Ezekiel 40

40: 1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me thither. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south. And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel. 5 And behold, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits long, of a cubit and an handbreadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the steps thereof; and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad. And every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and the space between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house. And the lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure; and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; and a border before the lodges, one cubit on this side, and a border, one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. And he measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a breadth of five and twenty cubits; door against door. He made also posts, threescore cubits; and the court reached unto the post, the gate being round about. And from the forefront of the gate at the entrance unto the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. And there were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches: and windows were round about inward: and upon each post were palm trees. 17 Then brought he me into the outer court, and, lo, there were chambers and a pavement, made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the pavement. And the pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable unto the length of the gates, even the lower 19 pavement. Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the fore-

20 front of the inner court without, an hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north. And the gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured the length

21 thereof and the breadth thereof. And the lodges thereof were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were after the measure of the first

22 gate: the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. And the windows thereof, and the arches thereof, and the palm trees thereof, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up unto it by seven steps;

23 and the arches thereof were before them. And there was a gate to the inner court over against the other gate, both on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate

24 an hundred cubits. And he led me toward the south, and behold a gate toward the south:

25 and he measured the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures. And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about, like those windows: the

26 length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them: and it had palm trees, one on this

27 side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof. And there was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south an hundred cubits.

28. Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate

29 according to these measures; and the lodges thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof

30 round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad. And there were

31 arches round about, five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad. And the arches thereof were toward the outer court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the

32 going up to it had eight steps. And he brought me into the inner court toward the east:

33 and he measured the gate according to these measures; and the lodges thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits

34 broad. And the arches thereof were toward the outer court; and palm trees were upon the

35 posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps. And he

36 brought me to the north gate: and he measured it according to these measures; the lodges thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof; and there were windows therein round

37 about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. And the posts thereof were toward the outer court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.

38. And a chamber with the door thereof was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the

39 burnt offering. And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on

40 that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering. And on the one side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.

41. Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate: eight

42 tables, whereupon they slew the sacrifices. And there were four tables for the burnt offering, of hewn stone, a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, and one cubit high: whereupon they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sarri-

43 fice. And the hooks, an handbreadth long, were fastened within round about: and upon the

44 tables was the flesh of the oblation. And without the inner gate were chambers for the sing- ers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward

45 the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north. And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keep-

46 ers of the charge of the house. And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, which from

47 among the sons of Levi come near to the LORD to minister unto him. And he measured the court, an hundred cubits long, and an hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar was before the house.

48. Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits

49 on this side, and three cubits on that side. The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; even by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

41:1 And he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.

2. And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof,

3 forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits. Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits: and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance,

4 seven cubits. And he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty

5 cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. Then he meas- ured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side-chamber, four cubits,

6 round about the house on every side. And the side-chambers were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side-chambers round about, that they might have hold therein, and not have hold in the 7 wall of the house. And the side-chambers were broader as they encompassed the house higher and higher; for the encompassing of the house went higher and higher round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house continued upward; and so one went up from

8 the lowest chamber to the highest by the middle chamber. I saw also that the house had a raised basement round about: the foundations of the side-chambers were a full reed of six

9 great cubits. The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chambers, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side-chambers that belonged to

10 the house. And between the chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits round about the

11 house on every side. And the doors of the side-chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the

12 place that was left was five cubits round about. And the building that was before the sepa- rate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the build-

13 ing was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits. So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls

14 thereof, an hundred cubits long; also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the sepa- rate place toward the east, an hundred cubits.

15. And he measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at the back thereof, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred

16 cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court; the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the threshold, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows; now the windows

17 were covered; to the space above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by

18 all the wall round about within and without, by measure. And it was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two

19 faces; so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: thus was it made through all the

20 house round about. From the ground unto above the door were cherubim and palm trees

21 made: thus was the wall of the temple. As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance thereof was as the appearance of the tem-

22 ple. The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said

23 unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD. And the temple and the sanctuary had

24 two doors. And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one

25 door, and two leaves for the other. And there were made on them, on the doors of the tem- ple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick beams

26 of wood upon the face of the porch without. And there were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side- chambers of the house, and the thick beams.

