Commentary on Ezekiel 47.1–48.1

“From there he took me again and brought me to the porches of the house, and behold, water was coming out from under the vestibule of the house toward the east, for the face of the house looked east; and the water came down from the right side of the house, from the south, to the altar.” Having thus been taught about the sacrifices, and having learned how the victims for sins were to be offered as a type, he is taught the true cleansing of souls, that which comes about from water and Spirit. He sees this water coming out from the doors of the house, passing through the altar, and going through the northern parts to the east. For salvation for the nations is from the Jews; and Christ, who is from David according to the flesh, appearing from the virginal womb as from certain divine porches, has given the world rebirth through water and Spirit. The blessed Isaiah too foretells this, saying: “It will be on that day like a river borne along, glorious in a thirsty land.” And the blessed Zechariah, having foretold the saving passion and the darkness that came on (“For it will not be day,” he says, “and not night, and that day is known to the Lord”; neither full day, he means, nor full night, for at midday darkness came), added: “On that day living water will go out from Jerusalem, half of it to the last sea and half of it to the first sea.” By this he shows the east and the west, by which the whole world is meant. And he states the time of its welling up: “In summer and in spring it will be so.” This the Lord too says to the Samaritan woman: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” And elsewhere: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.” This water the inspired Ezekiel saw peeping out from the porches of the house, for through the law and the prophets our good things were foretold; and coming through the altar, for it used the Jews only as a passage; but since they disbelieved and would not yield the fruits of faith, it went over to the nations, and it waters the greatest and most beautiful paradise, that of the Churches. Then he says he saw someone measure a thousand with the measure, and he passed through the water up to the ankles; and again he measured the same amount, and he passed through up to the knees; a third time he applied the measure, and he passed through up to the loins; but when he completed the fourth number, it became, he says, a very great torrent which could not be crossed, because the water surged like the rush of a torrent that no one will cross. By this he taught us that at the beginning the gospel preaching would bring few to salvation; then it would double them and triple them; and after this it would fill the world, according to the prophecy that says: “The whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas.” One should note that he measured four times, and brought the measure to the same number as the divine Gospels. I think that the fourth measure points to the Gospel of the inspired John, which contains a theology impassable and unsurpassable for men. For what mind could go beyond “In the beginning”? Who could pass beyond “was”? Therefore he said the water went out surging like the rush of a torrent which no one will cross. And at once, he says, immediately, he showed me on the bank of the water trees teeming with fruits of every kind; and these trees were on both banks. For this water has made men put forth not only faith in God but also action according to God. “And he said to me,” he says: “The water of the river that goes out into Galilee toward the east, and goes down to the uninhabited land, and comes as far as the sea, to the water of the outlet of the sea.” These things too can be found exactly in the history. For the saving preaching ran first into Galilee; from there to the uninhabited land of the nations, empty of piety; and it reached even the surging sea, the races of the barbarians. And he adds that it will also sanctify the waters; for it will make the Greek and mythical teachings serve the divine preaching, and those diseased waters, sanctified by these waters, will bestow health.

“And every soul of the living creatures that swarm, upon all to which the river comes there, will live.” For everyone who enjoys the saving waters, he says, will obtain salvation. He also says that this water will become full of fish and will have many fishermen; for many are those caught for salvation through these waters, and many are those entrusted with this catch. And “from Engaddi to Enagalim” signifies gladness after trials and afflictions. For Engaddi signifies “trial of eyes”, and Enagalim “eye of a calf”, of a calf offered in sacrifice that takes away sin, or of one drawn under the yoke and entrusted with tilling. And “a drying-place of nets” signifies not only the number of the fishermen but also their diligence. For they will not give up fishing, he says, but will rest there; for he called their rest a drying-place of nets, since fishermen, when they stop fishing, usually spread out their nets and dry them. “It will be by itself,” he says … and he says that the multitude of fish will be like not a river but the greatest sea. For the new people is not equal in number to the former people, but is likened to the sea of the nations and fills the world. To these he adds:

“And in its outflow, and in its turning, and in its overflowing, its marshes will not be healed; they will be given to salt.” This too we see happening at present; for having grown into a multitude we have run aground on indolence. And the Master foretold the same: “For when lawlessness is multiplied,” he says, “the love of many will grow cold.” So he calls marshes the superficial, who merely wear the preaching like a garment, as most of us do; for marshes are not deep but have their water on the surface. Those in this state, he says, do not obtain healing. Yet even so, he says, they are not useless to the rest; for when they are disciplined they become an occasion of benefit to others. For this reason he said, “they will be given to salt.” For not only the teaching word but also the punishment that comes upon sin somehow knows how to season us and fill us with benefit. Having thus foretold what concerns the indolent, he again describes the fruits of the zealous and of the saints: that nothing among them is fruitless, but all is good to eat. Besides the fruit, he says: “And its leaf will not fall, nor will it grow old upon it, nor will its fruit fail; of its newness it will bear early fruit for its months, because their waters come out from the holy places; and their fruit will be for food, and their growth for health.” These trees, he says, will bear all this edible fruit continually; not once a year, but every month. For the saints are not pious only at feasts, but continually fulfil the keeping of the divine laws. “And the leaves,” he says, “will not fall from them”; for joy follows them in the practice of virtue. “And their fruit is all for food”; for we are accustomed to admire the athletes of virtue. “And their growth for health”; for when we reckon how great a good the life according to God is, we reap the benefit from it and obtain health according to God. From here the prophet is taught what the boundaries of Israel are. On the north, he says, is the road of Emath, between the borders of Damascus. Some call Emath Epiphania, others Emesa; for divine Scripture knows two of the same name, since it says: “To Emath the great.” On the east he says the boundary is the Jordan and the palm grove toward the east; on the south, as far as the waters of contradiction, for so the Syriac interpreted Marimoth; and on the west the sea is the boundary. This land he commanded to be divided not only among those who trace their descent from Israel, but also among the proselytes who sojourn among them, “who,” he says, “have begotten sons among you.” “And the proselytes living with each tribe,” he says, “let them take their inheritance with that same tribe.”

