19 And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.
And Solomon had twelve superintendents over all Israel; and they provided food for the king and his household: each man his month in the year had to make provision. And these are their names: Ben-Hur, in mount Ephraim. Ben-Deker in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-Beth-hanan. Ben-Hesed, in Arubboth; he had Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher. Ben-Abinadab had all the upland of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife. Baana the son of Ahilud had Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zaretan beneath Jizreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-Meholah, as far as beyond Jokneam. Ben-Geber, in Ramoth-Gilead; he had the villages of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bars of bronze. Ahinadab the son of Iddo, at Mahanaim. Ahimaaz, in Nephtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon as wife. Baanah the son of Hushai, in Asher and in Aloth. Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar. Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin. Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, and of Og the king of Bashan; and [he was] the only superintendent that was in the land. Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. And Solomon ruled over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, ten fatted oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl.
And the princes of the people dwelt in Jerusalem; and the rest of the people cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine parts in the cities. And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. And these are the chiefs of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem; but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon's servants. And in Jerusalem dwelt some of the children of Judah and of the children of Benjamin. Of the children of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalaleel, of the children of Pherez; and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shiloni. All the children of Pherez that dwelt in Jerusalem were four hundred and sixty-eight valiant men. And these are the children of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Isaiah; and after him, Gabbai, Sallai, nine hundred and twenty-eight: and Joel the son of Zicri was their overseer, and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city. Of the priests: Jedaiah [the son of] Joiarib, Jachin, Seraiah the son of Hilkijah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God. And their brethren that did the work of the house, eight hundred and twenty-two; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah; and his brethren, chief fathers, two hundred and forty-two; and Amassai the son of Azareel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer; and their brethren, mighty men of valour, a hundred and twenty-eight: and their overseer was Zabdiel the son of Gedolim. And of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; and Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, [who were] over the outward work of the house of God; and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, [who was] the principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer; and Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun: all the Levites in the holy city were two hundred and eighty-four. And the doorkeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren, that kept watch at the gates, were a hundred and seventy-two. And the residue of Israel, the priests, [and] the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, every one in his inheritance. And the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel; and Ziha and Gispa were over the Nethinim. And the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, for the work of the house of God. For it was the king's commandment concerning them, and there was a settled portion for the singers, due for each day. And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabeel, of the children of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people. And as to the hamlets in their fields, [some] of the children of Judah dwelt in Kirjath-Arba and its dependent villages, and in Dibon and its dependent villages, and in Jekabzeel and its dependent villages, and in Jeshua, and in Moladah, and in Beth-phelet, and in Hazar-Shual, and in Beer-sheba and its dependent villages, and in Ziklag, and in Meconah and its dependent villages; and in En-Rimmon, and in Zorah, and in Jarmuth, Zanoah, Adullam, and their hamlets, in Lachish and its fields, in Azekah and its dependent villages: and they encamped from Beer-sheba unto the valley of Hinnom. And the children of Benjamin from Geba [dwelt] in Michmash and Aija and Bethel, and their dependent villages, in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen. And of the Levites there were divisions of Judah [dwelling] in Benjamin.
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Commentary on Ezekiel 48 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 48
Eze 48:1-35. Allotment of the Land to the Several Tribes.
1. Dan—The lands are divided into portions of ideal exactness, running alongside of each other, the whole breadth from west to east, standing in a common relation to the temple in the center: seven tribes' portions on the north, five in the smaller division in the south. The portions of the city, the temple, the prince, and the priesthood, are in the middle, not within the boundaries of any tribe, all alike having a common interest in them. Judah has the place of honor next the center on the north, Benjamin the corresponding place of honor next the center on the south; because of the adherence of these two to the temple ordinances and to the house of David for so long, when the others deserted them. Dan, on the contrary, so long locally and morally semi-heathen (Jud 18:1-31), is to have the least honorable place, at the extreme north. For the same reason, St. John (Re 7:5-8) omits Dan altogether.
3. Asher—a tribe of which no one of note is mentioned in the Old Testament. In the New Testament one is singled out of it, the prophetess Anna.
4. Manasseh—The intercourse and unity between the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan, and the nine and a half west of it, had been much kept up by the splitting of Manasseh, causing the visits of kinsmen one to the other from both sides of the Jordan. There shall be no need for this in the new order of things.
5. Ephraim—This tribe, within its two dependent tribes, Manasseh and Benjamin, for upwards of four hundred years under the judges held the pre-eminence.
6. Reuben—doomed formerly for incest and instability "not to excel" (Ge 49:4). So no distinguished prophet, priest, or king had come from it. Of it were the notorious Dathan and Abiram, the mutineers. A pastoral and Bedouin character marked it and Gad (Jud 5:16).
15-17. The five thousand rods, apportioned to the city out of the twenty-five thousand square, are to be laid off in a square of four thousand five hundred, with the two hundred fifty all around for suburbs.
profane—that is, not strictly sacred as the sacerdotal portions, but applied to secular uses.
24. Benjamin—Compare Jacob's prophecy (Ge 49:27; De 33:12). It alone with Judah had been throughout loyal to the house of David, so its prowess at the "night" of the national history was celebrated as well as in the "morning."
25. Simeon—omitted in the blessing of Moses in De 33:1-29, perhaps because of the Simeonite "prince," who at Baal-peor led the Israelites in their idolatrous whoredoms with Midian (Nu 25:14).
26. Issachar—Its ancient portion had been on the plain of Esdraelon. Compared (Ge 49:14) to "a strong ass crouching between two burdens," that is, tribute and tillage; never meddling with wars except in self-defense.
31. gates—(Re 21:12, &c.). The twelve gates bear the names of the twelve tribes to imply that all are regarded as having an interest in it.
35. Lord is there—Jehovah-Shammah. Not that the city will be called so in mere name, but that the reality will be best expressed by this descriptive title (Jer 3:17; 33:16; Zec 2:10; Re 21:3; 22:3).