And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar one.
Ezekiel's closing vision ends with a map. Tribe after tribe receives a belt of land, and Issachar's belt lies next to Simeon's, south of the holy central portion. The names are old, but the arrangement is new. So why does God redraw Israel's map, and what does the new order say?
The whole section follows one plan. Every tribe gets a band of land running east to west. God's own portion cuts across the middle.
The close of the Book of Ezekiel describes a fresh division of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel (Ezek. 47:13 – 48:35). In the millennial kingdom, each tribe's inheritance will be a parallel strip of territory. Each strip runs eastward from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan. The whole land from north to south will be made up of twelve belt-like portions. Near Jerusalem these are divided by Jehovah's own portion, the holy offering set apart for Him. That portion will be for the prince, the priests and the Levites, with the sanctuary in the middle (Ezek. 48:8-22).
A temple stands at the centre of this land. That settles where the vision belongs.
This is not about heaven, or about the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from God. It is about the earth and the land. The temple stands out here just as plainly as it is missing in Revelation 21.
Issachar no longer sits where it once did. Its old home lay far to the north, so this arrangement is still future.
Simeon comes next, and Issachar follows Simeon — instead of its old position, south-west of the sea of Galilee and north of Samaria. Then comes Zebulun, which of old lay north of Issachar. And Gad, instead of its ancient place in the east, now lies the furthest south of all.
Each tribe here gets "one portion". But no lottery decided which one.
The land being 'divided by lot' in a future day really means that the land will be 'allotted', for God Himself has directed where each of the twelve tribes will live.
Issachar's land begins at Simeon's border. Yet Simeon was the tribe that had all but disappeared among the others.
When the kingdom divided, Simeon belonged to the ten tribes in name only. They were cut off from the other nine. So they would have had either to join with the two tribes — and we read nothing of that — or, as Jacob's prophecy said, be 'scattered in Israel.' In a way, they were lost in the land. In the future day Ezekiel speaks of, when the twelve tribes return and the land is divided again, the tribe of Simeon has its portion.
Some writers find a pattern in the order of the list. It turns on what stands at the centre.
Here the temple and the city, the priests, Levi, and the Prince form the centre of the land, and their position decides the order of the tribes... Notice that the sons of the wives are closest to the sanctuary, and the sons of the servant women are at the farthest edges... Issachar and Zebulun, sons of Leah, to the south, match Manasseh and Ephraim, sons of Rachel, to the north.
Other writers draw a lesson from the names themselves. Issachar's name carries a promise.
Issachar means, "There is reward."... From Jacob's prophecy we see that Issachar stands for yoke-bearing, though clearly a slavery that speaks of indulging the flesh and the empty reward of sin's pleasure for a season. Here, however, we are to think instead of rescue by grace from that slavery... And this is always God's order: communion (Simeon) should lead to such service.
- Measured — Every tribe, Issachar included, gets one belt of real land from sea to river. God's holy portion and sanctuary sit at the centre.
- Assigned — The "lot" is God's own decision. He fixes where every tribe will live, so no border here is an accident.
- Rewritten — Issachar's old ground lay in the north. Its new place south of Simeon shows that no past division of the land matches this one.
- Restored — Simeon was once scattered and lost among the other tribes. Now he has a border of his own for Issachar to measure from.
- Rewarded — Read as a lesson, the pair puts communion (Simeon) first. Service follows, and with it the reward that Issachar's name means.
And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun one.
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