And by the river, upon the bank thereof, shall grow all trees for meat See the note on Ezekiel 47:7. By these trees may be understood, “the plenteous provisions of the gospel, the precious promises of the sacred word, and the privileges of believers, as communicated to their souls by the quickening Spirit. These abound on each side of the river, wherever the gospel is successfully preached; they afford nourishment and delight to the souls of men; they never fade or wither; they are various, according to the variety of circumstances and occasions in the experience of Christians; (as if a tree should yield a succession of different kinds of fruit, through the months of the year;) and even the leaves serve as medicines to their souls. The warnings and reproofs of the word, and the salutary corrections of their Father's rod, though generally less valued, and always less pleasant, than divine consolations, yet tend to cure their maladies, and restore them to holiness and happiness.” Scott.
Most expositors, however, consider these trees as emblematical of true, spiritual Christians, termed by Isaiah, trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, Isaiah 61:3, set by the rivers of water, the waters of the sanctuary, Psalms 1:3, grafted into Christ, the tree of life, and, by virtue of their union with him, made trees of life too, rooted in him, Colossians 2:7. There is a great variety of these trees, through the diversity of gifts with which they are endued by that one Spirit which works all in all. They grow on the bank of the river, for they keep close to holy ordinances, and through them derive sap and virtue from Christ. They are fruit-trees, designed, as the fig-tree and the olive, to honour with their fruits both God and man, Judges 9:9. The fruit thereof shall be for meat, for the lips of the righteous feed many, and the fruits of their righteousness are many ways beneficial. The very leaves of these trees are for medicine, or, as the margin has it, for bruises and sores. True Christians, with their good discourses, the leaves of the trees of righteousness, as well as with their beneficent actions, which are their fruits, do good to those about them: they strengthen the weak, and bind up the broken-hearted. Their cheerfulness does good like a medicine, not only to themselves, but to others also. And their leaf shall not fade They shall be enabled, by the grace of God, to persevere in their piety and usefulness, having not only life in their root, but sap in all their branches. Therefore their profession shall not wither, nor their discourse lose its healing, strengthening virtue. Neither shall their fruit be consumed That is, they shall not cease to bear fruit, retaining still the principles of their fruitfulness; but shall bring it forth even in old age. Or, the reward of their fruitfulness shall abide for ever; they shall produce fruit that shall abound to their account at the appearing of Jesus Christ, fruit to life eternal. They shall bring forth new fruit according to their months Some in one month and others in another; or, each one of them shall bring forth fruit monthly; which signifies a constant disposition, desire, resolution, and endeavour to bear fruit, and that they shall never be weary of well-doing. And the reason of this extraordinary fruitfulness is, because their waters issue out of the sanctuary It is not to be ascribed to their own wisdom, power, or goodness, or to any thing in themselves, but to the continual supplies of divine grace, with which they are watered every moment, Isaiah 27:3. For, whoever may be the instrument of planting them, it is divine grace which gives the increase.
The reader will observe, that this part of Ezekiel's vision is evidently referred to and almost copied by St. John, Revelation 22:2, who applies it to the salvation of Christ, begun on earth, and perfected in heaven. This whole passage, from Eze 47:1-12 inclusive, as Bishop Newcome observes, “is one of the most striking allegories in the Hebrew Scriptures,” and must so necessarily have a mystical and spiritual meaning, that from thence we are compelled to conclude that all the other parts of the vision, from the beginning of the xlth to the cud of the xlviiith chapter, must have such a meaning also; and that whatever allusion the prophet's description of the temple, its courts. &c., and the division of the land to the prince, priests, and tribes, might have to Solomon's temple, or to that built after the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the former divisions of the country; yet that the vision was principally intended of the spiritual temple of the Christian Church, and of its great extent, prosperity, and glory in the latter days, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved.