Ezekiel Chapter 47 Vs. 7-12

A NEW LAND

Ezekiel 47:7-12

The River from the Temple

Ezekiel went back to the bank of the river and saw many trees on each side of the river. These waters will produce beautiful vegetation along their banks.

The millennial river will flow toward the eastern region and will go down into the Arabah, where it will enter the Sea. The “Arabah” is the Jordan Valley running south from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea and ultimately to the Gulf of Aqabah. The millennial river will merge with the Jordan River at the northern mouth of the Dead Sea.


As this new river enters the Dead Sea, the water there will become fresh. The Dead Sea, now some six times saltier than the ocean, will become completely salt-free — truly a miracle of God! This now-lifeless body of water will then support life so that where the river runs everything will live. Waters are healed: The flow East, then South, runs into the Dead Sea and renders good the salty water which is 6 times more salty as the sea that formerly would not support life because of its high mineral content. The Dead Sea is transformed into a “living sea” of fresh water. Fishermen will crowd the shores from En Gedi to En Eglaim to catch many kinds of fish there. Multitude of fish: These fish are said to be the same kinds in the Mediterranean, verse 10, probably referring to volume rather that species, since the river and the Dead Sea are now fresh water. “En Gedi” is a settlement about midway down the western shore of the Dead Sea. The location of “En Eglaim” (lit., “spring of the Two Calves”) is uncertain. Suggested locations have included the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea near Zoar and an area on the northwestern shore south of Khirbet Qumran. Because of Ezekiel’s focus on the water entering the Dead Sea at the northern end, the site near Qumran seems a possibility. En-Gedi: The site is on the Dead Sea’s West bank, about halfway along its length, near Masada. En-Eglaim: Possibly it is EnFeska near Qumran at the northwestern extremity of the sea. Some argue for a site on the East bank, so that fishermen on both sides are in view.

While the Dead Sea itself will be made fresh, the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. The lowlands near the Dead Sea will remain salt-crusted. Salt is essential to life, and the Dead Sea area is Israel’s chief source of salt. This could be how the salt for the temple offerings is supplied as we read in chapter 43:24, as well as for food.


Ezekiel 43:24 "And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up [for] a burnt offering unto the LORD".

God will provide for all of Israel’s needs.

Another way God will provide for Israel is by the trees on the riverbanks that will bear fruit year-round. Lush growth has sprung up from the river.

Revelation 22:1 "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb".

The fruit will provide food and their leaves will provide healing. How healing will come from the leaves is not clear, but sickness will be virtually eliminated. God will use these trees to meet people’s physical needs. Again, we must look to Revelation for the meaning of this. Revelation chapter 22 verse 2 speaks of the tree giving fruit for each month of the year. The leaf for medicine is in the same verse. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 22:2 "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: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations".



The scene describes the blessing of returning to Eden like abundance. Leaves … fruit: The fruit is for food and the leaves serve a medicinal purpose, probably both in preventative and corrective senses. The fruit is perpetual, kept so by a continual supply of spring water from the temple.