Ezekiel 43

Ezekiel 43:1

AFterward he brought me to the gate, &c.] The Angel of the Covenant in the appearance of a man, Chap. 40. 3. having shewed to the Prophet that magnificent Temple, whereby the spirituall Church is prefigured, and having described it and the buildings thereof in the precedent Chapters, the proportion and measures whereof in all the parts was hard to find out and expresse, (as that which is spoken of them sheweth, and the rest remaining shall not be stood on so exactly) he cometh in these two next Chapters, the fourty third, and fourty fourth, to set out the sacred Ministery and worship therein: And the Prophet is brought from the West side where he ended the measuring of the circumference of all the holy place, Chap. 42. 19. to the place where he began, vers. 15. of Chap. 42. and Chap. 40. 6. which gate by a direct line looked toward the Temple. See Chap. 44. 2, 3.

Ezekiel 43:2

The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the East] In Chap. 11. 23. the glory of the Lord departeth from the citie because of the profanenesse of it, and from the Temple because of the profanation of it, and stood upon Mount Olivet East of the Citie: and now that the Lord hath plat-formed to himselfe a new Citie and Temple, his glory returneth to it againe.

and his voice was like a noise of many waters] Chap. 1. 24. Revelation 1:15. & Revelation 14:2. & Revelation 19:1. 6.

Ezekiel 43:3

according to the appearance of the vision which I saw] Chap. 1. 4. & 8. 4.

when I came to destroy the citie] Or, when I came to prophesie that the citie should be destroyed. See Chap. 9. 2, 5. That is, when I came to declare that it should be destroyed: Chap. 9. So, Me he restored to mine office, but him he hanged, Genesis 41:13. That is, he foretold this destinie of me and him. So Levit. 13. The Priest shall make the leper cleane, or make him uncleane, in the Hebrew: that is, shall pronounce him so, as our English hath well rendred it: warranted so to be from Leviticus 14:57.

Ezekiel 43:6

And I heard him speaking to me out of the house] As God to Moses out of the Tabernacle, Leviticus 1:1.

Ezekiel 43:7

shall the house of Israel no more defile by their whoredome] That is, by their spirituall fornications of Idolatry: and this prophecie was fulfilled in them to the very letter: For after their returne out of the captivitie of Babylon even to this day, they have forsaken their Idols, and though they worship not the true God as they should, yet doe they not worship false gods at all: And thus are they crosse and contrary in their impieties, and yet impious still: Before their captivitie they were all for Idols, and nothing for the true God at all, and since that captivitie they are not for Idols at all, and yet not for the true God neither. This their forsaking of Idols, Hosea telleth of, Hosea 3:4.

Nor by the carcasses of their kings] So also vers. 9. Let them put the carcasses of their kings farre from me. Not for that they defiled themselves by touching their dead bodies: but for that they were grown into the Idolatry of the Heathen, to deifie their dead kings, and to reserve their corpses for adoration: as Psalms 106:28. They are the sacrifices of the dead.

Ezekiel 43:8

In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds] That is, in adding their traditions to my precepts, Isaiah 29:13.

and the wall between me and them, &c.] Or, for there was but a wall between me and them. This wickednesse was as a wall of separation between me and them, Isaiah 59:2. which hath caused me to consume them by bringing on them the judgements threatned by the Law, Levit. 26. and Deuteronomy 2:8. Or for setting their Idols and performing their service in my Temple, in places and Chappels neer to the place set apart to my service: therefore have I consumed, Hebr. eaten them in my anger. See Chap. 8. 3. & 23. 39. & 44. 7. 2 Kings 16:14. & 2 Kings 21:7. Jerem. 11. 15.

Ezekiel 43:9

Now let them put away, &c.] That is, all the true elect, and especially the Jews converted under the Messiah, shall cast off idolatry and serve God in all puritie: which future time is expressed by Now, which in a sort was present to the Prophet, namely, by vision or revelation from God.

Ezekiel 43:10

shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed V. 11. if they be ashamed shew them the form of the house] The house being an embleme and resemblance of the Church of the Gentiles under the Gospel, might shame the Jews to looke upon it, by considering that they had become so abominable, that the Lord had refused them for his Church, and had chosen the Heathen: but if they should be ashamed with an holy shame, and sorrow with an holy sorrow, that they had been thus offensive, then acquaint them with the forme, Laws and Ordinances of the house, for they also shall have their interest in it, as it fell out and was with the many thousand Jews converted in the time of our Saviour and his Apostles, and as it shall be with them at their conversion neere the end of the world.

pattern] Or, summe or number.

Ezekiel 43:11

And all the formes thereof: And all the formes thereof:] These words are repeated, and is as much, as shew them, shew them the formes both of the courts and house: and of the house both within and without.

Ezekiel 43:12

the whole limite thereof, &c.] As it is measured and bounded, Chap. 42. 16, 17, 18, 19.

Ezekiel 43:13

And these are the measures of the Altar] The compasse of the Altar was fortie eight cubits round about, viz. twelve cubits upon each side of the square, vers. 15. and this was thirtie two cubits short of the compasse of the Altar made by Solomon, 2 Chron. 4. 1. The height of it also was different from the height of his, for that was ten cubits, and this was but sixe. The fabricke of it was thus: Two cubits from the bottome of it, or from the ground was a ledge or a settle of a cubit broad without it round about: this was for them that served at the Altar to stand upon, and to goe upon round about the Altar, to rake up the ashes that were within the Altar: And therefore this Altar was not close boarded up upon the sides every where, as the Altar made by Moses was, which was moveable and of small dimensions; but this was boarded up only those two cubits that were betwixt this settle and the ground to keep the ashes together, but above this settle it was open at certaine places, that they might goe in and get the ashes out.

Foure cubits above this ledge, was another of the same breadth round about the altar likewise, upon which the Priests might stand, for the disposing and ordering of the sacrifices. And these benches being a cubit broad, it caused that their compasse increased two cubits above the compasse of the altar it selfe in every side of the square. And that the standing of the Priests might be firme upon these benches, there was a ledge of halfe a cubit broad fixed upon the outward edge of them, that the Priests might not slip off into the Court, and a ledge which the Text calleth A bosome fixed upon their inner edge, that the Priests might not slip into the hollow of the Altar. And from thence upward were the hornes at every corner.

even the bottome shall be a cubit] Hebr. The bosome. Meaning that ledge that went betwixt the higher bench and the Altar.

And the breadth a cubit] Of the bench it selfe.

And the border thereof by the edge thereof a span] A border carved, a span breadth upon the edge of that bosome or ledge that rose betwixt the bench and the Altar.

Ezekiel 43:15

So the Altar shall be foure cubits] From the lower to the upper bench: this is properly called the Altar, because that space between the lower bench, was the place of ashes.

In the Hebrew this verse is literally thus: And the mount of God foure cubits, and from the lion of God and upward four horne: where the body of the Altar betwixt the two benches is called the mount of God, as if God dwelled upon the Altar in a singular manner as on a little mountaine in the greater mount of the sanctuary. And the grate whereon the sacrifices were laid, is called the lion of God, because it devoured so much flesh, and so many beasts in sacrifice.

Ezekiel 43:17

And his staires shall looke toward the East] Steps are forbidden to be made to an Altar, Exodus 20:26. but this was to an Altar that was built occasionally, as Gideons, Judg. 6. 24. Elijahs, 1 King. 18. 32, &c. However the Lord is of power to dispense with, and at libertie to vary from his own commands: especially, in matters of this nature and qualitie. The staires of this Altar were Eastward, so that as the Priests mounted them their faces were toward the Temple: and when they were risen to the higher bench, they walked on the North and South side of the ltar, and so many of them might stand there and order the sacrifices together.

Ezekiel 43:18

These are the ordinances of the Altar] In the description of the fabricke, and of the ordinances of this new Temple and Jerusalem, two things are very observable. First, that the Temple and Citie described, are such as never were nor could be materially among the Jews: For the Temple described is bigger then all the materiall Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem described is farre bigger then all the earthly land of Canaan. Secondly, that the ordinances of this new Citie and Temple are such as were ordinarily and commonly observed among the Jews. And the reason of this difference is, because that though in all this description the chiefe intention is, to set forth the glory and extent of the Church under the Gospel among the Gentiles, and therefore he setteth forth a Jerusalem farre larger then all the land of the Jews; yet because the Jews being now in captivitie with the Prophet, were to returne to the earthly Jerusalem, and many of them there to be converted, and to be made members of the new and heavenly; therefore he speaketh of, and alludeth to some rites and ceremonies usuall among that people, that he might shew that these glorious things here specified, belong to the Jews called, as well as to the Gentiles. Therefore it will not be needfull, to prosecute the Text hence forward with explanation in every particular, seeing very many of the very same things here mentioned have fallen under observation before, as the rites of sacrificing, the charge of the Priests, the qualifications of those that draw neer unto the sanctuary: And seeing that all these things are but to shew puritie, holinesse, and sinceritie in the worship of God under the Gospel: But we will only take up some things of the greatest difficultie, and yet of the clearest evidence, that all these things are to be understood in a spirituall and mysticall sense, and not of an earthly or materiall Citie, Temple, and Ordinances. As,

