A river that could not be passed over. — The whole distance measured is 4,000 cubits, or less than a mile and a half, during which the waters, without external addition, have swollen from a mere streamlet to an impassable river, in direct opposition to the ordinary fact in nature. A large part (1,500 cubits, or half of 3,000 cubits) of this distance must have been within the precincts described in Ezekiel 42:16-20, but the prophet takes no notice of this, as the whole is ideal, and the precincts were to set forth one truth, the river another. The point thus far brought out is plainly the increase of the kingdom of God — the same truth illustrated by our Lord in the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32), and often declared by the prophets (see Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14; Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:27; &c.). All history, since the Christian era, has been occupied with the fulfilment of the prophecy.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 47:5
Ezekiel 47:5
5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.