Ezekiel 47

Ezekiel 47:1-12

Section 6 (Ezekiel 47:1-12).The victory over curse Brought back to the door of the House the prophet sees waters issue from under its threshold. They flow from the House on the right side, that is, the south, because the prophet stands facing east, or looking toward the altar, so that the south is on his right hand. On the south of the altar he sees the stream flowing eastward. The two east gates being closed he is brought out of the north gate, and led around outside the wall of the outer court to the east gate, and there the water was flowing out on the right side. The stream is then four times measured at successive points of 1,000 cubits, so that at 4,000 cubits the depth was too great for a man to pass through. The prophet now traverses the banks of this river, and finds both banks clothed with a luxuriant growth of trees of fadeless leaf and never-failing fruit, supplying medicine and food. The easterly direction is again noticed (ver. 8), and in addition Ezekiel is told that the river flows into the Dead Sea, healing its waters so that they teem with life, for “everything shall live whither the river cometh.” Its waters are waters of life issuing from the Sanctuary of the living God. Only the marshes and pools are not healed; they are reserved as a means of supplying salt. This whole picture is one that inspires the mind and heart with, the bright anticipation of that blessedness of life which will characterize the Millennial earth. Then creation will bear witness to the power and glory of God in a way man has never known since the fall. But let us range a little through the fields of Scripture, for the lesson of these life-giving waters. This symbol of the river meets us at the beginning in the Garden, and we find it again in the glory-scene which closes the inspired volume. Between these far distant points the references are numerous, teaching us lessons of blessing from God and fellowship with Him. We go to Eden. There are its four rivers. It will repay us, however to consider a little the whole setting of the wonderful second chapter of Genesis. It furnishes us with features of the Millennial age, which, as the porch to the House, introduces the eternal state, but which being this bears the character of that to which it thus belongs. These visions of Ezekiel, if not giving us the seventh day in the dispensational order, certainly refer to the sixth, and that leads into the sabbath-keeping which remains to the people of God. In the order of creation the sixth day has witnessed the completion of God’s work.

Suitably it closes with the Head of all set in the place of Lordship over the new scene of blessing. In this we have a type of our blessed Lord, God’s Man, to whom all has been subjected, and who will bring all into subjection to Himself. In beautiful sequence to this the seventh day comes in -the day of God’s rest. The eternal rest will result from the work of subjugation accomplished by the Second Man, and so He is called “the Father of Eternity” (Isaiah 9:6, New Trans.). Of that final rest this first sabbath of the re-fashioned, re-furnished earth is a type. Notice that from this day is omitted the formula constantly repeated on the previous days, “Evening was, and morning was.” Is it not as though God would have us understand that in His thought this day should have no end?

Blessed be God, that final day will endure eternally. Precious, too, it is to note that on this day God is not occupied with work, or the work done, but with the day. He blesses it, and sanctifies it. Blessed intimation that the eternal day shall have the blessing of God resting upon it with no element of disturbance to intrude. Three things are mentioned. First, God ended His work -the dawning of the seventh day brought with it the end of His labor. Second, God rested; this is what the day brought in for Him -rest. Third, God blessed and sanctified it. The blessing of the day can alone consist in the delight and satisfaction of God concerning the accomplished work which thus makes rest possible. It is sanctified, in that it is set apart to the enjoyment of this delight and satisfaction. Who shall say what the men sure of these things is to be in that sabbath-keeping of God into which His people shall enter with Him? Apart from redemption we know man could never enter into and enjoy God’s rest. This finds illustration in Israel, who as the one nation brought into relation to God on the ground of redemption, is commanded to observe the seventh day -the sabbath, the observance of which is associated with the thought of redemption as typified in the sacrificial system, and by means of priesthood-relation between God and the redeemed. All this finds its fulfilment, both as to redemption and priesthood, in the Lord Jesus. Thus the true and final rest of God, of which Israel’s sabbath was a type, is now sure of fulfilment, and secured for God’s redeemed people. A new subject begins in ver. 4 of Genesis 2:1-25, that of the relationships in which the new head of creation is placed, in all of which we see him to be a figure of Christ. We see Him here as Heir of all and Ruler over all, with His consort, the Church, of whom the woman is a type; yet may we not also see here a picture of the Son of Man and His kingdom? Following what is plainly introductory, showing how God has acted in view of man, we get the account of the garden -its location and planting, then the river and its parts (of special interest to us now); and finally man’s place, service and privileges in the garden. Many details might profitably engage our attention, but we must confine ourselves to noting that the garden is located “eastward in Eden.” Eden means delight; and the east suggests the glory of God. Here too is “every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food” -fullest ministry to satisfy and refresh. In the midst of this the river and its four branches fill an important place.

