EZEKIEL 46 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

1 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened.

BARNES, "The prophet beholds in vision people, priest, and prince uniting in most solemn worship before the throne of God. The character of the rites here described is symbolic.

GILL, "Thus saith the Lord God,.... Which is premised, to raise the greater attention to what is about to be said: the gate of the inner court that looketh towards the east; the eastern gate of the inner court; the court of the priests, where stood the altar of burnt offerings, and where they offered the sacrifices for atonement; and seems, in the mystical sense, to design the ministry of the Gospel, which is a ministry of reconciliation; which holds forth Christ as the altar saints have a right to eat of; and who is the sacrifice for sin, and has made reconciliation for it; and, where this is preached, he, the angel descending from the east, comes; here appears the rising sun, the sun of righteousness, who arises on those that fear his name, and love his Gospel, with healing in his wings: this gate shall be shut the six working days; which seems to be the same with the gate of the outward sanctuary, Eze_44:1 said to be always shut, and never opened; but by what follows here it appears that that must be understood with some exception and limitation: the six working days are the six days of the week in which men should labour, and do all the work and business of their callings, that they may thereby provide for themselves and families, and have wherewith to give to the poor; during which time the public ministry of the word is intermitted, that men may not be taken off of their necessary and lawful employments; and that the ministers of the word may have sufficient time to prepare in their studies for their ministerial service: but on the sabbath it shall be opened; by which is meant, not the Jewish sabbath now abrogated in the times this vision refers to; but the Lord's day, called by this Jewish name: and this being opposed to the six working days, shows that it ought to be kept by

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abstinence from all civil, corporeal, and servile works, as well as from dead works or sins, and in the exercise of all religious duties, private and public; and particularly in attendance on the ministry of the word, the gate now opened; and which is sometimes expressed by opening the door of faith, and is called an open door; and may be said to be so when ministers have an opportunity without, and great freedom within themselves, to preach it; and when the doors of men's hearts are opened to attend to it, and many souls are gathered to Christ, and into his churches, by it; see Act_14:27, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened; on stated monthly days, in which the churches of Christ meet together for religious service: the new moon, which is an emblem of new light, and an increase of it, is very suitable to express the Gospel dispensation; in which, as Cocceius observes, there are some particular seasons that may be called so; as the coming of Christ into the world; his resurrection from the dead; the pouring forth of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost; the destruction of the temple, and temple service; the peace and prosperity of the Christian churches in the times of Constantine; the morning star of the reformation; and the call of God's people out of Babylon at the destruction of it; at all which times there has been, or will be, an opening of this eastern gate, or a free, and glorious ministration of the Gospel. Some think these six working days design this life, which is the time of working, after which there will be none but an eternal sabbath or rest; and that, for the present, saints live and walk by faith, and not by sight; divine and heavenly things are greatly shut up, and out of sight; but then it will be new moon, as well as sabbath, and all things will be seen clearly; but the former sense I think is best, which yet I leave to the judgment of others. This Kimchi says is a new thing, that will be in time to come.

HENRY 1-2, “Whether the rules for public worship here laid down were designed to be observed, even in those things wherein they differed from the law of Moses, and were so observed under the second temple, is not certain; we find not in the history of that latter part of the Jewish church that they governed themselves in their worship by these ordinances, as one would think they should have done, but only by law of Moses, looking upon this then in the next age after as mystical, and not literal. We may observe, in these verses,

I. That the place of worship was fixed, and rules were given concerning that, both to prince and people.1. The east gate, which was kept shut at other times, was to be opened on the sabbath days, on the moons (Eze_46:1), and whenever the prince offered a voluntary offering, Eze_46:12. Of the keeping of this gate ordinarily shut we read before (Eze_44:2); whereas the other gates of the court were opened every day, this was opened only on high days and on special occasions, when it was opened for the prince, who was to go in by the way of the porch of that gate, Eze_46:2, Eze_46:8. Some think he went in with the priests and Levites into the inner court (for into that court this gate was the entrance), and they observe that magistrates and ministers should join forces, and go the same way, hand in hand, in promoting the service of God. But it should rather seem that he did not go through the gate (as the glory of the Lord had done), though it was open, but he went by the way of the porch of the gate, stood at the post of the gate, and worshipped at the threshold of the gate (Eze_46:2), where he had a full view of the priests' performances at the altar, and signified his concurrence in them, for himself and for the people of the land, that stood behind him at the door of that gate, Eze_46:3.

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Thus must every prince show himself to be of David's mind, who would very willingly be a door-keeper in the house of his God, and, as the word there is, lie at the threshold,Psa_84:10. Note, The greatest of men are less than the least of the ordinances of God. Even princes themselves, when they draw near to God, must worship with reverence and godly fear, owning that even they are unworthy to approach to him. But Christ is our prince, whom God causes to draw near and approach to him, Jer_30:21.2. As to the north gate and south gate, by which they entered into the court of the people (not into the inner court), there was this rule given, that whoever came in at the north gate should go out at the south gate, and whoever came in at the south gateshould go out at the north gate, Eze_46:9. Some think this was to prevent thrusting and jostling one another; for God is the God of order, and not of confusion. We may suppose that they came in at the gate that was next their own houses, but, when they went away, God would have them go out at that gate which would lead them the furthest way about,that they might have time for meditation; being thereby obliged to go a great way round the sanctuary, they might have an opportunity to consider the palaces of it, and, if they improved their time well in fetching this circuit, they would call it the nearest way home. Some observe that this may remind us, in the service of God, to be still pressing forward (Phi_3:13) and not to look back, and, in our attendance upon ordinances, not to go back as we came, but more holy, and heavenly, and spiritual.JAMISON “Eze_46:1-24. Continuation of the ordinances for the Prince and for the people in their worship.

K&D 1-7, “Sacrifices for the Sabbath and New MoonAs, according to Eze_45:17, it devolved upon the prince to provide and bring the sacrifices for himself and the house of Israel; after the appointment of the sacrifices to be offered at the yearly feasts (Eze_45:18-25), and before the regulation of the sacrifices for the Sabbath and new moon (Eze_46:4-7), directions are given as to the conduct of the prince at the offering of these sacrifices (Eze_46:1-3). For although the slaughtering and preparation of the sacrifices for the altar devolved upon the priests, the prince was to be present at the offering of the sacrifices to be provided by him, whereas the people were under no obligation to appear before the Lord in the temple except at the yearly feasts.Eze_46:1. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The gate of the inner court, which looks toward the east, shall be shut the six working days, and on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. Eze_46:2. And the prince shall come by the way to the porch of the gate from without, and stand at the posts of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, and he shall worship on the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut till the evening. Eze_46:3. And the people of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate on the Sabbaths and on the new moons before Jehovah. Eze_46:4. And the burnt-offering which the prince shall offer to Jehovah shall consist on the Sabbath-day of six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; Eze_46:5. And as a meat-offering, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs as a meat-offering that which his hand may give, and of oil a hin to the ephah (of meal). Eze_46:6. And on the day of the new moon there shall be an bullock, a young ox without blemish, and six lambs and a ram without blemish; Eze_46:7. And he shall put an ephah for the bullock, and an ephah for the ram for the meat-offering, and for the lambs as much as his hand affords,

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and of oil a hin for the ephah. - Eze_46:1-3 supply and explain the instructions given in Eze_44:1-3 concerning the outer eastern gate. As the east gate of the outer court (Eze_44:1), so also the east gate of the inner court was to remain closed during the six working days, and only to be opened on the Sabbaths and new moons, when it was to remain open till the evening. The prince was to enter this inner east gate, and to stand there and worship upon the threshold while his sacrifice was being prepared and offered. א ב דראולם is to be taken as in Eze_44:3; but מחוץ, which is appended, is not to be referred to the entrance into the inner court, as the statement would be quite superfluous so far as this is concerned, since any one who was not already in the inner court must enter the gate-building of the inner court from without, or from the outer court. The meaning of מחוץ is rather that the prince was to enter, or to go to, the gate porch of the inner court through the outer east gate. There he was to stand at the posts of the gate and worship on the threshold of the gate during the sacrificial ceremony; and when this was over he was to go out again, namely, by the same way by which he entered (Eze_44:3). But the people who came to the temple on the Sabbaths and new moons were to worship פתח, i.e., at the entrance of this gate, outside the threshold of the gate. Kliefoth in wrong in taking פתח in the sense of through the doorway, as signifying that the people were to remain in front of the outer east gate, and to worship looking at the temple through this gate and through the open gate between. For השער ההוא roF ., hits gate, can only be the gate of the inner court, which has been already mentioned. There is no force in the consideration which has led Kliefoth to overlook ההוא, and think of the outer gate, namely, that “it would be unnatural to suppose that the people were to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, whilst the outer east gate remained shut (or perhaps more correctly, was opened for the prince), and so stand in front of the inner court,” as it is impossible to see what there is that is unnatural in such a supposition. On the other hand, it is unnatural to assume that the people, who, according to Eze_46:9, were to come through the north and south gates into the outer court at all the עדים מ to appear before Jehovah, were not allowed to enter the court upon the Sabbaths and new moons if they should wish to worship before Jehovah upon these days also, but were to stand outside before the gate of the outer court. The difference between the princes and the people, with regard to visiting the temple upon the Sabbaths and new moons, consisted chiefly in this, that the prince could enter by the outer east gate and proceed as far as the posts of the middle gate, and there worship upon the threshold of the gate, whereas the people were only allowed to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, and could only proceed to the front of the middle gate. - Eze_46:4. The burnt-offering for the Sabbath is considerably increased when compared with that appointed in the Mosaic law. The law requires two yearling lambs with the corresponding meat-offering (Num_28:9); Ezekiel, six lambs and one ram, and in addition to these a meat-offering for the ram according to the proportion already laid down in Eze_45:24 for the festal sacrifices; and for the lambs, מתת - ,a gift, a present of his hand ,יד that is to say, not a handful of meal, but, according to the formula used in alternation with it in Eze_46:7, as much as his hand can afford. For כאשר , see Lev_14:30; Lev_25:26. - It is different with the sacrifices of the new moon in Eze_46:6 and Eze_46:7. The law of Moses prescribed two bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs, with the corresponding meat-offering, and a he-goat for a sin-offering (Num_28:11-15); the thorah of Ezekiel, on the contrary, omits the sin-offering,

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and reduces the burnt-offering to one bullock, one ram, and six lambs, together with a meat-offering, according to the proportion already mentioned, which is peculiar to his law. The first תמימים in Eze_46:6 is a copyist's error for תמים.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:1 Thus saith the Lord GOD The gate of the inner court that looketh toward 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.

Ver. 1. Thus saith the Lord God.] In this chapter are set forth rationes et ritus, the laws and rites that were to be observed by prince and people in offering their sacrifices. It is the manner of performance that maketh or marreth any duty. There may be malum opus in bona materia, ill work in a good matter.

The gate of the inner court.] Of the priests’ court.

That looketh toward the east.] That pointeth to Christ, the day spring from on high, the Sun of righteousness, who shineth sweetly upon such as rightly sanctify the Sabbath, and shall much more when they come to rest with him in heaven.

Shall be shut the six working days.] Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work. Neither doth this hinder holiness, as the abbey lubbers pretend, but further it: (1.) By preventing temptation; (2.) By nourishing experience of God’s bounty and providence; (3.) By filling the heart with objects of heavenly thoughts; (4.) By stirring up to prayer and praise for each day’s mercies.

But on the Sabbath it shall be opened.] That the people may see Christ in the glass of the ceremonies, and call upon his name. We under the gospel have a clearer light and free access, on Lord’s days especially, and other times of holy meetings.

POOLE, "Verse 1

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Ordinances for the prince in his worship, Ezekiel 46:1-8, and for the people, Ezekiel 46:9-15. An order for the prince’s inheritance, Ezekiel 46:16-18. The courts for boiling and baking, Ezekiel 46:19-24.

It was the east gate of the court next to the temple, or which did lead into the inmost court, where the altar of burnt-offering stood. Shall be shut: this explains that of Ezekiel 44:2. The six working days; or every day that is a working day. On the sabbath; on that holy rest the prospect into the temple and to the altar shall be free. It shall be opened; the priests should open it. The new moon: this one festival is named, but all the rest are included: this gate was to be shut only on working days, therefore to be open on all holy days, which were days of holy service to God. to be open on all holy days, which were days of holy service to God.

ELLICOTT, "The first fifteen verses of this chapter belong to Ezekiel 45. The prince was required to provide and bring the sacrifices for himself and for the people (Ezekiel 45:17); therefore, as soon as the yearly festivals have been described, directions are given (Ezekiel 46:1-3) for the conduct of the prince at these sacrifices. He was required to be always present, while attendance on the part of the people was obligatory only at the yearly festivals. The prophet then goes on to provide for the sacrifices for the Sabbaths and new moons, for free-will offerings, and for the daily sacrifices.

(1) The gate of the inner court.—It has already been provided (Ezekiel 44:1-3) that the outer gate on the east should be kept closed, except for the prince. The same thing is now commanded for the east gate of the inner court also; and, further, the days are specified, the Sabbaths and new moons, on which it shall be used by the prince.

EBC, "THE RITUALEzekiel 45:1-25; Ezekiel 46:1-24IT is difficult to go back in imagination to a time when sacrifice was the sole and sufficient form of every complete act of worship. That the slaughter of an animal, or at least the presentation of a material offering of some sort, should ever have been

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considered of the essence of intercourse with the Deity may seem to us incredible in the light of the idea of God which we now possess. Yet there can be no doubt that there was a stage of religious development which recognised no true approach to God except as consummated in a sacrificial action. The word "sacrifice" itself preserves a memorial of this crude and early type of religious service. Etymologically it denotes nothing more than a sacred act. But amongst the Romans, as amongst ourselves, it was regularly applied to the offerings at the altar, which were thus marked out as the sacred actions par excellence of ancient religion. It would be impossible to explain the extraordinary persistence and vitality of the institution amongst races that had attained a relatively high degree of civilisation, unless we understand that the ideas connected with it go back to a time when sacrifice was the typical and fundamental form of primitive worship.

By the time of Ezekiel, however, the age of sacrifice in this strict and absolute sense may be said to have passed away, at least in principle. Devout Jews who had lived through the captivity in Babylon and found that Jehovah was there to them "a little of a sanctuary,". [Ezekiel 11:16] could not possibly fall back into the belief that their God was only to be approached and found through the ritual of the altar. And long before the Exile, the ethical teaching of the prophets had led Israel to appreciate the external rites of sacrifice at their true value.

"Wherewithal shall I come before Jehovah, Or bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, With calves of a year old? Is Jehovah pleased with thousands of rams, With myriads of rivers of oil?"

"Shall I give my firstborn as an atonement for me, The fruit of my body as a sin-offering for my life? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; And what does Jehovah require of thee, But to do justice and to love mercy, And to walk humbly with thy God?" [Ezekiel 11:16, Micah 6:6-8]

This great word of spiritual religion had been uttered long before Ezekiel, as a protest against the senseless multiplication of sacrifices which came in in the reign of Manasseh. Nor can we suppose that Ezekiel, with all his engrossment in matters of ritual, was insensible to the lofty teaching of his predecessors, or that his conception

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of God was less spiritual than theirs. As a matter of fact the worship of Israel was never afterwards wholly absorbed in the routine of the Temple ceremonies. The institution of the synagogue, with its purely devotional exercises of prayer and reading of the Scriptures, must have been nearly coeval with the second Temple, and prepared the way far more than the latter for the spiritual worship of the New Testament. But even the Temple worship was spiritualised by the service of praise and the marvellous development of devotional poetry which it called forth. "The emotion with which the worshipper approaches the second Temple, as recorded in the Psalter, has little to do with sacrifice, but rests rather on the fact that the whole wondrous history of Jehovah’s grace to Israel is vividly and personally realised as he stands amidst the festal crowd at the ancient seat of God’s throne, and adds his voice to the swelling song of praise."

How then, it may be asked, are we to account for the fact that the prophet shows such intense interest in the details of a system which was already losing its religious significance? If sacrifice was no longer of the essence of worship, why should he be so careful to legislate for a scheme of ritual in which sacrifice is the prominent feature, and say nothing of the inward state of heart which alone is an acceptable offering to God? The chief reason no doubt is that the ritual elements of religion were the only matters, apart from moral duties, which admitted of being reduced to a legal system, and that the formation of such a system was demanded by the circumstances with which the prophet had to deal. The time was not yet come when the principle of a central national sanctuary could be abandoned, and if such a sanctuary was to be maintained without danger to the highest interests of religion it was necessary that its service should be regulated with a view to preserve the deposit of revealed truth that had ‘been committed to the nation through the prophets. The essential features of the sacrificial institutions were charged with a deep religious significance, and there existed in the popular mind a great mass of sound religious impression and sentiment clustering around that central rite. To dispense with the institution of sacrifice would have rendered worship entirely impossible for the great body of the people, while to leave it unregulated was to invite a recurrence of the abuses which had been so fruitful a source of corruption in the past. Hence the object of the ritual ordinances which we are about to consider is twofold: in the first place to provide an authorised code of ritual free from everything that savoured of pagan usages, and in the second to utilise the public worship as a means of deepening and purifying the religious conceptions of those who could be influenced in no other way. Ezekiel’s legislation has a special regard for the wants of the "common rude man" whose religious life needs all the help it can get from external

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observances. Such persons form the majority of every religious society; and to train their minds to a deeper sense of sin and a more vivid apprehension of the divine holiness proved to be the only way in which the spiritual teaching of the prophets could be made a practical power in the community at large. It is true that the highest spiritual needs were not satisfied by the legal ritual. But the irrepressible longings of the soul for nearer fellowship with God cannot be dealt with by rigid formal enactments. Ezekiel is content to leave them to the guidance of that Spirit whose saving operations will have changed the heart of Israel and made it a true people of God. The system of external observances which he foreshadows in his vision was not meant to be the life of religion, but it was, so to speak, the trellis-work which was necessary to support the delicate tendrils of spiritual piety until the time when the spirit of filial worship should be the possession of every true member of the Church of God.

