Ezekiel 47:13-21

B. The Boundaries of the Promised Land 47:13-21

TRANSLATION

(13) Thus says the Lord GOD: This shall be the border whereby you shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. (14) And you shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I sware to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. (15) And this shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, unto the entrance of Zedad; (16) Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. (17) And the border from the sea, shall be Hazarenon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. (18) And the east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border unto the east sea shall you measure. This is the east side. (19) And the south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribathkadesh, to the brook of Egypt, unto the great sea. This is the south side southward. (20) And the west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as over against the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side. (21) So shall you divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.

COMMENTS

In the new age the land of promise is to be divided fairly between the twelve tribes. It has already been noted the Levites were to receive no land inheritance (Ezekiel 44:28) because God had provided for their needs in the Temple offering system. Joseph was given two portions, because his sons Ephraim and Manasseh were reckoned as separate tribes. Thus was retained the number twelve for the tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 47:13). In this new allocation each tribe was to receive an equal portion of land.[541] God had made promises to the Patriarchs had lifted up His hand in the gesture of an oath that the land would belong to their descendants. So God would keep His promise. The land of promise would finally and forever belong to His people (Ezekiel 47:14).

[541] By contrast in the first apportionment of the promised land numerical strength of the tribes was taken into account (c f. Numbers 26:54).

In Ezekiel 47:15-20 the borders of the promised land are listed. Not all the towns mentioned can be located with certainty. The Mediterranean Sea (the great sea) was to be the western boundary (Ezekiel 47:20) and the Jordan river the eastern (Ezekiel 47:18). The northern boundary stretched roughly from Tyre on the west to the head waters of the Jordan. Hamath (i,e., the entrance of Hamath, Ezekiel 47:20)[542] would mark the northern-most point (Ezekiel 47:16). The southern boundary extended from Tamar near the southern end of the Dead Sea to Meribath-kadesh (lit., the waters of strife, i.e., Kadesh-barnea), to the Brook (i.e., the Brook of Egypt) which ran into the Mediterranean Sea.

[542] Cf. Numbers 34:8. The entrance of Hamath is generally thought to refer to the one-hundred-mile long valley leading up to Hamath. In Solomon's day the entrance of Hamath actually served as the north border of Israel (1 Kings 8:65).