He measured a thousand cubits. Ezekiel 47:1-12 Curious things in life J. Parker, D. D. This chapter is a chapter of measurement. Everything is meted out, as it were, by so many cubits and inches. The voice is very dogmatic: — "This is the north side" (ver. 17); "This is the east side" (ver. 18); "This is the south side" (ver. 19); "This is the west side" (ver. 20). "So shall ye divide." Everything is done for us in grand totals. What, then, is the suggestion of wisdom? Surely it is, Lord, teach me where I am bounded, and how I am limited, and help me with patience and eager expectancy to do my little day's work with all industriousness and heart-loyalty, knowing that that servant shall be blessed who shall be found working steadily at his humble lot whenever his Lord cometh. By following out this doctrine of measurement, we shall get rid of a great deal of fret and worry and excitement, and we shall be able to welcome weird-looking guests into the house, and say, For God's sake you are welcome, though we do not know you, and we do not like you at first; the Lord sent you this way; and presently, that weird face will become beauteous as the face of a child angel. How curious is life, and from certain points how utterly unmanageable! From other points of view, how beauteous is life, how well-proportioned, and how easily handled if we would only keep our own hands off it, and let God do what He will! Look at your own industry and endeavour in the market place, and in all the pursuits of business. What a curious law it is that in order to do a few things we must do many. The things you do without any positive or profitable result are really profitable to you in another way. Your disappointments are your educators, as well as your satisfactions. You are taught patience, your ambition is limited if not rebuked; you say again and again, We must do a thousand things by way of endeavour in order to accomplish half a dozen things by way of positive and literal success. What a curious thing it is that though we know that only one can find the prize, yet we all go out to seek for it! We are accustomed to the illustration of a treasure being lost in the darkness, and on the broad thoroughfare. A thousand men get to know that a purse has been lost. It was only a purse, only one individual could find it and take it, and yet all the thousand are looking round and groping about for it. Do you not know that only one person can get that? You know it, but something says to you, Perhaps you are the one person. Could we just have that amount of faith in the Christian Church, we should have a revival of godliness. Here is salvation; let us suppose that only one man can get it: who knows who that one man is? "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." A still more extraordinary thing is this, and curious in its way, that although we know we may at any moment die, our plans are laid as if we were going to live forever. Ask any man how long he will live, and he will tell you he does not know. Ask him if he may this very day die, and he will say, Certainly, this very day I may cease to live upon the earth. Now examine his plans — his plans of business, his plans of home, his plans of education — and you will not find one of them limited to the day. And the most curious part of it is that the man cannot help it. He could not be bound by the sunrising and the sunsetting. He will tell you plaintively that he may never live to see the sunset, yet his whole life is set in plans that shall endure for years and ages. He never says, Tonight at six o'clock, I may be a dead man, therefore I will draw my lines accordingly. He says, Tonight at six o'clock I may be a dead man, but the world will not be dead; the individual may go, but the race will remain; man dies, but humanity abides; and my last act, if it be my last act, upon earth, shall be an act of generous contribution to the progress of the total world. Do not stifle these voices. In all labour there is profit. Even in the things you have done without result you have found some advantage to the soul if you have laboured faithfully. And as for that larger life, we know not what it is, it is enough to know meantime that it is larger. God is always enlarging and ennobling the outlook of man. We might also notice as a curious thing in all this measurement, that when we have done our best there comes a point when we must simply leave results. We cannot follow our own labour beyond a certain point. The agriculturist has done what he can in the field; now, he says, I must wait. I cannot hasten the sun or the processes of nature. So with the training of your children: all you can do is to show them a noble example. You can be chivalrous in the midst of your family, you can give them the best education in your power, you can encourage all that is good and beautiful in their nature, and then you must wait. And so with business. You can apparently be driving your business with tremendous energy which ends in nothing. Really, a quiet industry may often do more than a vehement importance. You can be industrious, faithful, honourable, generous, and having done all you can, not as an atheist, but as a believer in God, you must say, Now, Lord, the harvest is in Thine hands: I have done what I can in my poor little field; Thou knowest that I have spared no energy and no thought: now let the harvest be as Thou wilt; if I come back in the autumn and find this field sterile, the day of harvest a day of sorrow, help me to say, Thy will be done: I will leave it all now; I have tried to be a faithful and honest servant; and then if the harvest be golden, abundant, and far beyond the resources of our accommodation, to God's name be the praise; He always surprises us by the infinity, the boundlessness of His gifts. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Sounding the depth of Divine things It is good to be often searching into the things of God, and trying the depth of them, not only to look on the surface of these waters, but to go to the bottom of them as far as we can, to be often digging, often diving, into the mysteries of the kingdom of God, as those who covet to be intimately acquainted with those things. ( M. Henry . ) Waters to swim in. Ezekiel 47:5 Waters to swim in I. The first thought of the text concerning the Gospel is this, the idea of ABUNDANCE. 1. The abundant provision for the removal of sin and for making us accepted in the Beloved. Here is blood most precious, removing every spot, and a righteousness most glorious, conferring a matchless beauty, a beauty such as Adam in his perfection never had, for his was but human righteousness, but this day the children of God wear the righteousness of the Lord Himself, and this is the name wherewith Jesus is called — "The Lord our Righteousness." 2. God's stores for our sustenance and for our protection.(1) For our sustenance there is bread provided from heaven such as angels have never tasted. There is water leaping from the rock such as the fathers drank not in the wilderness. There is no fear that either the heavenly granary or the celestial fountain shall ever be exhausted.(2) And as for our protection. Think how the Lord's right arm is uplifted, that His power may preserve the saints; how His wisdom goeth to and fro in the earth, watching for their good; how His heart of love beats high with constant affection for them; how the whole of Godhead bows itself to protect the chosen. 3. The provision made for our training and our perfecting. In addition to affliction He has provided all the truth of God in the Bible to sanctify us; He has given us the blood of Christ to purify us; He has sent forth the blessed and eternal Spirit to refine us, and, as subordinate agencies, he has provided all our comforts, and at the same time all our trials, all our companionships with holy men, and all the beacons of unholy lives, that we may be educated for the skies. 4. What "waters to swim in" have we by way of consolations and strengthenings. The Comforter puts into the inspired word a singular sweetness which the most able ministers cannot arrive at, even though they should be, like Barnabas, sons of consolation. 5. Think of what God has done for us by way of making us happy and noble. He has not only pardoned us, but He has received us into His family, and He has taken us there, not to be His hired servants, as we once thought He might do, but He has made us His own sons; and what is more than that, He has made us heirs, and not secondary heirs either, but "joint heirs with Christ Jesus"; so that we have come right up from the place of the slave into the position of the heir of all things. 6. And then, beyond! Think of that which remaineth in Immanuel's land, beyond Jordan. II. Our text gives us the idea of SPACE, amplitude, room. "Waters to swim in." Room enough. 1. First, as to thought. Think of God as He is revealed in Holy Scripture. The Father ordaining all things, according to the council of His will; take the whole line of truth which connects itself with the Father. Then consider the Son as man and as God, the surety of the covenant, the substitute for His people, the intercessor, prophet, priest, and king, the Lord who is yet to come. you have a wide range of thought there. Then consider the Holy Spirit. 2. There are "waters to swim in," next, not only as regards subjects of thought but matters of faith. Oh, how sweet to have something to believe where you get right out of reason's depths! 3. Then, blessed be His name, there are "waters to swim in" not only for thought and faith, but also for love. Some make the doctrines of the Gospel a cold stream, like the waters of the Arctic pole, and love would be frozen if she were to venture into them; but the Scriptures are like the Gulf Stream, warm as well as deep; and love delights to plunge into them, and swim in them. In the agonies of Christ there is, to the contemplative mind, a fulness of love unspeakable, which makes the heart feel, "now I can love here without stint." I can love the dear companion of my life; I can love my children; but there comes the thought, "I may make them idols, and I may thus injure both them and myself." That is not "waters to swim in." But if we loved the Lord ten thousand times more than we do, we should transgress no command in so doing: nay rather, the only transgression lies in falling short. Oh that we could love Him more! 4. There is room for the exercise and expansion of every faculty within the range of the Gospel. There are "waters to swim in," in the Scriptures. You need not think there is no room for your imagination there. Give the coursers their reins: you shall find enough within that book to exhaust them at their highest speed. You need not think that your memory shall have nothing to remember; if you had learnt the book through and through, and knew all its texts, you would have much to remember above that, to remember its inner meaning, and its conversations with your soul, and the mysterious power it has had over your spirit, when it has touched the strings of your nature as a master harper touches his harp strings, and has brought forth music which you knew not to be sleeping there. III. The text has the idea of TRUST, at least to my mind. The text speaks of "waters to swim in," and swimming is a very excellent picture of faith. In the act of swimming it is needful that a man should float in the water. So far he is passive, and the water buoys him up. You must keep your head above water if you are to swim. We are told that the body is naturally buoyant, and that if a person would lie quite still upon the water he would not sink, but if he kicks and struggles he will sink himself. The first sign of faith is when a man learns to lie back upon Christ — to give himself up entirely to Him — when he ceases to be active and becomes passive, brings no good works, no efforts, no merits, to Jesus by way of recommendation, but casts his soul upon the eternal merit and the finished work of the great Substitute. That is faith in its passive form, floating faith. In the heavenly river you must float before you can swim. But the text does not speak of waters to float in, though this is essential. Many people never get beyond that floating period, and they conclude that they are safe and all is well because they fancy their heads are above water; whereas the man who is really taught of God goes on from the floating to the swimming. Now, swimming is an active exercise. The man progresses as he strikes out. He makes headway. He dives and rises: he turns to the right, he swims to the left, he pursues his course, he goes withersoever he wills, Now, the holy Word of God and the Gospel are "waters to swim in." Let us learn to trust God in active exertions for the promotion of His kingdom, to trust Him in endeavours to do good. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The progress and expansion of Gospel influences It began at Jerusalem as a tiny rivulet. By our Saviour's preaching a few disciples were converted. These were the means of the conversion of a still larger number. But at the first, the stream was very shallow, for the whole church could meet in one upper room. Even after the Pentecostal increase it was but as a brooklet. Herod thought that he could leap across it, or could dam it up, but his persecutions swelled the stream. Very shortly after, the watercourse grew broader and deeper, till it attracted the attention of the Roman Emperors, and excited their alarm. They thought that it was time to drain the rivulet, lest it should become a torrent so great as to sweep them away. Their attempts to stay its course only added to its floods. Its current became more strong and wide than before, and on it went from age to age, till at last it had become a mighty river, watering the whole earth, and greatly blessing the nations. It is destined yet to grow until it shall be like the main ocean itself, for "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) These waters...go down into the desert. Ezekiel 47:8 Christ as a river in the desert Though manhood seems to be a dry place, a salt and barren land, yet in the case of this Man it yields rivers of water, — numberless streams, abounding with refreshment. I. NATURE'S DROUGHT DOES NOT HINDER CHRIST'S COMING TO MEN. 1. He came into the dry place of a fallen, ruined, rebellious world. 2. He comes to men personally, notwithstanding their being without strength, without righteousness, without desire, without life. 3. He flows within us in rivers of grace, though the old nature continues to be a dry and parched land. 4. He continues the inflowing of His grace till He perfects us, and this He does though decay of nature, failure, and fickleness prove us to be as a dry place. III. NATURE'S DROUGHT ENHANCES THE PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 1. He is the more quickly discovered; as rivers would be in a desert. 2. He is the more highly valued; as water in a torrid climate. 3. He is the more largely used; as streams in a burning wilderness. 4. He is the more surely known to be the gift of God's grace. How else came He to be in so dry a place? Those who are most devoid of merit are the more clear as to God's grace. 5. He is the more gratefully extolled. Men sing of rivers which flow through dreary wastes. III. NATURE'S DROUGHT IS MOST EFFECTUALLY REMOVED BY CHRIST. Rivers change the appearance and character of a dry place. By our Lord Jesus appearing in our manhood as Emmanuel, God with us, — 1. Our despair is cheered away. 2. Our sinfulness is purged. 3. Our nature is renewed. 4. Our barrenness is removed. 5. Our trials are overcome. 6. Our fallen condition is changed to glory. IV. OUR OWN SENSE OF DROUGHT SHOULD LEAD US THE MORE HOPEFULLY TO APPLY TO CHRIST. He is rivers of water in a dry place. The dry place is His sphere of action. Nature's want is the platform for the display of grace. 1. This is implied in our Lord's offices. A Saviour for sinners. A Priest who can have compassion on the ignorant, etc. 2. This is remembered in His great qualifications. Rivers, because the place is so dry. Full of grace and truth, because we are so sinful and false. Mighty to save, because we are so lost, etc. 3. This is manifested by the persons to whom He comes. Not many great or mighty are chosen. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He calls "the chief of sinners." In every case the rivers of love flow into a dry place. 4. This is clear from the object which He aimed at, namely, the glory of God, and the making known of the riches of His grace. This can be best accomplished by working salvation where there is no apparent likelihood of it, or, in other words, causing rivers to water dry places. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The purifying and transforming power of the Gospel What a mercy it is that the Gospel does go into the desert. Think of what this island used to be, when our sires wandered about in their nakedness among its oak groves. Think of the times when the great wicker image was set up, and the Druids surrounded it, and that image was crammed full of hundreds of men and women, who were all to be consumed in one dread fire, while the people stood by to see their fellow creatures offered to their national Meloch. That is all over now. No longer is the mistletoe cut with the golden sickle, or the fierce deity appeased with blood of men. The missionary came and preached the Gospel; and the Druids ceased out of the land. They were both the legislature and the hierarchy, but they could not stand before the Divine truth. They were everybody then, but they are nobody now. I do not know what may happen here yet,. But I do know this, that when the Gospel comes, the images, the idols, the filthy things, the cruel and horrible things must go. The river of life purified Britain once, and it will cleanse it yet again. "The waters shall be healed." ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The waters shall be healed The modern Dead Sea, and the living waters The remarkable vision, which lies open before us, is exceedingly reassuring to those who are troubled by reason of the dreadful condition of the times — and which of us is not? The prophet bids us think of those waters, drear and dreadful, known by the suggestive name of the Dead Sea! This was the "Chamber of Horrors" of the land of Canaan. The world is a veritable Dead Sea upon a gigantic scale. Such also is the city in which we live: must I call it "modern Sodom"? Every wave that breaks upon the shore of this human lake now seems to wash up remains of monstrous things, unearthly, inhuman, beastly, devilish. London is a simmering cauldron of vice and crime. O God! how long shall it be? In certain respects such is every man's natural heart until he is renewed by grace. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and may be well typified by the Sea of Death. If we could but look into it with such eyes as God hath, what should we not set? Thus the world, the city, the heart are each symbolised by the Dead Sea. Can they ever be purged? Can these waters be healed? According to our text, the Lord saith expressly, "the waters shall be healed." Let us believe His promise, and take heart of hope from this good hour. Here is room, my brethren, for the faith which, like charity, "believeth all things, hopeth all things." I. And, first, to encourage your faith, I bid you to CONSIDER THE PROMISE. 1. We feel sure that this word of prophecy shall be accomplished to the letter in due time, because He that made the promise is able to fulfil it. What can resist the thunder of His word? Who shall stay His hand, or frustrate His design? 2. The Lord will fulfil this word thoroughly. This promise shall not be kept to the ear only, but it shall be fulfilled in the largest conceivable sense. What hosts have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! 3. He will fulfil this word in connection with the present dispensation. To my mind this is clear enough, from the fact that these waters flowed forth from Mount Zion. From this I gather that our God means to use His church for His purposes of grace. "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." We believe that He means to win His ultimate triumphs by the preaching of the Gospel. 4. Note, carefully, that this Divine promise, "the waters shall be healed," will not put aside instrumentality, but when it is fulfilled it will call forth more abundant agencies. The waters run into the Dead Sea, and purify its waters; then fish begin to multiply, and then man's part comes in: "The fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even into En-eglaim." You, slothful Christian men and women, who have never gone to sea in this fishery, will then be moved to the work, and will say, like Peter, I go a-fishing. II. I invite you, next, to CONSIDER THE WONDER OF THE HEALING WATERS, that we may be helped thereby to believe that healing will come even to the Dead Sea of this present evil world, this present sinful Babylon, this present deceitful heart. 1. The wonders of the waters which Ezekiel saw lay in many things. First, consider whence they came. The healing waters flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb. As God is God, He hath decreed and purposed to redeem His people; and in that decree and purpose is the fountain of good to men. These waters flowed in the vision hard by the altar of burnt offering. Learn hence that the one channel of mercy to the sons of men is by the sacrifice of Christ. These waters, though they flowed unseen across the temple area, presently bubbled up from under the threshold of the door of the house. You know who is the Door of the temple of God: by Him we enter in unto God, and by Him God cometh forth in blessing unto us. 2. Note next, as a wonder in connection with these waters, how they increased. You and I have waded into these waters, have we not? If so, we know how they have increased upon us. Do you not see that the God who has done all this for you can do as much for others? Can He not heal the waters of the Dead Sea of our day? 3. Notice what these waters produced. They began to flow, and very soon vegetation came into the wilderness. They flowed into the desert, and into the Acacia Vale, as Joel calls it; and soon, on both sides of the river, there were trees, and, on a sudden, the trees were bearing fruit. Wherever the Gospel goes it carries life, and growth, and fruit with it. 4. As a further wonder, note whither the stream flowed. "These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which, being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed." What a mercy it is that the Gospel does go into the desert! Think of what this island used to be, when our sires wandered about in their nakedness among its oak groves. III. CONSIDER THE EFFICACY OF THE WATERS. I will quit the figure in some measure in order to explain how the Gospel is adapted to heal the wickedness of men. "What does the Gospel do?" saith one. I answer, In the Gospel we set before men the horrible nature of sin, and thus we lead them to turn from it. The Gospel gives man a hope; and that is a grand thing for the degraded and self-condemned. To have a hope that you can be a better man is a great help in escaping from sin. The Gospel purifies men because it gives them Christ Himself to be their Saviour. It brings them the Son of God to be their salvation. Moreover, the Gospel does not merely tell men certain truths, but it gives life, and power, and grace to them. There comes with the Gospel a power almighty, which changes the nature of the man; touches his understanding, and enlightens it; touches his will, and changes it; touches his affections, and purifies them. This power is the Holy Ghost, equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son — nothing less than very God of very God. The power of the Gospel to cleanse this horrible Lake of Gomorrah lies in this: that it touches the heart, it moves the affections, it changes the nature, it renews the entire man. Moreover, it binds men in a holy brotherhood, and leads them back to their Father, and their God. IV. THE LESSON OF THE WATERS. God works in very unexpected ways. The Lord knows how to do His own work, and He does it by apparently slender means. 2. As the Dead Sea has to be cleansed by that stream of water, all that we can do is, first of all, to pray, "Spring up, O Well!" 3. When we have done that, what next have we to do? Why, begin fishing. Go and fish in the streets, fish in the street corners, fish in any little room you can open, fish in the great crowds if they will come to you. The stream is breeding swarms of life; be ye fishers of men. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Every thing shall live whither the river cometh. Ezekiel 47:9 The life-giving flyer J. Bolton, B. A. I. ITS SPRING (ver. 1). The river had its spring out of sight; the fountain. head was invisible; but it proceeded out of the sanctuary of God. How pointedly this tells of the Holy Spirit, the river of the water of eternal life, proceeding out of the throne of God! It is God's own essence, communicated to us men over the Cross of Jesus, and for His name's sake. Hence, St. John says that it proceeded out of the "throne of God, and of the Lamb." When Christ was here on earth as God-man, no one could see where the healing virtue in Him came from; but there it was, issuing forth from the very hem of His garment, so that you had but to touch it, and be healed. He was the house or temple of God, — God's sanctuary; God dwelt in Him, the Spirit rested upon Him, for His redeemed, "without measure." He was its spring for His people; therefore He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me," etc. II. ITS SIZE (vers. 2-5). Here was symbolised the gift of the Holy Spirit to the patriarchs. It was but partial, — here and there, — now to Enoch, now to Noah, now to Abraham. But presently, after an interval, that "man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, and measured a thousand cubits" (a thousand cubits distant from their spring in the sanctuary, but they were still shallow), "and he brought me through the waters; and the waters were to the ankles." The Holy Spirit had a wider and somewhat deeper flow amongst the pious Israelites, represented by such men as Joshua, and Caleb, and the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, and especially by the prophets. Again, another interval, and he measured a thousand cubits (two thousand cubits from their spring in the sanctuary), "and brought me through the waters" (and still they were comparatively shoal), "and the waters were to the knees." The Holy Spirit was evidently increasing His influences just before Christ's incarnation. Nathanael, Simeon, Anna, and others, were "waiting for the consolation of Israel." Again, an interval, and "he measured a thousand cubits" (three thousand cubits from their spring in the sanctuary), "and brought me through, and the waters were to the loins." The holy tide was rising rapidly during Christ's personal ministry. The four Gospels testify plainly and unanimously to the great preparation work through Christ's teaching and miracles amongst the masses. But yet one more interval, and he measured a thousand cubits (four thousand cubits from their spring in the sanctuary), and now there was no going through the waters, — now "it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over." What have we here, but that glorious crisis in the history of the Holy Spirit, that first, sudden, grand outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which is described in the first chapters of the Acts? Depend upon it, the river is flowing as deeply now as on the Day of Pentecost. It is simply that we do not see it by reason of our blindness or feeble faith, and do not avail ourselves of its present and precious blessings. There are rivers in South America rolling down water enough for all the inhabitants of the globe, and yet only here and there a roving tribe knows of them; for miles and miles they are merely sipped by birds and lapped by solitary animals. But are they not there? We should say to the sceptic, Go and see; go and satisfy yourself. Why, when Christ was upon earth, a very river of fragrancy, and healing, and blessing in Himself, men did not recognise Him as such: they passed Him by as "a root out of a dry ground." Now, suppose, because the myriads then alive did not flock to Him, some should deny that He really was in Palestine, what should we say to them? We should say, He was there, but they knew Him not. And so now we say, Here is the majestic river of the Holy Spirit's influence amongst us; but we are blind about it, or we voluntarily keep aloof from it, and so it is no river to us. It is here, everywhere, and in all its efficacy; but what is it to the worldly, the carnal, the trifling, the formal? III. ITS SERVICE. What did this river do? (vers. 6-9). Such is the beneficent, salutary service of this river. It shall only except from its benefits the wilfully obdurate and hypocritical, — those who, having known the truth and felt it, and been urged by it, yet resist its power, and refuse to be fruitful. All others, however barren by nature, shall be visited and blessed, and transformed by it. It shall come unto hearts hard as the nether millstone, and soften them; unto families poor as beggars, and enrich them; unto neighbourhoods which have been desert, and cause them to rejoice and blossom as the rose; unto natures which have been unprofitable, and make them plenteously to bring forth the fruit of good works. In conclusion — 1. Get to know and to remember more thoroughly that this river, these holy waters issuing from the sanctuary, are what you and every fellow creature most needs. 2. Get to realise more and more vividly that this blessed river is about you everywhere, about your path and your lying down. It is the river "the streams whereof make glad the city of God." 3. Get to open your heart to it more and more. You must go into it up to your ankles, knees, loins; nay, its waters must go over your head and wash you every whir; you must put yourself in connection with it by drinking of it, by walking in it, by floating upon it, by conducting streams of it into your own soul. 4. Go and spread the news of it and the use of it far and wide. Tell others round you what it has done for you. Let them see what life it imparts to you, what satisfaction you gather from those fruits which grow by it, what healing from the leaves, how holy it makes you, how calm, how strong. ( J. Bolton, B. A. ) The healing and life-giving river A. B. Davidson, D. D. This beautiful representation of the healing stream rests on some natural and some spiritual conceptions common in Ezekiel's day. One natural fact was this, that there was a fountain connected with the temple hill, the waters of which fell into the valley east of the city, and made their way towards the sea, and long ere this time the gentle waters of this brook that flowed fast by the oracles of God, had furnished symbols to the prophets ( Isaiah 8:6 ). Such waters in the East are the source of every blessing to men. The religious conceptions are such as these: that Jehovah Himself is the giver of all blessings to men, and from His presence all blessings flow. He was now present in His fulness, and forever in His temple. Hence the prophet sees the life-giving stream issue from the sanctuary. Another current idea was that in the regeneration of men, when the tabernacle of God was with them, external nature should also be transfigured. Then every good would be enjoyed, and there would be no more evil nor curse. ( A. B. Davidson, D. D. ) The master-force in character and civilisation W. L. Watkinson. The prophet beholds in vision a stream of water issuing from the temple buildings, and flowing eastwards until it falls into the Dead Sea, making even those bitter, fatal waters rich with life. In the first instance this mystic stream was a symbol of the miraculous transformation which the pious Jew expected the land of Canaan to undergo in order to fit it for the habitation of Jehovah's ransomed people. In Palestine nature was often stern and unpropitious, and large tracts of country were utterly inhospitable. The prophets cherished the expectation that one day, when Israel was wholly obedient, God would renew the face of nature, and all Palestine would blossom as the rose. But these mystic waters demand a still larger interpretation. The thought and aspiration of Israel looked forward to a time when the Messiah would s

Benson Commentary Ezekiel 47:1 Afterward he brought me again 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 stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Ezekiel 47:1 . He brought me again to the door of the house — The door of the temple, described Ezekiel 41:2 . And behold, waters issued from under the threshold eastward — Ezekiel had repeatedly walked round the house, and had surveyed the doors of it, but had not discovered this stream of water springing from under its threshold till now. Thus God makes known his mind and will to his people, not all at once, but by degrees. Dr. Lightfoot tells us, that there was a large quantity of water conveyed in pipes under ground from the fountain of Etam, for the uses of the temple; and some commentators seem disposed to interpret this part of Ezekiel’s vision, of that water. Others think he only alludes to it, or draws his similitude from it, but is to be mystically understood. Whether he allude to any such conduit, or stream of water, or not, that the waters here spoken of are to be understood mystically, will hardly be doubted by any that consider what is stated concerning their direction and course, their continual increase, and salubrious effects; circumstances all utterly inapplicable to the water said to be brought in pipes for the uses of the temple. The fore-front of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under the right side of the house, and proceeded eastward — They did not therefore come to the temple, as if intended for the purposes of washing the sacrifices, carrying off the filth, and keeping every part clean and wholesome; but they issued from it, and proceeded to refresh and fertilize other places. The prophecy of Zechariah 14:8 , that living waters should go forth from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half toward the hinder sea; and St. John’s vision ( Revelation 22:1 ) of a pure river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb, elucidate this part of Ezekiel’s vision, and direct us in the application of it. It is undoubtedly to be understood of the gospel of Christ, which went forth from Jerusalem, and spread itself into the countries around; and of the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost which accompanied it, and by virtue of which it diffused its influence far and wide, and produced the most blessed effects. Thus Isaiah foretold that out of Zion should go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Isaiah 2:3 . At Jerusalem it was that the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, enduing them with the gift of tongues, that they might carry these waters to all nations; and in the temple first they stood and preached the words of this life. But this temple of Ezekiel was not so much designed to be an emblem of the material temple, built after the return of the Jews from Babylon, or of the Jewish Church, which had its principal seat there, as of the Christian Church, the temple built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Jesus Christ is at once the foundation and chief corner-stone; nay, and also its threshold and door of entrance: and from him springs the well, and from him proceed the rivers of living water, which refresh and comfort the souls of true believers, and render them fruitful to the praise and glory of God: see John 4:10 ; John 4:14 ; John 7:38-39 . Through these waters, the places, which had before been a mere wilderness, are made like Eden; and what had been a dry and barren desert, becomes like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness are found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody, Isaiah 51:3 ; Isaiah 30:25 , where see the notes. Ezekiel 47:2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. Ezekiel 47:3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ancles. Ezekiel 47:3 . And when the man that had the line — The angel, described with a line in his hand, Ezekiel 40:3 ; went forth eastward — Went on directly from the east gate; he measured — By the line in his hand; a thousand cubits — Almost the third part of an English mile; and he brought me through the waters — To try the depth of them. And the waters were to the ankles — “The gradual rise of the waters denotes the large effusion of the Spirit, (which was very remarkable at the first publication of the gospel,) and its wonderful increase from small beginnings; as well as most probably some future and large effusion thereof to be poured out upon the Jews and Gentiles, in order to their conversion. And the latter part of the representation, as Mr. Scott observes, may relate to the times when the gospel shall fill the earth, and produce most extensive and important good effects on the state of mankind in every nation. Thus the river here signifies the same as the stone, ( Daniel 2:34 ; Daniel 2:45 ,) cut out without hands, becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth; and the same as the little leaven (which is Christ’s illustration of the subject) leavening the whole three measures of meal into which it was cast; or as the grain of mustard-seed becoming a large plant, like a tree, in which the fowls of the air might make their nests. The emblem may also be applied to illustrate the growth of grace, knowledge, and holiness, in true Christians, who, instead of resting in past attainments, forgetting those things which are behind, reach forth unto those which are before, and press toward the mark for the prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Of such the religion may be fitly compared to the morning light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day. Ezekiel 47:4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Ezekiel 47:5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. Ezekiel 47:6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this ? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Ezekiel 47:6-7 . And he said, Son of man, hast thou seen this? — Hast thou considered, or taken notice of, this vision now showed unto thee? To see, often signifies to take notice of what we see: on the contrary, they are said to have eyes and see not, who do not observe what is placed before their eyes. This is an intimation to us, that it is our indispensable duty to consider well what is signified by these waters, and by their increase and effects: namely, to mark well the progress of the gospel in the world, and the process of the work of grace in the heart; to follow and carefully observe these waters, as Ezekiel here did; to attend to the motions and drawings of the blessed Spirit, and walk after them under a divine conduct. It is good to be often searching into the things of God, and trying to discover the depth of them; not only to look on the surface of the waters, but to go as far as we can toward the bottom of them; to be often digging, often diving into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, as those who covet to be intimately acquainted with them. If we carefully consider the things of God, we shall find some of them very plain, and easy to be understood, like the waters that came only up to the ankles; others more difficult, and which require a deeper search, as the waters which rose to the knees, or the loins; and some quite beyond our reach, which we can neither fathom nor penetrate into, but, despairing to find their bottom, or measure their depth must be content, with St. Paul, to sit down on the brink, and adore it, crying out with him, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Romans 11:33 . Then he caused me to return by the brink of the river — He made me go along by the river side. Behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees — The words allude to the trees planted in paradise, and designed for man’s food in the state of innocence; and especially to the tree of life which grew there. The reader will observe, that many of the ideas in this chapter are taken from the terrestrial paradise; see Ezekiel 47:12 , and compare Revelation 22:1-2 , where the same ideas are carried to the celestial paradise by St. John. Ezekiel 47:7 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Ezekiel 47:8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. Ezekiel 47:8-9 . Then said he, These waters issue toward the east country — These waters are described as taking their course along the plain, or champaign country, (for that is the sense of the word here rendered desert, ) toward the lake where Sodom formerly stood, called the Dead sea, and by Moses, the Salt sea: see Deuteronomy 3:17 . Which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed — These living and salubrious streams, by mixing with the salt and brackish waters of the sea, shall render them wholesome and fit for use; finely representing the tendency of the gospel, and the healing virtue of divine grace, in curing the corruptions of human nature, and vices of mankind. And every thing that liveth, &c., whithersoever the river shall come, shall live — “Even in the Asphaltite lake, or Dead sea, which is so unfavourable to animal life. Josephus represents this lake as salt, and incapable of feeding fishes. Tacitus says, that it does not suffer fishes or water-fowl to live in it; yet Maundrell observed two or three shells of fishes on the shore. Bishop Pococke found its water very salt; and on tasting it, his mouth was constringed, as if it had been a strong alum water. The bishop observes, ‘It has been said by all authors, and is the common opinion, that there is no fish in this lake: the fresh water fish of the river Jordan probably would not live in it. After I left the Holy Land, it was positively affirmed to me, that a monk had seen fish caught in this water; and possibly there may be fish peculiar to this lake, for which this water may not be too salt: but this is a fact that deserves to be inquired into. The air about this lake has always been thought to be very bad.’ ‘The Dead sea,’ says Michaelis, ‘is more brackish than any known sea or salt-well in the world. It contains as much salt as water can dissolve, namely, the fourth part of the weight of the water: and this is the reason why neither men nor animals sink in the Dead sea. If you throw fishes into heavy water, they cannot swim, but fall immediately on their sides.’“ — Newcome. The reader who wishes to have farther information on this subject, may find it in Dr. Pococke and Dr. Shaw’s Travels, or the Encycl. Britan. on the word Asphaltites. Every thing shall live whither the river cometh — This signifies the wonderful and blessed efficacy of the gospel, when accompanied by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and received in faith and love: it communicates spiritual life to such as were before dead in trespasses and sins: it creates them anew in Christ Jesus unto all holy tempers, words, and works, such as God hath ordained that men should walk in them. Ezekiel 47:9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. Ezekiel 47:10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. Ezekiel 47:10 . Fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi unto En-eglaim — En- gedi was in the wilderness of Judah, Joshua 15:61-62 . De L’Isle places it toward the south-west point of the Dead sea; and En-eglaim is placed by the same writer at the north of the Dead sea, where Jordan runs into it. It is mentioned, Isaiah 15:8 , as a place on the borders of Moab, which country lay on the east side of the Dead sea. Bishop Newcome, following the punctuation adopted by the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic, reads, From En-gedi even to En-eglaim there shall be a spreading forth of nets; by which is signified, that fishers should be employed along the whole coast of it, denoting the multitude of gospel preachers, all over the world, labouring to gain sinners to Christ. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea — That is, the Mediterranean; exceeding many — Great multitudes of sinners, of all descriptions, in a thousand diversified forms of guilt and wretchedness, shall be brought to God by the word of these preachers, these fishers of men. So that this is a further amplification of what is said in Ezekiel 47:8 , that the waters should be healed, and strongly illustrates the salutary effect of the gospel, and the multitude of converts that should be made in the Gentile countries, even in the most idolatrous, ignorant, and wicked. Ezekiel 47:11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. Ezekiel 47:11 . But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed — “There shall still remain some marshes, creeks, or swamps, into which these healing waters shall not find an entrance; and these must be left incurably sterile and worthless.” — Scott. This represents the case of those countries or individuals, who either utterly reject the gospel, or, though they profess to receive it, do not obey and walk according to it, but hold the truth in unrighteousness. They shall be given to salt — The gospel is the only healing medicine for the disorders of our fallen nature, and they who will not receive it in the love of it, remain incurable, and are abandoned to final ruin. The Hebrew language often expresses irremediable barrenness and unprofitableness by being given up to salt, saltness being equivalent to barrenness in that language. When Abimelech destroyed Sichem, he sowed the ground whereon it stood with salt, to denote that it should never be cultivated or inhabited again, Jdg 9:45 . Ezekiel 47:12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. Ezekiel 47:12 . And by the river, upon the bank thereof, shall grow all trees for meat — See the note on Ezekiel 47:7 . By these trees may be understood, “the plenteous provisions of the gospel, the precious promises of the sacred word, and the privileges of believers, as communicated to their souls by the quickening Spirit. These abound on each side of the river, wherever the gospel is successfully preached; they afford nourishment and delight to the souls of men; they never fade or wither; they are various, according to the variety of circumstances and occasions in the experience of Christians; (as if a tree should yield a succession of different kinds of fruit, through the months of the year;) and even the leaves serve as medicines to their souls. The warnings and reproofs of the word, and the salutary corrections of their Father’s rod, though generally less valued, and always less pleasant, than divine consolations, yet tend to cure their maladies, and restore them to holiness and happiness.” — Scott. Most expositors, however, consider these trees as emblematical of true, spiritual Christians, termed by Isaiah, trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, Isaiah 61:3 , set by the rivers of water, the waters of the sanctuary, Psalm 1:3 , grafted into Christ, the tree of life, and, by virtue of their union with him, made trees of life too, rooted in him, Colossians 2:7 . There is a great variety of these trees, through the diversity of gifts with which they are endued by that one Spirit which works all in all. They grow on the bank of the river, for they keep close to holy ordinances, and through them derive sap and virtue from Christ. They are fruit-trees, designed, as the fig-tree and the olive, to honour with their fruits both God and man, Jdg 9:9 . The fruit thereof shall be for meat, for the lips of the righteous feed many, and the fruits of their righteousness are many ways beneficial. The very leaves of these trees are for medicine, or, as the margin has it, for bruises and sores. True Christians, with their good discourses, the leaves of the trees of righteousness, as well as with their beneficent actions, which are their fruits, do good to those about them: they strengthen the weak, and bind up the broken-hearted. Their cheerfulness does good like a medicine, not only to themselves, but to others also. And their leaf shall not fade — They shall be enabled, by the grace of God, to persevere in their piety and usefulness, having not only life in their root, but sap in all their branches. Therefore their profession shall not wither, nor their discourse lose its healing, strengthening virtue. Neither shall their fruit be consumed — That is, they shall not cease to bear fruit, retaining still the principles of their fruitfulness; but shall bring it forth even in old age. Or, the reward of their fruitfulness shall abide for ever; they shall produce fruit that shall abound to their account at the appearing of Jesus Christ, fruit to life eternal. They shall bring forth new fruit according to their months — Some in one month and others in another; or, each one of them shall bring forth fruit monthly; which signifies a constant disposition, desire, resolution, and endeavour to bear fruit, and that they shall never be weary of well-doing. And the reason of this extraordinary fruitfulness is, because their waters issue out of the sanctuary — It is not to be ascribed to their own wisdom, power, or goodness, or to any thing in themselves, but to the continual supplies of