Ezekiel 48:22, commentary and pictures

The verse gives the prince his land in the central strip set apart in the division of the land, taking part from what belongs to the Levites and part from what belongs to the city, so that their possessions lie in the middle of his, between Judah on one side and Benjamin on the other. That ruler is a mortal man under restraint, who must not oppress the people or take their inheritance, must provide for his sons from his own property, and must bring offerings for himself, and not the Messiah in His future reign. The whole pattern belonged to a conditional offer to have been carried out literally when Israel returned from Babylon if they had been ashamed of iniquity, repented, and obeyed God wholeheartedly. Because only a small remnant went up and the nation did not turn from sin, the sanctuary and city were never built as written, and what was built was only a feeble shadow that never saw the promised glory and healing. It will never be raised literally in its original form, since its Levitical priesthood and bulls and goats for burnt offerings and sin offerings would set aside Christ's once-for-all offering as everlasting High Priest. It stands as a faint type of the new heavens and new earth with the New Jerusalem, where true Israel receives a lasting, permanent individual inheritance and dwells forever in the land God gives.

Vision Context and Prince

The verse belongs to the vision of a new sanctuary with its offerings and glory, a city, and the division of the land among Israel given in Ezekiel 40 to 48, also described as the prophecy of chapters 36 to 48 concerning the new sanctuary and the division of the land. That sanctuary is a remarkable pattern offered to Israel on stated conditions, which has never been built as written. The building is called by the word sanctuary, including in Ezekiel 48, and like the tabernacle and Solomon's temple it consists of two holy places, with its most holy place the same size as that in Solomon's temple.

The pattern was shown while Ezekiel was among the captives of Israel, to be shown to the house of Israel then in Babylonian captivity. It was given fourteen years after Jerusalem, the temple, and the sanctuary were destroyed in B.C. 588 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, thus in B.C. 574. It was an offer made to the Hebrews during their captivity in Babylon to restore them to their land and give them a city and temple in great glory.

The verse places the prince's possession between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin in the central allotment, taking from the possession of the Levites and from the possession of the city. In that arrangement the city and the Levites' possession lie within or in the midst of what is the prince's. The land would thus be restored and divided among the tribes, with the city at the center from which Israel would go out.

The prince who receives this portion is a poor, frail mortal ruler within that vision, not Jesus Christ. He is subject to limits on taking the people's possessions, must give his sons inheritance from his own property, has sons and servants to whom he may give, is forbidden to oppress the people and must take away exactions, and must offer a sin offering and other offerings for himself. Therefore the portion between Judah and Benjamin does not describe the future reign of Christ and his saints, nor the New Jerusalem.

The allotment is noted as part of the planned city, temple, land arrangement and worship, and as predicting a greater temple, without explaining the verse's particular details about the prince and the land or revealing how the work would be carried out, the circumstances being secondary. The chapter is cited as the plan for a city that some expect to be built in a future age, when offerings and sacrifices would also be carried on.

Conditional Promise and Fulfillment

The whole arrangement in Ezekiel 40 to 48 was offered as a conditional promise that would have been literally fulfilled at the restoration after the seventy years in Babylon and the return from captivity if Israel had been ashamed of its iniquities, repented, put away sin, and returned to God wholeheartedly and obediently. The sanctuary, city, offerings, glory, and division of the land among the twelve tribes, including the prince's possession taken from the Levites' possession and the city's possession between Judah and Benjamin, belonged to what Israel was to possess on that condition while in captivity.

Because the people did not turn from iniquity, slighted the offer, and failed to answer the calls to leave Babylon, the sanctuary was never erected as written and the city was never built, and the restoration was only partial and small. Only Judah and Benjamin with a portion of Levi and a few others went up, while the ten tribes slighted the decree for restoration and despised the promised blessings. The promises depended on Israel being ashamed of its iniquities and yielding to God in true and full repentance, and because they were not, the literal details will never be fulfilled as written.

What was built at the restoration was only a feeble, far inferior shadow of the pattern, the temple built by Zerubbabel, Ezra and others when about 40,000 returned, which never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected. That lesser temple fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern because Israel would not yield all to God, so God could not come in and dwell among them in overpowering glory in the city called Jehovah Is There. His presence there would have healed all barren land, all salt marshes, and all impure waters and given life to all, which the restoration temple could not do.

The sanctuary was designed to be fulfilled in the past dispensation and will never be built literally in its original form in the present dispensation or the future immortal state. The reason is that the vision assigns priestly service to the Levites, whereas Christ became the everlasting High Priest and the Levitical priesthood ceased. Its burnt offerings and sin offerings of bulls and goats with literal circumcision, divorce rules, clean and unclean distinctions and Levitical priesthood would now set aside Christ's once-for-all offering, so those sacrifices can no longer be offered without making of none effect the offering made once for all by Jesus Christ. Its setting with exactions and possible oppression, with a mortal prince who must take away exactions and must not oppress, cannot belong to the time when officers are peace and exactors righteousness with no oppression.

The promises are faint types and a spiritual prophecy of God's future restoration, to be fulfilled in greater measure apart from Ezekiel's local details. That fulfillment is the new heavens and new earth with the New Jerusalem as capital and God's continual presence, given to true Israel, the faithful, with the future glory and the fulness of the immortal inheritance in the fullest measure, but not in the literal details described, rather as described in later revelation. It brings lengthened life, harmony of character affecting animals, no harm in the holy mountain, and the full immortal inheritance and its peace and joy, connected in its greater fulfillment with Christ's second coming and Christ's work, through whom God will do greater things for His people and make good His promises in Christ. The apportionment of the land in Ezekiel 48 illustrates God's purpose for the future world: unlike the temporary inheritance in the typical promised land, the redeemed will have a lasting, permanent individual inheritance, dwell in the land God gives them, and enjoy the work of their hands throughout eternity.

Those who held the direct view teach that the verse speaks directly of the new earth and the eternal city, with the land as the earth apportioned to the twelve tribes northward and southward and eastward and westward from the city. The grand temple Israel might build at Jerusalem after the return is connected with prosperity under the reign of the coming Messiah, the promised Seed, and is destined ultimately to be the house of prayer for all nations.