Ezekiel 48
The book of Ezekiel closes the way the long final vision began - with a measuring line and a map. The land is divided among the twelve tribes, but not the way it was in the old days of tangled, irregular borders. Here the tribes are laid out in long parallel bands running clean from the eastern border to the western sea, stacked from the north end southward, seven of them above and five below (vv. 1-7, 23-29). It is order itself, drawn out on the ground: a settled people, each tribe given its portion, the chaos of conquest and exile resolved into something even and whole.3
And across the middle of the map lies a wide reserved strip the chapter calls the oblation - the holy portion lifted out and set apart for God (vv. 8-22). Within it are the priests' ground and the Levites' ground, the city with its open land, and the prince's portion flanking it on either side - and at the heart of the holy portion, named twice over, stands the sanctuary: the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it (v. 8); the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof (v. 21). The geography preaches before a word is spoken. God is not pushed to the edge of the land or the margin of the life; He is set in the center, and everything else is arranged around Him.
Then the chapter - and the book - comes to the city. It has twelve gates, three to a side, and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel (v. 31): every tribe named over a gate, every tribe with its own way in. And on the final line, the city receives a new name that gathers up the whole of Ezekiel into four words: the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE (v. 35). The book that watched the glory leave ends with the glory's permanent address.2
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Ezekiel 48:1-7A Portion for Every Tribe
1Now 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 for Dan. 2And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher. 3And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali. 4And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Manasseh. 5And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim. 6And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Reuben. 7And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah.
The chapter opens like a deed of inheritance being read aloud: Now these are the names of the tribes (v. 1). What follows is the dividing of the land, and the first thing to feel is the sheer mercy of it. This is a book that began among captives - people torn off their land and carried to Babylon, watching from far away as their city fell. To them, land was the lost thing, the promise that looked broken. And now, in the closing vision, every tribe is named and every tribe is given a portion. Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah - one after another, none skipped, none left out. The list moves from the far northern border, by Hethlon and the approach to Hamath and the edge of Damascus, southward. After everything the nation had thrown away, here is the inheritance handed back, tribe by tribe, name by name. The God who scattered them is the God who settles them again. Restoration in this book is never vague sentiment; it is concrete down to the borders - a place to live, for a people who had lost their place.3
Notice the strange, deliberate shape of the allotment. Each tribe runs from the east side unto the west side - a long even band stretching clean across the land from the eastern border to the western sea, the tribes stacked one above another from north to south. This is not how Israel's territory had ever actually looked. The old map, divided back in Joshua's day, was a patchwork of irregular shapes following rivers and ridges and the fortunes of conquest, with tribes spilling across the Jordan and borders that wandered. Here the lines are drawn straight and equal, as if by a single hand laying out parallel strips on a clean page. That orderliness is itself the message. The disorder of the nation's history - the rivalries, the encroachments, the tribes that all but vanished - is resolved into something even and whole. The arrangement does not match the old geography because it is picturing something the old geography never achieved: a people set right, each in its place, under one design. The map is a portrait of a healed nation.
Ezekiel 48:8-22The Sanctuary in the Midst of It
8And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. 9The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth. 10And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof. 11It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 12And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. 13And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. 14And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD. 15And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof. 16And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. 17And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. 18And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city. 19And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. 20All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city. 21And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof. 22Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.
Right across the middle of the map, between the northern tribes and the southern ones, lies a wide reserved strip the chapter calls the oblation, or holy portion: the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth… and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it (v. 8). The word translated oblation and offering means a portion lifted up and set apart for God - the way the firstfruits of a harvest were lifted out from the rest. Here, astonishingly, it is a portion of the land itself that is lifted up and given to God, a great square of ground reserved before any tribe takes its share. And the reason it matters where this portion sits is everything: it does not lie off in a corner or along the far border. It lies in the midst - dead center, between the tribes above and the tribes below. Before the people parcel out their own inheritance, they set apart the best of it, in the heart of it, for the LORD. The map is teaching what a redeemed life looks like from the ground up: God is not fitted in around the edges of what we keep for ourselves; the holy portion is lifted out first, and it goes in the middle.1
Within the holy portion, the ground nearest the sanctuary goes to the priests - and a particular line of them: It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray (v. 11). This quietly reaches back through the whole sad history of the nation. When Israel had gone after other gods, when even many of the Levites had drifted into compromise, the sons of Zadok had kept my charge - they had stayed faithful at their post. And here, in the restored order, faithfulness is honored: their portion lies closest to the holy place. The land closest to God is given to those who did not wander when wandering was the fashion. Yet notice the restraint in how it is framed. The Levites who went astray are not cast out; they too receive a portion, just beside the priests' (v. 13). There is honor for the faithful and a place kept for the rest. The arrangement holds two true things at once - that staying faithful is not forgotten by God, and that the door is not shut on those who failed.
