Ezekiel 45:1-8

1-8. Having given directions as to what the temple ministers should eat, the prophet now specifically states what portion of land shall be theirs, and also what portions shall be for the prince and the city (Ezekiel 45:7). The only measure mentioned in the text is that of the Hebrew cubit (Ezekiel 45:2).

Perhaps in every case where the A.V. supplies “reed” in the text it ought to be “cubit.” If this be the case, the “oblation” or “holy portion” of land thus set apart for the temple grounds, including the residence of the priests and Levites (Ezekiel 45:4-5), would be a square of twenty-five thousand cubits [about seven miles). This square is divided by lot or probably merely “allotted” into several parts, as stated in the text and shown in the chart, page 235. The central “oblation,” or holy territory reserved for Jehovah, is twenty-five thousand cubits long (E. to W.) by twenty thousand cubits (Ezekiel 45:1, LXX.) broad (N. to S.). In the exact center of this (Ezekiel 48:8) is the sanctuary, five hundred by five hundred cubits (compare Ezekiel 42:20) surrounded on every side by an open space of fifty cubits (Ezekiel 45:2). Of the first “measure,” or area, a rectangle is cut off twenty-five thousand by ten thousand cubits (Ezekiel 45:3), in which must necessarily fall the sanctuary, “which is most holy” (R.V.), and also the houses of the priests (Ezekiel 45:4). This gives the priests a holy residence district in which to live, as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. Another rectangle exactly equal to that assigned to the priests is now assigned to the Levites “for a possession unto themselves” (R.V.), for “cities to dwell in” (LXX.). Still another rectangle just half the size allotted to the priests and Levites is now cut off from this central sacred area for the city (Ezekiel 45:6), while “the prince shall have the land on both sides of the sacred reservation and the territory of the city, facing the two on the west and on the east, and equal in length to one of the portions of the tribes from the west border to the east border of the land. It shall be his possession in Israel; and the princes of Israel shall no more oppress my people, but shall give the land,” etc. (Toy, Ezekiel 45:7-8).