Deeper Commentary
Ezekiel 48:1 Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east and west)- The initial audience would have balked at the mention of Damascus. It would've seemed impossible to establish a new kingdom bordering on such a powerful city. These descriptions of the borders of the land and the inheritances were therefore a huge challenge to faith, just as the message of a future Kingdom is to us today, surrounded by the seemingly permanent and powerful structures of this world.
Ezekiel 48:2 By the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one portion- By the time of Revelation, the tribe of Dan isn't mentioned in Rev. 7:5-8. But this was not the case at the time of the restoration. This is another reason to understand the entire potential scenario here as relevant to the restoration but not to the return of the Lord Jesus.
Ezekiel 48:3 By the border of Asher, from the east side even to the
west side, Naphtali, one portion- The tribal allotments are all equal
in size, and the borders as it were imagined as straight lines. But this
would have been unworkable in practice due to issues of topography;
greater definition was needed to enable this to be practically done. The
implication is that had Israel repentantly returned and responded to the
plans of Ez. 40-46, then more detail would have been given. This is
exactly as stated in Ez. 43:11.
Ezekiel 48:4 By the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west
side, Manasseh, one portion- The inheritance of Manasseh east of the
Jordan is now ignored, and in order to be given parallel swathes of
territory, this would meant Naphtali giving some of its former territory
to Manasseh.
Ezekiel 48:5 By the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west
side, Ephraim, one portion- Ephraim as the largest tribe of the ten
tribes is still given the same inheritance size. It could be that with the
loss of the genealogical records at the destruction of the temple, the
captives were not strongly aware of what tribe they came from. And so
effectively a new Israel was being declared.
Ezekiel 48:6 By the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the
west side, Reuben, one portion- The inheritance of Reuben east of the
Jordan is now ignored; perhaps because effectively their separation there
from the rest of Israel had not been to their spiritual good.
Ezekiel 48:7 By the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west
side, Judah, one portion- The exiles of Judah returning from Babylon
would have expected a larger portion, but this was not to be. A new Israel
was envisaged here. This division of the land between the tribes was
designed to take away any sense of parochialism and superiority based upon
previous history.
Ezekiel 48:8 By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west
side, shall be the district which you shall set apart, twenty-five
thousand cubits in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the
east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in its midst-
If the sanctuary was to be strictly in the midst of a swathe of land
running from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, then this position
would not coincide with mount Zion. Perhaps this was intentional- to as it
were relocate Zion, perhaps due to topographical changes God would have
brought about. But "in its midst" need not be so literally interpretted.
The Hebrew can as well be translated "within it".
Ezekiel 48:9 The district that you shall offer to Yahweh shall be
twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth- The holy
district had to be consciously 'offered' to God by the tribes. This
suggests that the scenario in this chapter is more command than
prescription of what God would force to come about. Ez. 45:1 seems to
envisage a ceremony at which the returned exiles formally divided up the
land according to these borders and also offered the district to the Lord.
But they never did this.
Ezekiel 48:10 This holy district shall be for the priests: toward the
north twenty-five thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in
breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south
twenty-five thousand in length- This area was to be consciously given
to the priests; see on :9. Hence LXX "Out of this shall be the
first-fruits of the holy things to the priests".
And the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in its midst- See on :8.
Ezekiel 48:11 It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the
sons of Zadok, who have kept My instruction, who didn’t go astray when the
children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray- But there
is no record of the sons of Zadok keeping separate from the apostasy of
the Levites in the time before the exile. We can conclude that they did
have some faith, and this was counted to them for righteousness; hence
"Zadok" means 'righteousness'. The sons of Zadok would sanctify others to
work as priests, presumably because at the time of the restoration they
were so few. Ezra struggled hard to get any Levites to return with him.
And there is no evidence that the sons of Zadok ever did this at the
restoration.
Ezekiel 48:12 It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the
land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites- GNB "So they
are to have a special area next to the area belonging to the Levites, and
it will be the holiest of all". Again we see the intentional usage of the
language of "the holiest of all" used about areas other than the most holy
place. The impression given is that holiness will abound, and not be
confined to a tiny area of 9 square meters; Zech. 14:20 likewise speaks of
holiness abounding in the restored temple system. As noted on :9, this
area was to be consciously given to the sons of Zadok; hence LXX "And the
first-fruits shall be given to them out of the first-fruits of the land,
even a most holy portion from the borders of the Levites". But this simply
wasn't done at the restoration.
Ezekiel 48:13 Opposite the border of the priests, the Levites shall
have an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length, and ten thousand in
breadth: the entire length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the breadth
ten thousand- The division between sons of Zadok, priests sanctified
by the sons of Zadok and Levites all seems to contradict the idea that the
faithful are and will eternally be 'king-priests' (see on Rev. 5:10). We
conclude therefore that this situation describes what could have happened
at the restoration, and not in the future Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
Ezekiel 48:14 They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall
the first fruits of the land be separated; for it is holy to Yahweh-
The situation envisaged is where sale and exchange of land is possible,
although the Levites must not do so; which hardly sounds appropriate to
the Lord's future Kingdom on earth. The original text is unclear regarding
the "first fruits". The GNB offers: "none of it may be sold or exchanged
or transferred to anyone else". The Levites were to be provided for, but
did not own anything of themselves. And we in this age are to live in the
spirit of priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5).
Ezekiel 48:15 The five thousand that are left in the breadth, in front
of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for
dwellings and for suburbs- Ezekiel had earlier explained that Judah
went into captivity because the priests made no difference between the
holy and the "common" (Ez. 22:26 s.w.). The restored system was to correct
that and maintain the separation. But Malachi makes clear that they did
not do so.
And the city shall be in its midst- See on :8. There could be here the implication that the exiles had a choice as to where to build the city. Perhaps a new Zion was in view.
Ezekiel 48:16 These shall be its measures: the north side four
thousand five hundred, and the south side four thousand five hundred, and
on the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four
thousand five hundred- The style here is alluded to in the
description of the four square city of God in which there is no temple in
Rev. 21:13. The idea seems to be that the essence of these prophecies will
come true in a spiritual and eternal sense, but without the literal temple
system (Rev. 21:22).
Ezekiel 48:17 The city shall have suburbs: toward the north two
hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward
the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty-
Whilst the Levites and sons of Zadok lived in the area around the
sanctuary, it seems there were to be no other tribes living there. Judah,
in whose territory Jerusalem previously stood, had a separate swathe of
territory as an inheritance. To as it were lose Jerusalem would have been
unattractive to the people of Judah who were in captivity hearing these
words for the first time. See on :18.
Ezekiel 48:18 The remainder in the length, alongside the holy
district, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and
it shall be adjacent to the holy district; and its increase shall be for
food to those who labour in the city- Revelation alludes to these
prophecies, and effectively speaks of "the city" as being "the temple"
(Rev. 3:12; 21 cp. Is. 66:6). "Them that serve the city" could refer to
the Levites, who were "to serve the tabernacle" (Num. 4:24, 26; 18:6),
which was now the temple / city. But the restored exiles considered that
it was vain to serve God (Mal. 3:14,18), and so this just didn't come
about at the restoration.
Ezekiel 48:19 Those who labour in the city, out of all the tribes of
Israel, shall cultivate it- I suggested on :17,18 that nobody
actually lives in the city; all the tribes have their inheritances
elsewhere. The servants of the city may be the Levites. In this case we
are to imagine them as under the Mosaic system, scattered throughout the
tribes of Israel teaching there, and coming up by groups to work at the
temple. One of their jobs will be to grow food for those working in the
temple.
Ezekiel 48:20 The entire district shall be twenty-five thousand by
twenty-five thousand: you shall offer the holy district foursquare, with
the possession of the city- Again we note that the returned exiles
were to consciously offer this area to God (Ez. 45:1); see on :9.
Ezekiel 48:21 The residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and
on the other of the holy offering and of the possession of the city; in
front of the twenty-five thousand of the offering toward the east border,
and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border,
answerable to the portions, it shall be for the prince: and the holy
offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in its midst-
Had Judah repented at the time of the restoration, a Davidic ruler would
have been raised up, Zerubbabel is the most obvious candidate (see on
Zech. 6). He would have reigned "for ever", for an age. But he dropped the
baton, or at least Judah were unwilling for this scenario. And so the
prophecies were reinterpreted and rescheduled for total and eternal
fulfilment in the Lord Jesus. "The prince" of the envisaged restored
temple in Ez. 40-48 refers to this same individual. See on Ez. 37:25.
