Ezekiel 47:21 - Homiletics.

The division of the land.

I. THE DIVISION WAS INTO SEPARATE ALLOTMENTS . The land of Israel was not held in common by the whole people. Certain dues were attached to it, and certain regulations governed the treatment of it by its owners. Thus it was forbidden for any one to make an absolute sale of his estate. On these conditions each family held its own land, like the peasant-proprietors of France and Belgium, God divides our lives out severally. Each must live his own separate life and discharge his individual duty while he receives his personal grace, we are to live in the community and for its benefit, bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ, but still each taking his own particular part in the common life of the whole.

II. THE DIVISION WAS CLEAR AND DEFINITE . There were exact confines, and it was a criminal offence for any one to remove his neighbor's landmark ( Deuteronomy 19:14 ). We ought to have no doubt as to our portion in life. Occasionally we may see a desolate, ruinous house—part of an estate in chancery, the ownership of which is disputed; on the other hand, we hear of claimants to estates who find it difficult to obtain what they urge is their own property. But in the region of personal religion each should see what is his portion and mission for the world.

III. THE DIVISION INCLUDED A PORTION FOR EVERY ISRAELITE . It was so carefully made that the most insignificant family should not be overlooked. There should be a share for every one in the produce of our great fruitful earth. Centers of population may be overcrowded, but the earth is not yet full. Folly and sin, tyranny, injustice, and robbery, keep many out of their fights. If all did their duty and had their dues there would be enough for all. This holds good also in the spiritual world. There is room in the kingdom of heaven for all. No one need fear that others will go in first and take the blessing, and so leave him behind too late to get any benefit from the Divine bounty—like the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda ( John 5:7 ). There is a portion in Christ's redemption for every soul of man. It only remains for all to receive their inheritance, accepting it by faith and entering it with obedience to the Lord who is supreme over the whole.

IV. THE DIVISION WAS BY LOT . This expedient prevented all complaints of supposed injustice. The owner of a bit of bare hillside had no right to envy the fortunate possessor of a rich plot in the valley. But there was more than this object in view in the use of the lot, which was taken as part of the method of Divine government. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord" ( Proverbs 16:33 ). The people were thus to feel that God was to determine where each should settle, and to say, "He shall choose our inheritance for us" ( Psalms 47:4 ). We talk of the "lottery of life," but we should remember that Providence obliterates chance. God orders our circumstances, and whether the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places and we have a goodly heritage, or we are left to poverty and hardship, our Father's choice must be good.