THE prophecies quoted in the foregoing chapter clearly disclose to us the reason why the land promised to Abraham should be considered " a heavenly country" in the day of its glory. But it was reserved for the vision of Ezekiel to give us those particulars that inform and satisfy the mind as to the form and shape of things in practical detail. The whole land is theirs, Abraham's and Christ's, but there i~ a method in the inheritance. Necessarily prominent are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom many mustering co-heirs from the east and the west and the north and the south, shall s~e (Luke 13: 28). Above all, they "see the King in his beauty"(Isa. 33: 17)-the Branch raised unto David who shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land (Jer. 33: 15) : for" the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one" (Zech. 14: 9). But these are general aspects. What are the details? There must be details in every actual thing. It is only
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sentimental dreams that have no details. The details in this case are supplied.
First of all, the glorified land of promise is apportioned in parallel strips among Abraham's seed after the flesh. No one will call this in question who believes the Ezekiel prophecy: "This is the land-the frontiers and divisions having previously been indicated-which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. 48: 29; see whole of chapter: also 47 : 13-23).
Secondly, a central portion out of thirteen equal portions into which the land is divided is dedicated wholly to the Lord, as "an holy portion of the land", an offering to the Lord, in length from east to west as one of the other parts (48: 8).
Thirdly, the middle part of this holy portion of the land is cut out, reserved, separated, or sanctified as an oblation to the Lord, forming an exact square of 25,000 lengths of the reed that was in the hand of Ezekiel's guide, which measured about 11 feet
(48: 20; 40: 5). Reduced to English measurement, this square, speaking approximately, is about 50 miles in length each way, and contains about 2,500 square miles.
Fourthly, this land-offering of 2,500 square miles is divided into three sections-two of equal area, and one having an area equal to half of either the other two. The first, containing 1,000 square miles, is reserved for the sanctuary, and for residences of the Sons of Zadok, "the ministers of the sanctuary that come near unto the Lord" (45 : 3, 4 ; also 48: 10, 11). The second, also containing 1,000 square miles, is reserved for the second class of priests, "the Levites that minister to the house"
(45 : 5; 48: 13). The third, containing an area of 500 square miles, is assigned to the city (verse 6). The city is a square, and stands in the centre of this
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assigned area, occupying its full extent north to south, and measuring nearly ten miles each way
(45 : 6; 48: 15, 30, 35). On each side of the city stands 200 square miles (in all, 400 square miles) of the assigned area, east and west; which is appropriated to market gardens for the supply of the city (48: 18).
Fifthly, east and west of the whole square, which contains these three several sections, lies an immense tract of country, on the same measurement, north and south, as the square, but extending to the Mediterranean sea-coast on the west, and as far east as the covenanted land may reach (the eastern border of which is defined as comprehending Damascus, Gilead by Jordan, and ending in the east sea-Persian Gulf.-Ezek. 47: 18). The exact size of this territory is not stated, but it must contain at least ten thousand square miles, which is allowing for its being only four times the extent of the central square, and it must be much larger than this. The southern border of the whole land is as far south as Meribah Kadesh (Ezek. 47: 19; Num. 20: 14). Now if a line be drawn from Meribah Kadesh, which is one journey northwards from Ezion Gaber (Num.
33: 36)-and it must be a horizontal line, for the portions are horizontal east and west-the line will strike the head of the Persian Gulf, and answer exactly to "the eastern sea" as the southernmost point of the east border. The applicability of such a line to the Dead Sea is out of the question. Such a boundary would take in vast regions which are now desert, but which then will "rejoice and blossom as the rose"-for "I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle and the oil tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine and the box tree together" (Isa. 41: 19). This would give enormous lateral extension to the holy portion of the land, and give an area much more likely
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to be 50,000 than 10,000 square miles: it will certainly be a large territory.
To what purpose is this magnificent domain applied? The answer is "the residue (on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation) shaU be for the PRINCE" (Ezek. 48: 21), "MESSIAH THE PRINCE" (Dan. 9: 25). What a splendid matter of detail is this! It is no speculation. It is a matter of revelation. It is what the whole scheme requires. The tribes have their portions in the land; the priests of all grades have their portions; the city has its portion; and the Son of David, whose name is exalted above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow-shall he have no "portion in the Holy Land when he chooses Jerusalem again"? (Zech. 2: 12). Shall he be the heir of the vineyard and have no possession therein? (Matt. 21 : 38). Shall he sit on the throne of David and have no place in David's land? (Isa. 9: 7). Shall he be the King over all the earth and have no abiding place among his loving subjects?
"The prince's portion" is the answer. A stately realm in the land of promise, stretching far enough east to embrace the original Garden of Eden, whence the first Adam was expelled, is assigned to the last Adam, as the palace of his glory on earth, the retreat of his loving communion with the Bride, the Lamb's wife.
This revelation by Ezekiel is a necessary supplement to the general declarations of the Lord's proprietorship of the earth; for we should not otherwise know the mode of his personal adjustment to that proprietorship in the day of his glory. The mere intimation that God would establish a kingdom; that Christ would be the head of that kingdom, and that the kingdom would primarily be the ancient Kingdom of Israel restored, would have left the mind in somewhat of a haze as to the personal relation
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Jesus should sustain to such a state of things. There would necessarily have been more or less a sense of anomalousness in the Lord of Glory taking part in the ways of mortal life. But all feelings of this kind are dispelled in the presence of an allotment, not only of a holy portion of the land, containing the city and sanctuary, but of a portion for the prince containing over 10,000 square miles. Such an immense area, laid out in the paradisaic beauties of Eden, is a suitable privacy for the once-crucified king of all the earth.