Ezekiel 48 commentary

EZEKIEL 48 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Division of the Land
1 “These are the tribes, listed by name: At the
northern frontier, Dan will have one portion; it
will follow the Hethlon road to Lebo Hamath;
Hazar Enan and the northern border of
Damascus next to Hamath will be part of its
border from the east side to the west side.
BARNES, "The distribution of the holy land is seen in detail throughout Ezek. 48.
The order of the original occupation by the tribes under Joshua is partly, but only partly,
followed. It is a new order of things - and its ideal character is evinced as elsewhere, by
exact and equal measurements. From north to south seven tribes succeed each other.
Then comes a portion, separated as an offering to the Lord, subdivided into:
(1) a northern portion for the Levites,
(2) a central portion for the priests and the temple,
(3) a southern portion for the city and those who serve it.
These three form a square, which does not occupy the whole breadth of the land, but is
flanked on either side, east and west, by portions assigned to the prince. Then follow,
south of the city, five portions for the five remaining tribes - similar to those assigned to
the seven. Thus the Levites, the temple, and city, are guarded by Judah and Benjamin,
the two tribes who had throughout preserved their allegiance to the true sovereignty of
Yahweh, and thus the plan expresses the presence of Yahweh among His people,
summed up in the name of the city, with which Ezekiel’s prophecy closes, the Lord is
there.
The breadth of the portions is not given, but since the exact breadth of the oblation
1

was about 30 geog. miles (Eze_45:1 note), and seven tribes were between the entrance of
Hamath and the oblation, the “breadth of one portion” was about 17 geog. miles. The
breadth of the Levites’ portion and of the priests’ portion was in each case about 15 geog.
miles. Ain-el-Weibeh, if Kadesh, ( (?),see Num_13:26) would be very nearly the southern
border.
The general lines of existing features are followed with considerable fidelity, but
accommodation is made to give the required symbolic expression. “Dan” had originally
an allotment west of Benjamin, but having colonized and given its name to Laish in the
north, was regarded as the most northern occupant of Canaan Jdg_18:29. “Zebulun and
Issachar” are removed to the south to make room for the second half of “Manasseh”
brought over from the east of Jordan. “Reuben,” brought over from the east, is placed
between “Ephraim and Judah.” “Benjamin” comes immediately south of the city, and
“Gad” is brought over from the east to the extreme south.
See map, The Land of Israel
CLARKE, "Now these are the names of the tribes - See the division mentioned
Num_34:7-12, which casts much light upon this.
GILL, "Now these are the names of the tribes,.... That shall inherit the land; and
an account is given of each of the portions of it they shall have for an inheritance; by
which are meant, not the twelve tribes of Israel literally, among whom the land was
never so divided as here, either in Joshua's time, or after the captivity of Babylon, but
the Christian church, or the people of Christ under the Gospel dispensation, as in Rev_
7:4, built upon the doctrine of the twelve apostles of Christ: the stranger sojourners are
not here mentioned, who, according to the preceding chapter, were equally to inherit
with the children of Israel, but are included; they being Israelites indeed, and
fellowheirs, and all one in Christ, be they of whatsoever nation.
From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to
Hamath: the division of the land, and the distribution of the portions, begin at the
north, and so go on to the south, by the way of Hethlon and Hamath; of which see Eze_
47:15 and along
by Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, northward to the coast of Hamath;
see Eze_47:17,
for these are his sides east and west; the sides of the tribe of Dan next mentioned,
and so of every other tribe; which was measured from east to west, and consisted of
25,000 reeds foursquare, as appears from Eze_48:8,
a portion for Dan; or, "Dan one" (t); either one tribe, or one portion. This tribe has its
2

portion first assigned it, though it was provided for last in Joshua's time, and not
sufficiently neither, Jos_19:40, and is left out in Revelation chapter seven, having fallen
into idolatry; but here being provided for first, confirms what our Lord says, that the
first shall be last, and the last first, Mat_19:30, and shows that the chief of sinners are
received by Christ, and provided for by him, with grace here, and glory hereafter, who
come to him, and believe in him; and that their inheritance is of grace, and not of works.
HENRY 1-30, "We have here a very short and ready way taken for the dividing of the
land among the twelve tribes, not so tedious and so far about as the way that was taken
in Joshua's time; for in the distribution of spiritual and heavenly blessings there is not
that danger of murmuring and quarrelling that there is in the participation of the
temporal blessings. When God gave to the labourers every one his penny those that were
uneasy at it were soon put to silence with, May I not do what I will with my own? And
such is the equal distribution here among the tribes. In this distribution of the land we
may observe, 1. That it differs very much from the division of it in Joshua's time, and
agrees not with the order of their birth, nor with that of their blessing by Jacob or
Moses. Simeon here is not divided in Jacob, nor is Zebulun a haven of ships, a plain
intimation that it is not so much to be understood literally as spiritually, though the
mystery of it is very much hidden from us. In gospel times old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new. The Israel of God is cast into a new method. 2. That
the tribe of Dan, which was last provided for in the first division of Canaan (Jos_19:40),
is first provided for here, Eze_48:1. Thus in the gospel the last shall be first, Mat_19:30.
God, in the dispensation of his grace, does not follow the same method that he does in
the disposals of his providence. But Dan had now his portion thereabouts where he had
only one city before, northward, on the border of Damascus, and furthest of all from the
sanctuary, because that tribe had revolted to idolatry. 3. That all the ten tribes that were
carried away by the king of Assyria, as well as the two tribes that were long afterwards
carried to Babylon, have their allotment in this visionary land, which some think had its
accomplishment in the particular persons and families of those tribes who returned with
Judah and Benjamin, of which we find many instances in Ezra and Nehemiah; and it is
probable that there were returns of many more afterwards at several times, which are
not recorded; and the Jews having Galilee, and other parts, that had been the
possessions of the ten tribes, put into their hands, in common with them, they enjoyed
them. Grotius says, If the ten tribes had repented and returned to God, as the chief
fathers of Judah and Benjamin did, and the priests and Levites (Ezr_1:5), they would
have fared as those two tribes did, but they forfeited the benefit of this glorious prophecy
by sin. However, we believe it has its designed accomplishment in the establishment and
enlargement of the gospel church, and the happy settlement of all those who are
Israelites indeed in the sure and sweet enjoyment of the privileges of the new covenant,
in which there is enough for all and enough for each. 4. That every tribe in this visionary
distribution had its particular lot assigned it by a divine appointment; for it was never
the intention of the gospel to pluck up the hedge of property and lay all in common; it
was in a way of charity, not of legal right, that the first Christians had all things common
(Act_2:44), and many precepts of the gospel suppose that every man should know his
own. We must not only acknowledge, but acquiesce in, the hand of God appointing us
our lot, and be well pleased with it, believing it fittest for us. He shall choose our
inheritance for us, Psa_47:4. 5. That the tribes lay contiguous. By the border of one tribe
3

was the portion of another, all in a row, in exact order, so that, like stones in an arch,
they fixed, and strengthened, and wedged in one another. Behold how good and how
pleasant a thing it is for brethren thus to dwell together! It was a figure of the
communion of churches and saints under the gospel-government; thus, though they are
many, yet they are one, and should hold together in holy love and mutual assistance. 6.
That the lot of Reuben, which before lay at a distance beyond Jordan, now lies next to
Judah, and next but one to the sanctuary; for the scandal he lay under, for which he was
told he should not excel, began by this time to wear off. What has turned to the reproach
of any person or people ought not to be remembered for ever, but should at length be
kindly forgotten. 7. That the sanctuary was in the midst of them. There were seven tribes
to the north of it and the Levites, the prince's, and the city's portion, with that of five
tribes more, to the south of it; so that it was, as it ought to be, in the heart of the
kingdom, that it might diffuse its benign influences to the whole, and might be the
centre of their unity. The tribes that lay most remote from each other would meet there
in a mutual acquaintance and fellowship. Those of the same parish or congregation,
though dispersed, and having no occasion otherwise to know each other, yet by meeting
statedly to worship God together should have their hearts knit to each other in holy love.
8. That where the sanctuary was the priests were: For them, even for the priests, shall
this holy oblation be, Eze_48:10. As, on the one hand, this denotes honour and comfort
to ministers, that what is given for their support and maintenance is reckoned a holy
oblation to the Lord, so it intimates their duty, which is that, since they are appointed
and maintained for the service of the sanctuary, they ought to attend continually to this
very thing, to reside on their cures. Those that live upon the altar must serve at the altar,
not take the wages to themselves and devolve the work upon others; but how can they
serve the altar, his altar they live upon, if they do not live near it? 9. Those priests had
the priests' share of these lands that had approved themselves faithful to God in times of
trial (Eze_48:11): It shall be for the sons of Zadok, who, it seems, had signalized
themselves in some critical juncture, and went not astray when the children of Israel,
and the other Levites, went astray. God will put honour upon those who keep their
integrity in times of general apostasy, and he has special favours in reserve for them.
Those are swimming upwards, and so they will find at last, that are swimming against
the stream. 10. The land which was appropriated to the ministers of the sanctuary might
by no means be alienated. It was in the nature of the first-fruits of the land, and was
therefore holy to the Lord; and, though the priests and Levites had both the use of it and
the inheritance of it to them and their heirs, yet they might not sell it nor exchange it,
Eze_48:14. It is sacrilege to convert that to other uses which is dedicated to God. 11. The
land allotted for the city and its suburbs is called a profane place (Eze_48:15), or
common; not but that the city was a holy city above other cities, for the Lord was there,
but, in comparison with the sanctuary, it was a profane place. Yet it is too often true in
the worst sense that great cities, even those which, like this, have the sanctuary near
them, are profane places, and it ought to be deeply lamented. It was the complaint of old,
From Jerusalem has profaneness gone forth into all the land, Jer_23:15. 12. The city is
made to be exactly square, and the suburbs extending themselves equally on all sides, as
the Levites' cities did in the first division of the land (Eze_48:16, Eze_48:17), which,
never being literally fulfilled in any city, intimates that it is to be understood spiritually
of the beauty and stability of the gospel church, that city of the living God, which is
formed according to the wisdom and counsel of God, and is made firm and immovable
by his promise. 13. Whereas, before, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were principally of
Judah and Benjamin, in whose tribe it lay, now the head city lies not in the particular lot
4

