Sefer Yechezkel chapter 48, the chapter that closes the sefer. "And these are the names of the tribes: from the northern end, along the road of Chetlon to the entrance of Chamat, Chatzar Einan the border of Damascus toward the north beside Chamat, and it shall have the eastern side and the western side: Dan, one portion."
The Malbim explains that now he begins to clarify the location of the settlement of the tribes. Notice that he begins from the northern side. As we said, on the northern side, at the northern end, is the tribe of Dan. He tells us what the borders of Dan will be, which cities border it, so that we will know exactly where the dwelling place of Dan will be. The Malbim brings the interpretation according to Rashi, and on the face of it it is difficult to understand, for according to Rashi the tribes inherit as before, so how do we now suddenly see that he takes from Chatzar Einan onward, which means more than they had before? But according to what we explained, says the Malbim, that the inheritance is destined to expand, according to this it is understood, since then indeed, as appears here in the verses, the inheritance of Israel will be larger than its present reality.
As I said, we will not now enter into all the names mentioned here, it is enough for us to note what the Malbim says, that in the portion of Dan the width he will receive is specified, and from there onward the width is no longer specified, and as we said, Chazal received the tradition that the width will be 75 mil. Each tribe will receive a strip of 75 mil. The strip stretches from the western side to the eastern side, the land is cut this way into strips of 75 mil. "And beside the border of Dan, from the eastern side to the western side, Asher, one portion." This means, whoever looks at the diagrams describing the land will see exactly as we are now reading, one after another. Dan, after it the strip of Asher, after it the strip of Naftali, Menashe, Efraim, Reuven, Yehuda.
Let us now read it inside. "And beside the border of Dan, from the eastern side," the meaning is, since we began from Dan which is in the north, we are now heading toward the south. Each time we pass another strip. "Beside the border of Asher, from the eastern side to the western side, Naftali, one portion." This next tribe is Naftali. "Beside the border of Naftali," we continue toward the south. If we stretch the strip from the eastern side to the western side, again meaning from the eastern side to the western side, a long strip, "Menashe, one portion." "And beside the border of Menashe, from the eastern side to the western side, Efraim, one portion. And beside the border of Efraim, from the eastern side to the western side, Reuven, one portion. And beside the border of Reuven, from the eastern side to the western side, Yehuda, one portion."
Up to here we in effect receive all the tribes, which are actually seven tribes that were up to the portion of the Nasi (prince). The portion of the Nasi had at its center Yerushalayim with its internal division as we have already discussed in the past and will see again. But up to here these are in fact seven tribes, and afterward, once we pass the portion of the Nasi and Yerushalayim, we will see another five tribes, and with this the twelve tribes will be completed in their divisions, in their inheritances.
The Malbim explains that the placement of the tribes also has meaning according to the plain sense, since in the first inheritance we saw that Yehuda and Binyamin inherited next to one another. As it is written, "He hovers over him all day," over the place of the Beit HaMikdash, where there was a portion belonging to Yehuda and a portion belonging to Binyamin. The Malbim says, notice, so too here, the Beit HaMikdash is in the middle, which is the place of the Nasi, and on one side is Yehuda, on the other side Binyamin. They are next to one another. And so the Malbim goes over all the tribes and shows how each tribe in fact inherits next to the tribe it sat beside in the earlier inheritance as well. How each tribe sits beside the tribe next to it, so the Malbim arranges them all, and we will not dwell on this.
According to this, says the Malbim, it comes out that there are seven tribes on one side of the Beit HaMikdash, and five on the other side. On the face of it this is not balanced. Why did he create a situation of seven against five and not divide it evenly so that there would be six against six? The Malbim explains, since we are now speaking of the tribe of Levi taking the central portion. For whenever we count Levi as a tribe, that means there are thirteen tribes, since Yaakov had twelve sons. And if he has twelve sons and you count Levi, Levi is part of the twelve. If Yosef is divided into two, which is Menashe and Efraim, we get thirteen. So it comes out that the twelve strips do not include Levi. Because the tribe of Levi, as we said, is in the thirteenth strip, which is the portion of the strip of the Nasi in the part where Yerushalayim was. And we saw how Yerushalayim is divided, part to the tribe of Levi, part to those who serve in the Mikdash, part to Israel, and the remainder, more toward the western side of that strip and more toward the eastern side of that strip, was the portion of the Nasi. So it comes out that the thirteenth portion there will be the tribe of Levi.
The Malbim says, if you understand that we see the portion of the tribe of Levi as the thirteenth portion, then according to this we do understand this form of division. For every place where we count Levi as a tribe, we also count Efraim and Menashe as one tribe. So it comes out that there are six in the north, because Menashe and Efraim are counted as one, and six in the south with Levi. So if I count Yerushalayim, where the tribe of Levi is, among the five, then with the five tribes on the southern side we get six tribes. Wait, but on the other side there are seven tribes. True, but Menashe and Efraim are on the northern side. Count them as one, and you also get six tribes. And then, says the Malbim, we get a precise division of six tribes on this side and six tribes on that side.
"And beside the border of Yehuda, from the eastern side to the western side, shall be the terumah (portion) that you shall set apart, twenty five thousand wide and long as one of the portions from the eastern side to the western side, and the Mikdash shall be in its midst." Now he speaks with us about the portion of Yerushalayim. The portion of Yerushalayim, as we discussed in the previous shiurim, was in the strip that was called the strip of the terumah, and it is the strip that the Nasi inherited, and in the middle of the strip was a square, and this square was called the portion of Yerushalayim. This is what he tells us, "beside the border of Yehuda, from the eastern side." If I look at Yehuda, Yehuda takes the northern part of the strips. But if I look to the side, at the border of Yehuda, then I get Yerushalayim. There is on one side the border of Yehuda, on the other side the border of Binyamin, and between them we get the portion called the portion of Yerushalayim. And about this he tells us, this portion will be the terumah. The terumah, as we explained, is the portion that will already be raised up from Eretz Yisrael and given to the Nasi and to the place of Yerushalayim. How large will the portion be? Twenty five thousand wide and long as one of the portions from the eastern side to the western side, and the Mikdash in its midst.
When he writes here twenty five thousand wide, we must know that the entire portion in which the Kohanim, the Leviim, Israel, the city, and the Beit HaMikdash sat, this entire portion will be 25 wide by 25 long. This in effect means it fills the width of the strip, because the 25 refers to 25 thousand kanim, which means 75 thousand mil. So this entire square, within which there is the dwelling of the Kohanim, the dwelling of the Leviim, the Beit HaMikdash, and the city of Yerushalayim, everything is within it, within this square, and shortly we will see in what manner it is divided, everything will be 75 mil by 75 mil. "And to these shall belong the terumah of the holy portion for the Kohanim: to the north twenty five thousand, and to the west a width of ten thousand, and to the east a width of ten thousand, and to the south a length of twenty five thousand, and the Mikdash of Hashem shall be in its midst."
He begins and says this will be the portion of the Kohanim. The length running from east to west, when we speak of the portion of the Kohanim, the length will be twenty five thousand. 25 thousand kanim is the length from east to west. When we speak of the width, that was already spread out at ten thousand. So they received a strip within this place, which we call broadly Yerushalayim, the holy place, they received a strip within it whose length matches the length of the whole place, which is 25 thousand kanim, 75 thousand mil, whereas its width was ten thousand kanim. Afterward he tells you, know that the Mikdash of Hashem was in the middle. The Mikdash of Hashem was in the middle, it was 500 kanim by 500 kanim. This was the Mikdash of Hashem that was in the middle, and around it was the place of the Kohanim.
For whom? "For the Kohanim who are sanctified, of the sons of Tzadok, who kept My charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Leviim went astray." For the sanctified Kohanim of the sons of Tzadok. We saw that the distinction of the sons of Tzadok is that they did not serve idolatry. And therefore only they will be fit for the service in the Beit HaMikdash. The other Kohanim will not be fit to serve upon the altar. Therefore he tells you, to whom will this portion belong? To the sanctified Kohanim of the sons of Tzadok who kept My charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray after idolatry, they did not go astray like them as the Leviim went astray, and therefore they will receive this portion which is more sanctified than the other portions. "And they shall have a terumiyah from the terumah of the land, a holy of holies, beside the border of the Leviim." It is a holy of holies relative to the other portions. Since the portion of the Leviim is already lower in terms of its holiness, this is considered a place that is a holy of holies, and the Leviim will receive a lower place that is called holy. But the place of the Kohanim, in contrast, where the Mikdash also was, is considered a terumiyah, like a terumah in the category of holy of holies.
