ร The vision] CHAP. XLVII. thirty broad these four corners were of one measure. 23 And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about. 24 Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people. CHAP. XLVII. AFTERWARD he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. 2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. 3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ancles. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the Joins. 5 Afterward he measured a thou [of Holy Waters. sand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. 6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. 7 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. 9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. 10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. 11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. NOTES. CHAP. XLVII. Ver. 1. Under the threshold.See Note on chap. xliii. 8; also chan, xlvi. 2, 3. Ver. 5. Waters were risen - Heb. "Swoln;" XX,Lifted up their prond waves." These waters beautifully represent the gradual progress of e gospel. See Isa, 11, 2-4. Compare Joel i 18; Cech xiv. 8; Isa.lv. 1; John vii.38." Newcome.Vaters to swim in-Heb. "Waters of swimming." Ver. 7. Bak-Heb. "lip," Newcome, Brink;" ne same word as is so rendered in ver. 6. Ver. 8. Desert-Marx. "Plain." See Deu'. iii. Brought forth into the sea-by ver. 10, 11, strained to the dead, or salt sen, Gen. xiv. 3. It is led the dead sea on account of a tradition which, ongh disputed, has never been refuted, that no h can live in it. This may be partly owing to its ressive saltness, containing (as ascer amed by cent experiments) one fourth of its weight in salt, ich renders it singularly buoyant and bitter, and ay account for its being uninhabited. See Modern av. vol. ii p. 29. Ver. 9. Every thing that liveth, which movethwcome, "Every living thing which moveth.". 12 And by the river upon the bank Whithersoever the rivers Heb. "Two rivers;" but as we read of but one in the context, Michaelis (by only dividing one Hebrew word into two, see Note, p viii. Introduction to our first volume) reads, "Whithersoever the river shall come, the sea shall live." But in Hebrew, the plural is often used for the singular, and here may rerhaos intend the spreading streams of this sacred wa er. Ver. 10. From En-gedi un o En-eglaim.--The former place lay nearly due east from Jerusalem, t latter at the northern extremity of the dead sea, where the Jordan flows into it: from 15 to 20 miles of const.As the fish of the great sea.-This implies, not that the water shall become fresh, (like the lake of Gennesareth) but like the ocean, its deleterious qualities being purged by the accession of these sacred waters. Ver. 11. The marishes (or marshes) shall not be healed. The south end, where Sodom stood on the south-west, and "the valley of salt" on the southenst. They shall be given (up) to salt—and this may figuratively represent those nations that utterly refuse the healing streams of salvation. Borders] EZEKIEL. thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. (X) [Omit, and pass to ver. 21, chap. xlviii.] 13 Thus saith the Lord God; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the CHAP. XLVII. [of the land, land according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. 14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inbe ritance. 15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; 16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Dainascus and the border of Hamath; Hazar-batticon, which is by the coast of Hauran. 17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and EXPOSITION. (X) Ver. 1-12. The vision of the holy wa ters and mystic trees. We now approach the close of this extraordinary vision, and various circumstances lead us to consider it in many parts of mystic import. Though the temple itself may not in magnitude exceed that of Solomon, yet the grand scale on which the surrounding courts and adjacent grounds are laid out, seems strongly to innate a great increase of the true church of God, principally by the accession of the Gentiles. So in this chapter the mighty stream of waters flowing from the sanctuary, though it may have some reference to the waters formerly supplied from an adjacent spring or two for the priest's use, are in volume so vastly greater, and in virtue so perfectly distinct and superior, that he must be a dreaming expositor indeed, who can explain this literally of water only to cleanse the sacrifices and sacrificial instruments. Besides, this water ran from the temple-increased as it proceeded, and conveyed life and health and blessing wherever its streams flowed. ably to the nature of fructifying streams convey fertility and verdure wherever they may spread. Moreover, these waters have a singular power of conveying life and salu brity to the dead sea itself: a lake which, after discarding all the fables of credu lous travellers, is confessedly barren of living creatures. If we allegorize these streams, it seems natural that the dead sea should also be emblematical of the state of both the jewish and heathen world prior to the promulgation of the gospel. The religion of the Jews and the science of the Greeks were alike dead. To what good purpose did the former ap ply their rabbinical lore? or the latter their admired wisdom? The former sunk into the most ridiculous superstitions and the latter into the most gross idolatries, which, at the same time as they practised and recommended to the vulgar they ridiculed themselves. But these healing streams, wherever they flowed, evangelized the former, and rationalized the latter. "Christ crucified," was indeed to the Jews # stumbling block" till the veil was taken from their hearts; and then they read the gospel in all the books of Moses. The same doctrine was "to the Greeks foolishness," till they also were enlightened; and then they saw in the doctrine of redemption a display of divine wisdom, and felt its power in the renovation of their hearts and lives. Thus the dead sea is filled with living fish, and the trees which grow upon its banks, instead of the fabled apples of Sodom, produce trees of perpetual verdure, and fruits of immortality and ever fresh, while its leaves shall heal basis of the sea. These waters, too, agree- all the disorders of human life. Nothing is more common in the Holy Scriptures than to represent the influences of the Holy Spirit under the emblem of water; and, in perfect accordance with this remark, the spread of knowledge, truth and righteousness is often expressed by the image of flowing streams,-streams that, uniting and continuing to spread, we are led to believe shall cover the earth with the knowledge and glory of the Lord as the waters cover the immense NOTES. Ver. 12. Shail grow (Heb. " spring up") all trees for food - Here is an evident allusion to the trees of paradise.-See our Note on Gen. ii. 9-The leaf thereof for medicine - Newcome, "Healing." The medical art in the East is still chiefly confined to external applications. ever new Ver. 13. This shall be the border. The precis situation of many of the places named in this and the following chapter, can hardly now be ascertained. It is, however, evident, that provision is here sade for the return of all the tribes, though many did m come. the border of Hamath. And this is the north side. 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. 19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward. 20 The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side. 21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. 22 Aud it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inberitance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it shall come to pass, that in what time the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD. CHAP. XLVIII. NOW these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethion, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus. northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan. 2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a ortion for Asher. 3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali. 4 And y the border of Naphtali, from the east ile unto the west side, a portion for Maassel. 5 And by the border of Manasch, from the east side unto the west side, portion for Ephraim. 6 And by the order of Ephraim, from the east side even into the west side, a portion for Reuben. And by the border of Reuben, from the ast side even unto the west side, a portion or Judah. 8 And by the border of Judah, from the ast side unto the west side, shall be the ffering which ye shall offer of five and venty thousand reeds in breadth, and in ngth as one of the other parts, from the ast side unto the west side: and the sancmary shall be in the midst of it. 9 The lation that ye shall offer unto the LORD -all be of five and twenty thousand in [several tribes. length, and of ten thousand in breadth, 10 And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof. 11 It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 12 And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. 13 Aud over against the border of the priests, the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. 14 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the first fruits of the land: for it is hely unto the LORD. : 15 Aud the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five aud twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs and the city shall be in the midst thereof. 16 And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. 17 And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. 18 And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city. 19 And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. 20 All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousaud by five and twenty thousand ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city. : 21 And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the NOTES. CHAP. XLVIII. Ver. 8. Five and twenty thound reeds. —— Rather, "Cubits." See Note on ap. xlv. 1. Ver. 11. 1t shall be for the priests that are sanctid Marg. "The sanctified portion shall be for priests of the sons," &c.-As the Levites went. See chap. xliv. 10. It appears that the priests generally adhered to the God of Israel, and one motive, probably, for the defection of the latter might be their being promoted to the priesthood among idolaters. See Judges xvii. 11—13. Ver. 15. Profane place-see on chap. xlii. 20. Ver. 35. The Lord is there-Heb. Jehovah-sham mah. other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof. 22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. 23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion. 24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion. 25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion. 26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion. 27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion. 28 And by the border of Gad, at CHAP. XLVIII. [of the city. the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea. 29 This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord God. 30 And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thou sand and five hundred measures. 31 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. 32 And at the east side four thou sand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. 33 And at the south side four thou sand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. 34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. 35 It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there. (Y) EXPOSITION. (Y) Ver. 21-35. The division of the land, and the gates of the city.-There is as much prudence as modesty, in not attempting to explain what we cannot com prebend; and those commentators who have been most anxious to remove all obscurities. have been compelled to confess themselves non-plussed in the visions of Ezekiel. The great outlines of the allegory are as much as we dare hope to understand; but the fulfilment of these predictions, may, as in other instances, render intelligible what now seems most obscure. Though the return from the Babylonish captivity included but a very small part of the ten tribes of Israel, there is reason to believe a remnant of them is still preserved in some of the Eastern countries, and will be forthcoming when ever the God of Israel shall give the word. What is meant by the Holy oblation" it is difficult to explain, since it is neither confined to the Temple, nor the holy city; nor does it extend to the whole of the holy land. The best idea we can form of its extent (as Dr. Boothroyd suggests) is by conceiving a square of 25,000 cubits each way, or about seven English miles in length and breadth; and this square divided lengthwise into three parts (or rectangles) thus: 10,000 for the priests, 10,000 for the Levises, and 5000 for the city: with the temple in the midst of the whole plot of ground. A part also was to be added for the king's palace and pleasure grounds. The rea-ous of this proportion are to us far from evident; but the portions of the priests and Levites probably included pasture grounds, and perhaps vineyards, for the use of the Temple. The increase of the number of gates (double those of the former city) is a circumstance we by no means understand; but it is copied by St. John in his Apocalyptical description of the New Jerusalem. (Rev. xxi. 21.) The descriptive name here given to the city, JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, is sufficiently definite as implying God's continual presence with his church, under every dispensation. INTRODUCTION. DANIEL is the last of those usually called the four greater Prophets, not for their superior excellence or authority, but for their contents: the book of Daniel is, however, much shorter than either of the other three. Indeed, some of the minor Prophets, as Hosea and Zechariah, contain more chapters than Daniel though not more matter. Daniel was of noble descent, and probably, as the Jews assert, related to the royal family of Judah. He was carried captive to Babylon at an early age, and in the 606th year before the Christian era. Having been initiated into the mysterious learning of the Chaldeans, he was found qualified for the highest offices in the courts of Babylon and Persia, but did not defile himself with their idolatries. He was contemporary with Ezekiel; and in one of his prophecies (Ezek. xiv. 14, 20,) is associated with Noah and Job, as three of the wisest and best of men. Though Daniel's name is not prefixed to this book, he speaks so often in the first person as to leave no reason to doubt the fact; it has been almost universally admitted both by Jews and Christians. The evidence arising from his predictions in favour of Christianity, have led some Jews to speak degradingly of his authority; Josephus, however, speaks of him as one of the greatest of the Prophets ;* but to us Christians "the testimony of JESUS," who calls him "the Prophet Daniel," (Matt. xxiv. 15.) is paramount to all others. Neither this book, nor that of Jonah, is considered as poetical,† though some passages are remarkably sublime.‡ Porphyry, a learned opponent of Christianity in the third Century, was so struck with the fulfilment of Daniel's prophecies, that he pretended they were forged after the events; and in particular, after the time of Antiochus, though it is evident that they were translated into Greek 100 years before, and by the Jews themselves shewn to Alexander the Great to procure his favour.§ Some additions to this book are, indeed, found in the Vulgate Latin, and in Theodosius's Greek version, which are admitted into the Catholic Canon of the Old Testa ment by the Council of Trent. These are, "The History of Susanna," which, in its title, is said to be "set apart from the beginning of Daniel;" and "the History [or rather fable, as Erasmus calls it] of Bel and the Dragon," cut off from the end of it; also the Soug of the Three Children" in the fiery furnace, all which are rejected from the Canon by the learned and judicious Lardner, and by all consistent Protestants, as never having existed in the Hebrew or Chaldee languages. || Antiq. lib. x. cap. ii. 17. Ibid. lib. xi. cap. 8. 15. Lowth's Lect. xx. ? See chap, ii. 20—23. This is evident from a play upon some names in the Greek text, which could not have been used either in Heb. or Chaldee. See Horne's Analysis, Crit. Introd. vol. iv. p. 194, 4th ed. and Wintle's Preliminary Dissertation, p. Jyui. |
