EZEKIEL 46
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2003 James Melough
46:1.
“Thus saith the Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looketh towards the
east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be
opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.”
The east gate of the inner court will be kept shut
on the six working days of the week, being opened only on each sabbath day and
on the day of each new moon.
46:2.
“And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and
shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt
offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the
gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the
evening.”
The prince will enter through the porch that will
be on the outside of that east gate, and stand at the doorposts of that same
gate, while the priests prepare and offer his burnt and peace offerings,
following which he will prostrate himself in the attitude of worship at the
threshold of the gate, and then go out, the gate not being shut until the
evening.
46:3.
“Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before
the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons.”
The common people will likewise worship in front of
that same gate every sabbath, and on the day of each new moon.
46:4.
“And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the
sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.”
Every sabbath day the prince will present a burnt
offering consisting of six unblemished lambs, and one unblemished ram.
46:5.
“And the meat (meal) offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat (meal)
offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an
ephah.”
With his ram the prince will also present a meal
offering measuring one ephah; and with the six lambs as much meal as he can
afford, plus a hin of oil with each ephah of meal presented.
46:6.
“And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish,
and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.”
On the day of each new moon, i.e., on the first day
of each month, the prince will offer a young unblemished bullock, plus six
lambs and one ram, all of them also unblemished.
46:7.
“And he shall prepare a meat (meal) offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an
ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto,
and an hin of oil to an ephah.”
With the animals the prince will also present a
meal offering of an ephah for the bullock, and an ephah for the ram, and of
whatever amount of meal he can afford for the six lambs, plus a hin of oil for
every ephah of meal.
46:8.
“And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of
that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.”
When the prince enters he shall come in through the
porch of the eastern gate, and he shall go out again by the same way.
46:9.
“But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn
feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go
out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south
gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the
way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.”
The order for the people will be different. If
they come in through the north gate they will leave through the south gate,
and vice versa. They will not be permitted to leave through the gate by which
they enter.
46:10.
“And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when
they go forth, shall go forth.”
The prince and the people will enter and leave
together.
46:11.
“And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat (meal) offering shall be an
ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to
give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.”
In all the Divinely appointed feasts and festivals
an ephah of meal will be offered with each bullock, and the same with each
ram; but the size of the meal offering to be presented with each lamb will be
according to what the offerer can afford. In all cases each ephah of meal
will be accompanied by an hin of oil.
46:12.
“Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary
burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the Lord, one shall then
open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt
offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then shall he
go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.”
In verse one it is commanded that the eastern gate
is to be opened only on each sabbath and on each new moon, but an exception to
that rule is made here. When the prince brings a voluntary burnt or peace
offering to the Lord, one (a priest) will open for him the eastern gate; and
when he has completed the presentation of his offering, he will leave by that
same eastern gate, after which it will be shut again.
46:13.
“Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the
first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.”
46:14.
“And thou shalt prepare a meat (meal) offering for it every morning, the sixth
part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper (moisten)
with the fine flour; a meat (meal) offering continually by a perpetual
ordinance unto the Lord.”
46:15.
“Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat (meal) offering, and the oil,
every morning for a continual burnt offering.”
Every morning an unblemished one-year-old lamb will
be presented as a burnt offering, and with it there will be presented a meal
offering of one-sixth of an ephah of fine flour, together with one-third of a
hin of oil, the oil being used to moisten the flour; this offering to be
presented perpetually.
46:16.
“Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the
inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by
inheritance.”
When the prince gives a gift to any of his sons,
that property will remain as part of the inheritance of that son to whom it is
given, and also of his sons perpetually.
46:17.
“But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one
of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall
return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them.”
If he gives part of his inheritance as a gift to
one of his servants, it will remain in the possession of that servant until
the year of liberty which was every seventh year when bond slaves were to be
set free, though many - correctly, I believe - understand the reference to be
to the year of jubilee, which was every fifty years; but if he gives part of
his inheritance as a gift to one of his sons, it will remain in the possession
of that son and of his sons in succession in perpetuity.
46:18.
“Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression,
to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons
inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every
man from his possession.”
The prince is not to evict any of the people from
their inheritance. What he gives to his sons he must give out of his own
property, the purpose of this provision being to ensure that no man may be
driven out of the inheritance given him by God, and to be held in perpetuity.
46:19.
“After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate,
into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and,
behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.”
The angelic guide then led the prophet through the
entrance at the side of the north gate into the area of the priests’ sacred
rooms, in the west of which lay an area on either side of the gate.
46:20.
“Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the
trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat (meal)
offering; that they bear them not out into the utter (outer) court, to
sanctify the people.”
That area mentioned in the preceding verse was then
designated as the place where the priests are to prepare the trespass and sin
offerings, and bake the meal offering, they being strictly forbidden to take
any part of those offerings into the outer court for the sanctification of the
people.
46:21.
“Then he brought me forth into the utter (outer) court, and caused me to pass
by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court
there was a court.”
The prophet was then led into the outer court where
he was made to walk past its four corners, at each of which he saw yet another
court or enclosure.
46:22.
“In the four corners of the court there were
courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were
of one measure.”
The courts at each corner of the main court
measured forty cubits long and thirty broad.
46:23.
“And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four,
and it was with boiling places under the rows round about.”
On the inside of the walls of each of the corner
courts there will be fireplaces for the boiling of the sacrifices.
46:24.
“Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the
ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people”
His guide informed Ezekiel that these fireplaces
will be for the use of those whose service will be to boil the sacrifices
brought by the people.
[Ezekiel
47]