The vision of the waters; or, the blessings which flow from this source to animate and refresh all the inhabitants of the earth. Compare Isaiah 44:8...; Joel 3:18. Ezekiel’s description is adopted and modifled by Zechariah and in Rev. (compare the marginal references) Hebrew tradition speaks of a sp... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF THE WAY OF THE GATE NORTHWARD - Rather, by the way of the northward gate.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANCLES - This may coincide with the step gained in the baptism of Cornelius Acts 10, and the opening of the Church to the Gentiles. The dispersion which had followed the martyrdom of Stephen Acts 11:19, had carried believers into various countries, and so paved the way for the foundation of Gent... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KNEES - The mission of Paul and Barnabas Acts 13:1 is another marked epoch in the Church’s history; and the time of Paul’s martyrdom denotes an increase in the Gentile Church, which corresponds with the waters reaching the loins.... [ Continue Reading ]
The rivers in Palestine were for the most part mere watercourses, dry in summer, in winter carrying the water along the wadys to the sea. The river of the vision is to have a continuous flow. WATERS TO SWIM IN - When under Constantine the Roman empire had become Christian, the Church may be contemp... [ Continue Reading ]
Trees naturally flourish where there is abundance of water Psalms 1:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
“The sea” is a term commonly applied to the Dead Sea. Compare Deuteronomy 3:17, “the sea of the plain (Arabah), even the salt sea.” The more literal rendering of the verse in this sense would be, “and go into the sea; into the sea go the waters that issue forth, and the waters shall be healed.” HEA... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RIVERS - literally, as in the margin. Perhaps with reference to the circumstance that this “brook or river” is to come into the Dead Sea through the same plain as the Jordan. The one river (Jordan) always flowed, but now, when another river comes in, and “two rivers” flow into the sea, the water... [ Continue Reading ]
“En-gedi” (see 1 Samuel 23:29) was about the middle of the western shore of the Dead Sea. En-eglaim does not occur elsewhere. Its form indicates that it was one of the double cities of Moab (see Ezekiel 25:9 note). It has been identified with “Ain-el-Feshkah” to the north on the western bank of the... [ Continue Reading ]
The exception, which reserves for sterility places to which the living water does not reach, probably indicates that the life and health are solely due to the stream which proceeds from beneath the throne of God. Compare Isaiah 57:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
The ideal reallotment of the land to the twelve tribes of Israel is found in Ezekiel 47:13. The special mention of Joseph’s portions was in order to express that the twelve portions were to be exclusive of Levi’s land, which was to be provided out of the “oblation.”... [ Continue Reading ]
AS WELL AS - Or, as. Ezekiel is speaking of “tribes,” not “individuals.” Each tribe is to have an equal “breadth” of land assigned to it.... [ Continue Reading ]
The borders of the land follow closely Numbers 34, where they begin from the south, as the people came up from Egypt; in Ezekiel, they begin from the north, as they might return from Babylon. The occupation is ideal, but is grounded, as usual, on an actual state of things. THE BORDER OF THE LAND TO... [ Continue Reading ]
“Berothah,” probably the same as “Berothai” (marginal reference), lay between Hamath and Damascus, as did “Sibraim.” “Hazar-hatticon” is probably, as in the margin, “the middle Hazar,” to distinguish it from Hazar-enan Ezekiel 47:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE NORTH ... - Or, “and on the north, the border on the north shall be” etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
The eastern boundary is to commence by separating off the territory of Damascus and Hauran, and then to follow the line of the Jordan to the Dead Sea. Further, the land occupied by the trans-Jordanic tribes was also to be separated off from the land of Israel. The trans-Jordanic tribes in fact occup... [ Continue Reading ]
The south border (compare Numbers 34:4) commences with “Tamar,” probably a village near the southern end of the Dead Sea. The word means “palm-tree;” and is given to more than one city in the holy land. THE RIVER TO THE GREAT SEA - literally, “riverward to the great sea.” By the “river” is meant th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TO THE STRANGERS - Here is quite a new feature in the distribution of the land. Not only the Israelites by descent, but those who join themselves to Israel by allegiance to the true God, shall have a right of inheritance. Here are opened out the blessings which were to accrue to the Gentiles thr... [ Continue Reading ]