"And he said to me, Have you seen this, Son of Man," and he led me and brought me back to the bank of the stream. He says, "Have you seen, Son of Man," how this stream keeps growing and expanding, meaning: observe it. The Radak explains that this comes to hint that the good fortune of the people of Israel will keep growing and expanding. The abundance of the people of Israel will keep increasing. "And he brought me back to the bank of the stream," the Radak explains means he seated me on the bank of the stream. The Malbim, however, says that "and he brought me back" (vayeshiveni) means he returned me to the bank of the stream, from the root meaning "to return," not "and he seated me," but rather he is saying: notice, it is written vayeshiveni, "and he returned me." It means he returned a second time in order to walk along its bank. "When I returned, behold, on the bank of the stream were very many trees on one side and on the other." When he returns me I see that a tree grew, large, "on one side and the other" meaning on the two sides of the stream, that is what "on one side and the other" means, on its two sides. "And he said to me, These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah, and come to the sea, into the sea of foul waters, and the waters shall be healed." Now he comes to explain to him the two visions that he saw. He explains to him that at first you will see, he explains to him the matter of the waters and the stream that he saw, and afterward we will see in verse 12 (we are in verse 8, in verse 12 we will see) that he interprets for him the matter of the trees, what they came to hint at. So at first he tells him: these waters that go out toward the eastern region, meaning toward the eastern sea, and they go down into the Arabah, meaning to the Sea of the Arabah, and they come to the sea, and they come from there to another sea, into the sea of foul waters, meaning from the other sea it will come to the sea that goes out from the settled area, meaning to the sea called the ocean. And all these seas that he has now enumerated for him, "and the waters shall be healed." The waters will be healed of their saltiness by the power of the waters that go out from the Holy of Holies which we just saw. Chazal say: to where do they go out? To the Sea of Tiberias, to the Sea of Sodom, and to the ocean. To heal the salt waters. "And they go down into the Arabah," this is the Sea of Tiberias. "And they come to the sea," this is the Sea of Sodom. "And to the sea of foul waters," this is the ocean. And in essence the Malbim says that the idea of these matters, this metaphor comes to say that the waters of knowledge and recognition of Hashem will then spread among Edom and Yishmael, among the Christians and the Arabs. Yishmael are the dwellers of the east. Edom are the dwellers of the west. And this is what he means here by west and east, the intent is to the Edomites and the Yishmaelites. And this is as it is written in Zechariah, "And it shall be on that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea." And these are the two groups that he saw in the parable, one crossing in water up to the knees and one crossing in water up to the loins, and we explained there that the intent is to Christianity and Islam. That is the meaning of the water up to the knees and the water up to the loins, that the water up to the loins is Islam, since their perception of the Divine is higher than the perception of Christianity, which is idolatry through association. And then they will all drink the waters of knowledge, which is the meaning of these waters that go out from the house of Hashem, and this will heal the saltiness, since their waters are of the nature of salt waters, this will heal the saltiness, their faith is a faith that has no sweetness in it, it is a deficient faith, and then these waters will heal that saltiness, the salt of Sodom that blinds the eyes with untrue beliefs, as the Malbim says. And so too these waters will go out to the Sea of Sodom, which is a metaphor for those still sunk in idolatry, who we said are truly in a very low spiritual state, China and India and the like, who are as though in ankle-deep waters, they too will be healed of the salt, for Sodom is the place of the highest saltiness, whose salt is the salt of Sodom and blinds the eyes, and then they too will see a clear light. And from there it will go down to the Sea of Tiberias, where the people of Israel dwell, which is the water one swims in, where you are already swimming above the waters of knowledge, that you are already positioned above, and this will be to heal the ailments of their souls, that they will all drink from these waters and wisdom will come like water within them, each according to his preparation, says the Malbim.
