Ezekiel 48:1, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 48:1 begins the final division of the land in the vision of Ezekiel 40-48, giving Dan its portion at the far north with its boundaries east and west as part of a portion for each of the twelve tribes around a new sanctuary and city. That division belonged to a conditional promise offered if Israel would put away wickedness, return wholly to God and live up to its calling, but Israel did not meet the conditions and only a small remnant returned from Babylon, so the promised restoration was forfeited for earthly Jerusalem. Therefore the temple, city and tribal allotment were never built in that form and never will be, for its mortal priests and renewed animal sacrifices ceased at Christ's death and cannot be ordained again without setting aside His once-for-all offering. Because Israel was unwilling, the vision stands as a prophecy of greater spiritual things through Christ, to be more than fulfilled to His true Israel in the new heaven and new earth, where as Dan received its ordered portion in the north so God will allot a permanent inheritance to the families of the redeemed.

Wording and Historical Setting

Ezekiel 48:1 begins the allotment of the land among the tribes, assigning Dan a portion at the northern end, from the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon as one goes to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward to the coast of Hamath, with its sides east and west. That northern placing of Dan opens the ordered division of the land described in Ezekiel 48, which belongs to the day's reading about whether one will have a place in the heavenly city. The allotment is part of a division of the land again among the twelve tribes on a different plan, with a portion assigned to each tribe and to each tribe and family. The promised land was thus divided among Israel's families, with Dan receiving its portion at the northern end.

The verse belongs to the vision of Ezekiel 40-48, describing a new sanctuary and temple, its services and sacrifices, with the city, the restoration of the land, and the division of the land around it. That detailed description of sanctuary, city, and land was what God would have given Israel with extraordinary glory to land and people if they had met His conditions and returned wholeheartedly. Because they were unwilling, the vision stands also as a prophecy of greater spiritual things God would do for His people through Christ, while its general promises point to God's future work without the local conditions of Ezekiel's time. Its own specifications show it was designed to be fulfilled in the past dispensation, not in the present gospel dispensation nor in the future immortal state, since it includes mortal rulers, Levitical priests who marry and can die, and offerings that ceased at Christ's death. A literal renewal through animal sacrifices cannot be resumed, because that would undermine Christ's once-for-all offering and set aside the sacrifice Christ offered.

The sanctuary description in Ezekiel 40-48 was given in B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple, and the sanctuary were destroyed in B.C. 588 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, while Ezekiel was among the captives of Israel. It was offered as a very remarkable sanctuary they would come into possession of if they complied with certain conditions, promising the return of the twelve tribes to the land with the sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 and the blessings of Ezekiel 47-48 if Israel would be ashamed of iniquities and put them away. As the close of Ezekiel 40-48, Ezekiel 48 shows the pattern of a glorious, grand and magnificent temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem teaching that Jehovah is there, whose presence would heal all barren land and salt marshes and impure waters and give life to all, ultimately destined to be a house of prayer for all nations. Because Israel would not yield all, God could not come in and dwell among them and could not have a temple built for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor, so Jerusalem was never thus restored and that temple was never built.

The prophecy does not reveal the process by which the greater temple would have been built, and the circumstances of its construction are secondary to the prophecy. Its instruction included its services and sacrifices, which cannot be resumed, and it was not to be built after the Christian dispensation began and will never be built. No separate explanation is given of this verse's specific boundary or allotment of Dan's portion beyond its place in the temple vision and its arrangements.

Conditional Promise Forfeited

The allotment beginning with a portion for Dan in the north belongs to a conditional prophecy running from Ezekiel 36-37 to the close of the book, offered on condition that Israel put away wickedness and lewdness, be ashamed and confounded for its ways, be cleansed from sin, and return wholly to God and live up to its calling. The tribal division with its city, restored land, and rebuilding of the temple in glorious form from Ezekiel 40 onward would have been built if Israel had been faithful and ashamed of iniquity, and its promises and figures would have been fulfilled literally. Because Israel was not ashamed and its sins were not put away, the promise of the city, the land, and the temple was not then fulfilled to them.

Had Israel complied and been ashamed and confounded, been cleansed, and returned to the mountains of Israel, God would have done better to them than at their beginnings, gathered the scattered twelve tribes and united them, and brought the land and people to extraordinary glory. He would have raised them as in the resurrection of Ezekiel 37, destroyed the northern host of Ezekiel 38-39 by plagues, burned weapons for seven years, and given the full division of the land by tribes beginning with Dan in fullest literal detail together with the temple and its sacrifices. There His overpowering glory would have dwelt in a marvelous sanctuary where sacrifices were appointed and His people would worship in a city marked by His presence, with Jerusalem made a praise in the earth and all enemies far and near conquered and the faithful brought back even from the dead.

Those promises would have been fulfilled in far greater measure after the return from the seventy years in Babylon if the people had yielded, truly repented, forsaken sin, and met the conditions God set. Israel did not meet the conditions, was not ashamed, would not yield all, and rejected the gracious offer made fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed. When Cyrus decreed restoration so that all Israel could go up, the ten tribes slighted the offer and its promised blessings, and only Judah and Benjamin with part of Levi and a few others went up, only about forty thousand returning, so the promised restoration was forfeited for earthly Jerusalem and was realized only in small part or not at all and its glory was not inherited.

Therefore that sanctuary with all its blessed fullness was never built in that form and never will be built, Jerusalem was never thus restored, and the city was never built because Israel failed to leave Babylon and do its part. The best Israel had was only a weak shadow in the inferior temple of Zerubbabel and Ezra, which fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, since God could not come in and dwell among a half-hearted people to have a temple built for His name for them to dishonor. These prophecies stand under the conditions of universal application stated in Jeremiah 18:8-10.

No Future Literal Fulfillment

Ezekiel 48:1 belongs to the vision of the temple, sanctuary and land arrangement in Ezekiel 40-48, given in B.C. 574 fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in B.C. 588 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah while Ezekiel was among the captives, as a very remarkable sanctuary they would come into possession of if they complied with conditions, and that sanctuary has never been built and will never be built, giving no separate meaning for Dan's boundary apart from that whole arrangement. Its own specifications show it was designed to be fulfilled in the past dispensation, not after the Christian dispensation began, nor in the present gospel dispensation, nor in the future immortal state. Its sanctuary and ordinances do not describe the immortal state or the gospel dispensation, because the vision also includes mortal rulers, Levitical priests, and offerings that ceased at Christ's death.

It does not describe the future reign of Christ and His saints, and its city will not replace the heavenly Jerusalem. Despite points of similarity, points of dissimilarity forbid identity with the New Jerusalem of Revelation. The vision was a conditional offer made fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed, promising the return of the twelve tribes to the land with the sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 and the blessings of Ezekiel 47-48 with Dan's portion if Israel would put away lewdness and wickedness and be ashamed and confounded for iniquities and put them away, but Israel was not ashamed and rejected the gracious offer, and when Cyrus decreed restoration so that all Israel could go up the ten tribes slighted the offer and the promised blessings and only Judah and Benjamin with part of Levi and a few others went up, so the sanctuary was never erected and the promises of a restoration of the Jewish people and the Levitical system have been forfeited and will not be fulfilled in that form. The city and its arrangements with its portion for Dan and its offerings and sacrifices are cited as part of a proposed future-age order, and that claim that this city will replace the heavenly Jerusalem is rejected.

Its own specifications prove this, for its priests were all Levites, not a people taken from all nations, who marry widows and can die, while those immortalized at the second advent neither marry nor die. It includes mortal rulers and a ruling prince who cannot be Christ, because he offers a sin offering for himself and is forbidden to oppress the people or take their possessions for his sons, while Christ possesses the uttermost parts of the earth.

Its prescribed animal sacrifices and offerings, which ceased at Christ's death, show it was not a sanctuary God would ordain again, and it was provisional and conditional on the people becoming ashamed of iniquities and turning from apostasy and returning to God. Because they did not repent, the sanctuary and its promises were only weakly realized in the temple built by Zerubbabel, which fell short of the pattern. A literal renewal through animal sacrifices cannot be fulfilled because that would undermine Christ's once-for-all offering and set aside the sacrifice Christ offered, since the Lord Himself suffered and fulfilled all types. A revival of its types after the fact is impossible, because the type cannot follow the fact, repentance and confession must precede remission, and Christ ministers in heaven and closes His ministration before His coming. God cannot go back to the typical sacrifices that pointed forward to Jesus Christ.

Because Israel failed and did not yield and truly repent, that literal fulfillment with the temple, sacrifices, and tribal details beginning with Dan will never take place and never can be built, though these prophecies stand under the conditions of universal application stated in Jeremiah 18:8-10. Had Israel met the conditions of faith and obedience, the division of the land by tribes beginning with Dan would have been fulfilled in fullest literal detail after the seventy years in Babylon, together with the burning of weapons for seven years and the building of the temple with its sacrifices, bringing back the faithful from the dead, conquering all enemies far and near, and making Jerusalem a praise in the earth with the promised sanctuary within that city. Because they did not, these territorial allotments will not be fulfilled literally, though the faithful will receive the future glory and fullness of the immortal inheritance, and God's purpose remains the same to redeem the true Israel with a more glorious inheritance in the earth made new and to punish Gog and Magog representing the northern nations in part in this world and in full at the coming of Christ and at the end of the 1,000 years.

Greater Spiritual Fulfillment

Ezekiel 48:1 belongs to the conditional vision of the temple and its arrangements for Israel after the Babylonian captivity, describing tribal portions as part of what would have been fulfilled if the people had returned wholeheartedly and forsaken sin. Because they were unwilling and were not ashamed of their sins, that restoration and its promised glory were realized only in a small part or not at all, and the vision stands also as a prophecy of greater spiritual things to be done for the people through Christ. Its general promises therefore point to God's future work for His people, to be realized in greater fullness at Christ's second coming without the local conditions of Ezekiel's time.

Though forfeited for earthly Jerusalem, the promise of the city, the land beginning with a portion for Dan, and the temple in glorious form from Ezekiel 40 onward will be more than fulfilled to His Israel in Christ Jesus in the new heaven and the new earth whose capital city is the New Jerusalem. That vision presented God's future purpose for Jerusalem on condition that His people turn from sin, give themselves wholly to Him, live up to their calling, and receive the good things promised. Because Israel was not ashamed, their sins were not put away, and they failed to leave Babylon and do their part, the city was never built and the promised restoration was forfeited for earthly Jerusalem. The failure did not mean the purpose had changed, for its purposes will instead be realized in the New City prepared for God's true Israel, the holy city prepared in heaven to descend to earth.

Had the conditions of faith, obedience, yielding, and true repentance been met, the territorial allotments beginning with Dan would have been fulfilled then in fullest literal detail after the seventy years in Babylon, together with the burning of weapons for seven years and the building of the temple with its sacrifices. Because Israel failed, those details will not be fulfilled literally and that literal fulfillment will never take place. Yet the purpose remains the same to redeem the true Israel with a more glorious inheritance in the earth made new, while the faithful receive the future glory and fullness of the immortal inheritance. Gog and Magog representing the northern nations will be punished in part in this world and in full at the coming of Christ and at the end of the 1,000 years.

The allotment of the promised land among God's people, with Dan receiving a portion at the northern end among Israel's families, was temporary in its historical form but was designed to teach the purpose for the future world. The land's being married to its people signifies that each person's inheritance will be permanent. When God brings the redeemed into the promised land, He will allot it to their families. The ordered division of the land containing Dan's portion bears on whether one will have a place in the heavenly city.