Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 48

Verses 1-35

The disposition of the tribes in relation to the sanctuary was then given. On the north of the sacred land Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah were to find their possessions, and in that order from north to south. In the sacred land itself, at the very center, stood the sanctuary, and the priests' possession was immediately round about it. On the north of the land of the sanctuary and the priests, was the possession of the Levites, while on its south were the city and its adjacent lands. On the east and the west of all these was the princes' portion. Then to the south of the sacred land lay the portions of Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, and in that order from north to south.

The last vision granted to Ezekiel was of the city at the south of the sacred land, having three gates toward each of the points of the compass, on which were inscribed the names of the tribes of Israel.

The final words of this prophet of hope announced the name of the city, "Jehovah-Shammah," signifying, "The Lord is there." Thus the lonely witness to the glory of God, in exile in Babylon, rejoiced "in hope of the glory of God."

It is a fit and exquisite termination to this most wonderful book. Ezekiel had been arrested and inspired by visions of the essential glory of God, which he was able to describe only in terms full of majestic suggestiveness, which even to this day we read with great reverence and wonder. He had observed the reprobation of his people, and had seen that at its deepest it consisted in the fact that Jehovah had withdrawn Himself from them. Through all the clouds and darkness in the midst of which he lived, he had looked on to the people's restoration, and had seen that it consisted in the return of Jehovah to their midst, and all the burden of his message ended with the simple and sublime word, "Jehovah is there.”