Ezekiel
Chapter 46
Thus says the Lord: The east gate of the inner court must remain shut during the six working days. On the Sabbath and the day of the new moon, it is to be opened;
and the prince is to enter through the outer gate and stand by the gate’s doorposts. The priest must then offer his burnt offering and his communion sacrifice. He must bow on the threshold of the gate and then go out; the gate should not be closed again until evening.
The people of the land are to bow in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of the gate on Sabbaths and during the new moon.
On the Sabbath day, the prince shall offer six unblemished lambs and one unblemished ram for the burnt offering.
The grain offering is one ephah for the ram, along with such oblation as he chooses for the lambs, and a hin of oil for each ephah.
On the day of the new moon, he shall offer a young bull without blemish, six unblemished lambs, and one unblemished ram;
he must make a grain offering of one ephah for the bull, one ephah for the ram, and whatever he chooses for the lambs, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.
When the prince enters, he is to come in through the gate’s entrance and leave in the same way.
When the people of the land come before the Lord at the ceremonial festivals to bow down, those who come in through the north gate are to go out through the south gate; and those who come in through the south gate are to go out through the north gate. No one is to turn back to leave through the same gate they entered; instead, they must go out on the opposite side.
When they come in, the prince shall be with them; he shall also leave with them.
On feast days and solemn festivals, the oblation must be one ephah for each bull, one ephah for each ram, and whatever he chooses for the lambs, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.
When the prince offers the Lord a voluntary communion sacrifice, the east gate is to be opened for him, and he is to present his holocaust and his communion sacrifice as he does on the Sabbath day; after he has gone out, the gate is to be closed behind him.
Every day, he must offer a spotless one-year-old lamb as a burnt offering to the Lord; he must do this every morning.
Also, each morning, he is to offer one-sixth of an ephah of grain and one-third of a hin of oil for mixing with the flour. This is an everlasting law.
The lamb, the grain offering, and the oil are to be presented morning after morning, forever.
The Lord states this: If the prince gives his sons part of his inheritance, the gift becomes theirs and they own it as their heritage.
However, if he gives part of his inheritance to one of his servants, it will only belong to that man until the year of liberation, at which point it must return to the prince. Only his sons are allowed to keep his inheritance.
The prince is not permitted to take any part of the people’s inheritance to steal their rightful possessions; he must supply his sons’ inheritance from his own property so that no member of my people will be robbed of what is rightfully theirs.
He led me through the entrance on the side of the north gate that leads to the rooms of the Holy Place set apart for the priests. There, in front of us, to the west, was an open space at the end.
He said to me: “This is where the priests are to boil the slaughtered animals for the sin offering and the reparation offering, and where they are to bake the bread offering. They shall not carry them into the outer court so they do not make the people holy.”
He then took me into the outer court and showed me each of its four corners.
In each corner was a compound, four small enclosures, each forty cubits by thirty, all the same size.
Each of these was enclosed by a wall, with hearths all around the bottom.
He said:“These are the kitchens where the temple servants are to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”
Commentaries
New Temple and New Land.
The new temple is designed to avoid past mistakes: it will be reinforced. It will have new boundaries to separate the holiness of the people and their land (42:20). Everything will be reorganized from the sanctuary (43:12). God is returning to dwell among His people. This time, it will be forever (43:7).
Distribution of the Land.
The rules for the ideal land distribution are set. The first consideration is the sacred areas: the temple area (45:1-4a), for the priests (45:4b), the Levites (45:5f), and finally, for the prince (45:7), who will not be like the previous “owner” of the land; he will hold a plot of land and distribute the rest to his people by tribes (45:8).
The religious and social duties of the prince are linked to the establishment of the temple’s liturgical calendar (45:9-46:18). The prince must serve as an example of faith and righteousness for the people and be a chief supporter of justice and law. His role will no longer be that of a king, as Israel will have no other king but the Lord. Regarding the liturgical calendar, the feast of Passover (45:18-24), the feast of tabernacles or booths (45:25), the Sabbaths, and the new moon festivals (46:1-7) are established. Notice the special focus on the details of offerings and sacrifices for each feast.
The exclusive prescription for the prince (46:16-18) aims to prevent his property from disappearing, but even more importantly, it is to stop that property from increasing at the expense of other Israelites’ land. In the end, it is a fair socio-economic policy designed to prevent the concentration of land in the hands of a few.