Zoned for Purity

Have you ever read a description of an imagined society, perhaps Plato’s utopia ruled by philosophers, or some other example? Or, going a different route, has a child ever drawn a city and shown it to you, perhaps with a single hospital and a block of farmland off to one side – in fact, often most things set up as blocks right next to each other, rarely with any attention given to parking or railway stations.

Reading Ezekiel 45-48, the third part of his final vision, reminded me of both these things. The vision’s focus shifts to zoning: land set aside for the Temple, priestly and Levitical residences, the city of Jerusalem, property for princes, and land for the regular people. And in the last part of the book, land for each tribe. This is laid out down to the cubit, with right angles, like it might be in a child’s drawing. And the social groups are assumed to remain separated and balanced, as in proposals for utopian societies. Perhaps it isn’t meant to be treated as a practical description, but more to say “God has not forgotten anyone, and all will get what they need.”

The description of Israel’s society here emphasizes improvement, with comments like:

“My princes shall no longer oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes” (45:8b). The powerful will not act for their own benefit, and all of the tribes would get what they needed, though in Ezekiel’s time most of the tribes were scattered – so the vision itself is promising the regathering of the tribes.

“You shall have just balances, a just ephah and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity” (45:10-11a). This comment rebukes theft by cheating in business. Weights on sets of balance scales were used to calculate payments. By using differing sets of weights that looked the same, a merchant could vary which they used when buying or selling to unfairly benefit in every transaction.

Similarly, “ephah” and “bath” were supposed to be the same volume – apparently about 22 liters – just with one measuring dry goods like grain (that might be in sacks or baskets) and the other measuring liquids like oil or alcohol (perhaps kept in stone jars).

The last part of chapter 45, and chapter 46, contains more about God’s expectations for honorable and pure actions by the prince and the priests, which circles back to the Temple’s layout. Washing at the Temple had always required a great deal of water, brought there with difficulty. But here this issue of purifying water is reversed, it is not brought into the Temple but flows from it and will affect the nations.

“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (47:12)

I have previously cited the estimate that the book of Revelation contains over five hundred references to other biblical texts which are not direct quotations. And, to save you looking it up, here is the similar language to Ezekiel 47:12 in Revelation:

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (22:1-2).

The two quotes share many details, but they also differ. In Ezekiel, for example, the water comes from under the wall of the Temple and then deepens to become a river. The Revelation text involves the huge New Jerusalem, while the “18,000” cubits of the city mentioned in Ezekiel 48:35 is a bit under six miles. Such issues are another reason to question whether the vision is to be taken as about the precise details of future events or themes of purity and redemption.

A message of purity and redemption for the exiles flows through the text. They were torn from their people and their land, forced even to hear about the destruction of their city and its Temple at a distance. They mourned in exile. But God intended to restore what was broken – including the people. God’s people had been broken long before, that is why the exile took place. Exile was part of the penalty God kept putting off generation after generation, though ultimately God’s words had to be fulfilled. But now God was again offering the people an opportunity to live as they should, interacting in purity, they and their princes, priests, and merchants. And no matter how many more times those relationships were damaged, God was committed to them being set right. God’s name was to be exalted, and the people who lived where God’s name dwelled needed to be purified, in keeping with that city being known as “ ‘The Lord is there.’ ” (Ezekiel 48:35b).

©Pastor Daniel Smead, 2025