Bearing these facts in mind, we may now proceed to examine the scheme of sacrificial worship contained in chapters 45 and 46. Only its leading features can here be noticed, and the points most deserving of attention may be grouped under three heads: the Festivals, the Representative Service, and the Idea of Atonement.

I. THE YEARLY FEASTS

The most striking thing in Ezekiel’s festal calendar [Ezekiel 14:18-23] is the division of the ecclesiastical year into two precisely similar parts. Each half of the year commences with an atoning sacrifice for the purification of the sanctuary from defilement contracted during the previous half. Each contains a great festival-in the one case the Passover, beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month and lasting seven days, and in the other the Feast of Tabernacles (simply called the Feast), beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and also lasting for seven days. The passage is chiefly devoted to a minute regulation of the public sacrifices to be offered on these occasions, other and more characteristic features of the celebration being assumed as well known from tradition.

It is difficult to see what is the precise meaning of the proposed rearrangement of the feasts in two parallel series. It may be due simply to the prophet’s love of

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symmetry in all departments of public life, or it may have been suggested by the fact that at this time the Babylonian calendar, according to which the year begins in spring, was superimposed on the old Hebrew year commencing in the autumn. At all events it involved a breach with pre-exilic tradition, and was never carried out in practice. The earlier legislation of the Pentateuch recognises a cycle of three festivals-Passover and Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest or of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Ingathering or of Tabernacles. In order to carry through his symmetrical division of the sacred year Ezekiel has to ignore one of these, the Feast of Pentecost, which seems to have always been counted the least important of the three. It is not to be supposed that he contemplated its abolition, for he is careful not to alter in any particular the positive regulations of Deuteronomy; only it did not fall into his scheme, and so he does not think it of sufficient importance to prescribe regular public sacrifices for it. After the Exile, however, Jewish practice was regulated by the canons of the Priestly Code, in which, along with other festivals, the ancient threefold cycle is continued, and stated sacrifices are prescribed for Pentecost, just as for the other two, Similarly, the two atoning ceremonies in the beginning of the first and seventh months, which are not mentioned in the older legislation, are replaced in the Priests’ Code by the single Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month, whilst the beginning of the year is celebrated by the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the same month. {Cf. Leviticus 23:23-32;, Numbers 29:1-11}

But although the details of Ezekiel’s system thus proved to be impracticable in the circumstances of the restored Jewish community, it succeeded in the far more important object of infusing a new spirit into the celebration of the feasts, and impressing on them a different character. The ancient Hebrew festivals were all associated with joyous incidents of the agricultural year. The Feast of Unleavened Bread marked the beginning of harvest, when "the sickle first was put into the corn." At this time also the firstlings of the flock and herd were sacrificed. The seven weeks which elapse till Pentecost are the season of the cereal harvest, which is then brought to a close by the Feast of Harvest, when the goodness of Jehovah is acknowledged by the presentation of part of the produce at the sanctuary. Finally the Feast of Tabernacles celebrates the most joyous occasion of the year, the storing of the produce of the winepress and the threshing-floor. [Deuteronomy 16:13] The nature of the festivals is easily seen from the events with which they are thus associated. They are occasions of social mirth and festivity, and the religious rites observed are the expressions of the nation’s heartfelt gratitude to Jehovah for the blessing that has rested on the labours of husbandman and shepherd throughout the

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year. The Passover with its memories of anxiety and escape was no doubt of a more sombre character than the others, but the joyous and festive nature of Pentecost and Tabernacles is strongly insisted on in the book of Deuteronomy. By these institutions religion was closely intertwined with the great interests of everyday life, and the fact that the sacred seasons of the Israelites’ year were the occasions on which the natural joy of life was at its fullest, bears witness to the simpleminded piety which was fostered by the old Hebrew worship. There was. however, a danger that in such a state of things religion should be altogether lost sight of in the exuberance of natural hilarity and expressions of social good-will. And indeed no great height of spirituality could be nourished by a type of worship in which devotional feeling was concentrated on the expression of gratitude to God for the bountiful gifts of His providence. It was good for the childhood of the nation, but when the nation became a man it must put away childish things.

The tendency of the post-exilic ritual was to detach the sacred seasons more and more from the secular associations which had once been their chief significance. This was done partly by the addition of new festivals which had no such natural occasion, and partly by a change in the point of view from which the older celebrations were regarded. No attempt was made to obliterate the traces of the affinity with events of common life which endeared them to the hearts of the people, but increasing importance was attached to their historic significance as memorials of Jehovah’s gracious dealings with the nation in the period of the Exodus. At the same time they take on more and more the character of religious symbols of the permanent relations between Jehovah and His people. The beginnings of this process can be clearly discerned in the legislation of Ezekiel. Not indeed in the direction of a historic interpretation of the feasts, for this is ignored even in the case of the Passover, where it was already firmly established in the national consciousness. But the institution of a special series of public sacrifices, which was the same for the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, and particularly the prominence given to the sin-offering, obviously tended to draw the mind of the people away from the passing interest of the occasion, and fix it on those standing obligations imposed by the holiness of Jehovah on which the continuance of all His bounties depended. We cannot be mistaken in thinking that one design of the new ritual was to correct the excesses of unrestrained animal enjoyment by deepening the sense of guilt and the fear of possible offences against the sanctity of the divine presence. For it was at these festivals that the prince was required to offer the atoning sacrifice for himself and the people. Thus the effect of the whole system was to foster the sensitive and tremulous tone of piety which was characteristic of

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Judaism, in contrast to the hearty, if undisciplined, religion of the ancient Hebrew feasts.

II. THE STATED SERVICE

In the course of this chapter we have had occasion more than once to touch on the prominence given in Ezekiel’s vision to sacrifices offered in accordance with a fixed rubric in the name of the whole community. The significance of this fact may best be seen from a comparison with the sacrificial regulations of the book of Deuteronomy. These are not numerous, but they deal exclusively with private sacrifices. The person addressed is the individual householder, and the sacrifices which he is enjoined to render are for himself and his family. There is no explicit allusion in the whole book to the official sacrifices which were offered by the regular priesthood and maintained at the king’s expense. In Ezekiel’s scheme of Temple worship the case is exactly the reverse. Here there is no mention of private sacrifice except in the incidental notices as to the free-will offerings and the sacrificial meal of the prince, while on the other hand great attention is paid to the maintenance of the regular offerings provided by the prince for the congregation. This of course does not mean that there were no statutory sacrifices in the old Temple, or that Ezekiel contemplated the cessation of private sacrifice in the new. Deuteronomy passes over the public sacrifices because they were under the jurisdiction of the king, and the people at large were not directly responsible for them; and similarly Ezekiel is silent as to private offerings because their observance was assured by all the traditions of the sanctuary. Still it is a noteworthy fact that of two codes of Temple worship, separated by only half a century, each legislates exclusively for that element of the ritual which is taken for granted by the other.

What it indicates is nothing less than a change in the ruling conception of public worship. Before the Exile the idea that Jehovah could desert His sanctuary hardly entered into the mind of the people, and certainly did not in the least affect the confidence with which they availed themselves of the privileges of worship. The Temple was there and God was present within it, and all that was necessary was that the spontaneous devotion of the worshippers should be regulated by the essential conditions of ceremonial propriety. But the destruction of the Temple had proved that the mere existence of a. sanctuary was no guarantee of the favour and protection of the God who was supposed to dwell within it. Jehovah might be driven

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from His Temple by the presence of sin among the people, or even by a neglect of the ceremonial precautions which were necessary to guard against the profanation of His holiness. On this idea the whole edifice of the later ritual is built up, and here as in other respects Ezekiel has shown the way. In his view the validity and efficiency of the whole Temple service hangs on the due performance of the public rites which preserve the nation in a condition of sanctity and continually represent it as a holy people before God. Under cover of this representative service the individual may draw near with confidence to seek the face of his God in acts of private homage, but apart from the regular official ceremonial his worship has no reality, because he can have no assurance that Jehovah will accept his offering. His right of access to God springs from his fellowship with the religious community of Israel, and hence the indispensable presupposition of every act of worship is that the standing of the community before Jehovah be preserved intact by the rites appointed for that purpose. And, as has been already said, these rites are representative in character. Being performed on behalf of the nation, the obligation of presenting them rests with the prince in his representative capacity, and the share of the people in them is indicated by the tribute which the prince is empowered to levy for this end. In this way the ideal unity of the nation finds continual expression in the worship of the sanctuary, and the supreme interest of religion is transferred from the mere act of personal homage to the abiding conditions of acceptance with God symbolised by the stated service.

Let us now look at some details of the scheme in which this important idea is embodied. The foundation of the whole system is the daily burnt-offering - the tamid. Under the first Temple the daily offering seems to have been a burnt-offering in the morning and a meal-offering (minhah) in the evening, [2 Kings 16:15; cf 1 Kings 18:29; 1 Kings 18:36] and this practice seems to have continued down to the time of Ezra. [Ezra 9:5] According to the Levitical law it consists of a lamb morning and evening, accompanied on each occasion by a minhah and a libation of wine. [Numbers 28:3-8;, Exodus 29:38-42] Ezekiel’s ordinance occupies a middle position between these two. Here the tamid is a lamb for a burnt-offering in the morning, along with a minhah of flour mingled with oil; and there is no provision for an evening sacrifice. [Ezekiel 46:14-15] The presentation of this sacrifice on the altar in the morning, as the basis on which all other offerings through the day were laid, may be taken to symbolise the truth that the acceptance of all ordinary acts of worship depended on the representation of the community before God in the regular service. To the spiritual perception of a Psalmist it may have suggested the duty of commencing each day’s work with an act of devotion:-

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"Jehovah, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice;

In the morning will I set [my prayer] in order before Thee, and will look out."

The offerings for the Sabbaths and new moons may be considered as amplifications of the daily sacrifice. They consist exclusively of burnt-offerings. On the Sabbath six lambs are presented, perhaps one for each working-day of the week, together with a ram for the Sabbath itself (Smend). At the new moon feast this offering is repeated with the addition of a bullock. It may be noted here once for all that each burnt sacrifice is accompanied by a corresponding minhah, according to a fixed scale. For sin-offerings, on the other hand, no minhah seems to be appointed.

At the annual (or rather half-yearly) celebrations the sin-offering appears for the first time among the stated sacrifices. The sacrifice for the cleansing of the sanctuary at the beginning of each half of the year consists of a young bullock for a sin-offering, in addition of course to the burnt-offerings which were prescribed for the first day of the month. For the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles the daily offering is a he-goat for a sin-offering, and seven bullocks and seven rams for a burnt-offering during the week covered by these festivals. Besides this, at Passover, and probably also at Tabernacles, the prince presents a bullock as a sin-offering for himself and the people. We have now to consider more particularly the place which this class of sacrifices occupies in the ritual.

III. ATONING SACRIFICES

It is evident, even from this short survey, that the idea of atonement holds a conspicuous place in the symbolism of Ezekiel’s Temple. He is, indeed, the earliest writer (setting aside the Levitical Code) who mentions the special class of sacrifices known as sin- and guilt-offerings. Under the first Temple ceremonial offences were regularly atoned for at one time by money payments to the priests, and these fines were called by the names afterwards applied to the expiatory sacrifices. [2 Kings 12:17] It does not follow, of course, that such sacrifices were unknown before the

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time of Ezekiel, nor is such a conclusion probable in itself. The manner in which the prophet alludes to them rather shows that the idea was perfectly familiar to his contemporaries. But the prominence of the sin-offering in the public ritual may be safely set down as a new departure in the Temple service, as it is one of the most striking symptoms of the change that passed over the spirit of Israel’s religion at the time of the Exile.

Of the elements that contributed to this change the most important was the deepened consciousness of sin that had been produced by the teaching of the prophets as verified in the terrible calamity of the Exile. We have seen how frequently Ezekiel insists on this effect of the Divine judgment; how, even in the time of her pardon and restoration, he represents Israel as ashamed and confounded, not opening her mouth any more for the remembrance of all that she had done. We are therefore prepared to find that full provision is made for the expression of this abiding sense of guilt in the revised scheme of worship. This was done not by new rites invented for the purpose, but by seizing on those elements of the old ritual which represented the wiping out of iniquity, and by so remodelling the whole sacrificial system as to place these prominently in the foreground. Such elements were found chiefly in the sin-offering and guilt-offering, which occupied a subsidiary position in the old Temple, but are elevated to a place of commanding importance in the new. The precise distinction between these two kinds of sacrifice is an obscure point of the Levitical ritual which has never been perfectly cleared up. In the system of Ezekiel, however, we observe that the guilt-offering plays no part in the stated service, and must therefore have been reserved for private transgressions of the law of holiness. And in general it may be remarked that the atoning sacrifices differ from others, not in their material, but in certain features of the sacred actions to be observed with regard to them. We cannot here enter upon the details of the symbolism, but the most important fact is that the flesh of the victims is neither offered on the altar as in the burnt-offering, nor eaten by the worshippers as in the peace-offering, but belongs to the category of most holy things, and must be consumed by the priests in a holy place. In certain extreme cases, however, it has to be burned without the sanctuary. {Cf. Ezekiel 43:21}

Now in the chapters before us the idea of sacrificial atonement is chiefly developed in connection with the material fabric of the sanctuary. The sanctuary may contract defilement by involuntary lapses from the stringent rules of ceremonial purity on the part of those who use it, whether priests or laymen. Such errors of inadvertence

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were almost unavoidable under the complicated set of formal regulations into which the fundamental idea of holiness branched out, yet they are regarded as endangering the sanctity of the Temple, and require to be carefully atoned for from time to time, lest by their accumulation the worship should be invalidated and Jehovah driven from His dwelling-place. But besides this the Temple (or at least the altar) is unfit for its sacred functions until it has undergone an initial process of purification. The principle involved still survives in the consecration of ecclesiastical buildings in Christendom, although its application had doubtless a much more serious import under the old dispensation than it can possibly have under the new.

A full account of this initial ceremony of purification is given in the end of the forty-third chapter, and a glance at the details of the ritual may be enough to impress on us the conceptions that underlie the process. It is a protracted operation, extending apparently over eight days. The first and fundamental act is the offering of a sin-offering of the highest degree of sanctity, the victim being a bullock and the flesh being burned outside the sanctuary. The blood alone is sprinkled on the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the "settle," and the "border": this is the first stage in the dedication of the altar. Then for seven days a he-goat is offered for a sin-offering, the same rites being observed, and after it a burnt-offering consisting of a bullock and a ram. These sacrifices are intended only for the purification of the altar, and only on the day after their completion is the altar ready to receive ordinary public or private gifts-burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. Now four expressions are used to denote the effect of these ceremonies on the altar. The most general is "consecrate," literally "fill its hand" (Ezekiel 43:26)-a phrase used originally of the installation of a priest into his office, and then applied metaphorically to consecration or initiation in general. The others are "purify," "unsin," (the special effect of the sin-offering) and "expiate." Of these the last is the most important. It is the technical priestly term for atonement for sin, the reference being of course generally to persons. As to the fundamental meaning of the word, there has been a great deal of discussion, which has not yet led to a decisive result. The choice seems to lie between two radical ideas, either to "wipe out" or to "cover," and so render inoperative. But either etymology enables us to understand the use of the word in legal terminology. It means to undo the effect of a transgression on the religious status of the offender, or, as in the case before us, to remove natural or contracted impurity from a material object. And whether this is conceived as a covering up of the fault so as to conceal it from view, or a wiping out of it, amounts in the end to the same thing. The significant fact is that the same word is applied both to persons and things. It furnishes another illustration of the

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intimate way in which the ideas of moral guilt and physical defect are blended in the ceremonial of the Old Testament.

The meaning of the two atoning services appointed for the beginning of the first and the seventh month is now clear. They are intended to renew periodically the holiness of the sanctuary established by the initiatory rites just described. For it is evident that no indelible character can attach to the kind of sanctity with which we are here dealing. It is apt to be lost, if not by mere lapse of time, at least by the repeated contact of frail men who with the best intentions are not always able to fulfil the conditions of a right use of sacred things. Every failure and mistake detract from the holiness of the Temple, and even unnoticed and altogether unconscious offences would in course of time profane it if not purged away. Hence "for every one that erreth and for him that is simple" atonement has to be made for the house twice a year. The ritual to be observed on these occasions bears a general resemblance to that of the inaugural ceremony, but is simpler, only a single bullock being presented for a sin-offering. On the other hand, it expressly symbolises a purification of the Temple as well as of the altar. The blood is sprinkled not only on the "settle" of the altar, but also on the doorposts of the house, and the posts of the eastern gate of the inner court.

We may now pass on to the second application made by Ezekiel of the idea of sacrificial atonement. These purifications of the sanctuary, which bulk so largely in his system, have their counterpart in atonements made directly for the faults of the people. For this purpose, as we have already seen, a sin-offering was to be presented at each of the great annual festivals by the prince, for himself and the nation which he represented. But it is important to observe that the idea of atonement is not confined to one particular class of sacrifices. It lies at the foundation of the whole system of the stated service, the purpose of which is expressly said to be "to make atonement for the house of Israel." Thus while the half-yearly sin-offering afforded a special opportunity for confession of sin on the part of the people, we are to understand that the holiness of the nation was secured by the observance of every part of the prescribed ritual which regulated its intercourse with God. And since the nation is in itself imperfectly holy and stands in constant need of forgiveness, the maintenance of its sanctity by sacrificial rites was equivalent to a perpetual act of atonement. Special offences of individuals had of course to be expiated by special sacrifices, but beneath all particular transgressions lay the broad fact of human impurity and infirmity; and in the constant "covering up" of this by a Divinely

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instituted system of religious ordinances we recognise an atoning element in the regular Temple service.

