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Bones are the last part of a person to decay, and so in Scripture they are often used to designate the person in a state of death or a continuing existence after death (cf. Joseph's bones). The bones of a nation are the remnant that are left after a nation’s body is destroyed, after the predatory nations surrounding have had a chance to pick over the carcass. When bones are destroyed, it is a symbol of complete destruction, a death after death. That is what happens to the bones of the priests in 2 Kings 23: Josiah kills the bones of those who have already died, by exhuming them, burning them, scattering the ashes about.
Elsewhere in Scripture, the word "bone" describes mediating structures. Exodus 24:10 refers to the bone of the sky, Ex 24:10, and Genesis 7:13 to the bone of the day. A human being has skin that is the mediator with the outside world, both separating and uniting. Skin is the boundary between flesh and the world. But bones are a separate, second mediating boundary. Flesh is the meaty stuff between skin and bones, and the bones separate the internal organs from the flesh. If the skin is the "first veil," bones form a "second veil" within which lies the heart.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, August 03, 2005 at 02:57 PM
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