42:1 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over

2 against the building toward the north. Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north

3 door, and the breadth was fifty cubits. Over against the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gal-

4 lery against gallery in the third story. And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits

5 breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north. Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower

6 and the middlemost, in the building. For they were in three stories, and they had not pil- lars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the uppermost was straitened more than the lowest

7 and the middlemost from the ground. And the wall that was without by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits.

8. For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before

9 the temple were an hundred cubits. And from under these chambers was the entry on the

10 east side, as one goeth into them from the outer court. In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were cham-

11 bers. And the way before them was like the appearance of the way of the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their goings

12 out were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors. And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door in the head of the way,

13 even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them. Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be the holy chambers, where the priests that are near unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin

14 offering, and the guilt offering; for the place is holy. When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertaineth to the people.

15. Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the

16 way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. He meas- ured on the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed

17 round about. He measured on the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed

18 round about. He measured on the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed, 19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. 20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

A DEVELOPMENT of the promise contained in 37:27. The subject of the closing chapters of Ezekiel is the restitution of the kingdom of God. This is expressed by a vision, in which are displayed not only a rebuilt temple, but also by a reformed priesthood, reorganized services, a restored monarchy, a reapportioned territory, a renewed people, and, as a consequence, the diffusion of fertility and plenty over the whole earth. The return from Babylon was indeed the beginning of this work, but only a beginning, introductory to the future kingdom of Christ, first upon earth, finally in heaven. The vision must therefore be viewed as strictly symbolical; the symbols employed being the Mosaic ordinances. These ordinances had indeed in themselves a hidden meaning. The tabernacle in the midst of the tents of the tribes, and afterward the Temple in the capital of the land of inheritance, was intended to signify the dwelling of Jehovah among His people; the priesthood was to denote the mediation between God and man; the monarchy, the sovereignty of God; the people, the saints of God; the territory, their inheritance. So that the symbols here employed have an essential propriety, yet they are truly symbols, and as such are they to be regarded. B. C.

These chapters are the more to be regarded, because the two last chapters of the Revelation seem to have a plain allusion to them, as Rev. 20 has to the foregoing prophecy of Gog and Magog. Here is the vision of a glorious temple (in this chapter and chaps. 41 and 42), of God’s taking possession of it (chap. 43), orders concerning the priests that are to minister in this temple (chap. 44), the division of the land, what portion should be allotted for the sanctuary, what for the city, and what for the prince, both in his government of the people and his worship of God (chap. 45), and further instructions for him and the people (chap. 46). After the vision of the holy waters, we have the borders of the holy land, and the portions assigned to the tribes, and the dimensions and gates of the holy city (chaps. 47, 48). The general scope of it I take to be: 1. To assure the captives that they should not only return to their own land, and be settled there, which had been often promised in the foregoing chapters, but that they should have, and therefore should be encouraged to build, another temple, which God would own, and where He would meet them and bless them. 2. To direct them to look further than all this, and to expect the coming of the Messiah, who had before been prophesied of under the name of David, because He was the man that projected the building of the temple, and that should set up a spiritual temple, even the Gospel Church, the glory of which should far exceed that of Solomon’s Temple, and which should continue to the end of time. The dimensions of these visionary buildings being so large (the new temple more spacious than all the old Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem greater than all the land of Canaan) plainly intimates, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, that these things cannot be literally, but must be spiritually understood. And the Gospel temple, erected by Christ and His apostles, was so closely connected with the second material temple, was erected so carefully just at the time when that fell into decay, that it might be ready to receive its glories when it resigned them, that it was proper enough that they should both be referred to in one and the same vision. Under the type and figure of a temple and altar, priests and sacrifices, is foreshown the spiritual worship that should be performed in Gospel times, more agreeably to the nature both of God and man; and that perfected at last in the kingdom of glory, in which perhaps these visions will have their full accomplishments; and some think in some happy and glorious state of the Gospel Church on this side heaven, in the latter days. H.

