Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 132] Epistle of Barnabas on Ezekiel 47:1-3

This means that we go down into the water full of sins and foulness, and we come up bearing fruit in our hearts, fear and hope in Jesus in the Spirit.

Source: EPISTLE OF BARNABAS 11:11

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:1-3

The waters that flow forth from the threshold of the temple refer to the teaching of the church.… We can understand water up to the ankles as meaning first the human sins that are forgiven us who enter the waters of the Lord; they show the saving grace of baptism and are the beginnings of our progress.

Source: COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:47.1-5

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:1-3

From the temple of the Lord, that is, from his bosom, the Savior came forth and sweetened the Dead Sea and the bitter waters.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 10 (PS 76)

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:1-3

When the world falls into sin, nothing but a flood of waters can cleanse it again.

Source: LETTER 69.6

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:1-5

(Chapter 47, verses 1 and following) And he brought me back to the door of the house, and behold, water was coming out from under the threshold of the house eastward. For the face of the house was toward the east, and the water was flowing down from the right side of the temple, south of the altar. Then he led 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 behold, water was trickling from the right side. When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles (or passed through water of remission). And he measured again a thousand, and he led me through the water up to the knees (or he passed in the water unto the thighs). And he measured a thousand, and he led me through the water up to the loins (or he passed in the water unto the waist). And he measured a thousand of a deep, which I could not pass over, because the waters were risen, waters of a deep river, which could not be passed over. For which LXX have translated: And he measured a thousand, and could not pass over: because the water was bearing a stream like the rapid stream, which cannot be passed over. These waters which were flowing out from beneath the threshold of the house, that is, the temple, did not flow towards the North and the West, but also towards the East, and on the right side of the temple, that is, towards the South, and towards the very South not of any place, but of the altar. From this it becomes clear that the waters are sacred, and they signify the doctrine of our Savior, according to that which is written: 'For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem' (Isaiah 2:3). And in another place: The knowledge of the Lord fills everything, like water covering the sea (Isai. XI, 9). Concerning these waters, the Prophet Zacharias also predicted, saying: In that day, living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and half of it toward the western sea (Zach. XIV, 8). Concerning these waters, the Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman: If you knew who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water (John IV, 10). And again: Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again (John 4:13). And in the temple he cried out and said: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me (as the scripture says), out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. But this he said of the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive (John 7:37-38). These are the waters that the prophet spoke of in the psalm: He led me beside still waters (Psalm 23:3). And Ezekiel: I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. (Ezek. XXXVI, 24, 25). For water fountains appeared. And in the ninety-second Psalm it is sung: The rivers have lifted up, O Lord, the rivers have lifted up their voices from the voices of many waters. Wonderful are the elevations of the sea. (Ps. XCII, 2, 3). These are the waters of Siloam, which flow with silence, of which Isaiah speaks: You shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of salvation. (Isaiah XII, 3). And the Psalmist says: Bless the Lord from the fountains of Israel (Ps. 67). Likewise, Isaiah speaks of the Lord as Savior: He, it is said, shall dwell in the high cave of the strongest rock. Bread shall be given to him, and his water shall be faithful (Isa. 33:16). For water burst forth in the desert, and a valley in a thirsty land. And it is said to the believers: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; you are mine, and if you pass through water, I am with you (Isa. 43:1, 2). And again: 'All you who are thirsty, come to the water' (Isaiah 55:1). And through Jeremiah, God speaks: 'My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water' (Jeremiah 2:13). Therefore, just as we read in a good sense the waters that flow from the threshold of the temple and are returned to the teaching of the Church, so are bitter waters and the worst waters to which the prophet Jeremiah forbids us to approach, saying: 'What have you to do with the way of Egypt, to drink from the waters of the Nile?' (ibid). The Hebrew term for 'turbid and muddy' is Sior. Regarding these, God speaks angrily about the heretics: Behold, I will feed them with bitterness and give them poisonous water to drink (Jeremiah 9:15), in which the Egyptian dragon reigns, saying: The rivers are mine, and I made them; he who sees all that is high, and he himself is the king of those who are in the waters. Therefore, the man from Sirach prays to the Lord and says: Save me, O Lord, for the waters have come up to my neck. I am stuck in the mud of the deep, and there is no substance, and the storm has engulfed me (Ps. 68:1-2). And again; Deliver me from those who hate me, and from the depths of the waters: let not the water storm overwhelm me, nor let the depths swallow me up, nor let the pit close its mouth over me (Ps. 15:16). And in another psalm: If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say: If it had not been the Lord who was on our side. When men rose up against us, then they might have swallowed us up alive. When their fury was raging against us, perhaps the water would have swallowed us up (Psalm 123:1-3). And the Bride in the Song of Songs: Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it (Song of Songs 8:7). This is the water of which Hosea speaks: The city of Galaad has scorned me, a city that works in vanities, disturbing the water, and the strength of its men are pirates (Hosea 6:7-8). This water is called