Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 47:18
And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel [by] Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And [this is] the east side.
18. The eastern border.
In Eze 47:16 the eastmost point of the north border was said to be Hazar Enon on the border of Hauran. The E. boundary will therefore start from this point. The verse may read: “and the east side: from between Hauran and Damascus, between Gilead and the land of Israel shall be the Jordan, from the (north) boundary to the eastern sea, even unto Tamar; this is the east side.” The line starts from Hazar Enon, a place lying where Damascus and Hauran adjoin one another ( Eze 47:16). Instead of Hazar Enon, however, the point of contact between Damascus and Hauran is named as the starting-point (for the last two umibben read ben and uben). From this point the line runs south; its course is the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel. The order Hauran, Damascus, Gilead is entirely incomprehensible (for Hauran lay S. of Damascus) if R.V. be followed. The phrase “ye shall measure” is no doubt a misspelling for “unto Tamar” (LXX. Syr., d for r), from which the southern border starts in Eze 47:19. Tamar probably lay S. of the Dead Sea. The Onomasticon (Ed. Lagarde, p. 85) says: one day’s journey from Mampsis as you go to Aelia (?Elath) from Hebron. Robinson identifies Mampsis with Malatha, in his view el Mil.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The eastern boundary is to commence by separating off the territory of Damascus and Hauran, and then to follow the line of the Jordan to the Dead Sea. Further, the land occupied by the trans-Jordanic tribes was also to be separated off from the land of Israel. The trans-Jordanic tribes in fact occupied their ground (in Joshuas allotment) by sufferance. This did not belong to Canaan proper, the land of promise. Hence, the tribes, formerly on the east of the Jordan, have here allotments in Canaan, though the oblation Eze 45:1 extends to a considerable distance beyond the Jordan (see Plan, Ezek. 48). The whole arrangement being ideal and symbolic, the vision here, as in the case of the waters (Eze 47:1 note), departs from the physical features of the land for the purpose of maintaining symbolic numbers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. The east sea] The same as the Dead Sea.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From Hauran; that was the north-east bound, where we must begin to measure the east side.
From Damascus: this was more northward than the city Hauran, but the country Auranitis, for aught I know, might reach to Damascus, or near it, and so this more particularly direct the measuring: begin at Damascus, draw the line through Auranitis, and so on southerly to Gilead.
Gilead; a famous mountain about fifty miles in length from south to north, where it joins Mount Libanus at the east end of it, and hath many particular names in particular places, and seems to end its southern progress at the rock Arnon.
From the land of Israel by Jordan; from the outside of the land of Israel, which lay beyond Jordan.
Unto the east sea; thence to the
east sea, or Dead Sea, which lay on the east of Jerusalem. Thus a line drawn from Damascus through Auranitis, Gilead, the land of Israel beyond Jordan, to the east sea, made the eastern frontier.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. east seathe Dead Sea. Theborder is to go down straight to it by the valley of the Jordan. SoNum 34:11; Num 34:12.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the east side ye shall measure Hauran,…. The line of the eastern border of the land shall begin at Hauran or Auranitis; see
Eze 47:16, which lay to the south s of Damascus: and it follows,
and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea; and so from Damascus, the metropolis of Syria; and likewise from Gilead, a mountain and country beyond Jordan; and also from that part of the land of Israel near to Jordan; and so from the northern border to the east sea, or sea of Galilee or Tiberias:
and this is the east side: of the land, or the eastern border of it, reaching from Hauran to the lake of Gennesaret, or to the Salt sea, the sea of Sodom; see Nu 34:10.
s Vid. Reland Palestina Illustrata, l. 1. c. 22. p. 107.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(18) From Hauran, and from Damascus.The eastern boundary is also the same as that given in Num. 34:10-12, 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 in which the two and a half tribes were allowed to settle with some reluctance (Numbers 32). The word from, occurring four times in this verse, is literally from between, as is noted in the margin; it means that the boundary was to run between the territories of Hauran, Damascus, and Gilead on the one side, and that of Israel on the other. The boundary is to be the Jordan; but as this does not extend so far north, it became necessary to mention the territory of Damascus as bounding the land of Israel, and in this connection Hauran and Gilead are also spoken of. The boundary extends, as of old, beyond the mouth of the Jordan to the southern end of the Dead Sea and thence to Kadesh. The extreme length of the land is somewhat uncertain, but must have fallen short of 250 miles.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE HOLY LAND AS DIVIDED AMONG THE TWELVE TRIBES.
18. Davidson, following Smend, translates: “And the east side, from between Hauran and Damascus, between Gilead and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan, from the (north) boundary to the eastern sea, even unto Tamar. This is the east side.” He adds: “The line starts from Hazar-enan, a place lying where Damascus and Hauran join one another (Eze 47:16) From this point the line runs south; its course is the Jordan, between Gilead and the land of Israel. The phrase ‘Ye shall measure’ is no doubt a misspelling for ‘unto Tamar’ Tamar probably lay south of the Dead Sea.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And the east side between Hauran and Damascus, and Gilead and the land of Israel, will be Jordan. From the north border to the east sea you shall measure. This is the east side.”
The ‘east sea’ is probably the Dead Sea. Hauran/Damascus and Gilead/Israel represent the northern end of the border represented by the Jordan.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 47:18. Unto the east sea, &c. Unto the Dead Sea on the east. Eze 47:22. And to the strangers] Neither under Joshua, nor under Zerubbabel, were the Jews allowed to give strangers a part of their inheritance with them; this therefore can only be understood as a prediction of that which happened under the Lord Jesus Christ, when strangers were admitted into the heritage of Israel, and put in possession of the true land of promise, without distinction of Jew or Gentile; for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. See Rom 10:12 and Calmet.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The waters of the sanctuary mentioned above are by many commentators supposed to signify the gospel of Jesus, the blessed effects and glorious extent of it being hereby represented. There was nothing like these streams flowing from the material temple at Jerusalem, and therefore they consider it necessary to take the vision in a mystical sense.
1. The fountain-head was in the sanctuary, and from the threshold of the house the waters issued. In the temple did Christ and his apostles daily teach, and thence did the word of the Lord go forth into the Gentile lands; and he himself is both the temple and the door, from which these living waters flow, and who gives them their quickening power and efficacy.
2. The course of the river was eastward; and then, either by dividing its streams, or by winding round, it turned west into the sea, the Dead Sea or the Lake of Sodom, or, as some suppose, into the Mediterranean. The gospel, which began to be preached at first in Galilee, and spread afterwards chiefly through the countries that lay east of Judea, went forth in process of time into all lands, even to the ends of the earth.
3. The waters, as they ran, grew wider and deeper: the prophet and his divinely-appointed guide, crossing them three times at the distance of a thousand cubits each from the fountain-head, found the river swoln from their ancles to their knees, then risen to their loins; and when the fourth time they would have crossed the waters, they were no longer fordable. And this may refer, [1.] To the spreading of the gospel in the world: from small beginnings the church of God has increased exceedingly, and shall go on still enlarging, till the whole earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. [2.] To the truths of God, which the farther we search the deeper we shall find them. Some things are plain and obvious, and reach but to the ancles; in others more abstruse, experience and inquiry will lead us farther up to the loins; whilst in some, the farther we go, the more we are lost, and can only stand on the river’s brink, and cry with St. Paul, O the depth! Rom 11:33. [3.] To the work of grace in the faithful soul, which by continual accessions of light and love from the great fountain-head, increases with the increase of God, till we come to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
4. Wherever these streams went forth, their wondrous virtue appeared: even the waters of Sodom were healed: for such is the mighty efficacy of the Saviour’s grace, that it reaches to the most desperate; the vilest may find pardon through his blood, and renovation by the power of his Spirit: to the uttermost his salvation extends, and none are beyond it, who do not wilfully reject it. And whithersoever these rivers came, they communicated life; such is the quickening influence which attends the gospel of Jesus: wherever it is preached, dead sinners live, and, like a well-watered tree, the souls of believers are green and flourishing: but the obstinate and impenitent are left to their misery as the marshes and miry places; abandoned to eternal ruin.
5. Vast shoals of fish shall live in this river, and the fishermen cast in their nets, and dry them on the banks thereof; intimating the multitude of converts that by the preaching of the gospel shall be called into the church of Christ, and the diligence and laboriousness of the ministers of Christ, as well as the success of their ministrations; for their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.
6. On the banks every useful tree for food or physic grew, their leaf never fading, their fruit ever abounding; see Rev 22:2. These represent the souls of the faithful saints of God, the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, deriving from Jesus their life and vigour; watered every moment by his grace; green in their professions; in every good work bringing forth fruit to the glory of God; pouring the balm of friendly advice and consolation into the hearts of the tempted and afflicted; and, persevering in every labour of love, till their life of grace on earth shall be exchanged for the eternal life of glory in heaven.
2nd, The borders of the land here marked out are considerably larger than those described by Moses and Joshua, or than the country possessed by the Israelites after their return from the Babylonish captivity; which may be understood typically of the church of Christ, and the true Israel of God, which, under the gospel dispensation, should have a great increase.
Joseph has two portions, to complete the number of the twelve tribes, Levi being taken to attend the sanctuary, and having a portion adjoining thereunto. They are to divide the land into twelve equal shares; see Rev 7:4-8 which was not the case at the first division of the country, when the greater tribes had more, and the smaller less. But now, in the militant church of Christ, believers are all entitled to the same blessings and privileges.
Here also the strangers are allowed to inherit among native Israelites, which before was forbidden; for now the middle wall of partition is taken down, and the Gentiles made fellow-heirs and of the same body, members of the glorious dispensation of the gospel of Christ.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 47:18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel [by] Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And [this is] the east side.
Ver. 18. From Hauran. ] A town of Arabia Deserts (Ptolemy calleth it Aurana), but Felix in this, that it is taken into the Church.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 47:18
18The east side, from between Hauran, Damascus, Gilead and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border to the eastern sea you shall measure. This is the east side.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the land of Israel. One of the three passages in Ezekiel where ‘eretz (land) is used, instead of ‘adamah (soil), See note on Eze 27:17; and op note on Eze 11:17
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
from: Heb. from between
from Gilead: Gen 31:23, Gen 31:47, Galead, Num 32:1, Jdg 10:8
Jordan: Gen 13:10, Job 40:23
Reciprocal: Num 34:3 – salt sea eastward Jos 15:2 – the salt sea Eze 39:11 – on the east Joe 2:20 – the east Zec 10:10 – into
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 47:18. The eastern boundary according to this description started from a point near Damascus, running through the territory called Gilead and following downward near the Jordan until it reached the Dead Sea.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 47:18. And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran The city Aurana, and the district Auranitis, the north-east limit of the Holy Land. Damascus lay more northerly than Hauran, but the country called Auranitis might reach near it. Gilead is well known to have been a long tract of land, which was extended to the country of Sihon king of the Amorites. From the land of Israel by Jordan From the northern limits of the land of Israel near Cesarea Philippi, or Dan, where the river Jordan takes its rise. Unto the east sea That is, the Dead sea, or the lake of Sodom: see Eze 47:8.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The eastern border would run between the territories of Hauran and Damascus and then along the Jordan River between the land of Israel on the west and Gilead to the east. This boundary would continue south through the eastern (Dead) sea to the town of Tamar.