March 1, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Ezekiel? Here’s today’s reading:
Ezekiel 48 (NIV)
The Division of the Land
1“These are the tribes, listed by name: At the northern frontier, Dan will have one portion; it will follow the Hethlon road to Lebo Hamath; Hazar Enan and the northern border of Damascus next to Hamath will be part of its border from the east side to the west side.
2“Asher will have one portion; it will border the territory of Dan from east to west............Continue Reading
The name of the city will be The Lord is There! Ezekiel has been a book that definitely shows that the Lord is there! When we are following Him or not He is there. To get our attention (by punishment if necessary) to set us back straight, and to restore us! To love and to bless us when we are following and to grow us in understanding.
Ezekiel grew me in understanding the God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We aren’t that far off from the Israelites, in fact we are all too similar, so it is so encouraging to know God is THERE!
Chapter 48 outlines the distribution of the land in the new rejuvenated Israel with the placement of God right in the middle. With God, the Israelites experience the abundance of life and abundance in the land as seen in the last chapter. The distribution of the land is interesting in that they were assigned to tribes kind of by birthright. The clearest birthright and most obedient nearest to God it seems.
Ezekiel 48
I love this!
“And the name of the city from that time on will be: the Lord is there.””
Ezekiel 48:35 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/ezk.48.35.NIV
Ezekiel 48
Listed all tribes. Breaking down how it will be distributed. Names exits out of the city.
Names the city THE LORD Lord iS THERE
So I started reading Ezekiel. How God had left the temple Ends with God describing the new temple. A great picture of our relationship with God. Worship is very important helps us to not focus on the feelings and circumstances. But the sovereignty of God
I did the reading. No comment this time.
The division of the land here is a bit different than what we find in Joshua and with far less detail of its identifying markers. The emphasis here seems to be on equality between the tribes as opposed to bigger tribes getting more land (which we see in Joshua). It may be a correction or the wrangling over land that occurred amongst the tribes and taking the peoples focus off possession and onto God, which is a good lesson for all of us. The bigger emphasis though is on what is given to the priests that were faithful to God as well as the prince that would rule. And yet the biggest emphasis is on God’s presence and His sanctuary being amongst the people. And the city in which the sanctuary would be located has a fitting name…”the Lord is there”. What a great reminder for them and us that He is in fact and He promises all who believe in Jesus that He will never leave us or forsake us. And there is no better promise than that!
Ezekiel 48
Done
Ekekiel 44 – God is to be the only inheritance the priests have. He is to be their possession. Although God does not give them an inheritence, they are given something even greater than that – the Lord and everything that is devoted to him.
45 – The princes of Israel are to stop doing what is evil and do what is right and just. It is important to God that they stop dispossessing the Isrealites of their land and be fair and just when they are measuring things out. This is so important to him that the Lord describes accurate measures so there is no question about it.
46&47 – Again, the Lord states that the prince must not take the inheritance of the people, driving them off their property. He specifically states that the priest is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that not one of his people will be separated from their property. He goes on in chapter 47 to specifically describe what land belongs to what tribes. It is important to God that it be divided equally among them.
48 – “And the name of the city from that time on will be: the Lord is there.” We can be content with what we have because we live with the assurance that God will never leave us or forsake us.
Exekiel 48