The eastern boundary is to commence by separating off the territory of Damascus and Hauran, and then to follow the line of the Jordan to the Dead Sea. Further, the land occupied by the trans-Jordanic tribes was also to be separated off from the land of Israel. The trans-Jordanic tribes in fact occupied their ground (in Joshua’s allotment) by sufferance. This did not belong to Canaan proper, the land of promise. Hence, the tribes, formerly on the east of the Jordan, have here allotments in Canaan, though “the oblation” Ezekiel 45:1 extends to a considerable distance beyond the Jordan (see Plan, Ezekiel 48). The whole arrangement being ideal and symbolic, the vision here, as in the case of “the waters” (Ezekiel 47:1 note), departs from the physical features of the land for the purpose of maintaining symbolic numbers.

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