Ezekiel 47:15-20

This is a description of the extent of the country called *Israel in Ezekiel’s *vision. We can learn several useful lessons from this passage:

• God’s promises were for the benefit of all God’s people. All 12 *tribes would benefit. After the *exile, few people from the northern *tribes returned to *Israel. But they were still God’s people. Even in the New Testament (the later part of the Bible), James 1:1 refers to the 12 *tribes. This shows us that, even now, God still cares about the *Israelites. And Paul wrote that God will bring them back to himself (Romans 11:26).

• It was God’s ideal plan for the 12 *tribes all to have equal shares of the land. This shows us that God does not consider one person to be more important than another person. All people are equal in his opinion (Job 34:17-20).
• God also cares about people from other nations apart from *Israel. They too had rights in God’s ideal plan (verse 22). This shows that God already intended for people from every nation to benefit from his promises (Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 56:3-8). And now God has brought this about by means of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:19; Ephesians 3:6).
• God will be in the centre of his people. This shows us that he wants his Spirit to fill the hearts and lives of his people.

These borders are similar to the borders in Numbers 34:3-12. Today, we do not know all the places that God mentions in this passage. The Great Sea is called the Mediterranean; it is *Israel’s west border. And the river Jordan is the east border in this passage. The ‘river of Egypt’ is in the south. It is between *Israel and the desert called Sinai. (It is not the famous river Nile.)