The Mystery of Ephraim

During the Millennium the most important feature is that there will be an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and offerings, along with the faithful observance of the Sabbaths, both weekly and annual. So why are we not practising them during this current time?

The other feature is that the portion thus given to each tribe would be, on average, just two-thirds that were assigned by Joshua. And given the Great Sea is the Mediterranean Sea, and the east sea is the Dead Sea or even the Sea of Galilee, then the new Land allocated is rather small and restricted. Perhaps an area ideally holding no more than 10 to 20 million people!

This could be partly because these are onlt small remnants that came out of the Great Tribulation, after the Time of the Gentiles (perhaps this is the Sword from the South of Ezekiel 20-21; during the Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years of captivity), the same as the Time of Jacob’s Troubles. The end result may, perhaps, be no more than five percent of the house of Jacob would survive to go through to dwell in the new Promised land.

Ezekiel 47

¹ Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. — the waters of Shiloah Psalm 46:4; Isaiah 8:6 flowed from the rocks which is believed beneath the Temple Mount;

— waters; so Revelation 22:1, represents “the water of life as proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

² Then he brought me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way outside unto the outer gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. — the way of the gate northward: the east gate being shut, the prophet Ezekiel in this vision is led to the north gate, out of which he goeth into the next court, and so through them all, till he comes to the north gate of the outmost court;

— and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side; or south side of the gateway.

³ And when the man who had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. — a thousand cubits, or about one-third of a mile or half a kilometer;

— the waters flow eastward, that is, towards the Kedron, and thence towards the Jordan and so into the Dead Sea.

⁴ Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.

⁵ Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over; for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. — afterward he measured a thousand; a fourth time a thousand cubits, or about a mile and a half;

— the waters flow eastward, that is, from the Kedron onwards into the Dead Sea; those lifeless waters were healed, but the main point in the picture is the rapid augmentation from a petty stream, getting deeper and deeper into a mighty river;

⁶ And he said unto me, “Son of man, hast thou seen this?” Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river. — the metaphor; if we search into the things of God, we find some things plain and easy to be understood, as the waters that were but to the ankles; others more difficult, which require a deeper search, as the waters to the knees or the loins; and some quite beyond our reach, which we cannot penetrate;

⁷ Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. — in his first appearance he observed no trees, and no mention is made of any, but it seems he found them on this return:

— though they may not really grow so soon, they might be visionally there; as he measured the waters; sees this wonderful sight; an emblem of true Saints, believers and regenerate persons, who are trees of righteousness, planted by the river with his divine spirits.

⁸ Then said he unto me, “These waters issue out toward the east country and go down into the desert and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. — these waters signify the healing effect of God, which went forth from Jerusalem, and spread into the countries about;

— also the gifts and powers of the holy spirits which accompanied it, by virtue of which is spread far and produced healing and blessed effects.

⁹ And it shall come to pass that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither; for they shall be healed, and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. — the rivers, according to the pointing of the Hebrew text this is “the two rivers” as is expressed in the original;

— this peculiar form has occasioned some perplexity, especially because in the vision of Zechariah (Zechariah 14:8) the waters are represented as divided, half of them flowing into the Dead Sea and half into the Mediterranean.

— and there shall be a great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come multitude of fish in the Dead sea where none lived before, and owing to those waters coming thither: it signifies the great number of living Saints, who shall appear wherever the truth is truly, purely and powerfully preached;

¹⁰ And it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets. Their fish shall be according to their kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceeding many. — from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; two places, which lay, the latter one at the entrance of the Dead sea, and the former at the end of it;

— for their fish shall be according to their kind as the fish of the Great Sea, exceeding many: that is, there shall be fish of all sorts, small and great, and in large numbers as in the Mediterranean.

¹¹ But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. — shall not be healed; these design the reprobate part of the world, obstinate and perverse sinners, that abandon themselves to their filthy lusts, and sensual pleasures; that wallow like swine in the mire and dirt of sin; are wholly immersed in the evils and falsehoods of this world.

¹² And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters issued out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food and the leaf thereof for medicine.”

— shall grow all trees for food; such as bear fruit, that may be eaten and is good for food: by these “trees” are meant truly gracious souls, converted persons, real Saints, true believers in the Messiah Yeshua, the Christ;

¹³ Thus saith the Lord God: “This shall be the border whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. — according to the twelve tribes of Israel; in the ideal land of the restoration, not today’s Judah and Benjamin only, but all the twelve tribes are to have their portions;

— yet Levi is otherwise provided for in the “oblation,” and therefore Joseph, in accordance with Genesis 48:5; Genesis 48:22, and with the whole history of the nation, is to have two portions: Manasseh and Ephraim, for all Israel (all twelve tribes) is to return and dwell as one people of God under King David to their own land.

— this is further confirmed in Jeremiah 23:7 “Therefore, behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that they shall no more say, ‘The Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ v8 but, ‘the Lord liveth who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

— in the Lord’s eye, the land they are dwelling now, in western Europe, North America and Australasia, are not their land; Period!

¹⁴ And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, concerning which I lifted up Mine hand to give it unto your fathers; and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.

¹⁵ “And this shall be the border of the land: toward the north side, from the Great Sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad, — this shall be the border toward the north; the northern border of the land was to begin from the west point, on which side lay the Mediterranean sea, and to go on northward toward Hethlon, a place between Tyre and Damascus, and so forward to Zedad, mentioned Numbers 34:8, Hamath, and other places here mentioned in these verses.

¹⁶ Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.

¹⁷ And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenon, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.

¹⁸ “And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by the Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side. — if the east sea is the Dead Sea extending even the Sea of Galilee, then the land allocated is rather small and restricted. Probably this is the beginning of the Millennium and not many of the twelve tribes could have survived to make the trip?

¹⁹ “And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the Waters of Strife in Kadesh, the river to the Great Sea. And this is the south side southward. — Tamar has been identified with Kurnub, a ruined village some twenty-five miles south-west of the southern end of the Dead Sea; no mention that it would extend unto the river of Egypt (Nile).

²⁰ “The west side also shall be the Great Sea from the border till a man come opposite Hamath. This is the west side. — the Great Sea is known as the Mediterranean Sea and the land given is small and restricted, not even to the Red Sea.

²¹ “So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. — the division of the territory given into twelve parts or tribes of Israel, to which all, but what are allotted to the Prince, the priests, the Levites and the city.

²² And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you. And they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

— the land so bounded shall be divided by lot among the families of each tribe; and strangers sojourning in Israel shall inherit just as those born in the land. The stranger shall have his inheritance by lots as well among the members of the tribe in which he sojourns, which they never had such privilege before.

²³ And it shall come to pass that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God. — no stranger or proselyte or Gentile that joins himself to the people of God shall be excluded out of the tribe’s inheritance, among whom he hath sojourned and begotten children.

Ezekiel 48

¹ “Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west: a portion for Dan. — the territory falling to each tribe was somewhat smaller than of old, maybe because of some space occupied by the “oblation” (perhaps one-twentieth of the whole);

— and partly because these are those that came out of the Great Tribulation, during the Time of the Gentiles (perhaps this is also when the Sword came from the South of Ezekiel 20-21; during Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years), during the Time of Jacob’s Troubles; the portion thus given to each tribe would be rather less than two-thirds that assigned, on the average, by Joshua; perhaps no more than five percent would survive and go through to live in the new Promised land.

For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. Hosea 5:14

² And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Asher. — the original portion of Dan was at the west of Benjamin, but a part of the tribe having conquered Laish, and settled at the extreme north, now Dan is alloted the most northern of the tribes;

— Dan ~ Ireland and Denmark

³ And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side: a portion for Naphtali. — Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, and Ephraim are so far approximated to their old places as to be north of the sanctuary, Jerusalem and the Temple.

— Asher ~ Belgium

⁴ And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Manasseh. — “Zebulun and Issachar” are removed from the north to the south to make room for the second half of “Manasseh” brought over from the east of Jordan.

— Naphtali ~ Sweden

⁵ And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Ephraim.

— Manasseh ~ Uniteed Kingdom

⁶ And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side: a portion for Reuben. — “Reuben,” brought over from the east, is placed between “Ephraim and Judah.”

— Ephraim ~ United States

⁷ And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side: a portion for Judah. — Reuben; doomed formerly for incest and instability “not to excel” (Genesis 49:4). So no distinguished prophet, priest, or king had come from him;

— Reuben ~ France

⁸ “And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. — Jerusalem would be allocated to Judah, but bordering Benjamin as would be different from the time of Joshua;

— and within the house of Judah, the priests and the Levites who would dwell among Judah in Jerusalem;

— Judah ~ Modern state of Israel

⁹ The oblation that ye shall offer unto the Lord shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.

¹⁰ And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation: toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length. And the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof.

¹¹ It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept My charge, who went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. — the original Zadok was the high riest of Israel during the reigns of David and Solomon (II Samuel 8:16–18); so now a seed will come out of the original Zadok;

¹² And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. — so this land is for “a seed will come out of the original Zadok” which could be the new high priest!

— so we could conclude that the Prince (nā·śî) is not the Son, not the Messiah, nor Melchizedek, nor one of the seed of Zadok; but is another yet-to-be identified Prince!!!

¹³ And opposite the border of the priests, the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth; all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.

¹⁴ And they shall not sell any of it, neither exchange nor alienate the firstfruits of the land; for it is holy unto the Lord.

¹⁵ “And the five thousand that are left in the breadth opposite the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs; and the city shall be in the midst thereof.

— the five thousand that are left; the two strips of territory for the Levites and the priests, each 10,000 reeds wide, being deducted from the whole width of the oblation, leaves a strip of 5,000 wide and 25,000 long which is here apportioned to the city and its suburbs;

— it is called “profane” comparatively, because it was not so holy in contrast to the Temple and the sanctuary deemed as the “holy” possession of the Levites (Ezekiel 48:14), and the “most holy” of the priests (Ezekiel 48:12), though it was still a part of the oblation.

¹⁶ And these shall be the measurements thereof: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. — the measures; the city itself is to be an exact square of 4,500 reeds, and according to Ezekiel 48:17, was to have “suburbs,” or rather an open space on all sides of 250 reeds;

— the whole was, therefore, 5,000 reeds—a little less than ten miles—square, the exact width of the space that was left of the oblation, and leaving 10,000 reeds on each side of it.

¹⁷ And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.

¹⁸ And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward and ten thousand westward; and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion, and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city.

— shall be for food; this piece of land, only four times the size of the city itself, would seem a very insufficient provision for raising all the food unto them that serve the city; for the city officers, so that they may live nearby, whose life is spent for the city.

¹⁹ And those who serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. — out of all the tribes of Israel; the city itself is no longer to belong to any particular tribe, as of old, but is to be situated on the common oblation and its labourers are to be taken alike from all the tribes; still there is a portion for the tribe of Levites.

²⁰ All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand. Ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city. — the verse means that the holy oblation when the possession of the city is included forms a square of 25,000 by 25,000; that is, 10 miles square, which isn’t very big.

²¹ “And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions: for the prince. And it shall be the holy oblation, and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof.

— the Land beyond the east toward the Mediterranean and beyond the west of the city toward the Dead Sea, will be allocated to the Prince, who remains a Mystery; Who is the Prince? Maybe King David or one of his seeds?

²² Moreover from the possession of the Levites and from the possession of the city which is in the midst of that which is the prince’s, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. — the Prince’s allocation seems clearly marked away from the Levites and those of the priests;

— “Benjamin” comes immediately south of the city, and “Gad” is brought over from the east to the extreme south.

²³ “As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion.

— Benjamin ~ Norway

²⁴ And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion.

— Simeon prophesied to be scattered.

²⁵ And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion.

— Issachar ~ Finland.

²⁶ And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion.

— Zebulun ~ the Netherlands (Holland).

²⁷ And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion.

— Gad ~ Switzerland

²⁸ And by the border of Gad at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the Waters of Strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the Great Sea.

²⁹ This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions,” saith the Lord God.

³⁰ “And these are the exits out of the city: On the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures,

³¹ and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. — Judah and Levi ~ Israel;

³² And at the east side, four thousand and five hundred, and three gates: and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. — Manasseh ~ UK; Ephraim ~ US; Dan ~ Ireland, Denmark;

³³ And at the south side, four thousand and five hundred measures, and three gates: one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. — Issachar ~ Finland; Zebulun ~ Holland;

³⁴ At the west side, four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates: one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. — Gad ~ Switzerland; Asher ~ Belgium; Naphtali ~ Sweden

³⁵ It was round about eighteen thousand measures. “And the name of the city from that day shall be: The LORD Is There.”

~ THE END ~

~ by Joel Huan on November 28, 2022.

Posted in Ezekiel