of any of the tribes, but those that serve the city, and bear office in it, shall serve it out of
all the tribes of Israel, Eze_48:19. The most eminent men must be picked out of all the
tribes of Israel for the service of the city, because many eyes were upon it, and there was
great resort to it from all parts of the nation and from other nations. Those that live in
the city are said to serve the city, for, wherever we are, we must study to be serviceable to
the place, some way or other, according as our capacity is. They must not come out of the
tribes of Israel to the city to take their ease, and enjoy their pleasures, but to serve the
city, to do all the good they can there, and in so doing they would have a good influence
upon the country too. 14. Care was taken that those who applied themselves to public
business in the city, as well as in the sanctuary, should have an honourable comfortable
maintenance; lands are appointed, the increase whereof shall be food unto those that
serve the city, Eze_48:18. Who goes a warfare at his own charges? Magistrates, that
attend the service of the state, as well as ministers, that attend the service of the church,
should have all due encouragement and support in so doing; and for this cause pay we
tribute also. 15. The prince had a lot for himself, suited to the dignity of his high station
(Eze_48:21); we took an account of it before, ch. 45. He was seated near the sanctuary,
where the testimony of Israel was, and near the city, where the thrones of judgment
were, that he might be a protection to both and might see the that duty of both was
carefully and faithfully done; and herein he was a minister of God for good to the whole
community. Christ is the church's prince, that defends it on every side, and creates a
defense; nay, he is himself a defence upon all its glory and encompasses it with his
favour. 16. As Judah had his lot next the sanctuary on one side, so Benjamin had, of all
the tribes, his lot nearest to it on the other side, which honour was reserved for those
who adhered to the house of David and the temple at Jerusalem when the other ten
tribes went astray from both. It is enough if treachery and apostasy, upon repentance, he
pardoned, but constancy and fidelity shall be rewarded and preferred.
JAMISON, "Eze_48:1-35. Allotment of the land to the several tribes.
Dan — The lands are divided into portions of ideal exactness, running alongside of
each other, the whole breadth from west to east, standing in a common relation to the
temple in the center: seven tribes’ portions on the north, five in the smaller division in
the south. The portions of the city, the temple, the prince, and the priesthood, are in the
middle, not within the boundaries of any tribe, all alike having a common interest in
them. Judah has the place of honor next the center on the north, Benjamin the
corresponding place of honor next the center on the south; because of the adherence of
these two to the temple ordinances and to the house of David for so long, when the
others deserted them. Dan, on the contrary, so long locally and morally semi-heathen
(Jdg_18:1-31), is to have the least honorable place, at the extreme north. For the same
reason, St. John (Rev_7:5-8) omits Dan altogether.
K&D 1-29, "The division of the land, like the definition of the boundaries (Eze_
47:15), commences in the north, and enumerates the tribes in the order in which they
were to receive their inheritances from north to south: first, seven tribes from the
northern boundary to the centre of the land (Eze_48:1-7), where the heave for the
sanctuary, with the land of the priests and Levites and the city domain, together with the
prince's land on the two sides, was to be set apart (Eze_48:8-22; and secondly, the other
five tribes from this to the southern boundary (Eze_48:23-29). Compare the map on
5

Plate IV.
Eze_48:1. And these are the names of the tribes: from the north end by the side of the
way to Chetlon toward Hamath (and) Hazar-Enon the boundary of Damascus -
toward the north by the side of Hamath there shall east side, west side belong to him:
Dan one (tribe-lot). Eze_48:2. And on the boundary of Dan from the east side to the
west side: Asher one. Eze_48:3. And on the boundary of Asher from the east side to the
west side: Naphtali one. Eze_48:4. And on the boundary of Naphtali from the east side
to the west side: Manasseh one. Eze_48:5. And on the boundary of Manasseh from the
east side to the west side: Ephraim one. Eze_48:6. And on the boundary of Ephraim
from the east side to the west side: Reuben one. Eze_48:7. And on the boundary of
Reuben from the east side to the west side: Judah one. Eze_48:8. And on the boundary
of Judah from the east side to the west side shall be the heave, which ye shall lift
(heave) off, five and twenty thousand (rods) in breadth, and the length like every tribe
portion from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.
Eze_48:9. The heave which ye shall lift (heave) for Jehovah shall be five and twenty
thousand in length and ten thousand in breadth. Eze_48:10. And to these shall the holy
heave belong, to the priests, toward the north, five and twenty thousand; toward the
west, breadth ten thousand; toward the east, breadth ten thousand; and toward the
south, length five and twenty thousand; and the sanctuary of Jehovah shall be in the
middle of it. Eze_48:11. To the priests, whoever is sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who
have kept my charge, who have not strayed with the straying of the sons of Israel, as
the Levites have strayed, Eze_48:12. To them shall a portion lifted off belong from the
heave of the land; a most holy beside the territory of the Levites. Eze_48:13. And the
Levites (shall receive) parallel with the territory of the priests five and twenty thousand
in length, and in breadth ten thousand; the whole length five and twenty thousand, and
(the whole) breadth ten thousand. Eze_48:14. And they shall not sell or exchange any
of it, nor shall the first-fruit of the land pass to others; for it is holy to Jehovah. Eze_
48:15. And the five thousand which remain in the breadth along the five and twenty
thousand are common land for the city for dwellings and for open space; and the city
shall be in the centre of it. Eze_48:16. And these are its measures: the north side four
thousand five hundred, the south side four thousand five hundred, the east side four
thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred. Eze_48:17. And
the open space of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, toward the
south two hundred and fifty, toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the
west two hundred and fifty. Eze_48:18. And the remainder in length parallel with the
holy heave, ten thousand toward the east and ten thousand toward the west, this shall
be beside the holy heave, and its produce shall serve the workmen of the city for food.
Eze_48:19. And as for the workmen of the city, they shall cultivate it from all the tribes.
Eze_48:20. The whole of the heave is five and twenty thousand by five and twenty
thousand; a fourth of the holy heave shall ye take for the possession of the city. Eze_
48:21. And the remainder shall belong to the prince on this side and on that side of the
holy heave and of the city possession; along the five and twenty thousand of the heave
to the eastern boundary, and toward the west along the five and twenty thousand to
the western boundary parallel with the tribe portions, it shall belong to the prince; and
the holy heave and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst. Eze_48:22. Thus
from the possession of the Levites (as) from the possession of the city shall that which
lies in the midst of what belongs to the prince between the territory of Judah and the
territory of Benjamin belong to the prince. Eze_48:23. And the rest of the tribes are
from the east side to the west side: Benjamin one. Eze_48:24. And on the boundary of
6

Benjamin from the east side to the west side: Simeon one. Eze_48:25. And on the
boundary of Simeon from the east side to the west side: Issachar one. Eze_48:26. And
on the boundary of Issachar from the east side to the west side: Zebulon one. Eze_
48:27. And on the boundary of Zebulon from the east side to the west side: Gad one.
Eze_48:28. And on the boundary of Gad on the south side toward the south, the
boundary shall be from Tamar to the water of strife from Kadesh along the brook to
the great sea. Eze_48:29. This is the land which ye shall divide by lot for inheritance to
the tribes of Israel; these are their portions, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah.
The new division of the land differs from the former one effected in the time of
Joshua, in the first place, in the fact that all the tribe-portions were to extend uniformly
across the entire breadth of the land from the eastern boundary to the Mediterranean
Sea on the west, so that they were to form parallel tracts of country; whereas in the
distribution made in the time of Joshua, several of the tribe-territories covered only half
the breadth of the land. For example, Dan received his inheritance on the west of
Benjamin; and the territories of half Manasseh and Asher ran up from the northern
boundary of Ephraim to the northern boundary of Canaan; while Issachar, Naphtali, and
Zebulon received their portions on the east of these; and lastly, Simeon received his
possession within the boundaries of the tribe of Judah. And secondly, it also differs from
the former, in the fact that not only are all the twelve tribes located in Canaan proper,
between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea; whereas previously two tribes and a half
had received from Moses, at their own request, the conquered land of Bashan and Gilead
on the eastern side of the Jordan, so that the land of Canaan could be divided among the
remaining nine tribes and a half. But besides this, the central tract of land, about the
fifth part of the whole, was separated for the holy heave, the city domain, and the
prince's land, so that only the northern and southern portions, about four-fifths of the
whole, remained for distribution among the twelve tribes, seven tribes receiving their
hereditary portions to the north of the heave and five to the south, because the heave
was so selected that the city with its territory lay near the ancient Jerusalem. - In Eze_
48:1-7 the seven tribes which were to dwell on the north of the heave are enumerated.
The principal points of the northern boundary, viz., the way to Chetlon and Hazar-Enon,
the boundary of Damascus, are repeated in Eze_48:1 from Eze_47:15, Eze_47:17, as the
starting and terminal points of the northern boundary running from west to east. The
words ‫ַד‬‫י‬‫ל־‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫ת‬ ָ‫מ‬ֲ‫ח‬ fix the northern boundary more precisely in relation to the adjoining
territory; and in '‫יוּ‬ ָ‫ה‬ ְ‫ו‬ the enumeration of the tribe-lots begins with that of the tribe of
Dan, which was to receive its territory against the northern boundary. ‫ל‬ refers to the
name ‫ן‬ ָ‫דּ‬ which follows, and which Ezekiel already had in his mind. ‫ת‬ ַ‫פּא‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫ד‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫ָם‬‫יּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ is
constructed asyndetôs; and ‫ת‬ ַ‫א‬ ְ‫פּ‬ is to be repeated in thought before ‫ָם‬‫יּ‬ ַ‫:ה‬ the east side
(and) the west (side) are to belong to it, i.e., the tract of land toward its west and its east
side. The words which follow, ‫ן‬ ָ‫דּ‬ ‫ד‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫,א‬ are attached in an anacoluthistic manner: “Dan
(is to receive) one portion,” for “one shall belong to Dan.” To ‫ד‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫א‬ we are to supply in
thought the substantive ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ב‬ ֶ‫,ח‬ tribe-lot, according to Eze_47:13. “The assumption that
one tribe was to receive as much as another (vid., Eze_47:14), leads to the conclusion
that each tribe-lot was to be taken as a monas” (Kliefoth). In this way the names in Eze_
48:2-7, with the constantly repeated ‫ד‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫,א‬ must also be taken. The same form of
description is repeated in Eze_48:23-28 in the case of the five tribes placed to the south
of the heave. - In the order of the several tribe-territories it is impossible to discover any
7

universal principle of arrangement. All that is clear is, that in the case of Dan, Asher,
Naphtali, Manasseh, and Ephraim, regard is had to the former position of these tribe-
territories as far as the altered circumstances allowed. In the time of the Judges a
portion of the Danites had migrated to the north, conquered the city of Laish, and given
it the name of Dan, so that from that time forward Dan is generally named as the
northern boundary of the land (e.g., as early as 2Sa_3:10, and in other passages).
Accordingly Dan receives the tract of land along the northern boundary. Asher and
Naphtali, which formerly occupied the most northerly portions of the land, follow next.
Then comes Manasseh, as half Manasseh had formerly dwelt on the east of Naphtali; and
Ephraim joins Manasseh, as it formerly joined the western half of Manasseh. The reason
for placing Reuben between Ephraim and Judah appears to be, that Reuben was the
first-born of Jacob's sons. The position of the termuah between Judah and Benjamin is
probably connected with the circumstance that Jerusalem formerly stood on the
boundary of these two tribes, and so also in the future was to skirt Benjamin with its
territory. The other tribes had then to be located on the south of Benjamin; Simeon,
whose territory formerly lay to the south; Issachar and Zebulon, for which no room was
left in the north; and Gad, which had to be brought over from Gilead to Canaan.
In Eze_48:8-22, the terumah, which has already been described in Eze_45:1-7 for a
different purpose, is more precisely defined: first of all, in Eze_48:8, according to its
whole extent - viz. twenty-five thousand rods in breadth (from north to south), and the
length the same as any one (= every one) of the tribe-lots, i.e., reaching from the Jordan
to the Mediterranean Sea (cf. Eze_45:7). In the centre of this separated territory the
sanctuary (the temple) was to stand. ‫כ‬ ‫ת‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ the suffix of which refers ad sensum to ‫ק‬ֶ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ח‬
instead of ‫ה‬ ָ‫רוּמ‬ ְ‫,תּ‬ has not the indefinite meaning “therein,” but signifies “in the centre;”
for the priests' portion, in the middle of which the temple was to stand, occupied the
central position between the portion of the Levites and the city possession, as is evident
from Eze_48:22. The circumstance that here, as in Eze_45:1., in the division of the
terumah, the priests' portion is mentioned first, then the portion of the Levites, and after
this the city possession, proves nothing so far as the local order in which these three
portions followed one another is concerned; but the enumeration is regulated by their
spiritual significance, so that first of all the most holy land for the temple and priests is
defined, then the holy portion of the Levites, and lastly, the common land for the city.
The command, that the sanctuary is to occupy the centre of the whole terumah, leads to
a more minute description in the first place (Eze_48:9-12) of the priests' portion, in
which the sanctuary was situated, than of the heave to be lifted off for Jehovah. In Eze_
48:10, ‫ה‬ֶ‫לּ‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫,ל‬ which stands at the head, is explained by ‫ים‬ִ‫ֲנ‬‫ה‬ֹ‫כּ‬ַ‫ל‬ which follows. The extent
of this holy terumah on all four sides is then given; and lastly, the command is repeated,
that the sanctuary of Jehovah is to be in the centre of it. In Eze_48:11, ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫דּ‬ ֻ‫ק‬ ְ‫מ‬ ַ‫ה‬ is
rendered in the plural by the lxx, Chald. and Syr., and is taken in a distributive sense by
Kimchi and others: to the priests whoever is sanctified of the sons of Zadok. This is
required by the position of the participle between ‫ים‬ִ‫ֲנ‬‫ה‬ֹ‫כּ‬ַ‫ל‬ and ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫ק‬ ‫ד‬ָ‫צ‬ (compare 2Ch_
26:18, and for the singular of the participle after a previous plural, Psa_8:9). The other
rendering, “for the priests is it sanctified, those of the sons of Zadok,” is at variance not
only with the position of the words, but also with the fact, namely, that the assignment
to the priests of a heave set apart for Jehovah is never designated as ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫דּ‬ ִ‫,ק‬ and from the
nature of the case could not be so designated. The apodosis to Eze_48:11 follows in Eze_
48:12, where ‫ים‬ִ‫ֲנ‬‫ה‬ֹ‫כּ‬ַ‫ל‬ is resumed in ‫ם‬ ֶ‫ה‬ָ‫.ל‬ ‫ָה‬‫יּ‬ ִ‫רוּמ‬ ְ‫תּ‬ is an adjective formation derived from
8

‫ה‬ ָ‫רוּמ‬ ְ‫,תּ‬ with the signification of an abstract: that which is lifted (the lifting) from the
heave, as it were “a terumah in the second potency” (for these formations, see Ewald, §§
164 and 165). This terumiyah is called most holy, in contrast with the Levites' portion of
the terumah, which was ‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ֹד‬‫ק‬ (Eze_48:14). The priests' portion is to be beside the
territory of the Levites, whether on the southern or northern side cannot be gathered
from these words any more than from the definition in Eze_48:13 : “and the Levites
beside (parallel with) the territory of the priests.” Both statements simply affirm that the
portions of the priests and Levites were to lie side by side, and not to be separated by the
town possession. - Eze_48:13 and Eze_48:14 treat of the Levites' portion: Eze_48:13, of
its situation and extent; Eze_48:14, of its law of tenure. The seemingly tautological
repetition of the measurement of the length and breadth, as “all the length and the
breadth,” is occasioned by the fact “that Ezekiel intends to express himself more briefly
here, and not, as in Eze_48:10, to take all the four points of the compass singly; in 'all
the length' he embraces the two long sides of the oblong, and in '(all) the breadth' the
two broad sides, and affirms that 'all the length,' i.e., of both the north and south sides,
is to be twenty-five thousand rods, and 'all the breadth,' i.e., of both the east and west
sides, is to be ten thousand rods” (Kliefoth). Hitzig has missed the sense, and therefore
proposes to alter the text. With regard to the possession of the Levites, the instructions
given in Lev_25:34 for the field of the Levites' cities - namely, that none of it was to be
sold - are extended to the whole of the territory of the Levites: no part of it is to be
alienated by sale or barter. And the character of the possession is assigned as the reason:
the first-fruit of the land, i.e., the land lifted off (separated) as first-fruit, is not to pass
into the possession of others, because as such it is holy to the Lord. The Chetib ya`abowr
‫ר‬ ‫ֲב‬‫ע‬ַ‫י‬ is the correct reading: to pass over, sc. to others, to non-Levites.
Eze_48:15-18 treat of the city possession. As the terumah was twenty-five thousand
rods in breadth (Eze_48:8), after measuring off ten thousand rods in breadth for the
priests and ten thousand rods in breadth for the Levites from the entire breadth, there
still remain five thousand rods ‫ל‬ַ‫,ע‬ in front of, i.e., along, the long side, which was
twenty-five thousand rods. This remnant was to be ‫ֹל‬‫ח‬, i.e., common (not holy) land for
the city (Jerusalem). ‫ב‬ָ‫שׁ‬ ‫מ‬ ְ‫,ל‬ for dwelling-places, i.e., for building dwelling-houses upon;
and ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ר‬ְ‫ג‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫,ל‬ for open space, the precinct around the city. The city was to stand in the
centre of this oblong. Eze_48:16 gives the size of the city: on each of the four sides, four
thousand five hundred rods (the ‫,חמשׁ‬ designated by the Masoretes as ‫כתיב‬ ‫ולא‬ ‫,קרי‬ has
crept into the text through a copyist's error); and Eze_48:17, the extent of the open
space surrounding it: on each side two hundred and fifty rods. This gives for the city,
together with the open space, a square of five thousand rods on every side; so that the
city with its precinct filled the entire breadth of the space left for it, and there only
remained on the east and west an open space of ten thousand rods in length and five
thousand rods in breadth along the holy terumah. This is noticed in Eze_48:18; its
produce was to serve for bread, i.e., for maintenance, for the labourers of the city (the
masculine suffix in ‫ֹה‬‫ת‬ ָ‫בוּא‬ ְ‫תּ‬ refers grammatically to ‫ר‬ ָ‫ת‬ ‫נּ‬ ַ‫.)ה‬ By ‫י‬ ֵ‫ד‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ‫יר‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ Hitzig would
understand the inhabitants of the city, because one cultivates a piece of land even by
dwelling on it. But this use of ‫ד‬ ַ‫ב‬ָ‫ע‬ cannot be established. Nor are ‫י‬ ֵ‫ד‬ ְ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ‫יר‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ the
workmen employed in building the city, as Gesenius, Hävernick, and others suppose; for
the city was not perpetually being built, so that there should be any necessity for setting
apart a particular piece of land for the builders; but they are the working men of the city,
9

the labouring class living in the city. They are not to be without possession in the future
Jerusalem, but are to receive a possession in land for their maintenance. We are told in
Eze_48:19 who these workmen are. Here ‫ד‬ ֵ‫ב‬ֹ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ is used collectively: as for the labouring
class of the city, people out of all the tribes of Israel shall work upon the land belonging
to the city. The suffix in ‫דוּהוּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ַ‫ַע‬‫י‬ points back to ‫ר‬ ָ‫ת‬ ‫נּ‬ ַ‫.ה‬ The transitive explanation, to
employ a person in work, has nothing in the language to confirm it. The fact itself is in
harmony with the statement in Eze_45:6, that the city was to belong to all Israel. Lastly,
in Eze_48:20 the dimensions of the whole terumah, and the relation of the city
possession to the holy terumah, are given. ‫ה‬ ָ‫רוּמ‬ ְ‫תּ‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ָ‫כּ‬ is the whole heave, so far as it
has hitherto been described, embracing the property of the priests, of the Levites, and of
the city. In this extent it is twenty-five thousand rods long and the same broad. If,
however, we add the property of the prince, which is not treated of till Eze_48:21-23, it
is considerably longer, and reaches, as has been stated in Eze_48:8, to the boundaries of
the land both on the east and west, the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, as the several
tribe-territories do. But if we omit the prince's land, the space set apart fro the city
possession occupied the fourth part of the holy terumah, i.e., of the portion of the priests
and Levites. This is the meaning of the second half of Eze_48:20, which literally reads
thus: “to a fourth shall ye lift off the holy terumah for the city possession.” This is not to
be understood as meaning that a fourth was to be taken from the holy terumah for the
city possession; for that would yield an incorrect proportion, as the twenty thousand
rods in breadth would be reduced to fifteen thousand rods by the subtraction of the
fourth part, which would be opposed to Eze_48:9 and Eze_48:15. The meaning is rather
the following: from the whole terumah the fourth part of the area of the holy terumah is
to be taken off for the city possession, i.e., five thousand rods for twenty thousand.
According to Eze_48:15, this was the size of the domain set apart for the city.
In Eze_48:21-23 the situation and extent of the prince's possession are described. For
Eze_48:21, vid., Eze_45:7. ‫ר‬ ָ‫ת‬ ‫נּ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ the rest of the terumah, as it has been defined in Eze_
48:8, reaching in length from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. As the holy terumah and
the city possession were only twenty-five thousand rods in length, and did not reach to
the Jordan on the east, or to the sea on the west, there still remained an area on either
side whose length or extent toward the east and west is not given in rods, but may be
calculated from the proportion which the intervening terumah bore to the length of the
land (from east to west). ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ל־פּ‬ ֶ‫א‬ and ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ל־פּ‬ַ‫,ע‬ in front of, or along, the front of the twenty-
five thousand rods, refer to the eastern and western boundaries of the terumah, which
was twenty-five thousand rods in length. In Eze_48:21 the statement is repeated, that
the holy terumah and the sanctuary were to lie in the centre of it, i.e., between the
portions of land appointed for the prince on either side; and lastly, in Eze_48:22 it is
still further stated, with regard to the prince's land on both sides of the terumah, that it
was to lie between the adjoining tribe-territories of Judah (to the north) and Benjamin
(to the south), so that it was to be bounded by these two. But this is expressed in a heavy
and therefore obscure manner. The words ‫ת‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ ‫יא‬ ִ‫ָשׂ‬‫נ‬ַ‫ל‬ ‫ֶה‬‫י‬ ְ‫ה‬ִ‫,י‬ “in the centre of that
which belongs to the prince,” belong to ‫יר‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫...ה‬ ‫ַת‬‫זּ‬ ֻ‫ֲח‬‫א‬ ֵ‫,וּמ‬ and form together with the latter
the subject, which is written absolutely; so that ‫ן‬ ִ‫מ‬ is not used in a partitive, but in a local
sense (from), and the whole is to be rendered thus: And as for that which lies on the side
of the possession of the Levites, and of the possession of the city in the centre of what
belongs to the prince, (that which lies) between the territory of Judah and the territory
of Benjamin shall belong to the prince. Hitzig's explanation - what remains between
10

Judah and Benjamin, from the city territory to the priests' domain, both inclusive, shall
belong to the prince - is arbitrary, and perverts the sense. The periphrastic designation
of the terumah bounded off between the prince's land by the two portions named
together without a copula, viz., “possession of the Levites and possession of the city,” is
worthy of notice. This periphrasis of the whole by two portions, shows that the portions
named formed the boundaries of the whole, that the third portion, which is not
mentioned, was enclosed within the two, so that the priests' portion with the sanctuary
lay between them. - In Eze_48:23-27 the rest of the tribes located to the south of the
terumah are mentioned in order; and in Eze_48:28 and Eze_48:29 the account of the
division of the land is brought to a close with a repetition of the statement as to the
southern boundary (cf. Eze_47:19), and a comprehensive concluding formula.
If now we attempt, in order to form a clear idea of the relation in which this prophetic
division of the land stands to the actual size of Canaan according to the boundaries
described in Eze_47:15., to determine the length and breadth of the terumah given here
by their geographical dimensions, twenty-five thousand rods, according to the
metrological calculations of Boeckh and Bertheau, would be 10·70 geographical miles,
or, according to the estimate of the Hebrew cubit by Thenius, only 9·75 geographical
miles.
(Note: According to Boeckh, one sacred cubit was equal to 234-1/3 Paris lines =
528.62 millimètres; according to Thenius = 214-1/2 P. l. = 481.62 millim. Now as one
geographical mile, the 5400th part of the circumference of the globe, which is
40,000,000 metres, is equivalent to 7407.398 metres = 22, 803.290 old Paris feet,
the geographical mile according to Boeckh is 14, 012-1/10 cubits = 2335-1/2 rods
(sacred measure); according to Thenius, 15, 380-1/6 cubits = 2563-1/3 roads (s. m.),
from which the numbers given in the text may easily be calculated.)
The extent of Canaan from Beersheba, or Kadesh, up to a line running across from Râs
esh-Shukah to the spring El Lebweh, is 3 1/3 degrees, i.e., fifty geographical miles, ten of
which are occupied by the terumah, and forty remain for the twelve tribe-territories, so
that each tribe-lot would be 3 1/3 geographical miles in breadth. If, now, we reckon three
geographical miles as the breadth of each of the five tribe-lots to the south of the
terumah, and as the land becomes broader toward the south a breadth of 3-4/7
geographical miles for the seven tribe-lots to the north, the terumah set apart in the
centre of the land would extend from the site of Jerusalem to Dothan or Jenin. If,
however, we take into consideration the breadth of the land from east to west in the
neighbourhood of Jerusalem, or where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea, Canaan is eleven
geographical miles in breadth, whereas at Jenin it is hardly ten geographical miles
broad. If, therefore, the length of the terumah (from east to west) was fully ten
geographical miles, there would only remain a piece of land of half a mile in breadth on
the east and west at the southern boundary, and nothing at all at the northern, for
prince's land. We have therefore given to the terumah upon the map (Plate IV) the
length and breadth of eight geographical miles, which leaves a tract of two miles on the
average for the prince's land, so that it would occupy a fifth of the area of the holy
terumah, whereas the city possession covered a fourth. No doubt the breadth of the
terumah from south to north is also diminished thereby, so that it cannot have reached
quite down to Jerusalem or quite up to Jenin. - If, now, we consider that the distances of
places, and therefore also the measurements of a land in length and breadth, are greater
in reality than those given upon the map, on account partly of the mountains and valleys
and partly of the windings of the roads, and, still further, that our calculations of the
Hebrew cubit are not quite certain, and that even the smaller estimates of Thenius are
11

possibly still too high, the measurements of the terumah given by Ezekiel correspond as
exactly to the actual size of the land of Canaan as could be expected with a knowledge of
its extent obtained not by trigonometrical measurement, but from a simple calculation of
the length of the roads. - But this furnishes a confirmation by no means slight of our
assumption, that the lengths and breadths indicated here are measured by rods and not
by cubits. Reckoned by cubits, the terumah would be only a mile and a half or a mile and
two-thirds in length and breadth, and the city possession would be only a third of a mile
broad; whereas the prince's land would be more than six times as large as the whole of
the terumah, - i.e., of the territory of the Levites, the priests, and the city, - thirteen
times as large as the priests' land, and from thirty to thirty-two times as large as the city
possession = proportions the improbability of which is at once apparent.
COFFMAN, "The apportionment of the Land of Canaan among the Twelve Tribes,
following the setting apart of the land for Jerusalem is detailed here. The Twelve
Tribes are named, with their allotments; but they are not named in the usual order.
A land allotment is made for the king; the Twelve Tribes are honored by having the
twelve gates of Jerusalem named for them, one gate for each tribe.
It is easy to see that very little of this section of Ezekiel can be seen as having very
much importance to Christians. The kingdom of God reaches into all nations and
kingdoms of the world; and that little acreage called Palestine is a tiny place indeed
compared to the world-wide Empire of the Christ. It is true that countless millions
do not serve or worship Christ; but countless millions do so in all of the most
favored and blessed of earth's nations, a fact that stands in evidence as Cause and
Results upon the face of the whole earth. "The kingdoms of this world have become
the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever"
(Revelation 11:15).
This eternal reign of Christ is not something for some faroff tomorrow. It is going
on now. Christ has been reigning ever since Almighty God committed into his hands
"All authority in heaven and upon earth"; and it will continue until the last enemy,
death itself, has been destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:25).
Oh, but some do not allow Christ to reign over them. True indeed, but that makes
no difference whatever. Jesus Christ is over all; and the people who refuse him have
chosen for themselves eternal death.
12

Before leaving this section, we shall observe what some scholars have said about it:
"The water flowing out of the Temple teaches that all blessings material and
spiritual emanate from the presence of the Lord and of his people."[5] Did not Paul
himself say the same thing? "All spiritual blessings in the heavenly places are in
Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).
When the Jews who returned from Babylon finally got around to restoring the
Temple, "Cyrus' decree authorizing the building of the Temple specified a height of
60 cubits, which was twice the height of Solomon's Temple."[6] Since God
controlled the actions of Cyrus, this indicates that, at first, God did really intend
that the magnificent Temple such as Ezekiel saw in his vision should have actually
been built. That it was not can be attributed only to the sins and hardening of the
Chosen People.
"We cannot interpret these chapters as an allegory, because of the large number of
directions and measurements."[7]
We have discovered ten different diagrams of Ezekiel's Temple, and no two of them
are exactly alike. We have decided to spare the reader any effort of our own to
submit another diagram! What possible difference could minor distinctions make in
a Temple that was never built?
Yet it must be admitted that, "Nothing that Ezekiel could have written would have
stirred up as much interest and excitement as this description of the New Temple to
be constructed in Jerusalem would have stirred up among the exiles."[8]
"To make these nine chapters a deliberately symbolical description of the worship
of the Christian Church is out of the question, because Ezekiel expected this vision
to be carried out to the letter; furthermore he envisioned it as taking place (in part
13

