Ezekiel 45

Ezekiel 45:13-46

Instructions for Sacrifice (45:13-46:24) This major section describes the amounts of the offerings which the prince is to receive from the people and to offer to God (vss. 13-17). Verses 18-20 deal with atonement for, or dedication of, the Temple.

The Feast of the Passover is described with detailed instructions concerning the amounts of offerings to be made by the prince (Ezekiel 45:21-25). For seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. On the seven days of celebration seven young bulls and seven rams shall be offered, together with a he-goat, as a sin offering. Cereal and oil offerings are also to be made. At the Feast of Tabernacles the same offerings shall be repeated (vs. 25). These instructions are at variance with those recorded in Numbers and elsewhere, proving that the cultic practice of a dynamic faith changes with time.

A relatively long discussion of Sabbaths and new moons is given by the prophet. Again we find that the East Gate is closed, except on the Sabbath and the new moon, when it is to be opened that the prince may enter by the vestibule and take his stand there. Details of the offerings to be made on stated occasions follow (Ezekiel 46:1-8). Procedure for entering the Temple area is then given. A man must not leave by the gate through which he entered, and the worshiping group is to be accompanied by the prince (vss. 9-10) . Details of offerings which the prince will make are described, and the procedure for offering is given (vss. 11-15).

A rule for holding property in perpetuity reflects the sad chronicle of Israelite history in which the Year of Jubilee had never been actively observed (see Leviticus 25). When the prince makes a gift to his sons out of his inheritance, the property is a permanent inheritance of the sons and their heirs. On the other hand, when the prince donates some of his property to a servant, it shall remain in the keeping of the servant until the “year of liberty,” probably every seventh year, and then return to the prince. Thus provision was made for a redistribution of the property but not on so extensive a scale as the Year of Jubilee required. Since the prince possessed his own inheritance, he was forbidden to take inheritance of the common people: “None of my people shall be dispossessed of his property” (vs. 18). Historical abuses of the property rights of the people by the kings, as evidenced in Amos, Isaiah, and Micah, showed the necessity for this safeguard in Ezekiel’s vision of the future.

The narrative continues, describing in the western side of the inner court some kind of enclosure where the priests boiled the guilt offering and the sin offering and where they also baked the cereal offering. This was a kitchen where the priests prepared the offering which was theirs exclusively to eat before God (vss. 19- 20). In the outer court at the four comers within the walls there were four smaller courts, 40 x 30 cubits, equipped with hearths for cooking. These were the kitchens where the Levites prepared portions of the sacrifices of which it was the privilege and the duty of the people to partake (vss. 21-24).