10 And for them, for the priests, shall be the holy heave-offering, toward the north five and twenty thousand, and toward the west the breadth ten thousand, and toward the east the breadth ten thousand, and toward the south the length five and twenty thousand: and the sanctuary of Jehovah shall be in the midst of it.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho, saying, Command the children of Israel, that of the inheritance of their possession they give unto the Levites cities to dwell in; and a suburb for the cities round about them shall ye give unto the Levites. And the cities shall they have to dwell in, and their suburbs shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities that ye shall give unto the Levites shall be from the walls of the city outward, a thousand cubits round about. And ye shall measure, without the city, the east side two thousand cubits, and the south side two thousand cubits, and the west side two thousand cubits, and the north side two thousand cubits, and the city shall be in the midst: they shall have this as suburbs of the cities. And [among] the cities that ye shall give unto the Levites [shall be] the six cities of refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee thither, -- and besides them ye shall give forty-two cities: all the cities that ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, they and their suburbs. And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel: from them that have much ye shall take much, and from them that have little ye shall take little; each one according to his inheritance which he will inherit shall give of his cities to the Levites. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Then the chief fathers of the Levites drew near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, and their suburbs for our cattle. And the children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the word of Jehovah, these cities and their suburbs. And the lot came forth for the families of the Kohathites. And the children of Aaron the priest, of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. And the children of Kohath that remained had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. The children of Merari according to their families had by lot out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. And the children of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities and their suburbs, as Jehovah commanded through Moses. And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which were mentioned by name, and which the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi had (for theirs was the first lot); and they gave them Kirjath-Arba, [which Arba was] the father of Anak, that is, Hebron, in the mountain of Judah, with its suburbs round about it. But the fields of the city and the hamlets thereof gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. And they gave to the children of Aaron the priest the city of refuge for the slayer, Hebron and its suburbs; and Libnah and its suburbs, and Jattir and its suburbs, and Eshtemoa and its suburbs, and Holon and its suburbs, and Debir and its suburbs, and Ain and its suburbs, and Juttah and its suburbs, [and] Beth-shemesh and its suburbs: nine cities out of those two tribes; and out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon and its suburbs, Geba and its suburbs, Anathoth and its suburbs, and Almon and its suburbs; four cities. All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities and their suburbs. And to the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites that remained of the children of Kohath, [they gave cities]. And the cities of their lot were out of the tribe of Ephraim, and they gave them the city of refuge for the slayer, Shechem and its suburbs in mount Ephraim; and Gezer and its suburbs, and Kibzaim and its suburbs, and Beth-horon and its suburbs: four cities; and out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its suburbs, Gibbethon and its suburbs, Ajalon and its suburbs, Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs: four cities; and out of half the tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its suburbs and Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs: two cities. All the cities were ten and their suburbs, for the families of the children of Kohath that remained. And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of half the tribe of Manasseh, [they gave] the city of refuge for the slayer, Golan in Bashan and its suburbs; and Beeshterah and its suburbs: two cities; and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and its suburbs, Dabrath and its suburbs, Jarmuth and its suburbs, En-gannim and its suburbs: four cities; and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its suburbs, Abdon and its suburbs, Helkath and its suburbs, and Rehob and its suburbs: four cities; and out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge for the slayer, Kedesh in Galilee, and its suburbs; and Hammoth-Dor and its suburbs, and Kartan and its suburbs: three cities. All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities and their suburbs. And to the families of the children of Merari, that remained of the Levites, [they gave] out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its suburbs, Kartah and its suburbs, Dimnah and its suburbs, Nahalal and its suburbs: four cities; and out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its suburbs, and Jahzah and its suburbs, Kedemoth and its suburbs, and Mephaath and its suburbs: four cities; and out of the tribe of Gad, the city of refuge for the slayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its suburbs; and Mahanaim and its suburbs, Heshbon and its suburbs, Jaazer and its suburbs: four cities in all. [These were] all the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, which remained of the families of the Levites, and their lot was twelve cities. All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities and their suburbs. Each one of these cities had its suburbs round about it: thus were all these cities. And Jehovah gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers; and they took possession of it, and dwelt in it. And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that he had sworn unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them: Jehovah gave all their enemies into their hand. There failed nothing of all the good things that Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel: all came to pass.
Do ye not know that they who labour [at] sacred things eat of the [offerings offered in the] temple; they that attend at the altar partake with the altar? So also the Lord has ordained to those that announce the glad tidings to live of the glad tidings.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 48
Commentary on Ezekiel 48 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 48
Eze 48:1-35. Allotment of the Land to the Several Tribes.
1. 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 (Jud 18:1-31), is to have the least honorable place, at the extreme north. For the same reason, St. John (Re 7:5-8) omits Dan altogether.
3. Asher—a tribe of which no one of note is mentioned in the Old Testament. In the New Testament one is singled out of it, the prophetess Anna.
4. Manasseh—The intercourse and unity between the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan, and the nine and a half west of it, had been much kept up by the splitting of Manasseh, causing the visits of kinsmen one to the other from both sides of the Jordan. There shall be no need for this in the new order of things.
5. Ephraim—This tribe, within its two dependent tribes, Manasseh and Benjamin, for upwards of four hundred years under the judges held the pre-eminence.
6. Reuben—doomed formerly for incest and instability "not to excel" (Ge 49:4). So no distinguished prophet, priest, or king had come from it. Of it were the notorious Dathan and Abiram, the mutineers. A pastoral and Bedouin character marked it and Gad (Jud 5:16).
15-17. The five thousand rods, apportioned to the city out of the twenty-five thousand square, are to be laid off in a square of four thousand five hundred, with the two hundred fifty all around for suburbs.
profane—that is, not strictly sacred as the sacerdotal portions, but applied to secular uses.
24. Benjamin—Compare Jacob's prophecy (Ge 49:27; De 33:12). It alone with Judah had been throughout loyal to the house of David, so its prowess at the "night" of the national history was celebrated as well as in the "morning."
25. Simeon—omitted in the blessing of Moses in De 33:1-29, perhaps because of the Simeonite "prince," who at Baal-peor led the Israelites in their idolatrous whoredoms with Midian (Nu 25:14).
26. Issachar—Its ancient portion had been on the plain of Esdraelon. Compared (Ge 49:14) to "a strong ass crouching between two burdens," that is, tribute and tillage; never meddling with wars except in self-defense.
31. gates—(Re 21:12, &c.). The twelve gates bear the names of the twelve tribes to imply that all are regarded as having an interest in it.
35. Lord is there—Jehovah-Shammah. Not that the city will be called so in mere name, but that the reality will be best expressed by this descriptive title (Jer 3:17; 33:16; Zec 2:10; Re 21:3; 22:3).