"And the Leviim, corresponding to the border of the Kohanim, twenty five thousand in length and ten thousand in width; the entire length twenty five thousand and the width ten thousand." The Leviim are exactly opposite the area of the Kohanim. The length was 25 thousand kanim and the width was ten thousand kanim. We saw that the portion of the Kohanim was the portion closer to the portion of Yehuda. The portion of the Leviim was already in the middle, that is, before the portion of Israel, since the portion of Israel is closer to the portion of Binyamin. The portion of the Leviim was in the middle and it corresponded to the portion of the Kohanim, meaning 25 thousand kanim in length and ten thousand in width. Why then does he repeat to me "the entire length twenty five thousand and the width ten thousand"?
The Malbim explains that he wanted to tell me that the Kohanim did not take the entire length, since the Kohanim set apart from theirs 500 kanim for the Beit HaMikdash. Because the portion of the Beit HaMikdash was in the middle of the portion of the Kohanim. It comes out that the portion of the Kohanim was not net. It was indeed 25 thousand kanim by ten thousand kanim, but not all of it was net theirs, because part of it was for the Beit HaMikdash. In contrast, here the Leviim, corresponding to the border of the Kohanim, 25 thousand in length and ten thousand in width, the entire length 25 thousand and width ten thousand. "The entire length" comes to distinguish them from the Kohanim, for the Kohanim did not receive it all, since the Kohanim had the portion of the Beit HaMikdash, but by the Leviim the entire length was all only theirs.
"And they shall not sell from it, nor exchange, nor transfer the first fruits of the land, for it is holy to Hashem." Even though this portion is given to them, to the Leviim, as a holding, they have no permission to sell part of it, nor to exchange it for another portion, that someone should give them another tract of land in place of their portion. "Nor transfer," this transfer refers to a daughter who inherits an inheritance. She will not inherit this portion. "For it is holy to Hashem," as it is written, "and the field of the open land of their cities shall not be sold." So too here, this portion shall not be sold. And this alludes also to the other laws written in the Torah, that one does not make open land into field nor field into open land, and several other laws connected to this.
"And the five thousand that remain in width along the twenty five thousand shall be common land for the city, for dwelling and for open land, and the city shall be in its midst." Now he passes to speak of the last portion out of the entire terumah portion, part of which was divided to the Kohanim, part to the Leviim, and he now passes to speak of the portion of Israel. And the portion of Israel was closer to the side of Binyamin as we explained. This is the five thousand that remain, which is 5,000 kanim wide and 25 thousand kanim long. That is, the length did not change for any of them. All of them received a length of 25 thousand kanim when I measure from east to west. Only the width changed. For the Kohanim it was ten thousand wide. For the Leviim, adjacent to them, ten thousand wide. And for Israel, adjacent to them, only 5,000 wide. This is the 5,000 that remain in width along the 25 thousand, since the length does not change, it is a complete square of 25 thousand in its length. "Common land for the city, for dwelling and for open land, and the city shall be in its midst." The city was within this place and there they could dwell, and they also had open land for the city around it. Shortly we will see the measure of the open land.
"And these shall be its measurements: the north side four thousand five hundred, and the south side four thousand five hundred, and the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred." Now he bounds the city from four directions. In effect he goes around the city from four directions and tells you that from every single direction the city was square. 4,500 by 4,500 by 4,500 by 4,500. The city was square, 4,500 kanim. Each kane, if you remember, we already said, is six amot. Yes? So multiply that by six amot, each amah being six tefachim. "And the city shall have open land: to the north two hundred fifty, and to the south two hundred fifty, and to the east two hundred fifty, and to the west two hundred fifty." Besides this, open land surrounded the city, 250 kane on each side. That is, an additional 500 kanim in total from the two sides. What do you get? 4,500, we said, is the city. 250 plus 250 on each side, you reach a total of 5,000. Here it is, exactly the width of the strip of Israel. That is, the city and its open land filled the strip. They filled it, not from the sides, right? Since its length was 25 thousand kanim. But the width, 5,000 kanim from end to end, you got the city and its open lands totaling 5,000. And on the northern side, the eastern and the western sides as well, there was open land of 500 kanim, 250 here and 250 there.
