Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 47:15

"And this shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, unto the entrance of Zedad;" — Ezekiel 47:15 (ASV)

This shall be the border of the land.— The boundaries are essentially the same as those given in Numbers 34:1-15, except that there the southern boundary is given first to the Israelites coming up from Egypt, while here the northern is first described for the people presumed to be returning from Babylon. More detail is also given in Numbers, and since the points mentioned here are the same, it is reasonable to supplement this description from the earlier one.

It is remarkable that in both cases the eastern boundary is the Jordan. The inheritance of the tribes on the east of that river was a modification of the original allotment. Since it is not taken into consideration here at all, portions are assigned on the west of the river to the two and a half tribes who had lived throughout Israel’s history on the east.

The way of Hethlon.— The boundary begins at the Mediterranean, but its precise starting point cannot be determined; for although it is evident that the lines between the tribes were straight and parallel, it is still not clear whether they were perpendicular to the Jordan, which would be substantially parallel to the lines of latitude, or perpendicular to the Mediterranean, which would make a small angle with them. Hethlon is mentioned only here and in Ezekiel 48:1, and has not been identified.

It was probably a place of little importance, as its situation is described as men go to Zedad. The latter place is mentioned in Numbers 34:8 as one of the points in the original northern border of the land. It is clear from the passage in Numbers that it lay eastward of the “entrance to Hamath,” and has been identified by some writers with the modern village of Sadad, but this is thirty miles from “the entrance of Hamath,” which seems quite too far. Ezekiel may have passed through it when carried captive to Babylon.