Ezekiel 47

Ezekiel 47 THE FUTURE LANDIn his last vision, Ezekiel observes the blessing that the people of God enjoy in the new temple age. In that blessed land, the tribes of Israel have eternal possession. Here Ezekiel discusses (1) the transformation of the promised land (Ezekiel 47:1-12); (2) the boundaries of the promised land (Ezekiel 47:13-21); (3) the place of aliens in the land (Ezekiel 47:22-23); and (4) the apportionment of the land among the tribes (Ezekiel 48:1-35). LAND Ezekiel 47:1-12 Since Ezekiel 44:4 Ezekiel has been setting forth the legislation that will govern the restored temple. The entire purpose of that legislation is to underscore the superior holiness of the temple and priesthood of the messianic age. Now he resumes recounting the vision that he had of the temple and its environs. The theological architecture of the previous chapters gives way to theological geography. Water of Life (47:1-7): Ezekiel picks up a theme first introduced by Isaiah, that of a fabulous stream that gushes forth at Zion (Isaiah 8:6-7; Isaiah 33:20-24). What Isaiah mentioned without much comment, Ezekiel develops at length. The point is that the return of God to the temple brings healing and bountiful blessing to the land.

Source of the water (Ezekiel 47:1): He brought me back unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; (for the forefront of the house was toward the east); and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. The angelic guide brought Ezekiel back to the inner court and the door of the house. There he saw a stream issuing forth from under the threshold of the house. The waters were flowing in a southeasterly direction, past the altar, out into the outer court. Course of the water (Ezekiel 47:2): Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way without unto the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. Ezekiel was led out the northern gate of the inner court (the nearer eastern gate was closed; cf. Ezekiel 44:2; Ezekiel 46:1), around the outside wall of the temple complex to the east gate of the outer court. There he saw the waters trickling forth. Increasing depth (Ezekiel 47:3-5): When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. (Ezekiel 47:4) Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the loins. (Ezekiel 47:5) Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. A thousand cubits east of the eastern gate Ezekiel was directed to wade into the waters. They were ankle deep (v 3). At two thousand cubits, the waters were knee deep; at three thousand cubits, waist deep (v 4); at four thousand cubits (about a mile and a third), the waters were so deep that the prophet could not get across them without swimming (Ezekiel 47:5). Lush vegetation (Ezekiel 47:6-7): He said unto me, Son of man, have you seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river. (Ezekiel 47:7) Now when I had returned, behold, upon the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. By means of a rhetorical question the angelic guide underscored the amazing increase in the depth of the water. No mention is made of any tributaries, yet the river increased in volume as it descended eastward through the mountains toward the Dead Sea (Ezekiel 47:6). Apparently the banks of the river were bare when Ezekiel tested the depth of the water. Now he observed a thick growth of trees shooting up on both banks of the river (Ezekiel 47:7).

These were no ordinary trees. They produced a new crop every month. Furthermore, the leaves of these trees had curative powers (cf. Ezekiel 47:12).

Dead Sea Cleansed(Ezekiel 47:8-11) Waters healed (Ezekiel 47:8): Then he said unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea shall the waters go which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed. The prophet is informed that the river of life flowed far beyond the range of vision to the Arabah and the Dead Sea. The lifeless waters of that body of water were healed, i.e., purified, by the fresh flowing water of life (Ezekiel 47:8). The point that Ezekiel is making is this: The transformation that would take place in the life of Israel would be as dramatic as the transformation of the briny waters of the Dead Sea into sweet water that supports life.

