It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.
The old names vanish because old things are done away and all things become new. These measurements puzzle us by design: whether reeds or cubits, common or geometrical, we cannot pin them down. That very uncertainty teaches us these things are meant to be understood spiritually, not mapped out with earthly precision.
AI summary
Commenting on Ezekiel 48:31-35
Lord is there--Jehovah-Shammah. Not that the city will be called so in mere name, but that the reality will be best expressed by this descriptive title (Jer 3:17; Jer 33:16; Zac 2:10; Rev 21:3; Rev 22:3). Next: Daniel Introduction
Keep the Hebrew: Yehovah Shammah. The Shekinah dwelt in the first temple but not the second, yet Ezekiel declares the Divine Presence shall fill this city so completely that the city itself takes His name. The prophet speaks first of literal restoration after Babylon, but beyond that he sees the New Jerusalem, the Christian Church as God's dwelling, where Christ and His Spirit dwell in all believers as living temples.
AI summary