miraculously) upon the coming of Messiah."[9]
Nevertheless, Canon Cook affirmed that, "The vision must be viewed as symbolical,
the symbols employed being the Mosaic ordinances."[10] We believe Cook is
correct, because the Temple itself was never intended as anything else except a
symbol, as were the priests and their ordinances and the whole order of the Mosaic
tabernacle. See our Commentary on Exodus for full elaboration of this. The Temple,
from the first, symbolized God's dwelling in the midst of his people; the priests were
symbols of Christians; their sacrifices typefled the great atoning sacrifice of the
blood of Christ and also, in a lesser sense, their ministrations typified the spiritual
services which Christians offer up to God (1 Peter 2:5). We do not believe for a
moment that Ezekiel fully understood the symbolical nature of the vision which he
saw, no doubt thinking of it as the ultimate reality itself.
"The picture of the river flowing from under the threshold of the Temple is a clear
instance of symbolism, expressive of the blessings that flow from God's presence in
his sanctuary (his Church)."[11]
"These closing chapters present vast difficulties. The Rabbis of the Talmud
remarked that only Elijah, who will herald the ultimate redemption, will elucidate
the discrepancies with the Pentateuchal laws and the terms which are found only
here."[12] Many scholars have cited places in the text which they have designated as
"hopelessly corrupt." Cooke noted that, "Much of the detail in Ezekiel 40-42 is
difficult and obscure."[13]
God at this time was drafting a new constitution, a New Covenant, for a New Israel
of God, the first step being a return of Israel from Babylon and the reestablishing of
them in Canaan; and this New Temple to come at the close of the Exile would never
be able to meet the demands of that New Israel of God; and in this description of it,
"There is a reaching out to something broader, larger, and more spiritual, even to
that Israel of Messianic times, the Church of God in the Christian ages."[14]
Eichrodt marveled that nothing was said here about the foreign nations;[15] but the
14

application of the great symbols of this passage to the New Israel in the times of
Messiah makes any mention of "foreign nations" absolutely unnecessary. In the
New order, there will be no such thing as Jews and foreign nations. All will be upon
exactly the same level. Jews will have no special privileges in the New Israel. We
believe that all the foreign nations (Gentiles) are symbolized by the Ten Tribes of
lost Israel.
The Millennial view that the distant future will see the actual building of some
literal Temple in Jerusalem and the bringing together of the alleged Tribes of Israel
together to offer sacrifices in it appears to be the ultimate impossibility. The Tribes
of Israel have long been lost as regards their identity, there not being a Jew on earth
today who can possibly know what tribe he came from. Furthermore, regarding
animal sacrifices, what earthly good could come of such things? Could they be a
substitute for the `Blood of Jesus Christ'? "A Temple with such sacrifices now
would be a denial of the all-sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ. Under Moses, he
who sacrificed animals confessed Christ; whosoever would do so now would most
solemnly deny him."[16]
Alexander referred to Ezekiel's Temple as "the Millennial Temple";[17] but it is our
conviction that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only Millennial Temple known to
God. The Church is the Temple which was indeed built, by the Son of God Himself;
it is the Temple in which the Spirit of God and his indwelling presence may be
found forever.
This literal thing that Ezekiel saw, what good could it possibly serve? Could one
Temple in Jerusalem serve the millions of the servants of God? What earthly benefit
could be won by animal sacrifices? Would the Jews still cheat the worshippers by
overcharging for the sacrifices and then cheating on the Temple exchange like they
did when they ran it of old? We are mystified indeed by the loyalty some seem to
have in regard to theories of a literal Millennium.
Howie noted that the omission of the west gate in chapter 40 was due to the fact that,
"It should be understood that there was no west gate; the Temple faced toward the
East, and there was no rear entrance."[18] We have already noted that it is very
15

unlikely that Ezekiel had any adequate conception whatever of the true spiritual
import of certain elements in his vision. As Skinner said, "Although Ezekiel himself
does not distinguish between symbol and reality, it is nevertheless possible for us to
see, in the essential ideas of this vision, a prophecy of that eternal union between
God and man which is brought to pass by the work of Christ."[19]
The literalists who think they can find the promise of fleshly Jews being glorified in
a return to Canaan and the rebuilding of their Temple can find no support
whatever for such views in the New Testament. As Keil said, "It is impossible to
understand the Holy City of Revelation 11 as the literal Jerusalem, nor the woman
clothed with the sun in Revelation 12 as the Jewish race converted to Christ. The
Jerusalem of those passages is spiritually the same as Sodom and Egypt."[20]
Nevertheless, it must be remembered that a great deal of the imagery used by the
Apostle John in the Book of Revelation strongly resembles the terminology here.
The Twelve Gates of the eternal City coming down out of heaven from God
(Revelation 21:12), having the names of the Twelve Tribes engraved upon them, is
an example of this.
"This whole section of Ezekiel forms an ideal picture which was never actually to be
realized, but which strikingly embodies the conception of the abiding presence of
God with his people, and of their perfect fellowship with him."[21]
"The last two chapters of Revelation refer to this section of Ezekiel, as the previous
chapter refers to that of Gog and Magog. and therefore these chapters of Ezekiel are
to be the more regarded."[22]
TRAPP, "Verse 1
Ezekiel 48:1 Now these [are] the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast
of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus
northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east [and] west; a [portion
16

for] Dan.
Ver. 1. Now these are the name, of the tribes.] Who are in this chapter assigned their
several seats, and the land divided among them; but this division is much different
from that of old, which was a plain prediction of a perfect and total abrogation of
the Mosaic polity and Levitical worship, together with a new state of the Church of
God after the coming of Jesus Christ.
To the coast of the way of Hethlon.] Ezekiel 47:15-17. Judea was not, say
geographers, over two hundred miles long, and fifty miles broad; but R. Kimchi
here noteth, that the Talmudists affirm that the possession of Israel shall extend
unto the utmost coasts of the earth, id quod ex spiritu dictum existima, (a) This was
well and truly spoken, though they understood not what they spake, as dreaming
only of an earthly kingdom. But as elsewhere, so here, the land of Canaan is put for
the whole world, [Psalms 89:11-12] whereof all true believers are heirs, together
with faithful Abraham, [Romans 4:11] whether they be Jews or Gentiles. Christ’s
kingdom runs to the end of the earth. [Psalms 2:8; Psalms 72:8]
A Portion for Dan.] This tribe, which was, for their shameful revolt from the true
religion, [ 18:30] cut out of the roll, as it were, [1 Chronicles 7:1; 1 Chronicles
7:13-14; 1 Chronicles 7:20; 1 Chronicles 7:30 Revelation 7:5-8] is here reckoned
first of those who had partem et sortem, part and lot among God’s people. So true is
that of our Saviour, "Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first."
[Matthew 19:30; Matthew 20:16] "Judge not therefore according to the
appearance," &c. Repent, and God will re-accept. The fable of Antichrist to come of
this tribe is long since exploded.
PETT, "Verses 1-7
The Land Divided Among The ‘Northern’ Tribes (Ezekiel 48:1-7).
The land to be divided up is the land west of Jordan so that Reuben and Gad and
17

the half tribe of Manasseh, who previously held land east of Jordan, have to be
included. The whole scheme is artificial, very different from the previous division in
the time of Joshua. Indeed considering the fact that there were already people living
in the land, many of them Israelites who had been there for generations, and that
the tribes were largely unidentifiable as entities, it is totally unrealistic. We must
rather therefore see this as indicating a fair sharing of the land among the people of
Israel and the resident aliens who would live among them, put in visionary terms.
Ezekiel is expressing an idea rather than a practical event.
Ezekiel 48:1-7
“Now these are the names of the tribes, from the north end towards the way of
Hethlon to the entering in of Hamath (Lebo-hamath), Hazar-enan at the border of
Damascus, northward beside Hamath, and they shall have their sides east and west.
Dan one portion, and by the border of Dan from the east side to the west side, Asher
one portion, and by the border of Asher from the east side even to the west side,
Naphtali one portion, and by the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west
side, Manasseh one portion, and by the border of Manasseh, from the east side to
the West side, Ephraim one portion, and by the border of Ephraim, from the east
side even to the west side, Reuben one portion, and by the border of Reuben, from
the east side to the west side, Judah one portion.”
This further confirms the idealistic picture. Seven tribes are dealt with, the number
of divine perfection. It was to be seen as a divinely perfect dwelling in the land. The
strips of land, ignoring the geography of the land, were to go from east to west
across the land in strict portions, commencing with Dan who were to receive the
northernmost section. Then the order of tribes from north to south, but north of the
sacred district, was Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah,
seven tribal allotments of equal size (Ezekiel 47:14). Seven being the number of
divine perfection adds to the artificial nature of the account. As the distance east to
west would vary with the coastline this would theoretically have to be taken into
account if they were to have equal portions. But this is not to intended literally. It is
giving the impression of an equal position in the land.
18

This order does not conform to any other in the Old Testament. These tribal
allotments are nothing like those given by Joshua nor are they as large (compare
Joshua chapters 14-22). The general progression is possibly to be seen as from the
most unfaithful tribe, Dan, who set up the original rival sanctuary (Judges
18:30-31), to the most faithful, Judah, who remained faithful to the Davidic prince
and to the sanctuary of Yahweh (1 Kings 12:20). Judah, from which Prince would
come, and who were faithful to the sanctuary of Yahweh, received the privilege of
being adjacent to the sacred district to its north, while Benjamin, who were closely
connected with them and supported them in the split, also remaining faithful to the
sanctuary of Yahweh, were adjacent on the south (1 Kings 12:20-21). The seven
included sons from each of Jacob’s wives and concubines. Indeed the tribes that
were descended from Jacob's concubines (Dan, Asher, Naphtali, and Gad) received
land to the far north and far south, while those who were descended from Jacob's
wives (four on each side) received land toward the centre of the land (see Genesis
35:23-26). This may or may not be accidental.
PULPIT, "
The closing chapter of the prophet's temple-vision treats more particularly of the
distribution of the land among the several tribes (Ezekiel 48:1-29), and concludes
with a statement concerning the gates, dimensions, and name of the city (Ezekiel
48:30-35).
Ezekiel 48:1-29
The distribution of the land among the several tribes. First, the portions north of the
terumah (Ezekiel 48:1-7); secondly, the terumah (Ezekiel 48:8-22), embracing the
portions of the priests and Levites (Ezekiel 48:8-14), with the portions for the city
(Ezekiel 48:15-20) and the prince (Ezekiel 48:21, Ezekiel 48:22); and thirdly, the
portions south of the city (Ezekiel 48:23-30).
Ezekiel 48:1-7
19

The portions north of the terumah. These should be seven, lie in parallel strips from
the Mediterranean to the east border, and be allocated to the tribes of Dan, Asher,
Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and. Judah. The divergences between this
and the earlier division under Joshua (14-19.) are apparent.
Ezekiel 48:1, Ezekiel 48:2
The names of the tribes. The tribe of Levi Being excepted, the number twelve should
in the future as in the past division of the holy soil be preserved by assigning to
Joseph portions (Ezekiel 47:13), one for Ephraim and one for Manasseh. From the
north end. On the former occasion the allotment had begun in the south of the land
and proceeded northwards; on this it should commence in the north and move
regularly southward. The alteration is sufficiently explained by remembering that,
after the conquest, the people were viewed as having come from the south, whereas
at the restoration they should appear as entering in from the north. To the coast of
(better, beside) the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to (literally, to the entering in of)
Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus. This was the north boundary of the
land from west to east, as already defined (Ezekiel 47:16,Ezekiel 47:17); and with
this line the portion of Dan should begin. The portion should then, as to situation, be
one lying northwards, to the coast of (or rather, beside) Hamath. That is to say,
beginning with the border of Hamath, it should extend southwards. For these are
his sides, east and west should be, And there shall be to him sides east, west,
meaning "the tract between both eastern and western boundaries," rather than as
Hitzig translates, "And there shall be to him the east side of the sea," signifying that
his territory should embrace the land east of the Mediterranean;" or as
Hengstenberg renders, And they shall be to him the east side the sea," equal to "the
tract in question should have the sea for its east border." Then, as this applies
equally to all the tribe-portions, Hengstenberg regards "to him" ( ‫לוֹ‬ ) as pointing to
"the whole of the tribes combined into an ideal unity," but expositors generally
agree that "to him" should be referred to Dan, whom the prophet had in mind and
was about to mention. A portion for Dan should be Dan one "portion," ‫ל‬ֶ‫ב‬ֶ‫ח‬ (Ezekiel
47:13), rather than "tribe," ‫ט‬ֶ‫ב‬ ֵ‫,שׁ‬ as Smend proposes. To take ‫ד‬ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫א‬ as alluding to the
enumeration of the tribes is indeed countenanced by Ezekiel's mode of numbering
the gates (verses 35-30 ); but Ezekiel's style in verses 35-30 will be preserved here
also if ‫ל‬ֶ‫ב‬ֶ‫ח‬ precede "Judah," thus: "the portion of Danone." "The presupposition
20

that one tribe should receive exactly as much as another led to the individual tribe's
portion being considered as a monas" (Kliefoth). In the first division of the land,
Dan's portion was small, and situated west of the territories of Ephraim and
Benjamin.
WHEDON, "1. The text is difficult. Toy probably gives the true meaning: “These
are the names of the tribes. Onto the frontier of Hamath and to Hazar-enan, the
territory of Damascus being on the north border from the sea by Hethlon, the north,
from the east border to west border, Dan one portion.” The northern border, here
assigned to Dan, has previously been described (Ezekiel 47:16-17).
BI 1-35. "The Lord is there.
Ezekiel’s last vision
The following are some of the principal heads of prophetic instruction intended by the
vision.
1. That there was to be an entire new state of things in the Church. This is intimated
by the new order in the arrangement of the tribes, which is not according to the birth
of the patriarchs, nor the blessing of Jacob, nor the allotments they received in the
ancient division of the land by Joshua. It is farther intimated by the grant of a
distinct portion to the Levites, who had formerly no inheritance among their
brethren; and by the distance between the temple and the city—the former, which
was anciently within the walls of the latter, being here separated from it by the
intervening portion of Levi. There is also in this vision a portion on each side of the
temple, the Levites, and the city, assigned to the prince. A new order of things was
established by Christ and His apostles, an order very different from that which
formerly existed; and by this the vision was in so far fulfilled, though there be
nothing in the present state of the Church to literally conform to the subordinate
parts. Nor is anything of the kind to be expected, since the New Testament
constitution neither admits of a temple, Levites, or sacred metropolis, nor will ever
be altered to the end of time. We may only remark, that by the double portion of the
prince, our thoughts are led to Him who is the First-born among many brethren, and
who is now gloriously manifested to be so in His exalted state. The figure, too, of his
portion stretching on each side of the temple, the Levites, and the city, seems to
coincide in meaning with those Scriptures which represent Him as in His royal
character, the Lord of all sacred institutions, and the guardian of those ordinances by
which the work of His priesthood is exhibited, and all its benefits realised by the
children of men (Zec_6:13; Rev_1:13; Rev_1:16; Eph_1:21-22; Eph_2:20-21).
2. That the new constitution was to be as truly Divine in its origin, and as minute
and exact in its authoritative appointments, as the ancient. This is suggested by the
idea of a pattern shown to Ezekiel, as was of old done to Moses. And although this
was not, as in the case of the carnal ordinances, a real plan to be strictly followed, but
only a visionary and symbolical exhibition, yet on this very ground it must be
21

doctrinally instructive, the minute detail of the several parts denoting that everything
pertaining to the New Testament state, its laws, ordinances, and forms, should be as
exactly appointed, and as authoritatively enjoined, as any thing in the dispensation
by Moses.
3. That the new constitution would far excel the former in symmetry and beauty.
This is suggested by the regularity which pervades this visionary distribution of
things, and which far surpasses anything in the ancient allotments of the tribes, or
the structure of their city and temple. The symmetry and beauty, symbolically
expressed, must of course be spiritual, but not the less visible and pleasing will it be
to the eye of the Christian.
4. That the new constitution was to be far more extensive in its range than the
ancient. This is intimated by the greater magnitude of the city and temple. All the
twelve tribes, too, have a portion assigned them, no doubt with a reference to the
future conversion of all Israel, a much grander event than the restoration of the two
tribes from Babylon. But as the twelve tribes in Rev_7:1-17; Rev_21:1-27 stand for
the spiritual Israel or Church of God, the vision sets before us the provision made by
the new constitution for the ingathering of the Jews with the fulness of the Gentiles.
The gates of the city accordingly stand open in every direction.
5. That in the new constitution the Church would clearly exhibit her several aspects.
Of old she was a great military body, an ecclesiastical nation, whose laws and
constitution, though sacred, had necessarily a respect to what form the civil rights
and privileges of man in other nations, and whose sacred censures partook in certain
cases of the nature of civil punishment. Now, however, she was to be contemplated
(1) As a chosen society, a peculiar people, inheriting the earth, and solacing
themselves in all that abundance of spiritual privilege which was anciently
prefigured by the land of promise. “They shall rejoice in their portion.”
(2) As a scene of worship, distinctly marked out in this light by the temple, which
stands apart, and hath in its vicinity the portion of the Levites. The latter are thus
represented as more fitly accommodated for their sacred service than of old, and
as no longer labouring under the disadvantage of the curse on literal Levi, “I will
divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” This curse had no original
connection with sacred office; it was restricted to the posterity of Levi, and ceases
to display itself in the new constitution. Though ministers of the Gospel be
scattered over the Church, we are taught to regard them as blessed with their
portion, a body for whom provision should be made without subjecting them to
any disadvantage, and as all, wherever they are, connected with the temple or
system of ordinances, residing spiritually as one body in its vicinity.
(3) As the seat of government—of a sacred government, such as that for which
God established the thrones of judgment in Jerusalem of old—denoted by the
city. Thus completed in all her form, Christ ruleth in her to the ends of the earth;
and her name shall be seen and acknowledged to be Jehovah-shammah, “The
Lord is there.” (The Christian Magazine.)
God’s presence the Jew’s heaven
As yet the Israelite had no conception of a transcendent sphere of existence for men in
22

the fellowship of God, such as we name heaven. Man’s final abode even in his perfect
state, was considered to be still on the earth. God came down and dwelt with men; men
were not translated to abide with God. But God’s presence with men on earth gave to
earth the attributes of heaven. Yet man’s needs remained and God’s presence was the
source of all things necessary to supply them. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Honoured according to faithfulness
It is to be noticed that the places of more or less honour assigned to each tribe are
regulated by the degrees of faithfulness to the Lord and His ordinances by which the
tribes severally were characterised. Thus Judah and Benjamin, the tribes which adhered
longest to the ordinances of the temple, and to the house of David, when the rest
apostatised, shall hold the most honourable positions—Judah the place next the centre
on the north; Benjamin the corresponding place of honour next the centre on the south.
Dan, on the contrary, is to have the least honourable place, at the extreme north, as
having been so early as the time of the judges in a great degree demoralised and
heathenised. So in respect to the degrees of glory which await all the saints in the coming
kingdom of God, the measure of honour will be regulated by the measure of faithfulness.
He who lays out his one pound now so as to gain ten pounds for the Master’s glory, shall
then receive the government of ten cities; he who with his one pound gains five pounds
shall have rule over five cities (Luk_19:15-19). (A. R. Fausset, M. A.)
Civic obligations
Those that live in the city are said to serve the city, for wherever we are, we must study to
be serviceable to the place some way or other, according as our capacity is. They must
not come out of the tribes of Israel to the city to take their ease, and enjoy their
pleasures, but to serve the city, to do all the good they can there, and in so doing they
would have a good influence upon the country too. (M. Henry.)
The central position of the sanctuary
The sanctuary was in the midst of them. There were seven tribes to the north of it, and
the Levite’s, and the prince’s, and the city’s portion, with that of five tribes more to the
south of it; so that it was, as it ought to be, in the heart of the kingdom, that it might
diffuse its benign influences to the whole, and might be the centre of their unity. The
tribes that lay most remote from each other would meet there in a mutual acquaintance
and fellowship. Those of the same parish or congregation, though dispersed and having
no occasion otherwise to know each other, yet by meeting statedly to worship God
together, should have their hearts knit to each other in holy love. (M. Henry.)
The name of the city; God’s presence the full blessedness of His people
In the allotment of the land to the tribes, and the construction and naming of the city
with which this closing vision is taken up, there may be several local and temporary
significations. It may be that, as in some other of the visions, there is first of all reference
23

