Ezekiel 5:5:
On this verse the Reformed Bible commentators Jamieson Fausset and Brown write:
5. Explanation of the symbols: Jerusalem - not the mere city, but the people of Israel generally, of which it was the center and representative. in...midst - Jerusalem is regarded in God's point of view as center of the whole earth, designed to radiate the true light over the nations in all directions. Cf. Margin ("navel"), ch. 38:12; Psalm 48:2; Jeremiah 3:17. No center in the ancient heathen world could have been selected more fitted than Canaan to be a vantage-ground, whence the people of God might have acted with success upon the heathenism of the world.
It lay midway between the oldest and most civilized states, Egypt and Ethiopia on one side, and Babylon, Nineveh, and India on the other, and afterwards Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Phoenician mariners were close by, through whom they might have transmitted the true religion to the remotest lands; and all around the Ishmaelites, the great inland traders in South Asia and North Africa. Israel was thus placed, not for its own selfish good, but to be the spiritual benefactor of the whole world. Cf. Psalm 67 throughout. Failing in this, and falling into idolatry, its guilt was far worse than that of the heathen; not that Israel literally went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries. But "corruptio optimi pessima" ; the perversion of that which in itself is the best is worse than the perversion of that which is less perfect: is in fact the worst of all kinds of perversion. Therefore their punishment was the severest. So the position of the Christian professing Church now, if it be not a light to the heathen world, its condemnation will be sorer than theirs. (Matt. 5:13, 11-21-24; Heb. 10:28-29).
Ezekiel 38:12:
12. midst of the land -lit., "the navel" of the land (Judg. 9:37, Margin). So, in ch. 5:5, Israel is said to be set "in the midst of the nations"; not physically, but morally, a central position for being a blessing to the world: so (as the favored or "beloved city," Rev. 20:9) an object of envy. GROTIUS translates, "In the height of the land" (and so vs. 8), "the mountains of Israel," Israel being morally elevated above the rest of the world.
(It will be noted that some words in the above JFB commentary are Americanised, this because my copy was published by Zondervan, an American publishing house).
Dr. John Gill another Reformed exegete writing on the position of Jerusalem in relation to the surrounding lands from Ezekiel 5:5 & 38:12.
The Jews generally understand this of the natural situation of Jerusalem. Jarchi interprets it as the middle of the world; as if it was mathematically placed in the centre of the earth.
Dr. Gill quotes from another Jewish writer; "Kimchi thinks the land of Israel itself is meant; which is in the midst of the world, and so the navel of it.
Of the physical location of Jerusalem, JFB write "not physically, but morally", now, certainly I would agree with them that Israel had a great moral responsibility! for it is written of them, "Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." Romans 9:4, but what warrant do they have for saying "not physically"? Even the Jewish sages believed that Jerusalem was the centre of the world, and you can bet your "bottom dollar" that all the Old Testament prophets, New Testament writers, and disciples, without exception, thought no differently.
I am no cartographer, but even those skilled at the art have started from a false premise. On a globe, looking from above we see what is generally believed to be the "north pole" and all the northern lands surrounding it. There is also what is believed to be a "magnetic north pole" which is some degrees off.
On a traditional "flat earth" map, the same applies, the "north" is at the centre of the map where the "pole" on the globe is situated, the only difference being that the lines of longitude don't converge onto the "south pole" but spread outwards toward Antarctica which surrounds the inhabited earth. As a result the lands on the flat earth map are distorted to how they are represented on the globe, which is what you would expect. The Bible (let me remind the reader - the Creator's written word) says expressly that there are "four corners of the earth" Isaiah 11:10, Revelation 7:1, these "four corners" can be none other than what we are accustomed to know as "the four points of the compass" that is north, south, east and west. For God "sitteth above the circle of the earth." Isaiah 40:22 (RV), and to the best of my knowledge a circle has no corners,(much less a globe) unless you divide it into "four corners", resulting in all four compass points emanating from Jerusalem! This is "the city of the great King" Psalm 48:2, from whence "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ" shall shine in all directions in that glorious millennial morning when "out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Isaiah 2:3. The north 'pole' is therefore not in the middle of the Earth, for there is no north pole! In the middle of the Earth (Heb. navel) sits Jerusalem as the prophet Ezekiel plainly declares.
"Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." Psalm 48:2, mark; on the sides of the north, and so it is. This is the place where "the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven" Revelation 3:12, 21:2 will be visibly seen in all its glory throughout the coming millennial reign by the earth dwellers; high up above, much, I suppose, like we see the sun in the present hour. This is the city that the "father of faith" Abraham looked for (Hebrews 11:10, 12:22, 13:14), the city that the "church of the firstborn" will enter after "the first resurrection" Revelation 20:5-6. It is only after the millennium has run its course, in "the new Heavens and the new Earth" when the heavenly city will find in the new Earth a place suitable for the habitation of its glory. North, south, east and west all emanate from Zion, and it can be no place other from whence the devil took the Saviour up to "an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world" Matthew 4:8, Luke 4:5.
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