"And it shall be that every living creature that swarms, wherever the streams come, shall live. And there shall be very many fish, for these waters shall come there and they shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the stream comes." "And it shall be that every living creature that swarms." The Malbim says that in those places where the sanctified streams that go out from the Holy of Holies will be, whoever is there in those streams will both live and multiply in terms of increase and burst forth greatly. And the reason, says the Malbim, is that until now the waters are salty, and these waters that will come will heal the saltiness of the water, for the saltiness of the water, as is known, kills the creatures, and when the waters are sweet then the creatures have greater sustenance, and therefore they will live and multiply greatly. And as we saw earlier, here too the Malbim explains the idea that stands behind these matters. The Malbim says the metaphor that comes here in this parable of the sweet waters healing the salt waters comes to compare for us to the reality that people drink from the salt waters, the salt waters being from the distorted views, from the corruption of faith. And in the future waters are destined to go out from the Holy of Holies which are sweet waters, meaning clear waters, waters that will spread pure faith, the true faith, and by means of these waters "every living creature that swarms, wherever the streams come, shall live," whoever comes to those streams and drinks from those waters of knowledge of the holy waters that go out, the spring that goes out from the Holy of Holies, whoever comes there will live and "there shall be very many fish." These waters will heal the ailments of the soul from the foreign beliefs, and the stream will continue and pour forth its waters, says the Malbim, and they will continue to draw with joy from the wellsprings of salvation. And the more they continue and increase in receiving, so too will Hashem continue and pour forth the wellsprings of intellect and knowledge so that through this they will learn new teachings, they will have theoretical insights, so that whoever drinks from these waters "and they shall be healed and everything shall live wherever the stream comes." Whoever comes there to the stream and drinks from it will be healed of those ailments of the soul.
"And it shall be that fishermen shall stand upon it, from Ein Gedi to Ein Eglaim there shall be a place for spreading nets; their fish shall be of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many." "And it shall be that fishermen shall stand upon it." Dogim is like fishermen, and the fishermen will stand to catch the fish, until the entire area of the land from Ein Gedi to Ein Eglaim will be a place where they spread nets to catch the fish, because of the immense quantity of fish that will be there as a result of the sweetening of the saltiness of the waters. The fish will be of many kinds, meaning of every kind and type, that is to say there will be large fish like there are in the Great Sea, and also in terms of quantity there will be an immense quantity of fish. And here too the Malbim says, the idea that stands behind what is written here is essentially the metaphor of these matters, that there will be fishermen, meaning there will be many prophets who will teach the way of Hashem. And they will catch the fish, these fish being the people who are lowest in their views, just as fish are considered lowly creatures, so too the people with lowly views are like the fish, as Chavakuk says, "and You make man like the fish of the sea," which denotes a lowly level. Now he tells us how those people of the lowly level, that is, we are speaking of people who until now were distant from knowledge, people who had no education at all, now they will rise into the net of the fishermen. Who are these fishermen? As we said, these are the prophets, the teachers of the Torah, they will be of the nature of speaking man, enlightened man, man who has a connection to spirituality. And those who were from Ein Gedi to Ein Eglaim, those who were idol worshipers, listen to how wonderfully the Malbim explains this. What does "from Ein Gedi to Ein Eglaim" mean? The Malbim says that Gad, as we know, is a type of idolatry, "those who set a table for Gad." And Eglaim, as we know, they made two calves (agalim), which were also idolatry. And they also worshiped the constellation of Aries and the constellation of Taurus. So if so, "from Ein Gedi to Ein Eglaim" means all those who were idol worshipers, who thought that the Gedi, meaning the constellation of Aries, watched over them, therefore it is called Ein Gedi, meaning as though the eye of the Gedi is open to watch over them. There they will be a place for spreading nets, the meaning being they will be drawn to the net of holiness. All those who connected to all sorts of impure nets will now connect to the net of holiness, there will no longer be internet, there will be only holiness, they will learn Torah and engage only in spiritual matters. So those people will be drawn, as it were, to the nets of the fishermen, the fishermen being the prophets, they are the guides of the way, they are the teachers, they will be drawn there and then they will be caught in the net of holiness. And then great men and leaders will also come, says the Malbim, and they will greatly increase in knowing Hashem. And this is "like the fish of the Great Sea, very many," also the great ones, also those considered enlightened among the nations, they too will come and engage in Torah and knowledge, and through this the fish of the sea will be very many in their spiritual attainments.
"Its swamps and its marshes shall not be healed; they are given over to salt." Indeed there will still be places that will be like pools, pools of water meaning water that remained from the rains and became there like a swamp, formed at some place of gathering of waters, and usually these waters are foul waters, they are not considered good waters for drinking. It tells you "its swamps and its marshes shall not be healed; they are given over to salt." They are those places that will not be healed as a result of the holy pure clear waters that go out from the Holy of Holies, they will not be healed, and the reason is "they are given over to salt." That is to say, if all the waters of the world were to become sweet waters, from where would we produce salt? Therefore it tells you those places that will still remain, into which the sweet waters will not come, they remained in order to salt everything, they are given over to salt. What is the metaphor here? What is essentially the meaning? It comes to tell you that there will still remain wild, brutish people, in the language of the Malbim, people who will be cut off and separated from the streams of knowledge, and they will be few, they will not endure long, just as a swamp and mire do not endure long, a little sun comes and it evaporates, it is not a stream, and certainly not a spring that has permanent sustenance. So those places that are the swamp and the mire and the pools, these places will be of the nature of salt, says the Malbim, they will be consumed in smoke and become a pillar of salt. That is to say, there will be no sustenance for those who do not connect to the holy and pure waters, who do not connect to the wellspring of knowledge that goes out from the Holy of Holies.
"And by the stream, upon its bank on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither and whose fruit shall not fail; it shall bear new fruit according to its months, for its waters go out from the Temple, and its fruit shall be for food and its leaf for healing." We saw earlier that he described that he saw trees on the side of the stream, now he explains those trees that he saw, what their matter was. He says these trees on the bank of the stream hint that in the future there shall grow on the bank of the stream every tree for food, and this tree for food shall have leaves and fruit continually. The fruit shall be for the purpose of eating, the leaves shall be for the purpose of healing, as is known that they used to use leaves to heal. And then he tells you that in essence the idea of these matters is that the worldly successes too will resemble the parable of the growing tree. The growing tree is of the nature of a living body, which is of the nature of the vegetative soul that is in man. The vegetative soul is the power of the soul that operates the body, and we already spoke about this when we learned Shaarei Kedushah, that in this soul there is the nourishing, growing, and reproductive power, all the operation of the physical part of the body comes through the vegetative soul. So what this comes to say is that the success of the body too will grow greatly, until their body will be like a tree for food bearing fruit that will not fail and they will live long, and also the leaves, which are essentially of the nature of the happiness and the possessions that are the guardians of the fruit, as it is written "and its leaf shall not wither," which means also the things that are not the fruit itself but the more external ones, meaning the possessions, meaning the physical parts, they are the guardians of the fruit, they too shall not wither. That is to say, the happiness will not bring them to the state of "and Yeshurun grew fat and kicked." It will not bring them to a state where through it they become cut off from the service of Hashem. Rather, on the contrary, the leaves, which are the happiness, will still be for healing. It will still lead them to spiritual perfection, it will still heal them spiritually. Since those waters from which that tree drinks are waters that go out from the Temple, from the Holy of Holies, they are holy waters, they are waters that come from a faithful source, the abundance of blessing goes out from the Temple, from the providence of Hashem, it does not come through the stars of heaven, and since it comes from a pure source then this tree grows and multiplies in holiness and purity. And therefore it tells you it shall bear new fruit each month, the Holy One, blessed be He, will renew for them the work of creation, until at every time of the renewal of the moon there will be upon them lofty spiritual influences and great abundance, and this will be of the nature of renewing a crown of glory for those borne from the womb, just as the moon is renewed, so too this tree will be renewed again and again each month, and through this there will essentially be spiritual sustenance for that reality.
Chazal here add and say that what is written here "for healing" (lit'rufah), Chazal say means "to loosen the mouth" (le'hatir peh). To loosen the mouth of the mute and the barren. That is to say, those who until now were mute, Hashem will loosen their mouths, will open their mouths and they will speak. Those who were barren, for them too the Holy One, blessed be He, will loosen. Why is this called "mouth"? The Malbim explains that this is called repairing the covenant of the tongue and the covenant of the flesh. And it is known that this corresponds to that, the nature of the covenant of the tongue corresponds to the covenant of the flesh, and one who is blemished in one is blemished in the other. And it is known that according to holiness, if we take a person and fold him over, then we get the hands opposite the feet and we get the mouth opposite the covenant of the flesh. And this corresponds to that, and what he essentially comes to tell you is that both will be repaired in the future.
"Thus says Hashem Elokim: This shall be the border by which you shall inherit the land, according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Yosef, portions." "Thus says Hashem Elokim: this shall be the border." What is geh (this)? This is a word seemingly unfamiliar to us in Tanach. So the explanation given by Targum Yonatan, and likewise Rashi and the Malbim and the other commentators, is that geh is like zeh, "this." Geh is like zeh, and we have examples that we have seen in the verses that sometimes the gimmel and the zayin interchange. The Malbim says that in essence he is telling them: this is the border that he will now show us, these will be the borders of Israel. An additional explanation the Malbim gives: geh is a matter of removal, like "and it shall not remove (yigheh) the wound from you." Yigheh means to remove, to take out. The intent is that Hashem will bring out the border of the land and expand it more than it was in earlier times. And ligehot means to remove. An additional explanation, Rashi says that geh is from the language of gai, "valley." In any case, let us explain according to the interpretation of the Malbim, he tells them the place where you shall inherit, as we will see further on the Malbim will prove that the land will expand. We will not have the place where we now dwell, which is a narrower place, rather the land will add more than what is written in the Torah. More than what is written in the Torah as the borders of the land. And he tells them that the reality will be that all those dwelling in all the lands of their dispersion will all gather and arrive here. That is what he says "which you shall inherit, according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Yosef, portions." What does "Yosef, portions" mean? You will receive portions in the land, more portions than you had before. Portions like "the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places," in the sense of a portion of land. You will have "Yosef, portions." Hashem will add for you to the portions, to the shares that you have in the land, more than you have now, and all twelve tribes of Israel will be there, so that you should not think that there will be a part that will not return, that there will be a part that will not be here, on the contrary, he tells them "according to the twelve tribes of Israel," and also the land itself will expand and Hashem will add portions for you. Rashi, on the other hand, explains that Yosef is not an expression of a verb but Yosef is a name. Yosef, the intent is Yosef whom we know, he will have portions, two portions, for Yosef has Menashe and Ephraim. So he tells them Yosef will have two portions, Menashe and Ephraim, he will receive two portions of the land.
"And you shall inherit it, each like his brother, which I lifted My hand to give to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as an inheritance." "And you shall inherit it, each like his brother." As we already explained in the previous chapters, according to the opinion of the Sifri all the tribes took strips equal in their width, seventy-five mil wide. We already explained this matter earlier, how the land was divided, and here we will see it in a more detailed manner. In the first division of the land it was each according to his numbers, meaning each tribe, the larger it was, so too its place in the land was larger. In the future, however, it will not be so, rather everyone will have the same width of land. The same width means that we take the land from its southern side to its northern side and cut it into slices. When we begin to cut from the sea, from the western side, we draw the knife toward the direction of the Jordan. Right? We cut the land into slices in this way, and we already saw earlier that we cut it into thirteen slices, because there will be a certain part that will be the part where the Temple will be, and it will be divided among the twelve tribes plus the thirteenth part which will be the portion of the tribe of Levi and the portion of the Temple. So now he will describe for us this division, how it will be divided, and as we said it will not be divided according to the size of the tribe, says the Malbim, indeed in terms of width it will not be divided according to the size of the tribe, but in length it will. The meaning is that the land will lengthen more toward the Jordan and beyond, so that if the tribe is larger it will receive this strip lengthened further toward the eastern side, toward the western side there is nowhere to go, it is only the sea, but in any case toward the eastern side each tribe, each such strip will be able to lengthen further according to the size of the tribe, as much as they need they will conquer and receive more, and this is the approach of the Malbim that here we will essentially see a description of the expansion of the Land of Israel, and the Malbim says this fits very well with what we see, that the Holy One, blessed be He, says "which I lifted My hand to give to your fathers," I swore to the forefathers, and Hashem already promised Avraham that they would receive the land of the Keni, the Kenizi, and the Kadmoni, and to Yaakov Hashem promised an inheritance without boundaries, so you see that we are not speaking of the earlier inheritance but rather we are speaking of an inheritance that is far beyond what the people of Israel have inherited until now.
"And this shall be the border of the land: on the north side, from the Great Sea by the way of Chetlon to the entrance of Tzedad." "And this shall be the border of the land." The Malbim says, at first he said "this is the border by which you shall inherit," he explained how we will inherit. Now he explains the boundaries of the land. The boundaries means that when one wants to draw a map, then it tells you: from this city to that city a line shall be drawn, and from this city to that city an additional line shall be drawn. This is how the Torah describes it, and so it is described in the book of Yehoshua, and so too in the book of Yechezkel here it will be described how lines will be drawn from places that were known to them in their times, and based on this they will know what the borders of the land will be. The Malbim says that the opinion of the commentators is that the border mentioned here is the border mentioned in the Torah in Parashat Masei, and in essence according to them they will inherit in the future according to the inheritance written in the Torah. The Malbim asks: if so, what did Yechezkel add? What did he come to tell us again about what is written in the Torah? Go read it in the Torah, it is written there in the Torah, why does he now need to come and relate all of it anew? Another point he makes: according to their approach, in the future they will inherit only the land of Canaan, not the eastern side of the Jordan. The Malbim says we have prophecies that explicitly contradict this. For Zechariah says that the land will spread until Damascus. That Tyre and Sidon, which are on the northern side where Lebanon is today, will be included within the border. That is to say, we will inherit parts that we do not have today. And which we also do not have according to the borders of the Torah. So how can you tell me that these are the borders of the Torah? Rather, certainly, says the Malbim, the borders here are much wider borders, and they will include Damascus and Tyre and Sidon and all these places, and therefore he enumerates here new names that were not known until now, but in the sense that we will have additional parts in the Land of Israel beyond what we have today. Therefore the Malbim says, "I will show you, listen to me," this is the language of the verse. I will teach you, says the Malbim, that in my opinion there will be a great change in the inheritance of the land in the future from what was in the past, and the border of the Land of Israel will spread and increase on every side. Now the Malbim makes the calculation of how on every side the border of the Land of Israel will spread. To understand the Malbim's calculation one needs a map, so that by it we can see what the borders of the land are now, one needs a new map by which we can see the places mentioned here in the prophet, which are for example "by the way of Chetlon to the entrance of Tzedad" and so forth, and based on this we can understand how the land expanded. Since we have neither this map nor that map, and one could draw it, it is not complicated according to what the Malbim does, but we get into many names and definitions here that will not really give us a deep understanding of the matter, therefore whoever nevertheless wishes to delve deeper should study here the words of the Malbim, I would not want to enter into the whole matter of how the Malbim explains how one passes from place to place and how the land will expand, it is enough for us that, as we explained, the land will expand also to the southern side, also to the northern side, also to the eastern side, except for the western side, they will not dry up the sea. The sea will remain sea. But the other sides, the land will expand there. "Chamat, Berotah, Sivrayim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Chamat, Chatzer Hatichon, which is at the border of Chavran." And here again the Malbim shows us how these places mentioned here, which are already the Damascus region, that is, the areas more distant from our place now, there too the Land of Israel will spread. "And the border shall be from the sea, Chatzar Einon at the border of Damascus, and northward to the north, and the border of Chamat, and the north side." The Malbim says so too from the north side there will be expansion also to that side, and as is known Damascus is located more in the northeastern region of the Land of Israel, and to that side too the land will expand.
"And the east side, from between Chavran and from between Damascus and from between the Gilad and from between the land of Israel by the Jordan; from the border to the eastern sea you shall measure. And the east side." The east side is the eastern side, that now there too there will be expansion and this place will grow beyond its reality today.
"And the south side, southward, from Tamar to the waters of Merivot Kadesh, the stream to the Great Sea; and this is the south side, toward the Negev." "And the south side" refers to the Negev side, and we already saw that Ovadiah prophesied "and they shall possess the Negev, the mountain of Esav," that is to say that the land of Seir which is in the south of the Land of Israel will be included within the border of the land, and so too we have a tradition from Chazal that the land of Edom and the land of Ammon and Moav will be part of the Land of Israel, which are the Keni, the Kenizi, and the Kadmoni that Hashem promised Avraham Avinu, all of which are located in the south of the Land of Israel. This is similar to what is also written, "and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sefarad shall possess the cities of the Negev," so we see that the part of the Negev too, we will annex it, we too will receive it. According to this the Malbim says that what is written here "from Tamar," the Malbim says it is impossible to interpret it as referring to Yericho, the city of palm trees, and what is written "the waters of Merivot Kadesh" is what is written in the borders of the land, "the wilderness of Tzin southward." So "from Tamar," says the Malbim, is Chatzatzon Tamar which is in the wilderness of the Negev before the land of Seir, and what is written about "the waters of Merivot Kadesh" is before Mount Seir and Ammon and Moav on the southern side, as he brings proofs for this.
"And the west side, the Great Sea, from the border to the point opposite the entrance of Chamat; this is the west side." The west side is the western side, the Malbim says notice, it is not written "and the west side" (with the extra ve'et). Because when I say ve'et it means I am adding something. The west side there is nothing to add. The west side is the sea. And therefore he says "and the west side" (u'peat yam) not "and the west side" (ve'et peat hayam). There is nothing here that is added to, that increases, that adds, there is nothing here that is added to the west side, since in the west they have nowhere to expand and the sea will remain permanently the border of the land, whereas in the east there they will be able to expand the border always, and therefore there it is written "and the east side" (ve'et peat kedmah), that the east side always, ve'et, always can add more, so that the moment the tribes increase it will be possible to expand further toward the east.
"And you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel." You shall divide it, as we said at the beginning, into thirteen strips, which will be twelve strips for the tribes of Israel, except for the strip called the holy portion where the division was different as we already discussed in the chapters above and will see again now, the division there was different, for the prince and the Levites and the priests, and that is not for you. Therefore, as it says here, "and you shall divide this land among yourselves," this is the twelve strips, this is for you. In contrast, the division of the prince and the Levites is no longer called "for you" and since this is so, regarding it he does not say the word "for you." "And it shall be that you shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the strangers who dwell among you, who have begotten children among you, and they shall be to you as native-born among the children of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel." Let us read another verse: "And it shall be that in the tribe where the stranger dwells with him, there you shall give his inheritance, says Hashem Elokim." When you allot the inheritance in order to give the tribes their inheritance, then it shall be for you and for the strangers who dwell among you. The meaning is that when each tribe divides the inheritance of the tribe among the people dwelling in the tribe, then they will also divide for the strangers who dwell among you. Who are the strangers who dwell among you? The Malbim explains, the intent is the converts who converted long ago, not the converts who converted now. And why? For Chazal say that we do not accept converts in the days of the Mashiach. Rather, if we are already speaking of converts, these are converts who converted before the days of the Mashiach. Which converts are these? Those who begot children among you. They are converts from long ago who already have children, they already begot children among you. So the children will take their portion as citizens of the land, the meaning being they will receive a portion like the rest of the citizens of the land. The Malbim says notice there is a difference in the holy tongue between "the strangers among you" (betochachem) and "the strangers with you" (itchem). The Malbim says, what is the difference? The difference is that the stranger who dwells "among you" (betochachem) means he converted long ago, he is already among you. In contrast, "with you" (itchem), here "with you," its meaning is he is now with you, he now drew near to you. And therefore he tells them, in order for them to take a portion in the inheritance, they need to be the strangers who dwell among you, meaning who already converted long ago. Only the strangers among you, those who already begot children, they will take a portion in the inheritance. And in which tribe will he take it? The Malbim says in the tribe in which he dwelt most recently. The meaning is that even though in that place he dwelt only a short period, in any case we say with them he will receive a portion in the inheritance. And this is what is written here "and it shall be that in the tribe where the stranger dwells with him," and we explained that "with him" means only recently, the place of recently, these converts who converted long ago, recently they dwelt there, that is already enough for them to receive a portion in that tribe, there you shall give his inheritance, those converts will inherit with those tribes and as we said on the condition that they already converted long ago.