Abundant fish (Ezekiel 47:9-10): It shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarms in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come thither, and the waters of the sea shall be healed, and every thing shall live wherever the river comes. (10) It shall come to pass, that fishers shall stand by it: from En-gedi even unto Eneglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. Where previously no aquatic creatures could exist, swarms of fish were found (v 9). Commercial fishermen flock to the shore of the once dead sea. They find the catch as abundant as that to which they were accustomed on the Great (Mediterranean) Sea. Along the shoreline of the Dead Sea they spread their nets from En-gedi (mid-point on the western shore of the Dead Sea) to En-eglaim (exact location unknown; v 10). Marshes untouched (Ezekiel 47:11): But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt. Even though the waters of the sea are healed, the marshy areas about the sea remain in their former state so as to provide the people with salt. Abundant Fruitfulness (Ezekiel 47:12): By the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing. Those who try to interpret the vision of the life-giving stream physically have missed completely the point of the passage. This is a clear instance of symbolism. Fertility and water are virtually interchangeable (Psalms 46:4; Psalms 65:9; Isaiah 33:20 f.). The sheer physical impossibility of a stream increasing in volume without aid of tributaries is a clue to the symbolic import of the text. Furthermore, fruit trees that bear a new crop every month are hard to interpret physically. The main point is that in the new age the temple of God is the source of life, healing and fruitfulness. LAND Eze_47:13-23 Very little of the legislation in Ezekiel 40-48 influenced the decisions of the community of Jews that returned from exile in Babylon. This is not a body of functional legislation; it is an eschatological vision. Ezekiel saw Israel, not restored to former glory, but to a permanent relationship with the Lord.

General Principles (Ezekiel 47:13-14): Thus says the Lord GOD: This shall be the border whereby you shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. (Ezekiel 47:14) You shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I swore to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. In the new age, the land of promise is to be divided fairly between the twelve tribes. It was noted in Ezekiel 44:28 that the Levites were to receive no land inheritance. God had provided for their needs in the temple offering system. Joseph was given two portions, because his sons Ephraim and Manasseh were reckoned as separate tribes. Thus was retained the number twelve for the tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 47:13). In this new allocation, each tribe was to receive an equal portion of land. God had made a promise to the Patriarchs— had lifted up his hand in the gesture of an oath— that the land would belong to their descendants. God keeps that promise. The land of promise finally and forever belongs to his people (Ezekiel 47:14).

That each tribe has an equal portion within the holy land is another evidence that this is a symbolic vision. It was never intended to be literally implement. The topography of the land, so carefully followed in the land allocation to the tribes under Joshua, is here completely ignored. Ezekiel is making the point that all of God’s people share equally in the kingdom of God. Northern Border (47:15-17): This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, unto the entrance of Zedad; (Ezekiel 47:16) Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and tbe border of Hamath; Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. (Ezekiel 47:17) The border from the sea, shall be Hazarenon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. In Ezekiel 47:15­-20 the borders of the promised land are listed. Not all the towns mentioned can be located with certainty. The northern boundary stretched roughly from Tyre on the west to the headwaters of the Jordan. Hamath (i.e., the entrance of Hamath, Ezekiel 47:20) would mark the northern-most point (Ezekiel 47:16).

Other Borders (Ezekiel 47:18-21): The east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border unto the east sea shall you measure. This is the east side. (Ezekiel 47:19) The south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, unto the great sea. This is the south side southward. (Ezekiel 47:20) The west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as over against the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side. (Ezekiel 47:21) So shall you divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. Below the sea of Galilee, the eastern boundary of the ideal land was formed by the Jordan River (Ezekiel 47:18). The southern boundary extended from Tamar near the southern end of the Dead Sea to Meribath- kadesh (lit., the waters of strife, i.e., Kadesh-barnea), to the Brook (i.e., the Brook of Egypt) that ran into the Mediterranean Sea (Ezekiel 47:19).

The great sea (Mediterranean) formed the western boundary of the ideal land (Ezekiel 47:20). Inclusion of Aliens (47:22-23): It shall come to pass, that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you; and they shall be unto you as the home-born among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. (Ezekiel 47:23) And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourns, there shall you give him his inheritance, (oracle of the Lord GOD). The Pentateuch prescribes humane treatment for aliens living in Israel. Such treatment is mandated because of Israel’s experience as aliens in Egypt. Ezekiel, however, goes beyond benevolent toleration. He foresaw a fully integrated society. Aliens who lived among the Israelites would receive an inheritance within the restored Israel of the future (Ezekiel 47:22-23).

