John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 47

Afterward he brought me again to the door of the house
The door of the temple, even of the holy of holies; here the prophet is said to be brought again, or "brought back" ^F24 ; for he was last in the corners of the outward court, viewing the kitchens or boiling places of the ministers; but now he was brought back into the inner court, and to the door that led into the holiest of all:

and, behold!
for it was matter of admiration, as well as of observation and attention: waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward ;
this is a new thing, to which there was nothing like it, either in the first or second temple.

Ariateas ^F25 indeed relates what he himself saw, ``a never failing conflux of water, as of a large fountain, naturally flowing underneath, and wonderful receptacles under ground; to each of which were leaden pipes, through which the waters came in on every side, for about half a mile about the temple, and washed away the blood of the sacrifices;'' and so the Talmudists ^F26 say, there was an aqueduct from the fountain of Etam, and pipes laid from thence to supply the temple with water, for the washing and boiling of the sacrifices, and keeping the temple clean: but these waters are quite different; they are such as came out of the temple, and not what were carried by pipes into it; nor were they a common sewer to carry off the filth of it, but formed a delightful and useful river.

The fountain of them is not declared, only where they were first seen to issue out, under the threshold of the house eastward ;
the threshold of the door of the most holy place; so that they seem to take their rise from the holy of holies, the seat of the divine Majesty, and throne of God, with which agrees (Revelation 22:1) , and so the Talmudists ^F1 say, that this fountain came first from the house of the holy of holies, under the threshold of the door of it, which looked to the east: for the fore front of the house stood toward the east ;
the holy of holies was at the west end of the temple; but the front of it, and so the door into it, was to the east, and from hence these waters flowed:

and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house ;
they are said to "come down", because the temple was high built upon the top of a mountain; and "from under", that is, the threshold of the door of it; or rather in subterraneous passages, till they appeared from under that. And this was "on the right side of the house"; that is, on the south side. For, suppose a man standing with his face to the east, as the prophet did, when he turned himself to see which way the waters flowed, having his face to the west when he first saw them come out; the south then must be on his right hand, and so it follows: at the south side of the altar ;
of the altar of burnt offerings, which stood before the house.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: (ynbvyw) "reduxit me", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Starckius.
  
• F25: Hist. 70. Interpret. p. 32, 33. Ed. Oxon. 1692,
• F26: T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 41. Cippi Hebr. p. 10.
  
• F1: T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 77. 2.

Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward
Out of the inward court where he was, by the way of the north gate, the eastern gate being shut: and led me about the way without to the utter gate, by the way that
looketh eastward ;
and from there he led him around to the outward eastern gate, where he was at first, (Ezekiel 40:6) , to meet the flow of waters that came through the inward and outward courts eastward:

and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side ;
that is, on the south side of the gate, in a small quantity, and in a very still and easy way, like water out of the mouth of a vial, as the word ^F2 signifies. So Bartenora ^F3 , who understands this gate of the water gate, interprets the right side of the south; and observes, that the prophet first saw the waters come out very small, like the horns of a locust; but when they came to this gate, they became like water as it flows out of the mouth of a small pitcher:

and from this whole account of the waters, it is plain they cannot be understood literally, but figuratively; and which confirm this to be the sense of the whole vision. They may be applied to, and serve to illustrate, the love of God; the secret spring of which is in the heart and will of God; ran under ground from all eternity; channelled in Christ; broke up and issued forth in the mission of him into the world, under the threshold of him, the door of the church; and in and by him, the altar, sacrifice, and propitiation; wherein the love of God in an especial manner is manifested; and which has its heights and depths, immeasurable and unfathomable, (Ephesians 3:18Ephesians 3:19) (Psalms 46:4) (Revelation 22:1) ,

these waters also may be applied to the grace of the Spirit of God in regeneration and conversion; which is compared to water, for its cleansing, fructifying, and refreshing nature; to "waters", for the abundance of it; and this flows from the God of all grace through Christ, and out of his fulness is gradually increased, and becomes a well, yea, rivers of living water, (John 7:37–39) ,

but it seems best to understand them of the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; which, like water, cools those who are inflamed with the heat of the fiery law; extinguishes the thirst of sensible sinners, and refreshes them; cleanses and purifies their souls, which is instrumentally done with the washing of water by the word; and makes them fruitful and flourishing: this is not of men, but God; comes from heaven, the holy of holies; and out of the house and church of God; from Zion and Jerusalem, by Christ the door, and points to him the way; and is chiefly concerning him, the altar, his sacrifice and satisfaction, peace, atonement, and propitiation by him; see (Isaiah 2:3) (Joel 3:18) (Zechariah 14:8) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: (Mykpm) "manabant tanquam e phiala", Junius & Tremellius; "phialabant", Junius; "destillabant", Cocceius, Starckius.
• F3: In Misn. Middot, c. 1. sect. 4.

And when the man that had the line in his hand The same as in (Ezekiel 40:3) and is no other than Christ, who appeared in a human form to the prophet; and who hitherto had only made use of the measuring reed in taking the dimensions of the house, and what appertained to it; but now he uses the line of flax he had in his hand, in measuring the waters as they ran; by which line is meant the Scriptures, the word of God, by which all doctrines are to be measured: this is the rule that both preachers and hearers are to go by; and, as by the direction of this person the waters flowed where he would have them, so the doctrines of the Gospel are preached by the order of Christ where he pleases; see (Luke 24:47) (Acts 13:46Acts 13:46) (Acts 16:6Acts 16:7Acts 16:10) , and these move in a direct line, as those waters did; error is crooked, and has its windings and turnings; but truth is straight and even; all the words of Wisdom are right, and there is nothing froward, perverse, or crooked in them, (Proverbs 8:8Proverbs 8:9) :

went forth eastward Which was the course the waters took by his direction; the Gospel was first spread in the eastern part of the world, in Asia, where many churches were planted by it; it has been since in the south, in Africa, particularly in the times of Austin, when these waters, the doctrines of grace, flowed largely; and they have been since in the north and west, in Europe, in our northern climes; all which perhaps may be signified by the right side, or south side, by which these waters flowed, and by the prophet's going to the north gate, and about, to see them; but in the latter day they will move eastward again, when the kings of the east and their kingdoms shall become Christ's; see (Revelation 16:12) (Zechariah 14:8) :

he measured a thousand cubits Or, "a thousand by the cubit ^F4 "; The Targum is: ``a thousand cubits by the cubit;'' with his line from the eastern gate of the house, at the right side of which the waters ran out; this was about half a mile:

and he brought me through the waters Not the thousand cubits he had measured; but when he came to the end of them, he made the prophet to cross the waters, to go through them across, that he might observe the depth of them:

and the waters were to the ankles Were ankle deep, a few inches: or, "to the soles"; for, as R. Jonah thinks, (a) may be additional; and (op) , in the Syriac language, signifies a part of the hand, (Daniel 5:5) , and, applied to the feet, designs the soles of them; and then the sense is, the waters were so shallow, that they only covered the soles of the feet:

This may signify the ministry of John the Baptist, who, though greater than the prophets, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he; and of the disciples of Christ, before the effusion of the Spirit.

Or may design the more easy doctrines of the Gospel; those waters which Christ's lambs may wade in; that milk which new born babes desire, and are fed with.

These are the plain truths of the word, which those of the weakest capacity are able to take in, receive, and embrace; in the knowledge of which, though fools, they err not.

Such truths include salvation by Christ alone, justification by his righteousness, and peace and pardon by his blood. These are so plain as to be understood by every truly gracious soul, though of ever so mean a capacity.

Or it may intimate the small spread of the Gospel at first in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (hmab Pla) "mille in cubito", Vatablus, Pagninus, Montanus.

And again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the
waters; the waters were to the knees
The man with his line measured another thousand cubits straight on from the first; and then bid the prophet cross and ford them again, and then they were knee deep: again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were
to the loins ;
a third time he measured a thousand cubits still onward, and ordered the prophet to wade through them, when they were risen so high as to reach his loins.

The waters to the knees and loins may signify the greater knowledge of the Gospel, and the mysteries of it, the apostles had after the Spirit was poured forth; and the greater spread of it in the world, among Jews and Gentiles: or else may design those doctrines of the Gospel, and mysteries of grace, which are more sublime, and more difficult to understand; which require some pains to search into, and get the knowledge of; as concerning predestination, election, the covenant of grace, and the eternal transactions between the Father and the Son which are meat for strong men, who have their senses exercised to discern between good and evil.

Afterward he measured a thousand
A fourth time a thousand cubits.

Some think these four measurings respect the preaching of the Gospel in the four parts of the world; but rather they refer to four remarkable seasons of the ministry of it; as in the times of John the Baptist, and the disciples of Christ before his death; in the primitive churches of the three first centuries; at the time of the Reformation; and in the latter day glory, which is the fourth and last measuring:

and it was a river that I could not pass over ; the prophet could not set his foot on the bottom, and wade through it, and cross over it, as he had done before: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in ; not to walk in: a river that could not be passed over ; by any man, on his feet; only by swimming, and perhaps not by that, at least not without difficulty:

this may signify the large spread of the Gospel in the latter day, when the earth shall be filled with it, as the waters cover the sea; and the great light into it, and knowledge of it, that men shall then have, (Isaiah 11:9) (30:26) ,

and yet that there are some doctrines exceeding deep, out of the reach and penetration of men, called the deep things of God, which human reason cannot attain, and where it cannot fix its foot, (1 Corinthians 2:9 1 Corinthians 2:10 1 Corinthians 2:14) , and which are only to be reached and embraced in the swimming arms of faith; and, though believed, cannot be accounted for, as to the modus of them, and are not to be dived into; such as the trinity of Persons in the Godhead, and the distinct manner of their subsisting in it; the generation of the Son; the procession of the Spirit; the incarnation of Christ; the union of the two natures in his person; the resurrection of the dead