Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 47

Introduction

CHAPTER 40-48.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE VISION IN CHAP. 40-48, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH IT OUGHT TO BE INTERPRETED.

WE have now, with God’s help, reached the closing vision of Ezekiel’s prophecies; but so far from seeing all difficulties behind us, we find ourselves in front of the darkest, and in several respects the most singular and characteristic vision of the whole book. For all that is most peculiar, and much also that is most difficult in the manner of our prophet, concentrates itself here; and whatever need there may have been of the Spirit’s aid to guide our steps through the earlier visions, the same need exists, in yet greater force, with respect to this concluding revelation. May the aid so required not be withheld! May the Spirit of Truth himself direct our inquiries, and shine for our instruction on his own handwriting! May no blinding prejudice, or narrow purpose of our own, prevent us from following the path of enlightened research and honest interpretation; so that the views to be propounded may, at least in all that is essential, bear the impress of soberness and truth!

Leaving out of view some minor shades of opinion, which are too unimportant to deserve any special notice, the views that have been entertained upon the vision generally, and in particular the description contained in it respecting the temple, may be ranged under four classes.

1. The first is what may be called the historico-literal; which takes all as a prosaic description of what had existed in the times immediately before the captivity, in connection with that temple which is usually called Solomon’s. Ezekiel just delineated, it is thought by those who hold this view, what he had himself seen at Jerusalem, that the remembrance of the former state of things might be preserved, and that the people on their return might restore it as nearly as they could. Such is the opinion sought by a huge apparatus of learning to be maintained by Villalpandus; and he is substantially followed by Grotius, Calmet, Seeker, in part also by the elder Lowth, Adam Clarke, (It was, perhaps, unnecessary to mention the commentary of Dr. Clarke in this connection, as all his notes (so we are told in his Memoirs) on Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, were written in about six weeks. He gives a specimen of the extreme haste with which he wrote, at the commencement of this 40th chapter, when he states, in respect to the view under consideration, that “every biblical critic is of the same opinion;” and tells us that “the Jesuits, Prada and Villalpandus, have given three folio vols. on this temple,” etc., though five minutes inspection would have shown him that of the three one entire vol. had nothing whatever to do with the temple.) Bottcher, Thenius, etc. Those, however, who adopt this view find it necessary, against the natural order and connection, to separate between what is written respecting the construction of the temple, and the distribution of the land, as well as some other things which are known to have been quite different in the times before the exile. And even in regard to the temple itself, and the things immediately connected with it, making due allowance for any changes that may have been introduced, there are many, and some of them most palpable contrarieties between what is known to have existed in the times before the exile, and the scheme of things delineated by the prophet. These will fall to be noticed in the sequel.

2. The straining required to maintain this view, and its utterly unsatisfactory nature, gave rise to another, which may be called the historico-ideal. According to it, the pattern exhibited to Ezekiel differed materially from anything that previously existed, and presented for the first time what should have been after the return from the captivity, though, from the remissness and corruption of the people, it never was properly realized. “The temple described by Ezekiel should have been built, by the new colonists; the customs and usages which he orders should have been observed by them; the division of the country should have been followed by them. That the temple did not arise out of its ruins according to his model, and that his orders were in no manner obeyed, was the fault of Israel. How far were they behind the orders of their first lawgiver, Moses! What wonder, therefore, that they as little regarded their second lawgiver, Ezekiel?” So wrote Eichhorn, and of the same mind were Dathe and Herder. But it is a view entirely at variance with the dimensions assigned to the temple, the mode of the distribution of the land and the description of the river, all of which were connected with physical impossibilities to the new colonists. Some, therefore, who hold substantially the same general view, so far modify it as to admit that there were things in the prophet’s delineation which could never have been intended to receive a literal accomplishment, yet conceive that the prophet did not the less design to present in it a perfect draught of what it was desirable and proper for the people to aim at. In so far as the actual state of things fell short of this, there was a failure but only in the realization, not in the idea; and it was simply this last, not the other, which was properly any concern of the prophet’s. So various of the older rationalists (among others, Doederlein), and in the present day, Hitzig. The view manifestly proceeds on an abandonment of the strictly prophetical character of the vision, and reduces its announcements to a sort of vague and well-meaning anticipation of some future good, such as a strong faith and lively hope might cherish, and thrown into any form the writer’s own fancy might suggest. It cannot therefore be concurred in by any one who believes that the prophet spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, and uttered what, according to its genuine import, must be strictly fulfilled.

3. The Jewish-carnal view is the one we shall next advert to; in its main character the opposite extreme of the last mentioned. It is the opinion of some Jewish writers that the description of Ezekiel was actually followed by the children of the captivity as far as their circumstances would allow, and that Herod also, when he renovated and enlarged it, copied after the same pattern. (Lightfoot, Desc. Templi, c. x.). But they further hold, that as this was necessarily done in a very imperfect manner, it waits to he properly accomplished by the Messiah, who, when he appears, shall cause the temple to be reared precisely as here described, and carry out all the other subordinate arrangements. A considerable party has of late years been springing up in the Christian Church, especially in England, who entirely concur in these Jewish anticipations, with no further difference than that, believing Jesus to be the Messiah, they expect the vision to receive a complete and literal fulfilment at the period of his second coming. The whole seed of Israel, they believe, shall then be restored to possess anew the land of Canaan, where they shall become, with Christ at their head, the centre of the light and glory of the world; the temple shall be rebuilt after the magnificent pattern shown to Ezekiel, the rites and ordinances of worship set up, and the land apportioned to the tribes of Israel, all as described in the closing chapters of this book. (See Fry on the Unfulfilled Prophecies, as one of many.) This opinion has also found its advocates on the Continent; Hofmann, for example, (Weissagung und Erf. i. p. 359, where, however, it is only briefly indicated. Baumgarten also seems to incline to the same view in his Comm. on Pent.) and Hess in his letters on the Apocalypse, who says: “So then it shall come to pass that our Lord, who once was rejected and crucified by his own countrymen, shall by the same be publicly and formally acknowledged, and in the restored temple shall be honoured; and that as Israel of old was often made to do service to the nations for the rejection of his God and Messiah, so now the nations shall be subjected to him when acknowledging his Messiah and confiding in his God.” (Quoted by Delitzsch in his Biblisch-prophetische Theologie, p. 94, but without giving assent to it; and, at p. 308, he seems to mark the opinion as a false extreme in a few remarks on some passages of Baumgarten’s.)

4. The last view is the Christian-spiritual, or typical one, according to which the whole representation was not intended to find either in Jewish or Christian times an express and formal realization, but was a grand, complicated symbol of the good God had in reserve for his Church, especially under the coming dispensation of the Gospel. From the Fathers downwards this has been the prevailing view in the Christian Church. The greater part have held it to the exclusion of every other; in particular, among the Reformers, and their successors, Luther, Calvin, Capellus, Cocceius, Pfeiffer, followed by the majority of evangelical divines of our own country. But not a few also have combined it with one or more of the other opinions specified. Thus Diodati, joining it with the first, says: “Now the Lord showeth the prophet the frame of Solomon’s temple, which had been destroyed by the Chaldeans, that the memory of its incomparable magnificence might be preserved in the Church, for a figure and assistance of her spiritual temple in this world, but especially in the celestial glory.” To the same effect Lowth, in his Commentary and Lightfoot only differs in so far as he rather couples the second view with the last regards the vision as intended to “encourage the Jews with the prospect of having a temple again,” though the temple and its ordinances were neither formed after Solomon’s nor designed to be actually set up, but prefigured” the enlargement, spiritual beauty, and glory of the Church under the Gospel.” This is also the view adopted by Greenhill in his work on Ezekiel, who supposes, indeed, that the vision “represented the restitution of the Jewish Church, their temple, city, and worship, after the captivity; yet not simply, but as they were types of the Church under the Gospel; for as we must not exclude these, so we must know this is not the principal thing intended; that which the vision doth chiefly hold out to us is the building of the Christian temple, with the worship thereof, under Jewish expressions, which began to be accomplished in the apostles days” (Acts 15:16).

It is not to be denied that this last writer, as generally the writers of the class and period to which he belonged, failed in a correct appreciation of the nature of the vision, and of the distinctive principles which ought to be kept in view in its interpretation. Consequently much of an arbitrary and fanciful kind entered into the explanations they gave of particular parts. The basis must first be laid of the proper line to be pursued, by distinguishing correctly the character of this species of composition, and the relation in which the vision stands to other portions of Ezekiel’s writings. Let us now endeavour to prepare the way by a careful consideration of what bears on these points.

1. First of all. it is to be borne in mind that the description purports to be a vision a scheme of things exhibited to the mental eye of the prophet “in the visions of God.” This alone marks it to be of an ideal character, as contradistinguished from anything that ever had been, or ever was to be found in actual existence, after the precise form given to it in the description. Such we have uniformly seen to be the character of the earlier visions imparted to the prophet. The things described in chapters 1-3 and 8-11, which were seen by him “in the visions of God,” were all of this nature. They presented a vivid picture of what either then actually existed or was soon to take place, but in a form quite different from the external reality. Not the very image or the formal appearance of things was given, but rather a compressed delineation of their inward being and substance. And such, too, was found to be the case with other portions, which are of an entirely similar nature, though not expressly designated visions; such, for example, as chapters 4, 12, 21, all containing delineations and precepts, as if speaking of what was to be done and transacted in real life; and yet it is necessary to understand them as ideal representations, exhibiting the character, but not the precise form and lineaments of the coming transactions. Had this ideal nature of the description been rightly understood, it would have afforded for the vision before us an easy solution of what Dathe has thought inexplicable on any supposition but that of the literal character of the description, viz. the preceptive cast into which it is thrown. “He appears not to promise, but to command; not to show what sort of structure would be raised, and what arrangement made in connection with it, but to order what should be done.” This is precisely what appears also in the earlier visions referred to; and it is what might have been expected in the present vision, on the supposition of its being an ideal representation of things belonging to the kingdom of God, but not otherwise. Rightly understood, the preceptive form of the revelation is an evidence of the non-realistic character of what was communicated, especially when viewed in connection with the variations it presents to the handwriting of Moses. Never at any period of his Church has God given laws and ordinances to it simply by vision; and when Moses was commissioned to give such in the wilderness, his authority to do so was formally based on the ground of his office being different from the ordinarily prophetical, and of his instructions being communicated otherwise than by vision (Numbers 12:6). So that to speak by way of vision, and at the same time in the form of precept, as if enjoining laws and ordinances materially differing from those of Moses, was itself a palpable and incontrovertible proof of the ideal character of the revelation. It was a distinct testimony that Ezekiel was no new lawgiver coming to modify or supplant what had been written by him with whom God spake face to face upon the mount.

2. What has been said respecting the form of the prophet’s communication, is confirmed by the substance of it; as there is much in this that seems obviously designed to force on us the conviction of its ideal character. There are things in the description which, taken literally, are in the highest degree improbable, and even involve natural impossibilities. This was long ago marked by Lightfoot, in regard to the dimensions of the temple and city: “And now, if any one will take up the full circuit of the wall that encompassed the holy ground, according to our English measure, it will amount to half a mile and about 166 yards. And whosoever likewise will measure the square of Ezekiel 42:20, he will find it six times as large as this, the whole amounting to three miles and a half and about 140 yards a compass incomparably greater than Mount Moriah divers times over. And by this very thing is showed that that is spiritually and mystically to be understood. ... As for a literal respondency of that city and temple (viz. those which were to be built after the return from Babylon) to all the particulars of this description, it is so far from it, that Ezekiel’s temple is delineated larger than all the earthly Jerusalem, and his Jerusalem larger than all the land of Canaan. And thereby the scope of the Holy Spirit in that ichnography is clearly held out to be, to signify the great enlarging of the spiritual Jerusalem and temple, the Church under the Gospel, the spiritual beauty and glory of it, as well as to certify captived Israel of hopes of an earthly city and temple to be rebuilt; which came to pass upon the return under Cyrus.” (Description of Temple, pp. 5, 6. Ed. 1650.)

What in this passage is called the city, it must be borne in mind, includes the oblation of holy ground set apart for the prince, the priests, and the Levites, whose residence was to be in immediate connection with the city. Taken thus, the statement of Lightfoot is not far from the truth. Referring to the notes on the particular verses for the proof of what we say, we simply announce at present the general result; which is that, according to the most exact modes of computation, the prophet’s measurements give for the outer wall of the temple a square of an English mile, and about a seventh on each side, and for the whole city a space of between three and four thousand square miles. There is no reason to suppose that the boundaries of the ancient city exceeded two miles and a half in circumference (see Robinson’s Researches, vol. i.); while here the circumference of the wall of the temple is nearly twice as much. So that the first part of Lightfoot’s statement, that the bounds of Ezekiel’s temple exceed those of the whole city, is perfectly correct; but in regard to the other part, in which he asserts the bounds of the city to be greater than those of the whole land of Canaan, some exception must be taken, if by Canaan be meant the whole that Israel ever possessed on both sides of Jordan, which is computed at fully double of Ezekiel’s square somewhere between ten and eleven thousand square miles. If understood of Canaan Proper, the land lying between Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, the portion here allotted for the city might in that case equal the whole land. But taking the land at the largest, the allotment of a portion nearly equal to one-half of the whole for the prince, the priests, and Levites, is a manifest proof of the ideal character of the representation; the more especially when we consider that that sacred portion is laid off in a regular square, with the temple on Mount Zion in the centre. For then the one-half of it, extending to nearly thirty miles in length, and lying to the south of Jerusalem, must have covered nearly the whole southern territory, which only reached as far as the Dead Sea (Ezekiel 47:19); while yet by another provision five of the twelve tribes were to have their inheritance on that side of Jerusalem beyond the sacred portion (chap. Ezekiel 48:23-28). Such manifest incongruities on the literal understanding of the passage have led to alterations in the text; some transcribers and ancient translators, as well as modern commentators, putting so many cubits instead of reeds for the boundaries of the temple and the city. But there is no foundation for the change; it is the easy, arbitrarily way of getting rid of a difficulty by removing the occasion of it; we might as well adjust other parts to suit our own fancies, or expunge the vision altogether. The measurements of the prophet were made to involve a literal incongruity, as did also the literal extravagances of the vision in chapters 38, 39, that men might be forced to look for something else than a literal accomplishment. And in utter misapprehension of the prophet’s design, the proposed alterations are resorted to for the purpose of bringing the plan within the bounds of probability, as a scheme of things that might one day be actually realized. (The same effect as here is aimed at in the measurements and proportions of St. John’s city, Revelation 21:0 the numbers employed being all symbolical of perfection and of immense greatness. The walls are represented as being a perfect square, and on each side 12,000 stadia, or 1200 ordinary miles. This as far surpasses the dimensions of Ezekiel’s city, as his did those of ancient Jerusalem.)

