Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 47:8
Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: [which being] brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
8. The direction of the stream was eastward, towards the region which is desert, and towards the Dead Sea.
the east country ] lit. circle, or, district, the same word as Galilee (Isa 9:1). Cf. Jos 22:10-11, “the circuits of the Jordan.”
unto the desert ] the Arabah, what is now called the Ghor, the depression of the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and southward as far as the gulf of Akaba; Deu 1:1; Deu 3:17; Jos 18:18. The “sea” into which the waters flow is the Dead Sea.
brought forth into the sea ] The construction is difficult. For “into the sea” LXX. read “the waters.” This would necessitate a further change: into the sea, unto the bitter waters, and the waters, &c.; so Corn. after Syr., putrid waters.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The sea is a term commonly applied to the Dead Sea. Compare Deu 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.
Healed – Every living thing (of which there were none before) shall abound in the healed waters. The absence of living creatures in the Dead Sea has been remarked by ancient and modern writers. So the water which Jesus should give should bring life to the dead in trespasses and sins. Compare Joh 4:14; Rev 22:2-3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 47:8
These waters . . . go down into the desert.
Christ as a river in the desert
Though manhood seems to be a dry place, a salt and barren land, yet in the case of this Man it yields rivers of water,–numberless streams, abounding with refreshment.
I. Natures drought does not hinder Christs coming to men.
1. He came into the dry place of a fallen, ruined, rebellious world.
2. He comes to men personally, notwithstanding their being without strength, without righteousness, without desire, without life.
3. He flows within us in rivers of grace, though the old nature continues to be a dry and parched land.
4. He continues the inflowing of His grace till He perfects us, and this He does though decay of nature, failure, and fickleness prove us to be as a dry place.
III. Natures drought enhances the preciousness of Christ.
1. He is the more quickly discovered; as rivers would be in a desert.
2. He is the more highly valued; as water in a torrid climate.
3. He is the more largely used; as streams in a burning wilderness.
4. He is the more surely known to be the gift of Gods grace. How else came He to be in so dry a place? Those who are most devoid of merit are the more clear as to Gods grace.
5. He is the more gratefully extolled. Men sing of rivers which flow through dreary wastes.
III. Natures drought is most effectually removed by Christ. Rivers change the appearance and character of a dry place. By our Lord Jesus appearing in our manhood as Emmanuel, God with us,–
1. Our despair is cheered away.
2. Our sinfulness is purged.
3. Our nature is renewed.
4. Our barrenness is removed.
5. Our trials are overcome.
6. Our fallen condition is changed to glory.
IV. Our own sense of drought should lead us the more hopefully to apply to Christ. He is rivers of water in a dry place. The dry place is His sphere of action. Natures want is the platform for the display of grace.
1. This is implied in our Lords offices. A Saviour for sinners. A Priest who can have compassion on the ignorant, etc.
2. This is remembered in His great qualifications. Rivers, because the place is so dry. Full of grace and truth, because we are so sinful and false. Mighty to save, because we are so lost, etc.
3. This is manifested by the persons to whom He comes. Not many great or mighty are chosen. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He calls the chief of sinners. In every case the rivers of love flow into a dry place.
4. This is clear from the object which He aimed at, namely, the glory of God, and the making known of the riches of His grace. This can be best accomplished by working salvation where there is no apparent likelihood of it, or, in other words, causing rivers to water dry places. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The purifying and transforming power of the Gospel
What a mercy it is that the Gospel does go into the desert. Think of what this island used to be, when our sires wandered about in their nakedness among its oak groves. Think of the times when the great wicker image was set up, and the Druids surrounded it, and that image was crammed full of hundreds of men and women, who were all to be consumed in one dread fire, while the people stood by to see their fellow creatures offered to their national Meloch. That is all over now. No longer is the mistletoe cut with the golden sickle, or the fierce deity appeased with blood of men. The missionary came and preached the Gospel; and the Druids ceased out of the land. They were both the legislature and the hierarchy, but they could not stand before the Divine truth. They were everybody then, but they are nobody now. I do not know what may happen here yet,. But I do know this, that when the Gospel comes, the images, the idols, the filthy things, the cruel and horrible things must go. The river of life purified Britain once, and it will cleanse it yet again. The waters shall be healed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The waters shall be healed.
