Ezekiel 48:29, commentary and pictures

This is the concluding summary of the division of the land by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance as their assigned portions, within the vision of a sanctuary, a city, and the land. What was offered was conditional upon Israel being ashamed of iniquities, repenting, returning wholeheartedly from exile, and obeying all that God directed. It was never received as described because Israel did not repent and yield, only about forty thousand returned, and the sanctuary shown was never built, leaving only the small measure and shadow of the inferior sanctuary built after Babylon. That system belonged to the past dispensation under the first covenant and cannot be built literally in the future, for its mortal prince, its circumcision and distinctions of meats, and its bulls and goats for burnt-offerings and sin-offerings were superseded by Christ's once-for-all offering. The literal details by lot will never be fulfilled, but the promise will be fulfilled in the fullest measure to the true Israel, the faithful of God with the Gentiles as fellow heirs in Christ, when God makes the new heavens and new earth and apportions the promised land to the redeemed as a lasting and eternal inheritance.

Vision Context and Terms

This is the concluding summary of the division of the land by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance as their portions, closing the vision of Ezekiel 36 to 48 and especially chapters 40 to 48 describing a sanctuary or temple, a city, and the land. The allotment belongs with the sanctuary of chapters 40-48 and the whole last great prophecy from chapter 36 onward, including the sanctuary prophecy of chapters 37 to 48. The chapter is the plan some expect to be carried out in a future age, including restoration of the ancient city and continuation of offerings and sacrifices.

The pattern of another sanctuary, city, and division of the land by lot for inheritance to the tribes was shown to Ezekiel among the captives to show to the house of Israel fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed. Jerusalem, the temple, and the sanctuary were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, B.C. 588, and fourteen years after, B.C. 574, the sanctuary into possession of which Israel was to come if they complied with certain conditions was described. It was a very remarkable sanctuary and land to be divided by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance.

The land allotted by lot to Israel's tribes is identified as their inheritance and their assigned portions from the Lord, each tribe receiving its portion by the Lord's direction under the Lord God's direction. This division belongs to the city and land shown in vision and to the promised restoration of Israel and the worship described in Ezekiel 40-48. That historical allotment was temporary, but it taught God's purpose for the future world, that when He brings the redeemed into the promised land He will apportion it among them as an enduring inheritance.

The new division of the land among Israel's tribes was a conditional prophecy and provisional promise, a conditional offer whose restoration depended on turning from wickedness and meeting all the conditions God set. It was offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of their iniquities and confounded for their ways, be ashamed and put them away, repent, be cleansed from sin, return wholeheartedly from exile, obey, yield to God, and yield all to Him. If they did this God would cause the sanctuary building with its two holy places to be established, and the land promise with the sanctuary and city would have been literally fulfilled.

What was laid before literal, fleshly Israel under the old covenant was to bring Israel back to their land on the plan shown and to the mountains of Israel, gather the scattered people and bring them to Israel, make them great and fruitful, and restore Palestine and Jerusalem as a praise in the earth with unsurpassable and inconceivable glory. The offer was to establish the city, the land, and a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem showing that Jehovah is there, a greater and marvelous sanctuary where the presence of God would dwell in overpowering glory and in constant manifest presence in His holy mountain, giving victory over enemies and, with the northern enemies destroyed by plagues, establishing the Messiah's kingdom on earth. That presence would heal all barren land, all salt marshes, and all impure waters and give life to all, with lengthened life, the character of the people affecting even the animals, and no hurting or destroying there. It was a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem after returning from captivity, which would ultimately become the house of prayer for all nations.

Literal Promise Unfulfilled

The land to be divided by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance as their portions was offered as a conditional restoration that was never received as described, because Israel did not repent, did not yield to God, and disregarded the conditions of being ashamed and confounded for their ways, being cleansed from sin, putting away iniquities, and returning wholeheartedly. The ten tribes did not return, and only Judah and Benjamin with some Levites and a few others went up, only about forty thousand returning, so the sanctuary described was never erected and the full division of the land was never carried out. That fullness would have included gathering the scattered people to Israel upon the mountains of Israel, making them great and fruitful, the resurrection of chapter 37, the destruction of the northern enemies of chapters 38 and 39 by plagues, victory over enemies, dwelling among them in great glory, and building the marvelous sanctuary where the presence of God would dwell in overpowering glory. Because Israel never complied, this inheritance with all its blessed fullness was never realized in far greater measure.

