Now these are the names of the tribes - See the division mentioned Num 34:7-12, which casts much light upon this.

And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah. Such who "confess" the Lord before men, and "praise" his name for all blessings, temporal and spiritual, they receive from him: these seven tribes already mentioned, as they lay contiguous to each other, and had portions and inheritances alike assigned to them; so they were all of them to the north of the sanctuary and city after mentioned.

And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah. Such who "confess" the Lord before men, and "praise" his name for all blessings, temporal and spiritual, they receive from him: these seven tribes already mentioned, as they lay contiguous to each other, and had portions and inheritances alike assigned to them; so they were all of them to the north of the sanctuary and city after mentioned.

Ezekiel 48:8

eze 48:8

eze 48:8

eze 48:8And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering,.... Or the oblation of a holy portion of the land unto the Lord before made mention of, Eze 45:1 this was close by the tribe of Judah, and in the same direction with that and the rest of the tribes, proceeding in length from east to west: this takes in the whole allotted to the sanctuary, the priests, the Levites, the city, and the prince; each of which are taken notice of in the following verses:

which they shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth; from north to south; which makes, as the Jews (u) say, seventy five miles; some make it seventy seven, and others more:

and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side; that is, equal to one of the portions allotted to anyone of the tribes, which were alike: what this measure was is not said, but was the same with the breadth; since the whole oblation was five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand, Eze 48:20,

and the sanctuary shall be in the midst thereof; of the holy portion of land; see Eze 45:3, not in the tribe of Judah or Benjamin; nor in the city of Jerusalem, as before; but many miles from thence.

(u) Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. e Siphri; so Lipman. Tzurath Beth Hamikdash, fol. 1. 1.

Ephraim--This tribe, within its two dependent tribes, Manasseh and Benjamin, for upwards of four hundred years under the judges held the pre-eminence.