The Lord is There
The final chapter of the book of Ezekiel has to do with the division of the land in the time of the Millennia. Many commentators pass over this chapter without detail believing that it is unimportant. Nothing in the Bible is unimportant; it is God’s Word and therefore is of eternal significance! Events on earth are always related to time and place. Jesus was crucified “in the fullness of time” in a place called “Golgotha.” The hill called Zion, upon which now stands the “Dome of the Rock” and in Jesus’ day the Temple is the same place where Abraham offered up his son, Isaac, and was shown that a sacrificial ram would replace his offering. God promised Abraham territory and it was given to the tribes that came from his twelve sons. The division in Ezekiel is not the same as that originally given so we need to look first at the first division of the land to get a historical perspective.
Genesis 15:6 - 7 (NKJV) 6And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. 7Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
Joshua 18:3 - 28 (NKJV) 3Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you? 4Pick out from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them; they shall rise and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance, and come back to me. 5And they shall divide it into seven parts. Judah shall remain in their territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in their territory on the north. 6You shall therefore survey the land in seven parts and bring the survey here to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. 7But the Levites have no part among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.” 8Then the men arose to go away; and Joshua charged those who went to survey the land, saying, “Go, walk through the land, survey it, and come back to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.” 9So the men went, passed through the land, and wrote the survey in a book in seven parts by cities; and they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. 10Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions. 11Now the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the territory of their lot came out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. 12Their border on the north side began at the Jordan, and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the mountains westward; it ended at the Wilderness of Beth Aven. 13The border went over from there toward Luz, to the side of Luz (which is Bethel) southward; and the border descended to Ataroth Addar, near the hill that lies on the south side of Lower Beth Horon. 14Then the border extended around the west side to the south, from the hill that lies before Beth Horon southward; and it ended at Kirjath Baal (which is Kirjath Jearim), a city of the children of Judah. This was the west side. 15The south side began at the end of Kirjath Jearim, and the border extended on the west and went out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. 16Then the border came down to the end of the mountain that lies before the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is in the Valley of the £Rephaim on the north, descended to the Valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite city on the south, and descended to En Rogel. 17And it went around from the north, went out to En Shemesh, and extended toward Geliloth, which is before the Ascent of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. 18Then it passed along toward the north side of £Arabah, and went down to Arabah. 19And the border passed along to the north side of Beth Hoglah; then the border ended at the north bay at the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern boundary. 20The Jordan was its border on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, according to its boundaries all around, according to their families
The Inheritance of Seven Tribes in the Millennium
Ezekiel 48:1 - 7 1“Now these are the names of the tribes: From the northern border along the road to Hethlon at the entrance of Hamath, to Hazar Enan, the border of Damascus northward, in the direction of Hamath, there shall be one section for Dan from its east to its west side; 2by the border of Dan, from the east side to the west, one section for Asher; 3by the border of Asher, from the east side to the west, one section for Naphtali; 4by the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west, one section for Manasseh; 5by the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west, one section for Ephraim; 6by the border of Ephraim, from the east side to the west, one section for Reuben; 7by the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west, one section for Judah;
This division of the land differs from that in Joshua’s time in these ways.
All the portions extend across the breadth of the land from the eastern boundary to the Mediterranean, making parallel tracts of land.
The seven tribes inherit areas of the northern part of the land running from east to west.
All of the tribes are west of the Jordan where two and one half tribes were east of the Jordan in Joshua’s day.
There is a central piece of land, one fifth of the whole, separated for the sanctuary city and the prince.
The tribes who are descendants of Leah and Rachel are nearest the temple
The tribes who are descendants of Bilhah and Zilpha are farthest.
The “Oblation of the Land”
Ezekiel 48:8 - 12) 8by the border of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be the district which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in width, and in length the same as one of the other portions, from the east side to the west, with the sanctuary in the center. 9“The district that you shall set apart for the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. 10To these—to the priests—the holy district shall belong: on the north twenty-five thousand cubits in length, on the west ten thousand in width, on the east ten thousand in width, and on the south twenty-five thousand in length. The sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the center. 11It shall be for the priests of the sons of Zadok, who are sanctified, who have kept My charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 12And this district of land that is set apart shall be to them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.