What Israel had instead was only a small measure, a shadow, and a limited, partial fulfillment in the inferior sanctuary built by Zerubbabel and Ezra after the return from Babylon, with only a limited return and a meager restoration. That temple fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ, for God could not come in and dwell among a half-hearted people and could not build a temple for His name for them to dishonor. The Jerusalem of the vision was never thus restored with Jehovah there to heal all barren land, all salt marshes, and all impure waters and to give life to all. The promises of Ezekiel 40 to 48, including tribal portions with sanctuary and worship, were therefore provisional, depending on the people being ashamed of their iniquities and returning to God.

The pattern of another sanctuary, city, and division of the land was shown to Ezekiel among the captives fourteen years after the sanctuary was destroyed, to show to the house of Israel into possession of which they were to come if they complied. Jerusalem, the temple, and the sanctuary had been destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in B.C. 588, and fourteen years after, in B.C. 574, the sanctuary was described with its own specifications showing it was designed to be fulfilled in the past dispensation under the first covenant, not in the present gospel dispensation and not in the future dispensation which is the immortal state. It is not for the future immortal state, for that state has only one Prince and King over Israel, Jesus, while the prince in this vision offers sin-offerings and all offerings for himself, has sons and servants to receive inheritance, takes away exactions, is forbidden to oppress, and is a poor frail mortal. It is not for the gospel dispensation, for it belongs with literal circumcision, permitted divorce, distinction of clean and unclean meats, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats, and the Levitical priesthood, all abolished or superseded at the first advent and cross, and it was not accomplished under the first covenant because it was offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of iniquities and put them away, which they did not do.

The sanctuary and land allotments described in the closing prophecy about an unbuilt sanctuary, with provision for the former sanctuary service and its sacrifices, have not been fulfilled in the form of a city and sanctuary standing today, were never literally fulfilled, and will never be built and fulfilled literally as written. That sanctuary cannot be built to fulfill the design described, and the division of the land by lot unto the tribes for inheritance will never take place literally, because continuing its sacrifices would deny Christ's once-for-all offering, make void and annul the sacrifice Christ offered, and return to types He already fulfilled. The chapter with its description of the land and city is cited as the plan that some expect to be carried out in a future age, including restoration of the ancient city and continuation of offerings and sacrifices, without separate explanation of the allotment of land to Israel.

Greater Inheritance Typified

The division of the land by lot among the tribes for inheritance belongs to a conditional prophecy of restoration after Babylon, whose fulfillment depended on Israel turning from wickedness, repenting of iniquities, returning wholeheartedly to God, and meeting all the conditions He set. Because the people did not do so, the promised restoration and prosperity came only in small measure and the land division as described was not carried out. The land promises are a faint type of God's future restoration of the new heavens and new earth, and the greater fulfillment belongs to the glory of Christ's second coming and to the earth made new, more glorious than the local conditions of Ezekiel's time. What would have been the Messiah's kingdom established on earth with Ezekiel's sanctuary and its land arrangements, if conditions had been met, will have its peace realized still more gloriously in the new earth.

What God would have given to a true-hearted people in restored Palestine was unsurpassable and inconceivable glory, with the constant manifest presence of God dwelling in His holy mountain, lengthened life, the character of the people affecting even the animals, and no hurting or destroying there. Israel forfeited that realization for earthly Jerusalem with its city and sanctuary through unfaithfulness and failure to repent, so the land was not restored as described. Its purposes will instead be realized in the New City for the true Israel of God, fulfilled in Christ in the new creation whose capital is the New Jerusalem. That fulfillment will come under far greater conditions with much of the former detail eliminated, leaving absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures in the new-earth state.

The whole prophecy of Ezekiel 36 to 48, including the sanctuary of chapters 37 to 48 and 40 to 48, was offered to literal Israel according to the flesh at the restoration from Babylon after the seventy years' captivity on condition of shame, repentance, acceptance, and yielding to God. Because they did not yield and did not truly repent, the literal details of the land divided by lot for inheritance will never be fulfilled and the sanctuary will never be built. The promise will be fulfilled to the true Israel, the faithful of God, not in those literal details but according to later and clearer revelation in the fullest measure, with the future glory and the fulness of the immortal inheritance. Through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ, where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, so the promise cannot be limited to literal Israel to the exclusion of God's work to the world for all alike.

The allotment in Ezekiel 48 was a temporary, historical inheritance that also pictured God's purpose for the future world. This historical allotment by lot among the tribes was designed to teach that when He brings the redeemed into the promised land He will apportion it among them as a lasting and enduring inheritance. Their enjoyment of it will be eternal.