All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and [from] the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.
Ver. 10. All the land shall be turned as a plain] Or, shall be compassed about as a plain, ut aequore plano, so the Tigurine translation. God shall enlarge the bounds of his Church; he shall lay all level, that people may come in amain from all parts. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth, Luke 3:5 "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellence of our God," Isaiah 35:1,2. The prophet here showeth that all the land shall be inhabited, from one end unto another; from Geba, the northern confines, to Rimmon, the southborder, Joshua 15:32; Joshua 15:57. And from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first (or old) gate, Nehemiah 3:6, which stood westward, unto the corner gate, see 2Ch 26:9 ; 2Ch 25:28 or the gate that looketh eastward. The limits of the Church shall be greatly enlarged; the rough and rugged mountains being made as the smooth and pleasant champaigns. The faithful shall pass from Geba to Rimmon, from the mountains of myrrh and hills of frankincense, Song of Solomon 4:6, to the pomegranates, for so Rimmon signifieth, and from the plenty of that fruit there this place seemeth to have taken its name (Masius in Jos 19:18); that is, from humiliation and supplication for pardon and power against corruption, to love and good works, looking up and pressing hard toward, the high prize proposed unto them; as the many grains within the case of the pomegranate do point, and, as it were, all look up together, unto the crown or circle that is without, upon the head of it.
To the king's winepresses] Which were on the west side, where the former two half-compasses did meet to make up a whole compass. Certain it is, that Jerusalem was a very large and spacious city, comprehending almost four miles, at least, say those that have written of it. There was in it the upper and the nether town, whence it is called, Je-rushalaiim in the dual. There was afterwards the old town and the new, called Boretha, or Caenopolis. But, Ezekiel 40:41,49, God showeth the prophet a new temple, larger than all the old Jerusalem put all together; and a new Jerusalem, larger than all the land of Canaan; by these very dimensions showing that these things cannot be understood but spiritually. And the new Jerusalem in the Revelation, as it lieth foursquare, looking every way to the four corners of the earth (like as Constantinople doth, which is, therefore, said to be a city fatally founded to command), so the measure of it is twelve thousand furlongs, Revelation 21:16; which, according to some, make no less than 1500 miles.