divine grace, with which they are watered every moment, Isaiah 27:3 . For, whoever may be the instrument of planting them, it is divine grace which gives the increase. The reader will observe, that this part of Ezekiel’s vision is evidently referred to and almost copied by St. John, Revelation 22:2 , who applies it to the salvation of Christ, begun on earth, and perfected in heaven. This whole passage, from Ezekiel 47:1-12 inclusive, as Bishop Newcome observes, “is one of the most striking allegories in the Hebrew Scriptures,” and must so necessarily have a mystical and spiritual meaning, that from thence we are compelled to conclude that all the other parts of the vision, from the beginning of the xlth to the cud of the xlviiith chapter, must have such a meaning also; and that whatever allusion the prophet’s description of the temple, its courts. &c., and the division of the land to the prince, priests, and tribes, might have to Solomon’s temple, or to that built after the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the former divisions of the country; yet that the vision was principally intended of the spiritual temple of the Christian Church, and of its great extent, prosperity, and glory in the latter days, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved. Ezekiel 47:13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. Ezekiel 47:13 . This shall be the border, &c. — The borders described in the following part of this chapter shall be the limits or boundaries of your country; whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel — By the several captivities both of Israel and Judah, the several limits or borders, belonging to the inheritance of each tribe, were obliterated and forgotten; whereupon a new boundary and division are here made of the holy land. “The allotment of the land,” says Grotius, “made here, and in the next chapter, would have taken place, had the ten tribes in general, as well as Judah and Benjamin, turned themselves to the worship of the true God: for if so, they, as well as Judah and Benjamin, would have obtained a restoration. But only some part of them returned with Judah and Benjamin, with whom they settled in common in the land of Judea.” This may, perhaps, be the literal sense of the following part of the prophecy; but, without question, a mystical sense is implied under this literal description, as well as in all the preceding parts of the vision. Joseph shall have two portions — Upon Reuben’s forfeiting his birthright, the double portion, belonging to the firstborn, accrued to Joseph and his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, according to Jacob’s own appointment. Ezekiel 47:14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. Ezekiel 47:14 . And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another — Namely, the ten tribes which are scattered abroad as well as Judah and Benjamin. These two tribes, together with some of the families of the tribe of Levi, made up the principal part of those who returned from the Babylonish captivity; by which it appears, that this prophecy has not yet been fulfilled, but relates to the general restoration of the Jews and Israelites, an event often foretold in the prophecies of the Old Testament. And this land shall fall unto you for inheritance — Here is an allusion to the manner of their first acquiring the possession of the land, which was by lot, by which means all controversies were prevented, the lot referring all things to the divine designation and appointment. Ezekiel 47:15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; Ezekiel 47:15-17 . This shall be the border toward the north — The northern border of the land was to begin from the west point, on which side lay the Mediterranean sea, and to go on northward toward Hethlon, a place between Tyre and Damascus, and so forward to Zedad, mentioned Numbers 34:8 , Hamath, and other places here mentioned in these verses. Ezekiel 47:16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran. Ezekiel 47:17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side. Ezekiel 47:18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side. Ezekiel 47:18 . And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran — The city Aurana, and the district Auranitis, the north-east limit of the Holy Land. Damascus lay more northerly than Hauran, but the country called Auranitis might reach near it. Gilead is well known to have been a long tract of land, which was extended to the country of Sihon king of the Amorites. From the land of Israel by Jordan — From the northern limits of the land of Israel near Cesarea Philippi, or Dan, where the river Jordan takes its rise. Unto the east sea — That is, the Dead sea, or the lake of Sodom: see Ezekiel 47:8 . Ezekiel 47:19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward. Ezekiel 47:19 . And the south side southward — The southern frontier shall be from En-gedi, called Hazazon-tamar, 2 Chronicles 20:2 , to the waters of Meribah, or strife, in Kadesh, in the south limit of Judah, and from thence to the river of Egypt, namely, Besor, which runs into the sea not far from Gaza. Ezekiel 47:20 The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side. Ezekiel 47:20 . The west side shall be the great sea from the border — That is, from the southern border, mentioned in the foregoing verse. Till a man come over against Hamath — Or rather, till a man come to Hamath, the northern point toward the west frontier. Ezekiel 47:21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. Ezekiel 47:22 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, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. Ezekiel 47:22 . Ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you — See the note on Ezekiel 47:14 . And to the strangers that sojourn among you — Foreigners never before had the privilege of purchasing or possessing any inheritance among the Jews; so this mystically denotes the incorporating the Gentiles into the same church with the Jews, making them fellow-heirs, and of the same body with them by the gospel, Ephesians 3:6 . They shall have inheritance with you among the tribes, &c. — In whatsoever tribe they sojourn, as it is expressed in the next verse. Ezekiel 47:23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Ezekiel 47:1 Afterward he brought me again 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 stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. RENEWAL AND ALLOTMENT OF THE LAND Ezekiel 47:1-23 ; Ezekiel 48:1-35 IN the first part of the forty-seventh chapter the visionary form of the revelation, which had been interrupted by the important series of communications on which we have been so long engaged, is again resumed. The prophet, once more under the direction of his angelic guide, sees a stream of water issuing from the Temple buildings and flowing eastward into the Dead Sea. Afterwards he receives another series of directions relating to the boundaries of the land and its division among the twelve tribes. With this the vision and the book find their appropriate close. I. The Temple stream, to which Ezekiel’s attention is now for the first time directed, is a symbol of the miraculous transformation which the land of Canaan is to undergo in order to fit it for the habitation of Jehovah’s ransomed people. Anticipations of a renewal of the face of nature are a common feature of Messianic prophecy. They have their roots in the religious interpretation of the possession of the land as the chief token of the Divine blessing on the nation. In the vicissitudes of agricultural or pastoral life the Israelite read the reflection of Jehovah’s attitude towards Himself and His people: fertile seasons and luxuriant harvests were the sign of His favour; drought and famine were the proof that He was offended. Even at the best of times, however, the condition of Palestine left much to be desired from the husbandman’s point of view, especially in the kingdom of Judah. Nature was often stern and unpropitious, the cultivation of the soil was always attended with hardship and uncertainty, large tracts of the country were given over to irreclaimable barrenness. There was always a vision of better things possible, and in the last days the prophets cherished the expectation that that vision would be realised. When all causes of offence are removed from Israel and Jehovah smiles on His people, the land will blossom into supernatural fertility, the ploughman overtaking the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, the mountains dropping new wine and the hills melting. { Amos 9:13 } Such idyllic pictures of universal plenty and comfort abound in the writings of the prophets, and are not wanting in the pages of Ezekiel. We have already had one in the description of the blessings of the Messianic kingdom; and we shall see that in this closing vision a complete remodelling of the land is presupposed, rendering it all alike suitable for the habitation of the tribes of Israel. The river of life is the most striking presentation of this general conception of Messianic felicity. It is one of those vivid images from Eastern life which, through the Apocalypse, have passed into the symbolism of Christian eschatology. "And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruits every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." { Revelation 22:1-2 } So writes the seer of Patmos, in words whose music charms the ear even of those to whom running water means much less than it did to a native of thirsty Palestine. But John had read of the mystic river in the pages of his favourite prophet before he saw it in vision. The close resemblance between the two pictures leaves no doubt that the origin of the conception is to be sought in Ezekiel’s vision. The underlying religious truth is the same in both representations, that the presence of God is the source from which the influences flow forth that renew and purify human existence. The tree of life on each bank of the river, which yields its fruit every month and whose leaves are for healing, is a detail transferred directly from Ezekiel’s imagery to fill out the description of the glorious city of God into which the nations of them that are saved are gathered. But with all its idealism, Ezekiel’s conception presents many points of contact with the actual physiography of Palestine; it is less universal and abstract in its significance than that of the Apocalypse. The first thing that might have suggested the idea to the prophet is that the Temple mount had at least one small stream, whose "soft-flowing" waters were already regarded as a symbol of the silent and unobtrusive influence of the Divine presence in Israel. { Isaiah 8:6 } The waters of this stream flowed eastward, but they were too scanty to have any appreciable effect on the fertility of the region through which they passed. Further, to the southeast of Jerusalem, between it and the Dead Sea, stretched the great wilderness of Judah, the most desolate and inhospitable tract in the whole country. There the steep declivity of the limestone range refuses to detain sufficient moisture to nourish the most meagre vegetation, although the few spots where wells are found, as at Engedi, are clothed with almost tropical luxuriance. To reclaim these barren slopes and render them fit for human industry, the Temple waters are sent eastward, making the desert to blossom as the rose. Lastly, there was the Dead Sea itself, in whose bitter waters no living thing can exist, the natural emblem of resistance to the purposes of Him who is the God of life. These different elements of the physical reality were familiar to Ezekiel, and come back to mind as he follows the course of the new Temple river, and observes the wonderful transformation which it is destined to effect. He first sees it breaking forth from the wall of the Temple at the right-hand side of the entrance, and flowing eastward through the courts by the south side of the altar. Then at the outer wall he meets it rushing from the south side of the eastern gate, and still pursuing its easterly course. At a thousand cubits from the sanctuary it is only ankle-deep, but at successive distances of a thousand cubits it reaches to the knees, to the loins, and becomes finally an impassable river. The stream is of course miraculous from source to mouth. Earthly rivers do not thus broaden and deepen as they flow, except by the accession of tributaries, and tributaries are out of the question here. Thus it flows on, with its swelling volume of water, through "the eastern circuit," "down to the Arabah" (the trough of the Jordan and the Dead Sea), and reaching the sea it sweetens its waters so that they teem with fishes of all kinds like those of the Mediterranean. Its uninviting shores become the scene of a busy and thriving industry; fishermen ply their craft from Engedi to Eneglaim, and the food supply of the country is materially increased. The prophet may not have been greatly concerned about this, but one characteristic detail illustrates his careful forethought in matters of practical utility. It is from the Dead Sea that Jerusalem has always obtained its supply of salt. The purification of this lake might have its drawbacks if the production of this indispensable commodity should be interfered with. Salt, besides its culinary uses, played an important part in the Temple ritual, and Ezekiel was not likely to forget it. Hence the strange but eminently practical provision that the shallows and marshes at the south end of the lake shall be exempted from the influence of the healing waters. "They are given for salt." ( Ezekiel 47:11 ). We may venture to draw one lesson for our own instruction from this beautiful prophetic image of the blessings that flow from a pure religion. The river of God has its source high up in the mount where Jehovah dwells in inaccessible holiness, and where the white-robed priests minister ceaselessly before Him; but in its descent it seeks out the most desolate and unpromising region in the country and turns it into a garden of the Lord. While the whole land of Israel is to be renewed and made to minister to the good of man in fellowship with God, the main stream of fertility is expended in the apparently hopeless task of reclaiming the Judean desert and purifying the Dead Sea. It is an emblem of the earthly ministry of Him who made Himself the friend of publicans and sinners, and lavished the resources of His grace and the wealth of His affection on those who were deemed beyond ordinary possibility of salvation. It is to be feared, however, that the practice of most Churches has been too much the reverse of this. They have been tempted to confine the water of life within fairly respectable channels, amongst the prosperous and contented, the occupants of happy homes, where the advantages of religion are most likely to be appreciated. That seems to have been found the line of least resistance, and in times when spiritual life has run low it has been counted enough to keep the old ruts filled and leave the waste places and stagnant waters of our civilisation ill provided with the means of grace. Nowadays we are sometimes reminded that the Dead Sea must be drained before the gospel can have a fair chance of influencing human lives, and there may be much wisdom in the suggestion. A vast deal of social drainage may have to be accomplished before the word of God has free course. Unhealthy and impure conditions of life may be mitigated by wise legislation, temptations to vice may be removed, and vested interests that thrive on the degradation of human lives may be crushed by the strong arm of the community. But the true spirit of Christianity can neither be confined to the watercourses of religious habit, nor wait for the schemes of the social reformer. Nor will it display its powers of social salvation until it carries the energies of the Church into the lowest haunts of vice and misery with an earnest desire to seek and to save that which is lost. Ezekiel had his vision, and he believed in it. He believed in the reality of God’s presence in the sanctuary and in the stream of blessings that flowed from His throne, and he believed in the possibility of reclaiming the waste places of his country for the kingdom of God. When Christians are united in like faith in the power of Christ and the abiding presence of His Spirit, we may expect to see times of refreshing from the presence of God and the whole earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. II. Ezekiel’s map of Palestine is marked by something of the same mathematical regularity which was exhibited in his plan of the Temple. His boundaries are like those we sometimes see on the map of a newly settled country like America or Australia-that is to say, they largely follow the meridian lines and parallels of latitude, but take advantage here and there of natural frontiers supplied by rivers and mountain ranges. This is absolutely true of the internal divisions of the land between the tribes. Here the northern and southern boundaries are straight lines running east and west over hill and dale, and terminating at the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Valley, which form of course the western and eastern limits. As to the external delimitation of the country it is unfortunately not possible to speak with certainty. The eastern frontier is fixed by the Jordan and the Dead Sea so far as they go, and the western is the sea. But on the north and south the lines of demarcation cannot be traced, the places mentioned being nearly all unknown. The north frontier extends from the sea to a place called Hazar-enon, said to lie on the border of Hauran. It passes the "entrance to Hamath," and has to the north not only Hamath, but also the territory of Damascus. But none of the towns through which it passes-Hethlon, Berotha, Sibraim-can be identified, and even its general direction is altogether uncertain. From Hazar-enon the eastern border stretches southward till it reaches the Jordan, and is prolonged south of the Dead Sea to a place called Tamar, also unknown. From this we proceed westwards by Kadesh till we strike the river of Egypt, the Wady el-Arish, which carries the boundary to the sea. It will be seen that Ezekiel, for reasons on which it is idle to speculate, excludes the transjordanic territory from the Holy Land. Speaking broadly, we may say that he treats Palestine as a rectangular strip of country, which he divides into transverse sections of indeterminate breadth, and then proceeds to parcel out these amongst the twelve tribes. A similar obscurity rests on the motives which determined the disposition of the different tribes within the sacred territory. We can understand, indeed, why seven tribes are placed to the north and only five to the south of the capital and the sanctuary. Jerusalem lay much nearer the south of the land, and in the original distribution all the tribes had their settlements to the north of it except Judah and Simeon. Ezekiel’s arrangement seems thus to combine a desire for symmetry with a recognition of the claims of historical and geographic reality. We can also see that to a certain extent the relative positions of the tribes correspond with those they held before the Exile, although of course the system requires that they shall lie in a regular series from north to south. Dan, Asher, and Naphtali are left in the extreme north, Manasseh and Ephraim to the south of them, while Simeon lies as of old in the south with one tribe between it and the capital. But we cannot tell why Benjamin should be placed to the south and Judah to the north of Jerusalem, why Issachar and Zebulun are transferred from the far north to the south, or why Reuben and Gad are taken from the east of the Jordan to be settled one to the north and the other to the south of the city. Some principle