Ezekiel 45:7

“And a portion shall be for the prince, &c.] Meaning not the civil magistrate; though he ought to be supported in his dignity and authority, and in such manner that he may be under no temptation to oppress his subjects; and who ought to be, and at this time will be, the protector of the Lord’s people, both in their civil and church state; but the Prince Messiah, of whom (see <264403>Ezekiel 44:3), to whom God will divide a portion with the great; Jacob shall be his portion, the Heathen his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth his possession, (<235312>Isaiah 53:12 <053209> Deuteronomy 32:9 <190208>Psalm 2:8,9): on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy…”

“The prince's possession is to consist of two halves, one on the west, the other on the east, of the sacred territory. The prince, as head of the holy community, stands in closest connection with the sanctuary; his possession, therefore, on both sides must adjoin that which was peculiarly the Lord's [FAIRBAIRN].”

“On either side of the 25,000 reeds a strip of land, running westward to the sea, eastward to the Jordan, formed the possession of the prince (see Ezekiel 46:18 note). For the other tribes the limits from west to east are the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Ezekiel 48:8. Ezekiel 45:7 And the length shall be over against - Or, “and” in length “over against.” The definition of the prince’s territory was to prevent the oppressions foretold (1 Samuel 8:14 ff), described 2 Kings 23:35, and reproved Jeremiah 22:0. return to 'Top of Page'”

“The prince - The king. Our side - One half of the prince's portion lay on the west side of those three already set out. The other side - The other half lay on the east - side thereof, so the portion of the city, Levites and priests, lay in the middle. The holy portion - Of priests, and Levites, and sanctuary. Before - It lay parallel as broad as these three were broad, and so run on both sides in its breadth from north to south, and had its length as the other, from east to west. Over against - What is called now over - against, or by the side, is called before three times together. So now you have an exact square of twenty - five thousand cubits laid out for God, the Levites and city, which…”

“45:7 On both sides of the larger sacred area (45:1-6), the remainder of the holy portion was assigned to the prince. The same principle of graded access that operated in the Temple was applied more broadly to the surrounding land. The Temple would be the geographical and spiritual heart of the new Israel. The land would be divided into strips running east to west, orienting the whole nation along the sacred east–west axis of the Temple. The city and the prince would still be important in the new economy, but they would no longer be at the center. The Lord was Israel’s King, and his dwelling place would be the hub of their existence.”

“Eze 34:24, Eze 37:24, Eze 46:16-18, Eze 48:21; Psa 2:8, Psa 2:9; Isa 9:5, Isa 9:6; Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33 Ezekiel 45:8”