Ezekiel 45:6

_ _ And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel. No JFB commentary on this verse....

Verse Ezekiel 45:6. _YE SHALL APPOINT_] See the plan, FF. Ezekiel 48:35....

This portion is to belong to the whole people, not to be subject to the encroachments made by the later kings of Judah Jeremiah 22:13. The Levites’ portion 10,000 reeds, the priests’ portion 10,000 reeds, and the city portion 5,000 reeds. make in all 25,000 reeds from north to south. The measure of each of these portions from east to west has been defined to be 25,000 reeds (Ezekiel 45:1 note), and thus we have a square of 25,000 in all....

EXPOSITION From the sustenance of the priests (Ezekiel 44:29-26), the new Torah naturally passes in the present chapter to the maintenance of the temple service as a whole, setting forth in the first section of the chapter (Ezekiel 45:1) the portions of land that should be allotted respectively to the sanctuary, _i.e._ for the temple buildings, and the priests' and Levites' houses (Ezekiel 45:1), to the city and its inhabitants, that they might be able to discharge their religious and civil obligations on the one hand to the temple, and on the other hand to the state (Ezekiel 45:6), and to the prince to e

AND YE SHALL APPOINT THE POSSESSION OF THE CITY, e.] Which is something distinct from the house or temple, which was as the frame of a city, being so large, and consisting of so many parts, Ezekiel 40:2 and seems also different from the city in Ezekiel 48:30, the measures of the one and of the other not agreeing. Starckius thinks that this city prefigures the academies that should be among Christians, in which the priests or ministers of the word should teach those that came out of all parts unto them but I am rather of opinion that the civil state of the people of God is here meant, as it will be in the spiritual reign of Christ; when all civil power and authority will not as yet be put down, only it will come into the hands of the saints, and be administered by Christian kings and princes....

CHAPTER 45 _ 1. The portions of the priests, the Levites, of the whole house of Israel, and the prince (Ezekiel 45:1) _ 2. Concerning the prince (Ezekiel 45:9) 3. The feast of Passover and the feast of tabernacles (Ezekiel 45:18)...

THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. Compare Ezekiel 48:19....

The city possesses a strip of land 5000 cubits broad and 25,000 long, running parallel to the portion of the priests, cf. Ezekiel 48:15. The city shall stand in the midst of this tract, which it entirely covers N. to S., cf. Ezekiel 48:16-17....

IT SHALL BE FOR THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL— "This shall be the capital city, to which all the tribes shall resort upon the solemn festivals; which shall have twelve gates, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel." See Lowth, Revelation 11:1....

_5. THE APPORTIONMENT OF THE SACRED PORTION OF THE LAND_ (_45:1-8_) TRANSLATION (1) Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the border thereof round about. (2) Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred in length, square round about; and fifty cubits for the suburbs thereof round about. (3) And of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand; and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy. (4) It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, that come near to minister unto the LORD; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuar...