Ezekiel 47:13-23

CHAPTER 47:13-48:35

THE BOUNDARIES AND RE-DISTRIBUTION OF THE LAND.

As the whole of the representations contained in the preceding parts of the vision proceed on the basis of the old covenant, the series naturally closes with a re-occupation of the land of Canaan, which formed the great objective promise of the covenant. A people settled in the inheritance of their God is the proper result of the re-establishment of the covenant, and the renewal of their souls after its principles of righteousness. There is, of course, no more reason for understanding this portion according to the letter than those which went before. The whole vision is of a piece, a pictorial representation of the future things of God's kingdom under the image of the past, yet so altered and adjusted as to indicate the vast superiority of what was to come compared with what hitherto had been. To say, as many in effect do, that the part of the vision which refers to the temple and its worship is figurative, while this, which makes mention of a re-occupation of the land by the tribes of Israel, must be understood literally, is to bring complete arbitrariness and confusion into the interpretation of the prophecy. There is the very same reason for holding that the Old Testament ritual of worship, with all its carnal ordinances, and more than its carnal display of outward pomp, shall again be set up, as for holding that the natural Israel shall again be restored to the possession of Canaan, so as to form a peculiar commonwealth of believers. And if to maintain the one be to place the prophets of the Old Testament in palpable contrariety to the apostles of the New, to maintain the other by itself is not less evidently to mutilate the prophetic record, and place one part of the prophetic testimony in virtual opposition to another.

Ezekiel 47:13. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, This (The נֵּה here we take, with our translators, and the greater part of commentators, to be a corruption for זֶה; so also the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Chaldee.) shall be the boundary as to how ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph two portions.

Ezekiel 47:14. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, since I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers, and this land has fallen to you for an inheritance.

Ezekiel 47:15. And this shall be the boundary of the land on the north side, from the great sea by the way of Hethlon, as one goes to Zedad:

Ezekiel 47:16. Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazar-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.

Ezekiel 47:17. And from the sea the boundary shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.

Ezekiel 47:18. And the east side ye shall measure from between Hauran and Damascus, and from between Gilead and the land of Israel, the Jordan, from the boundary even to the cast sea. And this is the east side.

Ezekiel 47:19. And the south side southward, from Tamar to the waters of Meribah Kadesh, to the river on the great sea. And this is the south side southward.

Ezekiel 47:20. And the west side, the great sea, from the boundary till one comes over against Hamath. This is the west side.

Ezekiel 47:21. And ye shall divide this land to you according to the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 47:22. And it shall be that ye divide it by lot for an inheritance to you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you who beget children among you: and they shall be to you as natives among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you in the midst of the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 47:23. And it shall be, that in whatsoever tribe the stranger sojourns, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Ezekiel 48:1. And these are the names of the tribes. From the north end by the way of Hethlon, as one goes to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward, to the boundary of Hamath; and it is for him the east and the west side: Dan one (viz. one portion).

Ezekiel 48:2. And on Dan's boundary, from the east side to the west side, As her one.

Ezekiel 48:3. And by the boundary of Asher, from the east to the west side, Naphtali one.

Ezekiel 48:4. And by the boundary of Naphtali, from the east to the west side, Manasseh one.

Ezekiel 48:5. And by the boundary of Manasseh, from the east to the west side, Ephraim one.

Ezekiel 48:6. And by the boundary of Ephraim, from the east to the west side, Reuben one.

Ezekiel 48:7. And by the boundary of Reuben, from the east to the west side, Judah one.

Ezekiel 48:8. And by the boundary of Judah, from the east to the west side, shall be the offering, which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand (rods) in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall lie in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:9. The oblation that ye shall offer to Jehovah, of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.

Ezekiel 48:10. And for these shall be the holy oblation: for the priests, on the north 25,000, toward the west 10,000 broad, and toward the east 10,000 broad, and toward the south 25,000 long; and the sanctuary of Jehovah shall be in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:11. For the priests that are sanctified, of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who have not gone astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

Ezekiel 48:12. And the oblation of the land that is offered shall be to them a holy of holies by the boundary of the Levites.

Ezekiel 48:13. And over against the boundary of the priests, the Levites (shall have) 25,000 in length, and 10,000 in breadth; the whole length 25,000, and the breadth 10,000.

Ezekiel 48:14. And they shall not sell of it, nor exchange, nor alienate the first-fruits of the land; for it is holy to Jehovah.

Ezekiel 48:15. And the 5000 that are left in breadth over against the 25,000 shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs; and the city shall be in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:16. And these shall be its measures: the north side 4500, and the south side 4500, and on the east side 4500, and the west side 4500.

Ezekiel 48:17. And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north 250, and toward the south 250, and toward the east 250, and toward the west 250.

Ezekiel 48:18. And what is left in length over against the holy oblation, 10,000 eastward, and 10,000 westward: and it shall be over against the holy oblation, and its produce shall be for food to the servants of the city.

Ezekiel 48:19. And for the service of the city, they shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 48:20. The whole oblation shall be 25,000 by 25,000; ye shall offer the holy oblation four-square, together with the possession of the city.

