And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon
them
And they began to look like men, in the shape of men, and were a body of them, as the Jews did when gathered together: and the skin covered them above;
and so looked comely and beautiful, as in the proper form of men; as did the Jews enriched and protected by Cyrus: and this may be an image of such persons so far wrought upon under the word as to look like Christians; to have the form of godliness, and appear outwardly righteous before men, submitting to ordinances, and performing the duties of religion; and yet no principle of spiritual life in them; but, like Adam's body, of the earth, earthly, and breathless, before the breath of life was breathed into it; so here, but there was no breath in them; no spirit in the Jews to return to their land, though they had liberty, till the Lord stirred up their spirits, ( Ezra 1:5 ) , all this, in a spiritual sense, shows how far persons may go under temporary convictions by the word, and yet not be living Christians.