one stick.” As the exiles anxiously watched Ezekiel, they asked him: “Will you not tell us what these things mean?” He answered that the enactment illustrated what Jehovah himself would do. Regarding the two sticks, Jehovah stated: “I will make them one stick, and they will become one in my hand.”​—Ezek. 37:17-19.

5. What is the meaning of what Ezekiel acted out? (See the box “The Joining of the Two Sticks.”)

⁵ Next, Jehovah explained the meaning of the joining together of the two sticks. (Read Ezekiel 37:21, 22.) Exiles from the two-tribe kingdom of Judah and exiles from the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) would be brought to the land of Israel, where they would become “one nation.”​—Jer. 30:1-3; 31:2-9; 33:7.

“they become just one stick in your hand”

ANCIENT TIMES

537 B.C.E. True worshippers return from the nations, rebuild Jerusalem, and worship as one nation.

MODERN TIMES

Since 1919, God’s people are gradually reorganized and united to serve as “one flock.”