of arrangement there must have been in the mind of the prophet, and several have been suggested; but it is perhaps better to confess that we have lost the key to his meaning. The prophet’s interest is centred on the strip of land reserved for the sanctuary and public purposes, which is subdivided and measured out with the utmost precision. It is twenty-five thousand cubits (about eight and one-third miles) broad, and extends right across the country. The two extremities east and west are the crown lands assigned to the prince for the purposes we have already seen. In the middle a square of twenty-five thousand cubits is marked off; this is the "oblation" or sacred offering of land, in the middle of which the Temple stands. This again is subdivided into three parallel sections, as shown in the accompanying diagram. The most northerly, ten thousand cubits in breadth, is assigned to the Levites; the central portion, including the sanctuary, to the priests; and the remaining five thousand cubits is a "profane place" for the city and its common lands. The city itself is a square of four thousand five hundred cubits, situated in the middle of this southmost section of the oblation. With its free space of two hundred and fifty cubits in width belting the wall it fills the entire breadth of the section: the communal possessions flanking it on either hand, just as the prince’s domain does the "oblation" as a whole. The produce of these lands is "for food to them that ‘serve’ ( i.e ., inhabit) the city." ( Ezekiel 48:18 ) Residence in the capital, it appears, is to be regarded as a public service. The maintenance of the civic life of Jerusalem was an object in which the whole nation was interested, a truth symbolised by naming its twelve gates after the twelve sons of Jacob. Hence, also, its population is to be representative of all the tribes of Israel, and whoever comes to dwell there is to have a share in the land belonging to the city. ( Ezekiel 48:19 ) But evidently the legislation on this point is incomplete. How were the inhabitants of the capital to be chosen out of all the tribes? Would its citizenship be regarded as a privilege or as a onerous responsibility? Would it be necessary to make a selection out of a host of applications, or would special inducements have to be offered to procure a sufficient population? To these questions the vision furnishes no answer, and there is nothing to show whether Ezekiel contemplated the possibility that residence in the new city might present few attractions and many disadvantages to an agricultural community such as he had in view. It is a curious incident of the return from the Exile that the problem of peopling Jerusalem emerged in a more serious form than Ezekiel from his ideal point of view could have foreseen. We read that "the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine parts in [other] cities. And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem." { Nehemiah 11:1-2 } There may have been causes for this general reluctance which are unknown to us, but the principal reason was doubtless the one which has been hinted at, that the new colony lived mainly by agriculture, and the district in the immediate vicinity of the capital was not sufficiently fertile to support a large agricultural population. The new Jerusalem was at first a somewhat artificial foundation, and a city too largely developed for the resources of the community of which it was the centre. Its existence was necessary more for the protection and support of the Temple than for the ordinary ends of civilisation; and hence to dwell in it was for the majority an act of self-sacrifice by which a man was felt to deserve well of his country. And the only important difference between the actual reality and Ezekiel’s ideal is that in the latter the supernatural fertility of the land and the reign of universal peace obviate the difficulties which the founders of the post-exilic theocracy had to encounter. This seeming indifference of the prophet to the secular interests represented by the metropolis strikes us as a singular feature in his programme. It is strange that the man who was so thoughtful about the salt-pans of the Dead Sea should pass so lightly over the details of the reconstruction of a city. But we have had several intimations that this is not the department of things in which Ezekiel’s hold on reality is most conspicuous. We have already remarked on the boldness of the conception which changes the site of the capital in order to guard the sanctity of the Temple. And now, when its situation and form are accurately defined, we have no sketch of municipal institutions, no hint of the purposes for which the city exists, and no glimpse of the busy and varied activities which we naturally connect with the name. If Ezekiel thought of it at all, except as existing on paper, he was probably interested in it as furnishing the representative congregation on minor occasions of public worship, such as the Sabbaths and new moons, When the whole people could not be expected to assemble. The truth is that the idea of the city in the vision is simply an abstract religious symbol, a sort of epitome and concentration of theocratic life. Like the figure of the prince in earlier chapters, it is taken from the national institutions which perished at the Exile; the outline is retained, the typical significance is enhanced, but the form is shadowy and indistinct, the colour and variety of concrete reality are absent. It was perhaps a stage through which political conceptions had to pass before their religious meaning could be apprehended. And yet the fact that the symbol of the Holy City is preserved is deeply suggestive and indeed scarcely less important in its own way than the retention of the type of the king. Ezekiel can no more think of the land without a capital than of the state without a prince. The word "city"-synonym of the fullest and most intense form of life, of life regulated by law and elevated by devotion to a common ideal, in which every worthy faculty of human nature is quickened by the close and varied intercourse of men with each other-has definitely taken its place in the vocabulary of religion. It is there, not to be superseded, but to be refined and spiritualised, until the city of God, glorified in the praises of Israel, becomes the inspiration of the loftiest thought and the most ardent longing of Christendom. And even for the perplexing problems that the Church has to face at this day there is hardly a more profitable exercise of the Christian imagination than to dream with practical intent of the consecration of civic life through the subjection of all its influences to the ends of the Redeemer’s kingdom. On the other hand we must surely recognise that this vision of a Temple and a city separated from each other-where religious and secular interests are as it were concentrated at different points, so that the one may be more effectually subordinated to the other-is not the final and perfect vision of the kingdom of God. That ideal has played a leading and influential part in the history of Christianity. It is essentially the ideal formulated in Augustine’s great work on the city of God, which ruled the ecclesiastical polity of the mediaeval Church. The State is an unholy institution; it is an embodiment of the power of this present evil world: the true city of God is the visible Catholic Church, and only by subjection to the Church can the State be redeemed from itself and be made a means of blessing. That theory served a providential purpose in preserving the traditions of Christianity through dark and troubled ages, and training the rude nations of Europe in purity and righteousness and reverence for that by which God makes Himself known. But the Reformation was, amongst other things, a protest against this conception of the relation of Church to State, of the sacred to the secular. By asserting the right of each believer to deal with Christ directly, without the mediation of Church or priest it broke down the middle wall of partition between religion and everyday duty; it sanctified common life by showing how a man may serve God as a citizen in the family or the workshop better than in the cloister or at the altar. It made the kingdom of God to be a present power wherever there are lives transformed by love to Christ and serving their fellow men for His sake. And if Catholicism may find some plausible support for its theory in Ezekiel and the Old Testament theocracy in general, Protestants may perhaps with better right appeal to the grander ideal represented by the new Jerusalem of the Apocalypse-the city that needs no Temple, because the Lord Himself is in her midst. "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." { Revelation 21:2-3 ; Revelation 21:22-23 } It may be difficult for us amid the entanglements of the present to read that vision aright-difficult to say whether it is on earth or in heaven that we are to look for the city in which there is no Temple. Worship is an essential function of the Church of Christ; and so long as we are in our earthly abode worship will require external symbols and a visible organisation. But this at least we know, that the will of God must be done on earth as it is in heaven. The true kingdom of God is within us; and His presence with men is realised, not in special religious services which stand apart from our common life, but in the constant influence of His Spirit, forming our characters after the image of Christ, and permeating all the channels of social intercourse and public action, until everything done on earth is to the glory of our Father which is in heaven. That is the ideal set forth by the coming of the holy city of God, and only in this way. can we look for the fulfilment of the promise embodied in the new name of Ezekiel’s city, Jehovah-shammah, - THE LORD IS THERE. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.