Does it not suggest the ministry of the Spirit from whom alone rivers of living water can flow, and that in a universal character, for all the creation (the four parts), such as shall mark that day to which this whole scene points, including that of Ezekiel’s vision, as we have seen? Indeed, Israel can look forward to blessings of the Spirit such as never yet enjoyed.

God will put His Spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:27), and pour it out upon them collectively (Isaiah 44:3), when their time of trial and desolation is over (Isaiah 32:15), never to return (Ezekiel 39:29). Nor will this blessing be confined to Israel, as Joel plainly predicts, telling us also the time when the outpouring of the Spirit will take place. It will be after God has interposed on behalf of His people, overthrowing the aggressive power of the north, and restoring its fruitfulness to the land. If Eden’s rivers then speak of the Spirit and His ministry, let us see what we may learn from a study of them. Should they not teach us the character of His ministry? That we know has for its subject Christ and His things, so this is what comes before us. Pison, “increase,” is first; it compasses the land of Havilah, “anguish,” or “travail,” where the gold is which is good. Gold is the symbol of God’s glory. Increase for eternity has been accomplished by Christ through the encompassment of the land of anguish -the birth-pains of the new creation of which He is the Beginning. There, nevertheless, has been found in all its wealth the glory of God. And if faith now can say, “And the gold of that land is good,” how much more in the eternal day! It is added, “There is bdellium and the onyx-stone.” The Hebrew word for bdellium means “in trouble,” and that for onyx-stone, “their recompense.” Here perchance we get a hint of faith’s connection with the sufferings of Christ and the glories which follow.

It is given to those who find their increase through the anguish of Christ, not only to believe but to suffer for Him; but to suffer leads to being glorified with Him, and so there is both the trouble and the recompense. Both of them bring us in their way into a knowledge of the glory of God. The second Edenic river is Gihon, “the bringer-forth.” It surrounds the whole land of Cush, “terror,” or “black.” Christ is our Deliverer from the land of our terror and blackness. God in His mercy thus brings out of darkness into marvelous light. If in the first river we read the lesson of the cross from the Godward side -God glorified in Christ -here in the second the enemy is in view. But he is a smitten enemy, all his power has been encompassed, he is annulled, captivity led captive, and now nothing can separate God’s redeemed people from His love in Christ Jesus, their Bringer-forth. Thus we can speak of being delivered from the authority of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love. To this end Christ first entered the land of terror and blackness, and came forth as the firstborn from among the dead. Those who believe share in His triumph. Hiddekel, the third, means “thorn of God.” It “goeth in front of Assyria,” “a footstep,” or “to go forward,” and in front lies the thorn of God -the thorn is the significant sign of the curse, which God Himself must bring in because of sin. How man in his every forward move as independent of God, following the inclination of his own will, guided by his own wisdom, meets with the thorn in such a path. Blight falls in some form upon even his greatest and highest achievements, for close by the gourd under which he seeks rest and in which he greatly rejoices, there is the worm which causes it to wither. Then the sultry east wind blows, and man faints. The thorn of God is there. To this creation is subject, and groans.

But, thank God, there is deliverance. There is One who has worn the crown of thorn, but who is now crowned with glory and honor. Into His hand all power and judgment has been committed. He has made peace by the blood of the cross. He will remove the blight of sin from creation, and as the Sun of Righteousness chase away all the shadows of its long night, and under His wings of healing grace and power gather all things together in one. Viewing the lesson here from another angle, we may say that because sin and man’s ruin brought in the curse, it must be borne, the judgment involved be fully endured, if God’s purposes are to go forward to ultimate success.

Christ has accomplished the needed work and all is assured. Then it is no wonder that in the fourth place we have Euphrates, “fruitfulness.” This is the grand result which shall be made good throughout the length and breadth of the universe. Are not the features of this picture again before us in Ezekiel? From the house filled with God’s glory the river flows out, past the altar of sacrifice where the work of judgment has been accomplished, down to the sea of death, removing its curse, bringing fruitfulness and life where barrenness and death had reigned, for the Deliverer has come out of Zion, and creation sings its Hallelujah. At 4,000 cubits the waters are to swim in x10x10x10, the creature brought into the power and blessing of the full manifestation of the divine order as it relates to God and man (the threefold ten).*
These suggestions may help us to see how important a place the rivers fill in instruction as to the blessings of God. But let us go on. We read of the Israelites after the Red Sea crossing, “They came to Elim; and twelve springs of water were there, and severity palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.” By the way we must pass the bitter waters of Marah -sorrow and trial which the cut down tree cast in makes sweet, but rest is found at Elim where the waters flow, bringing forth abundant fruit and shade realized under the government of God (12=4x3), fully manifest in creative goodness meeting creature weakness, which as realized and bringing us into dependence upon God assures the creature’s fullest blessing. Again in this we have the testimony (2) given to God’s mastery over evil, the victory of good (6), through His manifest power to bless (12=6x2). Such waters are sweet and unfailing in the joy and provision they supply. Twice the waters flow from the smitten rock, bringing life and refreshment to Israel’s host. On the first occasion the lesson is plainly that of the Cross, by which alone all spiritual blessing is realized. The second time when Moses was told to take the rod of Aaron that budded and speak to the rock, we get a beautiful type of the resources of Christ in resurrection priesthood, through the exercise of which the living waters flow -flow, as we may say, from the throne upon which He sits. No second smiting was needed. In this Moses erred. The one Sacrifice suffices, and in the power of its abiding efficacy, and of life out of death, the waters now flow down from the Sanctuary where He is enthroned.