Proselytes who embraced the worship of the true God have the same privileges as native-born Israelites. Similar broadminded statements are found in Ezekiel 14:7 and Ezekiel 22:7. The unification of Jew and Gentile in the kingdom of Jesus Christ is thus foreshadowed. Ezekiel Chapter Forty-Seven Verse 1

Here is the vision of the great river flowing from beneath the Temple itself toward the east, a river expanding and broadening, ever deeper and deeper, all the way through the desert even to the sea; and whithersoever the waters of that mighty river shall come, “Everything that liveth, which moveth, shall live; and there shall be a great multitude of fish.” (Ezekiel 47:9) The location and boundaries of the Holy Land into which the Twelve Tribes will be located are given.The Life-Giving River “ And he brought me back unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward (for the forefront of the house was toward the east); and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way without unto the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looketh toward the east; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side” -Ezekiel 47:1-2. Back of all our meditations upon these last chapters of Ezekiel, from 40 to 48, the question has been kept ever in mind, Are we to take this vision literally as indicating something which will be fulfilled to the letter in millennial days, or are we to understand it as symbolic of wondrous blessing which God has in store for His ancient people and for the world, but which He has presented in this form in order that the poor finite minds of His people may get some conception of the wondrous things reserved for them which are utterly beyond human imagination? We cannot help contrasting and comparing the closing chapters of the Apocalypse with what we have here. In considering this vision of the river our attention necessarily will be directed to that pure river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, which John saw in vision as he found himself in spirit on a great and high mountain beholding the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. We are told definitely in the first verse of the Revelation that God sent and signified these things to His servant John; and we have observed that the word signified really means symbolized. There are very few indeed who would attempt to literalize the great visions of this remarkable book. No one expects to see a sevenfold-sealed roll in heaven broken by one who has the appearance of a lamb.

The roll we know is the title-deed to this world, and the Lamb is the Man Christ Jesus seated on the throne of God. Neither do we expect an actual savage brute with seven heads and ten horns (Catholic Church?) to come bodily up from the bottomless pit and dominate the world. We see in this vision the symbol of human government in its last degenerate and atheistic condition; and so when it comes to the vision of the heavenly city we understand that God is using symbols of wondrous beauty and glory to set forth the magnificence and marvelous character of the eternal home of the saints. The river there is clearly the Holy Spirit’ s testimony to the risen Christ, which brings refreshment and blessing everywhere it goes; and we see on either side of the river the tree of life with its marvelous fruits, speaking of the message of the gospel which brings spiritual healing to all who receive it. Now as we consider Ezekiel’ s vision it would seem to be but slavish adherence to literality which would deny the symbolic character of much that is here unfolded. For many, the river in this chapter is a literal stream which will break forth from underneath the temple in millennial days and will divide into two parts, according to Joe 3:18 and Zechariah 14:8; thus linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Dead Sea and giving the city of Jerusalem itself a water-harbor. All this may indeed be true, but that this passage in Ezekiel refers to the same thing does not seem to the present writer either to be reasonable or in accordance with what we learn elsewhere in Scripture. What is the river that proceeds from under the threshold of the sanctuary of Jehovah? Can it be other than that same glorious stream which we have mentioned already, as brought before us in the twenty-second chapter of the Revelation? Of such a river Scripture speaks in many places.

Wherever God rests we find a river flowing. There was one in Eden, a literal river flowing forth from the garden and dividing into four great streams; but elsewhere we find the river spoken of in a spiritual sense.

