Tag Archives: Water of Life

Ezekiel 47 The Waters of Life and the Boundaries of a Renewed Israel

1 Reply
Dead Sea Jordanian Shore Showing Salt Deposits Left Behind By Falling Water Levels By Alexandermcnabb – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74858999

Ezekiel 47: 1-12 The Renewing Waters from the Temple

1Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and the water was coming out on the south side.
3Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle- deep. 4Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist. 5Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. 6He said to me, “Mortal, have you seen this?”
Then he led me back along the bank of the river. 7As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other. 8He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. 9Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. 10People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.

Ezekiel’s vision of a renewed society starts with the temple, but then from the temple it flows out to a renewed land and people. This vision of a life-giving stream that flows from the temple may originate in the imagery of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:10-14 where a river flows from through the garden providing life for both the flora and fauna of creation. This imagery is picked up in Psalm 46:4 and centered in Zion when that poet writes: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.” This vision of Ezekiel adopts this stream flowing out of Zion and fixes its source as the holy habitation of the Most High, specifically the threshold of the temple becomes the source of this bubbling spring of renewing waters which bring life to dead waters and desiccated lands. A renewed temple where God’s presence dwells is the source of life for the renewed land.

This image of comfort is one of the portions of Ezekiel that would have the greatest reach in later years, but for a people who had been through the destruction of their home and their hope was a potent vision. As Daniel Block can state:

This marvelous picture of renewal would have stirred the heart of any true Israelite, especially one who had lived through the desolation of Judah and spent many years in exile. (Block, 1998, p. 690)

The people of Judah and Israel have no reason to believe that they can be recreated as a people unless the LORD acts in new and creative ways. Here Ezekiel joins with Jeremiah, Isaiah, and other prophets in viewing a land recreated by the God of Israel. This impossible stream which in the span of a little more than a mile and a quarter moves from a trickling flow bubbling up from the foundation to a stream too deep to wade across defies everything that water should be able to do, and yet this impossible stream can only occur within the world made possible by their God.

Daniel Block is correct from a logical point of view that everything about this stream is unrealistic: streams do not grow from a bubbling source to water too deep to cross without tributaries, nor do they come from temple thresholds or flow uphill. Freshwater when it encounters water that is too salty for life becomes fouled rather than renewing the larger body of water. (Block, 1998, pp. 700-701) Yet, the impossibility of this stream is part of the imaginative power of this image, for this is the image of a God who is doing a new thing and making streams of water to flow in the desert.[1] These miraculous waters which bubble up from the temple threshold and rapidly accumulate depth and volume as they proceed away from their source bringing vegetation to the wastelands and renewing the waters of the Dead Sea can only be an act of the creating God. The path from the temple to the Arabah would require the waters to pass over or through the Mount of Olives and a series of valleys and mountain ranges. Perhaps Ezekiel imagines a scene like Zechariah 14: 4 where the Mount of Olives is split in two which would allow the river to proceed through that space, but that is not explicit in this brief image.

The Dead Sea is the lowest land elevation on earth and its salinity is nine and a half times higher than the ocean. These waters are unable to support life and although salt is a valuable commodity in the ancient world, this place is known for its absence of life. The vision shows the image of the sea and surrounding land revitalized to be a place where fishermen gather food, and the land becomes fruitful. Yet, the marshes[2] still provide valuable salt that can be harvested by the people for preservation, seasoning, and sale.[3] The geographical markers of En-gedi and En-eglaim[4] form a “topographical merismus” (Block, 1998, p. 695) indicating the eastern and western borders of the area and indicating that the entire region is renewed.

This section of Ezekiel resonates with Genesis and the Psalms, but this vision of Ezekiel will have echoes in several other portions of scripture. Among the prophets both Joel 3:18 and Zechariah 14:8 will make a passing reference to water flowing out of the temple or Jerusalem and may be influenced by Ezekiel. In John’s gospel, Jesus will paraphrase scripture saying that, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”[5] It is likely that with John’s imagery that utilizes Jesus as the temple that here Jesus may envision the community of faith as the new temple which these living waters flow out of and may be alluding to Ezekiel 47. The most direct New Testament reference is Revelation 22:1-2 where the water of life flows out of the New Jerusalem and develops Ezekiel’s imagery of trees that continually bear fruit and whose leaves are medicinal. One significant difference between Ezekiel’s and Revelation’s imagery is that in Revelation the living waters, fruit and healing leaves are for the healing of the nations but in Ezekiel there is no indication of any transformation outside of Israel. (NIB VI:1599) Ezekiel’s vision of a renewed temple, a renewed land, and a renewed people emerging out of the devastation of the exile was probably as amazing as this impossible stream that he narrates. Yet, this image of this stream of living water which may have originated in the Garden of Eden will flow through the scriptures to the ultimate chapter of Revelation as God work of healing and renewal reaches its culmination.

Ezekiel 47: 13-23 The Boundaries of the Land

13Thus says the Lord GOD: These are the boundaries by which you shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. 14You shall divide it equally; I swore to give it to your ancestors, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.
15This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, and on to Zedad, 16Berothah, Sibraim (which lies between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17So the boundary shall run from the sea to Hazar-enon, which is north of the border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north. This shall be the north side.
18On the east side, between Hauran and Damascus; along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel; to the eastern sea and as far as Tamar. This shall be the east side.
19On the south side, it shall run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, from there along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. This shall be the south side.
20On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the boundary to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This shall be the west side.
21So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. 22You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who reside among you and have begotten children among you. They shall be to you as citizens of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23In whatever tribe aliens reside, there you shall assign them their inheritance, says the Lord GOD.

Map of the Land of Israel as defined in Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47 by Emmanuelm 21 October 2007. Shared under CC 3.0.

For most readers this section describing the territory of the renewed Israel is a place where a picture is worth one thousand words. Yet, there is an important caveat that any pictorial representation of Ezekiel’s map of Israel is an educated guess because many of the place, especially along the northern border cannot be identified with any certainty. Ezekiel does generally follow the Mosaic description of the land in Numbers 34: 3-12, even though the order of describing the boundaries is different (SWNE in Numbers, NESW in Ezekiel). Like Numbers, Ezekiel excludes the Transjordanian originally occupied by Gad, Reuben and one half of the tribe of Manasseh and the holy land stops at the Jordan. (Block, 1998, p. 716) The northern boundary of Lebo-hamath[6] to the southern boundary of the Wadi of Egypt is the northern and southern border of Solomon’s Kingdom (1 Kings 8:65) and this recreated land for the people recreates Israel at its peak.

The reconstruction of the land and people of Israel is as incredible as the stream that flows from the temple, crosses mountains, swells in depth, and renews the Arabah. At this point Northern Israel, sometimes called Samaria or Ephraim, has been scattered throughout the former Assyrian empire for two and a half centuries and has been separated from Judah for almost four centuries by the time the first remnants of Judah return to Jerusalem in the time of Cyrus the Great. Even Judah has been brought in exile to Babylon with some portions of the population fleeing to Egypt and others likely scattered across the empire. The recreation of Israel is not a creation ex nihlo[7] but it is a resurrection of a people long imagined as a dead stump, leaderless and lost.

The loss and dispersal of the people may be the reason that there is a space for the gerim, the “resident aliens” to be incorporated into the people and the tribes. Leviticus 19: 33-34 prohibits the resident alien from being oppressed and the people are commanded to treat these aliens like they treat themselves in remembrance of their time as aliens in Egypt. We don’t know how these people were treated throughout the history of Israel, but even Ezekiel seems to have viewed them through the lens of Leviticus 19. In Ezekiel 14:7 these aliens are held to the same standard as the people of Judah in relation to idol worship and in Ezekiel 22 they are listed with the vulnerable members of society: the widows and orphans, the poor and needy who are exploited by the residents and leaders of the bloody city.[8] As Daniel Block remarks, Ezekiel takes the fringe territories of Numbers 35: 13-15 and replaces them with a fringe people. (Block, 1998, p. 717) With the loss of connection between the tribes and the loss of population due to both war and scattering, these aliens now become citizens owning land in the tribes that are now their tribe and whose inheritance they share. They become grafted onto the vine of Israel and are a new growth among the recreated people.

[1] Isaiah 43:19.

[2] Daniel Block indicates this likely refers to the Lashon, a peninsula jutting into the sea from the eastern shore that has shallow waters that are not deep enough for fish to live in. (Block, 1998, p. 695)

[3] Preservation was the primary usage for salt in a world prior to refrigeration. Meats and fishes were packed in salt to prevent their spoilage. Salt was a heavily traded commodity in the ancient world and was so essential that our word ‘salary’ evolved from the Roman soldier’s allowance to buy salt.

[4] The location of En-eglaim is less certain, (NIB VI:1596) but most scholars believe Ezekiel intends to indicate opposite ends of the region of the Dead Sea.

[5] John 7:38.

[6] Jeroboam II also restores this border for Northern Israel in 2 Kings 14:25, yet this is during the divided kingdom but Lebo-hamath seem to be the northern edge of the territory Israel manages to secure during its history.

[7] Creation from nothing.

[8] Ezekiel 22:7, 29.

Revelation 22 Amen. Come, Lord Jesus

3 Replies

John Martin, The Celestial City and the River of Bliss (1841)

Revelation 22

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

7 “See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; 19 if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

Revelation’s place at the end of the Christian scriptures places this final chapter as the final word among a collection of writings and experiences of God’s relationship with God’s people and the world. The story began with creation and in the second chapter of Genesis we encounter humanity in a utopian dream of a garden where there is adequate food and a harmony among the created order. We close the final chapter of the bible with a return to a utopian scene, but this time the garden is situated in the New Jerusalem combining both urban and rural elements. The tree of life, lost to humanity in the story of Adam and Eve, now returns in a scene that combines elements of a naturally occurring phenomenon of trees growing along a riverbank with the city planning of streets and the agricultural cultivation of an orchard. This new garden of Eden within the new Jerusalem which stands at the juncture of a new heaven and new earth closes the vision of Revelation. Cities are no longer a feature of a world that is east of Eden, or outside God’s description of the world should be. It is a city where the water of life and the fruit that will heal the nations flows out of the city itself in contrast to Rome where the riches and produce of the nation flowed inward to feed the Caesar and his empire. This image of a great city becomes the producer of the fruit and leaves that will feed and heal the nations rather than the consumer of the fruit and riches of the nations.

This vision in Revelation builds upon both the images of Genesis two and three and even more closely continues to follow Ezekiel’s vision of a renewed Jerusalem in Ezekiel 41-47. In Ezekiel’s 47th chapter we hear about the waters flowing from the temple flowing out towards the sea and renewing the waters of the sea and allowing them to be filled with fish and creatures. Along the banks of these waters are trees that produce food every month and their leaves have healing properties. Revelation’s vision expands the horizon of Ezekiel’s: Ezekiel hopes for the renewal of the people of Judah and Israel from the place of exile, Revelation expands this hope to encompass the nations. The new Jerusalem is for the countless multitude who bear the name of God on their foreheads and not only Israel is healed, but now the trees of life provide their fruit and healing to all the nations and the redeemed of all nations can drink from the waters of life.

The book of Revelation ends with a combination of injunctions from various speakers that take us back to the beginning of the book. In verse six we have an unidentified speaker confirming the trustworthiness of what the hearer has just heard. We know from the letters to the churches in chapters two and three that there were multiple people claiming the authority of prophecy to advance different interpretations of what faithfulness entails. Here we are taken back to the opening verses of Revelation one where the source of the vision is ultimately from Christ, but an angel was sent to bring the message to John to communicate to the seven churches, and by extension to the church.

We are reminded several times in this passage that Christ is coming soon. In the letters to the churches they were encouraged to persevere or repent because Christ was coming soon and here in this final chapter, we hear four separate times the refrain that Christ is coming soon. For the original hearers of the message undergoing persecution it may have reinforced their resolve to continue in the faithfulness of their calling. Churches in the centuries after Revelation have wrestled with this delay in multiple ways. Some have simply bypassed this, along with much of Revelation, and have continued to live out their faith in a way that makes sense in the expectations of the culture they are a part of. Other churches have constructed themselves around timelines and expectations where they believe their current generation are the ones that Revelation was written to and they are living in the last days and that they will soon see the destruction and hope of the book unfold. Throughout my ministry and throughout this reflection I’ve attempted to walk a middle path between these options. There is a story told about Martin Luther, who did believe the events of his time could be possibly signals of Christ’s return, about how he would respond if Christ was coming tomorrow. His response is told as, “I would plant a tree.” Now Luther probably didn’t say this, but it does reflect a way of looking at the world that is helpful—a life lived in the expectation and hope that Christ will come but not living in the panic and fear that seems to come with people who become focused on dates and timelines. I believe it is helpful to remember that for the early Christians the return of Jesus was looked upon as a hopeful time.

Revelation has been consistently focused on repentance, on people turning away from the places where they have trusted in idolatry or placing trust in the might and power of the Roman empire and returning to place their trust in God and Jesus. Keeping the words of this prophecy would be consistent with eliminating actions that, in Revelation’s view, compromise the faithfulness of the hearer. From the letters to the seven churches onward we have been called to choose the path of wisdom rather than foolishness, God rather than the promises of the empire. Yet, with all calls to repentance, the people who wash their robes may include people who previously would have been outside the community of the saints. Revelation’s hope is for a countless multitude from all nations gathered together in the city of God and the presence of God. Yet, there is a reluctant realism that the ‘evildoer will continue to do evil and the filthy will still be filthy.’ Ultimately, for the holy they are called to remain holy, the righteous are called to remain righteous, those who have washed their robes are to remain clean. Within God’s kingdom there is no place for the falsehood, idolatry and other vices that the people of God have encountered in the empire of Rome.

In the spirit of expectation, the book is not to be sealed, in contrast to Daniel’s visions which were to be sealed up until the end (Daniel 8:26 and 12: 4). For Revelation the time of the end is near and longed for. Revelation views itself as a final cry in the wilderness for the people to see, hear and turn to the Lord. The words of Revelation are to be read and acted upon and preserved. Here at the end of the book there is are several declarations of the authority of the book and a call for the hearer to respond. In the history of the church, Revelation has frequently been overlooked or left to the artists and musicians. Recently, Revelation’s position in some churches has shifted to become almost as important as the gospels.  Revelation may not be central for me as the gospels, Paul’s letters and even significant portions of the Hebrew Scriptures (or Old Testament) in my life and reflections of faith but it does deserve to be heard and wrestled with.

I finish this set of reflections at the beginning of the season of Advent in 2018, and I find that fitting. To end the book of Revelation with its repetitive call “Amen, come Lord Jesus!” when we as a church begin to look both backwards to the Incarnation and echo with our Jewish ancestors, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears” but we also look forward to when our Lord returns with songs like the African American Spiritual “My Lord, What a Morning.” Revelation has a challenge a call and a hope for all readers: a challenge for there are many places where we also have compromised with the cultures that we inhabit and have trusted in the promises of our own nations and cities; a call to return to the Lord, our God who is gracious and merciful, to repent and hear the good news of the kingdom of God’s approach; and a hope that the world as we see it is not the end, that God still has a vision which stretches and expands beyond the point where my limited imagination can contain. Over the past year I have allowed Revelation to evoke and challenge me, I have attempted to understand the visions it has to offer. The danger of this type of reflection is that in my own ways I attempt to moderate or tame these visions or lock them into a time in the past. Yet, my hope is that I can stand with the Spirit, the bride, the hearers and the thirsty and join in the cry for Jesus to “come!”