SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2015
1:42 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Portions for the Tribes
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: Ezekiel 47:13-48:7, 22-23
Message of the
verses: “13 Thus says the Lord GOD,
"This shall be the boundary by which you shall divide the land for an
inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions. 14
“You shall divide it for an inheritance, each one equally with the other; for I
swore to give it to your forefathers, and this land shall fall to you as an
inheritance. 15 "This shall be the
boundary of the land: on the north side, from the Great Sea by the way of
Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad; 16
Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and
the border of Hamath; Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. 17 “The
boundary shall extend from the sea to Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, and
on the north toward the north is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
18 "The east side, from between
Hauran, Damascus, Gilead and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the
north border to the eastern sea you shall measure. This is the east side. 19 “The
south side toward the south shall extend from Tamar as far as the waters of
Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt and to the Great Sea. This is the south
side toward the south. 20 “The west side shall be the Great Sea, from the south
border to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This is the west side. 21 “So you shall
divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 “You
shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens
who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be
to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an
inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 “And in the tribe with
which the alien stays, there you shall give him his inheritance," declares
the Lord GOD.
“ 1 "Now
these are the names of the tribes: from the northern extremity, beside the way
of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, as far as Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus,
toward the north beside Hamath, running from east to west, Dan, one portion. 2
“Beside the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one
portion. 3 “Beside the border of Asher, from the east side to the west side,
Naphtali, one portion. 4 “Beside the border of Naphtali, from the east side to
the west side, Manasseh, one portion. 5 “Beside the border of Manasseh, from
the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one portion. 6 “Beside the border of
Ephraim, from the east side to the west side, Reuben, one portion. 7 “Beside
the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one portion.
“22
"Exclusive of the property of the Levites and the property of the
city, which are in the middle of that which belongs to the prince, everything
between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin shall be for the prince.
23 “As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side,
Benjamin, one portion.
In the 34th chapter of the book of Numbers we
read the divisions of the tribes of Israel given by Moses. On March 3, 2009 I wrote the following short
paragraph on a section from the 34th chapter of Deuteronomy to
describe where the land was to be divided up among the tribes of Israel: “This section gives the boundaries given by
the Lord to Moses for the children of Israel.
These verses are divided up giving the Southern borders, (vv 3-5), and
then the western border which was the Mediterranean Sea (v-6). Next the north border was described (vv-7-9),
and finally the Eastern border (vv 10-13).
The Transjordan borders were given in verses fourteen and fifteen.” Now what we are looking at in this section of
Ezekiel is similar to this but what is different about it is that the
boundaries go straight across the land.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “From north to south, the tribes will be Dan, Asher,
Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Ruben, and Judah.
Next is the land assigned to the Lord, the prince, and the city,
followed by the tribes of Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad. It appears that all of the tribes will have
access to the Mediterranean Sea except
Zebulun and Gad. Judah the royal tribe
(Gen. 49:10) will be located adjacent to the temple area from which Jesus will
reign. The tribes descended from sons
born of Jacob’s wives’ maids, Zilpah and Bilhah—Dan, Asher, Naphtali, and Gad—are
located the furthest north and south. We
aren’t told how much land each tribe is given, but only where they will be
located. There will be peace among the
tribes as they submit to the kingship of their Messiah, Jesus Christ.”
So as we are about to conclude our study of the book of
Ezekiel we are reminded that Ezekiel has told us that when Israel would become
a nation that they would not be two kingdoms, but one as one stick, and now we
have learned that their nation will be divided up as probably it was intended
to be when they came out of Egypt, but as we will see in another quote from the
book of Deuteronomy something they failed to do: “Moses says this in Numbers 33:55, “But if
you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall
come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your
eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in
which you live.” This statement would
become true in the nation of Israel for although the kingdom under David and
Solomon did come close to conquering all of this land Israel has never had all
of this land described in these verses under their control at one time. However there is a day coming when all of
this land will be under the control of the nation of Israel and King Jesus will
set on the throne from Jerusalem and rule the entire earth from that throne and
that will last for 1000 years.” This
quote was also from my SD from March 3, 2009.
5/21/2015 2:06 PM
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