UHezekile 47:8

Izhibhalo Ezingcwele

8 Wathi kum, La manzi aphuma aye kummandla wasempumalanga, ehle aye eArabha, aye elwandle, athi ele elwandle, aphiliswe amanzi alo.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and go down: Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 35:7, Isaiah 41:17-19, Isaiah 43:20, Isaiah 44:3-5, Isaiah 49:9, Jeremiah 31:9

desert: or, plain, Deuteronomy 3:17, Deuteronomy 4:49, Joshua 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: 2 Kings 2:19-22, Isaiah 11:6-9, Malachi 1:11, Matthew 13:15

Reciprocal: Numbers 34:3 - salt sea eastward Joshua 15:2 - the salt sea 2 Kings 2:21 - I have healed Joel 2:20 - the east Matthew 12:43 - dry Luke 11:24 - dry John 5:4 - was made James 3:12 - so Revelation 22:2 - healing

Gill's Notes on the 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; :-, 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, Matthew 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, Isaiah 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 Matthew 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 Daniel 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 Zechariah 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, Isaiah 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, Psalms 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 Psalms 107:20.

f אל הגלילה הקדמונה "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 ובאו חימה.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

“The sea” is a term commonly applied to the Dead Sea. Compare Deuteronomy 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 John 4:14; Revelation 22:2-3.