Ezekiel 48:21. And the residue shall belong to the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city; over against the 25,000 of the oblation toward the east border; and westward over against the 25,000 toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince; and it shall be the holy oblation, and the sanctuary of the house in the midst of it.

Ezekiel 48:22. And from the possession of the Levites, from the possession of the city, in the. midst of what is the prince s, between the boundary of Judah and the boundary of Benjamin to the prince shall it belong.

Ezekiel 48:23. And for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west side, Benjamin one.

Ezekiel 48:24. And by the boundary of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon one.

Ezekiel 48:25. And by the boundary of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar one.

Ezekiel 48:26. And by the boundary of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun one.

Ezekiel 48:27. And by the boundary of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad one.

Ezekiel 48:28. And by the boundary of Gad, at the south side southward, the boundary shall be from Tamar, the waters of Meribah Kadesh, to the river upon the great sea.

Ezekiel 48:29. This is the land which ye shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for an inheritance; and these are their portions, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Ezekiel 48:30. And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, 4500 measures.

Ezekiel 48:31. And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.

Ezekiel 48:32. And at the east side 4500 measures: and three gates; the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.

Ezekiel 48:33. And at the south side 4500 measures: and three gates; the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.

Ezekiel 48:34. At the west side, 4500 (measures): their three gates; the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.

Ezekiel 48:35. The circumference 18,000; and the name of the city thenceforth Jehovah-shammah (Jehovah thither). (Not precisely “Jehovah there;” for the ה cannot be sunk, as Hengstenberg has remarked on Hos. 3:17. The exact import is thither, or thereupon.)

The concluding portion of Ezekiel 47 is nearly all occupied with the boundaries of the land, which seem to be substantially the same with those originally given by Moses in Numbers 34, though the names mentioned to some extent differ. It is to be noted, however, that in the fair and natural construction of the words, it is only Canaan proper, exclusive of what was given to the two tribes and a half beyond Jordan, which forms here the inheritance to be divided. For the eastern boundary runs (Ezekiel 47:18) “from between Hauran and Damascus, and from between Gilead and the land of Israel, the Jordan, from the border unto the east sea.” We can make no intelligible sense of this, unless it means that the boundary-line on the east was to be cut off by Hauran and Gilead, and go straight down to the Dead Sea by the valley of Jordan. And this is confirmed by comparing Numbers 34:11-12, where the border is also said to go down by Jordan and the Salt Sea; while immediately afterwards (Ezekiel 47:13), it is stated that the land thus bounded is what was to be allotted to the nine tribes and a half. What the prophet here, therefore, describes as the land, is strictly and properly Canaan within Jordan, which was the original inheritance promised. We did not urge this point in our preliminary remarks on this last vision, lest we should seem to press the matter too far, but allowed that the prophet might include all that Israel ever occupied. There is really, however, no ground for supposing this; and if we abide by what seems the plain boundary-line of the prophet, the statement of Lightfoot becomes in both parts quite correct, that the site of the prophet's temple is larger than all ancient Jerusalem, and his central portion for the city, prince, and priesthood larger than all the land of Canaan as described by himself.

The territory to be divided being thus obviously viewed in an ideal light, the division itself is conducted in the same manner, not as it ever could have taken place in the reality, but after rule and measure, in exact and regular portions running along side of each other the whole breadth from west to east, and standing in a common relation to the temple in the centre. Seven of the tribes have their portions on the north, on account of the greater stretch of the land in that direction with respect to the actual Jerusalem, and in the following order: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah; the latter having its place close by the central portion on the north, as Benjamin had on its south. This honour appears to have been given to these two tribes in consideration of their relative historical superiority, having so long adhered to the temple and ordinances of God, when the others deserted them. Dan, on the contrary, was placed at the extreme north, on account of the low religious character of the tribe, precisely as John, in representing the whole elect Church by twelve thousand from the several tribes of Israel, leaves Dan out altogether (Revelation 7.). As there were actually thirteen tribes, he finds his 12 times 12 by omitting Dan, whose idolatrous and semi-heathen character made it border morally, as it did locally, on the Gentiles. Here the two tribes of Joseph are thrown into one, to admit of Dan's having a place, but it is still the lowest place in the ideal territory of a blessed world. With these exceptions, we can discern no specific grounds for the particular places assigned to the tribes respectively. The order on the south side was, Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulon, Gad. But the city, the temple, the prince, and priesthood, with their respective portions, being situated precisely in the middle, and not within the boundaries of any of the tribes, was intended to intimate that all were now to be regarded as having a common interest in them, and that the miserable and mischievous jealousies which had of old exercised so disastrous an influence, especially between Judah and Ephraim, should finally and for ever cease. All now should stand related as a united and compact brotherhood to the sanctuary of the Lord, from which, as a central fountainhead of life and blessing, there should continually stream forth manifestations of grace to all the people. (In Ezekiel 47:22-23, provision is also made for the strangers who should come and join themselves to the Lord: these, it was ordered, should be treated as Israelites, and have an inheritance like the rest. It is merely a trait thrown in to show how the spiritual community of the Lord would now form a point of attraction to others, and how also, instead of repelling these, they were to give them free access to the highest privileges, as the provision to be made was to be large enough for all, and none need envy another. Easily understood on the spiritual interpretation, but quite inexplicable on the literal; for, as within the bounds mentioned it is impossible to understand how even the members of the different tribes could be accommodated, what room could be found for an influx of strangers? The notice is intelligible only if understood as intimating that the distinction of Jew and Gentile should be abolished, and that the whole believing world should be one, and their name one.)