The modern Dead Sea, and the living waters
The remarkable vision, which lies open before us, is exceedingly reassuring to those who are troubled by reason of the dreadful condition of the times–and which of us is not? The prophet bids us think of those waters, drear and dreadful, known by the suggestive name of the Dead Sea! This was the Chamber of Horrors of the land of Canaan. The world is a veritable Dead Sea upon a gigantic scale. Such also is the city in which we live: must I call it modern Sodom? Every wave that breaks upon the shore of this human lake now seems to wash up remains of monstrous things, unearthly, inhuman, beastly, devilish. London is a simmering cauldron of vice and crime. O God! how long shall it be? In certain respects such is every mans natural heart until he is renewed by grace. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and may be well typified by the Sea of Death. If we could but look into it with such eyes as God hath, what should we not set? Thus the world, the city, the heart are each symbolised by the Dead Sea. Can they ever be purged? Can these waters be healed? According to our text, the Lord saith expressly, the waters shall be healed. Let us believe His promise, and take heart of hope from this good hour. Here is room, my brethren, for the faith which, like charity, believeth all things, hopeth all things.
I. And, first, to encourage your faith, I bid you to consider the promise.
1. We feel sure that this word of prophecy shall be accomplished to the letter in due time, because He that made the promise is able to fulfil it. What can resist the thunder of His word? Who shall stay His hand, or frustrate His design?
2. The Lord will fulfil this word thoroughly. This promise shall not be kept to the ear only, but it shall be fulfilled in the largest conceivable sense. What hosts have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!
3. He will fulfil this word in connection with the present dispensation. To my mind this is clear enough, from the fact that these waters flowed forth from Mount Zion. From this I gather that our God means to use His church for His purposes of grace. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. We believe that He means to win His ultimate triumphs by the preaching of the Gospel.
4. Note, carefully, that this Divine promise, the waters shall be healed, will not put aside instrumentality, but when it is fulfilled it will call forth more abundant agencies. The waters run into the Dead Sea, and purify its waters; then fish begin to multiply, and then mans part comes in: The fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even into En-eglaim. You, slothful Christian men and women, who have never gone to sea in this fishery, will then be moved to the work, and will say, like Peter, I go a-fishing.
II. I invite you, next, to consider the wonder of the healing waters, that we may be helped thereby to believe that healing will come even to the Dead Sea of this present evil world, this present sinful Babylon, this present deceitful heart.
1. The wonders of the waters which Ezekiel saw lay in many things. First, consider whence they came. The healing waters flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb. As God is God, He hath decreed and purposed to redeem His people; and in that decree and purpose is the fountain of good to men. These waters flowed in the vision hard by the altar of burnt offering. Learn hence that the one channel of mercy to the sons of men is by the sacrifice of Christ. These waters, though they flowed unseen across the temple area, presently bubbled up from under the threshold of the door of the house. You know who is the Door of the temple of God: by Him we enter in unto God, and by Him God cometh forth in blessing unto us.
2. Note next, as a wonder in connection with these waters, how they increased. You and I have waded into these waters, have we not? If so, we know how they have increased upon us. Do you not see that the God who has done all this for you can do as much for others? Can He not heal the waters of the Dead Sea of our day?
3. Notice what these waters produced. They began to flow, and very soon vegetation came into the wilderness. They flowed into the desert, and into the Acacia Vale, as Joel calls it; and soon, on both sides of the river, there were trees, and, on a sudden, the trees were bearing fruit. Wherever the Gospel goes it carries life, and growth, and fruit with it.
4. As a further wonder, note whither the stream flowed. These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which, being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. What a mercy it is that the Gospel does go into the desert! Think of what this island used to be, when our sires wandered about in their nakedness among its oak groves.
III. Consider the efficacy of the waters. I will quit the figure in some measure in order to explain how the Gospel is adapted to heal the wickedness of men. What does the Gospel do? saith one. I answer, In the Gospel we set before men the horrible nature of sin, and thus we lead them to turn from it. The Gospel gives man a hope; and that is a grand thing for the degraded and self-condemned. To have a hope that you can be a better man is a great help in escaping from sin. The Gospel purifies men because it gives them Christ Himself to be their Saviour. It brings them the Son of God to be their salvation. Moreover, the Gospel does not merely tell men certain truths, but it gives life, and power, and grace to them. There comes with the Gospel a power almighty, which changes the nature of the man; touches his understanding, and enlightens it; touches his will, and changes it; touches his affections, and purifies them. This power is the Holy Ghost, equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son–nothing less than very God of very God. The power of the Gospel to cleanse this horrible Lake of Gomorrah lies in this: that it touches the heart, it moves the affections, it changes the nature, it renews the entire man. Moreover, it binds men in a holy brotherhood, and leads them back to their Father, and their God.