3. Some, perhaps, may be disposed to imagine that, as they expect certain physical changes to be effected upon the land before the prophecy can be carried into fulfilment, these may be adjusted in such a manner as to admit of the prophet’s measurements being literally applied. It is impossible, however, to admit such a supposition. For the boundaries of the land itself are given, not new boundaries of the prophet’s own, but those originally laid down by Moses. And as the measurements of the temple and city are out of all proportion to these, no alterations can be made on the physical condition of the country that could bring the one into proper agreement with the other. Then there are other things in the description which, if they could not of themselves so conclusively prove the impossibility of a literal sense as the consideration arising from the measurements, lend great force to this consideration, and on any other supposition than their being parts of an ideal representation, must wear an improbable and fanciful aspect. Of this kind is the distribution of the remainder of the land in equal portions among the twelve tribes in parallel sections, running straight across from east to west, without any respect to the particular circumstances of each, or their relative numbers; more especially the assignment of five of these parallel sections to the south of the city, which, after making allowance for the sacred portion, would leave at the farthest a breadth of only three or four miles a piece! Of the same kind also is the supposed separate existence of the twelve tribes, which now, at least, can scarcely be regarded otherwise than a natural impossibility, since it is an ascertained fact that such separate tribeships no longer exist; the course of providence has been ordered so as to destroy them, and once destroyed, they cannot possibly be reproduced. If a man is dead, he may be brought to life again; but if the once separate lines of his posterity have come to be fused together, no power in nature can resolve them again into their primary elements. Of the same kind, further, is “the very high mountain” on which the vision of the temple was presented to the eye of the prophet; for as this unquestionably refers to the old site of the temple, the little eminence on which it stood could only be designated thus in a moral or ideal and not in a literal sense. (I am aware some say that the hill of Zion is to be raised in the latter days to an enormous height, and so to become literally above the hills. But this is a groundless assertion; and we appeal in proof to Ezekiel 17:22-23, where the same Mount Zion is designated as the peculiarly high and eminent mountain; and that in a prophecy which must refer to the first appearing of Christ. For it speaks of him, not as the great and mighty king, but as the little slender twig, which was to be planted there by God; it speaks of him in his humiliation, not in his glory; and yet the place where he began to take root is called “the mountain of the height of Israel.”) Finally, of the same kind is the account given of the stream issuing from the eastern threshold of the temple and flowing into the Dead Sea, which, both for the rapidity of its increase and for the quality of its waters, is unlike anything that ever was known in Judea or in any other region of the world. Putting all together, it seems as if the prophet had taken every possible precaution, by the general character of the delineation, to debar the expectation of a literal fulfilment; and I should despair of being able in any case to draw the line of demarcation between the ideal and the literal, if the circumstances now mentioned did not warrant us in looking for something else than a fulfilment according to the letter of the vision.

4. Yet there is the further consideration to be mentioned which, however some minds of peculiar temperament or sophistical tendencies may contrive to evade it, will surely prevail with the great mass of Bible Christians that the vision of the prophet, as it must, if understood literally, imply the ultimate restoration of the ceremonials of Judaism, so it inevitably places the prophet in direct contradiction to the writers of the New Testament. The entire and total cessation of the peculiarities of Jewish worship is as plainly taught by our Lord and his apostles as language could do it, and on grounds which are not of temporary, but of permanent validity and force. The word of Christ to the woman of Samaria “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father” is alone conclusive of the matter; for if it means anything worthy of so solemn an asseveration, it indicates that Jerusalem was presently to lose its distinctive character, and a mode of worship to be introduced capable of being celebrated in any other place as well as there. But when we find the apostles afterwards contending for the cessation of the Jewish ritual, because suited only to a Church “in bondage to the elements of the world,” and consisting of what were comparatively but “weak and beggarly elements, and when in the Epistle to the Hebrews we also find the disannulling of the old covenant with its Aaronic priesthood and carnal ordinances argued at length, and especially “because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof,” that is, its own inherent imperfections, we must certainly hold either that the shadowy services of Judaism are finally and for ever gone, or that these sacred writers very much misrepresented their Master’s mind regarding them. No intelligent and sincere Christian can adopt the latter alternative; he ought therefore to rest in the former. And he will do so in the rational persuasion, that as in the wise administration of God there must ever be a conformity in the condition of men to the laws and ordinances under which they are placed, so the carnal institutions, which were adapted to the Church’s pupilage, can never, in the nature of things, be in proper correspondence with her state of manhood, perfection, and millennial glory. To regard the prophet here as exhibiting a prospect founded on such an unnatural conjunction, is to ascribe to him the foolish part of seeking to have the new wine of the kingdom put back into the old bottles again; and while occupying himself with the highest hopes of the Church, treating her only to a showy spectacle of carnal superficialities. We have far too high ideas of the spiritual insight and calling of an Old Testament prophet, to believe that it was possible for him to act so unseemly a part, or contemplate a state of things so utterly anomalous. And we are perfectly justified by the explicit statement of Scripture in saying, that “a temple with sacrifices now would be the most daring denial of the all-sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, and of the efficacy of the blood of his atonement. He who sacrificed before, confessed the Messiah; he who should sacrifice now, would most solemnly and sacrilegiously deny him.” (Douglas’s Structure of Prophecy, p. 71.)

5. Holding the description, then, in this last vision to be conclusively of an ideal character, we advance a step farther, and affirm that the idealism here is precisely of the same kind as that which appeared in some of the earlier visions visions that must necessarily have already passed into fulfilment, and which therefore may justly be regarded as furnishing a key to the right understanding of the one before us. The leading characteristic of those earlier visions, which coincide in nature with this, we have found to be the historical cast of their idealism. The representation of things to come is thrown into the mould of something similar in the past, and presented as simply a reproduction of the old, or a returning back again of what is past, only with such diversities as might be necessary to adapt it to the altered circumstances contemplated; while still the thing meant was, not that the outward form, but that the essential nature of the past should revive. Thus, in the vision of the iniquity-bearing in Ezekiel 4:0, the judgments described as alighting or destined to alight on the houses of Israel and Judah, are represented under a return of the periods of time spent of old in Egypt and the wilderness; yet as certain things in the description not doubtfully indicated, and as the event itself clearly proved, it was the return, not of those precise periods of time, but of similar afflictive and disciplinary methods of dealing that were there predicted. So again in the description of Ezekiel 20:0, quite similar in its announcement of coming evils to the prediction just noticed, the prophet speaks of a repetition of the sojourn in the wilderness, with its severe and humbling dispensations, but calls it now “the wilderness of the peoples,” to distinguish it from “the wilderness of Egypt,” thereby intimating that something different from a literal renacting of the old scenes was intended. There was the same method of treatment to be pursued, the same and even higher spiritual results to be aimed at, but amid circumstances outwardly dissimilar. Again, in the ideal representation given of the king of Tyre (chap. Ezekiel 28:11-19), first as to his pre-eminent greatness, and then his appointed downfall, the whole is made to assume a historical aspect; as if it were humanity itself, first enjoying a paradisiacal honour and glory, then received into the inmost sanctuary of Jehovah’s presence, but only to be cast down as a polluted creature to shame and contempt and ruin; so that the Tyrian monarch’s history was to be like a renewal of man’s in its best and its worst experiences. Once more, in the prediction of Egypt’s humiliation (chap. Ezekiel 29:1-16), a humiliation that was to take its beginning from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the doom is represented as a passing over of the most afflictive and humbling part of Israel’s experience upon Egypt: she who had presumed to do the part of Israel’s God must have trial of Israel’s forty years wilderness sojourn, and scattering among the nations; in short, as to judgment and depression, she must become a second Israel herself.

Now in all these cases of an apparent, we should entirely err if we looked for an actual, repetition of the past. It is the nature of the transactions and events, not their precise form or external conditions, that is unfolded to our view. The representation is of an ideal kind, and the history of the past merely supplies the mould into which it is cast. The spiritual eye of the prophet discerned the old, as to its real character, becoming alive again in the new. He saw substantially the same procedure followed again, and the unchangeable Jehovah must display the uniformity of his character and dealings by visiting it with substantially the same treatment.