"And what remains in length alongside the terumah of the holy portion, ten thousand to the east and ten thousand to the west, and it shall be alongside the terumah of the holy portion, and its produce shall be for bread for those who work the city." If we do the calculation, that the length is 25 thousand, and within it we said there was the city itself, which took up 5,000 with the open land, it comes out that from 25, when you place 5,000 in the middle, you remain with ten thousand to the right and ten thousand to the left. This remains the empty place. This is what he tells us here. "And what remains in length," that is, from the eastern side toward the west, and after the city itself, once we pass the city, from its edge toward the western direction. That is, from the two sides, how much remains for us? "Alongside the terumah of the holy portion," that is, alongside the portion that the Nasi received on both sides, this is closer to his portion. "Ten thousand to the east and ten thousand to the west." Ten thousand toward the east and ten thousand remains toward the west. "And it shall be alongside the terumah of the holy portion," meaning toward the side of the terumah of the holy portion, meaning toward the side of the portion of the Nasi. "And its produce shall be for bread for those who work the city." What is "its produce shall be for bread for those who work the city"?
Rashi, and the Malbim explains, that there will be fields and vineyards for those who work the city, who are engaged in the work of the city. Those who were engaged in the work of the city, meaning Israel, since when we speak of the 5,000 in width by 25 thousand kanim in length, we are speaking of the portion of Israel, this is the portion of the city, this is the portion of Israel. So too, the ten thousand on each side that remain to us from the 25 thousand, these ten thousand are permitted for labor, there are fields and vineyards there for the needs of those engaged in the work of the city. Rashi has a novel interpretation here. Rashi says, "and its produce shall be for bread for those who work the city," Rashi says these are the Givonim. The Netinim, the hewers of wood and drawers of water. So I heard in the name of Rabbi Menachem z"l. But the Radak brings Rashi's interpretation and says, some interpret "those who work the city" as the Givonim. The Radak says there is no reason to it. For the Givonim will no longer serve in the future. And it is not possible that Givonim would dwell in Yerushalayim, the holy city, on behalf of Israel, that they would bring the Givonim there. For we know that the Givonim are not of the children of Israel. David HaMelech distanced them after they sought to take revenge on the sons of Shaul. So it certainly cannot enter the mind that when Mashiach comes they would bring them close again, and make them again dwellers of Yerushalayim, the holy city.
Verse 19. "And those who work the city shall work it, from all the tribes of Israel." The meaning is, all the tribes of Israel will need to provide the needs of those who work the city and their sustenance. And since this is so, therefore they gave them this strip, that all Israel has a portion in this strip, they gave them this portion for fields and vineyards. Why? Since those who were there worked the city. And since each of us is obligated toward the city, therefore the portion that as it were belongs to us, ten thousand from here and ten thousand from there, was as it were granted to them so that they would tend to all the needs of the city.
"The entire terumah shall be twenty five thousand by twenty five thousand; a fourth part you shall set apart as the terumah of the holy portion, along with the holding of the city." Now he makes an overall summary and tells us, the entire terumah is 25 thousand by 25 thousand. That is, if we take the portion of the Kohanim, of the Leviim, of Israel, all of it was 25 thousand by 25 thousand. And we already explained, I will summarize again, that the length from the eastern side to the western side was 25 thousand for all of them equally. And the width, that is, from the northern side to the southern side, here the width was divided. And it was divided in such a way: ten thousand for the Kohanim, this was the portion most adjacent to the strip of Yehuda. Afterward ten thousand in length of 25 for the Leviim. And afterward 5,000 in length of 25 for Israel and Yerushalayim. And the portion of Israel and Yerushalayim was already closer to the portion of Binyamin.
"A fourth part you shall set apart as the terumah of the holy portion." What is "a fourth part you shall set apart as the terumah of the holy portion, along with the holding of the city"? If I do the calculation, and let us now go back over the portion of Yerushalayim itself. We already explained that it is 25 thousand kanim in length by 5,000 in width. Out of this, in the middle, 5,000 by 5,000 we said is the portion of Yerushalayim. There remains for us on the two sides another ten thousand and another ten thousand. If now we want to say how much Yerushalayim received in proportion relative to what remained for us as open lands on the sides? 5,000 in proportion to 20 thousand, since there remains ten thousand from here and ten thousand from there, this is the open land. In the middle 5,000. 5,000 in proportion to 20 thousand is a quarter. This is what he tells us here. "A fourth part you shall set apart as the terumah of the holy portion, along with the holding of the city." The portion of the city is a fourth part, a quarter part, relative to the other portions on the right and the left, which are, as we said, the open land on the right and the left designated for its produce as bread for those who work the city. So it comes out that the city itself was only a quarter of the total.