by another name, Mara, which means bitterness; into it the wood of the Cross is placed, and the bitter is turned into sweet. Consider the law of Moses, if understood according to the carnal sense of the Jews, how bitter it is, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' (Exodus XXI); see the fornication of Thamar (II Kings XIII), and the joining of the prostitute by Hosea (Hosea I, Jeremiah XIII), Moses' Ethiopian wife, and the killing of the Egyptian, and a thousand other things, which if understood according to the literal sense, and not according to the life-giving spirit, are bitter, and do not edify the reader as much as they destroy (Numbers XII, Exodus II). Therefore, those waters which flow out from the temple of the Lord, and proceed to the East, and descend to the right side of the Temple, to the South of the altar, where the bridegroom feeds his guests, and reclines. But what follows: And he led me by the way of the North gate, and turned to the way outside the outer gate, the way that looked towards the East, he covertly shows that we cannot immediately reach the Eastern gate, unless we go around it through the way of the North gate. For unless we conquer the most extreme cold by the heat of faith, and trample on its regions, that may be fulfilled in us what is in the Apostle: But the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet speedily. (Rom. 16:20), we will not be able to enter the gate through which the waters flow out, which are on the right side. And note that those waters that enter through the gate of the East flee so much towards the left side, that they are described as going from the right side of the altar to the South. But the man, he said, who had a rope in his hand, when he had led me through the gate on the outer side to the road that looked towards the East, and he himself was also in the same place, measured the same water a thousand cubits; and he led me through the water up to the ankles, which Aquila and Symmachus, and Theodotio rendered as 'ankles', for which the LXX rendered: and he passed into the water, the water of forgiveness: which we can understand as signifying the first sins of men, which are forgiven for us when we enter the waters of the Lord, and they show the saving grace of baptism and are the beginnings of progress, yet they themselves are sublime. Finally, they reach the ankles, which are close to the heel and exposed to the bites of snakes, as the Lord says: You will watch out for its head, and it will watch out for your heel (Gen. III, 15, according to the Septuagint). And in the Psalms about Judas the betrayer, it is said: He who ate my bread has magnified treachery against me (Ps. XL, 10), or rather the heel, for the Greek word πτέρνη (or πτέρνα in some manuscripts) means heel. But after one thousand cubits, which bring us to the ankle, he measures another thousand cubits in water and leads me up to the knees. After the forgiveness of sins, and during the journey of progress, when we attempt to ascend even a little from earthly things to higher ones, we bend our knees to the Lord, with the Apostle saying: So that every knee shall bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10). He measures another three thousand cubits, and leads me through the water up to my waist, he says. For we climb to lofty heights by degrees: but those very heights descend to the loins and kidneys, so that every base desire within us is cut off; and we possess the sanctification of the body, without which no one sees God. Hence in the same Prophet it is written: 'From His feet to His loins He is a fiery God' (Ezekiel 8:2). For the loins need fire and purgation, as the just man says, 'For my loins are filled with illusions' (Psalm 38:8), through which the enemy deludes us both in the day and in the night time. But from the loins to the head and neck, it shines with the glitter of precious electrum, so that it has nothing filthy in itself, nothing of cheapness. Hence it is now said in the fourth (book): And he measured a thousand, with the addition of cubits, of a torrent (which the Septuagint did not translate), which I could not go through: much better than the Seventy who said, and he could not go through. For the prophet and all human nature, after the loins of the torrent of thoughts, and the incentives of vices in the heart, cannot go through. But that man, who was clothed with Baddim and was the leader of the prophets, passed through easily; who did not commit sin, nor was guile found in his mouth (Isaiah 56). And he gives the reasons why the prophet could not pass through a thousand cubits: because, he says, the deep waters of the torrent had swelled, which could not be crossed. And as it is written, with the prophet boasting: Our soul has passed through the torrent (Psalm 124, 5). But it is easily resolved if we know that this is written in Hebrew: A torrent passed through my soul. Concerning this torrent, Isaiah says: Behold, I will extend peace over them like a river, and the glory like a overflowing torrent (Isa. LXVI, 12). And in the thirty-fifth psalm, it is said about the saints: They will hope in the protection of your wings. They will be intoxicated with the abundance of your house, and you will give them to drink from the river of your delights; for with you is the fountain of life (Psal. XXXV, 8, 9). And on the hundred and twenty-fifth: Convert, O Lord, our captivity, like a stream in the South (Psalm 125:5). And about the Savior: He shall drink from the brook by the wayside (Psalm 110:7). For who among men can boast of having a pure heart? (Proverbs 20). Or whose mind, through the windows of the eyes, shall not be entered by the death of desire (Jeremiah 9), and, dare I say, the tickling of the soul? For the world is placed in the evil one (1 John 5:19), and from childhood the heart of man is inclined to evil, so that from the very beginning of his birth, not even for one day, is human condition without sin (Job 15). And David confesses in the psalm: Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother conceived me (Ps. 50:7). Not in the iniquities of my mother, or certainly mine, but in the iniquities of human condition. Hence the Apostle says: Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression (Rom. 5:14). We use the term cubits, in the masculine gender and not neutral, according to the rule of grammarians, as I have taught in previous passages. We do this not out of ignorance, but out of custom for the sake of the simple and uneducated, among whom the majority is in the congregation of the Church.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Ezekiel 47:1-3

Thoroughly instructed in sacrificial matters, after he learned that sacrifices have to be offered for sins in a figurative manner, the prophet was taught that two expiations of souls were made through water and spirit.

Source: COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 16:47

[AD 700] Isaac of Nineveh on Ezekiel 47:3

After these things, the intellect comes to behold that which in Ezekiel the Prophet is indicated by the apparition of the torrent, which depicts the figure of the three stages of soul that draw nigh to things divine, and beyond the third there is no passage. The beginning of all these things is a good purpose directed toward God, the manifold labours of stillness, and the straightforwardness that is born of prolonged separation from the world.

Source: ASCETICAL HOMILIES 18

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:6-12

(Ver. 6 seqq.) And he said to me: You have certainly seen, son of man; and he brought me out, and turned me toward the bank of the river (or the stream). And when I turned (or had turned), behold, on the bank of the river (or the stream) there were very many trees (or very many trees) on both sides. And he said to me: These waters that go out to the hills of the East (or Oriental), and go down to the plains of the desert (or this water that goes out into Galilee, which turns to the East, and goes down to Arabia), shall enter the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be healed. And every living creature (or animal) that crawls (or of crawling creatures), wherever the torrent (or river) shall come, shall live; and there shall be very many fish, after these waters come there; and they shall be healed, and all things to which the torrent (or river) shall come shall live. And the fishermen shall stand upon its banks from Engaddi even to Engallim; it shall be a place to spread their nets. The fish of it shall be of very many kinds, like the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the marshes that go out of the banks will not be healed, but will be given to the salt marshes. And over the torrent (or river) there shall spring up on its banks on both sides every fruit-bearing tree, its leaf shall not wither (or it shall not grow old): and its fruit shall not fail. Every month they shall bring forth first fruits (or all things shall be renewed); because its waters shall go forth from the sanctuary, and its fruit shall be for food, and its leaves for medicine (or its ascent for health). Although this whole chapter may be lengthy, I wanted to present it all at once so as not to interrupt the reader's understanding and to avoid disrupting the listener's comprehension. First, it should be noted that in Hebrew it is called Nehel () and in Greek it is called χειμάῤῥους, which the Septuagint translates as 'river'. Then, for Galilee, which is called Galila () in Hebrew, Aquila translates it as θίνας, which means 'sand dunes'; Symmachus translates it as μεθόριον, which we can translate as 'border'. Symmachus also transferred to Arabia, which is uninhabitable; Aquila, the low and flat areas; Theodotius, to Araba. Let us therefore say what seems to us in each. That man who was the leader of Ezekiel, advises the prophet to look more closely and see, and to attentively observe the hidden mysteries with the eyes of the mind. He calls the son of man, or in the likeness of the Lord and Savior; and indeed Ezekiel is interpreted as strength, or the kingdom of God: or certainly for the disturbance of human weakness; lest he forget his own condition, while great things are shown to him: and he leads and turns to the bank of the river, so that because he could not cross the middle depth, at least he may recognize those things which are on the banks. And when, he said, I turned, or he turned me, who was the guide and teacher; behold on the river bank, or the stream, many logs, or very many trees on both sides. This torrent, which is carried by the abundance of water like a torrent, and receives rain from the sky, as we mentioned in the previous lesson, is called a river by LXX, because it has perpetual waters: not from rains collected here and there, but from a living and perpetual source. Of which river we read many things in the holy Scriptures; but for the present few things are to be said, and first this: The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods have lifted up their waves. (Psalm 93:3) And in Isaiah: I will make a way in the desert and rivers in the wilderness (Isa. XLIII, 19). And in another place of the same book, more clearly: There will appear in Zion a river flowing glorious in a thirsty land (Isa. XLIV, 3). Above this river there were many trees on both sides of the bank; so that between two instruments, the old