Ezekiel 48:10, commentary and pictures

The verse sets apart for the priests a holy portion twenty-five thousand long toward the north and south and ten thousand broad toward the east and west, with the sanctuary of the Lord in its midst. It belongs to the closing temple, city and land vision offered to Israel on condition of shame for sin and wholehearted return to obedience. Because Israel failed to meet that condition, the sanctuary with its portion was never erected in its full glory, and the restoration temple built under Zerubbabel and Ezra was only a faint shadow of the pattern. It was meant for that past dispensation under the first covenant and will never be built literally, since its prince, sacrifices, circumcision and Levitical priesthood cannot belong to the gospel age or the immortal state. Instead its promises will be more than made good spiritually through Christ to His true Israel in the new heavens and new earth, whose capital is the New Jerusalem, where the redeemed receive a permanent inheritance.

Vision Words and Setting

The holy oblation belongs to the priests, a measured holy portion set apart for them twenty-five thousand in length toward the north and toward the south and ten thousand in breadth toward the west and toward the east. The sanctuary of the Lord is placed at its center, in the midst of that priestly allotment. It is the sanctuary building shown for Israel in captivity, with its surrounding allotment and its holy portion for the priests.

It belongs to the detailed plan for the sanctuary, city, and land in Ezekiel 40 to 48, the last nine chapters of the book. That same vision is also reckoned as beginning in Ezekiel 36 or in Ezekiel 37 and continuing to the close of the book, including the land blessings and restoration of Ezekiel 47-48. From Ezekiel 40 onward the city and sanctuary, including this oblation, describe what would have been built.

It was given while Ezekiel was among the captives of Israel, when Israel had been in Babylonian captivity twenty-five years. The year was B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple, and the sanctuary were destroyed. That destruction was in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in B.C. 588.

The pattern of city and sanctuary was to be shown to the house of Israel. It was to be made known to them if they were ashamed of all that they had done. It was given to shame them for iniquity and to call them to return and give themselves wholly to God.

Conditional Offer to Israel

The holy oblation for the priests with the sanctuary of the Lord in its midst, with the city and the division of the land, was offered to captive Israel on condition that they be ashamed of all they had done and of their iniquities, put away sins and wickedness, and return wholeheartedly to God in faith and obedience to give themselves wholly to Him. The pattern from Ezekiel 40 onward, including the temple and its rites and the land blessings of Ezekiel 47-48, describes what would have been built if Israel had been faithful, and since Israel was unwilling it stands as a prophecy of greater spiritual things to be accomplished through Christ. What God promised on that condition was to establish the building, cause the twelve tribes to return, and fulfill the detailed plan for sanctuary, city, and land literally for Israel.

Had the conditions been met God would have wrought a much fuller restoration after the Babylonian exile, with a new and greater sanctuary and God dwelling among His people in unprecedented glory. The land would have been divided on a different plan and healed, sanctuary worship with its attendant sacrifices set up, Jerusalem built, and a far greater and grander temple erected in great glory. That wonderful sanctuary and temple would have belonged to Israel's restoration from Babylon if the people had forsaken sins and returned wholeheartedly, pointing forward apart from the local conditions of Ezekiel's day to a greater fulfillment in the glory of Christ's second coming and its events.

Israel did not meet the conditions, was not ashamed, and did not put sin away, so the sanctuary with its holy oblation was never erected in its full blessed fulness. When Cyrus decreed restoration all Israel could have gone up to the land of promised blessing, but the ten tribes slighted the offer of Cyrus and the promised blessings of God, only Judah and Benjamin with a portion of Levi and a few others went up, and Israel loved Babylon more than the Jerusalem they professed to love and failed to respond to the three calls to leave Babylon. The city as Jerusalem would have been built was never built, not because God changed His mind but because Israel failed to do their part, and Jerusalem was destroyed.

If Israel had yielded and been brought back to the mountains of Israel, the northern enemies would have been destroyed by plagues, Israel would have built this sanctuary, and the presence of God would have dwelt among them in overpowering glory. Because they continued in apostasy and would not yield all to God, its promises were only feebly and faintly realized and fulfilled only in small part and weakly in the sanctuary built at the restoration by Zerubbabel with Ezra, under Ezra and Zerubbabel. That temple was only a shadow of Ezekiel's glorious temple, far short and inferior to and far short of Ezekiel's pattern, and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ.

