Ezekiel and the Tribes

Queries Concerning the Future Tribal Allocations (19 April 2016, 11 Nisan, 5776)

ilanb wrote:

LeMechubad [To his Honor] Yedidi [My friend] Yair.

We know that Hashem promised Eretz Canaan to Bnai Avraham. Originally they were all, each and every tribe, to cross the Jordan and take possesion of the land that God had promised them. But later we find that Shevet Reuven, Gad and half of te tribe of Manasseh like what they found on the East Bank of the Jordan and wanted to settle there. Moshe Rabbeinu exacted an oath from them that they first help their brothers conquer Canaan and secure their inheritance and then return to the other side of the Jordan.

I've always been disturbed by this. Canaan as promised was obviously on the West Bank of the Jordan. Of course we know Hashem let them settle their, but I have nagging doubts as too whether this was right. After all, the East Bank was not part of Eretz Kedusha [the Holy Land] or their settlling their would not have been an issue that Moshe had to mediate between their request and Hashems will. If one studies all the various maps, one can see that the only tribes that recieved any East Bank land were Asher, Naftali, Dan and Manashe, and this was all to the North near the Lebanese Syrian Junctures. but they got land that covered a lot of the south of the East bank.. Whats more confusing is the Divisions between Sefer Yehoshua and Ezekiel are also totally in conflict with who would settle where. I always learned that in the future the only releveant works we would have would be the Torah and Sefer Yehoshua because of its what you may call real estate surveys and divisions for the land. Do you have an idea why there is such a big difference between what God said belonged to Israel, what some tribes recieved when they got there and the maps that describe what we call "Greater Israel, which encompasses even more territory. Surely Hashem had told Avraham to walk the land and put his mark on it and his children would inherit it. But somewhere this inheritance kept growing and growing till we now have the phrase "From the Euphrates to the Nile" to signify our eventual inheritance. Can you offer you understanding on this issue.

With all love and respect and chag sameach [Happy Feastday]

Ilan Avraham ben Moshe, ben Yehoshua Tzvi, ben Netanel Bergman.

Brit-Am Reply:
Shalom,
Your message seems to concern two subjects:
(1) The Regions of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh versus the original intention entailed int he concept of "Promised Land."
(2) The discrepancies between the divisions of the Land among the Tribes according to the Book of Joshua versus the Book of Ezekiel.

(1) The Regions of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh versus the original intention entailed int he concept of "Promised Land."
The area from the Nile to the Euphrates and all the Lands of Canaan were promised to the Children of Israel.

[Genesis 15:18] IN THE SAME DAY THE LORD MADE A COVENANT WITH ABRAM,
SAYING, UNTO THY SEED HAVE I GIVEN THIS LAND, FROM THE RIVER OF EGYPT UNTO
THE GREAT RIVER, THE RIVER EUPHRATES:

[Exodus 23:31] AND I WILL SET THY BOUNDS FROM THE RED SEA EVEN UNTO THE SEA
OF THE PHILISTINES, AND FROM THE DESERT UNTO THE RIVER: FOR I WILL DELIVER
THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND INTO YOUR HAND; AND THOU SHALT DRIVE THEM OUT
BEFORE THEE. Numbers 34;2-15

[Deuteronomy 1:7] TURN YOU, AND TAKE YOUR JOURNEY, AND GO TO THE MOUNT OF
THE AMORITES, AND UNTO ALL THE PLACES NIGH THEREUNTO, IN THE PLAIN, IN THE
HILLS, AND IN THE VALE, AND IN THE SOUTH, AND BY THE SEA SIDE, TO THE LAND
OF THE CANAANITES, AND UNTO LEBANON, UNTO THE GREAT RIVER, THE RIVER EUPHRATES.

[Deuteronomy 1:8] BEHOLD, I HAVE SET THE LAND BEFORE YOU: GO IN AND
POSSESS THE LAND WHICH THE LORD SWARE UNTO YOUR FATHERS, ABRAHAM, ISAAC,
AND JACOB, TO GIVE UNTO THEM AND TO THEIR SEED AFTER THEM.

[Joshua 1:3] EVERY PLACE THAT THE SOLE OF YOUR FOOT SHALL TREAD UPON, THAT
HAVE I GIVEN UNTO YOU, AS I SAID UNTO MOSES.

[Joshua 1:4] FROM THE WILDERNESS AND THIS LEBANON EVEN UNTO THE GREAT
RIVER, THE RIVER EUPHRATES, ALL THE LAND OF THE HITTITES, AND UNTO THE
GREAT SEA TOWARD THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, SHALL BE YOUR
COAST.

The areas east of the Jordan were conquered by the Israelites led by Moses. The intention was that the Israelites would continue to cross the Jordan conquer all the land and then divide it up. The area east of the Jordan was also to be divided but originally it was intedned that this division would only take place after ALL the rest of the Land was conquered.
The Tribes of Reuben and Gad had much cattle and sheep. The region was grazing land and they asked to receive it then and there.
Moses agreed to aportion them the land and let them settle their families there but he also made them promise to continue the conquest of the regions west of the Jordan (Numbers 32 cf. Joshua 22)..
The problem was not their settling in those areas but rather the timing of it.
The fact that the half-Tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 22:9) also inherited alongside Reuben and Gad even though they had not been a party to the original request shows that the land in question had been intended for them from the beginning. [I overheard this observation from a learned Jew some time ago.]

(2) The discrepancies between the divisions of the Land among the Tribes according to the Book of Joshua versus the Book of Ezekiel.
================
Ezekiel chapter 48.
================
Dan
Asher
Naphtali
Manasseh
Ephraim
Reuben
Judah
Levi and the Prince
Benjamin
Simeon
Issachar
Zebulon
Gad
================
Joshua and the Judges
Under Joshua several of the Tribes were alongside each other, some to the east, others to the west, and still more in the center.
Nevertheless by counting those whose territories began at a point more to the north than others we obtain the following sequence.

[Dan in the far north] [later also enclaves from Judah and Gad in the north]
Asher
Naphtali half-Manasseh
Manasseh
[Dan in the Galileee]
Zebulon
Issachar
Manasseh
Gad
Dan
Ephraim
Reuben
Benjamin
Judah
Simeon

After Joshua in the time of the Judges, etc., portions of some of the Tribes moved around. Brit-Am Studies find, for instance, that Dan had an enclave in the far north in the borderland region between Syria and Turkey.
This is about where Ezekiel places Dan (Ezekiel 48:1).
cf.
Joshua 19:47 Dan conquers Leshem and re-names it Dan.
Judges (chapter 18) Dan conquers Laish and re-names it Dan.
See:
Dan and the Serpent Way.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/dan/dan-and-the-serpent-way.html

The alignments are similar. The major differences are Issachar and Zebulon. Judah and Benjamin have reversed positions.
We should also remember that the divisions in Ezekiel take place after a series of geophysical and drastic environmental changes.
The area of what is now the Dea Sea and its surroundings will become an inland freshwater lake teeming with fish.

Ezekiel 47:
8 Then he said to me, 'These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. 9 'It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. 10 'And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. 11 'But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 'By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.'