and the new, the enclosed river would flow. However, there were many wood or rather, very many trees, which I believe abound in various fruits as the Scripture mentions in paradise; and the leading guide and teacher, the prophet, teaches and says: These waters that come out, either into the Galilee of the Gentiles, according to the Septuagint, or (as it is more accurately contained in Hebrew) into the hills of the eastern sand, and they descend to the plains of the desert, or to Arabia, they will enter the sea, or to the ends of the sea, and the waters will be healed. We previously said that waters either signify the grace of baptism or the Evangelical doctrine. If these waters leave the threshold of the Lord's temple and hold fast to the Apostolic discipline, they make the previously barren and infertile hills fruitful and turn everything flat and deserted into a well-watered land, so that they embody the sacrament of the Jordan River. This river, which Elisha cured with Evangelical and Apostolic salt, transformed barrenness and death into abundance and life. Not only did they heal the deserts, but they entered the Dead Sea, a sea in which nothing living could exist, and the most bitter sea, which in Greek is called λίμνην ἀσφαλτῖτιν, that is, the lake of bitumen. And in a wonderful way, the dead waters are healed by the waters of the Gospel, which, because they have nothing living in them, are given the name of death. For they had not known Him who says: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). And truly, according to the letter, nothing that breathes and can walk can be found in this sea due to excessive bitterness: not even snails, small worms, eels, and other types of animals or serpents, whose bodies we can know more than their names. Finally, if the Jordan river, swollen by rain, carries fish to this place, they immediately die and float on the oily waters. Since these things have no usefulness, as simple speech testifies, even if they were done, which the foolish superstition of the Jews believes, they will have many fish according to the spiritual understanding of the Lord, when the river is healed, and all things will live to which this river has come; so that fishermen will stand on the shores from Engedi to En-galim: the former means the source or spring of goats, and the latter means the source or spring of calves. For in the beginning, there is the sea of the Dead, where the Jordan enters. And there is En-gedi, where it ends and is consumed. But I believe that the Dead Sea is the one Zacharias speaks of: In that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it towards the eastern sea and half towards the western sea (Zach. XIV, 8). Daniel also agrees with these words: I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea (Dan. VII, 2). And David: The waves of the sea are marvelous (Psal. XCII, 4). And from the person of the Savior in the Psalm: Come into the deep sea and the tempest has overwhelmed me (Psalm 68, 2). The King of Egypt also is called the dragon according to the same Ezekiel (Ezekiel 32), who dwells in the sea, and stirs up the rivers as with his horns. And again, This great and spacious sea (Psalm 103, 25). As long as it has not taken in the waters of the river, or the torrent, it kills everything that is in it; but the Lord, of whom it is said, He will strike, and he will heal us after two days, and on the third day we shall rise, and we shall live in his sight (Hosea 6, 23), He speaks in the same Prophet Hosea: I have bound up Ephraim, I have taken him upon my arm, and they have not known, because I have healed them in the corruption of man (Hosea 11, 9); who was wounded for our sins, and weakened for our iniquities. By the discipline of our peace on him, and by his bruises we were healed (Isaiah 53:5). He himself healed this sea, which is very salty and dead with excessive bitterness, by his death. He who says through Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61:1). Therefore, he also cries out through Jeremiah: Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings (Jeremiah 3:22). For the impatient people have said, unable to bear the pain of their wounds any longer: Summer has passed, the harvest is over, and we are not saved. Then the Lord answered them: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not come (Jeremiah 8:22)? And Jeremiah himself cries out and says: Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved (Jeremiah 17:14). Finally, the angels who were the protectors of the people of the Jews at that time when the foolish crowd cried out, saying, 'His blood be upon us and upon our children' (Matth. XXVII, 25); and, 'The veil of the temple was torn, and all the Hebrew sacraments were revealed,' they responded to the Lord who was commanding, and said, 'We have cared for Babylon, and she has not been healed: let us leave her' (Jerem. LI, 9), the city of confusion and vices. And Josephus also relates in his History that after the Lord was crucified and the veil of the temple was torn, or the doorpost of the temple collapsed, a voice was heard in the innermost part of the temple of celestial powers, saying, Let us depart from these dwellings. All of this is not said in vain, but necessarily, because the Dead Sea, when the river of the Lord flows into it, is said to be healed. Above this sea, from Engedi, the eye and fountain of the goat, which is always offered for sin at Engallim, the fountain of the calves that are sacrificed to the Lord, and they imitate the calf carrying its horns and hooves, which in the type of the Savior is sacrificed at the altar, there will be fishermen, to whom the Lord Jesus speaks: Come to me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt. IV, 19): of whom also Jeremiah says: Behold, I will send fishermen (Jer. XVI, 16). And there will be very many species, indeed, genera of fish in the once-dead sea. These fish, at the command of the Lord, were drawn out by Peter to the right side, and they were one hundred fifty-three: so much so that because of their multitude the nets were torn (John 21). However, those who have written about the nature and properties of animals, both in Latin and Greek language, say that there are one hundred fifty-three fishing methods, which were all used by the apostles, and nothing remained uncaught, while both noble and common, rich and poor, and every kind of human being from the sea of this world is drawn out for salvation. But what follows, In its shores and swamps, or in those that extend beyond the shores, the waters will not be healed, covertly shows that those who were not in Noah's ark will perish during the reign of the flood; and those whom the river did not touch will not receive health; but they will be thrown into salt pits, as it is written: When the pestilence rages, the fool becomes wiser (Prov. XIX, 25). For the examples of the wicked educate the good. Whether they are given in the salt ponds, according to what is written in the Gospel: Salt is good; but if the salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? (Matthew 5:13) so that they may forever lack fruits and vitality. This is also demonstrated by a city that, after its destruction, is sprinkled with salt. But above the torrent or river, on its banks, every fruitful tree, or as they all agree, βρῶσιμον (Al. βρῶμα) which gives food and nourishment and can be eaten, is called in the Hebrew language, Machal, and nothing will decay in it according to the Septuagint, but its fruits will be renewed daily, and its leaves will not wither, and its fruit will not fail; according to what is written in the first psalm. And he shall be like a tree, which is planted near the running waters, that shall bring forth its fruit in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off (Psalm 1:3). Each month, he says, it shall bring forth its firstfruits, or as it is written in the Septuagint: Its fruit shall be its firstfruits in its renewal; so that all the fruits of the believers may be firstfruits, and each month may be assigned to each apostle. And this shall happen, because its waters shall come forth from the sanctuary: Let us not think that the abundance of banks, trees, or months, is the cause and source of such great fruitfulness: because its waters shall come forth from the sanctuary. Therefore it is not of the one who wants or of the one who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Rom. 9:16). The principle of all these trees is the tree of life, which is understood as wisdom, of which it is written: The tree of life is to all who believe in it (Prov. 3). And that which is said: And its fruits shall be for food, and its leaves for medicine, demonstrates the sacraments of the divine books: of which one pertains to the letter, the other to the spirit: so that we may understand simple words in the leaves, and the hidden meaning in the fruits. For just as the knowledge of the Scriptures leads to the kingdom of heaven and provides us with the bread that says, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven' (John 6:41), so do its leaves contain moral doctrine and offer healing, so that they may heal the wounds of sinners. Concerning the leaves, which are called 'Ale' in Hebrew, they were translated by the Septuagint as 'ascension,' because it can also be understood in such a way that after partaking of the nourishment of the fruits, we ascend to heavenly things by the admonitions of the words.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:8

We said a little time ago that the waters signify either the grace of baptism or the teaching of the gospel. If these waters go out from the threshold of the temple of the Lord and carry the teaching of the apostles, they have the power to make piles of gravel, sterile and infertile as they are, bear fruit, and they can irrigate every plain and every desert.

Source: COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:47.6-12

[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Ezekiel 47:10

He was baptized and came up who draws all things into his net. Out of the stream from which Simon caught fish came the fisher of men, and he took him. With the cross, which catches all robbers, he caught that robber up into life. The living by his death emptied hell; he unloosed it and let entire multitudes fly away from it.

Source: HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 3

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:12

Their fruit for food and their leaves for healing mean the mysteries of the divine books, of which one refers to the letter, the other to the spirit, so that we can understand simple words among their leaves and the meaning that truly lies in their fruitful stock.

Source: COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:47.6-12

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:13-14

(Verse 13, 14) Thus says the Lord God: This is the boundary in which you shall possess the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel, for Joseph has a double portion. Each of you shall possess it equally as his brother, to whom I raised my hand to give it to your fathers; and this land shall fall to you as a possession. Because we said that Joseph has a double portion, the Septuagint translated it as an increase of the portion. For indeed Joseph is interpreted as increase; understanding the matter instead of the name, and confusing the mind of the reader. For when the Levite tribe was subtracted and delegated to temple sacrifices, there remained eleven tribes, of which the tribe of Joseph was divided into two, Ephraim and Manasseh, who said to Joshua the son of Nun: Why have you given me the possession of one lot and one portion, since I am of such a great multitude, and the Lord has blessed me? To which Joshua responded: If you are a large population, go up into the forest and clear for yourself the spaces in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaim, because the possession of the mountain of Ephraim is narrow for you (Joshua 17: 14, 15). And again, Joshua said to the house of Ephraim and Manasseh: You are a large and powerful people, you shall not have one portion, but you shall go to the mountain and clear for yourself spaces to dwell, and you will be able to advance further when you have driven out the Canaanite, who you say has iron chariots and is strongest (Ibid., 27). We say this for the following reason: because the Scriptures now mention Joseph, that is, Ephraim and Manasseh, as having a double portion. But each tribe, according to its own multitude, receives equal portions of land, not divided by the will of the divider, but by lot, which is in the power of the Lord. Finally, even Joshua himself, who was the divider of the land, did not separate for himself a particular piece of land, so as not to appear to have chosen the best; but he received from the leaders of all the tribes, Timnath-serah in the mount of Ephraim.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:15-17

(Versed. 15 seqq.) This is the end of the land on the northern side, from the great sea, for those coming from Ethalon, Sadada, Emath, Berotha, Sabarim, which is between the middle of Damascus and the border of Emath: the courtyard of Thicon (Vulg. house of Atthicon), which is near the borders of Auran (or Auranitis). And the boundary will be from the sea to the courtyard of Enon (or Seraranan), the boundary of Damascus, and from the North to the North the boundary of Emath on the northern side (Vulg. and the boundary of Emath; on the northern side). Concerning the description of the land of the holy twelve tribes, commanded by Joshua the son of Nun, and which is now ruled by Ezekiel, it is worth noting that there the land is divided among the tribes by lot, as ordained by the Lord. In the Book of Numbers (Num. XXXIV), which divides the entire promised land into four regions in a brief discourse, the description of the northern region is as follows: Starting from the north, that is, the northern border, they will begin from the Great Sea, reaching up to the highest mountain, from which you will come to Hamath, to the borders of Zedad, they will go to Ziphrona and the town of Enam, also known as Aser Enon. And the Hebrews say that the northern region begins from the Great Sea, which extends along the coasts of Palestine, Phoenicia, the region called Coele Syria, and Cilicia, and stretches through Egypt to Libya. And when it says, 'The borders shall reach to the highest mountain' (Numbers 34:7), the same Hebrews interpret it to mean either Mount Amanus or Mount Taurus, which we think is more likely. From there, it is said, one will come to Emath, which is now called Epiphania, with the name changed by Antiochus, the most cruel of tyrants: for he had the surname Epiphanes. He says, 'They will go to the boundaries of Sadada, a place that is currently mentioned in the reading of Ezechiel, and they will reach the borders of Zephrona, which is today called Zephyrium, a town in Cilicia. And the next part, 'And the village of Enam,' is written in Hebrew as 'Aser Enon,' or 'Enan,' and the present location is included in this. And for now, it suffices to briefly summarize the historical context, and to connect the description in both Numbers and Ezechiel: so that a discerning reader understands in which places they mentioned the same, similar, or different things. Now that we have interpreted the names of each, let us follow the anagoge and discuss what seems to us in each, with the Lord providing. Ethalon is interpreted as the cradle of sorrow. Sadada, his side, understand not in terms of width but in terms of the side. Emath, fury, which is called in Greek, χόλος. Berotha, of the well. Sabarim, circuit of mountains. Damascus, blood of the bag and the kiss, or cup. But the house, or atrium Thicon, Symmachus interprets as the middle atrium, which extends to the borders of Auran. Therefore, Thicon, the middle one, resounds: Auran, which in Greek translates to Auranitidis, anger. Aser, however, Enon, which is the boundary of Damascus, is called the atrium of the fountain in our language. Therefore, the northern region begins from the great sea through the way of Ethalon, which means the cradle of sorrow, and through repentance it comes to Sadada, where there is a decline on the side. For we understand the impending Emath upon us, which is the wrath of God; or Emath, the truth being known, the wells of Berotha are opened for us, which were dug by the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and after a long circuit we come to the mountains of Sabarim, which are located between Damascus, that is, the blood of the cilice, and the border of Emath, as we have said above, the truth. For just as we turn away from approaching evils through fear and avoid them on one side, so after the shedding of blood and the sackcloth of a bloody life, before we come to the borders of Emath, we circumscribe and arrive at the mountains, of which it is written: Mountains surround it, and the Lord surrounds his people (Psalm 124:2). This place is called the court of Thicon, that is, the middle court, as Symmachus has interpreted, near the borders of Auran, which means wrath, and let us say with the prophet: I will endure the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him (Micah 4:9). And from the sea as far as the borders of Damascus; in which also the Apostle Paul (Acts IX) saw the light in blindness from the Jewish fury and the shedding of Ecclesiastical blood, and having taken up the sackcloth of old persecution, he preached the Gospel in order to reach the courtyard of the eternal fountain, and being placed in the North, he grasped the boundary of truth.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:18

(Verse 18) Furthermore, the eastern region stretches from the middle of Auran, and from the middle of Damascus, and from the middle of Gilead, and from the middle of the land of Israel. The Jordan River divides it, extending to the eastern sea. In the Book of Numbers, it is written as follows: From there, the boundaries extend opposite the eastern region, from the town of Enan, also known as Aser Enon, to Sephama. From Sephama, the boundaries go down to Rebla, opposite the spring. From there, they reach the eastern sea, which is the Sea of Chenereth, and continue all the way to the Jordan River, finally closing at the sea. He had said above: And the boundary shall be from the sea to Aser Enon, the boundary of Damascus (Num. XXXIV, 10, 11). Therefore, at the end of the northern region, that is, at the court of Enan, the boundaries extend according to the Book of Numbers to Sephama, which the Hebrews call Apamea: and from Apamea the boundaries descend to Rebla, which is now called Antioch in Syria. And so that you may know that this Rebla signifies the city, which is now the most noble in Coele-Syria, it follows: Against the spring, which is clearly meant to signify Daphne: from which spring the aforesaid city enjoys very abundant waters. But this place, established by Gnaeus Pompeius, who was the first to conquer Judea under Roman rule, was built with military force; and according to the fable of the poets, it was named Daphne because of the laurels and cypresses, which are very abundant trees in that place. From there, it says, the boundaries extend opposite the eastern region to the Sea of Chinnereth, all the way to the Sea of Tiberias. However, it is called a sea because it has fresh waters, according to the language of the Scriptures, in which collections of water are called seas. And the borders, he says, will stretch as far as the Jordan River, and in the end will be closed off by the sea, either the dead sea or, as others think, the Red Sea, on whose shore Ahila is located, where the legion and the Roman garrison are now stationed. This statement can be found in the book of Numbers. But according to Ezekiel, it refers to the middle of Auran, which is the city of Damascus in the desert, and the middle of Galaad, where Mount Lebanon is connected to the hills and falls into the territory of Ruben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. It is situated behind Phoenicia and Arabia. This is the mountain that Jacob reached after leaving Charran, where he was captured by Laban (Gen. XXXI), and Jeremiah also speaks of it: Galaad, you are the beginning of Lebanon (Jerem. XXII). This region was taken by Galaad, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the Amorite region. The boundary of this region is the Jordan River and the Eastern Sea, which in this place is understood to be the dead sea, not the shore of the Red Sea. Let us speak according to tropology: After the borders of the North, through Ethalon, and Sadada, and Berotha, also Sabarim, Thicon, and Auran, and Damascus, and the atrium of Enon, it reaches as far as Emath in the eastern region: from the midst of anger, that is Auran, and from the midst of Damascus, that is the blood of penance, and from the midst of Gilead, which is interpreted as revelation, or the hill of testimony; in order to show hope of salvation after anger and penance: and from the midst of the land of Israel, which contains the vision of peace, it reaches to the sweetest flow of the Jordan river: which, far from the distant sea, obtains the light of the East, so that it is terminated by the river Jordan, which is interpreted as the stream of judgment, and the boundary of the East. But what is called φοινικῶνος in the Septuagint, which means palmeti in Latin, is not found in Hebrew: for which reason we have translated it as metiemini: And a clear error is evident, that due to the similarity of the letters, they read Thamorru instead of Thamoddu.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:19