"And what remains shall be for the Nasi, on this side and on that side of the terumah of the holy portion and of the holding of the city, along the twenty five thousand of the terumah toward the eastern border, and toward the west along the twenty five thousand toward the western border, corresponding to the portions, for the Nasi; and the terumah of the holy portion and the Mikdash of the House shall be in its midst." After we did the calculation of the entire portion that includes 25 thousand kanim by 25 thousand kanim, which includes the portion of the Kohanim, the Leviim and the Israelites, now he speaks with me about what is on the two sides toward the east and toward the west. And we already explained above that this entire strip along its full length was the portion of the Nasi. Only in the middle the Nasi, as it were, set apart from his portion 25 by 25 thousand kanim that were designated for the portion of the Kohanim, Leviim, Israelites, the Beit HaMikdash and so on. Now he returns to explain to me the portion of the Nasi on the two sides.
This is what he says, "and what remains shall be for the Nasi, on this side and on that side," the meaning is from the edge of the terumah portion until the end of the eastern side, and from the other edge of the terumah portion until the end of the western side, which means until the sea. This remains for the Nasi on this side and on that side, alongside the terumah of the holy portion and the holding of the city, along the 25 thousand of the terumah toward the eastern border. The terumah extended until the eastern side. "And toward the west," this too, as we said, until the western edge. "Along the twenty five thousand," along the entire length of 25 thousand, "toward the western border, corresponding to the portions, for the Nasi." That is, this was the corresponding portion, corresponding to what they had, these were the portions that belonged to the Nasi. And this we call the terumah of the holy portion, "and the terumah of the holy portion." The Malbim says this too was called the terumah of the holy portion, since the Mikdash of Hashem is in its midst. So not only the portion of the Nasi is called terumah, because we set it apart as it were from ours and give it to the Nasi, but also the portion within which is the Beit HaMikdash was called terumah, since this portion of 25 thousand kanim was a portion within which the Mikdash of Hashem was. And therefore it is called terumah, as though it was raised up out of the overall portion.
"And from the holding of the Leviim and from the holding of the city, being in the midst of that which is the Nasi's; between the border of Yehuda and the border of Binyamin shall be for the Nasi." "And from the holding of the Leviim and from the holding of the city," the meaning is that both the portion of the Leviim and the portion of the holding of the city, all of it was within that which is the Nasi's. As we explained, all of it was within this strip. Lest you think that the portion of the Leviim or the portion of Israel spilled over into the portion of Binyamin perhaps, or into the portion of Yehuda on the other side, no. Know that everything, all that was given to the Kohanim, the Leviim, the Israelites, as the portion we defined as the terumah of the city, 25 thousand kanim, all of it was within the portion of the Nasi. This is what he tells us, all of it was between the border of Yehuda and the border of Binyamin. It did not enter at all into the border of Yehuda, nor at all into the border of Binyamin, but was solely within the strip of the Nasi, which was 25 thousand kanim wide, all of it was there inside. As though the Nasi set apart and raised it up out of his portion for the holy purpose.
"And the rest of the tribes, from the eastern side to the western side: Binyamin, one portion." Now he counts for us the rest of the tribes. Its meaning: after he told us where the portion of the Nasi is, in the middle, not exactly, as we already explained above why it is not exactly in the middle, that the portion of the Nasi is more or less in the middle, now he arranges for us the strips of the tribes one after another, and regarding each and every tribe he tells me that in fact its strip is from the eastern side to the western side. As we said, the strips were like a cut, if you go toward the sea, you now, as with a knife, cut Eretz Yisrael toward Yerushalayim, toward the Yarden, toward the east, in this way, strip after strip, and the strip we have spoken about until now was the strip of the Nasi, now he will speak about the strips that are cut this way, which are the portions of the tribes toward the south, and afterward he will speak about the portion toward the north.
So let us return. "And the rest of the tribes, from the eastern side to the western side," everything that he now measures for us is always along the entire length of the strip, from the eastern side to the western side, "Binyamin, one portion." That is, behind Yerushalayim you have Binyamin, here is his strip which is toward the southern side. "And beside the border of Binyamin, from the eastern side," and if I want to continue further, who was adjacent to Binyamin from the eastern side, meaning to the western side, from the eastern side to the western side, adjacent to him "Shimon, one portion." The next after him was Shimon. "And beside the border of Shimon, from the eastern side to the western side," from the eastern edge to the western edge, "Yissachar, one portion. And beside the border of Yissachar, from the eastern side to the western side, Zevulun, one portion. And beside the border of Zevulun, from the eastern side to the western side, Gad, one portion. And beside the border of Gad, at the south side toward the Negev," the border of Gad is already the last border, it is already at the last southern end of Eretz Yisrael, here he must tell me the landmarks of the place, road markers, markers of location, so that you will know until where, where Eretz Yisrael ends. Therefore here he sees the need to mention names of places. For all the other strips do not need names of places mentioned. I tell you, you advance 25 thousand kanim, make a cut, that is it, this is the portion of the tribe. Another 25 thousand kanim, another strip. No need to state the names of places. But when you reach the last one you must say where it ends.
Therefore here he says, "And beside the border of Gad, at the south side toward the Negev, the border shall be from Tamar to the waters of Merivat Kadesh, along the stream, to the Great Sea. This is the land that you shall apportion as inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, says Hashem Elokim." He tells you on the side of the Negev, on the southern side, the border was from Tamar, the waters of Merivat Kadesh and so on, markers of location so that you will know until the Great Sea was their inheritance. This is the land that you shall apportion as inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, says Hashem Elokim.
"And these are the exits of the city: on the north side four thousand five hundred by measure." Now he speaks with us about the exits of the city, meaning about the gates of the city on its four sides. And he details and says, "and the gates of the city according to the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates to the north: the gate of Reuven, one; the gate of Yehuda, one; the gate of Levi, one. And at the east side four thousand five hundred, and three gates: the gate of Yosef, one; the gate of Binyamin, one; and the gate of Dan, one. And the south side four thousand five hundred by measure, and three gates: the gate of Shimon, one; the gate of Yissachar, one; the gate of Zevulun, one. The west side four thousand five hundred, their gates three: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naftali, one."
Now he goes over the gates, meaning he tells us what the gates of the city are. And notice that he again, as it were, measures the city and states its gates. Therefore he goes side by side and tells you, know that the gates of the city were according to the names of the tribes of Israel. The gates of the city, and again I am now speaking about the portion of Israel. Out of the entire square of the 25 thousand kanim, I am speaking about the portion of Israel, which is 5,000 kanim by 25 thousand kanim in length. This we explained, the city within them was 5,000 kanim by 5,000 kanim. But if we take away the open land, it is 4,500 kanim by 4,500 kanim. Now he tells you, know that on each side there were three gates. And there was a gate, he begins with three to the north: the gate of Reuven, one; the gate of Yehuda, one; the gate of Levi, one. If we go to the northern side, which is more toward the side of Yehuda and so on, then we had Levi, who was closer to the eastern side, Yehuda in the middle, Reuven was close to the western side. All these are the gates that were on the northern side. These are the gates of the city according to the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates on the northern side, Reuven, Yehuda, Levi, when he begins to count them from the west toward the east.
"And at the east side," now he counts for us the gates that are on the eastern side, which are Yosef, Binyamin and Dan. And he tells you, there too it was four thousand five hundred, 4,500, this was the length of the city. And the names of the gates that were on the eastern flank of the city were Yosef, Binyamin and Dan. The gate of Yosef, one; the gate of Binyamin, one; the gate of Dan, one. "And the south side," and he continues going around, now he arrives at the southern side, which is the side closer to the area of Binyamin. There too the length was four thousand five hundred by measure. The whole length of this side of the city was 4,500. And there too three gates. The gate of Shimon, one; the gate of Yissachar, one; and the gate of Zevulun, one. These are the three gates that were in the portion adjacent to the side of Binyamin. Now he continues going around to the western side, to the side of the sea. "The west side four thousand five hundred, their gates three." There too were three gates, which were the gate of Gad, Asher and Naftali. And this is what he tells us, the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naftali, one. These are the three gates that are on the western side.