The sacrificial ritual may therefore be regarded as a barrier interposed between the natural uncleanness of the people and the awful holiness of Jehovah seated in His Temple. That men should be permitted to approach Him at all is an unspeakable privilege conferred on Israel in virtue of its covenant relation to God. But that the approach is surrounded by so many precautions and restrictions is a perpetual witness to the truth that God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and one with whom evil cannot dwell. If these precautions could have been always perfectly observed, it is probable that no periodical purification of the sanctuary would have been enjoined. The ordinary ritual would have sufficed to maintain the nation in a state of holiness corresponding with the requirements of Jehovah’s nature. But this was impossible on account of the slowness of men’s minds and their liability to err in their most sacred duties. Sin is so subtle and pervasive that it is conceived as penetrating the network of ordinances destined to intercept it, and reaching even to the dwelling-place of Jehovah Himself. It is to remove such accidental, though inevitable, violations of the majesty of God that the ritual edifice is crowned by ceremonies for the purification of the sanctuary. They are, so to speak, atonements in the second degree. Their object is to compensate for defects in the ordinary routine of worship, and to remove the arrears of guilt which had accumulated through neglect of some part of the ceremonial scheme. This idea appears quite clearly in Ezekiel’s legislation, but it is far more impressively exhibited in the Levitical law, where different elements of Ezekiel’s ritual are gathered up into one celebration in the Great Day of Atonement, the most solemn and imposing of the whole year.

Hence we see that the whole system of sacrificial worship is firmly knit together, being pervaded from end to end by the one principle of expiation, behind which lay the assurance of pardon and acceptance to all who approached God in the use of the appointed means of grace. Herein lay the chief value of the Temple ritual for the religious life of Israel. It served to impress on the mind of the people the great realities of sin and forgiveness, and so to create that profound consciousness of sin which has passed over, spiritualised but not weakened, into Christian experience. Thus the law proved itself a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, in whose atoning death the evil of sin and the eternal conditions of forgiveness are once for all and

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perfectly revealed.

The positive truths taught or suggested by the ritual of atonement are too numerous to be considered here. It is a remarkable fact that neither in Ezekiel nor in any other part of the Old Testament is an authoritative interpretation given of the most essential features of the ritual. The people seem to have been left to explain the symbolism as best they could, and many points which are obscure and uncertain to us must have been perfectly intelligible to the least instructed amongst them. For us the only safe rule is to follow the guidance of the New Testament writers in their use of sacrificial institutions as types of the death of Christ. The investigation is too large and intricate to be attempted in this place. But it may be well in conclusion to point out one or two general principles, which ought never to be overlooked in the typical interpretation of the expiatory sacrifices of the Old Testament.

In the first place atonement is provided only for sins committed in ignorance; and moral and ceremonial offences stand precisely on the same footing in the eye of the law. In Ezekiel’s system, indeed, it was only sins of inadvertence that needed to be considered. He has in view the final state of things in which the people, though not perfect nor exempt from liability to error, are wholly inclined to obey the law of Jehovah so far as their knowledge and ability extend. But even in the Levitical legislation there is no legal dispensation for guilt incurred through wanton and deliberate defiance of the law of Jehovah. To sin thus is to sin "with a high hand," and such offences have to be expiated by the death of the sinner, or at least his exclusion from the religious community. And whether the precept belong to what we call the ceremonial or to the moral side of the law, the same principle holds good, although of course its application is one-sided; strictly moral transgressions being for the most part voluntary, while ritual offences may be either voluntary or inadvertent. But for wilful and high-handed departure from any precept, whether ethical or ceremonial, no atonement is provided by the law; the guilty person "falls into the hands of the living God," and forgiveness is possible only in the sphere of personal relations between man and God, into which the law does not enter.

This leads to a second consideration. Atoning sacrifices do not purchase forgiveness. That is to say, they are never regarded as exercising any influence on God, moving Him to Mercy towards the sinner. They are simply the forms to which, by Jehovah’s own appointment, the promise of forgiveness is attached. Hence sacrifice has not the

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fundamental significance in Old Testament religion that the death of Christ has in the New. The whole sacrificial system, as we see quite clearly from Ezekiel’s prophecy, presupposes redemption; the people are already restored to their land and sanctified by Jehovah’s presence amongst them before these institutions come into operation. The only purpose that they serve in the system of religion to which they belong is to secure that the blessings of salvation shall not be lost. Both in this vision and throughout the Old Testament the ultimate ground of confidence in God lies in historic acts of redemption in which Jehovah’s sovereign grace and love to Israel are revealed. Through the sacrifices the individual was enabled to assure himself of his interest in the covenant blessings promised to his nation. They were the sacraments of his personal acceptance with Jehovah, and as such were of the highest importance for his normal religious life. But they were not and could not be the basis of the forgiveness of sins, nor did later Judaism ever fall into the error of seeking to appease the Deity by a multiplication of sacrificial gifts. When the insufficiency of the ritual system to give true peace of conscience or to bring back the outward tokens of God’s favour is dwelt upon, the ancient Church falls back on the spiritual conditions of forgiveness already enunciated by the prophets.

"Thou desirest not sacrifice that I should give it,

Thou delightest not in burnt-offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." [Psalms 51:16-17]

Finally we have learned from Ezekiel that the idea of atonement is not lodged in any particular rite, but pervades the sacrificial system as a whole. Suggestive as the ritual of the sin-offering is to the Christian conscience, it must not be isolated from other developments of the sacrificial idea or taken to embody the whole permanent meaning of the institution. There are at least two other aspects of sacrifice which are clearly expressed in the ritual legislation of the Old Testament-that of homage, chiefly symbolised by the burnt-offering, and that of communion, symbolised by the

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peace-offering and the sacrificial feast observed in connection with it. And although, both in Ezekiel and the Levitical law, these two elements are thrown into the shade by the idea of expiation, yet there are subtle links of affinity between all three, which will have to be traced out before we are in a position to understand the first principles of sacrificial worship. The brilliant and learned researches of the late Professor Robertson Smith have thrown a flood of light on the original rite of sacrifice and the important place which it occupies in ancient religion. He has sought to explain the intricate system of the Levitical legislation as an unfolding, under varied historical influences, of different aspects of the idea of communion between God and men, which is the essence of primitive sacrifice. In particular he has shown how special atoning sacrifices arise through emphasising by appropriate symbolism the element of reconciliation which is implicitly contained in every act of religious communion with God. This at least enables us to understand how the atoning ritual with all its distinctive features yet resembles so closely that which is common to all types of sacrifice, and how the idea of expiation, although concentrated in a particular class of sacrifices, is nevertheless spread over the whole surface of the sacrificial ritual. It would be premature as well as presumptuous to attempt here to estimate the consequences of this theory for Christian theology. But it certainly seems to open up the prospect of a wider and deeper apprehension of the religious truths which are differentiated and specialised in the Old Testament dispensation, to be reunited in that great Atoning Sacrifice, in which the blood of the new covenant has been shed for many for the remission of sins.

PETT, "Introduction

Chapter 46. Prescriptions Concerning the Earthly Temple. A Final View of the Heavenly Temple.

In these final chapters of Ezekiel from 40 onwards we have had two parallel themes, the one was the heavenly temple ‘on top of the mountain’ in which Ezekiel was led from one aspect to another by a heavenly visitant as he measured each aspect of the temple, and the other was the earthly sanctuary with regard to which all that was to be done was explained by the specific command of Yahweh. This had to be so, for it was not yet built.

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On this basis we are here in these first verses dealing with the earthly sanctuary yet to be built. However in Ezekiel 46:19 we move into the heavenly sanctuary, where once again Ezekiel is led around by his heavenly visitant preparatory to the great vision of the overflowing river. The two sanctuaries are closely connected, for the one is the visible and tangible, but faint, representation of the other, but it is to the other that the hopes are directed.

Verses 1-3

Activity In The Earthly Temple.

It is anticipated that the earthly temple will have at least one gate, and possibly only one, leading into the inner court, and two leading into the temple precincts. The fact that all attention is focused on the east gate of the inner court and its opening and shutting might suggest that there is in fact only expected to be one gateway to the inner court. Access for the priests would still be gainable, presumably by a small door in the gate ready for their use. The activity being described here is for the post-exilic community. The prince clearly represents the people as their prince. But he is a far cry from the Messianic Prince.

The Opening Of The East Gate to the Inner Court on New Moons and Sabbaths.

‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “The gate of the inner court which looks towards the east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. And the prince will enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and will stand by the post of the gate, and the priests will prepare his whole (burnt) offering, and his peace offerings, and he will worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he will go out, but the gate will not be shut until the evening. And the people of the land will worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the sabbaths and on the new moons.” ’

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This description appears to suggest only one gateway into the inner court. It would give access to the inner court to the priests through a door in the gate at all times, but the gate itself was to be shut except on new moons and sabbaths. In other words it would only be open at times of special worship. This would probably also include special feast days when the prince had to supervise special offerings (and note Ezekiel 46:12). If there were two other gates always open, the opening and the closing of the gate would not have been so impressive, and not have provided the same lesson. The impression given is that this is expected to be the only gate into the inner court.

On the other hand the point may be that the other two gates were seen as not looking straight onto the entrance to the sanctuary. But this appears to be unlikely. The fact that they were open and that worshippers could gather at them would largely nullify the impact of the closing of the east gate.

(The reason for the closure of this gate had nothing to do with the reason for the permanent closing of the east gate into the outer court of the heavenly temple. That was because Yahweh had entered by it and it was very holy. No such idea is expressed here. This was in order to stress that open access to God was limited to special occasions. This should not, however, hide from us the fact that the people knew that they could pray to God at any time. It was more the immediacy of His presence that was in question, not their ability to pray to Him).

The new moon marked the beginning of each month, which lasted for a cycle of the moon. It was the major measure among the ancients of the orderly passage of time, and its steady course was thus evidence of the continual fulfilment of God’s covenant with Noah (Genesis 8:22). The non-appearance of the moon was a sign of catastrophe (Ezekiel 32:7; Isaiah 13:10; Joel 3:15). The sabbath was specific to Israel and commemorated the deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the covenant (Deuteronomy 5:15) and was linked with the fact of creation (Exodus 20:11). Thus both were seen as of vital importance.

So on those days, when the prince and the people came to worship Yahweh, the east 23

gate would be opened. The prince was given the special privilege of being able to go through the gateway and stand at the inner court end of the gateway, at ‘the post of the gate’, so that he could actually see into the inner court and the offering of his offerings on the altar. But even he could not set foot in the inner court. This was why a special place away from the inner court was allocated for him where he could eat a sacral meal before Yahweh (Ezekiel 44:3). The ordinary people stood at the outer court end of the gateway. They could come no further.

The official opening of the gate confirmed that access to Yahweh was available to all His covenant people, for when the gate was open there was no physical barrier between them and the inner sanctuary, and they shared to a large extent the privilege granted continually to the levitical priests. But it also declared that this access was limited for them in order to stress His holiness. He was not available at their beck and call. And in no way could they enter the inner court.

‘And the prince will enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and will stand by the post of the gate, and the priests will prepare his whole (burnt) offering, and his peace offerings, and he will worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he will go out, but the gate will not be shut until the evening.’ As the supervisor of the offerings it was necessary for the prince to be able to see the offerings in order to ensure that all was properly carried out. Thus he could stand at the inner end of the gateway from where, having presented his prepared offerings, he could plainly see the altar and the activity going on there. As well as giving him a privileged position of worship, there may also have been here the idea of a check on the non-Zadokite priests to ensure that they were fulfilling their responsibilities in accordance with cultic requirements. They had not proved faithful in the past and had to serve under the watchful eye of the prince, acting for the people.

But the gate was not closed when the prince left. It remained open for worshippers to gaze through, and worship at, until the end of the sabbath. All this would not have been feasible if the number of worshippers were expected to be huge, but provision was made for fairly large numbers to participate by ensuring that they moved in orderly fashion (Ezekiel 46:9).

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The temple would presumably be open for worship daily, it was only the gate into the inner court that was closed.

PULPIT, “This chapter fails into three divisions. The first (Ezekiel 46:1-15) gives supplementary directions for the prince and the people of the land when engaged in solemn acts of worship; the second (Ezekiel 46:16-18) furnishes the prince with instructions as to how he may dispose of his portion or inheritance; the third (Ezekiel 46:19-24) adds particulars about the sacrificial kitchens for the priests and for the people.

Ezekiel 46:1-15

The supplementary directions contained in these verses relate to the worship of the prince and the people on the sabbaths and the new moons (Ezekiel 46:1-7) and at the appointed feasts generally (Ezekiel 46:5-15).

Ezekiel 46:1

Like the preceding sections which introduced distinctly new enactments in Ezekiel's Torah (see Ezekiel 44:9; Ezekiel 45:9, Ezekiel 45:18), this properly opens with a Thus saith the Lord God, since it refers to the worship that should be celebrated at the gate of the inner court which looketh toward the east. Ewald, after the LXX. ( ἡ πύλη ἡ ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ τῇ ἐσωτέρᾳ), changes the text so as to read the outer court gate, and understands the statement here made to be a qualification of that contained in Ezekiel 44:1-3. It is, however, the inner east gate to which the present clause alludes, and the announce-meat made concerning it is that, like the outer east gate, it should be shut on the six working days; literally, the six days of the business; but that, unlike the outer east gate, it should be opened on the sabbath (literally, in the day of the sabbath) and in the day of the new moon, both of which clays had been marked under the Law, and should in future continue to be marked, by special sacrificial celebrations.

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2 The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He is to bow down in worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening.

BARNES, "In the time of Solomon, priest, king, and people each took his due part in the temple-service. Of the later kings some forsook Yahweh for false gods, some encroached upon the prerogative of the priest. Now all should be set right. The prince occupies a position analogous to that of Solomon 2Ch_6:12-13, standing in front of the porch of the eastern gate of the inner court, and at the head of his people to lead their worship, while the priests are sacrificing before him.

GILL, "And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without,.... That is, by the way of the porch of the eastern gate, even the outermost gate of the porch; for, as every gate had a porch, so every porch had two gates, one at one end, and the other at the other; now this was the outermost gate of the porch, which looked to the outward court, and not that which led into the inner: and shall stand by the post of the gate; this denotes the presence of Christ, the Prince with his people waiting at Wisdom's gate, and watching at the posts of her door. The allusion seems to be to the king's pillar in the temple, where he used to stand, 2Ch_23:13. Some understand this of Christ's incarnation, of his entrance into the world, and his standing before his Father, and praying for his people, as he did in the garden, and a little before his death, as recorded Joh_17:1. and the priests shall prepare his burnt offerings, and his peace offerings;

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that is, shall offer them. The meaning is, that the ministers shall preach Christ and him crucified, who, by his sacrifice, has made atonement for sin, and peace for his people; though some interpret this of the concern the priests had in the crucifixion and death of Christ: and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate; of the other gate that led into the inner court, and where he could see all that was done in it: or bow (i); which it is observed he did, when he fell prostrate in the garden, and when he expired on the cross, and was at the threshold of the gate of heaven launching into eternity: worship and adoration, or bowing, be ascribed to Christ as man; see Joh_4:22, then shall he go forth; out of this world to his Father, and be seen no more, until the restitution of all things; though this and the preceding may be understood of Christ's mystical worshipping; or of his people, who are one with him; and of their departure from public worship, when it is over: but the gate shall not be shut until the evening; of the sabbath, or new moon; or the evening of the world, the second coming of Christ; the Gospel ministry and ordinances will continue till then, and no longer; and this is owing to his powerful and prevalent intercession in heaven, whither he is gone then the door will be shut, and not before, Mat_25:10.

JAMISON, “The prince is to go through the east gate without (open on the Sabbath only, to mark its peculiar sanctity) to the entrance of the gate of the inner court; he is to go no further, but “stand by the post” (compare 1Ki_8:14, 1Ki_8:22, Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the congregation; also 2Ki_11:14; 2Ki_23:3, “by a pillar”: the customary place), the court within belonging exclusively to the priests. There, as representative of the people, in a peculiarly near relation to God, he is to present his offerings to Jehovah, while at a greater distance, the people are to stand worshipping at the outer gate of the same entrance. The offerings on Sabbaths are larger than those of the Mosaic law, to imply that the worship of God is to be conducted by the prince and people in a more munificent spirit of self-sacrificing liberality than formerly.

COKE, "Ezekiel 46:2. The prince shall enter, &c.— It is observable, that Ezekiel never calls this future ruler of the Jews a king; whereby alone those interpreters are condemned who have explained that of Zerubbabel, which was foretold by the other prophets of the king, the son of David, hereafter to reign; when they would have that said of Zerubbabel, which the prophets had foretold of the Messiah. Houbigant.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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

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the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

Ver. 2. And shall stand by the post of the gate.] Waiting at the posts of the gates of wisdom. [Proverbs 8:34] Constantine the Great stood up constantly at the time of God’s public worship for honour sake. So did our Edward VI.

Then he shall go forth.] And the people come in, [Ezekiel 46:3] whose souls are as precious to God as his.

But the gate shall not be shut until the evening.] The gate is open till the evening; be ready therefore. When the bridegroom is once gone in, the gate is shut, and fools excluded. [Matthew 25:10-12]

POOLE, " The prince must come in at the gate which is between the court of the Jews and the court of the priests, which is here called the

gate without, or the outer gate of that court, and so go up to the gate within, which leads into the inmost court, and rose by ten, or twelve, or fifteen stairs, say some. While this solemn service was acting to make atonement for the prince, or to offer sacrifices of peace.offerings for himself, he is directed

to stand before the Lord; in other cases he might sit: the greatest should revere that God whose mercy they need and seek.

