“But on Mount Zion,
There shall be
Those that escape.
It shall be holy.
The house of Jacob
Shall take possession
Of those who dispossessed
Them.”
At holy Mount Zion, it will be another story. There, the house of Jacob would take possession of those who had dispossessed them.
“The prince
Shall not take
Any of the inheritance
Of the people,
Thrusting them
Out of their property.
He shall give
His sons
Their inheritance
Out of his own property.
Thus,
None of my people
Shall be dispossessed
Of their property.”
Yahweh, via Ezekiel, was also insistent that the prince could not take the property of others, and then give it to his sons. He could only give property to his sons from his own inheritance. He could not throw people off their own property to give to his children as gifts. No one in Israel would be dispossessed of their own property, because their property was safe from the prince or ruler.
“Concerning the Ammonites!
Thus says Yahweh!
‘Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom
Dispossessed Gad?
Why has he dispossessed
His people?
Why has he settled
In its cities?’”
The Ammonites, like the Moabites, were considered the descendants of the incest of Lot with his second daughter from the story in Genesis, chapter 19. The country of Ammon was north of Moab, but south of Aram and Damascus. The country of Ammon existed from about the 10th century to the 4th century BCE in what would have been the Gad territory as outlined in Joshua chapter 13. Today it is part of the country of Jordan. Yahweh seems upset at Ammon. Did not Israel have sons and heirs to live in this Gad territory? Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, was a lot like Molech, the god of the Moabites. Some believe it was the same god with slightly different spellings for each country. This god Milcom had dispossessed the people of Yahweh and settled in their cities. In the Septuagint Greek translation, this is chapter 30, not chapter 49 as here.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 