“And for these, even for the priests, will be the holy Gift-offering. Towards the north twenty five thousand in length, and towards the west ten thousand in breadth, and towards the east ten thousand in breadth, and towards the south twenty five thousand in length, and the sanctuary of Yahweh will be in its midst. It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who did not go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray, and it shall be to them for a Gift-offering from the gift-offering of the land, a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.”
The holy Gift-offering is for the priests. Again its dimensions are emphasised. They clearly have an important message to convey. It is covenant territory. The border looking to north and south is twenty five thousand cubits, that to east and west is ten thousand cubits, both intensive covenant numbers, five squared times a thousand, and five doubled times a thousand. And twice we have been told that the heavenly sanctuary was in the midst. The portion is said to be ‘most holy'. In Ezekiel 45:3 it was the heavenly sanctuary that was most holy. So this portion is now upgraded. It is made one with the heavenly sanctuary. Ezekiel is surely seeking as best he can to convey the idea of a heavenly portion for the pure in heart, the earthly becoming a part of the heavenly.
The ‘gift offering of the land' recognises the fact that the whole of the land is a gift-offering to Yahweh, all is His, but that the holy portion is so specifically, a king of super gift-offering.