Commento su Ezechiele 48:39

And these are the names of the tribes The arrangement of the portions they divide among themselves; the place of each one.

From the northern end Dan will receive the northern border from Hazer-enan, which is at the eastern corner, until the border of Damascus (in the northwestern corner).

and he shall have the eastern side to the sea i.e., from the eastern side until the sea, Dan [shall have] one portion. Now, he delineated the length but not the width. In the Baraitha of Sifrei in the portion of Ha’azinu (Deut. 32:12), [it says]: “What is the reason for stating, ‘Judah: one portion; Dan: one portion; Asher: one portion?’ It is to teach us that Israel are destined to receive the length, from east to west, measuring 25,000 rods in width, which equal 75 mil.” Now from where did they learn this measurement? From the offering, which is like one of these portions, as is explained above (45:1,6). I found that the following is written: “the length is like one of the portions, and it has a width of 25,000 rods, and a length, from the western side to the eastern side, of twenty-five thousand rods.” [Now, 15, 000 rods] equal 150,000 cubits, for a rod equals six cubits, and every 2,000 cubits equals one mil as we find in Tractate Yoma (67a) regarding the ten sukkot [booths] from Jerusalem to the precipice- behold 150,000 cubits amount to 75 mils. This is what Rabbi Eliezer [Hakalir] established in the liturgical poem, entitled “When I take an appointed time” (the last poem for the second day of Succoth): “At the time of the division of her lands, like a row of a vineyard abroad, in the length from the eastern side to its ends, until the ocean are its commandments, with a width of seventy-five mils are its limits.” (Some editions read: Seventy-five mils to thirteen strips, between the strips of the tribes and the strips of the Sanctuary will amount to 975 mils. Now, according to the figure of 400 parasangs by 400 parasangs for the land of Israel, the mils amount to 1600 [not 975] according to the figuring of the Kalir, who said that four mils equal a parasang. Perhaps the mils of the computation by strips are larger, four of them not fitting into a parasang, and he therefore came to count two and a half mils to a parasang, by which 400 parasangs will equal 1,000 mils. However, the computation of the mils of a strip equal only 975 mils, still leaving the total 25 mils short. The sum of the liturgical poet’s mils of strips does not equal the sum of four hundred parasangs. And whence did Rabbi Eliezer learn that the length of the strips extended to the ocean, which is at the end of the world, whereas Scripture testifies that the western border is [only] until the Great Sea [the Mediterranean], which is quite a distance inland from the ocean?)

And alongside the border of Dan and alongside the border of Dan to its south.

shall be the offering etc., Now, if you ask, how is it possible that Jerusalem should be in its place? Was not Jerusalem on the northern border of Judah, which received the south of the land of Canaan? And here it is in the middle of the tribes! [I will answer you that] this division is not like Joshua’s division, for this one is like the rows of a vineyard and all the portions are equal, whereas [in] Joshua’s division, the tribe of Judah had such a large portion that [its territory was] too much for it until Simeon took part of it as is said (Josh. 19:9): “Out of the lot of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon.” Therefore, the width of the portion that Judah received in the days of Joshua suffices now for the five remaining tribes to take a share of it, because its length was very great, from the eastern side to the ocean, and Jerusalem is located there.

and the Sanctuary shall be in its midst as he proceeds to explain.

The offering that you shall separate for the Lord From this portion that was separated alongside Judah on their south, whose length is from the east to the sea and whose width is 25,000 rodsfrom it shall be the offering for the Lord for the Sanctuary and a place for houses for the priests, the length 25, 000 rods from east to west and the width 10,000 north to south.

And these shall be the offering of the Sanctuary for the priests [Heb. וּלְאַלָה.] And these 10,000 in width and 25,000 in length shall be for the priests in the north in the midst of the strips of the great offering alongside the south of Judah.

to the north 25,000 That is the length from east to west.

and to the west the width is 10,000 The western border is 10,000 wide from north to south.

and to the east the width is 10,000 The eastern side is 10,000 from north to south.

and to the south the length is 25, 000 from east to west.

and the Sanctuary of the Lord shall be in its midst This is the Temple Mount. Five hundred rods by 500 rods shall be in the center of this strip, and all its surrounding area shall belong to the priests: 12,250 to the east and likewise to the west and in the width, 4,750 to the north and likewise to the south, as stated above (45:2) “of this, there shall be for the Sanctuary five hundred by five hundred, square.”

The hallowed part shall be for the priests This part, which is hallowed, shall be for the priests.

separated [Heb. תְּרוּמִיָה,] separated. תְּרוּמָה is the noun, separation. תְּרוּמִיָה means separated. And this strip shall be separated for them, from the offering of the land, from the great separation that was separated from the land, whose length is from the ocean to the eastern border by the width of 25,000, as is stated above. From it, they shall set apart this strip, at the middle of its length, for the priests and for the Sanctuary.

holy of holies for the entire great separation is holy for the priests, the Levites, the prince, the possession of the city, and those who serve the city, as he proceeds to explain. This 25,000 in length and 10,000 in width in its north which is separated from it [the total holy area] shall be “holy of holies” for the priests and the Sanctuary.”

alongside the border of the Levites [Heb. אֶל-גְבוּל הַלְוִים, lit., to the border of the Levites,] alongside the strips of the Levites.

And the Levites: opposite the border of the priests Alongside the strips of the priests, like the measurement of the priests, parallel to its entire length.

every length The length of all the strips is 25,000.

or exchange And he shall not exchange it for any other land.

And the 5,000 that remain in the width of the strips of the great separation which was 25,000 [in] width and its length was the same as that of any portions from the eastern side to the western side. From that he set apart two strips from its center, 25,000 long and 20,000 wide; and 5,000 were left over in its width. Those 5,000 of the width shall be for the residential area of the city, their length facing the 25,000 length of the offering for the Levites.

is non-holy [These 5,000 rods of land] are not holy like the “offering” of the strips of the priests and the Levites. It is non-holy as compared to them, and they shall be for the city for dwellings of Israelites and for an open space around the city.

it its midst in the middle of that strip.

And these are its measurements [i.e., the measurements] of the city.

The north side, etc. 4,500 rods by 4,500 rods square. Five hundred remain in the width, which will provide them with an open space, 250 to the north and 250 rods to the south, as is stated in the following verse, and likewise to the east and west. Thus we have 5,000 by 5,000 in the middle of the strip, thereby filling its entire width. In the length of this third strip, 10,000 are left to the east and 10,000 are left to the west. Concerning them, Scripture states (verse 18): “And the remainder in length, opposite the offering of the Sanctuary: 10,000 to the east and 10,000 to the west.”

The city shall have an open space All the ‘migrashim’ of the cities in Scripture are an open space with neither houses or fields.

and its grain shall be for food for those who serve the city These are the Gibeonites, who were made wood-cutters and water-drawers (Josh. 9:27). So I heard in the name of Rabbi Menahem of blessed memory.

לְעוֹבדֵי הָעִיר, “as servants” in Old French: to the workers.

of all the tribes of Israel shall serve him for they gave them this as a portion of the land.

The entire offering that is hallowed, that is separated from the great separation, amounts to 25,000 by 25,000 rods.

a square [Heb. רְבִיעִית,] a square, alongside the offering for the Sanctuary, for the priests and the Levites, and the possession of the city.

the possession [Heb. אַחֻזַת,] porpris in Old French; precincts.

And the remainder shall be for the prince, etc. and the remainder of the length of the great separation.

on either side to the east and to the west of the offering of the Sanctuary and the possession of the city.

alongside 25,000 of the offering alongside the 25,000 width of the offering extending to the eastern border of the entire land of Israel.

and to the west, alongside, etc. and likewise to the west, facing the three strips of the priests, the Levites, and the city’s possession, in the width of 25,000.

the western border [Heb. עַל-גְבוּל יָמָּה,] like עַד גְבוּל יָמָּה, until the ocean.

shall belong to the prince [lit. to the prince,] it shall be.

opposite the portions opposite the length of the tribes” portions.

and the offering of the Sanctuary...shall be i.e., the strip of the priests.

and the Sanctuary of the House shall be in its midst Everything is in the middle of the inheritance of the prince.

Both the possession of the Levites and the possession of the city That, too, shall be in the midst of what belongs to the prince.

between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin The entire width of the strip that is between these two tribes, Judah on the north and Benjamin on the south, shall belong to the prince, and that is the strip that was separated first, a width of 25,000, with a length [that follows] the portions of the tribes.

And the rest of the tribes shall receive [portions] south of that strip, Benjamin alongside it, and beside him Simeon, beside him Issachar, beside him Zebulun, and beside him Gad. Gad is therefore at the southern boundary of the land of Israel.

And alongside the border of Gad its southern boundary.

from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook [It starts] from Jericho, the city of date palms (הַתְּמָרִים), in the eastern corner, and comes to the west to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, and proceeds until the brook of Egypt, which empties into the Great Sea in the southwestern corner.

The exits of the city the gates of its four sides.

measures that is of the measuring rod: 4,500 rods.

All around, it amounts to 18,000 The perimeter of the city is 18,000 rods. This is the sum total of its four sides.

and the name of the city from that day will be “The Lord is There.” Jonathan renders: “And the name of the city had been declared as of that day that the Lord caused His Shechinah to rest there.” It shall not be called by a name other than the original name that it had since the day that Abraham bound Isaac his son there, for he called it Yireh, and its name had been Shalem, thus forming “Jerusalem” (Gen. Rabbah 56:16). It may also be interpreted: and the name of the city in the future, from when it is built and thenceforth, shall be “The Lord is There.”