Ezekiel 46
-The prince’s offerings are detailed in this chapter. The
eastern gate to the Temple area will be closed for six working days, but on the
Sabbath it will be opened. In addition it will be opened on the day of the new moon
(Numbers 10:10; 28:11-15). The prince will enter by it by way of the porch from
the outside and stand by the post of the gate. Then the priests will provide
his burnt offerings, his peace offerings, and he will worship at the threshold
of the gate and then go out. The gate will then be shut that evening. The
people of the land will also worship at the doorway of that gate before the
LORD on Sabbaths and on the new moons. Details about the amounts and specifics
of the offerings is then given. The prince will enter and exit by the same
porch of the gate, but when the people of the land come before the LORD at the
appointed feasts they will go straight through either from the north to the
south or the south to the north. No one shall return by the way of the gate
they entered. “When they go in, the prince shall go in among them; and when
they go out, he shall go out (Ezekiel 46:1-10).” More specifics and amounts are
given concerning the sacrifices by both the prince and the people in the
following verses. Some offerings are periodic and some are continual day-by-day
as a perpetual ordinance of the LORD God (Ezekiel 46:11-15). Next, some
instruction is given as to the prince’s giving of gifts out of his inheritance
to his sons and servants. Sons take possession, but servants must return their
gifts at the year of liberty (year of Jubilee, Leviticus 25:8-17); therefore,
their gifts are not permanent. The prince shall not take from the people’s
inheritance, and he has no right to thrust them out of any of their possessions.
This is to prevent scattering as a means of complete and lasting justice
(Ezekiel 46:16-18).
-The boiling places are ascertained lastly in the chapter.
Ezekiel is brought through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate,
into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced to the north. He also
observed a place at the extreme rear toward the west. The man told him, “This
is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin
offering and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order that they may
not bring them out into the outer court to transmit holiness to the people
(Ezekiel 46:19-20).” Ezekiel was then brought out into the outer court and was
led across to the four corners of the court. In every corner of the court was a
small court. These were forty cubits long (about 65 feet) and thirty cubits
wide (about 45 feet), all the same size. There was also a row of masonry round
about in them and boiling places were made under these rows round about. The
man told the prophet, “These are the boiling places where the ministers of the
house shall boil the sacrifices of the people (Ezekiel 46:21-24).”
-*Application* God is a God of order and unity as well as
continuity (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). His Kingdom endures forever and will have
precise structure to it.
Verse to Memorize:
Ezekiel 46:2
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