Ezekiel 47
In verses 1 to 12 we are given all account of a wonderful river which is to be in Israel’s land, a life-giving stream that will have its source at the Millennial temple, God’s earthly throne. Joel, who lived before Isaiah, prophesied concerning it (chapter 3:18) that “a fountain. shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim”—a place about seven miles east of the Dead Sea as it now exists (see Numbers 25:11And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. (Numbers 25:1); Joshua 2:11And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there. (Joshua 2:1), and 3:1).
Zechariah, one of the last Old Testament prophets, wrote (chapter 14:8) of “living waters (that) shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former (the Dead) sea, and half of them toward the hinder (the Mediterranean) sea; in summer and in winter shall it be.”
It is plain from these and other passages that important physical changes will be made in Palestine at the Lord’s appearing, and it may be questioned if any of man’s “improvements” will be allowed to remain there during the thousand years of His reign.
The man of chapter 40:3, with the measuring line, who in Ezekiel’s last vision showed him the measurements of the temple, now leads him to the source of the stream, and along its banks. It is, however, Ezekiel, and not the man, who measures the depth of the river, and finds it to reach to the ankles, the knees, the loins, and finally at the furthest point to which he is led, it proves to be a river that he cannot pass over. This will be a real river in the Millennium, but does it not present a lovely illustration of the grace and love of God to man?
Wherever the river flows it brings blessing; along its banks are very many trees (verse 7); the waters of the Dead Sea are healed (verse 8), and a very great multitude of fish are to be found in that body of water which has long been a token of the judgment of God.
Another reminder that the Millennium will not be a perfect slate is seen in verse 11: the miry places and marshes of the Dead Sea will not be healed. Again, at the close of verse 12, the reference to medicine shows that there will be sickness in that day.
The latter half of the chapter names the boundaries of the land of Israel, which will be seen to considerably exceed at both northern and southern extremities the extent of the land occupied of old by the twelve tribes. The boundaries are, however, identical with those named in Numbers 34. The northern boundary cannot, with our present knowledge, be exactly fixed; it will be between Damascus and, Hamath. Part of the southern boundary will be at the small stream called The River of Egypt, about eighty miles east of the Suez Canal. The Mediterranean Sea is the western boundary, and the Jordan and the Dead Sea form a considerable part of the eastern boundary.
Provision is made, in the grace of God, for a place for strangers that may sojourn in the land—Gentiles who seek to dwell among the chosen people.
ML 05/03/1936