Lesson: Ezekiel 47:13-23
Golden Text: “And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 47:23).
I. INTRODUCTION. During the course of history, the boundaries of many nations have changed. Ancient empires like Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Macedonia conquered or replaced one another and changed the boundaries of those lands. Today there is hardly any trace of the original boundaries of those nations. The Promised Land is a critical part of God’s program for Israel. It was originally promised to Abraham and his descendents in the Abrahamic covenant (see Genesis 12:1-3; 15:7, 18-21; 17:8). In this week’s lesson, we will see that unlike many ancient lands whose boundaries no longer exist, the land of Canaan which God promised to Abraham and his descendents will once again be occupied in the millennial kingdom by the Jewish tribes to whom it was originally given.
II. BACKGROUND FOR THE LESSON. Up to this point in our study of Ezekiel, in his vision of the future messianic kingdom, the prophet saw the new temple, the return of God’s glory, the worship that will take place in the new temple, and the life-giving stream that flowed from the temple which concluded our previous lesson. Our lesson this week is a continuation of last week’s lesson as Ezekiel is given the boundaries of the land that the repentant and restored Israelites will inhabit during the millennial reign of Christ. The details of the land given in this lesson confirm that God will literally fulfill this prophecy and His promise to Abraham and his descendents.
III. A DECLARATION OF ISRAEL’S INHERITANCE (Ezekiel 47:13-14)
A. God declares the future borders of Israel (Ezekiel 47:13). Our first verse says “Thus saith the Lord God; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.” The prophet made it very clear that the message he was about to give came directly from God as he said “Thus saith the Lord God.” The Lord was about to describe “the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel.” In other words, God would tell Ezekiel how He was going to divide the land promised to Israel as an inheritance during the kingdom yet to come, the millennium. The land will be divided among “the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.” When the land was originally divided among the twelve tribes, because of his faithfulness, Joseph was given two portions of territory. However, Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh would have those two portions, one replacing Joseph and one replacing the tribe of Levi. This would keep the total allotment to twelve tribes. The tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe and they were given territory within the borders of the other tribes (see Genesis 48:5-6, 22; Joshua 14:4). In the future kingdom, the land will again be divided among the twelve tribes, but the priests and Levites will have special lands around the temple (see Ezekiel 45:1-6; 48:8-14). As before, the Levites will have no land allotments for their tribe.
B. God declares the distribution of the land (Ezekiel 47:14). In this verse, the Lord continued to say “And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.” In that future day, Israel will “inherit” or gain possession of the land “one as well as another” meaning that the land is to be divided equally among each tribe. The phrase “concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers” means that God swore to give it to Israel’s forefathers. To lift up one’s hand means to take a solemn oath. Since God took a solemn oath to give the land to Abraham and his descendents, Israel’s future inheritance of the land is certain. The last phrase “and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance” is further confirmation from the Lord that the twelve tribes of Israel will possess all the land that God intended. The Lord originally promised the land of Canaan to Abraham (see Genesis 15:7, 13-21; 17:8) but later gave the actual borders of the land to Moses (see Numbers 34:1-12).
IV. THE
BORDERS OF THE LAND (Ezekiel
47:15-21)
A. The northern
boundary (Ezekiel 47:15-17).
1. (vs. 15). Now the Lord says “And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad.” God begins giving the boundaries of the land starting with the north side and continuing clockwise. The northern side begins “from the great sea” which refers to the Mediterranean Sea. However, we are not told exactly where along the shoreline of the Mediterranean. In the original lay of the land in Numbers 34:7, this northern beginning point appears to be a location north of Tyre and Sidon near Mount Hor which is just north of the port city of Byblos. From this northern point, the border goes “the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad.” Although no one is sure, but it’s believed that “Hethlon” may be just north of the Lebanon mountains near Mount Hor. It’s also believed that “Zedad” may be located northeast of Damascus, Syria.
2. (vs. 16). This verse continues describing the northern border including “Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.” The three places mentioned here “Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim” also lie along the northern border already described in the previous verse 15. In the Old Testament, “Hamath” was the area just north of Israel’s original designated border (see Numbers 13:21; 34:8; Joshua 13:5). “Berothah” is considered to be the same as Berothai, which was a city David conquered from the king of Zobah (see II Samuel 8:8). It is north of Damascus and today it’s called Bereitan. The exact location of “Sibraim” isn’t known, but is thought to be the same place as Ziphron (see Numbers 34:9) and is said to be “between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath.” Another location on the northern border is “Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.” The exact location of “Hazarhatticon” is not known, but it is “by the coast of Hauran” which is just south of Damascus.