By the post; one of the inward posts, where he might best see the sacrifice offered up, but may not go into the court; none might go in but such as were, by God’s appointment, to minister before him.

The priests shall prepare: Ezekiel 46:22-24, it is said the prince shall prepare; here

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the priests must prepare; but these places speak of different preparations: the prince prepared by buying, or bringing of his own the best for sacrifice; the priest prepared by receiving, bringing the sacrifice to the altar, slaying and disposing of all things according to the rule. The householder prepares, so doth his cook prepare the feast, so that each prepares what is proper to him; and so it is here, the prince prepares, but doth not sacrifice, the priest prepares, but doth not buy, or bring the sacrifices.

He shall worship; he shall bow (as the Hebrew) himself: it is a praying posture, Exodus 12:27, in which duty the prince, as all others, are to attend on God, while the expiatory sacrifice is offering, while their reconciliation is to be made; and in which posture the prince is to be all the while the priest is offering, 2 Chronicles 29:29.

At the threshold: here he took his standing in the beginning of the service, here he is when it is finished; at the inner threshold of the gate, where his eye might see enough; if his understanding were enlightened with knowledge of these mysteries, he need not approach nearer to God than his faith could now carry him while at the threshold.

Then he shall go forth; not stay to gaze or talk; but as he came to worship, so having worshipped he must return. Until the evening; till all the sacrifices were offered, and the offerers reconciled; now each offerer was to bring his offering to this gate, and there give it to the priest, and there lay his hands oil the head of the sacrifice, Leviticus 1:3,4.

ELLICOTT, "(2) Stand by the post of the gate.—The prince shall enter the sanctuary by the east gate of the outer court, pass through that court to the inner gate, and “worship at the threshold of the gate” immediately adjoining the inner court, while the priests make ready his sacrifices. But he is not to enter the inner court, or to assume any priestly functions. Afterwards he is to go forth by the same way (Ezekiel 46:8, and Ezekiel 44:3), and the gate stands open until evening, though no one else is to enter thereby.

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PULPIT, “The reason for the opening of this inner east gate should be that the prince might enter it as far as its threshold, and stand there worshipping by the posts of the gate, while his burnt offerings and his peace offerings were being prepared by the priests, who, rather than the prince, were the proper ministers for conducting the sacrificial ceremony. The prince should reach his station at the threshold of the inner gate, by the way of the porch of that (or, the) gate without; but whether this signified that he should pass through the eastern gate of the outer court, and so advance towards the inner east gate, as Ewald, Keil, Kliefoth, and Plumptre assume, or, as Hengstenberg, Schroder, and Smend suppose, that he should enter the inner gate by the way of the porch of the gate, i.e. from the outside, from the outer court into which he had previously entered through either the north or the south outer gates, cannot be decided. In favor of the former may be urged the consideration that it seems more natural to apply מהוץ to the outer gate than to the outer court, since no, one could enter the inner gate except from the outer court, unless he were already in the inner court; but in favor of the latter is

3 On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of that gateway.

BARNES, "At the door of this gate - In Herod’s Temple the place for worshipping “before the Lord” was the court of Israel, west of the court of Women, separated from the inner court by a low parapet. In Ezekiel’s the worshippers were admitted into the inner court itself. The upper pavement (E. Plan II) on either side of the eastern gate provided room for such worshippers.

GILL, "Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord,.... Publicly, and in a spiritual manner; attending the ministration of the word and ordinances with constancy and fervency; praying to God, praising his name, and hearing his word with attention; and performing all the duties of religious

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worship. The allusion is to the people of Israel meeting at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, Exo_29:42, "in the sabbaths, and in the new moons"; at their stated weekly and monthly meetings; see Isa_66:23.

HENRY, "It is appointed that the people shall worship at the door of the east gate,where the prince does, he at the head and they attending him, both on the sabbath and on the new moons (Eze_46:3), and that, when they come in and go out, the prince shall be in the midst of them, Eze_46:10. Note, Great men should, by their constant and reverent attendance on God in public worship, give a good example to their inferiors, both engaging them and encouraging them to do likewise. It is a very graceful becoming thing for persons of quality to go to church with their servants, and tenants, and poor neighbours about them, and to behave themselves there with an air of seriousness and devotion; and those who thus honour God with their honour he will delight to honour.

COKE, "Ezekiel 46:3. The people—shall worship, &c.— During the continuance of the tabernacle, they who would offer any sacrifice were required to bring it to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and there lay their hands upon it. They came to the porch or south gate of the inner court, according as the sacrifice was to be slain on the north or south side of the altar, and there presented their sacrifice. Here the inner porch of the east gate was assigned for their station who came to present themselves before the Lord upon the solemn festivals; and they were to come no farther into the inner court. See Lightfoot.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 3. Likewise the people of the land.] The meanest of his subjects, if faithful, may have as near access to God as himself.

POOLE, " Likewise, Heb. And, i.e. as the prince had done, bringing, standing, worshipping at the threshold of the gate, and departing when the sacrifice was finished, so must the people when they brought their sacrifices; but one manner, one gate, one sacrifice; but one Saviour.

Before the Lord; with due sense of God’s holy and glorious presence.

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In the sabbaths; both weekly and other holy days, which are called sabbaths on good ground.

The new moons; which were solemn feasts to the Jews in their generation; but these days privileged them only to come thus near who brought their particular offerings, for I suppose the people might not approach at pleasure to see the stated morning and evening oblation sacrificed, this would crowd the gate; but at this time they kept in their own court.

ELLICOTT, "(3) Worship at the door.—The people, in so far as they might be present on the Sabbaths and new moons, are not to worship in the same place with the prince; but in the outer court, at the entrance of the east gate to the inner court.

PULPIT, “Likewise (or, and) to the people of the land should be accorded permission to worship at this inner gate, only not like the prince, in its porch, but at its door, yet on the same occasions as he, in the sabbaths and in the new moons. Kliefoth, who takes "this gate" to signify the outer gate, through which, according to his interpretation of Ezekiel 46:2 (see above), the prince should pass so as to reach the inner east gate, conceives the import of the present verse to be that, while the prince should be permitted on the sabbaths and new moons to pass through the eastern gate, the people "should remain standing in front of the outer east gate, and, looking through it and the opened inner east gate, should pray before Jehovah." This, however, is unnatural, even on the hypothesis that the prince should pass through the outer east gate, and the view of Keil is greatly preferable, that "this gate" was the inner east gate, and that the people should reach it (even if the prince did not) by entering the outer court through the north gate or the south.

4 The burnt offering the prince brings to the Lord on the Sabbath day is to be six male lambs

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and a ram, all without defect.

BARNES, "The offerings prescribed here Eze_46:4-15 are generally in excess of those enjoined by the Law, to note not only the greater devotion and magnificence under the new state of things, but also the willingness (compare Deu_16:17) of king and people ready to give of their substance to the utmost of their means.

CLARKE, "The burnt-offerings that the prince shall offer - The chief magistrate was always obliged to attend the public worship of God, as well as the priest, to show that the civil and ecclesiastical states were both under the same government of the Lord; and that no one was capable of being prince or priest, who did not acknowledge God in all his ways. It is no wonder that those lands mourn, where neither the established priest nor the civil magistrate either fear or love God. Ungodly priests and profligate magistrates are a curse to any land. In no country have I found both so exemplary for uprightness, as in Britain.

GILL, "And the burnt offering the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day,.... In Eze_45:17, it is said to be the prince's part to give and prepare sacrifices in the feasts, new moons, sabbaths, and all solemnities; and there follows an account of them, for New Year's Day, and for the feasts of passover and tabernacles; and here an account is given of those for the sabbaths and new moons; which is very properly reserved for this place, to follow the account of the opening of the eastern gate at those seasons: and the burnt offering for the sabbath shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; according to the law of Moses, only two lambs were the burnt offering for this day, besides the continual one, Num_28:9, here Jarchi confesses his ignorance; and Kimchi says it is a new thing; and indeed it is, and is a proof of the ceremonial law being now abolished. These seven denote the perfect sacrifice of Christ, by which he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified; and being without blemish, the purity and holiness of it; and as the people of God on the six working days commit much sin, and contract much guilt, the sacrifice of Christ is signified by six lambs, which it is necessary they should hear of, and it should be set before them in the ministry of the word on Lord's days, which is meant by the offering of it; that they may by faith apply it to themselves, to the removal of sin from their consciences, and take the comfort of it; as the one ram may denote the one sacrifice of Christ, though typified by many; and who, like the ram, is the leader and guide of the flock: now, more creatures being offered for this burnt offering than under the law, denotes the clearer knowledge of the sacrifice of Christ under the Gospel, and the more extensive efficacy of it, to the removal of the guilt of sin from the Lord's people.

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HENRY 4-15, “II. That the ordinances of worship were fixed. Though the prince is supposed himself to be a very hearty zealous friend to the sanctuary, yet it is not left to him, no, not in concert with the priests, to appoint what sacrifices shall be offered, but God himself appoints them; for it is his prerogative to institute the rites and ceremonies of religious worship. 1. Every morning, as duly as the morning came, they must offer a lamb for a burnt-offering, Eze_46:13. It is strange that no mention is made of the evening sacrifice; but Christ having come, and having offered himself now in the end of the world (Heb_9:26), we are to look upon him as the evening sacrifice, about the time of the offering up of which he died. 2. On the sabbath days, whereas by the law of Moses four lambs were to be offered (Num_28:9), it is here appointed that (at the prince's charge) there shall be six lambs offered, and a ram besides (Eze_46:4), to intimate how much we should abound in sabbath work, now in gospel-time, and what plenty of the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise we should offer up to God on that day; and, if with such sacrifice God is well-pleased, surely we have a great deal of reason to be so. 3. On the new moons, in the beginning of their months, there was over and above the usual sabbath-sacrifices the additional offering of a young bullock, Eze_46:6. Those who do much for God and their souls, statedly and constantly, must yet, upon some occasions, do still more. 4. All the sacrifices were to be without blemish; so Christ, the great sacrifice, was (1Pe_1:19), and so Christians, who are to present themselves to God as living sacrifices, should aim and endeavour to be - blameless, and harmless, and without rebuke. 5. All the sacrifices were to have their meat-offerings annexed to them, for so the law of Moses had appointed, to show what a good table God keeps in his house and that we ought to honour him with the fruit of our ground as well as with the fruit of our cattle, because in both he has blessed us, Duet. Eze_28:4. In the beginning, Cain offered the one and Abel the other. Some observe that the meat-offerings here are much larger in proportion than they were by the law of Moses. Then the proportion was three tenth-deals to a bullock, and two to a ram (so many tenth parts of an ephah) and half a hin of oil at the most (Num_15:6-9); but here, for every bullock and every ram, a whole ephah and a whole hin of oil (p. 7), which intimates that under the gospel, the great atoning sacrifice having been offered, these unbloody sacrifices shall be more abounded in; or, in general, it intimates that as now, under the gospel, God abounds in the gifts of his grace to us, more than under the law, so we should abound in the returns of praise and duty to him. But it is observable that in the meat-offering for the lambs the prince is allowed to offer as he shall be able to give (Eze_46:5, Eze_46:7, Eze_46:11), as his hand shall attain unto. Note, Princess themselves must spend as they can afford; and even in that which is laid out in works of piety God expects and requires but that we should do according to our ability, every man as God has prepared him, 1Co_16:2. God has not made us to serve with an offering (Isa_43:23), but considers our frame and state. Yet this will not countenance those who pretend a disability that is not real, or those who by their extravagances in other things disable themselves to do the good they should. And we find those praised who, in an extraordinary case of charity, went not only to their power, but beyond their power.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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

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blemish.

Ver. 4. Six lambs without blemish.] This was a larger sacrifice than Moses had appointed [Numbers 28:9] - Christians have more cause than Jews had to sanctify the Sabbath - as that for the new moons [Ezekiel 46:6] was lesser. See Numbers 28:11. Hereby it appeareth that God was about to abrogate the Mosaical worship, and the Levitical priesthood: Lex enim posterior derogat priori. This the Jewish doctors would fain say something to, but cannot tell what. The wit of these miscreants, reprobate concerning the faith, will better serve them to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth, than their obstinace will suffer them once to yield and acknowledge it.

POOLE, " The burnt-offering; this is different from that Ezekiel 42:13, as appears both from the kind of sacrifice and the occasion of it, or the time of each.

In the sabbath day; or weekly, sabbath by sabbath; this was three times as much as was required, Numbers 28:9.

Six lambs of the first year, and males, Ezekiel 46:13, and as the Hebrew implies.

Without blemish; unblemished sacrifices were ever required, and so this, Leviticus 1:3 Numbers 6:14.

A ram; when it was more than a year old, the Jews accounted it a ram.

ELLICOTT, "(4) Six lambs . . . and a ram.—The burnt offering for the Sabbath, according to the Mosaic law (Numbers 28:9), was two lambs. This is greatly increased here, and the “meat offering” for the ram is also made larger, while that for the lambs (Ezekiel 46:5) is left to the prince’s generosity.

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PETT, "Verses 4-7

The Prince’s Offerings On Behalf Of The People (Ezekiel 46:4-8).

“And on the sabbath the whole burnt offering that the prince shall offer to Yahweh shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish, and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the sheep as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. And on 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. And he will prepare a meal offering, an ephah for the bullock, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah.”

The weekly offering is six lambs and a ram, but on the new moon a young bullock is also required. As ever they are to be without blemish, for what is blemished cannot be offered to Yahweh. He is worthy of the best, and what is offered to Him must be without fault. These are offerings of worship and praise. Included with them are meal offerings to a certain level, and then as the prince is able. This interesting proviso recognises that the wealth of princes and their people will fluctuate at different times. Not all harvests will be plentiful. The weekly offering may represent a lamb for each of the six working days of the week and a ram for the sabbath, or it may simply be with the intent of making the divinely perfect seven in all. The additional bullock celebrates the new moon. As described earlier these offerings are on behalf of the people as well as himself (Ezekiel 45:17).

These provisions differ from those required by the Mosaic law (Numbers 28:9-15). It is the sign of a new beginning, even though based on the old.

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5 The grain offering given with the ram is to be an ephah,[a] and the grain offering with the lambs is to be as much as he pleases, along with a hin[b] of olive oil for each ephah.

BARNES, "As he shall be able to give - Rather, “as he shall be willing to give.” So also in Eze_46:7.

GILL, "And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram,.... See Gill on Eze_45:24, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give; or, and "the gift of his hand" (k); it was fixed and stinted under the law, Num_28:9, but now should be free and voluntary, and according to the ability of the giver; that is, the preacher of the word, who officiates for the prince, and in his name, and sets before the people the meat, or rather bread offering, Christ the bread of life, freely, and according to the ability and measure of the gift of grace bestowed upon him: and an hin of oil to an ephah; which was also a larger quantity than under the law, denoting the larger measure of the gifts and graces of the Spirit, signified by oil, given unto the ministers of the word, and the people also; See Gill on Eze_45:24.

COKE, "Ezekiel 46:5. As he shall be able to give— With respect to the lambs, no particular quantity of oil or flour is prescribed; he was to give "according to his ability and devotion." The same expression is used in the 7th and 11th verses.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:5 And the meat offering [shall be] an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

Ver. 5. As he shall be able to give.] Heb., The gift of his hand. Some render it, According as it shall be given unto his hand - i.e., as God shall put into his heart to

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give; and here he is not tied, as in the law, to such a proportion, but left to his Christian liberty.

POOLE, " An ephah, three bushels of meal, for each ram.

As he shall be able to give; rather, as he shall see good, as much as he thinks fit in decency or in bounty.

An hin; one gallon and a pint, for an hin did contain twelve logs, and each log contained three quarters of a pint, or thereabouts.

To an ephah; which was three times eight gallons, for each ephah contained three bushels: see Ezekiel 46:11. So then one gallon and one pint of oil was required as proportion to three bushels of meal in the meat-offering.

6 On the day of the New Moon he is to offer a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all without defect.

BARNES, "Compare with Num. 28. The enumeration of the offerings both for the Sabbath and new moon is here less complete than there; e. g., the drink offerings are passed by, and in the case of the new moon festival no mention is made of the blowing of trumpets (compare Num_10:10).

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GILL, "And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish,.... This is also different from the law of Moses, which required two young bullocks and a ram, and seven lambs, Num_28:11, whereas here only one bullock: and six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish; and here Kimchi acknowledges again that this is a new thing to be done in future time. Some have observed, that the seven lambs under the law showed that perfection might be hoped for and expected; but, there being but six now, that this is not yet attained, nor will be till the saints get to heaven; though perfection is come by the priesthood of Christ, whose sacrifice is a perfect and complete one, and by which his people are perfected, and they are complete in him, yet they have no perfection in themselves.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 6. And in the day of the new moon.] Which pointed them to the coming of Christ, by whom all things are become new.

It shall be a young bullock.] It was wont to be two. See on Ezekiel 46:4.

And six lambs and a ram.] To signify, saith Rabanus, that as it is necessary for us to keep the Sabbath; so it is likewise that we rely upon Christ for expiation as of our week days’ sins, so also of those that we fall into even on that holy day.

POOLE, " In these verses nothing new occurs but the appointing a bullock with its meat-offering for the new moon sacrifice, of which also on another occasion already, Ezekiel 46:1.

A young bullock: see Ezekiel 45:22.

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Without blemish: see Ezekiel 45:4.

Six lambs: see Ezekiel 46:4.

ELLICOTT, "(6) A young bullock . . . and six lambs, and a ram.—The law required for the new moons, for a burnt offering, two bullocks, seven lambs, and a ram (Numbers 28:11), so that this sacrifice is here diminished; it also required a he-goat for a sin offering, of which no mention is here made.

7 He is to provide as a grain offering one ephah with the bull, one ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he wants to give, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.