The Malbim here adds and dwells on a point which he does not fully explain, but the Malbim says that he has a reason for this matter, and we will only mention what he says. The Malbim says, if you look, you will see that in the stones of the Choshen (breastplate), in which were set odem, pitdah and bareket, which are the stones of Reuven, Shimon and Levi, this is one row. Nofech, sapir and yahalom, which are Yehuda, Yissachar and Zevulun, this is the second row. Leshem, shevo and achlamah, which are Dan, Naftali and Gad, this is the third row. Tarshish, shoham and yashfeh, which are Asher, Yosef and Binyamin, this is the fourth row. The Malbim says, if you look, you will see that in the order of the gates it is always two from one direction and the third from the direction opposite it, facing it. He says, do not check, you will not find, for example, one from here, one from the second direction, the third from the third direction. No. You will always see that the triads mentioned in the stones of the Choshen as a triad, will always be two from one direction, for example two from the south, the third will be from the north. And the reverse too of the additional row, two will be from the north, the third will be from the south. Or two will be from the east, the third will be from the west. And the other two from the west, the third will be from the east. In this way it was divided. Why indeed, what is the logic that it was divided this way? The Malbim says, I have a reason for this which is not the place for here. He has a reason which is not the place here to expand upon. We did not merit to know the Malbim's reason, perhaps one should search for it in other sources where the Malbim spoke about this matter, and it is possible that there we would indeed find the reason, but here the Malbim does not detail it.
Let us conclude Sefer Yechezkel, the verse that closes the sefer. "Around, eighteen thousand; and the name of the city from that day shall be: Hashem is there." "Around, eighteen thousand." The Malbim says, 18 thousand kanim will be the measure of the city around. And if we do the calculation, this is certainly the calculation. For now we said the city is square. Each side of the city is 4,500. If you go 4,500 in this direction, 4,500 in that direction, and thus go around all four sides, you get 18 thousand. The Malbim says, what is the matter and the hint in this? This alludes to the Chariot of Hashem, "twice ten thousand, thousands of angels." Chazal say eighteen camps that surround the Glory of Hashem. Eighteen camps, and since you speak of thousands, it is 18 thousand, which are like the camp surrounding the Glory of Hashem on high. And therefore he says, "and the name of the city from that day: Hashem is there." The meaning is, Hashem is there, there is the resting of the glory of His Shechinah, Hashem is there. And the 18 thousand of the perimeter of the city, it is as if in every kane around the city there stands an angel, as it were, from the throne of Hashem, to guard the city.
And from the city until the Har HaBayit, if we now want to measure from the place of the city until the Har HaBayit, we will arrive exactly, says the Malbim, at 45 mil precisely. The Malbim says, and this is what is written, "and it shall be upon the bells of the horse: holy to Hashem." With this the Malbim closes his commentary and leaves us a bit with doubt and lack of understanding. What is the connection from the city until the Har HaBayit, that the city was in the portion of Israel, the Har HaBayit was already in the portion of the Kohanim, whoever wants to measure will arrive at 45 mil precisely, and this is what is written, "upon the bells of the horse: holy to Hashem." What does this have to do with "upon the bells of the horse: holy to Hashem"? Indeed the words of the Malbim are obscure in one place and explained in another. We already learned these matters in the Malbim on Sefer Zecharya chapter 14 in verse 20. He brings there on the verse "and it shall be on that day: upon the bells of the horse: holy to Hashem," the Malbim says, since the Yerushalayim of the future will be distant from the Mikdash 45 mil, and this is exactly what we now see here. The Rav says, this is more than the distance a person walks on foot in a day. For a person by day, the Gemara says, walks 10 parsaot. And here you are speaking of 45 mil. So perforce the holiness will spread until the place a person can reach in one day, not when he walks, but when he rides on a horse. When the horse runs. And the Gemara says that until the place the horse runs and rests, the meaning is that it is able to run until it rests at midday, the Gemara says this is 45 thousand mil. This is the measure, 45 mil. This is the measure. So he comes to tell you that the holiness will spread until the place a person can reach with his horse at a run, until there the holiness will spread. And the pots that will then be found in the Beit HaMikdash will be considered like the sprinkling basins, that from the abundance of the offerings they will place in them the blood of the sacrifices in order to sprinkle it upon the altar. "Sirot" (pots), from the term "sirim." In any case, what do you understand? That he wanted to tell you that from the place of the Mikdash it spread 45 mil to the city, that is, the holiness will spread. And the holiness will not be only in the place of the Mikdash, which is the place of the Kohanim, but it will spread also toward the city of Yerushalayim, which was the place of all Israel. May Hashem redeem us with an eternal redemption and grant us to see the building of the Third Beit HaMikdash descending built in fire from the heavens, amen v'amen.