Ezekiel 48:22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from
the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the
prince’s, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it shall
be for the prince- This is the territory which Ez. 46:18 says could
be passed on by the prince to his sons for a lasting inheritance. But
there is no legislation about how his sons could pass it on; over time,
the area would have become endlessly subdivided between the prince's
descendants. This is one of the many practical issues which arise in
studying these records, just as the division of the land into horizontal
swathes along straight lines requires more definition in order to be
practically done. As noted on Ez. 43:11, had the returned exiles been
obedient, then more details would have been given.
Ezekiel 48:23 As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the
west side, Benjamin, one portion- Dt. 33:12 had stated that Benjamin
would dwell close to Yahweh, and his portion is directly next to the
sanctuary area. Jerusalem was originally situated on the border between
Benjamin and Judah, although Judah took over Benjamin's territory at that
point and effectively Jerusalem was considered as within Judah. But now,
the tribal allotments were such that Jerusalem clearly belonged to neither
of them. Such petty squabbles were to be forgotten in the restored
kingdom.
Ezekiel 48:24 By the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the
west side, Simeon, one portion- Simeon's original territory was
surrounded by Judah; now they were to be as it were given territory which
was once Judah's, and Judah was given an inheritance to the north of
where they had previously inherited. This would have been hard to accept
for the men of Judah to whom Ezekiel was preaching. But all sense of pride
and clinging on to the once significant things of this life is to be
subsumed in the realities of the restored Kingdom. And we can learn a
lesson from that.
Ezekiel 48:25 By the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west
side, Issachar, one portion- Issachar had previously inherited to the
far north of the land. Now they were in the far south. All we once held so
dear is to be completely inverted in the inheritance prepared for us in
God's Kingdom.
Ezekiel 48:26 By the border of Issachar, from the east side to the
west side, Zebulun, one portion- Likewise Zebulun had previously
inherited to the far north of the land. Now they were in the far south.
Those who simply wanted to return to what they had once known were to be
disappointed. See on :27.
Ezekiel 48:27 By the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west
side, Gad, one portion- This area would have been desert, as was the
area promised to Issachar. To achieve an equality and fairness in the
distribution of territory, there must be the implication that the climate
and even topography would be changed. The restoration prophesies are full
of promises of abundant harvests and blessing upon the physical land. But
unless they were believed, Zebulun would have considered that this was not
a good deal, and that the good news of this new kingdom held nothing much
for them. And so it is with us. The promise of the Kingdom is only
meaningful and good news for us if we have the faith to believe that
things shall radically change on this earth, and the promised Kingdom will
not simply be a return to how we have known secular life in this world;
the old and familiar, like the previous inheritance and homesteads of Gad
before the exile, will not be returned to us. Something far better is in
store.
Ezekiel 48:28 By the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the
border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the
brook of Egypt, to the great sea- Tamar was
apparently at the southern end of the Dead Sea. There would therefore be a
diagonal line drawn from there to the "brook of Egypt". As noted on Ez.
47:18, this was a new definition of the promised land. It was intended for
the time of the restoration, as in the full Messianic Kingdom, the entire
territory promised to Abraham will be inherited.
Ezekiel 48:29 This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the
tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their individual portions,
says the Lord Yahweh- It was Ezekiel, as he sat with the exiles in
Babylon, who was to divide the land by lot unto the various tribes. The
tragedy of all the details recorded in Ezekiel 40-48, and the very reason
for their being preserved to this day, is to show us to what great extent
God has prepared potential things for His people, and yet they can be
totally wasted if we don’t respond. In fact according to Mic. 4:10, it was
God’s purpose to exile His people to Babylon, “and there shalt thou be
delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine
enemies”. And yet they preferred to side with their enemies and to prefer
non-deliverance from Babylon. The tragedy of it all is almost unthinkable,
and yet this is what we do if day by day we chose the things of this world
against the deliverance from this world which there is in Christ.
Ezekiel 48:30 These are the exits of the city: On the north side four
thousand five hundred reeds by measure- "Exits" is literally 'goings
out', the word used of Israel's going out from captivity in Egypt and
Babylon. The association is in the fact that if they had truly gone out
from Babylon, spiritually as well as literally, then this wonderful city
would have been built.
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-
Nehemiah did his very best to bring the potential Kingdom of God about by
urging the people to repentance and conformity to God’s will, such was his
perception of what was going on; that the coming of God’s Kingdom was
being limited by the apathy of his own people. See on Ez. 40:10. He
arranged for 12 gates to be built in the wall, as Ez. 48:31-34 had
commanded there to be. The twelve gates with the names of the tribes of
Israel are spoken of in Rev. 21:12; but the language there is completely
figurative. Seeing Judah had not built the city commanded in Ezekiel, it
would as it were descend ready made from Heaven. But this is all
figurative language. Seeing the literal fulfilment had been precluded by
Judah's disobedience, God would fulfil the essence of it in spiritual
terms.
Ezekiel 48:32 At the east side four thousand five hundred reeds, and
three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the
gate of Dan, one- Ez. 48:31-34 envisaged the 12 gates of Jerusalem
being named after the 12 tribes of Israel. But it seems no accident that
twelve separate gates of the city are mentioned in the restoration record-
but they weren't renamed after the tribes of Israel. But the names of the
city gates in Nehemiah were: valley (Neh. 3:13); horse (Neh. 3:28); east
(Neh. 3:29); Miphkad (Neh. 3:31); water (Neh. 8:16); dung (Neh. 12:31);
fountain (Neh. 12:37); Ephraim, old, fish, sheep and prison gates (Neh.
12:39). No wonder some wept when the rebuilt temple was finally dedicated-
the pattern of Ezekiel's vision hadn't been followed, even on such basic
matters as the names of the twelve gates of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 48:33 At the south side four thousand five hundred reeds by
measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar,
one; the gate of Zebulun, one- The division of the tribes into four
groups of three in a square formation recalls the cherubim visions of Ez.
1. The cherubim speak of the action of God on behalf of His people, and
those who wished to could identify themselves with that work. The cherubim
could have returned to Jerusalem and been manifested in the twelve tribes
of a restored Israel. But this was precluded at the time by their
disobedience and simple disinterest.
Ezekiel 48:34 At the west side four thousand five hundred reeds, with
their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate
of Naphtali, one- There is no
reason to think [contra Henry Sulley in The Temple of
Ezekiel's Prophecy] that there will be eleven gates on the West side.
This is merely the fantasy of an architect.
Ezekiel 48:35 It shall be eighteen thousand reeds around: and the name
of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there-
Jerusalem was to be renamed "Yahweh is our righteousness" (Jer. 33:16 RV)-
Ez. 48:35 likewise is a command rather than a prediction, that the city
should be called "Yahweh is there". The cherubim of glory would
have returned; but as Zechariah makes clear, Judah had to return to God,
not just physically returning to Judah and making the motions of worship,
but in repentance.
The idea that Jerusalem will become the city where “the Lord is there”
must be connected with Ezekiel’s early use of the phrase to describe how
the Lord “was there” in the land of Israel before the Babylonian invasion
(Ez. 35:10); all these details could have come true in Ezekiel’s time; but
they did not. When they do so in the last days, the glory will
visibly enter by the east gate in the person of the Lord Jesus.
Using the prophetic perfect, God had prophesied that at the time of the
restoration, He would come and dwell in rebuilt Zion (Zech. 8:3)- just as
Ezekiel’s prophecy had concluded: “The name of the city from that day
shall be, The LORD is there” (Ez. 48:35). Clearly, Ezekiel’s prophecies
could have been fulfilled at the restoration; God was willing that they
should be. But human apathy and self-interest stopped it from happening as
it could have done.
They should have been more committed to building the temple “that I may
appear in my glory” (Hag. 1:8 RSV). The glory of Yahweh as described at
the end of Ezekiel could have appeared in Haggai’s time- but this
wonderful possibility was held back by Israel’s petty minded,
self-satisficing laziness.
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