These are still waters beside which He leads, and where the green pastures of blessed ministry and fellowship are found for those who know the Lord to be their Shepherd. Ho will be so known to Israel, and among the nations in that day to which Ezekiel refers. Then as the Shepherd of Israel He will feed His flock (Isaiah 40:11 : Ezekiel 37:24), for they will no longer refuse “the waters of Shiloah which flow softly” (Isaiah 8:6). Of that day no more beautiful description than that of Isa 35:1-10 could be given. “The wilderness and the dry land shall be gladdened; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. . . for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and torrents in the desert” (“plain,” or Arabah, the same word as in Ezekiel 47:8). It is then that “judgment shall roll down as waters, and righteousness as an overflowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Jerusalem shall be a quiet habitation, for there “the mighty Jehovah will be for us a place of rivers” (Isaiah 33:21, New Trans.). These and other passages in the prophets show how the symbol of water is used to express the fulness of blessing and fellowship with God. It is also used of God Himself. Jehovah charges His people with having forsaken Him, “the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 13:1-27; Jeremiah 17:13). And the figure in this connection finds beautiful application in the words of the prophet, “Blessed is the man that confideth in Jehovah, and whose confidence Jehovah is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out its roots by the stream, and he shall not see when heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green; and in the year of drought he shall not be careful, neither shall he cease to yield fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8). In relation to the blessing and glory of the days toward which Ezekiel looks we read, “The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them, and shall lead them to fountains of waters of life, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:6; see Notes). Indeed the last passage mentioned gives almost the last gospel invitation in the Book of God, and this may well remind us of how this figure of living water is used to express the precious fulness and permanence of God’s grace in His Son (John 4:1-54), while he who receives from His hand this gift of God becomes a vessel from which shall flow “rivers of living water.” “This He said concerning the Spirit, which they that believe on Him were about to receive” (John 7:37-39). Thus we have life from God in the blessed fulness of His grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit presented to us under this figure of water. Truly, it issues out of the Sanctuary, yea, it is the outflow of God, of Christ, of the Spirit. These divine Persons are the Fountains from whence such waters flow, and of whose very being they partake bringing the recipient into the fulness of God. However true it is that only the blessing and glory of Christianity, and so of what is heavenly, fully express the preciousness of this figure, it is also true that the coming age of earth’s jubilee will enjoy, in the divinely granted measure, like blessing and fellowship in the power of the Spirit and His ministry as then poured out (Joe 2:28-29; Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 18:31; Ezekiel 37:1; Ezekiel 37:14; Ezekiel 39:29). We must not forget that water is also a figure of the Word of God. So the Lord uses it in John 3:1-36 (see Notes, pp. 492 -494), in John 13:1-38, where it is indispensable for communion. In the laver of the Tabernacle we read the lesson of its important relation to all priestly activity (Exodus, Notes, p. 240). This general testimony of Scripture helps us to see the significance and importance of the river which flows from the Sanctuary in Ezekiel’s vision. These thoughts find confirmation as we consider the results of it reaching the Dead Sea -figure as that is of utter barrenness, death, and judgment. The inflow of these living waters so changes all, that life and fruitfulness fill the place of curse and death. Only the stream flowing out from the glory of God, by way of the altar of sacrifice, can transform the wilderness into a garden, overcoming the havoc wrought by sin. Within the limits of the purpose of God “there is nothing -nothing too sunken, too useless, too doomed -but by the grace of God it may be redeemed, lifted and made rich with life.” The chief of sinners has been saved, and he is now in glory. Certainly Israel, new-born and blessed with the outflowing stream of life in the Spirit’s power will be as different in her moral and spiritual condition from that’ of her past history as will be the future physical change of the Dead Sea and its surroundings compared with that of its present existing state.*
Yet the past must be remembered, the work of judgment must not be forgotten: and this will serve its own purpose. “But its marshes and its pools shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt” -the witness of the inflexible righteousness and Changeless holiness of the divine nature, acting in both preservative and sanctifying power. Doubtless from this source of supply will come, as of old, the salt used in the temple service.* God’s grace is seasoned with salt -the preservative energy of the divine will. \

Ezekiel 47:13-23

Section 7 (Ezekiel 47:13-23).The perfect Land, for “the Lord is there.”