CLARKE, "According as his hand shall attain unto - According to his ability, to what the providence of God has put in his hand, i.e., his power. This proportion of offerings is different from that prescribed by the Mosaic law, Num_15:4-12.

GILL, "And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram,.... See Gill on Eze_45:24, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah; See Gill on Eze_46:5.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:7 And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto,

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and an hin of oil to an ephah.

Ver. 7. An ephah for a bullock.] This was to shadow out, saith Polanus, the communion of the saints with Christ, and that Christ offereth and presenteth his Church with himself and in himself to God the Father.

According as his hand shall attain unto,] i.e., As he is able and willing, for God straineth upon none.

8 When the prince enters, he is to go in through the portico of the gateway, and he is to come out the same way.

BARNES, "That gate - The eastern gate of the inner court. See Eze_46:2.

GILL, "And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate,.... See Gill on Eze_46:2; and he shall go forth by the way thereof; the same way he came in, he shall go out; not so the people; and, to introduce the manner of their going in and out, this is repeated concerning the prince.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

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Ver. 8. He shall go in by the way of the porch.] This was the prince’s privilege, that, as likewise the priests, he might go in and go out at the same east gate. It is fit that the word and sword should hold together, and that magistrates and ministers should be singular in holiness.

POOLE, " Shall enter into the gate of the court next the temple to offer his sacrifice.

Go in by the way of the porch; go to the threshold, the inward threshold of the east gate, that opens into the court of the temple.

Go forth by the way thereof; none of the people might do so, only the prince and the priests might go out the same way they came in.

PETT, " “And when the prince enters he will go in by way of the porch of the gate, and he will go out by that way.”

The prince’s right of entry and exit to the east gateway is restricted. His access and exit is by the porch of the gate and that alone. That way he avoids treading in the inner court.

PULPIT, “begins an ordinance relative to the mode of conducting worship at the appointed festivals (Ezekiel 46:9; comp. Ezekiel 36:38; Ezekiel 45:17; Le Ezekiel 23:2; Hosea 12:9), by indicating first how the prince should enter and depart from the temple. According to Kliefoth and Keil, the prince's entrance and departure should be by the way of the porch of the outer, according to Hengstenberg, Smend, and Currey, of the inner, east gate (see on Ezekiel 46:2).

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9 “‘When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals, whoever enters by the north gate to worship is to go out the south gate; and whoever enters by the south gate is to go out the north gate. No one is to return through the gate by which they entered, but each is to go out the opposite gate.

BARNES, "The whole body of the people gathered together in the outer court, and from thence bodies went in turn into the inner court to worship, and then again out into the outer court.

CLARKE, "He that entereth in by the way of the north, etc. - As the north and the south gates were opposite to each other, he that came in at the north must go out at the south; he that came in at the south must go out at the north. No person was to come in at the east gate, because there was no gate at the west; and the people were not permitted to turn round and go out at the same place by which they came in; for this was like turning their backs on God, and the decorum and reverence with which public worship was to be conducted would not admit of this. Besides, returning by the same way must have occasioned a great deal of confusion, where so many people must have jostled each other, in their meetings in different parts of this space.

GILL, "But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts,.... To worship the Lord, to pray and praise; to honour the Lord, and keep the solemn feast of love, the Lord's supper: 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 in by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate; that so such as were coming in, and going out, might not meet, and stop and hinder one another in going out and coming in: no mention is made of entering in by the east gate, which was only for the prince, Eze_44:1, and there was no entering in, or going out, on the west:

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he shall not return by the way of the gate he came in, but shall go forth over against it; signifying, that those that come to the house of God to worship, and join in communion with the saints, should not return to their former ways and practices; to their former rites, customs, and ceremonies in religion, used by them; and to their former principles and errors in doctrines; and to their former sinful courses of life; but go straight on and thorough stitch with it in their profession of Christ and his Gospel, and in the practice of spiritual and evangelic worship; see Luk_9:62.

COKE, "Ezekiel 46:9. He that entereth in by the way of the north gate, &c.— Some are of opinion, that these words imply the reason why the people were not to come in at the east gate; because, there being no passage or thoroughfare out of the temple westward, if they had entered in at the east gate, they must have returned back the same way they came in; which would have been turning their backs as it were upon the place of God's residence. Dr. Spencer mentions this as a rule in the Talmud, "That they who come within the holy mount, should enter in by the way of the right hand, and go out by the left; understanding by the right hand the northern part of the temple, and by the left hand the southern:" and he is of opinion, that God designed to take away that superstitious distinction between the several gates of the temple, by commanding that every one should go out the opposite way to that by which he came in, whether to the south or the north. See Spencer, de Leg. Heb.; and the note on chap. Ezekiel 43:12.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 9. Shall go out the way of the south gate.] For more easy passage sake, in such a multitude of people. But withal to teach us many things; as (1.) Not to turn our backs upon the holy ordinances; (a) (2.) To "make straight paths for our feet"; [Hebrews 12:13] not looking back with Lot’s wife; [Luke 17:32] not longing for the onions of Egypt, as those rebels in the wilderness, but advancing forward with St Paul, [Philippians 3:13-14] looking forthright, [Proverbs 4:25] having our eye upon the mark, and making daily progress toward perfection; (3.) That our memories are frail, and here we shall meet with many things that will withdraw us from thinking upon God; (4.) That our life is but short; a very passage from one gate to another: where to go back - i.e., to add anything to our lives - it is not granted, since our time

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is limited, [Job 14:3 Acts 17:26] and we are all hastening to our long home. [Ecclesiastes 12:5] One being asked what life was? made an answer answerless; for he presently went his way.

POOLE, " All except the prince, when they come to worship, must observe to go out at that door that is over against the door at which they came in.

Come before the Lord, present themselves and their sacrifices, in the solemn feasts, the three great annual feasts, the new moons, and the weekly sabbaths.

He that entereth in, & c.: the east gate they might not enter at, as already is observed, and whatever reason might be given besides, this passage in this verse gives one, they could not go right forward to go out, at a west gate; for the temple and the entrance into it stood in a straight line from every one of the east gates from the outmost court, so that if any should go straight forward, they would go into the temple and oracle, which was not to be. There were but two gates the people might enter at, the south or north.

He shall not return, & c.: none might turn their back on the temple, nor do that which looked like a going away from God, which may give us somewhat the meaning of Jeremiah 2:27 32:33, their turning the back on God.

ELLICOTT, " (9) In the solemn feasts.—Different arrangements were required for the great or “solemn” feasts, because at these all the males of Israel were commanded to be present, and therefore the numbers were very large. This affects both the people and (Ezekiel 46:10) the prince. The first provision is one for securing order in the vast concourse of people: by whichever (outer) gate any one enters (the north or the south), he shall pass out by the opposite one.

PETT, "Verse 9-10

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Provisions of Entry For The Prince and People On Feast Days (Ezekiel 46:9-10).

“But when the people of the land shall come before Yahweh at the appointed feasts, he who enters by way of the north gate to worship will go out by way of the south gate, and he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate that he came in, but shall go straight before him. And the prince when they go in shall go in in the midst of them, and when they go out they will go out together.”

This remarkable restriction is powerfully significant. Firstly it indicates that on feast days the prince enters the temple precincts in the midst of the people. He is one with them in their worship, for indeed he is their representative, not in the sense of being apart from them, but as being one among them. In a sense he is the people, and is on the same level. It also ensured that there would be no solitary regal entry for the prince. There was to be no princely splendour. At this time all attention must be on the King in His sanctuary. (We must learn this too in our churches). Secondly it indicates that when the inner east gate is to be opened the people enter and leave as guests of Yahweh. They ‘pass through’. They are not free to do their own thing.

It is true that it might also, of course, have ensured a smoother flow for the people but it is questionable whether that was the main point. The main point was symbolic. After all they would be standing within the temple outer court before the inner east gate for some considerable period as they observed and in their own way took part in the ceremonies by prayer and worship and acclamation. They were not just queuing past a fixed point. And thus leaving by the way that they came might have made things easier to organise. But that was not the question. The principle to be established here was that when the inner east gate was open they were guests of the Almighty. Things must be orderly. This was not home, and ‘court procedure’ must be followed..

PULPIT, “But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord. As the preceding verse referred to the prince's entrance into and departure from the inner gate, this was intended to regulate the movements of the prince's subjects when they should enter the outer court at any of the festal seasons—not the high festivals

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alone, such as the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, which are usually denominated חגים, but the ordinary appointed feasts ( מועדים ), including, besides the high festivals, the sabbaths and the new moons and such other religions celebrations as were or should be prescribed in the new Torah. In order to prevent confusion, and that all might be conducted with propriety, no one should depart by the gate through which he had entered, but by the opposite, i.e. he who had entered by the north gate should retire through the south gate, and vice versa. Hengstenberg thinks the reason for this regulation "cannot be sought in the endeavor to avoid a throng," since "in that case it must have been ordained that all should go in by the same gate and go out by the opposite one;" it must, he holds, have been "a theological one," viz. "to signify that each should go out of the sanctuary another man than he came in."

10 The prince is to be among them, going in when they go in and going out when they go out.

CLARKE, "And the prince in the midst of them - Even he shall act in the same way: he must also go straight forward, and never turn his back to go out at the same gate by which he entered. The prince and the people were to begin and end their worship at the same time.

GILL, "And the prince in the midst of them,.... Christ in the midst of his people while worshipping; this situation of him agrees with all the descriptions of him; as the Angel in the midst of the bush on fire, and not consumed; as among the myrtle trees in the bottom; as walking in the midst of his golden candlesticks; as the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God; and as King, Priest, and Prophet, in his house; and with all the declarations and promises of his grace; and which is true in fact: and the phrase is expressive of his presence, not merely of his essential, powerful, and providential presence, common to all, but of his gracious presence with his people; he is in the midst of them, to assist them in every service; to protect them from every enemy; to sympathize with them in all their troubles; to deliver out of them; to supply them with all needful grace; and to rule over them, and defend them: and his being here shows that

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he is to be seen of all, to be come at and enjoyed by them; than which nothing is more desirable, and nothing more encouraging in the worship of God: when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth; when they go to the throne of grace, for grace and mercy to help in time of need, he goes with them; their access is through him; he introduces their persons, presents their petitions, is their advocate and intercessor for them, and for his sake they are heard and accepted: when they go into the house of God, and to the ordinances of it; when they go in and out to find pasture, he goes in with them, and before them, as the shepherd of the flock, and leads them into green pastures; he teaches them how to go in and out, and to behave themselves in the church of God; he is their guide, by way of instruction, both by his word and by his Spirit: when they go out from public service to their own houses, he goes with them, and by his Spirit brings to their remembrance what they have heard; and when they go forth into the world again, and the business of it, he goes forth with them, to preserve them from the evil of the world, and to keep them from falling; and when they go forth out of the world at death, he is with them through the dark valley; he sees them safe over Jordan's river, and introduces them into the heavenly Canaan, into his kingdom and glory, where they are for ever with him.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 10. And the prince in the midst of them, &c.] For example sake, Vita Principis censura est, and to see that all things be rightly carried in God’s service. And although the prince hath many weighty occasions, yet he is to be at the public assemblies with the first, and to stay till the last.

POOLE, "The prince and people must meet together at the same time, and when it is the time for offering the morning or evening sacrifice, be ready to present their prayers to the Lord. And when they offer any particular oblations, on account whereof they go any whit nearer than at other times, both prince and people shall do it at the same time.

ELLICOTT, "(10) The prince in the midst of them.—On occasion of these yearly feasts, it was no longer necessary that the prince should represent the people, they being themselves present. He, therefore, now worships in their midst, entering with them at the north or south gate, and going out by the opposite one.

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PULPIT, “And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in, etc. Schroder, but without reason, would restrict this regulation to the celebrations of the first and seventh days of the first month (Ezekiel 45:18, Ezekiel 45:20); Hengstenberg would confine it to the high festivals (Ezekiel 45:21, Ezekiel 45:25); Kliefoth, Keil, and commentators generally apply it to all the statutory feasts or appointed seasons and times for united sacrificial worship. The regulation seems to teach that in such observances at least the prince should stand on a level with the people, and both enter and retire by the same door as they.

11 At the feasts and the appointed festivals, the grain offering is to be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as he pleases, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.

GILL, "And in the feasts, and in the solemnities,.... Or, "appointed times" (l); for public worship, for the ministration of the word and ordinances, which are feasts and solemn seasons; See Gill on Eze_45:15. Kimchi observes a difference between these two; and that though all feasts are called solemnities, or fixed seasons, Lev_23:4, yet there are some solemnities that are not feasts, Gen_1:14, the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah; the same to be done on all feasts and solemnities as on the sabbath day; See Gill on Eze_46:5.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:11 And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat 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.

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Ver. 11. An ephah to a bullock, and a hin of oil.] A whole ephah, and a whole hin, whereas in the Mosaical service there was required but a certain part only of either; because the Jewish Church was but of a part of mankind, but the Church Christian is universal. (a)

ELLICOTT, " (11) And in the solemnities.—The new rules for the proportion of the meat offering, as laid down in Ezekiel 46:5; Ezekiel 46:7, Ezekiel 45:24, are here repeated for the feast days; and it is added that the same is to hold for all established seasons, a different proportion being prescribed only for the daily sacrifice (Ezekiel 46:14).

PETT, " The Meal Offerings At The Feasts and The Appointed Times (Ezekiel 46:11).

“And at the feasts and at the appointed times the meal offering shall be an ephah for a bullock and an ephah for a ram and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

The importance of the meal offering comes out in its re-emphasis here. These were offerings of which the priests partook, it was a most holy offering (Leviticus 3:2). Once again mention is made of the prince’s ability to provide sometimes more, sometimes less. This would depend on what the harvests had been like (Ezekiel 45:15). ‘The appointed times’ are presumably the new moons and sabbaths.

PULPIT, “specifies the meat (or, meal) offering which should be presented in the feasts ( חגים ), or high festivals, as the Passover and Feast of Tabernacles, and in the solemnities ( מועדים ), or appointed feasts generally, viz. an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give (comp. Ezekiel 46:5, Ezekiel 46:7), with a hin of oil to an ephah. This is the same meat offering as was appointed for the new moons (see Ezekiel 46:7), but slightly different in quantity from, though the same in principle as, that stipulated for the seven days of the Passover (Ezekiel

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45:24).

12 “‘When the prince provides a freewill offering to the Lord—whether a burnt offering or fellowship offerings—the gate facing east is to be opened for him. He shall offer his burnt offering or his fellowship offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out, the gate will be shut.

GILL, "Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering, or peace offerings voluntarily unto the Lord,.... That is, on week days, distinct from sabbath days, new moons, feasts, and solemnities, of which before; and seems to have respect to week day lectures, in distinction from the weekly and monthly stated times, for the ministry of the word and administration of the Lord's supper; in which lectures the principal thing insisted on must be the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and peace and reconciliation made by his blood; for the Gospel, which is to be preached in season and out of season, is the ministry of reconciliation, or the word preaching peace by Jesus Christ; and which should at all times be held forth, to the faith of God's people; which is meant by the preparation of these offerings: and being voluntary ones show not only that Christ's sacrifice was a willing one, and offered without any reluctance, with all readiness and cheerfulness; but also that week day lectures are voluntary things, which men are not under necessary obligation to attend unto, either ministers or people, but is a matter of free choice, as their circumstances will admit; and yet are acceptable to God, and agreeable to the will of Christ, the Prince, said to prepare these free will offerings: one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east: the place where he stood and worshipped on the sabbath day; on the evening of which it was shut, and remained so the six days of the week, Eze_46:1 only when it was the prince's pleasure to offer a sacrifice, or to have the word preached, it was opened by one of the porters of the gates; or there was an open exercise of the ministry of the word, by one of the preachers

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of it: and he shall prepare his burnt offerings, and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day; the same doctrine, respecting the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ, must be delivered at such times, as on Lord's days: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate; on the sabbath day, or the Lord's day, it was not to be shut till the evening, because that day is wholly to be devoted to the service of God; men are not to find their own ways, nor do their own work, nor seek their own pleasure; but on week days, when the lecture is over, the gate is shut immediately, and persons may return to their worldly business directly.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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 he shall go forth; and after his going forth [one] shall shut the gate.

JAMISON12-15, "Not only is he to perform official acts of worship on holy days and feasts, but in “voluntary” offerings daily he is to show his individual zeal, surpassing all his people in liberality, and so setting them a princely example.

Ver. 12. A voluntary burnt offering … one shall then open him the gate, &c.] Here is warrant for our week day lectures, a voluntary service well accepted; provided that afterwards one shut the gate, and men return to their honest labours.

POOLE, " In Ezekiel 46:2,4-7, orders were given about those offerings which were required, which the prince must offer; in this, direction is given about those that are free-will offerings, which in all points must be prepared as the other were on the sabbath day, which see in the forementioned verses.

One shall shut the gate; one of the priests’ porters; as the gate was opened for this service only on such a day, so, the service performed, some priests’ porter shall shut it, for it must not stand open on ordinary days. days.

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ELLICOTT, "(12) A voluntary burnt offering.—One case in which the prince might present a sacrifice is yet unprovided for. He might offer, like any of the people, a voluntary sacrifice at any time, either a burnt offering or a peace offering. In this case he is still to enter by the east gate; but the gate, instead of standing open until evening, as on the Sabbaths and new moons, is to be immediately shut as soon as he retires after the completion of the sacrifice.

PETT, " Freewill Offerings Offered by the Prince (Ezekiel 46:12).

“And when the prince shall prepare a freewill offering, a whole burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looks towards the east, and he shall prepare his whole burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out one shall shut the gate.”

Provision is here made for freewill offerings over and above the prescribed offerings and sacrifices, to be offered by the prince at any time. These were expressions of gratitude and love. They may sometimes be offered on behalf of the people or sometimes be personal, no differentiation is made. But to offer such offerings specific access can be obtained through the inner east gate. The gate will be opened specifically for the purpose, so that he can sufficiently prepare it, and then closed immediately after he leaves. It is a kind of private access arrangement. The gate is not then left open for the public to see through, and worship before, after he has left, although they may presumably attend for the offering itself.

PULPIT, “determines the procedure in case of the prince resolving to offer privately, on his own account, a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering; better, a free-will offering ( נדבה ), a sacrifice prompted by the heart of the offerer, as opposed to one legally enjoined (Exodus 35:29; Le Exodus 22:23), which might be either a burnt or a peace offering. In this case the east inner gate should be opened to him as on the sabbath days (see Ezekiel 46:1), but, differently from what occurred on the sabbath, it should not remain open till the evening (Ezekiel 46:2), but should be shut immediately the prince's offering was done.

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13 “‘Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord; morning by morning you shall provide it.

BARNES, "Compare with marginal references. The evening sacrifice is here omitted, because the seer is selecting a few only of the sacrifices of the Law, with a particular object in view.

CLARKE, "Thou shalt prepare it every morning - The evening offering is entirely omitted, which makes an important difference between this and the old laws. See Exodus 29:31-46.

GILL, "Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord,.... Called the daily sacrifice, Dan_8:11 typical of Christ's sacrifice, which has a continual daily virtue in it, to take away the sins of his people; and which ought to be looked unto faith, and pleaded by them for that purpose every day Joh_1:29, of a lamb of the first year without a blemish; a type of Christ the Lamb of God, without spot and blemish, strong and able, and so fit and proper to be a sacrifice for the sins of others: thou shalt prepare it every morning; or, "morning by morning" (m); this seems to be said not to the prince, but rather to the prophet, and indeed to every believer; who should, every morning he rises, look to Christ as the atoning sacrifice for sin, whose blood continually cleanses from it, and who is always in the midst of the throne as a lamb that had been slain, and ever lives to make intercession; and as the mercies of the Lord's people are renewed every morning, they should renew their thankfulness to God as often, and bring this lamb with them, through whose sacrifice their sacrifices of praise become acceptable. No mention is made of the evening sacrifice; see Exo_29:38, which some think is included in the morning burnt offering. Kimchi thinks that in future time

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this was not to be offered, only the morning sacrifice; but the true reason is, Christ has appeared once in the evening of the world, and offered up himself; yea, it was literally in the evening, or decline of the day, when he suffered, or between the two evenings, whereby he answered the type of the passover lamb; hence no evening sacrifice is mentioned, Christ's being offered up.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 13. Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering.] God must be served daily and duly, not on the Sabbath day only. See Psalms 72:15. The Papists are at their mass every morning, and they bind much upon this text for it. They have a proverb also, Mass and meat hindereth no man’s thrift.

ELLICOTT, " (13) Daily prepare a burnt offering.—Ezekiel 46:13-15 contain regulations for the daily sacrifice. The victim is the same as under the Mosaic law; but instead of being offered every morning and evening (Numbers 28:3-5), it is here provided only for the morning. On the other hand, the accompanying meat offering is increased from the tenth to the sixth of an ephah of flour, and from a fourth to a third of a hin of oil.

The rest of the chapter is occupied with the rights of the prince in regard to the conveyance of his land (Ezekiel 46:16-18), and a short description of the sacrificial kitchens for the priests and the people (Ezekiel 46:19-24).

PETT, "Verses 13-15

The Daily Offerings (Ezekiel 46:13-15).

The change to the second person singular suggests that these were not connected with the prince. These were offerings to be made by the priests on behalf of Israel.

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“And you will prepare a lamb of the first year without blemish for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh daily. Morning by morning you will prepare it. And you will prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the thrid part of a hin of oil to mix with the fine flour, a meal offering to Yahweh continually by a perpetual ordinance. Thus shall they prepare the lamb and the meal offering and the oil morning by morning for a continual whole burnt offering.”

This is a daily offering made continually, a continual expression of worship, praise, and covenant loyalty and love. No mention is made of an evening offering (contrast Exodus 29:38-41; Numbers 28:3-8; 2 Kings 16:15).

The Prince’s Portion.

Four points are made here with respect to the prince’s portion mentioned in Ezekiel 45:7-8. Firstly that it is his inheritance, secondly that he may pass it on to his sons as a permanent inheritance, thirdly that while he may pass some of it on to servants it may not be as a permanent inheritance, and fourthly that his sons are not to receive any inheritance outside the portion. The rights of all Israelites are ever to be preserved.

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 46:13-15

supply closing instructions for the daily sacrifice. The daily burnt offering should be a lamb of the first year; literally, a son of his year; whereas the Law of Moses required a lamb twice a day (Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:1-8). The daily meat (or, meal) offering to accompany this should be the sixth part of an ephah, instead of a tenth as under Moses, and the third part of a hin of oil, instead of a fourth as prescribed by the earlier legislation, to temper with— לרס (from רסס, a word peculiar to Ezekiel), to moisten or mix with—the fine flour. These sacrifices should be offered every morning; literally, morning by morning; but not every evening as in the Mosaic Law. This difference was not accidental, but intentional, though why in the new order of things the evening sacrifice should have been omitted does not

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appear. Currey thinks Ezekiel did not intend to enumerate all the sacrifices of the Law, but only a few of them, and that, though not mentioned, the evening sacrifice may have been designed to be retained. The presentation of these sacrifices was not to be the special duty of the prince, but should devolve upon the community as a whole, who are now addressed as "thou" (verses 13, 14) and "they" (verse 15), and who should act in its fulfillment through their priests.

14 You are also to provide with it morning by morning a grain offering, consisting of a sixth of an ephah[c] with a third of a hin[d] of oil to moisten the flour. The presenting of this grain offering to the Lord is a lasting ordinance.

GILL, "And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for morning,.... That is, for the daily burnt offering to go along with it; prayer and thanksgiving for our temporal and spiritual food, which should be done every morning: the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; to mix with it, and moisten it: under the law, only a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, and a fourth part of a hin of oil, were ordered to make this meat offering of, Exo_29:40, wherefore Kimchi observes, this is a new thing in time to come: the reason of it is this; to show us, that as the blessings of grace abound under the Gospel dispensation, we should abound in our thanksgiving to God: a meat offering, continually, by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord; these sorts of sacrifices are never to cease; and so the Jews (n) themselves say, "in future time, or in the days of the Messiah, all sacrifices shall cease; but the sacrifice of praise shall not cease.''

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TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:14 And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.

Ver. 14. The sixth part of an ephah.] This is also different from the Levitical ordinance, [Numbers 15:3-12; Numbers 28:3-5 Exodus 29:40] though R. Solomon here extremely troubleth himself, but to no purpose, to reconcile them.

POOLE, " A meat-offering: see Ezekiel 46:7.

The sixth part of an ephah; half a bushel of fine meal.

The third part of an hin; an hin held nine pints.

Continually; morning by morning.

A perpetual ordinance, to continue till the Messiah comes, who will set up a more spiritual worship.

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15 So the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided morning by morning for a regular burnt offering.

GILL, "Thus shall they prepare,.... This shows that not a single person is meant in the preceding verses, but all the Lord's people; who are all priests unto God, and who are to offer up daily spiritual sacrifices unto him: the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil every morning, for a continual burnt offering; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to excite a careful and constant attention to it.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning [for] a continual burnt offering.

Ver. 15. Every morning.] Understand it of every evening also. {as Exodus 29:38}

POOLE, "This verse is a ratifying of all prescribed in Ezekiel 46:13,14. These three verses direct the daily sacrifice; and because they mention only the morning sacrifice and one lamb, some think that here less is required than in Numbers 28:3,4; but they forget that there is a parity of reason for the evening sacrifice, and that this is included. They were to do in the evening oblation as they did in the morning.

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16 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his sons, it will also belong to his descendants; it is to be their property by inheritance.

BARNES, 16-18, "The prince was robe provided with possessions of his own, in order to prevent exactions from his subjects; further enactments are added to prevent the alienation of the prince’s land. Any gifts made to his servants must revert to the prince in the “year of liberty,” or jubilee (see the marginal reference note).

HENRY 16-18, “We have here a law for the limiting of the power of the prince in the disposing of the crown-lands. 1. If he have a son that is a favourite, or has merited well, he may, if he please, as a token of his favour and in recompence for his services, settle some parts of his lands upon him and his heirs for ever (Eze_46:16), provided it do not go out of the family. There may be a cause for parents, when their children have grown up, to be more kind to one than to another, as Jacob gave to Joseph one portion above his brethren, Gen_48:22. 2. Yet, if he have a servant that is a favourite, he may not in like manner settle lands upon him, Eze_46:17. The servant might have the rents, issues, and profits, for such a term, but the inheritance, the jus proprietarium - the right of proprietorship, shall remain in the prince and his heirs. It was fit that a difference should be put between a child and a servant, like that Joh_8:35. The servant abides not in the house for ever, as the son does. 3. What estates he gives his children must be of his own (Eze_46:18): He shall not take of the people's inheritance, under pretence of having many children to provide for; he shall not find ways to make them forfeit their estates, or to force them to sell them and so thrust his subjects out of their possession; but let him and his sons be content with their own. It is far from being a prince's honour to increase the wealth of his family and crown by encroaching upon the rights and properties of his subjects; nor will he himself be a gainer by it at last, for he will be but a poor prince when the people are scattered every man from his possession, when they quit their native country, being forced out of it by oppression, choosing rather to live among strangers that are free people, and

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where what they have they can call their own, be it ever so little. It is the interest of princes to rule in the hearts of their subjects, and then all they have is, in the best manner, at their service. It is better for themselves to gain their affections by protecting their rights than to gain their estates by invading them.

JAMISON 16-18, "The prince’s possession is to be inalienable, and any portion given to a servant is to revert to his sons at the year of jubilee, that he may have no temptation to spoil his people of their inheritance, as formerly (compare Ahab and Naboth, 1Ki_21:1-29). The mention of the year of jubilee implies that there is something literal meant, besides the spiritual sense. The jubilee year was restored after the captivity [Josephus, Antiquities, 14.10, 6; 1 Maccabees 6:49]. Perhaps it will be restored under Messiah’s coming reign. Compare Isa_61:2, Isa_61:3, where “the acceptable year of the Lord” is closely connected with the comforting of the mourners in Zion, and “the day of vengeance” on Zion’s foes. The mention of the prince’s sons is another argument against Messiah being meant by “the prince.”

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 16. If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons.] As Jehoshaphat did cities to every one of his sons; though they long enjoyed them not, through the barbarous cruelty of their elder brother Jehoram. Christ, the Church ’s king, giveth all his children gifts of great price; such as the world can neither give nor take from them, "spiritual blessings in heavenly" things and "places"; [Ephesians 1:3] yea, he bestoweth himself upon them, and is therefore called "The gift," [John 4:10] and "The benefit." [1 Timothy 6:2]

POOLE, " A gift, of houses or lands.

The inheritance thereof, the right to those houses or lands, shall descend to 61

children’s children; the fee simple shall be to the posterity of that son to whom it was first giv " (16) If the prince give a gift.—Ezekiel 46:15-18 contain provisions in regard to the prince’s alienation of his domain. According to Ezekiel 45:7-8, he was to have a portion of land on each side of the “oblation,” which should be sufficiently ample to prevent any attempts on his part at violence and exaction. For the same purpose, it was necessary that this territory should remain inalienably in his family. He might therefore convey any portion of it to his sons in fee simple, for they would naturally inherit it; but a conveyance to any one else came under the Mosaic law (Leviticus 25), and reverted to him or his heirs in the year of Jubile, here called “the year of liberty.”en. They shall enjoy it, possess it, as heirs possess an inheritance.

ELLICOTT, " (16) If the prince give a gift.—Ezekiel 46:15-18 contain provisions in regard to the prince’s alienation of his domain. According to Ezekiel 45:7-8, he was to have a portion of land on each side of the “oblation,” which should be sufficiently ample to prevent any attempts on his part at violence and exaction. For the same purpose, it was necessary that this territory should remain inalienably in his family. He might therefore convey any portion of it to his sons in fee simple, for they would naturally inherit it; but a conveyance to any one else came under the Mosaic law (Leviticus 25), and reverted to him or his heirs in the year of Jubile, here called “the year of liberty.”

PETT, " ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “If the prince give a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance. It shall belong to his sons. It is their possession by inheritance.”

The portion is God’s gift to the prince and his successors and is his permanently. If he passes any along to his sons, it is theirs permanently. It is his permanent inheritance, and theirs.

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PULPIT, “Ezekiel 46:16-18

Instructions for the prince as to how he should deal with his property are summarized in three regulations, introduced by the solemn formula of "Thus saith the Lord" (comp. Ezekiel 46:1; Ezekiel 45:9).

Ezekiel 46:16

The first regulation. The prince might dispose of a portion of his royal property (see Ezekiel 45:7, Ezekiel 45:8) by presenting part of it as a gift to any of his sons. In this case what was gifted should belong to his son or sons in perpetuity, should be his or theirs as his or their possession by inheritance; it should never again revert to the prince.

17 If, however, he makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs to his sons only; it is theirs.

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CLARKE, "To the year of liberty - That is, to the year of jubilee, called the year of liberty, because there was then a general release. All servants had their liberty, and all alienated estates returned to their former owners.

GILL, "But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants,.... Who are not his sons, but his hired servants, and who serve him in a mercenary way; such are unregenerate ministers of the word, who preach Christ in pretence, and not in reality, for by ends, to serve themselves, and not him, or to advance his glory; and all carnal professors, who have only an outside of religion, a form of godliness without the power of it: to these Christ gives gifts, the gifts of nature, wealth, and riches, to some, to whom he gives not grace; these are his left hand blessings, which are given to the men of the world, who have their portion in this life: to others external means, the word and ordinances, but not internal special grace; yea, to some, gifts for the ministry, so as to be able to prophesy or preach in his name, which are meant by the talents, and pounds in the parable; some of which were given to slothful and unprofitable servants; see Mat_7:20. Then it shall be his to the year of liberty; the servant's to whom it is given, as long as the prince pleases; who when they make no use, or an ill use of them, takes them away in lifetime, and gives them to those that have more, and employ them to better purpose, Zec_11:17, or however at death, which is a time of liberty from civil bondage, the servant is free from his master; and when good men are freed from the oppression of others, and from sin, Satan, and the world, and are delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God; this is a year of liberty indeed to them; and then all external gifts to others, as riches, are held no longer; the word and ordinances no more enjoyed; prophesying, speaking with tongues, and all mere natural knowledge, cease, and vanish away, 1Co_13:8, the allusion is to the year of jubilee, when liberty was proclaimed throughout the land, and every man returned to his possession, and to his family, Lev_25:10, and so the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it of the year of jubilee; a type of the heavenly glory, and of the joy of the Lord, which Christ's faithful servants enter into; and when there will be a manifest difference between them and slothful servants, and the gifts of the one and of the other, and of their use of them, as well as between sons and servants: after it shall return to the prince; signifying that such gifts are not durable; they are revertible to the donor of them; who will call these servants to an account for them at death or judgment, if not in time of life: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them; the prince's inheritance shall be theirs; for being sons they are heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ: or that which is given them for an inheritance shall always continue; it shall never be taken from them or returned; but it shall be their own, for themselves, and enjoy it for ever; which is a confirmation of what is said in the preceding verse.

COKE, "Ezekiel 46:17. To the year of liberty— That is, of jubilee; called the year of liberty, because it freed men's persons from the service of their masters, and their

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estates from any engagements by which the right of them was transferred from their owners. See Calmet, and Leviticus 25:10-11.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 17. But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants.] As Alexander the Great, who, going to subdue a great part of the habitable world, gave away to his servants almost all he had, and when one of his officers asked him what he would leave for himself? he said, Hope. Messiah the prince, besides his choicest gifts ( Dona throni) to his dear children, giveth gifts unto men, even to the rebellious also; [Psalms 68:18] these are common gifts ( Dona scabelli), temporal favours, external privileges. See Matthew 7:22-23; Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:12-27, &c. But as "the servant abideth not in the house for ever," as the son doth; [John 8:35] so these gifts to servants, but for the behoof and benefit of his sons, are but till the year of liberty, or jubilee, till the last day at utmost. [Leviticus 25:10] Then shall the wicked give a dreadful account of all, with the whole world flaming about their ears.

POOLE, " Of his inheritance; of any part or parcel of the crown land, or the prince’s inheritance.

To one of his servants; whether such servant be, strictly taken, a servant or bondman or in more large sense any of his servants in the court, and in office about it.

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The year of liberty; the year of jubilee, as Leviticus 25:10,13,28.

To the prince; or his heirs, if the prince be dead.

His inheritance: this may be understood either of the prince or the servant. Either thus, though the land by gift go back to the prince or his heirs from the servant, yet what lands this servant had of his own inheritance shall descend to the heirs of that servant, and be theirs: or else thus, whatever lands of the prince are given to servants, by gift, shall at the year of jubilee revert to the sons of the prince, who shall repossess them, forasmuch as they are lands of inheritance, and of right belong to the heir.

For them; and for theirs after them.

PETT. " “But if he give to one of his servants a gift from his inheritance it shall be his to the year of liberty. Then it shall return to the prince. But as for his inheritance, that shall be for his sons. ”

The prince could give a gift from his portion to a faithful servant, but it would be his only to the year of liberty. In that year the inheritance would revert back from the servant to the sons.

‘The year of liberty’. Compare Leviticus 25:10. This refers to the year of 66

jubile which occurred every fiftieth year, when all land outside cities reverted back to its original owner.

