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In this section Ezekiel described the ideal boundaries of the new land. This idealization obviously ignored the division of the land into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom in 922 B.C.E. under Rehoboam (1Ki 12). This division had ended in the destruction of both kingdoms and the virtual dissolution of tribal lines and distinctions. Thus references to “the tribes [of Israel]” are found in the text of the postexilic prophets only three times (Isa 49:6; 63:17; Zec 9:1). Here, however, Ezekiel looks toward an equal redivision of the land along traditional tribal lines, including the double tribe of Joseph. In fact, all the tribes are mentioned along with their territorial boundaries in 48:1-7, 23-28. It is not clear how or why both the northern and southern boundaries of the new land far exceed the widest extent of the kingdom under David. A new note of universalism is struck by the provision that even resident aliens would be granted property rights and citizenship in the new era (47:21-23).
The central place which the temple and Jerusalem held in the theology of Ezekiel is emphasized again in 48:8-22 (which is an expansion of the provisions in 45:1-8). A special block of territory in the center was to be reserved for the temple and the king. The central focus for the life of the new Israel would be the temple and the worship of God who lived in the midst of his people.