3. (vs. 17). In this verse, God summarizes the northern boundary of the future land of Israel. He said “And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.” In other words, the “north side” or northern boundary will extend from the Mediterranean Sea to Hazarenan which will be the northeast corner, and then go along the northern border of Damascus with the boundary of Hamath to the north.
B. The eastern boundary (Ezekiel 47:18).
1. (vs. 18). This verse says “And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.” This means that the eastern boundary starts with the northeastern corner at Hazarenan (see verse 17) and proceeds south westward between the territory of Damascus and that of Hauran, with the Jordan River forming the boundary between the land of Israel on the west and Gilead on the east, as far as “the east sea” or the Dead Sea. “Hauran,” called Bashan in the Old Testament is the area between Damascus on the north and Gilead on the south. This area was east of Israel and in ancient times it was occupied by the tribe of Manasseh (see Deuteronomy 3:13; Joshua 13:29-31).
C. The southern boundary (Ezekiel 47:19). This verse says “And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.” The southern boundary of future Israel starts at “Tamar” which will be just southwest of the Dead Sea and continues “to the waters of strife in Kadesh” which refers to Kadesh-barnea where Moses struck the rock to get water for the Israelites (see Numbers 20:1-13; 27:14). The southern boundary will then continue to “the river” which is the Wadi el Arish. This is a stream that flows along the coast of Egypt and empties into “the great sea” or the Mediterranean Sea. God then summarizes saying “And this is the south side southward” or the southern border. In essence, the southern border of Israel will go southwestward from Tamar, then westward and then northwesterly from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. This is basically the same southern border described by Moses of Old Testament Israel (see Numbers 34:3-5).
D. The western boundary (Ezekiel 47:20). This verse says “The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.” The western border of future Israel will be “the great sea” or the Mediterranean Sea. This boundary will continue along the Mediterranean until it reaches “Hamath” which is in the extreme north. So Israel will possess all the land along its coast between the river Wadi el Arish to a point near “Hamath.” This description of the western boundary is the same as the boundary described for Old Testament Israel (see Numbers 34:6). In ancient Israel, the Philistines controlled the southern part of the western boundary, and the Phoenicians controlled the northern part. In the millennial reign of Christ, Israel will possess and control all of it.
E. A summary (Ezekiel 47:21). In this verse the Lord said “So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.” God ended His description of the boundaries of future Israel by simply saying according to the boundary instructions, the land is to be divided among the twelve tribes. In the millennial kingdom, Israel will once again become a unified nation, but the tribal divisions will also be recognized. The way the land will be divided is given in Ezekiel 48:1-29 and will be very different from the divisions in ancient Israel.
V. THE PLACE OF STRANGERS IN THE LAND (Ezekiel 47:22-23)
A. The rights of strangers (Ezekiel 47:22). The Lord continued to say in this verse, “And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.” As future Israel divided the land, God said “ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you.” The land is to be divided as an inheritance not only for the Israelites, but for any “strangers that sojourn among you.” The Hebrew word for “strangers” refers to foreigners who lived among the Israelites or resident aliens. Although under the Mosaic Law strangers were to be treated with respect, their status was different from the Israelites. Under the old covenant relationship between God and His people, “strangers” or non-Jewish people didn’t have any right of inheritance to any portion of the land. In the millennium, an inheritance will be given to strangers that live among the Jews and also “beget children among you (the Jews).” In other words, non-Jewish people, along with their natural-born children would be entitled to settle in the Promised Land. The sojourners or strangers “shall have inheritance with you (the Jews) among the tribes of Israel.” These strangers or sojourners will be Gentiles or non-Jews living among the Jews in future Israel. They will have the same privileges that were once reserved for Jews alone.
B. The location of strangers (Ezekiel 47:23). In our final verse God says “And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God.” This means that wherever non-Jewish people associated themselves with specific tribal communities in Israel, they would have an inheritance in that portion of the land. The territories will have the names of the tribes, but there will be no social distinctions made between Jews of that tribal ancestry and Gentiles who live among them. Everyone will equally enjoy the political and spiritual benefits of the messiah’s rule. As a result, the millennium will be a time of fulfillment not only for the remnant of a restored and reconciled Israel, but also for believing Gentiles coming out of the Great Tribulation (see Revelation 7:9-17).
VI. Conclusion. The land was part of God’s original promise to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. It played a central role in God’s dealings with Israel throughout the Old Testament. Because of Israel’s consistent unfaithfulness to her God, she was exiled from the land. But despite that unfaithfulness, God’s purpose is not thwarted. In accordance with His original plan, God will restore His people and the aliens or Gentiles who reside with them, to the land that He promised. Once restored and reconciled to their God, they will dwell there in peace and prosperity in accordance with His covenant promises.
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