The human skeleton of an adult has on average 206 bones. A newborn baby has nearly 300. Why does that newborn have so many more?
“These extra bones, many of which are made entirely or partly of cartilage, help babies remain flexible in the womb and (most crucially) at birth, making it easier for them to pass through the birth canal. As a baby grows into childhood and eventually early adulthood, the cartilage ossifies while other bones fuse together. This explains the “soft spots” in a baby’s skull, where the bones have yet to fuse completely.
“It also explains why kids may be more susceptible to injury — fracture rates are high around the ages of 11 to 15, when many young people experience growth spurts due to puberty. This is because children’s bones have growth plates, which are particularly sensitive to trauma. Those growth plates eventually close as we age, and a child’s bone count decreases until it settles at 206. Our bones continue to change in a process called “bone remodeling” throughout our lives, but the number typically remains stable once we reach adulthood.”1
What might surprise us is that half of our bones are in our hands and feet. Of the 206 adult bones, 106 are in the hands and feet. Metatarsals, metacarpals, tarsals, carpals, phalanges, and all the bones in each category make it possible for us to walk, run, skip, clap, and type a devotional at the computer. Without the bones, our hands, feet, fingers, and toes would be like having 10 hotdogs attached to a chunk of SPAM.
In 1928, The Famous Myers Jubilee Singers recorded a famous, fun song called “Dem Bones” (also called “Dry Bones” and “Dem Dry Bones”. The song became a lesson about our skeleton.
Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the heel bone
Heel bone connected to the ankle bone
Ankle bone connected to the leg bone
Leg bone connected to the knee bone
Knee bone connected to the thigh bone
Thigh bone connected to the hip bone
Hip bone connected to the back bone
Back bone connected to the shoulder bone
Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone
Neck bone connected to the head bone
Hear the word of the Lord.2
What was the “word of the Lord” that the song writers wanted us to hear?
Ezekiel 37:1-10 says, “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, (2) And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. (3) And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. (4) Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. (5) Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: (6) And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 
(7) So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. (8) And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. (9) Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. (10) So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”
Ezekiel’s vision was a foreshadowing of God’s promise to “reassemble” a dispersed Israel. Though the people are scattered, the day is going to come where the Lord draws His people back to Israel, reassembles what has looked like dead, dry bones in a vibrant nation that is alive and filled with the Spirit of God. The day of Israel’s restoration is coming sooner than we might think!
To the house of Israel, God made a promise, and we may be the generation that is watching the prelude to its fulfillment. Even so come, Lord Jesus!
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
1https://interestingfacts.com/bones-facts/
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dem_Bones
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