Ezekiel 47:1-12

1-12. These verses describe the mysterious supernatural stream flowing from underneath the sacred threshold of the temple (see note Ezekiel 46:1-2), the waters of which turn the desert into a paradise and even sweeten the Dead Sea; a plain symbol of the power of a holy religion in the midst of a redeemed people. These living waters of blessing (compare Isaiah 8:6; Joel 3:18; Revelation 22:1-2) “trickled forth” (Ezekiel 47:2, R.V., margin) from under the threshold and passing eastward and a little south of the altar, which was directly in front of the temple porch (Ezekiel 40:47), descended the mountain gathering volume as it went, though seemingly without tributaries, until within four thousand cubits (about one and one third miles) from its source it had become a mighty torrent which no one could cross (Ezekiel 47:5). These waters plunge on into that deep depression in the Jordan valley which the Hebrews well called the “Arabah” (R.V., Ezekiel 47:8), or “desert” no traveler has ever failed to be impressed with its wildness and awful desolation and everywhere the miraculous life-giving power of these waters is seen, for “along the bank of the river” (Ezekiel 47:6) is “every sort of tree whose fruit is edible; their leaves shall not wither, nor their fruit fail; monthly they shall bear fresh fruit; for their waters issue from the sanctuary, and their fruit shall be for food, and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12; compare Ezekiel 47:7 and Revelation 22:2). And still continuing, these miraculous waters flow into the “sea of the Arabah” (Deuteronomy 3:17), the Dead Sea, and at their coming that strange lake, whose salty and sulphurous banks had been absolutely devoid of vegetation, and in which no fish could ever live, suddenly becomes as full of fish as the Mediterranean (Ezekiel 47:10), and “every living creature” (R.V., Ezekiel 47:9) which inhabits the sea begins to swarm in its waters. From the Oasis of En-gedi (on the middle of the west shore) even unto En-eglaim (probably situated at the extreme end of the sea) this most blistered and poisonous part of the world God’s “awful vale of judgment” (Genesis 19:24-28) becomes full of beauty and fertility and life, the place most prized by fishermen. Only a few fens and marshes remain unhealed (Ezekiel 47:11) in order that a supply of salt may still be obtained from them. “So there is nothing nothing so sunken, so useless, so doomed but by the grace of God it may be redeemed, lifted, and made rich with life.” (See G.A. Smith, Historical Geography, p. 511, etc.) Ezekiel’s prophecy has never been, nor can it ever be, fulfilled literally in Palestine, but in the course of providential history it has been more than fulfilled. “From the throne of God, yet also from the Church of God, the fertilizing stream has flowed. Derelict as that Church has been in its duty, cruel in its conscience, worldly in its lusts, superstitious in its fears, material and ritualistic in its conceptions of life, nevertheless through its gates has flowed the constantly deepening stream of the river of life. Whatever desert those waters have touched has bloomed; wherever that stream has come life has come; and on its banks have grown every sort of tree whose leaves have been for the healing of the nations.” Lyman Abbott. Natural symbols are constantly used by the prophet to image spiritual and natural conditions. (Compare, for example, Joel 2:30-31; Acts 2:19-20.) An ancient Jewish Midrash on Exodus 12:12, explains this passage according to the Messianic hope: “The Holy One will bring forth living waters from Jerusalem, and will cure with it all diseases, as it is said Ezekiel 47:9, and shall make the trees bring forth fruit every month, Ezekiel 47:12.”