Page 277 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XLVIll. 271
of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. As for the rest
of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side ;
Benjamin, one. And by the border of Benjamin,
from the east side unto the west side ; Simeon, one.
And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto
the west side; Issachar, one. And by the border of
Issachar, from the east side unto the west side; Zebu-
lun, one. And by the border of Zebulun, from the
east side unto the west side; Gad, one. And by the
border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border
shall be even from Tamar [unto] the waters of strife [in]
Kadesh, [and] to the river toward the great sea. This [is]
the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of
Israel for inheritance, and these [are] their portions, saith
the Lord Jehovah.” (Vers. 1-29.)
It will be observed that, as in the days of Joshua,
the land was divided by lot; so it will be in the day
when a greater than he takes the kingdom. The obla­
tion is a wholly new leature of this redistribution of
Israel, when He comes whose right is the crown, and
whose prime care is the sanctuary of Jehovah. Prince,
priests, and Levites shall be there, each in due place
in relation to the city and the sanctuary. For it is no
question here of heaven or the heavenly city, new Je­
rusalem, that comes down out of heaven from God,
but of the earth and the land. The temple is as
marked here as it is emphatically absent in Revelation
xxi. So there are not, nor could be, priests or Levites,
feasts or sacrifices, in the heavenly city of the Apoca­
lypse any more than in Christianity now. In Ezekiel
there are essential and indelible traits, which are only
intelligible to those who, believing the prophets, look