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 46:17

The second regulation. Should the prince, however, bestow a portion of his inheritance on one of his servants, what was thus bestowed should not belong to that servant in perpetuity, but should be regarded simply as a temporary loan which should be his till the year of liberty, הדרור שנת, i.e. the year of free flowing general—comp. Exodus 30:23, מר־דרור, pure myrrh (Authorized Version) or flowing myrrh (Revised Version)—hence the year of release; after which it should return to the prince. Smend thinks Ezekiel could hardly have had in view the year of jubilee (Le Ezekiel 25:10 ; Ezekiel 27:24), else he would not have employed the term "liberty," which Jeremiah (Jeremiah 34:8, Jeremiah 34:15, Jeremiah 34:17) uses to denote the freedom regained by Hebrew bondmen in the seventh year (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12). But

18 The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that not one of my people will be separated from their property.’”

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GILL, "Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession,.... Christ, the Prince, will never do this; he will never take any part of his people's inheritance from them, or thrust them out of the possession of any benefit or blessing of grace; they have chosen that good part which shall never be taken from them, Luk_10:42, this is said, not as a direction to the prince, as a law enjoined him, or a caution to him against oppression; but as expressing his clemency, grace, and goodness to his subjects, and their safety and security under him: but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession; whatever Christ gives his sons, whether present grace, or future glory, it is out of his own possession; for all that the Father has are his; all the blessings of goodness are with him; all the fulness of grace is in him; the eternal inheritance is reserved with him in heaven; and it is all his own he gives, and not another's: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession; or, "that therefore my people may not be scattered every" "men from his possession" (o); because what is given them, and they are in possession of, was Christ's own, and not another's; and which he had a right to dispose of, and therefore they need not fear being dispossessed by another claimant.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 18. To thrust them out of their possession.] Ill accidents attend such princes, as affecting to be absolute in power, will be too resolute in will, or dissolute in life; oppressing their subjects to enrich their servants and parasites.

POOLE, " Shall not take; seize and escheat as forfeited, (like as Ahab dealt with Naboth, or David with Mephibosheth,) to give to others, or keep for himself.

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By oppression; whether fraudulent or violent oppression, whether under colour of justice or against all rules of law.

To thrust them out, that he may put in his own creatures or children.

He shall give his sons, provide for his own, ont of that is his own.

That my people be not scattered; that they may keep together in their own land.

PETT, " “Moreover the prince shall not take of the people ’s inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, so that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.”

If the prince wanted his sons to have possessions, it must be out of his own portion. He was forbidden to give them land belonging to another. There must be no dispossessing of people in the land. All Israelites had a right to security of tenure.

Thus the rights of the princely line were both protected and restricted. They could not be permanently squandered, nor could they be permanently extended. Their position was safeguarded, and so were the positions of

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others.

Like all of Ezekiel’s visions this had both short and long application. In the short term it was a pleasant dream which had little fulfilment, in the long term it described the equity and righteousness of the coming everlasting kingdom.

PULPIT, “The third regulation. The prince in all cases should endow his sons (or others) out of his own, and not out of his subjects' possessions, of which they have been violently robbed. A good rule for other princes besides this, and for owners of property in general

19 Then the man brought me through the entrance at the side of the gate to the sacred rooms facing north, which belonged to the priests, and showed me a place at the western end.

BARNES, "Eze_46:19At the side of the gate - The entrance to the inner court at the same side as the northern gate Eze_42:9.

CLARKE, "He brought me thorough the entry - The prophet had entered by the north gate of the court of the priests, where he had seen, a little before, the glory of the

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Lord, and where he had received all those directions from Eze_44:4, Eze_44:5, to this chapter. From that gate, (see plan Q.) he entered the vestibule by a gate which was by the side of the apartments of the priests, which were along this aisle, (see S.) to the right of the vestibule towards the west. At the extremity of a row of chambers, he remarked, at the west, the place where they boiled the flesh of the sin-offerings, (see T.) They did not boil there the flesh of all sorts of victims, there were other kitchens appointed for that, (see PP): but that only which could not be eaten but in the outer court, and by the priests which were sanctified; such were the parts of the offerings for sins of commission and ignorance, and the offerings of flour with which they were accompanied.

GILL, "After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate,.... The north gate of the inner court, where the prophet was last, Eze_44:4, through an entry, by the side of that, he was brought by the man his guide: into the holy chambers of the priests; see Eze_42:13, and, behold, there was a place in the two sides westward; or, "on their sides westward" (p); on the west side of the chambers; the Targum is at the west end of them: the use of this place follows,

HENRY 19-24, “We have here a further discovery of buildings about the temple, which we did not observe before, and those were places to boil the flesh of the offerings in, Eze_46:20. He that kept such a plentiful table at his altar needed large kitchens; and a wise builder will provide conveniences of that kind. Observe, 1. Where those boiling-places were situated. There were some at the entry into the inner court (Eze_46:19) and others under the rows, in the four corners of the outer court, Eze_46:21-23. These were the places where, it is likely, there was most room to spare for this purpose; and this purpose was found for the spare room, that none might be lost. It is a pity that holy ground should be waste ground. 2. What use they were put to. In those places they were to boil the trespass-offering and the sin-offering, those parts of them which were allotted to the priests and which were more sacred than the flesh of the peace-offerings, of which the offerer also had a share. There also they were to bake the meat-offering, their share of it, which they had from the altar for their own tables, Eze_46:20. Care was taken that they should not bear them out into the outer court, to sanctify the people. Let them not pretend to sanctify the people with this holy flesh, and so impose upon them; or let not the people imagine that by touching those sacred things they were sanctified, and made any the better or more acceptable to God. It should seem (from Hag_2:12) that there were those who had such a conceit; and therefore the priests must not carry any of the holy flesh away

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with them, lest they should encourage that conceit. Ministers must take heed of doing any thing to bolster up ignorant people in their superstitious vanities.

JAMISON 19-24, "Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests’ food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Lev_6:25; Lev_7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set at the corners of the outer court, for cooking the flesh of the peace offerings, of which the people partook along with the priests. All this implies that no longer are the common and unclean to be confounded with the sacred and divine, but that in even the least things, as eating and drinking, the glory of God is to be the aim (1Co_10:31).

K&D 19-24, "The Sacrificial Kitchens for the Priests and for the PeopleEze_46:19. And he brought me up the entrance by the shoulder of the gate to the holy cells for the priests, which looked to the north; and behold there was a place on the outermost side toward the west. Eze_46:20. And he said to me, This is the place where the priests boil the trespass-offering and the sin-offering, where they bake the meat-offering that they may not need to carry it out into the outer court, to sanctify the people. Eze_46:21. And he led me out into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was again a court. Eze_46:22. In the four corners of the court were closed courts of forty cubits in length and thirty cubits in breadth; all four corner spaces had one measure. Eze_46:23.And a row of stands was round about therein in all four, and boiling hearths were under the rows made round about. Eze_46:24. And he said to me, These are the kitchen-house, where the servants of the house boil the slain-offering of the people. - In the list and description of the subordinate buildings of the temple, the sacrificial kitchens are passed over; and they are therefore referred to here again in a supplementary manner. Ewald has shifted Eze_46:19-24, and placed them after Eze_42:14, which would certainly have been the most suitable place for mentioning the sacrificial kitchens for the priests. But it is evident that they stood here originally, and not there; not only from the fact that in Eze_46:19 the passage to the holy cells (Eze_42:1.) is circumstantially described, which would have been unnecessary if the description of the kitchens had originally followed immediately after Eze_42:14, as Ezekiel was then standing by the cells; but also, and still more clearly, from the words that serve as an introduction to what follows, “he led me back to the door of the house” (Eze_47:1), which are unintelligible unless he had changed his standing-place between Eze_46:18 and Eze_47:1, as is related in Eze_46:19 and Eze_46:21, since Ezekiel had received the sacrificial thorah (Ezekiel 44:5-46:18) in front of the house (Eze_44:4). If Eze_46:19-24 had originally stood elsewhere, so that Eze_47:1 was immediately connected with Eze_46:18, the transition-formula in Eze_47:1 would necessarily have read very differently. - But with this section the right of the preceding one, Eze_46:16-18, which Ewald has arbitrarily interpolated in Ezekiel 45 between Eze_45:8 and Eze_45:9, to hold its present place in the chapter before us as an appendix, is fully vindicated. - The holy cells (Eze_46:19) are those of the northern cell-building (Eze_

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42:1-10) described in Eze_42:1-14 (see Plate I L). א במב is the approach or way mentioned in Eze_42:9, which led from the northern inner gate to these cells (see Plate I l); not the place to which Ezekiel was brought (Kliefoth), but the passage along which he was led. The spot to which he was conducted follows in אל (the article before the construct state, as in Eze_43:21, etc.). אל הכהנים is appended to this in the form of an apposition; and here ת לשכ is to be repeated in thought: to those for the priests. 'ת הפנצ belongs to ת There, i.e., by the cells, was a space set apart at the outermost .הלשכ(hindermost) sides toward the west (Plate I M), for the boiling of the flesh of the trespass-offering and sin-offering, and the baking of the minchah, - that is to say, of those portions of the sacrifices which the priests were to eat in their official capacity (see the comm. on Eze_42:13). For the motive assigned in Eze_46:20 for the provision of special kitchens for this object, see the exposition of Eze_44:19.

In addition to these, kitchens were required for the preparation of the sacrificial meals, which were connected with the offering of the shelamim, and were held by those who presented them. These sacrificial kitchens for the people are treated of in Eze_46:20-24. They were situated in the four corners of the outer court (Plate I N). To show them to the prophet, the angel leads him into the outer court. The holy cells (Eze_46:19) and the sacrificial kitchens for the priests (Eze_46:20) were also situated by the outside wall of the inner court; and for this reason Ezekiel had already been led out of the inner court, where he had received the sacrificial thorah, through the northern gate of the court by the way which led to the holy cells, that he might be shown the sacrificial kitchens. When, therefore, it is stated in Eze_46:21 that “he led me out into the outer court,” ציאני י can only be explained on the supposition that the space from the surrounding wall of the inner court to the way which led from the gate porch of that court to the holy cells, and to the passage which continued this way in front of the cells (Plate I l and m), was regarded as an appurtenance of the inner court. In every one of the four corners of the outer court there was a (small) courtyard in the court. The repetition of 'חצר במקצע הח has a distributive force. The small courtyards in the four corners of the court were ת i.e., not “uncovered,” as this would be unmeaning, since all courts ,קטרor courtyards were uncovered; nor “contracted” (Böttcher), for קטר has no such meaning; nor “fumum exhalantia,” as the Talmudists suppose; nor “bridged over” (Hitzig), which there is also nothing in the language to sustain; but in all probability atria clausa, i.e., muris cincta et janius clausa (Ges. Thes.), from קטר; in Aram. ligavit; in Ethiop. clausit, obseravit januam. The word ת מהקצע is marked with puncta extraordinaria by the Masoretes as a suspicious word, and is also omitted in the Septuagint and Vulgate. Böttcher and Hitzig have therefore expunged it as a gloss. But even Hitzig admits that this does not explain how it found its way into the text. The word is a Hophal participle of קצע, in the sense of cornered off, cut off into corners, and is in apposition to the suffix to לארבעתם, - literally, one measure wax to all four, the spaces or courtyards cut off in the corners. For this appositional use of the participle, compare 1Ki_14:6. There is also a difference of opinion as to the meaning of the word טור, which only occurs here and in Exo_28:17. and Eze_39:10, where it signifies “row,” and not “enclosure” (Kliefoth). ת ,which follows, is evidently merely the feminine plural ,טירfrom טור, as טירה is also derived from טור, in the sense of “to encircle” (see the comm.

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on Psa_69:26). Consequently טור does not mean a covering or boundary wall, but a row or shelf of brickwork which had several separate shelves, under which the cooking hearths were placed. ת not kitchens, but cooking hearths; strictly speaking a ,מבשלpartic. Piel, things which cause to boil. - בית - המבשלים .liob ot e, kitchen house. משרתי _the temple servants, as distinguished from the servants of Jehovah (Eze ,הבית44:15-16), are the Levites (Eze_44:11-12). עשוי is construed as in Eze_40:17 and Eze_41:18-19.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 19. Afterward he brought me.] Here he returneth again to things sacred - viz., to show where the priests should boil and bake.

Into the holy chambers of the priests.] These holy cells or chambers are particular Christian churches, committed to the care of Christ ’s faithful ministers (a) [Acts 20:28 1 Peter 5:2]

POOLE, " We left the prophet, Ezekiel 44:4, at the north gate, and on the inside of it; now we find him going through a private way by the side of that gate to the holy chambers appointed for the priests.

The holy chambers: see Ezekiel 40:45,46 42:13,14.

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On the two sides westward; rather, on their sides westward, that is, on the west side of these chambers which looked toward the north. The Seventy read it thus, Behold, there was a place enclosed.

ELLICOTT, "(19) At the side of the gate.—The concluding verses of the chapter are occupied with the arrangements for cooking the sacrificial food of the priests and the people. The latter could partake only of the peace offerings, but the priests, in addition to their portion of these, were required to consume the flesh of the sin and trespass offerings, and the greater part of the “meat offerings.” The prophet is first shown the rooms for the priests’ cooking. He was taken along the walk (Plan II., K) mentioned in Ezekiel 42:4, which led from the steps of the gate of the inner court to the priests’ chambers. There he saw “a place on the two sides westward,” i.e., two places, one at the west of each building of priests’ chambers. Nothing is said of their size, and they may be assumed to have had the same dimensions (40 cubits by 30—Ezekiel 46:22) as those of the people’s kitchens. They are marked F on Plan II.

PETT, "Verse 19-20

‘Then he brought me through the entry which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which looked towards the north, and behold there was a place at their extreme western end. And he said to me,“This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meal offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer court to communicate holiness to the people. ”

‘He brought me--’ in a parallel use to here regularly elsewhere refers to the heavenly visitant. In Ezekiel 40:17 to Ezekiel 43:1 it is the constant refrain. Ezekiel had been handed over by God to the heavenly visitant. It was not

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God’s part to act as a tour host.

This time Ezekiel is brought to the boiling houses for the sin, guilt and meal sacrifices, which were at the western end of the holy chambers for the priests (Ezekiel 42:13). All were ‘most holy’ and must be dealt with in the holy section exclusive to the priests, for parts of all personal sin and guilt offerings could be eaten by the priests, but only in a holy place. They must not in any way come in contact with the common people lest the people be harmfully ‘made holy’, putting them in a dreadful position, neither one thing nor the other. This demonstrated that the sacrifices required of the prince were consistent with the significance of the heavenly temple.

Verses 19-24

The Man With The Measuring Line Reveals More of the Heavenly Temple (Ezekiel 46:19-24).

The account now suddenly picks up abruptly with the heavenly visitant continuing to reveal the heavenly temple as though nothing had come between. That this is so is clear from comparison with Ezekiel 47:3, and in fact this section could easily be picked up and fitted between Ezekiel 42:14 and Ezekiel 42:15, and it would not be out of place. (It has even been suggested that that should happen, but then we would lose the vital connection of chapter 47 with the heavenly tour).

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But apart from the suddenness of the introduction as though we were continuing the tour of the temple without interruption, there is no reason for removing it. And that is not sufficient reason. To a man like Ezekiel, suddenly moving back into his earlier vision as though he had not left it was typical of his visionary state. He could suddenly pick up where he had left off, as though nothing had come between, because that was how his vision went. In a moment he was there. It needed no introduction. It was as though nothing had intervened.

On the other hand there is good reason for the section being here. It illustrates what has just been said about sacrifices and offerings and applies it to the heavenly temple, demonstrating that it is all consistent with it. These boiling houses would never be used, but they were a heavenly justification for their earthly equivalent. But even more importantly it brings us abruptly back into the tour of the heavenly temple so as to incorporate chapter 47 into the same heavenly vision, as though without interruption.

PULPIT, “After (or, and) he—i.e. the measuring man, who had hitherto acted as the prophet's conductor—brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate. This was the inner north gate, from which the prophet had been conducted to the front of the house in order to receive the sacrificial Torah (Ezekiel 44:4), and to which, when this was finished, he had been seemingly led back. From this gate, then, he was taken by his guide along the entry or passage (Ezekiel 42:9), which ran towards and extended in front of the holy chambers of (or, for) the priests, which looked toward the north, and which had already been described (Ezekiel 42:1-14). Arrived at the western corner of the chambers, he perceived a place on the two sides—or, on the hinder part (Revised Version)—westward. The translation in the Authorized Version was obviously suggested by the dual form ידכתים, which properly signifies "on both sides" but when applied to the tabernacle (Exodus 26:23 ) or temple (1 Kings 6:16), always describes the back part or rear. That a similar "place" existed on the south side is more than probable; though Smend thinks there was not a "place" on the south. The LXX. omits the words after

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"place," and supplies κεχωρισμένος, "separated." Keil finds in the description here given of the passage towards the holy chambers a proof that this section could not have steed originally after Ezekiel 42:14, as in that ease no such description would have been needed. Nor would the language in Ezekiel 47:1, "and he brought me back," have been required or appropriate had the prophet not in the mean while changed his place, which he does to visit the holy chambers.

20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests are to cook the guilt offering and the sin offering[e] and bake the grain offering, to avoid bringing them into the outer court and consecrating the people.”

BARNES, "Eze_46:20See M Plan II.Boil - It was unique to the Paschal lamb, that it was to be eaten roasted. The flesh of the other sacrifices was to be “sodden” or boiled (see Lev_6:28; 1Sa_2:13; 2Ch_24:14margin). The “meat-offering” (flour and honey) was baked Lev_2:4.

CLARKE, "The trespass-offering - Part of this, and of the sin-offering, and the flour-offering was the portion of the priests. See Num_18:9, Num_18:10.