Then he commands that the tribe of Dan take the first portion, from the north; Asher the second; Nephthalim the third; Manasseh the fourth; Ephraim the fifth; Reuben the sixth; Judah the seventh; then the portion set apart for the priests, twenty-five thousand in breadth and ten thousand in length; and he commands that this lot be placed round the city. “For my sanctuary will be in their midst, for the priests who are sanctified, the sons of Sadduk, who keep the charges of the house.” Then he again divides off the five hundred cubits of the temple in the middle of the city. And while the city is being built, he says, let the fruits of this land be set apart for those who carry out the building. Then, after this, he commands that Benjamin take his lot, after him Simeon, then Issachar, and after him Zabulon, and Gad last. He says also that the city will have twelve gates, three on each side, and that its whole circuit is eighteen thousand cubits. “And the name of the city,” he says, “from the day it is made, will be its name.” Not that it received another name after the building, for it was called Jerusalem even after Zerubbabel; but by these words he hinted that it would become illustrious again. For Scripture often knows how to call glory a name; just as the same prophet said to Jerusalem in the person of God: “And a name came to you.” This building of the city after the return from Babylon Zerubbabel first undertook, building the temple over a long time because of the war with the neighbouring peoples; and Nehemiah raised the walls, eighty years having passed after the completion of the building of the temple. And under the Maccabees too it again enjoyed much prosperity and renewal, and after them Herod again made it more splendid. But the … Apollinarius, and those who expound myths, … the building of Jerusalem, and the worship of the Jews according to the law, and, together with the keeping of the law, faith in the Lord; and then again churches opposed to one another, the one from the nations living outside the law, the other from the Jews conducting itself according to the law. And the most wise man did not perceive the truthfulness of the divine sentences. For about the Jews he said: “He will destroy those wretches wretchedly, and will give the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him its fruit in season.” And again: “I have come in my Father's name, and you did not receive me; another comes in his own name, and him you will receive.” And about the temple he says, first: “There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down”; and then: “Behold, your house is left to you desolate.” And Isaiah cries out: “The city of the ungodly will never be built.” And …: “The house of Israel has fallen; it will rise no more.” Nor did he hear, it seems, the teaching of Paul, which he set before the Galatians, saying: “You who are justified by the law have fallen from grace.” And again: “For by works of the law no flesh will be justified, but through faith in Jesus Christ.” “For the law works wrath; for where there is no law, there is no transgression.” And again: “For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” And elsewhere: “Being justified by faith, then, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And to Peter, when because of the weakness of the disciples he made a show of keeping the law, he said before them all: “If you, being a Jew, live like a gentile and not like a Jew, why do you compel the gentiles to Judaize?” Then he adds: “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from the gentiles; but knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but by the hearing of faith, we too believed in Jesus Christ, so that we might be justified by faith.” So too he calls the Galatians, who allowed themselves to be circumcised after believing, foolish. And writing to the Philippians and accusing those who taught this, he calls them dogs, saying: “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil workers, look out for the mutilation; for we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit and put no confidence in the flesh.” And so that no one might suppose that he laid claim to spiritual things because he had no share in the fleshly ones, he fittingly added: “Though I too have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I have more.” And he recounts the things the Jews take pride in: “Circumcised on the eighth day”: I received circumcision, he means, according to the law. And since it happened that the sons of proselytes too were circumcised on this number of days, he necessarily added: “Of the race of Israel.” And he is not content with the patriarch's name, but also states the name of the tribe, showing its distinction: “Of the tribe of Benjamin.” For I trace my descent, he says, from Rachel the beloved; for not only am I not one of the half-slaves, but even among the free I have a distinction, as descended from the one first betrothed and greatly loved. And I belonged, he says, to the finest sect: “as to the law a Pharisee.” And I not only had the name of piety, but was eager to be adorned with it in fact: “As to zeal,” he says, “persecuting the Church.” Having thus recounted all that seemed worthy of pride, he added: “But whatever was gain to me, these I have counted loss for the sake of Christ; and I count all things as refuse, that I may gain Christ.” But what the blessed Paul called loss and refuse when he compared it with spiritual things, the most wise Apollinarius said will be preached to the Jews by Elijah and confirmed by the Master Christ himself. Let him tell us why he will give those from the Jews the way of life according to the law, as though faith could not give salvation. And for what reason did he give faith to all of us from the nations, to give them perfect salvation? But if he brought the keeping of the law to an end because faith suffices both to save and to procure the kingdom of heaven, for what reason will he again impose on the Jews the law that cannot save? For that most of it provides no righteousness to those who keep it, God himself taught us through this very prophet: “For I gave them,” he says, “ordinances that were not good, and judgments by which they will not live.” How, then, will he again impose on the Jews things not good and unable to give life, if he wishes to save them and not to destroy them? And from another quarter too it is easy to see the folly of one who expects these things. For if the things of the Jews are a type of ours (and he agrees to this), … the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb, who took away the sin of the world? What benefit is there in unleavened bread after the heavenly bread, or in a Passover of types after the spiritual one? But he does not listen to the divine Apostle saying: “Let us keep the feast, then, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us”; nor to the Lord, who taught his disciples, saying: “This is my body, broken for you; do this in remembrance of me”; and: “This is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins; do this in remembrance of me.” And elsewhere, having said to the Jews, “Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and died,” he added: “This is the bread of life, that one may eat of it and not die.” And to pass over the other things, countless as they are, there are still now in Jerusalem the church of the Cross and that of the Resurrection and that of the Ascension, and the church on Zion, and holy Bethlehem, and countless other places of prayer. When the temple of the Jews has been rebuilt, then, will these be destroyed, or will they too remain in honour? And if they remain in their former honour, will they be honoured by the Jews or dishonoured? If the Jews dishonour them, they will remain in their former madness and will gain no benefit from the preaching of the great Elijah; but if they honour them, which of the places of prayer will they honour more: that of the Cross, or that of the Resurrection, or the one that is to be built? If they honour that one more, they will do so as people who lack perfect knowledge; but if they prefer these, the building of that one is superfluous; and if they give equal honour to these and to that, they will offer the sacrifices there and partake of the holy mysteries here. And how can they partake of the divine mysteries together with those who have believed from the nations, when the law forbids mixing with the nations? It remains, then, that in the temple itself the rites of the Gospel and those of the law are performed at the same time; and then there must again be battle and strife, with us conducting ourselves on our own and them choosing the worship according to the law. And how is Paul truthful when he says: “Christ is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the fence, the enmity, in his flesh, abolishing the law of commandments in ordinances, so that he might create the two” (that is, the gentile and the Jew) “into one new man, and reconcile both in one Spirit to the Father”? And again: “There is neither Jew nor Greek.” And elsewhere: “Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, but Christ is all and in all.” Yes, says the most wise man, even in the time of the apostles the Jews in Jerusalem who believed the preaching kept the worship according to the law, while the other churches lived outside the law. And he does not understand that the holy apostles, condescending to their weakness, allowed this to happen at that time, while they themselves transgressed the law without fear, which they would not have dared to transgress if they had known that the keeping of the law was necessary. But they themselves, knowing that the way of life according to the law was superfluous, followed the gospel life, while to those who were weakly disposed they conceded the keeping of the law, leading them on little by little to what is more perfect. So too the blessed Paul circumcised Timothy … the Gospel. Perhaps we too have had our share of Apollinarius's babbling, in trying to refute his mythologizing, which is not only false but also joyless; to whom the blessed Paul would fittingly say: “I wish those who unsettle you would even cut themselves off!” Here, then, we bring the discourse to a stop, and we ask those who read it to repay the eagerness shown in these interpretations as it deserves, and to praise the Master of all, who for the common benefit has given the revelation of hidden things; and if the gain is less than they hoped, and the fruit not equal to the labours, to grant pardon to the weakness of our nature, but nevertheless to accept the eagerness and to repay the labours with prayers, asking for us the forgiveness of sins from the Saviour of the universe; with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the endless ages of ages. Amen.