Welcome to Bible Fiber, where we explore the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry through the Twelve Minor Prophets, two reformers, and one exile. I’m Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization dedicated to sharing the stories of Israel’s people, both ancient and modern. I’m also the author of the book Bible Fiber, a 52-week study of the Twelve Minor Prophets, available on Amazon.
This week, we’re reading Ezekiel 47:1-12. We are still in the last eight chapters of Ezekiel, the prophet’s concluding vision that offers a message of hope following the book’s devastating oracles of judgment. In Ezekiel 47, the prophet, along with his angelic guide, witnesses a river of living water flowing from the temple.
They first encounter water “flowing from below the entryway of the temple toward the east” (47:1). They then move outside the temple’s perimeter toward the east gate. Although this gate had previously been sealed shut, water trickles from beneath it onto the south side (47:2).
Ezekiel and his guide follow the river as it runs away from the temple. The angel, still equipped with a measuring cord, notes their distance from the temple courts. As they venture further from the temple, the water progressively deepens. At 1,000 cubits (about 1,500 feet or 457 meters) from the entrance, the water reaches ankle depth (47:3). At 2,000 cubits, it is knee-deep. At 3,000 cubits, the water reaches waist height, prompting the prophet to wade through it (47:4). Beyond that point, the river becomes an impassable torrent. Fully immersed in his vision, Ezekiel explains, “For the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed” (47:5). Only at that moment does the angelic guide speak to Ezekiel, asking, “Mortal, have you seen this?” (47:6).
Soaked from the waist down, Ezekiel and the guide sit on the riverbank. Ezekiel observes that “a great many trees” were growing along both sides of the bank (47:7). The temple river was giving life to everything it touched!
The angel explains the river’s impact even beyond their line of sight: “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” (47:8). The Arabah refers to the Jordan Valley, while the “sea of stagnant waters” is the Dead Sea. If you’ve ever visited the Dead Sea, you can imagine the seeming impossibility of this image. Even today, the Dead Sea remains lifeless due to its high salinity. Except for the oasis at Ein Gedi, the surrounding land is barren and dry.
When the rushing river feeds into the Dead Sea, the guide declares, “Every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be many fish once these waters reach there” (47:9). At this point, the astute Bible reader should take note: Ezekiel is describing a new creation with clear Edenic imagery. In the Genesis creation narrative, a river flows out of Eden to water the garden (Gen. 2:10). In the larger themes of the Bible, Eden is seen as the temple, and the garden represents the land of Israel as originally intended for the covenant relationship.
The language of paradise continues as the angel describes “every living creature” thriving by the river (47:9). The vegetation that grows along the banks “bears fresh fruit every month” because it is irrigated by the life-giving river (47:12). Moreover, the leaves of the trees possess healing properties.
The river’s ability to transform the barren landscape and the stagnant Dead Sea is more than just a poetic prophecy; God was showing Ezekiel in the vision that his close presence brings about complete renewal and restoration, both for the nation of Israel and, ultimately, for all creation. Just as the Holy Spirit breathed life into the dry bones in the valley, so too would God’s living water bring life, healing, and renewal to everything that drew near it.
Zechariah 14
Ezekiel was not the first prophet to envision a life-giving river flowing from Jerusalem. In Zechariah 14, the apocalyptic prophet also foretold of “living waters” that would flow out from the city. In both accounts, the river supernaturally renewed God’s land and revitalized his people. Zechariah says, “And it shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be” (14:8).
Despite their shared themes, Ezekiel’s and Zechariah’s rivers are complementary rather than identical visions. A primary distinction lies in the river’s source and destination. Ezekiel’s river originates specifically from the new temple. It flows eastward, bringing life to the Dead Sea. Ezekiel’s vision of the river is rooted in the prophetic hope of spiritual and physical restoration for the people of Israel after their exile. His original audience would have been inspired by God’s commitment to bring life and abundance to them, even after experiencing death and destruction.
Zechariah, however, simply states that the river flows “from Jerusalem” but describes a more expansive course. This single river miraculously divides, with half flowing to the Dead Sea (the eastern sea) and the other half flowing to the Mediterranean Sea (the western sea). While Ezekiel’s vision is focused on Israel’s salvation, Zechariah’s looks out to the universal reach of God’s blessing.
When read together, Ezekiel 47 and Zechariah 14 paint a broader picture of God’s plan for all of humanity. Ezekiel’s focus on the temple highlights that true life comes from God’s presence, while Zechariah’s vision of the river flowing in two directions demonstrates that God’s blessing will fill the land in every direction. The combination of these prophecies establishes a consistent biblical theme of paradise regained, where no obstacle stands in the way of a restored relationship between God and his people.
Jesus’s living water
In the Gospels, Jesus often referred to himself as living water. This wasn’t just a casual use of a metaphor; it was a deliberate theological statement that connected his ministry to ancient prophetic promises.
To the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus explains, “Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). He perceived the Samaritan woman’s deep-seated wounds and her dissatisfaction with earthly life. He promised her that through him, she would be reconciled to God and brought into his Kingdom, where her deepest spiritual longing would finally be met.
In another episode, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Every year, during the festival, priests would go to the Pool of Siloam to draw water, then process back up the pilgrimage road to the temple. This ceremony looked back to God’s miraculous provision in the wilderness, but it also looked forward to a time of Messianic restoration, as prophesied in Ezekiel 47. While the people’s political expectations often clouded their understanding, Jesus knew that the ceremony hinted at the anticipated arrival of the Messiah. He beckoned to the crowd, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink” (John 7:38). In a direct reference to Ezekiel’s River of Life, Jesus adds, “As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:39). The Gospel of John immediately clarifies that Jesus “said this about the Spirit,” a crucial detail that connects the physical imagery of a river to the spiritual reality of new life with the Holy Spirit.
For Jesus, all who believed in him would become living temples. Like Ezekiel’s vision, the good news would flow forth from them to heal hearts and redeem the world. Only through his death and resurrection could he reverse the effects of the sin and death that began in Eden.
Revelation 22
John of Patmos, the New Testament writer who reinterpreted many of Ezekiel’s visions, also received a vision of a river of life. In Revelation 22, an angelic guide shows him a river, describing it as “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city” (Rev. 22:1). John’s river shares the same characteristics as Ezekiel’s, but in addition to flowing from God’s throne, it also flows from the Lamb, Jesus Christ. In case there was any doubt that John was recalling Ezekiel’s closing vision, he describes the same irrigating effects of the river. He states, “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” (Rev. 22:2).
You may recognize the imagery of the monthly producing fruit trees with leaves for healing. John modifies two important aspects in his vision: he sees only a single tree, and this tree provides healing not just for Israel but for all nations. While Ezekiel’s river signifies a particular restoration for Israel—evidenced by the fact that it does not flow past the Dead Sea—John expands that restoration to encompass all nations in a covenant of universal healing.
Revelation 22’s flowing river connects the beginning of the biblical narrative with its end. Just as a river flowed from the Garden of Eden to water the land, the river from the temple will one day restore all creation. The Bible begins in Genesis with a single tree that leaves humanity under a curse and ends with one tree that brings everyone under the promise of its blessing. The tree in Eden introduced death, while the tree in Revelation overcomes death.
I really wish we could end here! In my mind, this is the concluding podcast for Ezekiel. However, the Bible did not ask for my editorial advice, and Ezekiel has one more chapter, Chapter 48. It doesn’t pack the same wallop as Chapter 47, but we will persevere. Join me next week for our final Ezekiel study!
Thank you for listening, and please continue to take part in this Bible Reading Challenge. We almost made it to the end!
For all the biblical references each week, please see the show transcript on our blog or by signing up for our emails at www.thejerusalemconnection.us/. I don’t say all the references in the podcast, but they are all in the transcript.
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Shabbat Shalom
