Ezekiel 46
Butler10. A transition to a general exhortation to justice and honesty, expressed by true weights and measures (Lev. 19 : 35 ; Prov. 11 : 1). This fitly introduces the strict regulation of quantities in the prescribed offerings.
Chap. 46. Having seen the temple and the city rise before him in fair proportions, having delivered the ordinance for priest and prince, the prophet is permitted to behold in vision people, priest and prince uniting in most solemn worship before the throne of God. B. C.
Here are special ordinances prescribing who may pass through the glorious eastern gate, through which the Shekinah had passed ; also when and how (verses 1-3, 12) ; how the people may enter the temple (verses 9, 10) ; various ordinances in respect to “meat-offerings” to accompany the bloody sacrifices ; how the prince may entail his real estate (verses 16-18) ; and the provision of apartments for cooking (verses 19-24).
1-3. Very special sacredness attached to this eastern gate, since through this gate the visible glory of the Lord entered into the most holy place. (See chap. 44 : 1-4.) Through this gate the prince and He only might enter (verses 2, 12). It was to be opened only on the Sabbath ; on the days of new moon ; and when the prince had occasion to present a voluntary (not specially prescribed) offering (verse 12). The significance of these points looks toward the special sacredness of the prince as one near to God, and was also intended to impress the people with the great central truth of this entire vision—viz., that in this new, holy and beautiful state of the Church, the Lord God would dwell among His people with pre-eminent manifestations of His presence. The place of His feet would be sublimely glorious.
8-10. Remarkably the prince was to enter the temple when the people did, and withdraw from it when they did—an ever-attending presence with the people, reminding us of the promise, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” Since in certain aspects of his character and relations this “prince” was a foreshadowing type of the Messiah, we may accept this law of his attendance with the people as implying that they should approach God’s holy presence only with and in and through their great mediator, Christ Jesus.
13-15. These rules for the daily offerings differ slightly from those given through Moses (Num. 28 : 3-8). By the ancient law there were two lambs offered daily, one in the morning and the other in the evening. Here is but one, offered each morning. May it be supposed that this looks especially to the one Lamb that was slain for us—the “one offering whereby He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10 : 14) ? The meat offering to accompany it was, in Moses, the tenth part of an ephah of flour with the fourth part of a hin of oil ; while here in Ezekiel the quantities are the sixth part of an ephah and the third part of a hin. The diversity shows that this new system is not an exact copy of the old ; while yet in its general features it is quite analogous. H. C.
16-18. The prince was to be provided with possessions of his own, to prevent him from having recourse to exactions from his subjects ; and lest in the course of time he might be tempted to such exactions, enactments are added to prevent the alienation of the prince’s land. Inheritance was permitted only to his sons, as the father’s land descended in all cases to the sons. If any gifts were to be made to his servants, they must be out of the prince’s portion, and must be only temporary, reverting to the prince in the year of jubilee. On the jubilee year and the enactments concerning it see Lev. 25. B. C.
19-24. To impress more deeply the idea of sanctity in this temple, and all its surroundings, special provision is made for the culinary operations. The cooking is all to be done in special apartments provided for that purpose. So carefully does the Lord guard in this new representative dispensation against whatever might lessen the sacredness of Divine service and worship. H. C.
If Ezekiel thus presents the civil ruler as a representative of the people and an important factor in their temple worship, it is simply impossible that any actual legislation, influenced by his vision, should have so totally ignored “the prince,” as is notoriously done in the Levitical laws. It would seem that even if the priests and the people had not insisted upon their sovereign’s occupying his proper position in their worship, every pious prince would have claimed it for himself. The conclusion is obvious : the Levitical laws are older than Ezekiel, and his vision had no direct effect upon the polity of the Jewish people.
All the more important features of the vision of Ezekiel, so far as his relation to the Mosaic law is concerned, have now been passed in review. Others, such as the detailed arrangements of his temple, with its various peculiar outbuildings, and its large “precincts,” etc., would require too much time to examine in detail, as I have elsewhere done (Com on Ezekiel in Bp. Ellicott’s commentary for English readers), and would only add fresh illustrations of the fact which has been everywhere apparent. If we compare the customs of the Jews as they are known after the Exile with those which are known to have existed before, they are found perfectly to agree in everything, except negatively in so far as data are wanting to show in some respects what were the customs of the more ancient time. This deficiency was of course to be expected in dealing with matters of such antiquity, where the records we have are almost wholly occupied with other matters. Moreover, both the ancient custom as far as it was regulated by law and can be traced (making allowance for some small difficulties in understanding such very ancient legislation) and the later practice perfectly agree with the Mosaic legislation. But quite late in the history of Israel, during the Captivity in Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel comes forward and in a remarkable vision sets forth a general scheme of theocratic laws and worship. His scheme presents incidentally many obvious allusions to the Levitical laws, but in its direct enactments is quite at variance with both former and later custom and also with the Mosaic law. It is in no sense, and in no point on the line of development from what existed before to what existed afterward. Yet we are asked to believe that the Levitical law only existed in a very imperfect and inchoate form before him, that he gave the great impetus to its development, and that within forty years afterward the nearly perfect scheme was accepted as their ancient law by his nation. The thing required is beyond our power. F. Gardiner, in “Ezekiel and the Law.”
Most readers, when they have come to the 46th chapter, will have been struck with the small number of services described, and with the omission of one of the three great festivals (see 45 : 25), and even the Day of Atonement. Now, if we were to expect to find in the vision directions for the re-enactment of the temple ritual, this would be quite unaccountable. But if we view these selected rites in relation to the temple building, and give to that building its true symbolical character, all is found to be just and harmonious. The vision is intended to depict the perpetual worship of the
God of heaven in the kingdom of Christ. To the mind of an Israelite the proper figure to represent this would be the temple and its services, with people, priest and prince, each doing their fitting part. The most appropriate services to exhibit this worship would be those of continual recurrence, in which day by day, week by week, month by month, prayer and praise ascended to the throne of heaven. The morning sacrifice, the Sabbath and the new moon festival. Here we have the Israelite symbol of perpetual public adoration.
In other parts of this book Ezekiel points forward to the spiritual teaching of the Gospel; here to a people mourning over a ruined temple, scattered priesthood, and a captive king the seer sets forth in visions that which the last of the prophets foretold in words: From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts (Mal. 1 : 11). This will also account for the absence of all mention of the high-priest and his office. In the old dispensation the chief function of the high-priest was the performance of the great act, which typified the atonement wrought by the sacrifice and death of Christ for the sins of the world. This atonement was effected once for all upon the cross, and in the new dispensation Christ appears in the midst of His people as their Prince and Head, leading and presenting their prayers and praises day by day to His Father in heaven.
It is to be observed that the vision represents the coming dispensation as a kingdom, and in this respect has especial reference to the rule of Messiah, foretold under the name of David (34 : 24). We find that Solomon took a special part in the temple services as king, and here there are new and remarkable provisions for the prince. One of the gateways is reserved for him; special offerings are to be made by him. There is a particular order for the prince’s inheritance; and, moreover, we note that the gate reserved for the prince is that by which the Lord, the God of Israel, entered in (44 : 2); and thus is brought forth, as a leading feature in the vision, the figure of a king reigning in righteousness, the representative of Jehovah upon earth. B. C.