First, In the measures of the portion of the land for the sanctuary, Chap. 45. The length of this holy portion must be five and twentie thousand reeds and ten thousand reeds in breadth. It is true indeed that the word reeds is not expressed in the Originall, yet the second verse of that Chapter being compared with Chap. 42. vers. 16, 17, 18, 19. make it most cleare and evident that it is so meant and to be understood. Now if we cast these measures into an unequall square as the Text hath done, and summe them up into miles as neere as we can, we shall finde that portion for the sanctuary will amount to a peece of land of 97. miles and an halfe long, and 39. miles broad: which amounteth to, if it do not exceed the proportion of the whole land of Canaan: Besides which is the possession of the Citie in verse 6. of five thousand reeds, or 19 miles and an halfe broad, and 97 miles and an halfe long: besides the portion allotted to the Prince over and above these.

Secondly, In the vision of the waters flowing from under the threshold of the house, Chap. 47. and then of the trees growing upon the brinke of those waters: of the large dimensions, borders and buildings of the Countrey and the Citie; All being figures of good things to come under Christ, and the times of the Gospel: and not at all promising or presaging any corporall pompous or earthly kingdome, citie or condition yet to come when the Jews shall be called, but declaring the spirituall happinesse, that both Jew and Gentile shall enjoy in the embracing of the Gospel, and living in the new Jerusalem the Christian Church: And the very same glorious things, in the very like borrowed and allusive expressions hath John set forth in the Revelation. Chap. 21. 22.

It hath been a very long continued errour of the Jews, and divers Christians have joyned with them in it, that at their calling, which is yet to come, they shall be all brought home to the land of Canaan, and there shall have an earthly Jerusalem, and a materiall Temple built of more glory and beautie then in the time of Solomon, and that they shall enjoy a pompous State, and sumptuous Kingdome, and Messias to appeare in the midst of them, and afford them earthly peace and prosperitie without any disturbance, change or interposition: And for the ground-worke of this opinion, this description of Ezekiel is mainly alleadged by the Jews, and that of the Revelation is stood much on by Christians.

Whereas, First, the earth was cursed for the fall of Adam, Genesis 3:17. and that land of Canaan cursed again for the transgression of the inhabitants. And it is most improper to looke for the Kingdome of Christ, of this world, or on this earth which the Lord hath cursed.

Secondly, The Jews shall be called in the places where they shall be scattered among the Gentiles: For they must have their vineyards from among the wildernesse of the Heathen, Hosea 2:15. and the Heathens must be their Instructors for their conversion, Hosea 2:1. And as it was with the converted Jews among the Heathen in the time of the Apostles, that they never left the places of their residence, where they were called, to goe to live in Judea, after their conversion, so shall it be with these.

Thirdly, Of those prophecies therefore that speake of their being gathered together, making one head, and going out of the lands where they be; see notes on Hosea 1:11. &c. and if they be applyed to the calling of the Jews, as they are now scattered and expected to come unto the faith, they are to be understood of their uniting in faith, and not in place, and their change of condition, and not of abode or residence.

Fourthly, The eleventh Chapter of the Revelation, which is a prophecie of their calling, and a description of their estate and condition being called, sheweth, that their calling shall be in the times, and their profession of the faith, shall be under the persecution of Antichrist, and so shall have but little tranquillitie or happinesse in regard of outward things.

Fifthly, As the Jerusalem described by Ezekiel, is bigger in compasse then all the land of Canaan, as is noted before, so is the Jerusalem described in the Revelation; being at the least 1500 miles about, if not so much upon every side of the square of it, Revelation 21:16. and therefore of necessitie must be mystically understood for the Church, and not for any particular Citie.