In this long section Ezekiel foretells the consummation of Israel’s hopes under the figures of a restored nation, a new and symmetrical division of the Holy Land among the Twelve Tribes, a rebuilt temple and a re-established worship. Here are the indefinite glories of the golden age conceived under the precise forms of geographical surveys, architectural specifications and ritualistic rubrics. It is hard for most readers to believe that the author has any larger thought beyond the details. But the geographical arrangements are practically impossible; and the symbolical meaning comes out clearly enough where he describes the river which flows from the temple to make sweet the Dead Sea. The measuring tape is still used, but the figurative purpose is plain. This beautiful dream the prophet never could have thought of realizing in the parched wadies that gash through the desert mountains of Judea down to the Dead Sea. It is the River of Life which John has further spiritualized and placed in the New Jerusalem. Ballantine.

Fourteen years after the conquest of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, the desolation of the land, the deportation of its inhabitants, Ezekiel describes in this section the restoration of all that was lost, and gives, at the same time, in chap. 47 : 1-12, a glance into the distant future, in which from the restored Israel salvation for the whole world goes forth in fulfilment of the ancient prediction, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” In the older theology it was customary to regard the whole section as a prophecy of the Christian Church. There is truth at the foundation of this view. Although the restoration of the city and the temple is first predicted, yet this special announcement rests on the general ground of the firm conviction of the living power and indestructibility of the kingdom of God, the symbol of which was the temple, according to a view pervading the whole of the Old and the New Testament. And as the prophecy reaches beyond its first fulfilment, it guarantees that within the kingdom of God life shall arise out of every death—that the old covenant cannot go down without rising again gloriously in the new. Hengstenberg.

Under the particulars detailed by Ezekiel, we discover the economy of a spiritual temple, which should again be filled with “the glory of the Lord coming from the East” (43 : 2, 4). Dr. Gray.—This concluding vision of a new city and temple was shown to Ezekiel at the close of his ministry for the consolation of his brethren, who were then commemorating by the waters of Babylon the fate of their former city and temple, which had that day been extinguished just fourteen years. But the Spirit of God, as in other prophecies on the same occasion, looked to a period beyond that event, which became evident when the Jews were restored to their land and the second temple was completed. For neither the extent and magnificence of the building nor the privileges and ministry of that temple did by any means correspond to this representation; and, in the glory of the Divine presence, it was entirely deficient: whereas the prophet here tells us,

“The Spirit took me and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.” He adds further, “And I heard Him speaking unto me out of the house; and He said unto me, The place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever” (chap. 43 : 5-7); which last circumstance of perpetual duration could not belong to any temple under the Mosaic economy, but is the peculiar attribute of that nobler dispensation to which it led. Such an interpretation of this mystical vision is agreeable to the usage of the prophets, who speak of the future dispensation under the image of a temple or city. (See Isa. 2 : 2; Zech. 6 : 12, 13.) At the conclusion of this very vision we are told that the name of the city should be, “The Lord is there” (48 : 35); a name of the same import with that given by Jeremiah to the city of Christ, “The Lord our righteousness” (Jer. 33 : 16). The whole vision, whatever difficulties there may be in the explication of particular parts, must be considered as a mystical representation of the Messiah’s government. On this general application, that there should still be partial difficulties is exactly what ought to be expected; neither will those difficulties entirely vanish till the whole scheme is completed; for the true and accurate interpretation of all prophecy is only to be had from the accomplishment. Bp. Bagot.

The remaining nine chapters constitute one vision, given to the prophet in the twenty-fifth year of the Captivity—i.e., about fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem. It is entirely unique in its character, yet closely connected in its leading thought and purpose with chaps. 36-39, immediately preceding. I regard this vision as an ideal representation of the glorious future of Messiah’s kingdom. The mode of representing it corresponds with the external character of Christ’s Church and kingdom under the Mosaic economy. This correspondence is natural, and should be expected. Ezekiel and his people, the exiles in Chaldea, were familiar with no other form of Divine worship and with no other organization—no other external life for the people of God. Hence there was the same reason for using this class of symbols to represent the future kingdom of Christ as for using the Hebrew language in speaking to them, rather than the Greek, the Latin or the English—viz., the fitness of using figures and symbols as well as words which the prophet and his people would readily understand. Let it be borne in mind that Ezekiel was by birth, training and profession, a priest. Of course he was perfectly at home in all that pertained to the temple, the priesthood, and the prescribed forms of Mosaic worship. In the world of symbols, therefore, this was his vernacular tongue. Approximately and in general, the same may be said of the Jews of his time, his captive brethren. In the next place, let it be remembered that the people had now been in exile twenty-five years, and their beloved city in ruins fourteen; long enough to awaken anxious fears lest their people should never return, the temple never be rebuilt, and lest the Zion of their God should never rise again from its ruins. These fears are amply indicated in chap. 37:11. To meet precisely this great fear, and to inspire a precious confidence in a future for Zion far more glorious than its past had ever been, this vision came. It describes with great minuteness (chaps. 40-43) the new temple yet to be; then the return of the glorious Shekinah to fix His abode once more in this temple, henceforward to be there perpetually (chap. 43); next the altar and its laws of worship; then, regulations for the prince and for the priests (chap. 44); then the assignment of territory for the temple, the priests, the Levites, and the adjacent city (chap. 45). Next, various ordinances for the people, and for the prince (chap. 46); then a vision of holy waters issuing from the sanctuary, and of the blessings they bear where they go; then the boundaries of their land (chap. 47); and finally the apportionment of territory to the several tribes, together with a great reservation for sacred purposes—for the temple, the priests, the Levites and the prince—all culminating in the one comprehensive fact, embodied in the name of the city, “Jehovah Shammah;” “the Lord is there.” I regard this vision as a magnificent panorama, thoroughly symbolical, and setting forth in Jewish costume and drapery the future prosperity, the order, beauty and moral power of the Church in those days when God shall dwell forever with His people by His Holy Spirit, a power unto holiness in their hearts and lives, making the institutions and agencies of the Gospel exceedingly effective for evangelizing the world and bringing the nations to know the Lord. H. C.

Each prophet has contemplated under some one particular aspect the final scene of the picture, the latter days. Ezekiel, the priest, sees this final consummation under the image of a temple of admirable purity of form. This sanctuary, which he describes in the nine last chapters of his book, is not a reproduction of Solomon’s Temple, now destroyed. It is distinguished from that by very significant differences; the ark and the mercy-seat are no longer seen in the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place; there is no golden altar in the latter; a simple table, like that around which a father gathers his children, has replaced the altar of incense. But the most remarkable feature is a stream which issues from the threshold of this new sanctuary. It is of no great depth at first; when Ezekiel crosses it in the inner court, the water only reaches to the ankles. But this mysterious stream, although receiving no tributary from without, increases visibly as it advances in its course. When Ezekiel crosses it a little lower down, the water already reaches to his knees. Further on, the water rises to his loins; and when he has passed still lower down along the river, he can no longer cross it on foot, he must swim over it. These wonderful waters seem to increase in bulk by some internal virtue of their own, and each drop possesses the strange property of becoming in its turn a spring.

The stream runs eastward toward the low plains which extend to the north of the Dead Sea. As it crosses the barren lands to the east of Jerusalem, it transforms them into fertile orchards. Fruitful trees, like those of Eden, grow upon its banks. Arrived at the valley of the Jordan, the stream crosses it, and pours itself into the Dead Sea. It is well known that this lake, saturated with salt and asphalt, cannot give life to any fish; and that its banks, covered with white saline emanations, and intersected by black streams of asphalt running down from the neighboring mountains, are almost entirely uninhabited. But the stream that issues from the sanctuary no sooner reaches the waters of this sea than it heals them. Soon the fish begin to live and multiply in them. Colonies of fishermen establish themselves upon its banks; and in these solitudes the stir of industry and social life succeeds to the stillness of death.