If now we bring the light furnished by those earlier revelations of the prophet, in respect to which we can compare the prediction with the fulfilment, so as to read by its help and according to its instruction the vision before us, we shall only be giving the prophet the benefit of the common rule, of interpreting a writer by a special respect to his own peculiar method, and explaining the more obscure by the more intelligible parts of his writings. In all the other cases referred to, where his representation takes the form of a revival of the past, we see it is the spirit and not the letter of the representation that is mainly to be regarded; and why should we expect it to be otherwise here? In this remarkable vision we have the old produced again, in respect to what was most excellent and glorious in Israel’s past condition its temple, with every necessary accompaniment of sacredness and attraction the symbol of the Divine presence within the ministrations and ordinances proceeding in due order without the prince and the priesthood: everything, in short, required to constitute the beau-ideal of a sacred commonwealth according to the ancient patterns of things. But at the same time there are such changes and alterations superinduced upon the old, as sufficiently indicate that something far greater and better than the past was concealed under this antiquated form. Not the coming realities, in their exact nature and glorious fullness not even the very image of these things could the prophet as yet distinctly unfold. While the old dispensation lasted, they must be thrown into the narrow and imperfect shell of its earthly relations. But those who lived under that dispensation might get the liveliest idea they were able to obtain of the brighter future, by simply letting their minds rest on the past, as here modified and shaped anew by the prophet, just as now the highest notions we can form to ourselves of the state of glory, is by conceiving the best of the Church’s present condition refined and elevated to heavenly perfection. Exhibited at the time the vision was, and constructed as it is, one should no more expect to see a visible temple realizing the conditions, and a reoccupied Canaan after the regular squares and parallelograms, of the prophet, than in the case of Tyre to find her monarch literally dwelling in Eden and as a cherub occupying the immediate presence of God, or to behold Israel sent back again to make trial of Egyptian bondage and the troubles of the desert. Whatever might be granted in providence of an outward conformity to the plan of the vision, it should only be regarded as a pledge of the far greater good really contemplated, and a help to faith in waiting for its proper accomplishment.

6. But still, looking to the manifold and minute particulars given in the description, some may be disposed to think it highly improbable that anything short of an exact and literal fulfilment should have been intended. Had it been only a general sketch of a city and temple, as in the 60th chapter of Isaiah, and other portions of prophecy, they could more easily enter into the ideal character of the description, and understand how it might chiefly point to the better things of the Gospel dispensation. But with so many exact measurements before them, and such an infinite variety of particulars of all sorts, they cannot conceive how there can be a proper fulfilment without corresponding objective realities. It is precisely here, however, that we are met by another very marked characteristic of our prophet. Above all the prophetical writers he is distinguished, as we have seen, for his numberless particularisms. What Isaiah depicts in a few bold and graphic strokes, as in the case of Tyre for example, Ezekiel spreads over a series of chapters, filling up the picture with all manner of details; not only telling us of her singular greatness, but also of every element, far and near, that contributed to produce it; and not only predicting her downfall, but coupling with it every conceivable circumstance that might add to its mortification and completeness. We have seen the same features strikingly exhibited in the prophecy on Egypt, in the description of Jerusalem’s condition and punishment under the images of the boiling caldron (Ezekiel 24:0.), and the exposed infant (Ezekiel 16:0.), in the vision of the iniquity-bearing (Ezekiel 4:0.), in the typical representation of going into exile (Ezekiel 13:0.), and indeed in all the more important delineations of the prophet, which, even when descriptive of ideal scenes, are characterised by such minute and varied details, as to give them the appearance of a most definitely shaped and lifelike reality.

Let this, then, be borne in mind respecting the distinctive character of our prophet’s delineations generally, and there will be no difficulty felt in regard to the number and variety of particulars in this concluding vision. Considering his peculiar manner, it was no more than might have been expected, that, when going to present a grand outline of the good in store for God’s Church and people, the picture should be drawn with the fullest detail. If he has done so on similar but less important occasions, he could not fail to do it here, when rising to the very top and climax of all his revelations. For it is pre-eminently by means of the minuteness and completeness of his descriptions that he seeks to impress our minds with a feeling of the Divine certainty of the truth disclosed in them, and to give, as it were, weight and body to our apprehensions.

7. In further support of the view we have given, it may also be asked, whether the feeling against a spiritual understanding of the vision, and a demand for outward scenes and objects literally corresponding to it, does not spring to a large extent from false notions regarding the ancient temple, and its ministrations and ordinances of worship, as if these possessed an independent value apart from the spiritual truths they symbolically expressed? On the contrary, the temple, with all that belonged to it, was an embodied representation of Divine realities. It presented to the eye of the worshippers a manifold and varied instruction respecting the things of God’s kingdom. And it was by what they saw embodied in those visible forms and external transactions, that the people were to learn how they should think of God, and act toward him in the different relations and scenes of life when they were absent from the temple, as well as when they were near and around it. It was an image and emblem of the kingdom of God itself, whether viewed in respect to the temporary dispensation then present, or to the grander development everything was to receive at the advent of Christ. And it was one of the capital errors of the Jews, in all periods of their history, to pay too exclusive a regard to the mere externals of the temple and its worship, without discerning the spiritual truths and principles that lay concealed under them.

But such being the case, the necessity for an outward and literal realization of Ezekiel’s plan obviously falls to the ground. For if all connected with it was ordered and arranged chiefly for its symbolical value at any rate, why might not the description itself be given forth for the edification and comfort of the Church on account of what it contained of symbolical instruction? Even if the plan had been fitted and designed for being actually reduced to practice, it would still have been principally with a view to its being a mirror, in which to see reflected the mind and purposes of God. But if so, why might not the delineation itself be made to serve for such a mirror? in other words, why might not God have spoken to his Church of good things to come by the wise adjustment of a symbolical plan? And when commentators like Hitzig, or writers of a more spiritual cast, incredulously ask what is the symbolical meaning of this small particular or that, we might reply by putting the like question regarding the temple of Solomon or the tabernacle of Moses; while yet nothing can be better established on grounds of Scripture, than that these sacred fabrics were constructed so as to embody and represent the leading truths of God’s character and kingdom. This, of course, does not preclude when rightly considered, it rather requires that the several parts should be viewed in subordination to the general design, and that many things must enter into the scheme, which, taken by themselves, could have no independent or satisfactory meaning. But let the same rules be applied to the interpretation of Ezekiel’s visionary temple which on the express warrant of Scripture we apply to Solomon’s literal one, and it will be impossible to show why, so far as the ends of instruction are concerned, the same great purposes might not be served by the simple delineation of the one, as by the actual construction of the other. (See the Typology of Scripture, vol. i., chapters i. and ii., for the establishment of the principles referred to regarding the tabernacle, and vol. ii., part iii., for the application of them to particular parts.)

It is also not to be overlooked, in support of this line of reflection, that in other and earlier communications Ezekiel makes much account of the symbolical character of the temple, and the things belonging to it. It is as a priest, he gives us to understand at the outset, and for the purpose of doing priest-like service for the covenant-people, that he received his prophetical calling, and had visions of God disclosed to him (see on chap. Ezekiel 1:1-3). In the series of visions contained in chapters 8-11, the guilt of the people was represented as concentrating itself there, and determining God’s procedure in regard to it. By the Divine glory being seen to leave the temple, was symbolized the withdrawing of God’s gracious presence from Jerusalem; and by his promising to become for a little a sanctuary to the pious remnant in Chaldea, it was virtually said that the temple, as to its spiritual reality,, was going to be transferred thither. This closing vision comes now as the happy counterpart of those earlier ones, giving promise of a complete rectification of preceding evils and disorders. It assured the Church that all should yet be set right again; nay, that greater and better things should be found in the future than had ever been known in the past; things too great and good to be presented merely under the old symbolical forms, these must be modelled and adjusted anew to adapt them to the higher objects in prospect.

Nor is Ezekiel at all singular in this. The other prophets represent the coming future with a reference to the symbolical places and ordinances of the past, adjusting and modifying these to suit their immediate design. Thus Jeremiah says, in chap. Jeremiah 31:39-40; “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the gate of Hananeel to the corner gate. And the measuring line shall go forth opposite to it still farther over the hill Gareb (the hill of the leprous), and shall compass about to Goah (the place of execution). And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kedron, unto the corner of the horse-gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord.” That is, there shall be a rebuilt Jerusalem in token of the revival of God’s cause, in consequence of which even the places formerly unclean shall become holiness to the Lord: not only shall the loss by recovered, but also the evil inherent in the past purged out, and the cause of righteousness made completely triumphant. The sublime passage in Isaiah 40:0 is entirely parallel as to its general import. And in the two last chapters of Revelation we have a quite similar vision to the one before us, employed to set forth the ultimate condition of the redeemed Church. There are differences in the one as compared with the other, precisely as in the vision of Ezekiel there are differences as compared with anything that existed under the old covenant. In particular, while the temple forms the very heart and centre of Ezekiel’s plan, in John’s no temple whatever was to be seen. But in the two descriptions the same truth is symbolized, though in the last it appears in a state of more perfect development than in the other. The temple in Ezekiel, with God’s glory returned to it, bespoke God’s presence among his people to sanctify and bless them; the no-temple in John indicated that such a select spot was no longer needed, that the gracious presence of God was everywhere seen and felt. It is the same truth in both, only in the latter represented, in accordance with the genius of the new dispensation, as less connected with the circumstantials of place and form.

8. It only remains to be stated that in the interpretation of the vision we must keep carefully in mind the circumstances in which it was given , and look at it, not as from a New, but as from an Old Testament point of view; we must throw ourselves back as far as possible into the position of. the prophet himself; we must think of him as having just seen the Divine fabric which had been reared in the sacred and civil constitution of Israel dashed in pieces, and apparently become a hopeless wreck. But in strong faith on Jehovah’s word, and with Divine insight into his future purposes, he sees that that never can perish which carries in its bosom the element of God’s unchangeableness; that the hand of the Spirit will assuredly be applied to raise up the old anew; and not only that, but also that it shall be inspired with fresh life and vigour, enabling it to burst the former limits, and rise into a greatness and perfection and majesty never known or conceived of in the past. He speaks, therefore, chiefly of Gospel times, but as one still dwelling under the veil and uttering the language of legal times. And of the substance of his communication, both as to its general correspondence with the past and its difference in particular parts, we submit the following summary as given by Hävernick: “1. In the Gospel times there is to be on the part of Jehovah a solemn occupation anew of his sanctuary, in which the entire fulness of the Divine glory shall dwell and manifest itself. At the last there is to rise a new temple, diverse from the old, to be made every way suitable to that grand and lofty intention, and worthy of it; in particular, of vast compass for the new community, and with a holiness stretching over the entire extent of the temple, so that in this respect there should no longer be any distinction between the different parts. Throughout everything is subjected to the most exact and particular appointments; individual parts, and especially such as had formerly remained indeterminate, obtain now an immediate Divine sanction; so that every idea of any kind of arbitrariness must be altogether excluded from this temple. Accordingly this sanctuary is the thoroughly sufficient, perfect manifestation of God for the salvation of his people (Ezekiel 40:1 to Ezekiel 43:12). 2. From this sanctuary, as from the new centre of all religious life, there gushes forth an unbounded fulness of blessings upon the people, who in consequence attain to a new condition. There come also into being a new glorious worship, a truly acceptable priesthood and theocratical ruler; and equity and righteousness reign among the entire community, who, being purified from all stains, rise indeed to possess the life that is in God (Ezekiel 43:13, Ezekiel 47:12). 3. To the people who have become renewed by such blessings, the Lord gives the land of promise; Canaan is a second time divided among them, where, in perfect harmony and blessed fellowship, they serve the living God, who abides and manifests himself among them” (Ezekiel 47:13; Ezekiel 48:0.). (Hävernick, Comm. p. 623.)

Verses 1-12

CHAPTER 47:1-12.

IT is necessary to take the first part of this chapter apart from the second, which relates to a different subject, the new division of the land, and which ought to have formed part of Ezekiel 48:0. The vision contained in the first twelve verses of this chapter is a thing by itself, although it stands in close connection with what precedes, and springs naturally oat of it. The prophet has been exhibiting, by means of a variety of detailed representations, the blessed results to the Lord’s people of his re-occupying his temple. The way now stands open to them for a free and elevating communion with the Lord, and the work proceeds on their part by the regular employment of all spiritual privileges and the faithful discharge of holy ministrations; God is duly glorified in his people, and his people are blessed in the enjoyment of his gracious presence and the benefit of his fatherly administration. But what is to be the nature of the kingdom in this new form, in respect to the world without? Is it to be of a restrictive or expansive character? Is the good it discloses and provides for a regenerated people to be confined, as of old, to a select spot, or is it to spread forth and communicate itself abroad for the salvation of the world at large? In an earlier prophecy (Ezekiel 17:0.), when speaking of the future head of the Divine kingdom, under the image of a little twig, plucked from the top of a cedar in Lebanon and planted upon a lofty mountain in Israel, the prophet had represented this not only as growing and taking root there, but as winning the regard of all the trees of the field, and gathering under its ample foliage beasts of every kind and birds of every wing. The kingdom of God, as thus exhibited, seemed to carry a benign and diffusive aspect toward the entire world. And should it be otherwise now, when presented under the different but more detailed and variegated form of a spiritual house, with the living God himself for the glorious inhabitant, and a royal priesthood for its ministering servants? No; it is for humanity, mankind as a whole, that God was thus seen dwelling with men; and though everything presents itself, according to the relations then existing, as connected with a local habitation and circumscribed bounds, yet the good in store was to be confined within no such narrow limits; it was to flow forth with healthful and restorative energy, even upon the waste and dead places of the earth, and invest them with the freshness of life and beauty.

This fine idea is presented by the prophet under a pleasing natural image. He is brought back by the angel from the outer court, where he was standing, to the door of the temple on the east; and there he sees a stream of water gushing from beneath the threshold, and running in the direction of south-east, so as to pass the altar on the south. He is then brought outside by the north gate, and carried round to where the waters appeared beyond the temple grounds, that he might witness the measurements that were to be made of them, and the genial effects they produced. But let us take his own account of it.

Ezekiel 47:1 . And he brought me back to the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued forth from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the front of the house is to the east; and the waters descended from below, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.

Ezekiel 47:2 . And he brought me forth by the way of the north gate, and led me round by the way without to the outer gate, by the way that looks eastward; and, behold, waters were pouring forth on the right side.

Ezekiel 47:3 . And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits; and he made me pass through the waters waters to the ankles.

Ezekiel 47:4 . Again he measured a thousand, and made me pass through the waters waters to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through waters to the loins.

Ezekiel 47:5 . Again he measured a thousand, it was a river which I could not pass; for the waters were risen, waters for swimming, a river that could not be passed over.

Ezekiel 47:6 . And he said to me, Son of man, hast thou seen it? And he led me and brought me back to the brink of the river.

Ezekiel 47:7 . And when I came back, behold, on the bank of the river, very many trees on the one side and the other.

Ezekiel 47:8 . And he said to me, These waters issue toward the eastern boundary, and descend upon the plain, (Perhaps the word should be untranslated, for the Arabah (plain) is the name given at this day to the valley that lies around, and to the south of the Dead Sea (Robinson’s Researches, ii. p. 595). We can therefore have no doubt that by the sea is meant the Dead Sea, which also lies in the direction of the stream toward the east.) and go toward the sea; hi the sea are their out-goings, and the waters are healed.

Ezekiel 47:9 . And it comes to pass, that every living creature which creeps whithersoever the streams go, (The dual here, נַחֲלַיִם , double-stream, is peculiar; but there is no reason for supposing, with some, that it is used with reference to any division in the current into two or more branches; for no mention is made of that, and the word is presently, in the latter part of the verse, and again in Ezekiel 47:12, used in the singular. It is rather to be understood of the copiousness of the stream; increasing at such a rapid rate, it becomes like rivers, though still really but one.) lives; and there is a great multitude of fish, because these waters go thither; and they shall be healed, and everything lives whithersoever the river goes.

Ezekiel 47:10 . And it comes to pass, that fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto En-eglaim; (The former of these two names, Engedi, was applied to the wilderness lying to the west and south of the Dead Sea, where David sought a place of refuge from Saul. A fountain, and the remains of a town, still exist under that name, and have been identified by Robinson (Researches, ii. p. 214). The other place, En-eglaim, no doubt lay somewhere at a considerable distance on the shores of the same sea. The two places appear to be used as boundaries, comprising between them the whole extent of the Dead Sea.) a spreading-place of nets shall they be; their fish shall be after their kind (i.e. of many sorts), like the fish of the great sea (the Mediterranean), very many.

Ezekiel 47:11 . Its marshes and its pits, which are not healed, are given for salt. (This verse tells us that the sea had certain parts or places about it which did not participate in the general change, and which were given or appointed for salt. But both the things themselves, and the nature of the destination, have been variously understood; and as usual in cases of difficulty, alterations in the text have also been proposed. We must keep in view the general nature and design of the representation. This stream of life, flowing from the dwelling-place of God, images the regenerating efficacy of his grace and word upon a dead world, represented by the barren region through which the stream flows, and the salt waters of the Dead Sea, into which it empties itself. The general result is such, that the barren soil becomes in the highest degree fertile, and even the salt waters of the Dead Sea are sweetened and made capable of sustaining the greatest abundance of fish. But certain parts in the neighbourhood pits and marshes, such as the region is known to possess, and which it is to be understood the stream from the temple does not reach remain still unhealed, and are therefore given to salt, the image of what is waste, bitter, and unproductive in nature (Deuteronomy 29:23; Psalms 107:34; Zephaniah 2:9). So that the meaning is, in so far as there might be any places in the desert world which should not participate in the beneficent influence, these, if any, would remain in their originally bad state unhealed.)

Ezekiel 47:12 . And by the river on each bank there shall come up all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, nor shall their fruit fail; every month they bring forth afresh (literally, produce firstling in such undecaying vigour that they are still, as it were, yielding their first-fruit); for their waters proceed from the sanctuary itself, and their fruit is for food and their leaves for healing.

That the description given of this stream and its effects must be understood in an ideal manner, not of any actual river, but, like all the rest of the vision, of spiritual things shadowed forth under it, is so evident as scarcely to require any proof. The source of it alone (the summit of an elevated mountain), and the manner of its increase, should put this beyond a doubt with all who would not convert the Bible into a nursery of extravagance and credulity. For a natural river like this would of necessity be in contravention of the established laws of nature, and could only exist as a perpetual miracle. Supposing that by some new adjustment of the land a stream might be made to rise on the top of Mount Zion, yet a stream feeding itself as described in the vision, and growing with such rapid strides, is utterly at variance with the known laws of the material world. For, it is to be observed, the increase here comes from no extraneous and incidental sources; it is all along the temple waters that form the river, and at last empty themselves into the sea; and yet, from being at first but a small streamlet, these grow, by self-production, in the space of little more than a mile, into an unfordable river! To expect such a prodigy as this on the outward territory of nature is plainly to identify the natural with the miraculous, and confound the hopes of faith with the dreams of superstition. The Bible does teach us to look for things above nature, but never for merely natural things against the ascertained laws of nature.

Issuing as this stream does from the threshold of the temple, from the very foot of the throne of God (comp. Revelation 22:1), it must be, like all the special manifestations of God to his Church, itself of a spiritual nature, and only in its effects productive of outward material good. It is just the efflux of that infinite fulness of life and blessing which is treasured up in his spiritual temple, and continually pours itself forth as the operations of his grace proceed among men. It is emphatically a river of life. Wherever it is experienced, the barren soil of nature fructifies, the dead live again, the soul is replenished with joy and gladness. And instead of spending, like the streams of nature, as it advances through the moral deserts of the world, it still multiplies and grows: for it diffuses itself from heart to heart, from family to family. Every true recipient of grace becomes a channel and instrument of grace to those around him; so that the more who partake of the blessing, the more always does the region expand over which the kingdom developes its resources. And in proportion as these are developed, everything around wears a smiling and joyous aspect; the evils and disorders of nature are rectified; peace and order reign where before were the favourite haunts of wretchedness and crime; the very field of judgment becomes a region of life and blessing; until at last corruption itself is changed into incorruption, mortality is swallowed up in life, and the earth, which God had cursed for men’s sin, is transformed into the inheritance of the saints in light.

Such, we have no doubt, is the general import of the vision before us; and to this we must confine ourselves. It must be contemplated as a whole, and not broken up into fragments; as if we should inquire what is to be understood specially by the fish, what by the fishers, what by the trees, and so on. A life-giving and ever-increasing stream of heavenly influence, proceeding from the centre of the Divine kingdom, and diffusing itself far and wide among men, is what the prophet intends to exhibit to our mind; and to give this idea form and shape to our apprehensions, he must fill up the picture with the appropriate signs and manifestations of life. But to take these up one by one, and adapt them to particular things in the present or future dispensations of God, can only be an exercise of fancy, as likely to mislead as to conduct to sound and legitimate conclusions. Let us rest in the great reality; let us rejoice in the thought that the Spirit of God should have coupled, with all the other exhibitions of the Divine kingdom given to the prophet, so encouraging a prospect of its vivifying, restorative, and expanding energies; and let it deepen the blessed conviction in our bosom, that the purpose of God in grace is fixed; and that mighty as the obstacles are which everywhere present themselves to withstand its progress, it shall certainly not fail to make good its triumph over all the disorders and corruption of the world.

We simply add, in regard to the relation of this prophecy to others in Scripture, that there is undoubtedly a reference in the whole passage to the description in Genesis 2:0 of the garden of Eden; although it seems rather pushing the allusion too far, when Hengstenberg, on Revelation 22:2, maintains the trees here mentioned to be simply the tree of life. The mention of every kind of tree for food in Ezekiel 47:12, and the prominence given also to the abundance of fish in the waters, show that there is no servile copying of the description in Genesis; while still it is impossible not to see that a kind of new paradise was evidently intended to be described by the prophet. Then as he has, after his own manner, enlarged and amplified the thought which is contained in such passages as Joel 3:18, Zechariah 14:8, so his delineation is again taken up by the Evangelist John, and in his peculiar manner accommodated to express the last grand issues of God’s kingdom towards man: “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month (for which Ezekiel has all manner of fruit trees, bearing monthly); and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse (corresponding in Ezekiel to the beneficent change wrought on the doomed region of the Dead Sea); but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him” (Revelation 22:1-3).

Verses 13-23

CHAPTER 47:13-48:35

As the whole of the representations contained in the preceding parts of the vision proceed on the basis of the old covenant, the series naturally closes with a re-occupation of the land of Canaan, which formed the great objective promise of the covenant. A people settled in the inheritance of their God is the proper result of the re-establishment of the covenant, and the renewal of their souls after its principles of righteousness. There is, of course, no more reason for understanding this portion according to the letter than those which went before. The whole vision is of a piece, a pictorial representation of the future things of God’s kingdom under the image of the past, yet so altered and adjusted as to indicate the vast superiority of what was to come compared with what hitherto had been. To say, as many in effect do, that the part of the vision which refers to the temple and its worship is figurative, while this, which makes mention of a re-occupation of the land by the tribes of Israel, must be understood literally, is to bring complete arbitrariness and confusion into the interpretation of the prophecy. There is the very same reason for holding that the Old Testament ritual of worship, with all its carnal ordinances, and more than its carnal display of outward pomp, shall again be set up, as for holding that the natural Israel shall again be restored to the possession of Canaan, so as to form a peculiar commonwealth of believers. And if to maintain the one be to place the prophets of the Old Testament in palpable contrariety to the apostles of the New, to maintain the other by itself is not less evidently to mutilate the prophetic record, and place one part of the prophetic testimony in virtual opposition to another.

Ezekiel 47:13 . Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, This (The נֵּה here we take, with our translators, and the greater part of commentators, to be a corruption for זֶה ; so also the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Chaldee.) shall be the boundary as to how ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph two portions.

Ezekiel 47:14 . And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, since I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers, and this land has fallen to you for an inheritance.

Ezekiel 47:15 . And this shall be the boundary of the land on the north side, from the great sea by the way of Hethlon, as one goes to Zedad:

Ezekiel 47:16 . Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazar-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.

Ezekiel 47:17 . And from the sea the boundary shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.

Ezekiel 47:18 . And the east side ye shall measure from between Hauran and Damascus, and from between Gilead and the land of Israel, the Jordan, from the boundary even to the cast sea. And this is the east side.

Ezekiel 47:19 . And the south side southward, from Tamar to the waters of Meribah Kadesh, to the river on the great sea. And this is the south side southward.

Ezekiel 47:20 . And the west side, the great sea, from the boundary till one comes over against Hamath. This is the west side.

Ezekiel 47:21 . And ye shall divide this land to you according to the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 47:22 . And it shall be that ye divide it by lot for an inheritance to you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you who beget children among you: and they shall be to you as natives among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you in the midst of the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 47:23 . And it shall be, that in whatsoever tribe the stranger sojourns, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Ezekiel 48:1 . And these are the names of the tribes. From the north end by the way of Hethlon, as one goes to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward, to the boundary of Hamath; and it is for him the east and the west side: Dan one (viz. one portion).

Ezekiel 48:2 . And on Dan’s boundary, from the east side to the west side, As her one.

Ezekiel 48:3 . And by the boundary of Asher, from the east to the west side, Naphtali one.

Ezekiel 48:4 . And by the boundary of Naphtali, from the east to the west side, Manasseh one.

Ezekiel 48:5 . And by the boundary of Manasseh, from the east to the west side, Ephraim one.

Ezekiel 48:6 . And by the boundary of Ephraim, from the east to the west side, Reuben one.

Ezekiel 48:7 . And by the boundary of Reuben, from the east to the west side, Judah one.

Ezekiel 48:8 . And by the boundary of Judah, from the east to the west side, shall be the offering, which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand (rods) in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall lie in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:9 . The oblation that ye shall offer to Jehovah, of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.

Ezekiel 48:10 . And for these shall be the holy oblation: for the priests, on the north 25,000, toward the west 10,000 broad, and toward the east 10,000 broad, and toward the south 25,000 long; and the sanctuary of Jehovah shall be in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:11 . For the priests that are sanctified, of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who have not gone astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

Ezekiel 48:12 . And the oblation of the land that is offered shall be to them a holy of holies by the boundary of the Levites.

Ezekiel 48:13 . And over against the boundary of the priests, the Levites (shall have) 25,000 in length, and 10,000 in breadth; the whole length 25,000, and the breadth 10,000.

Ezekiel 48:14 . And they shall not sell of it, nor exchange, nor alienate the first-fruits of the land; for it is holy to Jehovah.

Ezekiel 48:15 . And the 5000 that are left in breadth over against the 25,000 shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs; and the city shall be in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:16 . And these shall be its measures: the north side 4500, and the south side 4500, and on the east side 4500, and the west side 4500.

Ezekiel 48:17 . And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north 250, and toward the south 250, and toward the east 250, and toward the west 250.

Ezekiel 48:18 . And what is left in length over against the holy oblation, 10,000 eastward, and 10,000 westward: and it shall be over against the holy oblation, and its produce shall be for food to the servants of the city.

Ezekiel 48:19 . And for the service of the city, they shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 48:20 . The whole oblation shall be 25,000 by 25,000; ye shall offer the holy oblation four-square, together with the possession of the city.

Ezekiel 48:21 . And the residue shall belong to the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city; over against the 25,000 of the oblation toward the east border; and westward over against the 25,000 toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince; and it shall be the holy oblation, and the sanctuary of the house in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:22 . And from the possession of the Levites, from the possession of the city, in the. midst of what is the prince s, between the boundary of Judah and the boundary of Benjamin to the prince shall it belong.

Ezekiel 48:23 . And for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west side, Benjamin one.

Ezekiel 48:24 . And by the boundary of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon one.

Ezekiel 48:25 . And by the boundary of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar one.

Ezekiel 48:26 . And by the boundary of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun one.

Ezekiel 48:27 . And by the boundary of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad one.

Ezekiel 48:28 . And by the boundary of Gad, at the south side southward, the boundary shall be from Tamar, the waters of Meribah Kadesh, to the river upon the great sea.

Ezekiel 48:29 . This is the land which ye shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for an inheritance; and these are their portions, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Ezekiel 48:30 . And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, 4500 measures.

Ezekiel 48:31 . And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.

Ezekiel 48:32 . And at the east side 4500 measures: and three gates; the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.

Ezekiel 48:33 . And at the south side 4500 measures: and three gates; the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.

Ezekiel 48:34 . At the west side, 4500 (measures): their three gates; the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.

Ezekiel 48:35 . The circumference 18,000; and the name of the city thenceforth Jehovah-shammah (Jehovah thither). (Not precisely “Jehovah there;” for the ה cannot be sunk, as Hengstenberg has remarked on Hos. 3:17. The exact import is thither, or thereupon.)

The concluding portion of Ezekiel 47:0 is nearly all occupied with the boundaries of the land, which seem to be substantially the same with those originally given by Moses in Numbers 34:0, though the names mentioned to some extent differ. It is to be noted, however, that in the fair and natural construction of the words, it is only Canaan proper, exclusive of what was given to the two tribes and a half beyond Jordan, which forms here the inheritance to be divided. For the eastern boundary runs (Ezekiel 47:18) “from between Hauran and Damascus, and from between Gilead and the land of Israel, the Jordan, from the border unto the east sea.” We can make no intelligible sense of this, unless it means that the boundary-line on the east was to be cut off by Hauran and Gilead, and go straight down to the Dead Sea by the valley of Jordan. And this is confirmed by comparing Numbers 34:11-12, where the border is also said to go down by Jordan and the Salt Sea; while immediately afterwards (Ezekiel 47:13), it is stated that the land thus bounded is what was to be allotted to the nine tribes and a half. What the prophet here, therefore, describes as the land, is strictly and properly Canaan within Jordan, which was the original inheritance promised. We did not urge this point in our preliminary remarks on this last vision, lest we should seem to press the matter too far, but allowed that the prophet might include all that Israel ever occupied. There is really, however, no ground for supposing this; and if we abide by what seems the plain boundary-line of the prophet, the statement of Lightfoot becomes in both parts quite correct, that the site of the prophet’s temple is larger than all ancient Jerusalem, and his central portion for the city, prince, and priesthood larger than all the land of Canaan as described by himself.

The territory to be divided being thus obviously viewed in an ideal light, the division itself is conducted in the same manner, not as it ever could have taken place in the reality, but after rule and measure, in exact and regular portions running along side of each other the whole breadth from west to east, and standing in a common relation to the temple in the centre. Seven of the tribes have their portions on the north, on account of the greater stretch of the land in that direction with respect to the actual Jerusalem, and in the following order: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah; the latter having its place close by the central portion on the north, as Benjamin had on its south. This honour appears to have been given to these two tribes in consideration of their relative historical superiority, having so long adhered to the temple and ordinances of God, when the others deserted them. Dan, on the contrary, was placed at the extreme north, on account of the low religious character of the tribe, precisely as John, in representing the whole elect Church by twelve thousand from the several tribes of Israel, leaves Dan out altogether (Revelation 7:0.). As there were actually thirteen tribes, he finds his 12 times 12 by omitting Dan, whose idolatrous and semi-heathen character made it border morally, as it did locally, on the Gentiles. Here the two tribes of Joseph are thrown into one, to admit of Dan’s having a place, but it is still the lowest place in the ideal territory of a blessed world. With these exceptions, we can discern no specific grounds for the particular places assigned to the tribes respectively. The order on the south side was, Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulon, Gad. But the city, the temple, the prince, and priesthood, with their respective portions, being situated precisely in the middle, and not within the boundaries of any of the tribes, was intended to intimate that all were now to be regarded as having a common interest in them, and that the miserable and mischievous jealousies which had of old exercised so disastrous an influence, especially between Judah and Ephraim, should finally and for ever cease. All now should stand related as a united and compact brotherhood to the sanctuary of the Lord, from which, as a central fountainhead of life and blessing, there should continually stream forth manifestations of grace to all the people. (In Ezekiel 47:22-23, provision is also made for the strangers who should come and join themselves to the Lord: these, it was ordered, should be treated as Israelites, and have an inheritance like the rest. It is merely a trait thrown in to show how the spiritual community of the Lord would now form a point of attraction to others, and how also, instead of repelling these, they were to give them free access to the highest privileges, as the provision to be made was to be large enough for all, and none need envy another. Easily understood on the spiritual interpretation, but quite inexplicable on the literal; for, as within the bounds mentioned it is impossible to understand how even the members of the different tribes could be accommodated, what room could be found for an influx of strangers? The notice is intelligible only if understood as intimating that the distinction of Jew and Gentile should be abolished, and that the whole believing world should be one, and their name one.)

The desire of giving due prominence to the sacred portions in the centre leads the prophet again to enter into some statements regarding the Terumah, or oblation, and its subdivisions. Nothing of importance is added to what was said before, except that the 5000 rods apportioned out of the 25,000 square to the city is here laid off in a square of 4500, with the 250 all round for suburbs. This space for the city was not strictly holy ground, in the sense that the sacerdotal portions were, and hence it is called profane or common. But being thus immediately connected with the sacred portions, and standing apart from the individual tribes, the city built on it formed a fit and proper centre to the whole land, in its position and its structure the beau-ideal of a theocratic capital, encompassed by the most hallowed influences, and fitted to exert a uniting and healthful effect upon the entire community. Hence the prophet closes the description by the mention of some things regarding the city which might serve more deeply to impress the feeling of its being the suitable representative and common centre of the community. Itself occupying a central position, and immediately in front of the house of God, it was also to have twelve gates, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, in token that all the family of faith had their representation in it, and, as if they were actually resident in it, stood before the Lord for the enjoyment of his favour and blessing. He specifies, again, the entire circumference of the city, 18,000 rods (between twenty and thirty miles), as a symbol of the immense numbers of the covenant-people under the new and better dispensation of the future, immeasurably transcending what had existed under the old. And to exhibit the character of the city itself, as representative of the community at large and indicative of its own relative position, it was to bear from that day, namely, from the period of the beginning of this new and better order of things, the honourable name of “Jehovah-Shammah” not, as has been already stated, Jehovah-there, but Jehovah-thither, or thereupon; for it was in the temple, rather than in the city, that the Lord was represented as having his peculiar dwelling-place. But his eyes were to be ever from the temple toward the city, and again from the city toward the whole land. The manifestations of his love and goodness were to radiate from the chosen seat of the kingdom through all its borders: he in all, and all united and blessed in him. So that the consummation of this vision substantially corresponds with the object prayed for by our Lord when he sought respecting his people that they might be where he was, and that they might be all one, as he and the Father are one, he in them and they in him, that they might be made perfect in one.

Thus ends the marvellous vision of the prophet, alike marvellous whether we look to the lofty pattern (true in the spirit, though unavoidably wearing the garb of imperfect forms and shadowy relations) which it embodied of better things to come in God’s kingdom, or to the time chosen for presenting this to the Church of God. The cause of Heaven was then at its lowest ebb. The temple that had been, together with the kingdom it symbolized and represented, were laid in ruins; they were to be seen only in broken fragments and mournful dilapidations, as if smitten with the powerful curse of an irrecoverable perdition. Yet from the midst of these howling desolations, as from the very “suburbs of hell,” the prophet ascends, with assured step, the mount of vision, and has there exhibited to his view, not, indeed, the very image of better things to come, but the ideal pattern after which the blessed and glorious future was to be fashioned. He even sees it as already present; and, with such imperfect materials of thought and utterance as then stood at his command, he gives it forth to the Church and the world as a thing which his own eyes had beheld, showing how God would certainly dwell with his people in a manner he had never done before, how he would at once immeasurably extend the sphere of his kingdom and greatly elevate the condition of those who belonged to it, and how, through the copious effusions of his life-giving Spirit, the former imperfections should be done away, the most remote regions of the Divine territory hallowed and blessed, and even the peculiar haunts of cursing and desolation made to rejoice and blossom like the rose.

“O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true! Scenes of accomplished bliss! which who can see, Though but in distant prospect, and not feel His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy?

That such scenes should have been described with such assured confidence, and at a time so deeply overspread with gloom, was indeed an ennobling triumph of faith over sight. It gave a most illustrious proof of the height in spiritual discernment and far-reaching insight into the purposes of Heaven which is sometimes imparted in the hour of greatest need, especially to the more select instruments of the Spirit’s working. And surely the children of the kingdom now must be chargeable with neglecting an important privilege, if they fail to profit by so inspiriting an example. Here the heart of faith is taught never to despair, not even in the darkest seasons. And when it is seen how much of the scheme delineated in the prophetic vision has already been accomplished, should not believers feel encouraged to look and strive for its complete realization, assured that God is ready to hear their cry, and to second with the aid of his Spirit the efforts that are made to dispossess and drive out the hostile powers that continue to linger in his kingdom. It is theirs, if they feel thus, not only to contend in the best of causes, but also with the surest prospect of success; for the Lord himself is upon their side, and his word of promise must be established.

“Thus heavenward all things tend. For all were once Perfect, and all must be at length restored. So God has greatly purposed; who would else In his dishonoured works himself endure Dishonour, and be wronged without redress! Come, then, and, added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one as radiant as the rest, Due to thy last and most effectual work, Thy word fulfilled, the conquest of a world.”