Ezekiel 46:16-18

6. The inheritance of the prince (46:16-18)

TRANSLATION

(16) Thus says the Lord GOD: If the prince gives a gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. (17) But if he gives of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. (18) Moreover, the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession; he shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that My people be not scattered every man from his possession.

COMMENTS

Having spoken of the offerings that a prince might give to God, a pronouncement is made about gifts which the prince might make to others. A gift of property given by the prince to his sons was to be regarded as a possession by inheritance. That property would not revert to its original owner in the year of Jubilee (Ezekiel 46:16). However, royal property given to a servant was to revert back to the prince in the year of liberty (Jubilee year) which occurred every fiftieth year (Ezekiel 46:17). Moreover, in the new era the prince was to respect the property rights of his subjects. Confiscations of property by the crown as in the case of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21) would be a thing of the past (Y. 18).