In Psalms 36:8 we read, “Thou shall make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures” ; and in Psalms 46:4 we are told, “ There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” Observe, this is not a prophecy of some literal river to break forth from the floor of the temple in the future, but at the time the Psalmist wrote, it was a blessed fact, and it is a fact still, that there is such a river of refreshment of which all may drink who are willing to stoop down in repentance and receive that which God so graciously offers. This accords with what we have in the New Testament, “ Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). Our blessed Lord, using the same figure, said, “ If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that be-lieveth on Me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38). He has promised to bless and refresh the dry places like a river (Psalms 105:41); and Isaiah twice speaks of peace as a river (48:18; 66:12); while both the Psalmist and Jeremiah tell us of the righteous man who is like a tree planted by the rivers of water (Psalms 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8). Speaking prophetically of our Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah says, “ A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (32:2). “ A man shall be…as rivers” -what a remarkable picture! But when we realize that this river speaks of life and refreshment we at once see that all this is centered in our Lord Jesus who gives life and rest of heart and conscience to all who come to Him and drink. There are numerous passages to which we might turn, but these are sufficient to show how frequently the Holy Scriptures use the symbol of a river as referring to the grace of God in Christ ministered to the soul in the power of the Holy Spirit. Whether, therefore, Ezekiel’ s vision of a river will be fulfilled literally or not we do not know. Of this we may be sure: it does speak to us today of that same glorious river which is brought before us in so many other places in the Word of God. The prophet was led by his guide to the door of the house, and he beheld water issuing from under the threshold of the house toward the east. He had seen nothing like this before; though in vision he had been led through that court. It is as though now all is seen as completed, and God has found His rest in the sanctuary ; His glory has filled the house, and waters spread forth for the refreshment and blessing of His people. These waters are pictured as running down from the court through the outer gate that looks toward the east and descending on the right side, going on down to the Jordan valley. “ When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through” -Ezekiel 47:3-5. There is something here that is absolutely inexplicable if we think of a literal river. Rivers widen and deepen as the volume of water increases through tributaries pouring into them; but of such tributaries we have no mention here, and yet this river becomes deeper and broader the farther it flows from its source. Is not this true of the river of God’ s grace? How small the apparent beginnings on Pentecost when the glory of God filled all the place where the disciples were sitting, and immediately the testimony to the risen Christ began, and the river has been flowing on ever since until it has become a mighty stream encompassing the whole world. Ezekiel’ s guide measured a thousand cubits-that is, fifteen hundred feet, and he caused the prophet to enter into the waters: they were up to his ankles. May this not suggest the very beginning of a life in fellowship with God? “ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). The feet were in the river, and the waters covered them. But the guide measured another thousand cubits and caused Ezekiel to pass through the waters, and they were up to his knees. Who will think it fanciful if we say that the waters up to the knees suggest praying in the Holy Spirit? But the guide measured another thousand and caused the prophet to pass through the waters, and now they were up to his loins, suggesting the complete control of every fleshly lust in the power of the Spirit of God.

He measured another thousand, and that which had begun as a small stream was a river so that Ezekiel could not pass through, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in. Surely this is to live in the fulness of the Spirit to which every child of God should aspire. “ And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river. Now “ when I had returned, behold, upon the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arab ah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea shall the waters go which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarmeth, in every place whither the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come thither, and the waters of the sea shall be healed, and everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that fishers shall stand by it: from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing” -Ezekiel 47:6-12. Having brought the prophet back in vision to the bank of the river, the guide bade him to consider what he had seen and experienced. Then as Ezekiel continued to gaze he saw that upon the bank of the river many trees appeared on both sides. The guide explained that these waters issued forth toward the eastern region and should go down unto the Arabah-that is, the plain of the Jordan, and thence on to the Dead Sea-that sea which for four millennia has become more and more salty as time has gone by, and yet ever receiving millions of gallons of fresh water from the Jordan; but because of no outlet its brininess has increased rather than diminished, so that no fish can live in it. But as Ezekiel looked he saw that when the waters of this river poured into the sea they brought life and healing; a multitude of living things swarmed into the sea and great schools of fish were seen where before there had been only death and desolation, and all this because “ these waters are come thither.” We are told that, “ everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh” ; and because of this fishers shall stand by it, from the north and to the southern extremity of what had been a sea of death, spreading their nets, taking fish of every kind, furnishing abundant food for untold thousands of people. The miry places and the marshes were not to be healed but given up to salt. This is not yet the eternal condition; it speaks of millennial blessing, for salt tells of the preservative power of righteousness. Not until the eternal state do we read, “ There was no more sea.” The beauty of the picture stirs the heart as we read of trees for food “ whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail. It shall bring forth new fruit every month,” as in the case of the tree of life as seen in the Apocalypse. Who can measure the blessing that will come to this world and to mankind as a whole because of the stream of testimony that shall yet flow forth from the throne of Jehovah, when set up on earth! The remaining part of the chapter might have been better linked with chapter 48 to which it is really an introduction. “ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This shall be the border, whereby ye shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I sware to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. And this shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, unto the entrance of Zedad; Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazerhatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. And the border from the sea, shall be Hazarenon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. And the east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border, unto the east sea shall ye measure.

This is the east side. And the south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, unto the great sea. This is the south side southward. And the west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as over against the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side. So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.

And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you; and they shall be unto you as the home-born among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord Jehovah” -Ezekiel 47:13-23. One can mark out these boundaries by the aid of an Atlas as the pencil moves on from city to city and district to district. It speaks of an enlarged Canaan where there will be abundant room for all who desire to dwell there in millennial days. It is to be divided among the twelve tribes, many of which though lost to man’ s vision are still known to God; but the strangers will be welcomed and will be permitted to share in the inheritance which God is to give to Israel in that day.

Ezekiel 47:1-2

Ezekiel 47:1-2. The entire book of Ezekiel was written after he was taken to Babylon at the time of Jehoiachin’ s captivity. The first half of the book consists to a great extent of chastisement of Israel for the many corruptions committed by the nation. The next half is an extended prediction of the release of Israel from Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding and restitution of the ordinances of the Lord that will have gone down in national ruins. The whole document ia a mingling of literal and figurative passages and intended to encourage the unfortunate people not to lose heart because of their sad state of affairs. Many popular commentators think that the last chapters are a prediction of things to come in the age after the judgment day.

Evidently this is because of the similarity of the figures used to the ones in Revelation 21, 22. There is a striking resemblance between the figures hut that Is because all of the grand provisions of God for the children of men require the finest of pictures to represent them to the human understanding. As to how far the following portions of this book should be regarded In tlie light of the present or the eternal ages, I now insist that the reader again consult the ket at the beginning of chapter 40, The present verse begins the ideal picture with the waters that issued from the house of the Lord. I do not understand that any special significance is to be attached to the directions of the flow of these waters, because so many directions and places are mentioned. It would Indicate the general greatness of the favor of God whatever that is.

Ezekiel 47:3

Ezekiel 47:3. The preceding verses indicate the widespread extent of these waters; this one begins to tell how deep they were. It reveals that for every thousand cubits or 1500 feet at the start the water was ankle deep.

Ezekiel 47:4

Ezekiel 47:4. The good things produced by man often diminish, while those from God never fail but rather do they increase. These waters were ankle deep at the start, and with each 1500 feet a great increase in depth was shown until they were waist deep.

Ezekiel 47:5

Ezekiel 47:5. This last 1500 feet brought the water to the depth that could not he waded, for it amounted to the volume of a river.

Ezekiel 47:6

Ezekiel 47:6. This paragraph is a pause in the procedure to call special attention of the prophet to the scene, also to conduct him to the bank of the river just described.

Ezekiel 47:7

Ezekiel 47:7. This verse begins the language that was referred to in comments on verse 1; that of the similarity of figures used to those in Revelation, Be sure to consult verse 1 again, and also the other notes referred to In that place. Nobody thinks the river and trees and other objects named in Revelation are literal in their meaning, neither should he think that of the ones used here. Both documents intend to picture some of the glorious blessings in store for those who become the objects of God’ s favor, whether they be the saved of earth after the day of judgment (as in Revelation). or the restored people of Israel after the return as in the present passage.

Ezekiel 47:8

Ezekiel 47:8. Sea and waters refers to people generally speaking, but the second word is used in a rather complex sense In this place. Both the people and the stream that flows around or before them are indicated by the waters. Shall be healed is one of the places where the similarity of figures is evident. In Revelation 22:2 we read of a tree that is for the healing of the nations, and in our present text the waters that issue from the house of God have healing in them.

Ezekiel 47:9

Ezekiel 47:9. Whenever a writer adopts a certain imagery for his figurative description of a subject, he usually sticks to the terms that properly belong to the subject. Hence this verse, though really considering human beings, speaks about a great multitude of fish because they are the creatures that live in water.

