Ezekiel 45:6

6 `And of the possession of the city ye give five thousand of breadth, and of length five and twenty thousand, over-against the heave-offering of the holy [portion]: to all the house of Israel it is.

Ezekiel 45:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 45:6

And ye shall appoint the possession of the city,
&e.] Which is something distinct from the house or temple, which was as the frame of a city, being so large, and consisting of so many parts, ( Ezekiel 40:2 ) and seems also different from the city in ( Ezekiel 48:30 Ezekiel 48:35 ) , the measures of the one and of the other not agreeing. Starckius thinks that this city prefigures the academies that should be among Christians, in which the priests or ministers of the word should teach those that came out of all parts unto them; but I am rather of opinion that the civil state of the people of God is here meant, as it will be in the spiritual reign of Christ; when all civil power and authority will not as yet be put down, only it will come into the hands of the saints, and be administered by Christian kings and princes. Five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against
the oblation of the holy portion;
five thousand reeds in breadth are allowed less for the civil than the church state; and though they are contiguous, and there is a connection between them, yet are separate from each other; the material temple was in the city of Jerusalem; but the holy portion, in which the sanctuary shall be, is without the city, and the city over against that; hence John seems, to have borrowed his idea and language, "I saw no temple therein", ( Revelation 21:22 ) , though speaking of another city: the church and the world shall be no more mixed together; Christ's kingdom is not of this world, nor to be fixed on a civil establishment: it shall be for the whole house of Israel;
they shall all be under one and the same form of government; I do not say they shall be all under one temporal king or prince; but all Christian kings and princes shall exercise the same kind of rule and government; so that, as their church state will be uniform, their civil state or polity will be alike.

Ezekiel 45:6 In-Context

4 The holy [portion] of the land it [is]; for priests, ministrants of the sanctuary, it is, who are drawing near to serve Jehovah; and it hath been to them a place for houses, and a holy place for a sanctuary.

5 `And of the five and twenty thousand of length, and of the ten thousand of breadth, there is to the Levites, ministrants of the house, for them -- for a possession -- twenty chambers.

6 `And of the possession of the city ye give five thousand of breadth, and of length five and twenty thousand, over-against the heave-offering of the holy [portion]: to all the house of Israel it is.

7 As to the prince, on this side, and on that side, of the heave-offering of the holy place, and of the possession of the city, at the front of the heave-offering of the holy place, and at the front of the possession of the city, from the west corner westward, and from the east corner eastward -- and the length [is] over-against one of the portions from the west border unto the east border --

8 of the land there is to him for a possession in Israel, and My princes do not oppress any more My people, and the land they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.