GILL, "Then said he unto me,.... Declaring what this place was, and what it was for: this is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering, and the sin offering; this was the priests' kitchen, in which they prepared the sacrifices that were to be eaten; and which were typical of Christ, who was made sin, and became a

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sacrifice for the sins of his people, whether presumptuous ones, or sins of ignorance; the doctrine of whose sacrifice and satisfaction is a principal part of the Gospel ministry; and which should be delivered, not in a raw, crude, and indigested manner; but the Scriptures should be diligently searched into, to get a clear and distinct understanding of it; and these should be constantly meditated on, and thoroughly studied: ministers should examine their doctrine by the word of God before they deliver it; and take heed unto it that it is right, according to the oracles of God, and the proportion of faith; and take care to deliver it in the best manner, not in a cold lukewarm way, but with fervency of spirit; all which may be meant by the boiling of these sacrifices; it seems to design the laborious and diligent employ of Gospel ministers in their studies, preparatory to their public work in the house of God; and suggests that they should not come thither unprepared, and deliver out unpremeditated matter; or set before the Lord's people undigested food; or offer that in the sanctuary of the Lord which cost them no pains or trouble: this place, and so the boiling places in Eze_46:24, are to be understood of the closets, studies, and places of retirement, where the ministers of the word employ their time and thoughts in preparing for their public ministry; for these were without the sanctuary, on the side of the priests' chambers, and in the corners of the outward court: where they shall bake the meat offering; or "bread offering" (q); made of fine flour and oil; typical of Christ the bread of God, the food of believers, who is set forth as such to them in the ministry of the Gospel: the baking of this signifies the same as the boiling of the other before; see Lev_2:1, that they bear them not out in the utter court, to sanctify the people; that they might not be carried through the outer court, where the common people were; lest they should think it was lawful for them to eat of them as Kimchi observes, when they belonged to the priests only; or lest they should touch them, and become holy thereby, and so for the future be employed in sacred service, and obliged to quit the duties of their calling, which would, introduce confusion in the commonwealth; see Hag_2:12, the Targum is, "lest they be mixed with the people.'' The design seems to be to show, that the doctrine of peace, pardon, atonement, and satisfaction for sin, is only to be preached as belonging to such that truly repent of sin, and believe in Christ; and particularly that the ordinance of the Lord's supper, in which the sacrifice of Christ is held forth and commemorated, is to be administered, not to men in common, but to holy and regenerate persons; to do otherwise would be to cast pearls before swine, and give that which is holy to dogs.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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 offering; that they bear [them] not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.

Ver. 20. Where they shall bake the meat offering,] i.e., The ministers shall indite or 79

boil good matters in their hearts for the use of the people, and then their tongues shall be as the pen of a ready writer. [Psalms 45:1] They shall not feed their hearers with crude and indigested stuff, but such as is well boiled and baked with the fire of the Holy Spirit, kindled on the hearth of their own hearts; that from the heart they may speak to the heart.

To sanctify the people.] As in promiscuous communions, where all are pell-mell admitted.

POOLE, " Where the priests shall boil the trespass-offering; those that were brought sacrifices for sin were in part for the sacrificing priest, and he was to eat thereof; but it was to be dressed in the verge of holy ground, and so kitchens, boilers, ovens, and other utensils were prepared to do it, and these kitchens are here described,

That they bear them not; the priests, or the attending Levites.

Into the utter court, where the people were

ELLICOTT, " (20) Shall boil . . . shall bake.—The flesh of all sacrifices except the Passover was by the law required to be boiled, and the unbloody “meat offering,” when not already cooked, was to be baked.

Bear them not out into the utter court.—In one sense the priestly chambers and also these cooking rooms were themselves in the outer court; but as already remarked, these, with the walk that led to them, although within the enclosure of the outer, were considered as appurtenances of, and therefore belonging to, the inner court. The reason given for not bearing the flesh of the sin and trespass offering into the outer court is, lest they should thereby “sanctify the people,” and the same reason is given in Ezekiel 44:19 for not allowing the priests’ garments to come into the outer court. Under the law all those offerings which it was the duty of the priests to consume are called “most holy,” and whoever touched them or the sacred vessels of

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the sanctuary became “holy” in the sense of set apart to God (Leviticus 6:18; also Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29). The object of the command is therefore to prevent that ceremonial sanctification of the people which would interfere with their ordinary life.

PULPIT, “The "place" was designed as a kitchen where the priests should boil the trespass and the sin offerings and bake the meat (or, meal) offering, i.e. cook the portions of the sacrifices they should eat in their official capacity (see Ezekiel 42:13). The Law of Moses (Le 8:31) required the flesh to be boiled (and probably also the flour to be baked) at the tabernacle door. The last clause, that they, i.e. the priests, bear them, i.e. the offerings, not out into the utter (or, outer) court, to sanctify the people, is by most interpreters understood in the sense of Ezekiel 44:19 (which see). To this, however, Kliefoth objects that the conception of deriving ceremonial sanctity from contact with such offerings is completely strange to the Old Testament (see Haggai 2:12), and accordingly he connects the words. "to sanctify the people," with the "baking" and "boiling" of the preceding clause.

21 He then brought me to the outer court and led me around to its four corners, and I saw in each corner another court.

GILL, "Then he brought me forth into the utter court,.... From the holy chambers of the priests, and from viewing the place where they boiled the sacrifices, and baked the meat offering: and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; in each of the four corners of the outward court there was another court; signifying that there will be courts or churches in the several parts of the world in the latter day.

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TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:21 Then he brought me forth into the utter 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.

Ver. 21. In every corner of the court there was a court.] And buildings in every of them for the same purpose round about. [Ezekiel 46:22] These served, saith Jerome, to set forth the four parts of the world, out of all which the Church is gathered by ministers, &c. It served also, saith another, to show that in God’s house, which is his Church, there shall always be provision both for his ministers and people. Those that have but from hand to mouth have their bread hot, as it were, from God’s hand, which is best of all.

POOLE, " The utter court; either the court of the people, or more likely the court of the priests or Levites, called here utter court, because it was more outward than the court of the temple.

To pass by the four corners, to go about the whole square of the court.

In every corner, where the side walls did meet in right angles.

A court; a smaller court made up on the outer sides with the walls of the greater square, and on the inside made with two walls, the one forty cubits long, the other thirty cubits broad.

ELLICOTT, " (21) The utter court.—The prophet had just been in those chambers which, although they stood within the area of the outer court, were considered as belonging to the inner. He is now brought into the outer court, properly so called.

In every corner of the court there was a court.—In each of the angles of the outer court a place was set apart for the boiling of the flesh of the peace offerings. These were of considerable size—40 cubits by 30 (Ezekiel 46:22), and appear to have been

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enclosed by a wall but not covered above. The word translated joined is of very uncertain meaning, but its most probable sense is enclosed. These courts are marked E on Plan II.

PETT, "Verses 21-24

‘Then he brought me out into the outer court and made me pass by the four corners of the court, and behold in every corner of the court here was a (smaller) court. In the four corners of the court there were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty broad. These four in the four corners were of one measurement. And in them was a row of masonry around them, round about the four, and it was made with hearths at the bottom of the rows which were round about. Then he said to me, “these are the kitchens where the ministers of the house will boil the people’s sacrifices.” ’

Finally Ezekiel was led to four kitchens, one in each corner of the outer court and was told that these were for the boiling of the part of the sacrifices of which the people could eat. Thus the temple was to be a place of sacral feasting as well as of worship. And this idea was sanctioned by these being in the heavenly temple

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 46:21, Ezekiel 46:22

The prophet next observed, as his guide led him round the outer area, that in every corner of the court there was a court—literally, a court in a corner of the court, a court in a corner of the court—and hat these were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad. The word "joined" קטרות ) has been variously translated: by Gesenins (see 'Hebrews Lex.,' sub voce), as "vaulted" or "roofed," with which Hitzig seems to agree; by the LXX; whom Bottcher and Ewald follow, μικρά, equal to contracts; by Kliefoth, "uncovered;" by Havernick, "firm," "strongly built;" by Smend," separated;" by Hengstenberg and Schroder, after the Talmudists (fumum exhalantia), "smoking" or "made with chimneys"; but is probably best rendered by the Revised Version, Keil, Currey, after Gesenius, "enclosed," meaning muris cineta et januis elausa. According to the last clause of Ezekiel 46:22, these four corners were of one measure; or, one measure was to the four cut-away places, i.e. corners,

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מהקצעות being the hoph. participle of קצע, "to cut off." This last word is omitted in the LXX. and the Vulgate, Hitzig, and Smend, the puncta extraordinaria showing that the Massorites regarded it as suspicious.

22 In the four corners of the outer court were enclosed[f] courts, forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide;[g] each of the courts in the four corners was the same size.

BARNES, "Eze_46:22courts joined - enclosed courts, and entered by doors in the walls, which shut them out from the great court. The marginal rendering, “made with chimnies,” is based upon another interpretation of the word.These four corners - Or, “these four corner-courts were of one measure.”

GILL, "In the four corners of the court there were courts joined,.... To the side walls of the outward court, which met in right angles: or, "were made with chimneys" (r), as some render it; that the smoke of the fire of the kitchens in them, and the steam of the boiled flesh, might ascend through them. So the Jewish writers, as Jarchi and Kimchi, from the Misnah (s), generally interpret the word, that these courts were made so as to let out the smoke, and were not roofed or floored over (t); and in which treatise and also by Maimonides (u); the uses of them in the second temple are observed: for in answer to the question, what do they serve for? it is said, at the southeast was the chamber of the Nazarites, where they boiled their peace offerings, and shaved their hair, and put them under the pot; at the northeast was the wood chamber, where the priests that had blemishes wormed the wood; and any wood, in which a worm was found, was rejected from the altar: at the northwest was the chamber of the lepers: of that which was at the southwest, saith R. Eliezer Ben Jacob, I have forgot (some render it found) of what use it is; but Abba Saul says, there they put the wine and oil, wherefore it was called the oil chamber. These four chambers, according to the same treatise, were in the four corners of the court of the women, and consisted of forty cubits long, but were not roofed; and so, they say, they will be in future time, according to this passage of Scripture. These places, as Dr. Lightfoot (w) observes, are called by the prophet "courts", and in everyone of them places to boil the sacrifices in; and yet they are allotted to other

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uses in the Misnah, and which seem to require that they should be roofed; all which may consist together, he says: for, grant everyone of these spaces to be built within, with chambers round about, there might be very fair chambers, and yet a good handsome open court in the middle; at either end chambers of ten cubits broad, and yet an open space of twenty cubits between; and on either side chambers of seven or eight cubits broad, and yet an open space of fourteen or sixteen cubits between: thus therefore, adds he, it seems to be, that there were fair chambers round about, which were roofed over as other buildings; and in the middle was an open court, round about which were boiling ranges, whose chimneys went up in the inner walls of the chambers, or the walls to the open place: thus the inner court served for boiling places, and the rooms round about for other uses; see the two following verses. The measure of the courts were, of forty cubits long, and thirty broad; an oblong quadrangle: these four corners were of one measure; the courts that were in these four corners were, of the same measure, as to length and breadth; denoting the equality of Gospel churches, being of the same faith, order and discipline, power and authority.

COKE, "Ezekiel 46:22. In the four corners, &c.— These little courts were in the shape of an oblong square, joined with inner walls to the outside walls of the court. The Hebrew word, קטרות keturoth, translated joined, may be rendered made with chimneys; which sense agrees with the uses for which these courts were designed. See Calmet.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, The rules here prescribed for the place and manner of God's worship, like the preceding solemnities, differ far from those prescribed by the law of Moses.

1. The east gate, which at other times was always shut, chap. Ezekiel 44:2 was to be opened for the prince on the sabbaths, the new moons, and when the prince offered a voluntary sacrifice; though, it seems, he must not go through it into the inner court, but stand in the porch, by the post of the door, whence he might see the priests offering the sacrifice that he brought. By the north and south gates the people were to enter the courts of the house, observing always to return by the gate opposite that by which they came in: and on the sabbaths and new moons they were to attend the prince at the east gate, who should be in the midst of them, their leader and example in the holy service. Note; (1.) It is the greatest glory of a prince to be a pattern of true piety to his people. (2.) They who are the highest on earth, will, when they know themselves, think themselves honoured in the meanest place in the

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church of God. (3.) With Christ our king at our head, we may boldly draw near to the throne of God, and be assured of gracious acceptance in his sight. (4.) When we set our hearts toward the heavenly temple, we must not look back, but, still forgetting the things which are behind, must press forward to those that are before.

2. The sacrifices which the prince must provide are, a daily burnt-offering of a lamb; on the sabbath six lambs and a ram; on the new moons a young bullock was moreover added: all of them without blemish, with their several meat and drink offerings, some of which were much larger than was ordered by the law of Moses, while those for the lambs are left to his ability. Our offerings at God's altar must be proportioned to the prosperity with which he has blessed us. Where he has given much, he expects the more.

2nd, If a prince wanted to leave an inheritance to any of his children, he is permitted to settle a part of his possessions upon him, and it would continue to his descendants for ever; but if he made a gift of land to any of his servants, it must revert to his family again at the year of Jubilee. These gifts must be out of his own patrimony, and not the fruits of oppression, or the plunder of his people. A king must by his mild and equitable rule gain the love of his subjects; this will prove his greatest riches; for then they will be devoted under God to his service.

3rdly, The altar being so liberally supplied as above with sacrifices, part of which belonged to the priests, and were to be eaten in the holy place, there were boilers and ovens near their chambers, where they prepared these holy things; none of which might be carried out into the utter court to sanctify the people, who might fancy, that partaking of these holy things would recommend them to God's favour, or that but touching them communicated virtue. Such superstitious conceits the ministers of the sanctuary must never countenance.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

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Ver. 22. Courts joined.] Or made with chimneys. Caminata, vaporaria. See on Ezekiel 46:21.

23 Around the inside of each of the four courts was a ledge of stone, with places for fire built all around under the ledge.

CLARKE, "It was made with boiling places - These were uncovered apartments, where they kept fires for dressing those parts of the peace-offerings, which were made in the temple by individuals through a principle of devotion. On these their families and their friends feasted; and portions were sent to the poor, the widows, and the orphans. And thus the spirit of devotion was the means of preserving the spirit of mercy, charity, and benevolence in the land. How true is that word, “Godliness is profitable for all things.”

GILL, "And there was a row of building round about in them,.... Within the courts, not on the outside of them: these were either chambers to eat the sacrifices in when boiled; or they were sheds which covered the cooks, and the meat they were boiling, from the rain, &c.: the Targum renders it, "and walls were made to them round about;'' to the court: and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret this row of building of a stone wall: round about them four; the four courts at the four corners: and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about; under these rows of building, chambers or sheds; or under these stone walls were furnaces, and

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coppers, and caldrons, set on them, for the boiling of the sacrifices.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 46:23 And [there was] a row [of building] round about in them, round about them four, and [it was] made with boiling places under the rows round about.

Ver. 23. With boiling places.] Such as the ancients called popinas.

“ Nolo ego Florus esse,

Latitare per popinas. ”{a}

“I do not wish to be Florus,

to hide in the kitchens.”

POOLE, " A row of building; a range of building on the inside of the walls of the lesser courts, or four ranges answerable to the four sides.

Round about in them; added, lest any should think the buildings were on the outside of the walls of these courts.

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Four; four courts in the four corners.

Boiling places; places of stone raised on purpose, and framed for the more convenient boiling of that part of the sacrifice which was allowed to the priest, or to the people, to eat before the Lord, and feast with.

Under the rows: these rows of building were so framed, that the caldrons and pots were placed under them; it is likely they might be like cloisters, over which was a roof to cover both the priest or Levite cooks, and the meats they dress, and they were either open as a cloister, or had windows, out of which the smoke of the fire or steam of the meat passed.

PULPIT, “And there was a row of building round about in them; but whether טור meant a "wall," "fence," or "enclosure," as Gesenius, Havernick, and Ewald translate, or "row," "series," "a shelf of brickwork which had several separate shelves under which the cooking-hearths were placed," as Keil explains, the obvious intention was to describe the range of boiling places which were built along the inside walls of these corner courts, as the next verse states.

24 He said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple are to cook the sacrifices of the people.”

GILL, "Then said he unto me, these are the places of them that boil,.... The 89

kitchens, in which those whose business it was to boil the sacrifices did it; and who they were are next declared: where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people; these seem to be the Levites, as distinct from the priests before mentioned; though in this prophecy they are both used of the same persons; see Eze_44:15, the sacrifice of the people were the peace offerings, which the people might eat of, but were first to be boiled; typical of peace and reconciliation made by Christ, held forth in the ministry of the word, called from thence the word of reconciliation: of the boiling of sacrifices; see Gill on Eze_44:15. The Targum is, "the holy sacrifices of the people;'' see Rom_12:1.

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 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.

Ver. 24. These are the places of them that boil.] Of God’s cooks, who dress spiritual food for the use of his people. See Ezekiel 46:20.

POOLE, " Them that boil; appointed to do the cook’s work.

The ministers; either Levites, or else degraded priests, of which see Ezekiel 44:9-14.

The house; the temple of God.

Shall boil the sacrifices which they bring, particularly their peace-offerings, of which the people were to have a portion, and to eat it before the Lord, which is the reason some think these courts and kitchens were in the corners of the courts of the people. But I think, as the people bringing a sacrifice were admitted into the court that was the court of the priests, and to the very gates of the court of the temple, where they gave the sacrifice to the priest, and saw him prepare and offer it for them, so they might be admitted to feast on so solemn occasion in the courts or chambers, whither ordinarily they might not come; I cannot therefore determine

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these kitchen courts to have been in the court of the people, it is more likely they were in the priests’ courts.

PULPIT, “These are the places (literally, houses) of them that boil—hence kitchens—where the ministers of the house (or, romple)—e.g. the Levites (see Ezekiel 44:11, Ezekiel 44:12)—shall boil the sacrifice of the people; i.e. the portions of the people's offerings which fall to be consumed by the priests.

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