Ein Gedi in the Bible

QUESTION: Ein Gedi in the Bible

ANSWER:

Ein Gedi (En Gedi) is mentioned several other places in the Old Testament, but there’s one place in scripture where it is given as a landmark, and where we are left entirely to our imaginations, at least for now.

In Ezekiel 47, the prophet was given a vision of the future Temple in Jerusalem, where Messiah will establish His righteous rule over the Kingdom, which -- if we take this passage literally -- has its foundations and its beginning right here in Israel. And from that Temple, Ezekiel also saw a river of water flowing from under the threshold, from the right side of the Temple, just south of the altar. From there, it ran down toward the east, and gained volume and width as it flowed – so much so, that eventually it was too deep for Ezekiel to ford.

As he followed it out into the wilderness of Judea -- directly west from Ein Gedi -- Ezekiel made this observation:

“On the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then he said to me, ‘These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets.”

Trees growing in the Judean Wilderness? The waters of the Dead Sea made fresh? Fisherman spreading their nets here? Well, the purpose of the streams in the desert -- and everything else the Bible has to say about the river, the Dead Sea, and its fish -- will have to wait for another time. What we do know is that if Ezekiel’s prophecy about that river of water is fulfilled as literally as all the prophecies that were met at the coming of Messiah 2000 years ago, when Messiah returns He will bring a literal regeneration to the entire land of Israel. And the lush oasis that surrounds us here at Ein Gedi is a mere foretaste of the incredible, miraculous regeneration that the living waters flowing from the Temple of Messiah will bring to everything -- and everyone -- in this desolate region.