Ezekiel 47:10

Ezekiel 47:10. The same imagery is continued and In the favors intended for God’ s people are compared to those that would be connected with a good body of water and the advantages connected with It. One favorable thing that would be expected of a desirable body of water would be a successful experience for a fisherman; accordingly, we are told that the bank of this river will be occupied by fishers from Engedi and Eneglaim. These were towns near the Dead Sea where no fisherman could have any success at his trade. But now even they will find plenty of opportunity for their business because the healing waters from the headquarters of the Lord w’ill heal the sea upon flowing into it, thereby encouraging the men to use their nets. Not only will the waters supply good fish for the fishermen, but the banks will provide a suitable place to spread forth nets for drying which would be necessary after a successful catch.

Ezekiel 47:11

Ezekiel 47:11. In spite of all the goodness of God in providing a remedy for the ills of mankind, there are some people who will not accept it. Such folks are here called miry places and marshes which will not be healed. They shall be given to salt. According to Deuteronomy 29:23; Zephaniah 2:9 and some other passages, salt is sometimes used to represent a condition of barrenness. Such was to be the lot of those who rejected the favors offered by the Lord.

Ezekiel 47:12

Ezekiel 47:12. This verse is almost identical in its terms with Revelation 22:1-2 and they are highly of the character belonging to ideal or figurative speech, For further comments on this subject see those on verse 1 of this chapter, and also the KISY at the beginning of chapter 40,

Ezekiel 47:13

Ezekiel 47:13. In “general remarks” at the beginning of chapter 40 a statement is made regarding the last 9 chapters as a group, classifying them among the highly figurative writings of inspired prophets. Such a view has been maintained and the comments have been made accordingly. The place has been reached, however, where an exception should be made to that classification. From here on to the end of the book the ideal or figurative form of speech will be dropped, except perhaps some statements that are unusually strong numerically for the purpose of emphasis, and the language will be a literal description of the redistribution of the land after the return from captivity. But while the nature of the language Is literal, I do not know that every detail of the allotment was to be carried out.

Having no specific history of the procedure as to the land after the return, I shall take up the verses in their order and offer such comments on any technical statements that seem necessary. Joseph , . . two portions. This is according to a prediction that was made by Jacob in Genesis 48:5; Genesis 48:22. This was because the two sons of Joseph, Mari asseh and Ephraim, were each to become a full tribe as indicated in the passage in Genesis just cited.

Ezekiel 47:14

Ezekiel 47:14. An inheritance is something that comes to a person, by reason of his relationship (either by blood or law) to another, God had promised the fathers of the nation of Israel that the land of Canaan would be theirs for a possession.

Ezekiel 47:15

Ezekiel 47:15. The great sea iB the Mediterranean forming one boundary.

Ezekiel 47:16

Ezekiel 47:16. The towns named were for the purpose of tracing the boundary.

Ezekiel 47:17

Ezekiel 47:17. Damascus belonged to the nation of Syria but it was just outside of Canaan. It is named here as another aid in establishing the boundary of the land.

Ezekiel 47:18

Ezekiel 47:18. The eastern boundary according to this description started from a point near Damascus, running through the territory called Gilead and following downward near the Jordan until it reached the Dead Sea.

Ezekiel 47:19

Ezekiel 47:19. This verse gives a general description of the south border, beginning at Tamar for the southeastern corner, and extending through a place called waters of strife (Numbers 20:12), thence to the stream called “ river of Egypt’ ’ (Numbers 34:5), and on to the grea sea which means the Mediterranean.

Ezekiel 47:20

Ezekiel 47:20. The west line was to extend from this junction of the south line with the great sea to the place of beginning.

Ezekiel 47:21

Ezekiel 47:21. Ezekiel 47:13 said twelve tribes and this says tribes without stating any number. That is because two and a half tribes had taken their possessions on the east side of the Jordan, and the outline described in this chapter is all west of it.

Ezekiel 47:22

Ezekiel 47:22. One word in Strong’s definition of the original for inheritance is “ occupancy” which is evidently Its meaning with regard to the strangers among the tribes, The actual possession of land was restricted to the people of Israel, but the Lord was always mindful of the sojourner among His people and instructed them as to how they should be treated (Exodus 22:21; Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:10),

Ezekiel 47:23

Ezekiel 47:23, The word sojourner means one who is a temporary dweller In a place. Hence the word inheritance would have the sense of “occupancy” only as defined in the preceding verse.