Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 47

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 47:13–23, more properly belongs with Ezekiel 48, and, with that chapter, gives an account of the boundaries of the land, its distribution among the tribes, and the building of the holy city.

The ideal character of this vision of the waters is so plain upon its face that little need be said on this point. The stream is represented as issuing from the summit of “a very high mountain” (Ezekiel 40:2), and as constantly and rapidly increasing its volume, without the accession of tributaries, so that in a little more than a mile it becomes a river no longer fordable. The trees upon its banks, too, are evidently symbolical, and its effect upon the Dead Sea (as already stated in the introductory note to Ezekiel 40-48) is such as could not naturally occur. Such imagery is common in prophecy.

Joel (Joel 3:18) says, “All the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” Zechariah (Zechariah 14:8) states, “Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea;” and finally, the description of the “pure river of water of life” in Revelation 22:1-3, is evidently founded upon this passage of Ezekiel. Passages in which water is used as the symbol of the influence of the Spirit are too numerous and familiar to need quotation (Ezekiel 36:25–27; Zechariah 13:1, and others).

Ezekiel, having in the previous chapters described the Lord’s dwelling among His people with characteristic minuteness of detail, now proceeds to set forth the blessings that flow from this presence.

1. Door of the house.— This is the entrance of the Temple itself; the waters come out from under its threshold, just as in Revelation 22:1 they proceed “out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The prophet, who had just been in the outer court (Ezekiel 46:21 and following), is brought in to the door of the house that he may see the waters.

2. From the right side of the house.— Although the waters issue directly from the threshold which was in the centre of the east front of the Temple, and their general course was due east, it was necessary that they should be deflected a little at the start to the south in order to pass the porch and the altar, as well as both the inner and outer gateways.

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.

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 at each 1,000 cubits until the waters become impassable.

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 (1,500 cubits, or half of 3,000 cubits) of this distance must have been within the precincts described in Ezekiel 42:16-20, but the prophet takes no notice of this, as the whole is ideal, and the precincts were to set forth one truth, the river another.

The point thus far brought out is plainly the increase of the kingdom of God—the same truth illustrated by our Lord in the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31–32), and often declared by the prophets (Habakkuk 2:14; Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:27; and others). All history, since the Christian era, has been occupied with the fulfilment of the prophecy.

To return to the brink.— The angel, having called the prophet’s attention to this marvelous 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, for he had not left it, but is told to pass along it.