CHAPTER 48 Oct. 22 
The Final Division of the Land
Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east and west), Dan, one portion. 2By the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one portion. 3By the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, one portion. 4By the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, one portion. 5By the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one portion. 6By the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, one portion. 7By the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one portion. 8By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the district which you shall set apart, twenty-five thousand cubits in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in its midst. 9The district  that you shall offer to Yahweh shall be twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth. 10This holy district shall be for the priests: toward the north twenty-five thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length: and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in its midst. 11It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept My instruction, who didn’t go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. 12It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites. 13 Opposite the border of the priests, the Levites shall have an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length, and ten thousand in breadth: the entire length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. 14They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first fruits of the land be separated; for it is holy to Yahweh. 15The five thousand that are left in the breadth, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwellings and for suburbs; and the city shall be in its midst. 16These shall be its measures: the north side four thousand five hundred, and the south side four thousand five hundred, and on the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred. 17The city shall have suburbs: toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. 18The remainder in the length, alongside the holy district, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be adjacent to the holy district; and its increase shall be for food to those who labour in the city. 19Those who labour in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it. 20The entire district  shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: you shall offer the holy district foursquare, with the possession of the city. 21The residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy offering and of the possession of the city; in front of the twenty-five thousand of the offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, answerable to the portions, it shall be for the prince: and the holy offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in its midst. 22Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince’s, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it shall be for the prince. 23As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, Benjamin, one portion. 24By the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, one portion. 25By the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, one portion. 26By the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun, one portion. 27By the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad, one portion. 28By the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the great sea. 29This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their individual portions, says the Lord Yahweh.
The City Gates
30These are the exits of the city: On the north side four thousand five hundred reeds by measure; 31and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one. 32At the east side four thousand five hundred reeds, and three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one. 33At the south side four thousand five hundred reeds by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one. 34At the west side four thousand five hundred reeds, with their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one. 35It shall be eighteen thousand reeds around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there.

Commentary

48:29 It was Ezekiel, as he sat with the exiles in Babylon, who was to divide the land by lot unto the various tribes. The tragedy of all the details recorded in Ezekiel 40-48, and the very reason for their being preserved to this day, is to show us to what great extent God has prepared potential things for His people, and yet they can be totally wasted if we don’t respond. In fact according to Mic. 4:10, it was God’s purpose to exile His people to Babylon, and there to deliver them from their enemies. And yet they preferred to side with their enemies and to prefer non-deliverance from Babylon. The tragedy of it all is almost unthinkable, and yet this is what we do if day by day we chose the things of this world against the deliverance from this world which there is in Christ.
48:31 Nehemiah arranged for 12 gates to be built in the wall, as Ez. 48:31-34 had commanded there to be. See on 40:29; 43:21. This verse is alluded to in Rev. 21:12, where it appears to be given a more symbolic application to the people of God, the new Jerusalem. Judah failed to build the new Jerusalem as intended, and so the essence of the vision was reapplied in a more abstract sense, and in this form will have its fulfilment in essence.
48:35- see on 35:10.