1. This final section begins with giving the boundaries of the land. These are essentially the same as those given in Numbers 34:1-15. There is the difference that in Numbers the southern boundary is given first, whereas here we begin with the north. In both cases the Jordan forms the eastern line, the settlement of the two and a half tribes east of the river being a departure from the original plan. This is not given any place in the final arrangement, all the tribes being given their inheritance west of the Jordan. We may note that Joseph is given two portions -Manasseh and Ephraim. This fulfils Genesis 48:5-6; and according to 1 Chronicles 5:1, the birthright forfeited by Reuben was given to the sons of Joseph. Since he has two portions the number of the tribes remains twelve, although Levi is not counted, his inheritance being part of the heave-offering.
2. In addition to prescribing the division of the land to the tribes, the strangers who have settled themselves among them and begotten children among them are to receive inheritance with the tribes. The word for “stranger” here is different from that used in Ezekiel 44:1-31 where the word signifies “sons of the alien,” or “foreigner,” really those brought in through Israel’s unholy mixture with the evil nations around. Here it is one who, though not naturally one of the tribes, has cast in his lot among them. Such are to be as the home-born, and have their inheritance by lot in the tribe in which they live. 3-5. We next have the order of the tribes, first those north of the heave-offering (1-7), then that offering itself is described (8-22), followed by the tribes to the south (23-28). It will be of interest to compare the relations of the tribes as first settled in the land, and this final disposition. Joshua 13:1-33; Joshua 14:1-15; Joshua 15:1-63; Joshua 16:1-10; Joshua 17:1-18; Joshua 18:1-28; Joshua 19:1-51; Joshua 20:1-9; Joshua 21:1-45 give in detail the first allotment of the inheritance, and this has been fully considered in its place. Here it seems only needful to emphasize the relation of the tribes to one another. First, in bringing Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh from the east side of Jordan* an element of division is removed which formerly existed in the nation, and a feature not originally a part of God’s order. Thus national unity and solidarity are established -divided interests and natural barriers overcome.
   Reuben formerly separated from Judah by the expanse of the Dead Sea is now situated next to him. Benjamin who stood between Judah and Ephraim is removed to the south, bounding on that side the holy heave-offering. Manasseh, once divided, is now united and placed immediately north of his brother tribe, Ephraim. Asher, Naphtali, and Dan remain in the north, but Zebulun and Issachar are located in the south, and with them, Gad, who was formerly east of the Jordan. The division of Dan disappears. Simeon remains in the south. It is noticeable that Judah and Benjamin, the tribes that remained faithful to David’s house, are honored by nearest relation to the glorious centre of the Messianic kingdom. “Them that honor Me will I honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” Now let us see what spiritual instruction may be gathered from this new arrangement of the tribes. They are in two groups, one of seven and one of five. It seems evident that we must seek the lesson in this very division, and consider them in the order of a first and second to which the numbers seven and five apply respectively. Group one should yield us truth suited to that number, and also seven; group two, what suits that and five. First, the whole number of the tribes, twelve, speaks of manifest divine government over all creation in realized mastery over evil. Since this is divided into two parts, we may think of a full witness being given to this in the perfection and completeness (7) of the position in which God sets His redeemed people -a position of righteousness and blessing in harmony with the divine attributes and sovereignty (1); and then in the fellowship, service, and relationship (2) in which they are placed in happy union with God, God and His creature reconciled (5 4 +1). With these general thoughts before us, let us see what lessons the first group of seven tribes may teach us. They are in order as given us from the north:
3. Daniel 2:1-49. Asher. 3. Naphtali. 4. Manasseh. 5. Ephraim. 6. Reuben. 7. Judah. In Jacob’s prophecy (Genesis 49:1-33) we read in connection with Dan of Satanic character, the power of evil in manifestation. This can only be met and overcome by Jehovah’s salvation, and for this Jacob expresses earnest desire. But despite Dan’s evil character the prophetic assurance that he shall judge his people points to restoration and the realization of self-government, as far as the nation is concerned, when the day of the lawless one, the false Messiah, is over -a personage linked with Dan it would seem from this very prophecy. So in Dan’s blessing as pronounced by Moses we have suggested the power that overcomes the enemy. His name means “judge,” or “judging,” and he stands for the spirit of rule which must necessarily be realized through the lesson of self-rule, self-judgment, self-government, and this means the truth applied to the whole man. Little does Dan’s history express this, rather is it entirely in contrast to what his character should be.

It is this which makes what Jacob yearns for in speaking of him such a necessity -Jehovah’s salvation. This alone can meet the condition in which man is found, unable to rule himself (or the creation over which he was set as head at the first), dominated by the evil of his own heart, carried about by every wind of Satanic influence, he shows a character and power like that of the serpent. Self-judgment, self-government alone become possible through submission to another will and power, that of God revealed in Christ. Thus man comes into his true place and dignity -the enemy overcome, mastery through grace secured, the dominion of sin broken as made free by the Son. This is the first step in the cycle of divine blessing and perfection. It quite naturally leads to the second as expressed in Asher, “the happy,” for this man becomes when once reconciled to God by the death of His Son. As thus turned from Satan unto God, he enters the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. There he enjoys fellowship with Him, finding in His shadow rapture and rest, His fruit sweet to our taste and His banner over us love (Son 2:3-4, New Trans.). Truly of such it can be said, as of Asher, “His bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties” (Genesis 49:20) . Jehovah’s salvation brings us the bread of life, the food of the mighty. His blessing is that of living fruit, brotherly fellowship, spiritual power in walk, and divine strength, as we may learn from the blessing of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:24-25). “It is of immense importance that the people of God should be known as a ‘happy’ people.

If ’the joy of the Lord is your strength,’ then happiness must have for the soul a large spiritual value. As a testimony to God it can be no less.

One of the characteristics of the true ‘circumcision,’ as given by the apostle, is that they ‘rejoice in Christ Jesus:’ and his exhortation to the same people is, ‘Rejoice in the Lord; and again, I say, Rejoice’ (Philippians 3:3; Philippians 4:4). Such joy is one of the best signs that the knowledge of the gospel has reached the heart, and that the life will be governed by it. It is quite true that feelings may be put in a wrong place, as in the first quest of peace they are almost sure to be. There is plenty of need for insisting on the truth that we are not justified by feeling but by faith. Nay, it is certain that the reception of the gospel with immediate joy is made by the Lord Himself a sign rather of stony-ground hearing than of a fruitful reception of the Word (Matthew 13:20). Plowing up must be before the seed can spring up aright; repentance before God will accompany ‘faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’ where the latter is real and effective.

This is all true; yet, on the other hand, it is no less true that the effect of the gospel -the ‘glad tidings’ -is to produce gladness, and that the apostle prays for believers that ’the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing’ (Romans 15:13). The third character of the ‘kingdom of God’ he gives, after ‘righteousness and peace,’ is ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’ (ch. 14: 17) . ‘The fruit of the Spirit is’ said to be ’love, joy, peace’ (Galatians 5:22). ‘And not only so, but we joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation’ (Romans 5:11).

These passages, of course, define the happiness which they speak of, so that it is impossible to confound it with the mere play of animal spirits, or even the happiness derivable from the hope of salvation. One might have this last, and yet in fact be unsaved. ‘Joy in God through Christ’ is something perfectly distinct and infinitely higher” (Joshua, Notes, pp. 145, 146). In this connection another lesson may be noticed in Asher following Dan. If Dan speaks of self-rule, self-judgment, we know this means exercise of heart and conscience, and these are essential to the maintenance of a happiness worthy of the name. This brings us to Naphtali which means “my wrestling,” not so much with the idea of this going on but as having reached a conclusion in victory, bringing freedom. It expresses the blessedness of that new place in which man finds himself, as Moses declares of Naphtali, “satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord,” so that he becomes as “a hind let loose,” all fear removed, and the tongue loosed to give goodly words which are the sacrifices of the lips confessing His name (Hebrews 13:15). Is not this the first-fruits of the Spirit, the blessing and triumph of Rom 8:1-39? This fittingly fills the third place in the cycle of perfection and completeness. Following on we come to Manasseh, “forgetting” -not in a mere negative sense, but after the manner of the apostle who was “forgetting the things behind,” as absorbed with the glory opened through faith to the vision of his mind and the affections of his heart. Thus for him the rule became, “For me to live is Christ.” Naphtali leads us to Manasseh, to that soleness of object and whole-heartedness of life which finds its portion in the things above, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This is the manner of walk that results from being in the sanctuary where, like Naphtali, we are made “full with the blessing of the Lord.” Is it any wonder that Ephraim, “fruitfulness,” comes next? It must, it ever does, in. such a cycle of blessing as we are considering, and since Manasseh and Ephraim are the sons of Joseph we may turn to what is said of him to learn more fully what belongs to them (Genesis 49:22-26; Deuteronomy 33:13-17). Plainly Christ is very much before us in Joseph, and what is the fruit-bearing of the divine life in man but the being conformed to His image, changed from glory to glory by the power and energy of the Spirit’s transforming work? The wealth of figure and expression used to tell the portion of Joseph, and so of Manasseh and Ephraim, witnesses to the greatness of the abiding power, grace, and blessing reached as we advance in the knowledge of God’s thoughts concerning the perfection and completeness of His redeemed people. Our course brings us to Reuben with whom the excellency and dignity of sonship in its virgin freshness find expression. Such was man unfallen, fresh from the hand of God; but he showed himself unstable as water; like Reuben he fell. But Moses can say, “Let Reuben live and not die, and let not his men be few.” Though worthy of death, the way of life has been opened to sinful man, and now by faith in Christ Jesus he receives that sonship which is of higher order and richer blessing than the dignity lost through sin. It is “according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has taken us into favor in the Beloved: in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of His grace.” This is victory indeed, so Reuben fitly fills the sixth place. We end with Judah, “praise.” “We find the spirit of praise is that of power -necessarily, because God is exalted in it. It is what the fiftieth psalm challenges on His part from His people: ‘Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. . . whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.’ It is this which marks the life that comes from God, that it turns back to God again; and the joy of the Lord is ever its principle of strength. A simple lesson, but, oh, that it were learnt! The ‘wine’ in the portion of Judah is the sign of a joy in which there can be no excess; and the milk may show that here there is not merely stimulus, but nourishment as well, and that in the form in which the merest babe may find it” (Genesis, Notes, p. 129). Throughout Scripture praise is presented as a marked characteristic of God’s redeemed people; it brings us to the completeness of that salvation with which we began in Dan. Let us also remember that the spirit of praise is the spirit of obedience, for it is to be rendered with the understanding, with the soul, and with the whole heart in uprightness, the whole man is to be in the power of it, and this means to find God with us, for He delights to dwell amid the praises of His people.

When the heart is thus fixed, and God fills it, it will be His throne; His judgments will be known and His Word kept. Then the place of our inheritance will be found in immediate connection with the Sanctuary as with Judah here, his border joins that of the holy heave-offering where the throne-house of Jehovah stands. In this cycle of blessing we have traced precious truths of God’s great love and grace which apply to all who are His redeemed, to all to whom the new covenant is made good, as it is to us now and will be to Israel in that coming day to which Ezekiel’s vision refers. But we must now see what instruction we may gather from the second and southerly group of tribes. There the order is: 1. Benjamin. 2. Simeon. 3. Issachar. 4. Zebulun. 5. Gad. In the first group of seven we learn the glorious perfection of the position grace gives. It is God’s purposes and work whereby new creation is accomplished. This is a real bringing out of darkness into His own marvelous light, and thus we reach the Sanctuary as we move onward from Judah. Passing through its holy precincts we come to this second group which, as a second, we might expect to teach us, as already remarked, lessons of relationship and fellowship regarding the divine life. Being a series of five it should show how God (1) is found with His saved creature (4) for the control of its way, the strength of its life, and the enlargement of its capacity to know Himself through the union thus established in His grace. This of necessity brings into the meaning of this number creature-responsibility and the exercise occasioned by being under the government of God.

So from the precincts of the Sanctuary we enter Benjamin, “son of the right hand.” This suggests the place of power and privilege in known relationship. Moses declares his blessing, “The beloved of Jehovah shall dwell in safety by Him: He shall cover him all day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders.” Here is dearness, nearness, security, the overshadowing of Almighty power, and rest as borne up on the shoulders of infinite love. True as this is in a special way of the Church, it will be Israel’s special glory too in the coming age. But all of this for us is connected with the truth of Christ in us, for because we are sons God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, and in this is all our power on earth for the activities of the divine life in fellowship with God whom we now know as Father. It is thus we come to know Christ lives in us, and we not only glory in Him, but we accept Him for ourselves, God having accepted Him for us. Easily enough we pass to Simeon, “hearing.” This suggests communion, Mary’s place at the feet of Jesus hearing His word. “Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors” (Proverbs 8:34). In this Wisdom speaks, but we know that Christ is the wisdom of God, and that He has been made wisdom unto us; and He is the Word. To thus hear is to delight ourselves in Him. It is truly the way of life, and this leads us into what is connected with Issachar. From Jacob’s prophecy we see that Issachar stands for yoke-bearing, though evidently in a slavery that speaks of fleshly indulgence and the vain reward of sin’s pleasure for a season. Here, however, we are rather to think of deliverance through grace from such servitude, as coming to the One whose loving voice calls us to hear and find the true rest. Thus coming under His yoke and learning from Him (Matthew 11:29, New Trans.) -the meek and lowly One who stooped to bear our burden and carry our sorrows, even unto death, the death of the cross -we enter a new service, sanctified by the word of truth we have heard and received, finding in this way the true reward, for “If any man will serve Me, him will My Father honor.” Issachar means, “There is reward.” Thus the blessing of Issachar is realized, for, as Moses declares, he sounds God’s call to the peoples to come to “the mountain,” surely the mountain of the Lord’s house, there to offer the sacrifices of righteousness, a service, a yoke-bearing so different from that of the past, both for Issachar and those to whom he carries the invitation. And this is ever the order according to God, that communion (Simeon) should issue in such service. The heart that is full of the Word must overflow in ministry to others, calling them to the place where the fulness of God is found. Issachar, then in this third place may well speak of walking in the Spirit, sanctified by Him by means of the Word of truth so that we manifest in our walk His fruit. In this our true recompense, “reward,” will be found both now and for eternity. The Lord assures those who take His yoke and learn from Him that they will find rest unto their souls, and so we pass into Zebulun, ‘dwelling with," a doing so in intimacy, as Leah’s words intimate when giving this name. “For where I am there will My servant be also. Is not this John 14:1-31? “If any one love Me, he will keep My word (this indeed is what the communion of Simeon and the service of Issachar involve), and My Father will love him, and We will come and make our abode with him.” Because the apostle so well knew this “dwelling with,” he could say out of the richness of his experience, “My God shall abundantly supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. What a rich gathering of precious and priceless store this means, and so we end this series with Gad, “a gatherer:” a glorious fifth in which the need of the creature is supplied out of the exhaustless treasuries of the divine glory! Alongside the ever-abiding sufficiency of God we have the two governing principles for His people by which sufficiency is appropriated dependence and obedience. ‘Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God that surpasses every understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus. . . What ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:6-9). Thus we reach Gad, the place of increase, for that thought is associated with the meaning of his name. Our truest and fullest enlargement must be found in being with God, who did not spare His own Son that with Him we might receive all things. It is of His fulness that we receive, and grace upon grace. 6. We are now told about the gates of the city.* They are named after the twelve tribes. It is a city in which all have their part and special interest. All ancient jealousies, all strife for place, are over; unity and concord prevail with each one in his ordered place. What we have just considered will help us to the understanding of the spiritual meaning.
We may note that Manasseh and Ephraim have their gate in Joseph. This permits Levi to have a gate bearing his name. Here, too, the association of the tribal names is different from the order of succession in the land. The prominent lesson here would appear to be in connection with the side on which they occur -north, east, south, or west. In placing the names it seems clear that we are to begin at the west corner of the north side and proceed eastward, so passing around the entire city. We have had occasion to consider the quarters of the heaven in the book of Numbers in connection with the encampment of the tribes around the Tabernacle (Vol. 1, pp. 388-393). The significance there given we may use here: “The north (tsaphon) means ‘what is hidden,’ and the reason why the north is called so is because to those living in the northern hemisphere the sun travels through the southern heavens, and the north side of anything is the dark side. Naturally the north itself would be contemplated as the seat of darkness, the abode of gloom and mystery. . . And this mystery, how it assaults us! From the north come the most frequent attacks upon the land, and from it will come the final attack (Ezekiel 38:1-23; Ezekiel 39:1-29). In the sides of the north the Babylonian apostate makes his seat and utters his defiance of the Almighty (Isaiah 14:1-32).

We must not imagine this to be without significance. Nothing in Scripture is; and it is by putting things together that we perceive a meaning which taken by themselves such things might seem to lack.

Certainly in the place of mystery it is that apostasy and infidelity entrench themselves most securely; while upon the forehead of Babylon the Great there is also written ‘Mystery.’” Thus the north tells of mystery, the power of evil, the judgment of God, His ways in providence too, which so often awaken exercise and leave man in his wisdom utterly baffled, and, as we have also seen, it is the place of slaying the sacrifice which speaks of the cross with all its horror of great darkness, but through which after all we come into the knowledge of the wisdom and power of God, so the dark shadow is lifted from His face and there is light from Him which “removes all guilty fear and love begets.” In this quarter we get Reuben, the excellency of sonship, with which there is the blessed unfolding of the purposes of God, and Judah, for all of this is to the praise of His glory, yea, the glory of His grace, making His people an ever thankful and praising people. They have a triumph-song to sing in the face of the north, for God is for us, and who can separate us from His love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? So we now have Levi, “joined.” Forevermore it is Christ and those who are His, His companions, co-heirs, ever together with Him who is the Firstborn among many brethren, the Captain of salvation with His host of sons, all things with Him. Glorious truth! How it thrills the soul and fills the lips with praise “to Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father: to Him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen!” We turn to the east, which we have already seen is connected with the glory of God. There the sun rises, and this always suggests the idea of joy and blessing with the returning day. But the word for east is qedem, “what faces,” or “confronts” you, and thus, as nearly as may be, resembles our word “adversity” from the. Latin, “what is toward” you, only in a hostile manner. The qadim, the “east wind,” is the dry and parching wind from the desert, as the west wind is literally the sea-wind, bringing moisture and rain. These two contrary thoughts to us as Christians so suggest one another that there is no difficulty in their connection.

He who faces in earnest the evil of the world will have proportionately before him that appearing of Christ which will bring its long disorder to an end forever. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand; blessed be God, we who believe in Him are children of the day; “therefore,” says the apostle, “let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).

In this quarter we have Joseph, beautiful type of Christ in all the lowly grace of His humiliation, and then the surpassing glory of His place at the right hand of the Majesty on high -the sufferings of Him who was separated from His brethren, and the glories that followed. These two things are in their measure true of the redeemed, for they learn to suffer with Him and are glorified together, then shall they be conformed perfectly to His image: here the lessons of Manasseh and Ephraim combine, for in the light of the glory and as absorbed with it, pressing forward to it, we “forget” the adverse and evil world, with the result that the mind of Christ possesses us and we become “fruitful” in the power of the Spirit. Benjamin follows -“Christ in us the hope of glory,” so there is present power to overcome: and lastly on this side, Dan who stands for the spirit of rule and judgment. Only do we form a right judgment of the world and of ourselves as we enter into what Joseph and Benjamin speak of, and so too learn how to rule, thereby gaining capacity to rule with Him in the day of glory when the Sun of Righteousness has arisen, bringing an end to all opposition. How good to be familiar with the gate-ways that enter eastward, as well as those of the north. We have had occasion to speak of the south as indicative of relaxing influences, of the way of the world and the pleasures of sin by which men seek to escape from dependence upon and exercise under the hand of God. But this only brings spiritual drought, the soul is parched and barrenness results. In accord with this the word for south is negeb which means “to be parched,” and is applied to the south because of its drought. In this connection we may well think of the discipline of God as exercised over His people, by which they come to know Him better and are made partakers of His holiness and serve Him in righteousness. The patriarchs in their wanderings southward learned these ways of God, and so do we. Here, then, we first have Simeon, “hearing,” and we cannot help but think of that word, “Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it” (Micah 6:9). Submission leads into communion, of which Simeon speaks, and this to that obedient, willing service that brings reward (Issachar): then we find the green pastures and still waters whither our Shepherd leads by rod and staff where we rest with Him (Zebulun). Turning westward we face the sea. “Westward in Hebrew means ’toward the sea.’ And the sea is preeminently in Scripture, as in nature, the type of trouble and unrest, which the word itself signifies in the original. We have seen it in the six days’ work the type of the evil within us, and which remains in us though regenerate, limited, however, by divine grace. It is the evil, moreover, in the negative rather than its positive aspect, and the west wind, as the sea-wind, differs from the east wind, the wind of the desert, in this way. It comes not to wither, but rather loaded with the moisture that revives and refreshes the earth. This is the answer of heaven to the appeal of man’s misery, even though that misery be in a certain sense identified with his sin. As the heaven draws from the bosom of the sea itself the vapors which it pours out again upon the land, so grace is that with which God in sovereign goodness has answered our sin, and the occasion of which has been the very sin itself; for only in a world of sinners could He show grace. How full and exact are these natural types when we come to analyze them.” It is just out of this that we are able to gather our increase (Gad, “a gatherer”), and find our genuine happiness (Asher, “happy”), and in our wrestling overcome, finding victory over all the subtle influences of this world’s things, learn in fact not to love them, as John speaks, and that our faith is the victory that gets the victory over the world: Perhaps we should not pass without notice the oft-repeated measurement of each side -4,500 (45 [5x9] x 10x10) . Here nine appears as an important factor. As being 3x3 it signifies the full manifestation. of what is divine, its complete display. It has been suggested that as the last of the digits it signifies the end or conclusion of a matter. This brings in the idea of perfection and completeness (7), to which competent testimony (2) is given in the display. This fits well with Ezekiel’s vision in which we have traced the summation of God’s thoughts as to man’s blessing in relation with Himself.

So in another way it is all that five speaks of added to the four -the number of the creature and creation. This again is intensified by five, making the forty-five, and this whole is multiplied twice by ten -a full and competent witness to the accomplishment of divine order in all relations Godward and manward. This shows us the character of the Millennial metropolis, and the government of the kingdom; this agrees with the general testimony of Scripture. The same thoughts appear in the final measurement, “It shall be 18,000 round about” (18 [9x2] x 10 x 10 x 10). 7. The name of the city Jehovah Shammah -Jehovah is there.