With the external boundaries now in hand, Ezekiel can turn to the matter of interior boundaries: how the land is to be divided among the tribes. The order of tribal allotments is unlike anything in any previous period of Israelite history. The sequence from north to south is Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah, priests/Levites, Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad.

Tribal areas named after Jacob’s sons by concubines are placed at the extremes (in the north, Dan and Naphtali by Bilhah, Asher by Zilpah; in the south, Gad by Zilpah). Tribal areas named after Jacob’s sons by Leah and Rachel are placed closer to the center. Tribal areas always a part of the north are now shifted to the south: Zebulun and Issachar. Such repositioning allows the placement of the templ…