WHY CALL IT THE EZEKIEL'S WATER PROJECT?

Ezekiel's vision provides some key ideas for the project. Honoring his vision will encourage the participation of those who believe the prophets of the Bible. His vision is very powerful.

 

Ezek 47:3-12
3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in-a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"
  Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds-like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing." (NIV)

Key ideas for the project I gleaned from Ezekiel's Vision are:

1. Capacity, a river so large no one could cross
2. Location, south of the Temple, which happens to line up with the desirable intake and exit points, and the shortest distance, from near Palmahim to near Nahal Avnat.
3. Hydraulic gradient, one in one thousand, repeated three times in the vision, a very practical design grade for the project
4. Desalination, because plants will live where the water goes
5. Med seawater on top of the Dead Sea suggested by all the fish of the Great Sea (Med Sea) to be found from En Eglaim to En Gedi.
6. Flats left for salt, preservation of the mining interests of Dead Sea Works and Arab Potash Company
7. Leaves will be for healing, showing the importance of the project for peace in the region

I do not believe that Ezekiel’s vision is a design for a water project, but that he used the vision of a river of water flowing into the Dead Sea to suggest the power of God’s message going from Jerusalem into all the world. That process began with the teaching of the disciples of Yeshua, at the Temple, on the Day of Pentecost following the crucifixion and resurrection of Yeshua. For more on this, see "What Is Ezekiel’s River" link below.

The vision of Ezekiel does show the power of the Creator, the God of Abraham, speaking through Ezekiel, to describe the physical components of the vision in such a way as to have an obvious connection with a very practical and much needed project for today.

Different concepts of the Dead Sea project have been the dreams of people in the Middle East for one century. Now there is a design concept that matches the vision Ezekiel had thousands of years ago. Since Ezekiel clearly had a vision of a great river flowing with an increase in depth of one cubit each one thousand cubits, and that fish would grow in the Dead Sea, and that plants would grow where the water goes, and the marshes would be left for salt, it follows that there are real reasons that the project will be built according to that vision. Perhaps now is the time it should be built, as pressure increases to find a way to peace in the Middle East.

What is Ezekiel's river? http://ibsresources.org/articles/river.shtml

Randolph Gonce,
Design Concepts Engineer, Ezekiel's Water Project.
Rgonce@aol.com