Judah and Benjamin, the tribes which remained faithful to the Davidic dynasty will be honored by being placed center of the millennial kingdom
The Sanctuary will be placed central as the heart of Israel.
The sons of Zadok are given honor because of fidelity.
The Borders of the Levites
Ezekiel 48:13 - 14 13“Opposite the border of the priests, the Levites shall have an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width; its entire length shall be twenty-five thousand and its width ten thousand. 14And they shall not sell or exchange any of it; they may not alienate this best part of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.
South of Judah and north of the sanctuary a land will be allotted to the Levites an arrangement totally different from that in the Mosaic regime when they were to have no territory.
The City
Ezekiel 48:15 - 20 15“The five thousand cubits in width that remain, along the edge of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for general use by the city, for dwellings and common-land; and the city shall be in the center. 16These shall be its measurements: the north side four thousand five hundred cubits, the south side four thousand five hundred, the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred. 17The common-land of the city shall be: to the north two hundred and fifty cubits, to the south two hundred and fifty, to the east two hundred and fifty, and to the west two hundred and fifty. 18The rest of the length, alongside the district of the holy section, shall be ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west. It shall be adjacent to the district of the holy section, and its produce shall be food for the workers of the city. 19The workers of the city, from all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it. 20The entire district shall be twenty-five thousand cubits by twenty-five thousand cubits, foursquare. You shall set apart the holy district with the property of the city.
The physical size is exact
All the Jewish people are to work to keep it up and till the soil
Every Jew has to have responsibility for the upkeep of the city
The Portion of the Prince
Ezekiel 48:21 - 22 (NKJV) 21“The rest shall belong to the prince, on one side and on the other of the holy district and of the city’s property, next to the twenty-five thousand cubits of the holy district as far as the eastern border, and westward next to the twenty-five thousand as far as the western border, adjacent to the tribal portions; it shall belong to the prince. It shall be the holy district, and the sanctuary of the temple shall be in the center. 22Moreover, apart from the possession of the Levites and the possession of the city which are in the midst of what belongs to the prince, the area between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.
This is the governmental ruling area that will administrate all affairs of the Kingdom
The Inheritance of the Remaining Five Tribes
Ezekiel 48:23 - 29 23“As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west, Benjamin shall have one section; 24by the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west, Simeon shall have one section; 25by the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west, Issachar shall have one section; 26by the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west, Zebulun shall have one section; 27by the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west, Gad shall have one section; 28by the border of Gad, on the south side, toward the £South, the border shall be from Tamar to the waters of Meribah by Kadesh, along the brook to the Great Sea. 29This is the land which you shall divide by lot as an inheritance among the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions,” says the Lord GOD.
In Ezekiel 48:1 the first tribe named is that of Dan. In Revelation 7: Dan is missing.
4And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:
5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand £were sealed;
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
Dan had been removed in Revelation because he was a “serpent in the path” and probably an ancestor of the false prophet of the end times but now God’s grace has restored his name to the twelve tribes and his inheritance. Joseph’s portion is divided between Ephraim and Manasseh as in ancient times.
The Gates of the Restored and Glorified City
Ezekiel 48:30 - 35) 30“These are the exits of the city. On the north side, measuring four thousand five hundred cubits 31(the gates of the city shall be named after the tribes of Israel), the three gates northward: one gate for Reuben, one gate for Judah, and one gate for Levi; 32on the east side, four thousand five hundred cubits, three gates: one gate for Joseph, one gate for Benjamin, and one gate for Dan; 33on the south side, measuring four thousand five hundred cubits, three gates: one gate for Simeon, one gate for Issachar, and one gate for Zebulun; 34on the west side, four thousand five hundred cubits with their three gates: one gate for Gad, one gate for Asher, and one gate for Naphtali. 35All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE£ Lord IS THERE.”
The city will have a circumference of six miles the names of all the tribes will be on its gates and the name of the city will be Adonai for Ezekiel had seen the Glory of the Lord depart in chapter 11, then the Glory of the Lord returned in chapter 43 but now his vision closes with the Glory of the Lord abiding forever.