The desire of giving due prominence to the sacred portions in the centre leads the prophet again to enter into some statements regarding the Terumah, or oblation, and its subdivisions. Nothing of importance is added to what was said before, except that the 5000 rods apportioned out of the 25,000 square to the city is here laid off in a square of 4500, with the 250 all round for suburbs. This space for the city was not strictly holy ground, in the sense that the sacerdotal portions were, and hence it is called profane or common. But being thus immediately connected with the sacred portions, and standing apart from the individual tribes, the city built on it formed a fit and proper centre to the whole land, in its position and its structure the beau-ideal of a theocratic capital, encompassed by the most hallowed influences, and fitted to exert a uniting and healthful effect upon the entire community. Hence the prophet closes the description by the mention of some things regarding the city which might serve more deeply to impress the feeling of its being the suitable representative and common centre of the community. Itself occupying a central position, and immediately in front of the house of God, it was also to have twelve gates, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, in token that all the family of faith had their representation in it, and, as if they were actually resident in it, stood before the Lord for the enjoyment of his favour and blessing. He specifies, again, the entire circumference of the city, 18,000 rods (between twenty and thirty miles), as a symbol of the immense numbers of the covenant-people under the new and better dispensation of the future, immeasurably transcending what had existed under the old. And to exhibit the character of the city itself, as representative of the community at large and indicative of its own relative position, it was to bear from that day, namely, from the period of the beginning of this new and better order of things, the honourable name of “Jehovah-Shammah” not, as has been already stated, Jehovah-there, but Jehovah-thither, or thereupon; for it was in the temple, rather than in the city, that the Lord was represented as having his peculiar dwelling-place. But his eyes were to be ever from the temple toward the city, and again from the city toward the whole land. The manifestations of his love and goodness were to radiate from the chosen seat of the kingdom through all its borders: he in all, and all united and blessed in him. So that the consummation of this vision substantially corresponds with the object prayed for by our Lord when he sought respecting his people that they might be where he was, and that they might be all one, as he and the Father are one, he in them and they in him, that they might be made perfect in one.

Thus ends the marvellous vision of the prophet, alike marvellous whether we look to the lofty pattern (true in the spirit, though unavoidably wearing the garb of imperfect forms and shadowy relations) which it embodied of better things to come in God's kingdom, or to the time chosen for presenting this to the Church of God. The cause of Heaven was then at its lowest ebb. The temple that had been, together with the kingdom it symbolized and represented, were laid in ruins; they were to be seen only in broken fragments and mournful dilapidations, as if smitten with the powerful curse of an irrecoverable perdition. Yet from the midst of these howling desolations, as from the very “suburbs of hell,” the prophet ascends, with assured step, the mount of vision, and has there exhibited to his view, not, indeed, the very image of better things to come, but the ideal pattern after which the blessed and glorious future was to be fashioned. He even sees it as already present; and, with such imperfect materials of thought and utterance as then stood at his command, he gives it forth to the Church and the world as a thing which his own eyes had beheld, showing how God would certainly dwell with his people in a manner he had never done before, how he would at once immeasurably extend the sphere of his kingdom and greatly elevate the condition of those who belonged to it, and how, through the copious effusions of his life-giving Spirit, the former imperfections should be done away, the most remote regions of the Divine territory hallowed and blessed, and even the peculiar haunts of cursing and desolation made to rejoice and blossom like the rose.

“O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true! Scenes of accomplished bliss! which who can see, Though but in distant prospect, and not feel His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy?

That such scenes should have been described with such assured confidence, and at a time so deeply overspread with gloom, was indeed an ennobling triumph of faith over sight. It gave a most illustrious proof of the height in spiritual discernment and far-reaching insight into the purposes of Heaven which is sometimes imparted in the hour of greatest need, especially to the more select instruments of the Spirit's working. And surely the children of the kingdom now must be chargeable with neglecting an important privilege, if they fail to profit by so inspiriting an example. Here the heart of faith is taught never to despair, not even in the darkest seasons. And when it is seen how much of the scheme delineated in the prophetic vision has already been accomplished, should not believers feel encouraged to look and strive for its complete realization, assured that God is ready to hear their cry, and to second with the aid of his Spirit the efforts that are made to dispossess and drive out the hostile powers that continue to linger in his kingdom. It is theirs, if they feel thus, not only to contend in the best of causes, but also with the surest prospect of success; for the Lord himself is upon their side, and his word of promise must be established.

“Thus heavenward all things tend. For all were once Perfect, and all must be at length restored. So God has greatly purposed; who would else In his dishonoured works himself endure Dishonour, and be wronged without redress! Come, then, and, added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one as radiant as the rest, Due to thy last and most effectual work, Thy word fulfilled, the conquest of a world.”