IV. The lesson of the waters. God works in very unexpected ways. The Lord knows how to do His own work, and He does it by apparently slender means.
2. As the Dead Sea has to be cleansed by that stream of water, all that we can do is, first of all, to pray, Spring up, O Well!
3. When we have done that, what next have we to do? Why, begin fishing. Go and fish in the streets, fish in the street corners, fish in any little room you can open, fish in the great crowds if they will come to you. The stream is breeding swarms of life; be ye fishers of men. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Then said he: see Eze 47:6.
The east country; some read it as a proper name, and so render it, they did run toward Galilee in the east, and the Hebrew bears it indeed, as to the sound of the word; but it cannot be the meaning of the place, for neither the Upper nor Lower Galilee were east, but north-west from Jerusalem toward Tyre: our translation doth therefore better render it the east country, or border, as the Hebrew properly.
Into the desert; to Arabia, say the Seventy in their Greek version: if this were the course of the waters, they-did run a course quite contrary to that of Galilee, which lay north and by west from Jerusalem, whereas Arabia lay south and by east from Jerusalem. It is then the champaign, plain country, or the desert, as we read it, and may literally be understood of the desert of Maon, or Kadesh, or Ziph, which lay on the Dead Sea; and this suits well enough with En-gedi, and En-eglaim, mentioned as bordering on these waters, Eze 47:10.
Into the sea; the sea of Tiberias, say some; others, the sea called the Dead Sea, or lake of Sodom, which needed healing.
Being brought forth: when they run into this sea, or fall it, to it, (which is our usual phrase,) the waters of the sea shall be healed, made wholesome. Where the grace of God from his temple and altar flows, as this water, it heals the corrupt, vicious nature of man, and renders barren, horrid, and terrible deserts as a land of waters and gardens; so represented here, and so promised by the Lord, Isa 35:1,2; 41:19; 43:19,20; 51:3. Once more, to this verse let me add, that as the Hebrew doctors do, so we may take it here, that these flowing waters do divide themselves, and that some flow toward one sea, i.e. the sea of Tiberias, toward Galilee, other parts flow toward Arabia the Desert, and so in their way take their course by En-gedi, the desert of Ziph, and into the Dead Sea.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. the desertor “plain,”Hebrew, Arabah (Deu 3:17;Deu 4:49; Jos 3:16),which is the name still given to the valley of the Jordan and theplain south of the Dead Sea, and extending to the Elanitic gulf ofthe Red Sea.
the seathe Dead Sea.”The sea” noted as covering with its waters theguilty cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah. In its bituminouswaters no vegetable or animal life is said to be found. But now deathis to give place to life in Judea, and throughout the world, assymbolized by the healing of these death-pervaded waters covering thedoomed cities. Compare as to “the sea” in general, regardedas a symbol of the troubled powers of nature, disordered by the fall,henceforth to rage no more, Re21:1.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said he unto me,…. The man that measured the waters spoke to the prophet again, and showed him the course of the waters; the quickening and healing virtue of them, and the multitude of fish in them:
these waters issue out toward the east country; the Gospel was first preached in the eastern parts of the world; [See comments on Eze 47:3], or “towards the first, or east Galilee” f; in Galilee Christ began to preach, and wrought his first miracle; here he called his disciples, and chiefly conversed; and here he had the greatest followers, and some of the first Christian churches were formed here after his ascension, Mt 4:12:
and go down into the desert; or wilderness, the wilderness of the people, the Gentiles; to whom the Gospel was carried when rejected by the Jews, and who before were like a desert, but now became as a fruitful field, Isa 35:1. The Jews g interpret this of the plain, or the sea of Galilee or Tiberius, at which Christ called his disciples; near to this he delivered his discourses concerning himself, the bread of life, and eating his flesh, and drinking his blood; here he met with his disciples after his resurrection, and enjoined Peter to feed his sheep and lambs; see Mt 4:18:
and go into the sea; the Dead sea, or sea of Sodom, the lake Asphaltites, where nothing is said to live; an emblem of dead sinners; and may represent the worst of sinners, as the Sodomites were; and to such the Gospel was sent, and became effectual to salvation: or it may rather design the great ocean, and may signify the whole world, and all the nations of it, to which the Gospel, by the commission of Christ, was to be preached; see Da 7:2. The Targum is,
