A river giving new life to the land
47
📚Afterward he 📖 brought me back to the door of the temple, and I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east; for the front of the temple faced the east, and the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple 📖, at the south side of the altar. 2 📚Then he brought me out by way of the gate on the north, and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faced east; and I saw water running out on the right side.47:2 The water flows from under the gate through which the glory of God entered (Ezek 43:4). Where God comes in, from there blessings inevitably flow out.⚜
3 📚And when the man who had the line in his hand went out toward the east, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the water. The water was up to the ankles.
47:3 A thousand cubits equals about 450 meters.⚜
4 📚Again he measured a thousand cubits, and brought me through the water. The water was up to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through. The water was up to the waist. 5 📚He measured another thousand; and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen, water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed.
6 📚And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me and had me return to the bank of the river.
47:4-6 The river begins as a spring in the temple. In less than two kilometers it becomes deep and wide. The picture forbids thinking of other streams joining it. So this is a miraculous river. Its flow is not increased in the natural way of rivers in our world today. The angel’s question in v 6 was probably meant to emphasize this.⚜
7 📚Now when I returned I saw that there were many trees on the bank of the river, on the one side and on the other.
8 📚Then he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region, and goes down into the desert, and into the Sea. When it enters the Sea, the water there will be made hea 📖lthful. 9 📚And this will happen: Wherever the river flows every moving living creature will live, and there will be a great many fish, because this water will go there, and the water there will be made healthful, and where the river goes everything will live. 10 📚And it will be that fishermen will stand by it from Engedi to En-Eglaim. There will be places for spreading nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea 📖, a great many.
47:9-10 At present there are no fish, no living creatures at all in the Dead Sea. Its heavy concentration of salts and minerals makes it impossible for such life to exist there. Spiritual lessons have been drawn from this – the Holy Spirit like living streams of water (John 7:39) flow through the world, and people dead in trespasses and sins are made alive. But such spiritual applications should not blind us to the possibility of a transformation of the literal Dead Sea in the future.⚜
11 📚But its swamps and marshes will not be made healthful. They will be given for salt.
47:11 Salt will still be needed.⚜
12 📚And by the river 📖, on its bank, on this side and on that side, all kinds of trees will grow for food. Their leaf will not wither, their fruit will not come to an end. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine”.
47:1-12 There are three possible views about this river:
(a) It is a literal river showing the great physical changes there will be in the land of Israel in the millennium.
(b) It is altogether a symbolic picture teaching spiritual lessons and will never have any kind of literal fulfillment.
(c) The description contains a mixture of literal and symbolical meanings which speak of some sort of literal stream in the future, but which teach spiritual lessons.
The author of these notes thinks the third view most likely.⚜
13 📚Thus says the Lord God: “These are the boundary lines, by which you will inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph 📖 will have two portions.
47:13 From this verse to verse 29 of chapter 48 we have instructions concerning the division of the land of Israel. See also Ezek 45:1-8. Here is a detailed description of the borders of the land and the portions for all the tribes of Israel. If no kind of literal fulfillment of this vision is to be expected the language here seems strange indeed.⚜
14 📚And you will inherit it with one another equally, for I lifted up my hand and swore to give it to your fathers 📖, and this land will fall to you as your inheritance.
15 📚“And this will be the border of the land on the north: from the Great Sea, the road to Hethlon, as men go to Zedad, 16 📚Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, Hazar-Hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 📚And the border from the Sea will be to Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, with the border of Hamath on the north. This is on the north side.
47:15-17 The northern border is approximately where it was in the days of David and Solomon.⚜
18 📚“And on the east you shall mark out from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and the Jordan river by the land of Israel, from the northern border to the eastern sea 📖. And this is the east side.
47:18 The area east of the Jordan River, once the home of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh (Deut 3:12-17), is not included.⚜
19 📚“And the south side will be from Tamar southward to the waters of Meribah in Kadesh 📖, along the river of Egypt to the Great Sea 📖. And this is the south side on the south.
20 📚“And the west side will be the Great Sea from the southern border to a point opposite Hamath. This is the west side.
21 “So you shall divide this land for yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 📚And it will be like this: You will divide it by lot as your inheritance, and for the foreigners who live among you, who will beget children among you; and they shall be to you as those born in the country among the children of Israel. They are to have an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it shall be that whatever tribe the foreigner lives among, there you shall give him his inheritance, says the Lord God.
47:22-23 This is a new instruction, not found in the law of Moses.⚜