Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 47

Verses 1-23

Again Ezekiel was taken to the door of the house, and there beheld the wonderful symbolic river. Its source was the sanctuary. It proceeded under the threshold, and past the altar, and outward in an eastward course, a steadily growing stream. A thousand cubits beyond the place of its emergence it was ankle deep, a thousand farther it reached the knees, a thousand farther the loins were covered, and a thousand farther it became, in the stately language of the prophet, "a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through."

Having observed this growth, the prophet was taken back to the brink of the river, and then in language full of poetic beauty he described its effect. Trees were seen growing on either bank. The angel told him that the waters went down into the Arabah, and ultimately into the sea, and that its waters would be healed by the inflow of the river of life. The inclusive statement of the effect is stated in the words, "Everything shall live whithersoever the river goeth."

Following the vision of the river, the prophet received instructions concerning the new division of the land, the possessions of the tribes running from east to west. The country thus divided would belong to the tribes of Israel, and any stranger dwelling therein was to 'have an inheritance in the land in common with the children of Israel.