EZEKIEL, XL. PRELIMINARY NOTE ON Chapter S 40-48. These closing Chapter s of Ezekiel form one continuous prophecy of a distinctly marked character. They present a vision of the Temple in minute detail, with careful measurements of its parts; various ordinances for the Temple, for the Levites, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
XLVII. The first twelve verses of this chapter constitute what is generally known as “the vision of the living waters;” the latter part of the chapter, Ezekiel 47:13, more properly belongs with Ezekiel 48, and, with that, gives an account of the boundaries of the land, of its distribution among the... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF THE WAY OF THE GATE NORTHWARD. — Rather, _out by the way of the north gate._ The east gate, the direct way, was shut (Ezekiel 44:2); the prophet was therefore carried round to the outside of it by the way of the north gate. There he saw the waters on the right, or south, side of the gateway.... [ Continue Reading ]
BROUGHT ME THROUGH THE WATERS. — The point from which the measurement began is not distinctly mentioned, but is to be assumed as from their source, the threshold of the house. The prophet is “brought through the waters” to impress upon him a vivid sense of their size and depth, and this is repeated... [ Continue Reading ]
A RIVER THAT COULD NOT BE PASSED OVER. — The whole distance measured is 4,000 cubits, or less than a mile and a half, during which the waters, without external addition, have swollen from a mere streamlet to an impassable river, in direct opposition to the ordinary fact in nature. A large part (1,50... [ Continue Reading ]
TO RETURN TO THE BRINK. — The angel, having called the prophet’s attention to this marvellous increase, now causes him to return _along_ the bank to observe other things. The word _brink_ in this verse and _bank_ in the next are the same in the original. The prophet does not _return_ to the brink, f... [ Continue Reading ]
VERY MANY TREES. — In the corresponding vision of Revelation 22:2 the same thought is symbolised by the “tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits.”... [ Continue Reading ]
GO DOWN INTO THE DESERT. — The word for _country_ is the same as is used in Joshua 22:10, for the borders of the Jordan, and undoubtedly has the same meaning here: the valley of the Jordan, called the _Ghor._ The word _desert_ is better translated in the margin, _plain,_ and refers to that expansion... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RIVERS. — According to the pointing of the Hebrew text this is _the two rivers,_ as is expressed in the margin. This peculiar form has occasioned some perplexity, especially because in the vision of Zechariah (Zechariah 14:8) the waters are represented as divided, half of them flowing to the Dea... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM EN-GEDI EVEN UNTO EN-EGLAIM. — En-gedi, “the fountain of the goat,” is a well-known copious spring about midway on the western coast of the Dead Sea. En-eglaim occurs only here, and has not been certainly identified. St. Jerome speaks of “Engallim” as at the junction of the Jordan with the sea,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MARISHES THEREOF SHALL NOT BE HEALED. — The picture of the life-giving waters would be imperfect without this exception to their effects. The Dead Sea at the southern end is very shallow, and beyond there is an extensive tract of very low land. In the season of the flood of the Jordan this is ov... [ Continue Reading ]
BE CONSUMED. — Better, _fail._ The fruit is to be eaten, but shall not fail to grow as it is wanted. These trees with their supernatural virtues are represented as produced by the waters because “they issued out of the sanctuary,” thus presenting a most effective image of the life-giving power of th... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL. — In the ideal land of the restoration, not Judah and Benjamin only, but all the twelve tribes are to have their portions. Yet Levi is otherwise provided for in the “oblation,” and therefore Joseph, in accordance with Genesis 48:5; Genesis 48:22, and with th... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE AS WELL AS ANOTHER. — This is the ordinary expression for equality. Unlike the former division of the laud, the territory is to be arranged in twelve equal portions. This is generally understood to mean that the strips of territory assigned to each tribe shall be of equal width, and such is undo... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS SHALL BE THE BORDER OF THE LAND. — The boundaries are essentially the same as those given in Numbers 34:1, only that there the southern boundary is given first to the Israelites coming up from Egypt, while here the northern is first described for the people supposed to be returning from Babylon... [ Continue Reading ]
HAMATH is not to be understood of the city of Hamath on the Orontes (which was much too far to the north), but of the boundary of the district of Hamath; this cannot be now precisely fixed, but certainly came as far south as the “entrance of Hamath” (Numbers 34:8), or the defile between the Lebanon... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BORDER FROM THE SEA SHALL BE HAZARENAN. — Comparing this with Numbers 34:9, it is plain that the sense is, “The (north) boundary which started from the sea shall terminate at Hazar-enan, where it meets the boundaries of Damascus.” Hazar-enan means “the village of springs,” and is mentioned in Ez... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM HAURAN, AND FROM DAMASCUS. — The eastern boundary is also the same as that given in Numbers 34:10, although more particularly described there. In both cases it excludes the territory of the trans- Jordanic tribes, which was not included in Palestine proper, even after its conquest by Moses, and... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM TAMAR EVEN TO THE WATERS OF STRIFE. — The southern border, as given in Numbers 34:3, is identical with that described here, as far as the two can be compared. Tamar has been identified with Kurnub, a ruined village some twenty-five miles west of the southern end of the Dead Sea; but as the old... [ Continue Reading ]
OVER AGAINST HAMATH. — The western boundary, as in Numbers 34:6, is the Mediterranean, and continues to the starting-point, Hamath being here, as in Ezekiel 47:16, the district of Hamath.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY LOT. — See Note on Ezekiel 45:1. TO THE STRANGERS. — An entirely new feature is here added to the Mosaic law. According to Leviticus 19:34, strangers were to be treated with kindness, but the entire territory was to be divided among the Israelites, and strangers could therefore acquire no land e... [ Continue Reading ]