Some have attempted to interpret these pictures literally. They have maintained that Ezekiel intended to paint the actual temple which Israel should rebuild at the return from the Captivity. But how can we suppose he would have allowed himself to make such radical changes in the ordinances of the sanctuary established by Moses? And how could a literal river flow out of such a building? Who ever saw a stream running down from the top of a table-land, commanded by no height above it, and this stream increasing without receiving any tributary by its own inherent force? Besides, are not the spiritual meanings of the modifications introduced into the ancient forms of the sanctuary sufficiently evident? The substitution of a simple table for the golden altar; the suppression of the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies—are not these expressive emblems of that perfect communion with God, in which the faithful under the new covenant may draw near to Him without restraint, and where God receives them at His table as a father does his children? The stream of healing waters which issues from the sanctuary—is it not an image of that ever-rising stream—the Word and the Spirit of the Lord—which, just so far as it effects an entrance into humanity, makes all things in it new, and becomes in every heart which receives it a living spring of new life? These fruit-trees, growing upon either bank of the river, do not they represent those beneficent institutions which ever mark the course of the Gospel in the midst of a believing population; and this Dead Sea, purified and healed, does it not typify the heathen world, that unclean sewer, becoming, by means of the life which flows from Christ, the scene of the noblest works of God?

One last touch completes the beauty of this picture. That cloud which Ezekiel had beheld in the beginning, withdrawing itself from the desecrated temple, he now sees making its solemn entry into this perfected sanctuary. God comes to dwell in the midst of His renovated temple. In fact, even while sometimes God gives up to destruction the visible institutions which have temporarily served as instruments for His work, He never abandons the work itself. He reserves to Himself the power of renewing it after each failure, under a form more spiritual and more holy. It was by means of these glorious visions that Ezekiel labored to revive the courage of the exiles, and made them fitted—them and their descendants—to preserve for some centuries longer the ancient theocratic institution, of which the mission was not yet accomplished.

The omnipotence of the living God—that is the idea which predominates in the whole ministry of Ezekiel. It was that which was demanded by the condition of a people in whom the sense of their weakness was in danger of becoming an overwhelming discouragement. Godet.

Ezekiel’s Priest Code (Chaps. 40-48) and the Pentateuch. Taking the Law simply by itself, and the sayings of the prophets by themselves, it will be admitted that the latter mark a progress upon the bare text of the former. Their views of the Law, as spiritual and inward; of the priesthood, as one of holiness; of circumcision, as of the heart; and of sacrifices, feasts and fasts, as not merely outward observances, unconnected with a corresponding state of mind, mark an advance on a former state of externalism. We can understand it, if the Mosaic Law had already existed; but not, if the main part of the so-called Mosaic legislation originated afterward. For, in that case, it would mark a retrogression from the more spiritual standpoint of the prophets to that Law, which yet was evidently connected with their activity.

This connection will at least not be denied in regard to Ezekiel. What has been called his “priest code” (chaps. 40-48) may be viewed as a symbolical and ideal presentation of the “New Jerusalem”—the form of the vision being determined by the peculiar modes of thinking and the then circumstances of the prophet and the people. But even so, and still more—viewing it, from the standpoint of our discussion, as a piece of legislation—it bears reference to the Pentateuch order, and more especially to that portion of it known as the “priest code.” Historically speaking, it stands, according to our opponents, midway between the Jehovah and the Deuteronomist on the one hand, and the priest code on the other. Indeed, it is said to have formed the model, and in part the kernel, of the “priest code.” This is a decisive position to take up, but also one which has been proved indefensible. No other part of the controversy has been more exhaustively treated than this of the relation between Ezekiel and the priest code, whether Ezekiel looked back on the priest code, or the priest code on Ezekiel. The contention of Wellhausen is the latter; but it has been shown on conclusive evidence that Ezekiel looks back on the priest code, which, therefore, must have been prior to the prophet. But, in that case, we shall have to put the priest code a long way back, since, according to our opponents, there is the widest difference between it and the other documents in the Pentateuch, which mark a very different stage and a very different date from the priest code. In proof that Ezekiel had known the priest code, Hoffmann quotes not fewer than eighty-one passages from the priest code which have exact verbal parallels in eighty-three passages in Ezekiel. These prove, even if we were to make some deductions from them, that the one document must have referred to the other. And this is further confirmed by the peculiar use of a particle (“when”), which only in the priest code in the Pentateuch, and, with few isolated exceptions, only in Ezekiel, is placed after the subject which it determines. In evidence that Ezekiel had derived all this from the priest code, and not the reverse, Hoffmann adduces these two facts: first, that Ezekiel employs a number of other expressions which occur in writings that are undoubtedly older than his prophecies, while the priest code contains no other passages in which such parallelism with other portions of Scripture occurs; and, secondly, that the priest code has merely such parallelisms to Ezekiel as occur only in the latter, but none of those which Ezekiel has in common with other writings, such as Jeremiah and Deuteronomy.

We have to submit yet another consideration, which, indeed, is not new, but will, we believe, have its due weight with those who view the subject, not so much from the technical standpoint, as from that of general considerations and common sense. Let it be remembered that the ritual portion in Ezekiel differs in many and important particulars from the laws and arrangements of the so-called priest code. We can understand such modifications by a prophet in his vision of the future, if the arrangements of the priest code had been already in existence; but a later composition by priests of a code, professedly Mosaic, which contravened the arrangements of an acknowledged prophet, seems incredible. And this the more, when we remember that, according to our opponents, the arrangements of the priest code were also inconsistent with an earlier legislation, which also professed to be Mosaic—so that the priests who, to speak plainly, foisted the priest code upon Moses, also made Moses contradict himself as well as Ezekiel. And yet it is admitted on all hands that the “redaction,” which welded into one whole the various parts of which the Pentateuch is composed, displays extraordinary skill. Indeed, the dilemma becomes even more acute. Let it still be borne in mind that the difference between the earlier legislation and that of the priest code is said, on certain points, to be very great. If so, how are we to account for the introduction of the priest code as the Law of Moses, long after the differing institutions of the earlier legislation had been received as Mosaic? Or, again, if the priest code which modified the earlier legislation was the latest production, and intended to be finally binding, how is it that the priest code was not placed after Deuteronomy in the Pentateuch, when they had the arranging of it? We can understand that Deuteronomy may have been a second and popular version of the earlier Law, when, in view of the immediate entrance into the land, certain of the ordinances, given thirty-eight years before, had to be modified, or, rather, adapted to the new circumstances of the people. But we cannot imagine the publication by the later priesthood of a code professedly Mosaic, by the side of one more ancient, and also professedly Mosaic, which taught differently. Why retain the older code at all, after it had become antiquated for so long a time? why call it Mosaic? why insert it in the Pentateuch? If the priests were able to introduce such an entirely new code, in which the privileges of their order and other arrangements were so much more emphasized than in the old legislation, why retain the latter, and insert it into the canon? or why should Ezra, for example, have read it in the hearing of all the people—or, did he read it?—and why should he have told them that the Exile had been the punishment of their transgression of the Mosaic ordinances, when, according to our opponents, he was himself bringing in a new code, on many points inconsistent with the old one? Such questions might easily be multiplied. A. E.

It is evident that Ezekiel’s description differs too widely from the past to allow the supposition that it is historical; and written at a time when the temple lay in ashes and the land desolate, it cannot refer to the present. It must then have reference to the future. The presumption is certainly that it portrays an ideal future, because the whole was seen “in the visions of God” (40:2), an expression which Ezekiel always applies to a symbolic representation rather than to an actual image of things. (Cf. 1:1; 8:3; 11:24; 43:3.) Moreover, if it is to be literally understood, it must portray a state of things to be realized either in the near future, or else at a time still in advance of our own day. If the former, as is supposed by a few commentators, it is plain that the prophecy was never fulfilled, and remains a monument of magnificent purposes unaccomplished. The attempt to explain this by the theory that the returning exiles found themselves too few and feeble to carry out the prophet’s whole designs, and therefore concluded to postpone them altogether to a more convenient season, must be regarded as an entire failure. For one of two suppositions must be adopted, both of them leading to the same result: either that of the negative critics—that certain great features of the Mosaic law, such as the distinction between the priests and Levites and the general priestly legislation, had their origin with Ezekiel; and in this case it is inconceivable that, while adopting this, no attention should have been paid to the authority of this great prophet in other matters; or else we must accept the commonly received view, that the Mosaic law was earlier, and is here profoundly modified by Ezekiel. In the latter case, however much the returning exiles might have been disappointed in their circumstances, yet if they understood the prophet literally, they must have looked forward to the accomplishment of his designs in the future, and would naturally have been anxious to order the restored theocracy on his plan, as far as they could, from the first, to avoid the necessity of future changes; and a large part of the scheme, such as the cycle of the feasts, the ordering of the sacrifices, etc., was quite within their power. In either case, if the vision is to be taken literally, it is inexplicable that there should be no reference to it in the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah and the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, which all relate to this period, and describe the return and settlement in the land, and the rebuilding of the temple. F. Gardiner.

[Professor Gardiner then refers to “statements which admit of definite tests in regard to their literalness.” Among these are the immense dimensions and relative positions of the temple and city; the description of the “oblation,” as physically impossible; “the division of the land among the tribes, the assignment to the priests and Levites of large landed estates, the enormous size of the temple precincts and of the city, with the small allotment of land for its support—all singular and entirely destitute of either historical precedent or subsequent realization;” the physical impossibility of a literal interpretation to the description of the waters issuing from the temple. He adds that the whole vision is so intimately bound together that objections against one part lie also against the whole. And he concludes this point as follows. B.]

Ezekiel’s purpose was so far understood by his contemporaries that they never made any attempt to carry out his descriptions in the rebuilding of the temple and the reconstruction of the State. The idea of a literal interpretation of his words was reserved for generations long distant from his time, from the forms of the Church under which he lived, and from the circumstances and habits of expression with which he was familiar, and under the influence of which he wrote. Gardiner. (See Jour. Society of Bib. Literature and Exegesis, 1881, pp. 172-205.)

Chap. 40. There seems to be no occasion for extended comments on this description of the temple. Let it suffice to suggest to the reader the remarkable regularity and uniformity of dimensions that prevailed throughout, indicating, we must suppose, the beautiful order that shall prevail under the final triumph of the Gospel in our world. Then everything will be in its place; whatever is shapeless, rude, uncouth, will be discarded; all will be morally right, and the whole external world will be in beautiful harmony with the perfect moral order and purity that will then rule in human hearts and in all society.

Chap. 41. This continued description embraces the most holy place; the chambers also, and the altar, pointed out to the prophet particularly as the table of the Lord, with frequent allusions to the ornamentation of these apartments and walls by means of engraving upon them figures of palm trees and cherubim. The same wonderful regularity obtains here as in the previous chapter, and with the same significance.

Chap. 42: 1-20. The point of chief and special interest in this part of the description is the manifest care taken and the arrangements made to isolate holy things from profane, as if to guard henceforward forever against debasing the worship of God and against all contamination of God’s people by contact with sin and its temptations. Thus (verses 13, 14) the priests have special chambers, where none but themselves may eat the most holy things. Their sacred ministrations are to be performed in holy garments, to be laid off when they come before the people. Verses 15-20 describe an area outside the holy place enclosed by a wall, designed to “make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place.” It may fitly be noticed that while the temple proper corresponded precisely in dimensions with that built by Solomon, this wall-enclosed area was vastly larger—viz., a square of five hundred reeds, or nearly one English mile on each side—“considerably larger than the whole area of the city of Jerusalem, its temple included!” This fact goes far to show that this temple and its surroundings were simply ideal; seen in vision only, and never designed to be developed into actual reality. Taken ideally, its significance is obvious and pertinent, and is forcibly expressed. So carefully and jealously will God guard His church in the future days against being contaminated with sin. Once

redeemed and sanctified unto Christ and holiness, they will be “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” Blessed truth! Obviously, in the nature of the case, this must be one of the grand features of the millennial age—the Church preserved from relapsing into worldliness and kept near to God. What is in-

dispensable in the nature of the case to a glorious millennial state, it is pleasant to find specially indicated here in this figurative vision. H. C.