The holy portion is laid out with a care that itself carries meaning. The Levites' band runs alongside the priests' (v. 13); the city's ground, called profane - meaning common, ordinary, for everyday dwelling rather than unholy - lies below them in the midst (v. 15). Even the city is measured out evenhandedly, the same span on every side - four thousand and five hundred to the north, south, east, and west (v. 16) - with an equal ring of open suburb around it (v. 17), and the land beside it set to grow food unto them that serve the city (v. 18), worked by laborers drawn out of all the tribes of Israel (v. 19) so that no single tribe is burdened or favored. Then the whole reserved square comes out exactly even: All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare (v. 20). A perfect square - the shape of completeness and balance, the same shape the holy of holies had always been, the same shape the Revelation will give the city that comes down from God (Rev. 21:16). And around this holy square, on the east and the west, lies the portion of the prince (vv. 21-22). He is given generous land on either side, but mark where he is placed: beside the holy portion, never over it; flanking the sanctuary, never occupying it. In Israel's past, kings had repeatedly seized what was holy and bent worship to their own ends. The new design draws a clear line. The prince has honor and a wide inheritance, but the center belongs to God alone, and even the highest human authority is arranged around it, not above it.
Ezekiel 48:23-29The Land Divided by Lot
23As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion. 24And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion. 25And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion. 26And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion. 27And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion. 28And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea. 29This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD.
Below the holy portion the listing resumes, and the remaining tribes take their bands southward: Benjamin… Simeon… Issachar… Zebulun… Gad (vv. 23-27), down to the southern border that runs from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea (v. 28). Five tribes below, seven above, the holy portion between - and the whole is complete. Two things in this quiet roll call repay attention. First, the holy portion sits between Judah on the north and Benjamin on the south - the two tribes that had remained loyal to the house of David and the temple in Jerusalem when the kingdom split. The sanctuary is cradled between the faithful tribes, in the place where the true city had always stood. Second, the southern border touches the waters of strife in Kadesh - Meribah, the bitter place where an earlier generation had quarrelled with God in the wilderness and where even Moses was barred from the land. That the renewed inheritance reaches all the way to the old place of failure is its own quiet word: the borders of grace now enclose even the ground that once spoke only of rebellion.
The whole division is sealed with a single solemn line: This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD (v. 29). Three words carry the weight. By lot - the land is to be apportioned the ancient way, by casting lots, which in Israel meant leaving the outcome to God rather than to human bargaining; no tribe seizes the best by strength or cunning, for the dividing is the LORD's. Inheritance - this is not a wage earned or a prize won but a gift handed down, the language of a father settling his estate on his children. And the line closes with the formula that has thundered through this whole book in judgment - saith the Lord GOD - now set, at the very end, over a word of pure gift. The same divine voice that pronounced the sentence of exile pronounces the deed of restoration. The God who had every right to leave them landless is the God who, on His own authority, hands the inheritance back. The signature underneath the map is His.
Ezekiel 48:30-35THE LORD IS THERE
30And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures. 31And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. 32And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. 33And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. 34At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. 35It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE.
The vision comes at last to the city itself, and the detail it lingers on is the gates: the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel (v. 31). There are twelve, set three to a side - north, east, south, west - and each one bears a tribe's name. Reuben, Judah, Levi to the north; Joseph, Benjamin, Dan to the east; Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun to the south; Gad, Asher, Naphtali to the west. Two things in this design are full of grace. First, Levi has a gate. In the dividing of the land, the priestly tribe of Levi received no territory of its own, for the LORD was their inheritance - yet here, in the city, Levi is given a gate and a name like all the rest, fully one of the people with a way of its own to come in. None of the twelve is left without. Second, there are gates on every side. A person comes to this city from whatever direction they approach - from the north or the desert south, the seaward west or the sunrise east - and there is a gate, a way in, an open door bearing a familiar name. The city is not a fortress sealing people out; it is a home flung open on all four sides, with a welcome for everyone who belongs to the people of God.