“and go through the sea into the great sea;”
it may be rendered, “and go toward the west” h; the Mediterranean sea being to the west of Judea, it is often put for the west; and so the sense may be, that these waters should flow east and west, as the living waters in Zec 14:8, the same with those, are said to do; and all the Jewish writers think there is such a division of the waters intended, and that they had two streams or rivers; which may receive some confirmation from the next verse, where the word for rivers is of the dual number, and signifies two rivers. The sense of the whole is, that the Gospel should be first preached in Judea and Galilee; then among the Gentiles throughout the Roman empire; and in the latter day especially throughout the world, when it shall be covered with it as the waters cover the sea, Isa 11:9:
which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed; that is, which waters of the river being directed and brought into, either the Dead sea, or the great ocean, the waters of the one, or of the other, were healed; and of bituminous and bitter waters were made clear, sweet, and wholesome; and signify the change made in sinful men by means of the Gospel, who are thereby quickened, made partakers of the grace of God, and have their sins pardoned, which is often meant by healing in Scripture, Ps 103:2, pardon of sin flows from the love and grace of God; is the great doctrine of the Gospel, and by which the Lord speaks peace and pardon, and communicates healing of all spiritual diseases to sinners sensible of them; see Ps 107:20.
f “in Galileam prinam”, Junius Tremellius “ad Galileam anteriorem”, Cocceius, Piscator, Starckius; “Galileam orientalem”, Munster; so some in Vatablus, Tigurine version; so the Targum. g Tosaphta Succa in Jarchi Kimchi in loc. so in Ben Melec. h .
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) Go down into the desert.The word for country is the same as is used in Jos. 22:10-11, 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 of the Jordan valley just north of the Dead Sea in which the city of Jericho was situated. So far the course of the river has been due east; now, without any allusion to the Jordan, it apparently takes its place and flows into the sea. Both the situation and the description show that the Dead Sea is intended. By its entrance the waters of the sea shall be healed, that is, they shall be so changed that, from being incapable of supporting life, they shall become the home of life in all abundance and variety (Eze. 47:9-10).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Then he said to me, “These waters issue forth towards the eastern region and will go down into the Arabah, and they will go towards the sea. Into the sea will the waters go which were made to issue forth, and the waters will be healed.” ’
The eastern region and the slopes down into the Arabah (the Jordan rift valley) rarely saw water. They were dry and arid and barren, apart from the occasional oasis. But even more arid was the area around the Dead Sea. Yet the point is that God can water the barren places, and instantaneously make them fruitful. And then follows the most wonderful illustration of all. The Dead Sea, that sea saturated with salt, in which nothing could live, would itself become a fresh water lake. Its waters would be healed. So God chose one of the deadest places on earth to illustrate how His waters would bring life to the world, and how He would prepare for His people a new Eden in a new earth out of the most impossible circumstances (Rev 22:1-5).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 47:8. And go down into the desert That is to say, along the plain towards the lake, where Sodom formerly stood, called the Dead or Salt Sea. Almost all the writers who describe this sea or lake, observe, that nothing can live in it. The text tells us, that these living and salubrious streams, by mixing with the salt and brackish waters of the sea, shall render them wholesome, and fit for use; mystically implying the healing virtue of God’s grace in curing the vices of corrupt man.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 47:8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: [which being] brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
Ver. 8. These waters issue out toward the east country. ] In Galilaeam anteriorem. a See Act 9:31 – the churches in Galilee, “walking in the fear of the Lord and comforts of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.”
And go down into the desert.
And go into the sea.
The waters shall be healed,
a Piscat.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
east country = the eastern Allah i.e. circular border-land. Used of the Jordan in Jos 22:11.
desert = plain. Hebrew ‘arabah. See Deu 3:17; Deu 4:49. the sea.