Never Built Nor Future

The pattern of city and sanctuary in Ezekiel 40-48, including the priests' holy oblation measured twenty-five thousand toward north and south and ten thousand toward west and east with the sanctuary of the Lord in its midst, was given while Ezekiel was among the captives in B.C. 574, fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588. It was offered to Israel to possess on condition of compliance on their part, and was designed to be fulfilled in the past dispensation under the first covenant, not in the present gospel dispensation, not in the Christian dispensation after it began, not in a future age-to-come, and not in the future immortal state. It has never been built because the conditions were not met, it was never erected in its full blessed fulness, it will never be built as described, and it is never to be built. When Cyrus decreed restoration all Israel could have gone up, but the ten tribes slighted the offer and only Judah and Benjamin with a portion of Levi and a few others went up, so the house rejected the gracious offer and the sanctuary with its holy oblation was never erected. The verse therefore does not describe a future temple to be built after the Christian dispensation began, and the prophecy does not belong to the future reign of Christ and His saints.

It cannot belong to the future immortal state and glorified reign of Christ and His saints, because its prince offers sin offerings and other offerings for himself, exacts from the people, has sons and servants to receive inheritance, and must be forbidden to oppress. This proves him a poor frail mortal and not Jesus, the one Prince and King over Israel in the glorified state where officers are peace and exactors righteousness. It cannot belong to the gospel dispensation, because it requires literal circumcision, permits divorce, maintains distinction between clean and unclean meats, continues burnt offerings and sin offerings of bulls and goats, and continues the Levitical priesthood. All these were abolished or superseded at the first advent and the cross by the priesthood of Melchizedek.

The temple and land arrangement belonged to a conditional prophecy, and because Israel did not turn from wickedness and continued in apostasy, Ezekiel's glorious temple was not built and its promises were only feebly and faintly realized in shadow in the sanctuary built by Zerubbabel. The sanctuary cannot now be set up literally with animal sacrifices, for its prescribed sacrifices show God would not ordain it again. To offer sacrifices now would annul and make of none effect the offering made once for all by Jesus Christ and would make His sacrifice void, since Christ's death fulfilled the sacrifices it required. The vision was conditional upon Israel being ashamed and confounded for their ways, cleansed from sin and faithful, and because Israel failed it was never built in its full blessed fulness.

The vision is not identical to the New Jerusalem, and its sanctuary and priestly arrangements do not predict a future restoration of the Jewish people or of the Levitical sacrificial system. The argument opposes applying the measured holy portion with the sanctuary at its center, as part of a city and sanctuary some expect to be built in a future age, as a literal restoration of ancient Jerusalem with renewed offerings and sacrifices. One account presents Ezekiel 48 as prophesying the building of a greater temple without specifying its construction circumstances, focusing on the historical facts of Herod's temple. Another describes the detailed grand and magnificent temple Israel might build at Jerusalem after exile as ultimately becoming a house of prayer for all nations.

Greater Fulfillment in Restoration

Since Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly and forsake sin, the chapter stands as a prophecy of greater spiritual things the Lord would accomplish for His people through Christ. It is a type of God's broader promises whose final fulfillment is connected with the second coming, with the glory of Christ's second coming and the events connected with it, not with a return of the local conditions of Ezekiel's day. The temple and land arrangement belonged to a conditional promise of restoration after the Babylonian exile that would have been built if Israel had turned from wickedness, but that restoration did not take place and was fulfilled only in small part and weakly.

The promises associated with the temple faintly point to God's restoration of the new heavens and new earth and the earth made new. Because Israel did not yield to God in faith and obedience, these details will not be fulfilled as described and will never be fulfilled literally or built as described, since Christ's death fulfilled the sacrifices it required. All those precious promises will be more than made good to His Israel in Christ Jesus, the true Israel, in future glory and immortal inheritance, with much of the former detail omitted. God's purpose remains the same though times and surroundings differ, to redeem the true Israel and give a more glorious inheritance, even the earth made new, whose capital city is the New Jerusalem as recorded in Revelation 22 and whose purposes will be realized in the New City prepared for God's true Israel.

Had the Jews yielded to God the building would have been built on this present earth as part of the gradual establishment of the Messiah's peaceful kingdom. Because God's people did not meet the conditions it was not fulfilled then, but it will be fulfilled more gloriously in the earth made new where absolute peace presides over all nature. Because Israel failed and loved Babylon more than Jerusalem and did not respond to the calls to leave Babylon, God had to prepare the holy city in heaven instead, and that city is now prepared and will descend upon the earth. The ancient calls out of Babylon stand as an object-lesson of the last call to come out of Babylon now sounding through the earth.

The allotment of the land is a picture of God's purpose for the future world, that the redeemed will receive an individual, permanent, enduring inheritance, not temporary. The only holy, worthy thing is that in which God dwells, summed up in Jehovah is there. The presence of God there would heal all barren land, marshes, deserts, salt lands and marshes, and all impure waters, and would give life to all, and would make wild beasts mild under righteousness so the smallest infant is safe. That temple was never built and never will be built, because Israel would not yield all to God, so God could not come in and dwell among a half-hearted people to be dishonored, and the temple built at the restoration fell far short of the pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ.