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Ezekiel 47

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1 And he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the front of the house was eastward. And the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, south of the altar.

2 And he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round outside unto the outer gate towards [the gate] that looketh eastward; and behold, waters ran out on the right side.

3 When the man went forth eastward, a line was in his hand; and he measured a thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters: the waters were to the ankles.

4 And he measured a thousand [cubits], and caused me to pass through the waters: the waters were to the knees. And he measured a thousand and caused me to pass through: the waters were to the loins.

5 And he measured a thousand: it was a river that I could not pass through, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.

6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen [this]? And he led me, and brought me back to the bank of the river.

7 When I returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

8 And he said unto me, These waters issue out toward the east district, and go down into the plain, and go into the sea; when they are brought forth into the sea, the waters [thereof] shall be healed.

9 And it shall come to pass that every living thing which moveth, whithersoever the double river shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters shall come thither, and [the waters of the sea] shall be healed; and everything shall live whither the river cometh.

10 And it shall come to pass, that fishers shall stand upon it; from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim shall be [a place] to spread forth nets: their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

11 But its marshes and its pools shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt.

12 And by the river, upon its bank, on the one side and on the other, shall grow all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, nor their fruit fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, for its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

13 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This shall be the border whereby ye shall allot the land as inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph [shall have two] portions.

14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, [the land] concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it unto your fathers; and this land shall fall to you for inheritance.

15 And this shall be the border of the land: toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Zedad,

16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.

17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath: this is the north side.

18 -- And on the east side ye shall measure between Hauran and Damascus, and Gilead and the land of Israel [by] the Jordan, from the border unto the east sea: this is the east side.

19 -- And the south side southward, from Tamar to the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, by the torrent, unto the great sea: this is the south side southward.

20 -- And the west side shall be the great sea from the border, as far as over against the entering into Hamath: this is the west side.

21 And ye shall divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.

22 And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you; and they shall be unto you as the home-born among the children of Israel: with you shall they draw by lot inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

23 And it shall come to pass that in the tribe in which the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give [him] his inheritance, saith the Lord Jehovah.

   

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Jordan (the river)

  
Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant, by Benjamin West

The river Jordan separates the land of Canaan from the lands to the east. This separation represents the division of the human mind into an internal part and an external part, and it is the internal mind where the church is formed in a person. The river is also limited by two lakes in the north, Merom and Galilee, and the Dead Sea in the south. Inside these limits are the interior things of the mind, and outside are the exterior things. The countries outside, as they are mentioned in the Bible, can be helpful. They represent basic knowledge, reasoning ability, rationality, curiosity, and other qualities that, as friends, can support our religious beliefs, or as enemies can argue against them or conjure up false gods for us to worship. The land inside represents a regenerating state, or it can represent the ultimate end of that state, which is heaven. From outside, then, the Jordan is the entrance to something better, the goal of the journey, and its waters represent the mental washing of repentance, which is the first thing of the church, which is why John baptized there, and Naaman washed there. From the inside the Jordan is the edge of what is outside the church, and for this reason the Children of Israel were so often troubled by those nations outside: the Midianites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, Egypt, and Babylon, and the other nations we read about in the Books of Judges and Kings, and in the Prophets. The mental abilities of our external minds can work for what is good, but they can also work for what is bad.