And then the book of Ezekiel speaks its last sentence, and the whole of it pours into four words: the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE (v. 35). Everything has been building to this. Not a new fortress, not a new king, not even a new temple is the final word - but a name, and the name is a Presence. In the Bible a name is never a mere label; it declares the nature of the thing. So the deepest truth about this city is not its size or its strength or its splendor. It is that God is there. Recall how far the book has travelled to arrive at this word. It opened among captives by a foreign river, and its most devastating vision was of the glory of God rising up from the temple and leaving a city that had defiled itself - the glory departing, by stages, eastward and away (chs. 10-11). For a people in exile, that was the wound beneath every other wound: not merely that they had lost their land, but that God had gone. And now the glory that left has returned to fill the house again (43:4-5), with the promise, I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever (43:7). The book that began with God departing ends with the city's very name announcing that He stays. The exile is over not chiefly because the people are home, but because God is.3
Further study
- The Hebrew text of Ezekiel 48 with Rashi, Radak, and other classical commentators side by side - useful for terumah (vv. 8-12, the “oblation,” the holy portion lifted up and set apart), for the recurring betoch (“in the midst,” vv. 8, 10, 15, 21), and above all for the closing words YHWH shammah (v. 35, “the LORD is there”).
- Ezekiel 48 ↔ Revelation 21 & 22 · Matthew 1 · Leviticus 23Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Ezekiel 48 to the rest of Scripture - the twelve gates named for the twelve tribes (vv. 30-34) read beside the wall of the New Jerusalem with its twelve gates and twelve tribal names (Rev. 21:12-13), and the city named THE LORD IS THERE (v. 35) read beside the tabernacle of God is with men (Rev. 21:3) and God with us (Matt. 1:23).
- Ezekiel 48 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Ezekiel 48 - the parallel tribal allotments running east to west (vv. 1-7, 23-29), the reserved holy portion with the sanctuary at its center (vv. 8-22), the twelve named gates (vv. 30-34), and the Hebrew behind the city's final name in verse 35.
Where this echoes in Scripture
A Portion for Every Tribe
- Joshua 13:7Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes, and the half tribe of Manasseh.The first dividing of the land for inheritance - the act verses 1-7 echo and re-draw for a restored people.
- Ezekiel 37:21-22I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen... and bring them into their own land... and they shall be no more two nations.The gathering promised earlier in the book, here carried out tribe by tribe in verses 1-7.
- John 10:14-16other sheep I have, which are not of this fold... and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.The Shepherd who gathers the scattered into one - the in-gathering the named portions of verses 1-7 picture.
- John 14:2-3In my Father’s house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.A settled place prepared for every one of His own - the inheritance of verses 1-7 carried forward.
- Revelation 7:4-8And I heard the number of them which were sealed... of all the tribes of the children of Israel.The twelve tribes named and numbered again - the people of God counted, none missing, as in verses 1-7.
The Sanctuary in the Midst of It
- Exodus 25:8And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.The first word of God’s desire to dwell in the midst - the longing the centered sanctuary of verses 8-21 answers.
- John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory...)The sanctuary set in the midst (vv. 8, 10, 21) come near in a Person - God tabernacling among His people.
- Matthew 18:20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.The presence at the center (vv. 8-21) pledged to the gathered people of God.
- Numbers 18:8I have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings... by reason of the anointing.The heave offering - terumah - lifted up for the priests, the same word that names the holy portion in verses 8-14.
- Ezekiel 44:15But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near.The faithfulness of Zadok’s sons honored earlier in the vision - rewarded with the ground nearest the sanctuary in verse 11.
The Land Divided by Lot
- Numbers 20:13This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD.The waters of strife the renewed border reaches in verse 28 - an old place of rebellion now enclosed by the inheritance.
- Joshua 14:1-2the inheritance, which... the heads of the fathers of the tribes... distributed for inheritance to them. By lot was their inheritance.The land first divided by lot for inheritance - the pattern verse 29 takes up for the restored tribes.
- Romans 8:17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.The inheritance language of verse 29 lifted to its height - the people of God made heirs together with His Son.
- 1 Peter 1:4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.The gift handed down by the Father (v. 29) - an inheritance that cannot be lost as the land once was.
- Matthew 25:34Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.The Father settling the inheritance on His children - the gift of verse 29 spoken by the King.
THE LORD IS THERE
- Revelation 21:12-13a wall great and high, and had twelve gates... the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on the east three gates; on the north three gates...The twelve named gates of verses 31-34 drawn into the wall of the city that comes down from God.
- Revelation 21:3Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.The meaning of the city’s name in verse 35 - God dwelling with His people, the goal of all redemption.
- Matthew 1:23they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.The name of verse 35 - THE LORD IS THERE - spoken over the Child whose coming made it true.
- Ezekiel 43:7the place of my throne... where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever.The glory’s return that the city’s name in verse 35 sets in stone - God present, for ever.
- Revelation 22:4And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.The end toward which the whole book reaches - the Presence of verse 35 seen face to face.