The sea = called Salt, or Dead Sea.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and go down: Isa 35:1, Isa 35:7, Isa 41:17-19, Isa 43:20, Isa 44:3-5, Isa 49:9, Jer 31:9
desert: or, plain, Deu 3:17, Deu 4:49, Jos 3:16
the sea: This was the Dead sea, or sea of Sodom, east of Jerusalem, in which it is said no living creature is found; or, at least, from its extreme saltness, it does not abound with fish like other seas. The healing of these waters denotes the calling of the Gentiles.
the waters: 2Ki 2:19-22, Isa 11:6-9, Mal 1:11, Mat 13:15
Reciprocal: Num 34:3 – salt sea eastward Jos 15:2 – the salt sea 2Ki 2:21 – I have healed Joe 2:20 – the east Mat 12:43 – dry Luk 11:24 – dry Joh 5:4 – was made Jam 3:12 – so Rev 22:2 – healing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 47:8. Sea and waters refers to people generally speaking, but the second word is used in a rather complex sense In this place. Both the people and the stream that flows around or before them are indicated by the waters. Shall be healed is one of the places where the similarity of figures is evident. In Rev 22:2 we read of a tree that is for the healing of the nations, and in our present text the waters that issue from the house of God have healing in them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 47:8-9. Then said he, These waters issue toward the east country These waters are described as taking their course along the plain, or champaign country, (for that is the sense of the word here rendered desert,) toward the lake where Sodom formerly stood, called the Dead sea, and by Moses, the Salt sea: see Deu 3:17. Which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed These living and salubrious streams, by mixing with the salt and brackish waters of the sea, shall render them wholesome and fit for use; finely representing the tendency of the gospel, and the healing virtue of divine grace, in curing the corruptions of human nature, and vices of mankind. And every thing that liveth, &c., whithersoever the river shall come, shall live Even in the Asphaltite lake, or Dead sea, which is so unfavourable to animal life. Josephus represents this lake as salt, and incapable of feeding fishes. Tacitus says, that it does not suffer fishes or water-fowl to live in it; yet Maundrell observed two or three shells of fishes on the shore. Bishop Pococke found its water very salt; and on tasting it, his mouth was constringed, as if it had been a strong alum water. The bishop observes, It has been said by all authors, and is the common opinion, that there is no fish in this lake: the fresh water fish of the river Jordan probably would not live in it. After I left the Holy Land, it was positively affirmed to me, that a monk had seen fish caught in this water; and possibly there may be fish peculiar to this lake, for which this water may not be too salt: but this is a fact that deserves to be inquired into. The air about this lake has always been thought to be very bad. The Dead sea, says Michaelis, is more brackish than any known sea or salt-well in the world. It contains as much salt as water can dissolve, namely, the fourth part of the weight of the water: and this is the reason why neither men nor animals sink in the Dead sea. If you throw fishes into heavy water, they cannot swim, but fall immediately on their sides. Newcome. The reader who wishes to have farther information on this subject, may find it in Dr. Pococke and Dr. Shaws Travels, or the Encycl. Britan. on the word Asphaltites. Every thing shall live whither the river cometh This signifies the wonderful and blessed efficacy of the gospel, when accompanied by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and received in faith and love: it communicates spiritual life to such as were before dead in trespasses and sins: it creates them anew in Christ Jesus unto all holy tempers, words, and works, such as God hath ordained that men should walk in them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
47:8 Then said he to me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the {d} sea: [which being] brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
(d) Showing that the abundance of these graces would be so great, that all the world would be full of it, which is here meant by the Persian sea, or Genezareth, and the sea called Mediterranean, Zec 14:8 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The man explained that the river continued east and emptied into the Arabah, the Jordan valley, and eventually into the Dead Sea. Presently this involves a drop in elevation of over 3,700 feet (from the temple mount at 2,430 feet above sea level to the Dead Sea at 1,290 feet below sea level). These waters purified the waters of the Dead Sea and made it a live sea. The Dead Sea presently contains 24-26 percent minerals compared with normal seawater that contains 4-6 percent. [Note: Ibid., p. 520.] This is the reason no fish or other aquatic life live in it. The water of this river would give life to all the creatures that would gather in swarms along its banks and to the fish that would swim in it.
"The Dead Sea today is a symbol of barren desolation. This future change is a visible reminder that God can turn death to life. Our God specializes in changing the unchangeable!" [Note: Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 697.]