Ezekiel 48:15

15 And the five thousand that is left in the breadth, on the front of the five and twenty thousand, is common -- for the city, for dwelling, and for suburb, and the city hath been in its midst.

Ezekiel 48:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 48:15

And the five thousand that are left in the breadth over against
the five and twenty thousand
Which belonged to the Levites, which was a square of twenty five thousand reeds by twenty five thousand; by the side of, or parallel to, the twenty five thousand in length, ran twenty five thousand in breadth, two ten thousands, as in the portion of the priests, ( Ezekiel 48:10 ) so in theirs, ( Ezekiel 48:13 ) , the residue whereof, five thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs;
to build a city upon for the Israelites to dwell in, and suburbs to be inhabited by those that were not of the city; or for fields and gardens, to supply the city with things necessary and convenient; though the Jewish commentators, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, say the suburbs were an open place, where were neither houses, nor fields, nor gardens: when this spot for the city and suburbs is said to be a "profane place", it is to be understood comparatively, with respect to the portion for the priests and Levites; otherwise it was a part of the holy oblation; or rather, that it was common to all the people of Israel, who might all dwell in it; and therefore Symmachus and Theodotion render it (laikon) . This "city" signifies the Gospel church, often compared to a city in Scripture, being compact together; consisting of Christians knit together in love, of the same sentiment, and joining in religious worship: a city seated on an eminence; well founded; built on the rock Christ Jesus; its buildings large and beautiful, and of lively stones; its inhabitants many, the fellow citizens of the saints; these inhabitants, of all nations, of every rank, age, and sex; and very healthful, none of them sick and diseased; healed of all maladies; living in a wholesome air, by a river, the streams whereof make glad this city, and the inhabitants of it; who have many privileges, being Christ's freemen; governed by good laws, under proper officers appointed to explain them, and see them executed: a city well fortified with the bulwarks of salvation; the city of solemnities, and of the great King. The suburbs of it are for such who are not yet of it, but are waiting at Wisdom's gates, and at the posts of her door, hoping for admittance ere long: and the city shall be in the midst thereof;
of the area of five thousand reeds.

Ezekiel 48:15 In-Context

13 `And [to] the Levites over-against the border of the priests [are] five and twenty thousand [in] length, and [in] breadth ten thousand, all the length [is] five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.

14 And they do not sell of it, nor exchange, nor cause to pass away the first-fruit of the land: for [it is] holy to Jehovah.

15 And the five thousand that is left in the breadth, on the front of the five and twenty thousand, is common -- for the city, for dwelling, and for suburb, and the city hath been in its midst.

16 And these [are] its measures: the north side five hundred, and four thousand, and the south side five hundred, and four thousand, and on the east side five hundred, and four thousand, and the west side five hundred, and four thousand.

17 And the suburb to the city hath been northward, fifty and two hundred, and southward, fifty and two hundred, and eastward, fifty and two hundred, and westward, fifty and two hundred.