to the rapidly-nearing national and religious restoration of the Jews under the
leadership of Zerubbabel, and Ezra, and Nehemiah. But the spirit-stirring events that are
associated with the names of these patient heroes, while they fulfil very much that
Ezekiel foresaw, could not have exhausted the meaning of these predictions. For such a
city was never built, the blessedness here described was never perfectly enjoyed by the
Jews at any time after their captivity. There may be a further literal fulfilment of the
prophecy in the connection of the incarnate Christ with Jerusalem. When Simeon took
the infant Jesus in his arms in the temple, when the sacred Boy of twelve inquired in that
temple,—indeed, in every incident of His life and death connected with Jerusalem,—we
have a revelation of what is meant by “Jehovah-shammah.” But that was not perpetual.
That city knew not the day of its visitation, and Jehovah Himself was as a wayfaring man
and stranger to it. Others find further fulfilment of the prophecy in some future
restoration of Israel. Without again noting the difficulties that seem to stand in the way
of the literal interpretation of this, as of the earlier visions, we simply and gladly insist
that, if there be such national restoration, the glory and blessedness of the people of its
city will be in a special manifestation and abiding consciousness of the presence of God.
I. Christly men have this experience in the Church. Any Church that may not truly be
called by that name, “Jehovah-shammah,” that has not in its worship, and its activities,
its social fellowships and philanthropic labours, God’s manifested presence, is no
Church at all. An ecclesiastical society, it may be, a kindly club, a political institution; but
a Church it is not. To the Church belongs by special, inalienable right, this name,
“Jehovah-shammah,” for the Saviour has promised, “Lo, I am with you all days, even
unto the end of the world.”
II. Christly men have this experience in the age. They see this name inscribed
1. On human affairs generally. In all the movements of the time towards liberty and
light, in all that tends to lessen human woe and to increase human joy; in a word, in
all that is true in art, science, exploration, civilisation, as well as in what is termed
religion, God is felt to be moving. There is to the Christly man a keen interest and
deep sacredness, for “the Lord is there.”
2. In all that concerns individual life. “All things work together for good.”
III. Christly men have this experience in nature. Every reader of the Prophets and of the
Psalms has often felt that to the ear of Hebrew piety, nature was eloquent with the voice
of God. Even Greek thought, as it peopled the groves and streams and mountains with
divinities, was evidently groping after “the unknown God,” whose power upholds all,
whose character is revealed in all, whose presence fills all, for “in Him we live and move
and have our being.” To the Christly man who dwells much and earnestly on Christ’s
teaching, who inbreathes Christ’s spirit, who imitates, however humbly, Christ’s life, the
world, not only in its stars, in the skies that span it, or in its seas that roll around it, but
in its sparrows and its lilies and its common grass, tells of God. To such a man “every
common bush is on fire with God.”
IV. Christly men will have this experience perfectly in heaven. In heaven, consciousness
of the devil will be known no more; the consciousness of others, that through their sin
and sorrow and our weakness is often overpoweringly oppressive, will have given way to
a happy and strong brotherhood; and consciousness of self, which is born of sin, and is
the darkest and most inseparable shadow of Our selfishness, will be known no more.
God dwells there in an effulgence of love from which none shrink. Christ is the centre of
the city, and is so seen that in seeing Him all become like Him. (U. R. Thomas.)
24

The ideal city and its name
The prophecy of Ezekiel begins with the vision of a city. The temple in Jerusalem is
destroyed, and the city laid in ruins, the land desolate, the princes dethroned, the people
exiled. His prophecy closes with another vision, the reverse of this—it is a vision of the
restoration of the temple, the return of Jehovah, the renewal of worship, the
reestablishment of royalty, the reapportionment of the land, and the resettlement of the
people. Now, this latter vision is contained in chaps, 40-48, and it is generally
interpreted as a symbolical representation of the blessings and privileges of the Gospel
dispensation. It cannot be taken literally. The dimension of the temple and of the city are
too large for the land. The river is evidently ideal, and the equal partition of the country
among the tribes impossible. We are, therefore, compelled to look upon this as
symbolical. Moreover, there are certain very significant omissions. No day of atonement
is known, and there is no high priest—evidently because, the great atonement of Christ
having been offered, there is no need for any further sacrifice. Again, Christ is set forth
not so much in His character as Priest, as in that of Prince. All these facts point to the
truth that this vision represents the close of the Gospel dispensation. The state of things
appears to be intermediate between the Jewish economy and the glories of the heavenly
city. The temple and the city here delineated are larger than the temple and city of
Jerusalem. The city is more like that which is described in the Book of Revelation, than
like the ancient Jerusalem. The large space appropriated for sacred things indicates that
the conditions here represented approach more nearly to the ceaseless and universal
worship of the heavenly world. The glory of the city is that the Lord is there. He is
enthroned and supreme. His law is obeyed. His worship is observed. His blessing is
vouchsafed to His people. This is the crowning idea both of the vision and the prophecy
as a whole. And it is this that is the glory of the dispensation conceived of as a city. May
we not, then, infer that every city reaches its ideal, and becomes worthy to be a place of
health and happiness in proportion as it answers to the description, “The Lord is there”?
I. Now observe, in the first place, that this is an age of great cities. The growth of the city
in population and in wealth is far out of proportion with the country at large; and in
many places, while the country is going down, the city is rising by leaps and bounds.
London is probably two thousand years old, and yet four-fifths of its growth has been
added during the century just closed. And from the centre of every city there is a large
and ever-increasing circumference of population stretching out wider and wider, further
and further, into the country. And there are three causes for this. The application of
machinery to agriculture, lessening the number of hands required for farm purposes, the
substitution of machinery for muscular power, and its application to manufacture. The
world’s work was formerly done by muscle, and the word manufacture was applied to
making by the hand; but now the word has come to be applied almost exclusively to
work done by machinery. And since the machinery is in the cities it attracts the hands
released from the farm. There is also the modern railway, making it easy to approach the
city and supply it with food. Drummond has said that he who makes the city makes the
world, and the problem of our great cities is the problem of our modern civilisation.
Observe then, that there is a danger that materialism should capture the city. The great
multitudes in the city seem to lower the sense of responsibility in the individual. Moral
failure is not marked and reprobated as in the country home; vice is so common that it
becomes less shocking, and its allurements are multiplied. The contagion of low ideas
25

often proves deadening to the better nature. The sentiments of one person openly
vicious have been enough to make for the decay of the street into the slum. Moreover,
there is the increasing habit of people crowding together in such a way as to make even
the decencies—to say nothing of the common comforts—of life to disappear. And this is
one of the most formidable and increasing evils of the time. And it is a prolific parent of
many other evils, driving men and women to the drink shops, impelling them to seek
deliverance from the monotonous round of life by degrading recreations, until
worldliness becomes the rule of their life. And the conditions of life are so severe, the
competition so keen, the struggle so desperate, the continual tendencies among the
people so unrelieved to drag them down, that multitudes are being driven down to the
dregs of society. Now, unless such movements and tendencies can be checked and
counteracted by moral sentiments and religious life, they will constitute a danger of
appalling magnitude in many parts of the land. Saltpetre, sulphur, and some other
ingredients that go to make gunpowder, are of themselves quite simple and harmless—
they are non-explosive; but brought together they make gunpowder, and it has been well
pointed out that neither ignorance nor vice is revolutionary, nor is ignorance when
controlled by righteousness and conscience; but ignorance, vice, and wretchedness
constitute social dynamite, of which the city slum is the magazine awaiting only the
casual spark to make it burst into terrible destruction. What, then, is the remedy? Will
repressive measures suffice? Men turn naturally enough to law and its administration.
They would curb the drinking habits and gambling craze, and settle the housing problem
by legislation. Far be it from me to utter one single word against law and its
administration. I hold, indeed, that by wisely-conceived and well-applied law much
maybe done for the benefit of the people, and my conviction is that we have not yet
exhausted its possibilities. But for such evils as those of which I have been speaking law
is no remedy. Indeed, the causes of these evils lie beyond the reach of civil government
and its scope. They can reach to the actions of men, but not, to the inward principles
from which they flow. They may check, but they cannot eradicate, the moral evil. Will
social nostrums prevail? Equalise labour, and make all resources common; mete out
from the general stock an adequate supply to each individual—and you will establish
contentment and happiness. Will you? But what of the selfishness which demands this
all-things-common policy? It is really a selfishness as portentous and mischievous as
that of the most unprincipled employer who exploits the working classes. What is the
real desire of those who put this policy forward, but that they may escape the penalty of
their own indulgence? Will education and refinement be effective? We are counselled to
increase and improve education, to open museums and picture galleries, to establish
settlements and found libraries, and who but must say “All hail!” to such proposals?
What are they but honest attempts on the part of those who enjoy the advantages of
education, the opportunities of station and fortune, to share those advantages, as far as
they can, with those less fortunate than themselves? Their aim is to elevate men’s minds
and to strengthen the deep foundations of moral character by love of justice and truth
and mercy, and their tendency must be, I think, to increase the desire for elevating
enjoyments, and correspondingly to make disgusting the low and degrading pleasures
that embrute men. They will have their influence, we cannot doubt; they are the
offspring of charity; they are Christian principles attempted to be applied for the benefit
of society; their tendency must be, to a certain extent, to check the advance of vice. But
when these things are proposed as remedies for moral evil, then we feel that they are
inadequate. You may have the highest knowledge and the most exalted refinement in
connection with the lowest and most degrading vices. Vice is no monopoly of the poor
26

and toiling classes. It has appeared among the privileged, and among those in elevated
stations, in forms almost more shocking than among the common people. Not here can
we find the relief we want. What remains then? That the city be pure and prosperous,
and delivered from the evils which threaten its happiness and prosperity, it must answer
the description, “The Lord is there.” Religion must have free course, must be permitted
to work out its transforming and purifying effects. Christian principles must be applied
to social problems as well as to personal character and life. Nor is the reason of this
difficult to understand. It is the degradation of the heart that produces viciousness of
life, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ enters the heart and changes and purifies it,
and thus commands and sanctifies the life. All the repressive and educating and refining
agencies may leave the moral inclinations untouched, though they work in the same
direction as the religion of Jesus Christ. But it is the grace of Christ which changes the
devices of the mind and the desires of the heart, and turns the affections and inclinations
from evil to good thoughts, and upward tendencies and desires. The religion of the
Saviour, therefore, is just that which we need in order to bring about the changes for
which the world—this part of the world—is waiting at the present time. It was the
mighty, regenerating influences of this Holy Gospel which converted the old Roman
Empire into a new world. It was this, after the failure of many other agencies, which
changed the England of the eighteenth century, which was marked by almost
unexampled irreligion, and made it to be in the main, a Sabbath-keeping and God-
fearing nation. The most neutral historians confess with admiration the great moral
reformation which followed the evangelical revival. The rough toilers in the coal pits of
the North were melted to tears of penitence as they listened to the Gospel from the lips
of Wesley; and the Cornish miners, warned by his faithful words, gave themselves to God
at their work, hearing above them the sobbing of the sea. The sweater, the exploiter of
labour, and the grinder of the poor, will speedily disappear, and with him all the
sullenness and discontent of the toiling masses. No more will there be hatred of masters,
restrictions of output, scamped work. There will be mutual trust and mutual confidence;
selfishness and greed will gradually disappear before self-respect and self-restraint; and
the higher and nobler element of self-sacrifice. A sweetness will breathe through the
speech and” life of the people, that shall tell of heaven; and men will be brought almost
instinctively to say, “The name of the city is, The Lord is there.” Now, these things being
so, what are the suggestions for our practical guidance? Surely it becomes us to bring
our own spirit into harmony with the great realities of religion, that we ourselves may be
the converted and sanctified children of God, that from us there may go out on every
hand an influence that shall be a blessing to the community. And does it not follow that,
this being realised, we must take the Gospel of salvation to the people? In addition to
this, we may learn that Christian men should not shrink from public duties. There has,
perhaps, been a tendency too marked for educated and refined and Christian men to
shrink from taking their part in the life of the city; they shrink from the rude heckling of
the election, or the rude encounter of the council chamber. The consequence is that men
selfish and ignorant are apt to push into offices that men better qualified to occupy these
positions ought to have. The danger is that there may come the rule of the worst for the
worst. If our city councils, for instance, are not pure; if they abet and do not abate the
evils and dangers of our people; if their influence is used to sustain those institutions
that enrich the few for the permanent degradation of the many, then our cities may
become cesspools of evil. Can we make our city pure? is the question every man should
put to himself. With this object the mind must think, the hand must work, the purse
must pay. We need also Christian altruism among our leading public men. In our age it
27

is coming to be felt more and more that the hero is the man that stands forth armed not
with sword and spear, but with love and kindness, and sympathy and generosity. In our
age we are coming better to understand the principles of our holy religion, and to apply
them. Let us see to it that our sympathy and generosity is of this Christlike and self-
denying type, and we shall do something to hasten the period when the words of this
ancient prophecy shall be brought to fulfilment, and “the name of the city from that day
shall be, The Lord is there.” The Lord is there! Then righteousness shall be there, and
justice, and peace! And if the Lord be there, and His law be obeyed by the people, and
they all come under the influence of His character and Spirit’s power, then will men be
gracious to each other, kindness and goodwill will everywhere present themselves. The
Lord is there! Heavenly dispositions will then be there, kindness of heart, nobility of life;
and men will realise more and more that it is a blessed thing to know and reverence, and
love and serve Him. Let us realise the great truth that God in our day is bringing to pass
the fulfilment of this prophecy in this city. May we not say, “The Lord is there”? He is
commanding the minds and touching the hearts of multitudes within the bounds of this
city today. Let us not despair! There are terrible social evils and various other evils
abroad, and sometimes men are downcast and heavy laden, and feel as though the Lord
had forgotten. Never! Not for a moment! His purposes are marching towards their
accomplishment all the time through all events. We are not under a government of blind
chance. Let us never think that affairs have lost their connection with the government of
God. (S. Whitehead.)
The ideal city
I. If God is there, there are some things that will be found along with Him.
1. Light. Men go to the sanctuary oppressed by the same questions as of old. Deep
calleth unto deep from age to age. In God’s house should be the answers to the
heart’s deepest needs.
2. Life. Where God comes, death is vanquished. Spiritual life is like physical, and a
mystery, but it must be fed; and a table is spread in the house of God.
3. Liberty. In the city of God all are free. In His house men are manumitted. To set
the captives free is the first aim of the Gospel.
II. But if God is there, there are some things that will not be there.
1. Divisions. Some Churches torn by factions. What is aimed at is not unity in the
faith—that will never be gained—but unity in the spirit.
2. Defections. It is sad when men leave church, but sadder when they leave Christ. If
God is there, life becomes richer, service fuller, and love true to death.
3. Defeat. Strong weapons are being used against it. Criticism, indifference, ridicule,
are doing their best. But the cause must go on to victory, because “the Lord is there.”
(J. Wallace.)
The Lord is there
Between the fruits of natural and of spiritual religion there will always be considerable
28

apparent resemblance. The amiability and generosity of the natural man will not be
distinguished by the superficial observer from the charity of the Christian; nor are we
called upon to disparage that which is beautiful and excellent in natural morality. At the
same time, while there may be much in the uurenewed heart that is lovely and attractive,
we must not shut our eyes to its true state before God, or refuse to recognise the radical
deficiency which runs through all systems of natural religion or morality. We may love,
we may even admire, but if the heart be really unrenewed, we must own the melancholy
fact—the Lord is not there. Again and again, throughout the Word of God, we have it
directly asserted, or incidentally implied, that God dwells, by His Holy Spirit, in the
hearts of true believers, and that He dwells in them to form within them the New Adam,
to develop the nature and spirit of Christ. “Our bodies are the temples of the Holy
Ghost,” and “Christ is in us, except we be reprobate,” and the mystery of our calling is
“Christ in us the hope of glory.” Do these words mean anything? Can they mean what
their natural sense implies? or are they simply high-sounding flights of Eastern rhetoric?
I must press on you the question, Can it be truly said of your heart, “The Lord is there”?
Does your religion consist only of doctrines and observances, or has a new power
entered your soul? and are you conscious of a reverent and sacred intimacy with your
Divine Guest? What is religion without this? Take away my Lord, and earth becomes a
dreary desert, time a cruel taskmaster, and eternity an abysmal gulf of horrible gloom.
But, as it is true of every real Christian that the Lord is there, so it is the law of the life of
the unrenewed that the Lord is not there. The man of the world awakes in the morning
with no sense of the presence of his God: he may hurry through some form of devotion,
but the Lord is not there. The world rushes in with all its thronging cares and busy
excitements, and the battle of the day is fought, but the Lord is not there; and when he
lays his head on his pillow at night, while he forms his schemes for the future, or
congratulates himself on the past, it still remains true the Lord is not there. Years roll
on, and the life without God draws towards its close; human nature loses its charms, the
affections become paralysed, the genial enthusiasm of youth is a dream of the past, the
barren routine of habit has fossilised all the higher faculties of the soul; but while the
transient loveliness of humanity fades away, the sad truth still remains, “the Lord is not
there.” When the last scene comes, there may be weeping friends around the bedside of
the dying sinner, and some may speak oft the kindliness of his disposition, and some
may tell how he ever did his duty to wife, and child, and friend; but the curtain falls upon
the last scene in the sad drama of a wasted life, inscribed with the melancholy sentence,
“The Lord is not there!” Follow his receding form, if your inward sight can penetrate so
far into the dreary regions of eternal hopelessness, and as you gaze with horror into the
blank solitude into which he plunges, can you not catch that distant cry, of agony which
wanders like an everlasting echo through the deep night of hell, “The Lord is not here!”
“The Lord is not here!” Gladly I turn to the other side of the picture. The prophet Ezekiel
had been gazing at a wondrous revelation of future glory, and doubtless the mystic
temple and city in every point of their elaborate details had been full of interest and
instruction for his delighted soul; but as we raise the cornerstone only when the rest of
the entire building is completed, so it was reserved for the last word of the Divine
Interpreter to touch the deepest chord of joy within the prophet’s heart, and, as it were,
to put the crown of glory upon the entire description in those marvellous words which I
have read to you. We cannot doubt but that, in a further sense than we at present
experience, those words will one day be fulfilled; at the same time, the blessed privileges
to which we are heirs under this dispensation justify us in applying the description, and
above all the crowning words, to the Christian Church. It, too, is a new Jerusalem that
29

has come down to earth out of heaven, and its greatest glory is that “the Lord is there.”
(W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
The presence of Christ as the chief glory of heaven
I. An unveiled presence. The imperfection of the medium through which we now receive
our knowledge of Him, constitutes the veil between Him and ourselves. It is not any
deficiency in the amount of the knowledge communicated; nor any want of clearness in
the communication itself, which constitutes the veil spread out between God and
ourselves. No: that veil is found in our weakness, and inability to take in the truth in
reference to God and spiritual things. But when we reach that heavenly city, whose name
will be “The Lord is there,” this difficulty will be removed. Then, instead of seeing
“through a glass darkly, we shall see face to face.”
II. A transforming presence. We meet with illustrations of the power of assimilation or
transformation, that are highly interesting, both in the animal kingdom and in the world
of nature. The chameleon, the tree frog, and various insects among the animal tribes,
occur to mind as examples. These assume the colour of the substances on which they
feed, or by which they are surrounded. There is a principle of assimilation between
themselves and the materials about them. But let us rise a step higher. From the animal
kingdom, we look up to the world of nature Yonder is the sun. When he rises in the east,
and pours his glorious beams over the clouds that are floating around the horizon, what
a marvellous change is wrought upon them! A moment ago they were dark, and gloomy,
and unattractive. But look at them now. They are tinted with purple, and scarlet, and
gold. The sun is present with them, and what a wondrous power of transformation that
presence is exerting! And if, in this lower world, we find processes like these going on,
need we be surprised to find the same principle of assimilation at work, only developing
results more glorious far, in the heavenly world? And this is just what we do find. For
when the redeemed are introduced into that heavenly city, whose name is “The Lord is
there,” “they shall be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is” (1Jn_3:2). The same
truth is brought out more clearly and absolutely by St. Paul (2Co_3:18). And there are
two things connected with this transformation which are marvellous to think of. One is
the extent to which it will be carried. It will not be the peculiarity of a few of the
redeemed, but the privilege of them all. And then it will be no less marvellous when we
think of the reality of this change. When the sun spreads his glory over the clouds of the
sky, it is only the appearance of a change which the clouds put on. They remain
essentially unaltered. They are the same clouds that they were before. But it is different
with the heavenly transformation of which we are speaking. The likeness to God, which
His presence imparts to the ransomed who stand around His throne, is real, and
pervading in its nature.
III. A satisfying presence. We see many objects of beauty and grandeur in the world
around us; and we find real pleasure in beholding them. But however great this pleasure
may be, it is still true that “the eye is not satisfied with seeing.” And there are two things
which “account for the striking difference that exists between seeing the beauty that
appears in this lower world, and seeing the King in His beauty.” We look upon the
beauties seen in the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the hills, the ocean; but we
are not satisfied with seeing, because they are not ours. They do not belong to us. We
cannot appropriate them to our own use. But it will be different when we stand and gaze
on the glories of the Divine presence as displayed in heaven. It will be our privilege to
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Ezekiel 48 commentary

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Ezekiel 48 commentary