(Verse 19.) The southern region stretches from Thamar to the waters of contradiction (or Mariboth: this word signifies contradiction or disputes). It includes Cades and the river, reaching all the way to the Great Sea. This is the southern region. According to the Book of Numbers, it is written as follows: It begins from the wilderness of Sin, near Edom, and its borders extend towards the eastern sea (some manuscripts add 'the saltiest sea'), encircling the southern region up along the ascent of Scorpio, passing through Senna and reaching south to Cadesbarne. From there, the borders extend to a village named Addar, and continue to Asemona. The boundary line then goes from Asemona to the torrent of Egypt, and ends at the shore of the Great Sea (Num. 34:3-5). This briefly signifies (so that we do not appear to have passed over the very wide stretch of Numbers by occasion of Ezekiel's exposition) to go around the wilderness of Sin, which is near Edom, and the boundary of the Red Sea, and through the ascent of Scorpions, and through Senna and Kadesh-barnea, and the courtyard of Addar, and to come from Asemona as far as the river of Egypt, which flows into the sea near the city of Rhinocorura. But truly, this boundary of the southern region, that is, the southernmost part, begins from Tamar, which is a city in the wilderness, which Solomon also built with marvelous works and is now called Palmyra; and in the Hebrew language, it is called Thamar, which in our language means "palm," as far as the waters of Meribah Kadesh, which is undoubtedly in the desert, and the river entering the Great Sea, which stretches along the coast of Egypt and Palestine, and this is the southern region to the South. Afterward, we receive the Southern region when the light from above is poured upon us, just as Abraham joined in a feast and we are intoxicated with the wine that gladdens the heart, like Joseph and his brothers. This possession begins at Thamar and extends to the waters of contradiction, a place of victory over vices. For virtue is always contradicted. Therefore, Jews opposing Paul in the preaching of the Gospel assert that it is contradicted throughout the whole world (Acts 15). And in the Gospel, we read Simeon saying: This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (Luke 2:34). However, every contradiction is of holiness, which is interpreted as Kadesh, as the Psalmist says: The Lord will shake Kadesh's desert (Psalm 29:8); which originally did not have the holiness of the Lord, but it was shaken and moved to receive the guest God, who says: Upon whom will my spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet one who trembles at my words? (Isaiah 66:2). Beyond the deserted region of Cades, all the way to the great sea in the south, the southern region is arid, as we mentioned before; it does not have rain from the land, but rather from the sky, collected in various forms of different powers.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:20

(Verse 20) And the plague of the sea, the great sea from the border in a straight line, until you come to Emath, this is the plague of the sea. Of which the Book of Numbers writes more clearly and briefly. But the western plague will begin from the great sea and will conclude at the very end, that is, from sea to sea: to the torrent, namely the Rhinocorura, which flows into the sea, up to the place that is opposite the city of Emath in Syria, of which we have spoken above. But the setting sun, according to the laws of tropology, is always in the sea: always in the salt and waves, where shipwrecks occur daily, and the deaths of the wretched, and the loss of wealth and goods, and yet when we have endured all these with patience, we come straight to Emath, that is, to the truth of the Lord, who, having conquered persecutions, has promised us eternal rewards.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 47:21-23

(Verse 21 onwards) And you shall divide this land among yourselves into the tribes of Israel, and you shall allocate it as an inheritance to yourselves and to the foreigners who have joined you and have children born among you. They shall be considered as natives among the children of Israel and shall share in the possession with you among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe a foreigner resides, you shall give them an inheritance there, says the Lord God. By this chapter, we learn (and it is a refutation of the Jewish objections) that there is no distinction between the people of Israel and the Gentiles. For if the foreigners and strangers come with those who are from the people of Israel, that is to say, with the indigenous people, the land is divided; there is no doubt that it is the same inheritance of the people of the Gentiles and the people of the Jews: however, if they have converted to the worship of the God of Israel, which is properly called Christian, having the Jews as possessors of the letter of the Law, and us of the spirit: they hold on to the membranes, and we to him who is written in the membranes. And with Moses the land is divided by lot; but here, as we have said, it is delegated by the judgment of the Lord: and there is one possession for the stranger and the Israelite, and an inheritance is given in each tribe, at the command of the Lord God.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel