Ezekiel 48:35

It was round about eighteen thousand measures,.... Putting the numbers together which each side made, the circumference of the city was eighteen thousand measures; which, according to Cornelius a

It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city The name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there - Yahweh-shammah.

Round measuring all four squares. Eighteen thousand measures, or cubits, at which proportioned measures it was about five miles in compass; if the measures were reeds, it would be thirty miles and three hundred and twenty-five yards in compass of the walls, which cannot be conceived credible; whereas the other is the proportion the city might have been built to, if the sins of the Jews had not prevented. The name, by which it shall be called, known, and which shall be the honour of it and its glory. From that day; from the day of the Lord’ s restoring this people, and rebuilding their city, and re-establishing his worship, and their thankful, holy, and pure worshipping of God there, from the day that such unmatched mercy produceth a suitable return unto God, from that day it shall be said of Jerusalem, The Lord is there; the Lord, who, as his name alone is Jehovah, so is the only true God, faithful to promise, rich in mercy, glorious in majesty, righteous in his judgments, wise and holy in his government, whose presence makes us happy, whose withdrawing from us leaves us to misery. This God will, by his favour and presence, repel enemies and protect his people, bring with him the confluence of all good to persons, families, and cities; this God will be there to dwell, govern, defend, prosper, and crown. The people is blessed that is in such case, for their God is the Lord, . Such was the case of typical, earthly Jerusalem, though not long; such is and shall be for ever the case of the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God, the true church and temple of God. Such is the case of every true sincere believer, who may, wherever he is in his way of duty, still write, Jehovah-shammah, My God is here; and it is best to be where he is, till he bring me within the gates of the glorious city, where inconceivable light and love from the immediate presence of God give every one an eternal demonstration that hmv hnh To him be glory for ever.

Ezekiel 48:35 [It was] round about eighteen thousand [measures]: and the name of the city from [that] day [shall be], The LORD [is] there.Ver. 35. It was round about eighteen thousand measures.] See on Ezekiel 48:32 Revelation 21:16. The Lord is there.] Jehovahshammah. This is the true Church’ s name, and the true Christian’ s happiness, such as no good can match, no evil overmatch - viz., that wheresoever he is, there God is, and therefore there heaven is; like as where the king is, there his court is. This very name implies God’ s everlasting being with his Church, according to those precious texts of Scripture, every syllable whereof droppeth myrrh and mercy. This is the truth of that which the temple, while it stood as a type or figure, did represent, "This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell." God will not forsake his Church as he did the synagogue, but have it up to heaven to him, where are crowns, sceptres, kingdoms, beatiful visions, unutterable ecstacies, sweetest varieties, felicities, eternities; and all because Jehovah-shammah, the Lord is there; to him be glory and praise everlasting. Amen. So be it. Soli Deo Gloria The Jews, having finished a book, add - Benedictus qui dat fatigato robur.

(35) Round about eighteen thousand.—The circuit of the city, not including its “suburbs,” or open space, was 4 x 4,500 = 18,000 reeds, or something over thirty-four miles. Josephus reckoned the circuit of Jerusalem in his day at four miles. Measures.—This word is rightly supplied from Ezekiel 48:30; Ezekiel 48:33. On the symmetry of the city and its gates and the names of the gates, comp. Revelation 21:12; Revelation 13:16. The Lord is there.—With this name of the city Ezekiel closes his vision and his book. It is a most fitting close; for the object has been to depict, under the figures of the Jewish dispensation, the glories of the Church of the future. The culmination of this glory must ever be that the Lord, according to His promise (John 6:56), will dwell in the believer, and the believer in Him. Imperfectly as this may be carried out here on earth, the effect of the Gospel is to bring about ever more and more fully its realisation; and the closing book of the volume of Revelation, catching the echoes of Ezekiel’s prophecy, looks forward to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem “coming down from God out of heaven,” and declares, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:2-3).

Verse 35. The name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there.] It would have been better to have retained the original words: - יהוה שמה YEHOVAH SHAMMAH. This is an allusion to the shechinah, or symbol of the Divine Presence, which was in the first, but most certainly was not in the second temple; but Ezekiel tells us that the Divine Presence should be in the city of which he speaks; and should be there so fully and so powerfully, that it should give name to the city itself; and that the very name, Jehovah shammah, should remind all men of the supereminently glorious Being who had condescended to make this city his habitation. Two points must be considered here: - 1. That the prophet intended that, when they should be restored, they should build the temple, and divide the land as he here directs, if the thing could be found to be practicable. 2. That he had another temple, another holy city, another Promised Land, in view. The land of Immanuel, the city of the New Jerusalem; and his temple, the Christian Church, which is the house of the living God, 1 Timothy 3:15, in which the presence of Christ shall ever be found; and all its inhabitants, all that believe on his name, shall be temples of the Holy Ghost. Nor can there be any reasonable doubt that the prophet here, by the Spirit of God, not only points out the return of the Israelites from the Babylonish captivity, and what was to befall them previously to the advent of Jesus Christ; but also the glorious spread of the Gospel in the earth, and the final conversion of the tribes of Israel by the preaching of that Gospel. In conclusion, I think it necessary to state, that there are but few of the prophets of the Old Testament who have left a more valuable treasure to the Church of God than Ezekiel. It is true, he is in several places obscure; but there is a great proportion of the work that is in the highest degree edifying; and several portions that for the depth of the salvation predicted, and the accuracy and minuteness of the description, have nothing equal to them in the Old Testament Scriptures. On such portions, I have felt it my duty to be very particular, that I might be able to point out spiritual beauties and excellencies in this book which are beyond all praise; while I passed slightly over prophecies and symbols which I did not fully understand; but have left to time, by the fulfilment of the events, to prove to successive generations with what heavenly wisdom this much neglected prophet has spoken.

35. The whole circumference of the city was 18,000 cubits, or some-what under six miles. Josephus (Bell. Jud. Ezekiel 48:4; Ezekiel 48:3) reckoned the bounds of Jerusalem in his day at 33 stadia, or about four miles. For measures, cubits.The Lord is there] Cf. Revelation 21:3, “And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.” The prophet beheld the Lord forsake his temple (11), and he beheld him again enter it (43); now he abides in it among his people for ever. The covenant ran that he should be their God and they his people; this is perfectly fulfilled in his presence among them. The end in view from the beginning has been reached.

The circuit of the city walls, a square of 4500 reeds, was 18,000 reeds, not quite 37 English miles. The circuit of Jerusalem in the time of Josephus was reckoned by him to be about four miles.

35. “It shall be eighteen thousand… round about: and the name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah-shammah.” If the city were eighteen thousand reeds in circumference, it would measure nearly