Today’s passage: Ezekiel 47
Helpful thoughts:
- There will be a river that springs and flows out of the temple!
- This river will make the Dead Sea a living sea, though the salt industry will still be able to function around it.
- The “sea” is the Dead Sea. The “Great Sea” is the Mediterranean Sea.
- The land is redistributed for the tribes of Israel. The amount of land is similar to what the Lord had allotted for Israel in Numbers 34.
- Others from outside of Israel will come and have children within the land. When they do, their children will be included in that tribe. Therefore all twelve tribes could be populated with people of various ethnicities, though they would be considered full Israelites and members of their respective tribes.
- This idea of foreigners becoming members of Israel is not an entirely new concept (Leviticus 19:34).
Questions to consider:
- Which characteristic of the river, or the changing of the Dead Sea, or the life returned to it, or even the fruit and vegetation of the region stuck out to you the most? What will farming and fishing by like in this area after this river begins to flow?
- Knowing the people groups who live all around Israel and the way that people are able to “sojourn” even in our own day, what do you think Israel will look like as a people in the day described in this chapter? When there is a peaceful prosperous country with this kind of produce and industry, what will people around the world want to do?
- How does reading passage like this help us to think about the people we see all around us and around the world today? Where will the people of God come from (Revelation 7:9)? To whom should the church take the gospel message (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20)?