B. God’s Glory Returns (40:1–48:35)
OVERVIEW
These nine chapters describe a temple, the filling of that temple with God’s glory, a sacrificial system for worship in that temple, priestly functions, and the tribal and priestly allotment of land. The question that has puzzled interpreters is, “What does it all mean?” Should these chapters be interpreted literally or figuratively? Does this section refer to a historical situation (past, present) or to the future? If to the future, does it concern the church, the millennium, or the eternal state? Is there not a retrogression to OT modes of worship; and if so, how does this fit with the NT teaching of the finished and complete work of Christ? Surely this portion of the book contains puzzling and difficult concepts that cannot be ignored; therefore, we should examine some basic interpretive issues in order to determine an accurate understanding of the text using a normal grammatical-historical hermeneutic. (See also Overview to 33:21–48:35.)
Is Ezekiel 40–48 historical or future? These chapters have been interpreted as Solomon’s temple, the temple of Zerubbabel (either real or proposed), Herod’s temple, or a future temple in the millennium or in the eternal state. Some who have difficulty understanding the passage when taken literally interpret the section figuratively as teaching about the church and its earthly blessings and glories. Others understand the passage to symbolize the reality of the heavenly temple where Christ ministers today or the individual believer as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The historical temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod do not share the design and dimensions of the temple described in Ezekiel 40–42. The worship procedure set forth in chs. 43–46, though Mosaic in nature, has not been followed in history in exactly the manner described in these chapters. The river that flows forth from the temple in 47:1–12 has never flowed from any of the three historical temples mentioned above. The only comparisons to this river are seen in Genesis 2:8–14 and Revelation 22:1–2 (cf. Isa 35:6–7; Joel 3:18; Zec 14:8). The geographical dimensions and tribal allotments of the land have not been followed up to the present day. Geographical changes will be necessary prior to the fulfillment of chs. 45, 47–48; therefore, one should not look to past or present fulfillments of these chapters but to the future.
Nor does the figurative interpretive approach appear to resolve the interpretation of Ezekiel 40–48. In fact, it tends to create new interpretive issues. When an interpreter takes the normal grammatical-historical hermeneutic to mean that this genre requires the passage to be understood almost entirely symbolically and figuratively (since the passage does not seem to make sense to them when taken “at face value”), the interpretations tend to become increasingly subjective.
As noted above in two discussions on hermeneutics, the apocalyptic genre incorporates symbols and figures that are normally interpreted by a divine interpreter. Otherwise the text should be understood normally as the actual events of the vision that were observed. If not understood in this way, the interpretation of different elements of this passage become subject to the interpreter’s ideas. There are no governing interpretive principles except the interpreter’s mind, though appeal is often made to the “NT’s understanding of the OT.” Even apocalyptic visions, such as those found in these chapters, require a normal grammatical-historical hermeneutic. To interpret these chapters in any other manner contradicts the divine interpretive guide in this vision. This guide warns Ezekiel that he is to write down all the minute details concerning the plan for the temple and its regulations so that these details might be considered carefully and followed in every aspect (40:4; 43:10–11; 44:5; cf. Ex 25:9; 1Ch 28:19). Thus, a figurative symbolic approach does not adequately treat the issues of Ezekiel 40–48.
The development and flow of Ezekiel’s argument in the entire book determine the general time frame of these chapters. He has shown the presence of God’s glory in the historical Jerusalem temple and its departure from that temple because of Israel’s breaking of the Mosaic covenant. The fall of Jerusalem and the captivity in Babylon were the consequences (chs. 4–24). After declaring how the nations will also be judged (25:1–33:20), Ezekiel encourages the Jewish exiles through six night messages of hope (33:21–39:29). In these visions he informs them that the Messiah will restore them to their Promised Land in the future and become a true shepherd to them. They will be cleansed, and all their covenants will be fulfilled. Even then, after the land prospers and Israel dwells securely in it, some will try to take the Promised Land from Israel and profane the Lord’s name, but the Lord will not permit this (chs. 38–39). It seems logical, therefore, for Ezekiel to conclude the thematic and chronological development of his prophecy by describing the messianic kingdom and the return of God’s glory to govern the people (chs. 40–48). A sudden reversion to some historical period, immediately following the captivity or during the time of Herod’s temple, seems out of place, as does an idealistic or symbolic temple.
Ezekiel appears to be contrasting the past and contemporary desecration of the temple and its regulations with the future holiness and righteousness of the temple and its functions. Ezekiel also uses this format in chs. 33–39. The correct procedures in the future will bring shame and conviction on Ezekiel’s contemporaries (43:6–12; 44:5–16; 45:9–12). This also points to a future fulfillment of these chapters.
God’s glory is a most important feature of Ezekiel’s prophecy. The return of God’s glory to the new temple in 43:1–12 is the climax of the book. The context implies that this can only occur after Israel’s restoration to her land and cleansing. The stress is on holiness. Holiness had not characterized Israel as a people heretofore. According to Ezekiel 36, Israel would not be a holy people in accord with God’s standard until after they had been restored to the Promised Land and cleansed in the messianic age. When God’s glory returns, it will remain in Israel’s midst forever (43:6–7). The development of this unifying factor in Ezekiel’s prophecy argues strongly for a future fulfillment of chs. 40–48.
Finally, the entire context and argument of the Scriptures concerning God’s outworking of the redemptive plan in history suggests the events and aspects of these chapters will happen at the time of the consummation of all history. This is perhaps best observed in the river of life that flows from the temple to heal to the land (47:1–12). This concept is first seen in Genesis 2:8–14 in the garden of Eden, the perfect environment of God’s holiness. With sin, this garden and its river were removed. When God concludes the redemptive program and brings full salvation to humankind with eternal life through the passion of Jesus Christ, it is most appropriate that the river of eternal life will again flow to demonstrate full healing of the earth.
This conclusion to the full circle of God’s redemptive program is also shown in Revelation 22:1–6 in God’s description of the eternal state. Such is also conveyed by other OT prophets (cf. Isa 35:5–6; Joel 3:18; Zec 14:8). Thus the context and argument of Ezekiel, as well as the development of God’s redemptive program, argue strongly for a future fulfillment of the events of Ezekiel 40–48 in the end times.
Does Ezekiel 40–48 relate to the millennium or to the eternal state? It is first necessary to understand the prophetic perspective of the OT prophets. We must see the prophetic message from their viewpoint initially, not from our contemporary perspective in the light of the NT. The predictive revelations of the OT prophets concern two main issues: (1) the time of judgment and discipline that was to come on Israel because of her perennial sin and breaking of the Mosaic covenant; (2) the period of blessing, following Israel’s future judgment, when Israel will be restored to the Promised Land, cleansed of her sin, and brought into the messianic kingdom. At that time all of Israel’s covenants will be fulfilled. She will live in perfect security under the divine rule of the Messiah.
The OT prophets tended not to make distinctions within the period of discipline and judgment; rather, they portrayed near and far aspects of this time in the same passage. The discipline would begin with the Babylonian captivity and continue till the end time. Some distinctions were observed, but chronological relations were seldom delineated.
Likewise, the prophets did not make distinctions between the millennium and the eternal state when describing the period of messianic blessing. Further distinctions are primarily the result of progressive revelation disclosed in the NT, especially in Revelation, though some distinctions are implied in the OT prophets (e.g., Da 9–12).
Ezekiel, like his contemporaries, intermixes these various elements in his prophecies of judgment and the future kingdom. Undoubtedly this contributes to the difficulty in distinguishing the millennium and the eternal state in these chapters.
In light of the whole of Scripture, it appears that the millennium is like a “firstfruits” of the eternal state. The millennium will be a kind of preview of the eternal messianic kingdom that will be revealed fully in the eternal state; therefore, because the two are alike in nature, they share certain similarities. Yet because they are both different revealed time periods, they likewise reflect some dissimilarities. Since the OT prophets, including Ezekiel, frequently fail to see these distinctions, one should be careful about stating that Ezekiel 40–48 is describing only the millennium or only the eternal state. One must look to the NT for any further clues for delineation whenever such are given.
John uses many OT prophetic concepts and imageries in Revelation, as observed already in his allusion to the “bird supper” of Ezekiel 38–39. Revelation 21–22 speaks of the eternal state. There are definite allusions to Ezekiel 40–48 in this strikingly similar portion of Revelation. Both writers receive apocalyptic visions on a high mountain with an interpreting messenger present and holding a measuring rod to measure various structures (Eze 40:2–5; Rev 21:2, 10, 15). Both visions portray waters flowing forth toward the east, with trees alongside and leaves for healing (Eze 47:1–7, 12; Rev 22:1–2). The names of Israel’s twelve tribes are written on the city’s twelve gates in both visions (Eze 48:31–34; Rev 21:12), and three gates each are found on the east, south, north, and western sides of the city respectively (Eze 48:30–34; Rev 21:13).
In addition, however, there are equally clear dissimilarities between the two passages. The city’s dimensions are different (Eze 48:30–35; Rev 21:15–17). The waters that flow toward the east have different sources: the temple in Ezekiel (43:7; 47:1–5) and God’s throne in Revelation (22:1, 3). It might appear that these sources are really similar since Ezekiel maintains that God’s throne is the temple; but John in his vision declares that God’s throne is in Jerusalem. The temple and the city of Jerusalem are distinctly different entities in Ezekiel (45:2–4; 48:10, 15–17), and in the vision in Revelation there is no temple structure (21:22; 22:3). Since a major aspect of Ezekiel 40–48 is the temple and its regulations, perhaps this would argue that Ezekiel’s discussion reflects the millennium more than the eternal state. The tribal allotments of Ezekiel include the sea as the western boundary (47:15–20), whereas in Revelation John declares that the sea no longer exists (Rev 21:1). Ezekiel’s tribal boundaries cannot exist in the eternal state if the sea no longer exists.
Items are discussed in each passage that are not mentioned in the other. These, of course, argue neither for similarity nor dissimilarity. But the dissimilarities discussed above indicate that Ezekiel’s vision is more concerned with millennial concepts than the eternal state, whereas the vision in Revelation is focused on the eternal state.
The river flowing east from the temple likewise appears to be millennial, since the source is different from the passage in Revelation. But here the similar nature of the two passages is perhaps best observed. Ezekiel may very well give a glimpse of the eternal state with this similar facet. Perhaps what is seen in the millennium will also be seen in the eternal state, though with slight modification. Since the Lord will take the place of the temple in the eternal state, the river could flow out of the millennial temple as the throne of God in Ezekiel 47 and out of the throne of God, distinct from a temple, in Revelation 22.
It seems, therefore, that Ezekiel 40–48 may be primarily describing the millennial temple, its regulations for worship, and the tribal allotments. The millennium is only a beginning, sort of a microcosm, of the eternal state and a transition into it. Consequently, to observe reflections of Ezekiel 40–48 in the picture of the eternal state revealed in Revelation 21–22 is to be expected and will not surprise the reader.
Is not the existence of a temple, priests, and a sacrificial system a retrogression to OT modes of worship? As previously stated, a normal grammatical-historical hermeneutic should be used when interpreting Ezekiel. In doing so, a real temple, real sacrifices, and real priests are observed functioning in the millennial context. When the sacrifices and priestly functions are closely examined, it becomes evident that they are Mosaic in nature, though omissions and modifications are present. Such an observation may cause concern, since the reinstitution of a Mosaic system of worship may seem contrary to NT teaching. The NT states that Jesus Christ died for sin once and for all on the cross (1Pe 3:18). There is no need for a further sacrifice for sin. Likewise, the Lord’s table is designed to bring remembrance of the Lord’s death to the worshipers (1Co 11:24–25). Why go back to OT modes of worship set forth under the old covenant when the new covenant has been instituted?
An examination of Ezekiel’s purpose, especially in this section, combined with a comparison of the Levitical concepts of worship with those of Ezekiel and of the NT, will help us solve some of these dilemmas. Ezekiel is a priest; thus he frequently looks on issues in his prophecy from a priestly perspective. We expect him to view the new worship principles from his vantage point with a temple, sacrifices, and priests involved. Likewise, God normally reveals divine truth in terms of the culture and perspective of those receiving the revelation. Such should be expected here.
The recipients of this vision are described as “the house of Israel.” Ezekiel uses this terminology to describe Israel at any time in her existence—past, present, or future. Old Testament apocalyptic literature, as found in these chapters, is to be a source of hope and encouragement in a time of discouragement. The revelation that a temple will be rebuilt in the messianic kingdom—a temple to which God’s glory will return and in which the nation will worship the Lord as commanded—is surely an encouragement of hope. Should not the description of worship in the messianic kingdom be in terms both understandable to Israel and in keeping with the covenantal worship of her God?
In Ezekiel 37:15–28 all the covenants given to Israel will be fulfilled at the time of her restoration to the land and the institution of the messianic kingdom. This includes the Abrahamic covenant, Davidic covenant, new covenant, covenant of peace, and Mosaic covenant. The covenantal formula of the Mosaic covenant—“they will be my people, and I will be their God”—will be operative as Israel walks in the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant, is cleansed under the new covenant, and experiences the eternal reign of her king, the Messiah, under the Davidic covenant (37:23–26; cf. Ex 19:5–6; Lev 26:12; Dt 26:18–19; Jer 30:18–22; 31:33; 32:36–40). Because Israel was in a relationship with God through the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, she had always been expected to worship the Lord in holiness. Her entire procedure in worship was designed to point her to God’s holiness and to her need to be holy before God (cf. Leviticus). The basic emphasis throughout Ezekiel 40–48 is on God’s holiness. The holiness of the Lord’s temple and the worship of God are contrasted with the profaning of God’s name and temple in Israel’s past worship. Israel will have a final opportunity to worship God correctly—in the purity of holiness. Such worship will demonstrate that Israel has truly been redeemed and cleansed.
Ezekiel 40–48 presents only the Hebrew perspective of millennial worship. This does not preclude other forms of worship from also existing and being carried out (cf. Lk 22:18). The manifestations and functions of all God’s covenants do not contradict but rather complement one another. Thus Israel will finally be a people of God, living and worshiping in the holiness revealed in the Mosaic stipulations. The omissions and modifications from the Mosaic system observed in Ezekiel 40–48 are undoubtedly present to enable the various aspects of the different covenants to harmonize.
One difficulty sensed by many is the need for and purpose of a temple. Is not the presence of a temple anachronistic? But the existence of a temple as a place of worship would be the normal concept from an OT perspective (cf. 2Sa 7:12–16; 1Ki 9:3; 2Ch 6:14–7:16; 29:1–30:27; Ps 132). Likewise, without a temple complex sacrifices could not be offered properly; so the temple would be necessary for worship (Eze 43–46).
Ezekiel sets forth two major purposes for the millennial temple. (1) The temple will provide a throne for God among the people (43:6–7)—the residence of divine glory (43:1–12) from which God will rule over them. (2) The temple complex will reflect God’s holiness by its walls of separation, various courts, and temple divisions (40:5; 42:14–20). The design of the structure will cause the people of that day to be ashamed of their iniquities. So a temple structure should not prevent or hinder other forms of worship that may exist in the millennium (e.g., the Lord’s table) unless one divides the periods of God’s working so that only certain architectural forms can be used for the worship of God at a given time. This does not seem to be biblical. There have been a variety of structures in which Christians worship in the church age. There seems to be no scriptural concept to forbid a Christian from worshiping in a temple built to almighty God. A temple in and of itself is not anachronistic.
A second major difficulty is the relationship between Ezekiel’s sacrificial system and the NT teaching of Christ’s death as a finished and complete work as atonement for sin. Can the two be harmonized, or are they contradictory? In order to understand the issues, Ezekiel’s millennial sacrificial system must be described. In this description, a comparison will be made to the Mosaic system. It will be observed that almost all aspects of the system in Ezekiel are identical with Mosaic procedure. The omissions, with some modifications in keeping with the purpose of Ezekiel’s worship, comprise the primary differences.
Though the general phrase “all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel” is used in 45:17, only three festivals are explicitly mentioned in these chapters: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Tabernacles, and, by implication, the Feast of Firstfruits. Passover (45:21–24) began on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan), and the people were to eat unleavened bread for seven days (cf. Ex 12:1–30; Nu 28:16–25). The “leader” (nāsî ʾ) offered a sin offering each day along with a grain offering for himself and the people of the land (cf. Nu 28:22–24). Daily the leader also offered a burnt offering with its grain offering (cf. Nu 28:19–21, 23–24). These items parallel those in the Levitical system.
Likewise, Ezekiel declares that the same offerings as those made for Passover will be made for the Feast of Tabernacles for a similar length of time (Eze 45:25). Numbers 29:12–38 only differs by adding a daily drink offering. This festival began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and lasted for seven days, as prescribed in the Mosaic system. In addition, Ezekiel 44:30 states that “the best of all of the firstfruits . . . will belong to the priests.” This does not necessarily imply a Feast of Firstfruits, but it is the only mention of the idea of firstfruits in the system outlined in Ezekiel.
The offerings and sacrifices to be used in worship and the consecration of the temple make up most of the system in Ezekiel. In addition to the offerings of the various festivals, the Israelites will be required daily to offer to God burnt offerings with their accompanying grain offering in the morning (cf. Ex 29:39–42; Lev 6:12; Nu 28:3–7). The Mosaic procedure required this offering daily, both in the morning and in the evening, along with a drink offering. Offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and all appointed festivals include the burnt offering, grain offering, and drink offering in Ezekiel’s worship (45:17; cf. Lev 23:37; Nu 28:9–15). Only on the observance of New Moons did the Mosaic list add the sin offering. Ezekiel also declares that the priests are to sacrifice for the leader a burnt offering and a fellowship offering on both the Sabbath and the New Moon (46:2–7; Nu 29:39). The leader may also offer a freewill burnt offering and fellowship offerings on the Sabbath (46:12).
Ezekiel’s temple is purified (“atoned for”) on the first and seventh days of the first month (of each year?) with a sin offering (45:18–20). Similar procedures are outlined in the Mosaic system, but with the addition of burnt offerings and fellowship offerings (cf. Nu 7:87–89; 2Ch 7:1–10; 29:20–24). When the altar of burnt sacrifice is built, it must be cleansed, consecrated, and dedicated for seven days with both burnt offerings and sin offerings (43:18–25; cf. Ex 29:36–37; Lev 7:14). After the seven days, the altar may be used for regular offerings (43:27). This passage is silent concerning whether the altar’s cleansing and consecration are to be repeated. Finally, Israel will make a special contribution of grains, oil, and animals for the leader to use in the regular atonement for the house of Israel (45:15–17; cf. Lev 9:17–24). The atonement offerings are the sin, grain, burnt, and fellowship offerings. No time is specified as to how often or when such atonement is to be made.
The priesthood in Ezekiel is composed of the Levites as helpers in the maintenance, administration, and function of temple worship. But those of the Zadokite line will be the only ones permitted to minister before the Lord with the most holy things (44:5–16). The other Levites are denied this privilege because of their past unfaithfulness in carrying out the duties of the sanctuary. There is no high priest. The only stated priestly functions are the slaughter, washing, cooking, and eating of various sacrifices (40:38–42; 42:13; 44:29; 46:20; cf. Lev 7:7; Nu 18:8–10).
So most stated aspects of the worship procedure in Ezekiel are like those of the Mosaic system. The major distinctions include the absence of a Day of Atonement, an ark of the covenant, the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost), a high priest, and a full, ministering Levitical priesthood. These are, of course, notable omissions. The absence of the Day of Atonement and the ark of the covenant, where the atoning blood was sprinkled, may stress the fact that the work of propitiation has already been accomplished. Being an argument from silence, however, it is difficult to be certain. Presumably that if these items were to have been included in the millennial system of Ezekiel, they would have been mentioned, since they were important factors in the Mosaic system. The lack of a high priest may point to the high priesthood of Jesus Christ, who will be ruling in the millennium (Heb 4:14–5:10; 7:11–8:13).
Thus the millennial system of worship is distinctly different from the Mosaic system only in that certain Mosaic elements are omitted or modified, most likely because of Christ’s finished work on the cross. It is important to observe that millennial sacrifices are discussed elsewhere in the OT prophets (Isa 56:5–7; 60:7, 13; 66:20–23; Jer 33:15–22; Zec 14:16–21). The concept is not unique to Ezekiel.
The question of whether these sacrifices are efficacious is crucial. It is important to remember that the Mosaic covenant was given to a people who had already entered a relationship with the Lord in the Abrahamic covenant. The Mosaic covenant was not given to bring people into a relationship with God but to demonstrate how people in that relationship were to live holy lives before the Lord. True worship grows out of a personal relationship with God.
The Mosaic system of worship, therefore, was to be used by those in a relationship with God. Never did the sacrifices and offerings deliver one from sin. They were never efficacious for the Israelite or anyone else; rather, the sacrifices were picture-lessons and types of the Messiah’s work, whereby he would atone for all sin in a propitious manner through the sacrifice of his own blood once and for all. The sin and guilt (compensation) offerings were reminders of one’s personal, inherent sin and the need for cleansing from that sinfulness by the shedding of innocent blood. These offerings were observed much in the sense in which a believer today confesses personal sin (1Jn 1:9) in the light of the finished work of Christ for sin. The believer’s confession is not efficacious. It is only Christ’s finished work that provides forgiveness of sin. Confession, however, reminds the believer that he or she has sinned and that the sin has been forgiven through Christ’s blood. The sin and guilt offerings, therefore, will remind the Israelites that they are sinful and need the Messiah’s innocent blood, typified in the animal, to cleanse them from their sin and bring forgiveness from God.
The burnt offering pictures the offerers’ commitment to the Lord. It is voluntary, even as commitment is today. The burnt offerings required daily and at other festivals were constant reminders of Messiah’s atonement for the Israelites and their need to be totally committed to their Lord.
The fellowship offerings reflect the offerers’ thanksgiving to God and the peace that exists between them and God. Certainly believers today are to express their thankfulness to God for the various blessings bestowed on them because of their relationship with the Lord.
The sacrifices of the Mosaic system were never efficacious. Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is efficacious. The offerings of the Levitical system were continual picture-lessons and types of the work the Messiah would accomplish and the holy manner in which the Israelites were to walk.
The concept of atonement creates a major problem for many with the sacrificial system in Ezekiel. The etymology of “atonement” and its original meaning are uncertain. Either the verb derives from a root similar to the Assyrian verb kuppuru (“to cleanse, wipe away”), or it comes from the Hebrew and Arabic root kōper (“paying a ransom, cover”). The Hebrew verb means “to atone by offering a substitute,” which is “always used in connection with the removal of sin or defilement” (TWOT, 1:452–53). When a sacrifice for atonement was brought in the Mosaic system, it was brought because God required it, not because of the initiative of the offerer (Lev 10). It was God alone who gave forgiveness and cleansing, not the act of sacrifice. The basis for forgiveness and cleansing is the ultimate work of Messiah’s innocent blood that is the ransom for the penalty of death owed by the sinner. The sacrificial animal could not offer an efficacious ransom; rather, the atonement sacrifice was only a picture-lesson of Christ’s finished work (cf. Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward an Old Testament Theology [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978], 117–18).
With the exception of two references, all mention of “atonement” in Ezekiel 40–48 relates to the concept of purification or consecration of the temple or altar. Exodus 29:44–45a and 40:9–16 recount the anointing and consecration of the temple, the altar, and the priests after the construction of the temple (cf. Lev 8; 9:7–24). First Kings 8:62–66 reports the Solomonic dedication. Most of the occurrences of the word kāpar (“to atone”; GK 4105) in Ezekiel 40–48 refer to such dedications, consecrations, and purification of the millennial temple and altar. The atonement of the people is mentioned in only 45:15–17. There the concept is the same as that in the Mosaic system: a picture-lesson of the ultimate atoning work of Christ, when he paid the ransom price of his blood to atone for sin and provide forgiveness of sin once and for all.
The Mosaic Day of Atonement for sin (cf. Lev 16:21–22, 30, 34) occurred annually in OT times, but it will not be observed in the millennium. Sin will still occur in the millennium among the house of Israel, composed of people who have natural bodies with a sinful nature. Thus the atonement offerings for the leader and the people will be a marvelous picture-lesson and reminder of the work that the Messiah accomplished on the cross to enable their sin to be forgiven. It will also remind them that they are sinful people who need that redemption provided through the innocent blood of Christ. But the sacrifices in Ezekiel are memorials of Christ’s work even as the Mosaic sacrifices were picture-lessons and types of the work he would do. Neither is efficacious.
The writer of Hebrews in chs. 7–10 discusses the relationship between the Mosaic sacrifices and the work of Christ. It is instructive to examine these chapters, for they confirm the argument stated above. The law required that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there was no forgiveness (Heb 9:21–22). This is observed in both the Mosaic system of atonement and Ezekiel’s. But the elements of the tabernacle (temple) and its furnishings were only copies of heavenly things (9:23); and though they needed to be purified with sacrifices, the real need of purification is met by Christ’s sacrifice, of which these things were only copies (9:24–28). These aspects of the Mosaic covenant were only shadows, pictures, of the things to come. They were not the reality itself (10:1).
Because the Mosaic covenant dealt in shadows, the Mosaic system could never make its worshipers perfect through the repeated sacrifices that could never take away sin (Heb 10:2–4, 11). The sacrifices cleansed only outwardly as pictures (9:11–14). Jesus inwardly cleanses our consciences from the sinful acts that lead to death (10:8–14). If the Mosaic sacrifices could have cleansed the worshipers and made them perfect, those sacrifices would have stopped once and for all. But they could not cleanse (10:2); therefore, they were continued as regular reminders of sin, because it was impossible for the blood of animals to take away sin. Jesus offered himself once for the sins of humankind. The reality of the pictures had come, even as promised in the new covenant (7:27).
The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that where sins have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Understood in the context of Hebrews described above, there is no longer the need for the picture-lessons and reminders, now that the reality of Christ’s efficacious blood sacrifice has been offered once and for all. No other efficacious sacrifice can be offered, because only Christ’s sacrifice of himself is efficacious. But the writer of Hebrews does not declare that pictorial sacrifices and festivals can no longer be observed as reminders and picture-lessons of what Christ did after his efficacious sacrifice was completed. Since the sacrifices and festivals in the OT system were only pictures, they could never conflict with the sacrifice of the Messiah. They never were and never could be efficacious.
Likewise, the sacrifices in the millennial system described by Ezekiel are only picture-lessons and reminders of the sin of humanity and of the only efficacious sacrifice for sin once and for all made by Christ. The millennial sacrifices will be both reminders to believers in millennial worship and picture-lessons to unbelievers born in the millennium. (These “unbelievers” could be born from the Jews who enter the millennium from the period of the tribulation.) On the basis of the OT role of the sacrifices, as well as the argument of the writer of Hebrews, it does not appear that the pictorial sacrifices of the Mosaic system or the memorial sacrifices of the millennial worship conflict with the finished and complete work of Jesus’ sacrifice for all sins once and for all on the cross.
Consequently, the sacrifices in the millennial sacrificial system of Ezekiel appear to be only memorials of Christ’s finished work and pictorial reminders that humankind by nature is sinful and in need of redemption from sin. Not only is this view substantiated by comparison with the Mosaic covenant, in which the sacrifices were picture-lessons and types, but the writer of Hebrews also confirms this, as observed above.
In addition, the Christian’s observance of the Lord’s table is an argument in favor of this memorial view. The Lord’s table is itself a memorial of Christ’s death. Its observance is not a substitute for Christ’s death and does not in that sense conflict with the finished work of Christ. As a memorial, the Lord’s table will apparently be celebrated with Christ present in the messianic kingdom (millennium) when he returns (Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18). If the Lord’s table is a memorial and the sacrifices of Ezekiel’s system are memorials, the two should not in any way conflict with each other but should be able to coexist. One, of course, may ask why both need to be observed if they perform the same role. Presumably the Lord’s table is the primary memorial to those believers of the church age, while the sacrifices in Ezekiel will be the primary commemoration of the Jews. But nothing prohibits any of God’s people—Jews or Gentiles—from participating in the worship of either memorial.
Thus, the purposes of the sacrificial system in Ezekiel’s procedure for worship can be stated. The sacrificial system will be used as picture-lessons to demonstrate the need for holiness in the consecration and purifying of the temple and the altar. The sin and burnt offerings will be visual reminders of humanity’s sinfulness and need for propitiation and expiation, while at the same time being pictorial memorials of the finished and completed sacrifice of the Messiah, who provided atonement for humankind once and for all. Thanksgiving to God will be visually expressed in the fellowship offerings. In addition, the sacrifices will provide food for the millennial priests even as they did for the Mosaic priests (44:29–31).
Priests will be necessary in the millennial system of worship to conduct the sacrifices for the leader and the people. In addition, priests will carry out all the necessary ministries of the temple. The main role of the priests, however, will be to demonstrate to everyone in the millennium the distinction between the holy and the profane (Eze 44).
How will the Gentiles and the church relate to this system of worship with its OT modes? As noted above, nothing prohibits a Gentile or a church believer from joining the worship in commemoration of Christ’s finished work. In addition, the church will also celebrate the Lord’s table. All of these reminders of Christ’s great work of redemption will be constant avenues of worship for all the people of God who desire to worship the Lord (cf. Eph 2:14–16).
Even in our day, we see the spiritual value and an avenue of worship for church believers if they celebrate the Passover service (cf. 1Co 10:1–12). It does not enter their minds that they are saved by the observance of this service; but the celebration is an instructive, vivid picture-lesson of the death of the Lamb of God. Likewise, those who have witnessed the slaughter of lambs for the Samaritan Passover in Israel today can never again look lightly on the death of the Lamb of God. As believers, they will not in any way today think that one of those slaughtered lambs is an efficacious provision for their sins, but they will go away praising and glorifying God with thanksgiving for the marvelous sacrifice of the Messiah as a substitute for themselves. That is what will occur in the millennial worship as these memorial sacrifices and the Lord’s table are observed.
A summary of the argument of Ezekiel 40–48. Thirteen years have passed since Ezekiel encouraged the exiles with the six messages of restoration hope (33:21–39:29). Then, through an apocalyptic vision, Ezekiel gives a final encouragement by describing the nature of the messianic kingdom. This vision culminates the book and reveals the climax of God’s working with Israel throughout history. God will establish Israel as a holy nation to worship the Lord and demonstrate God’s person.
When God originally created Israel, three elements were essential for her existence: a people, a government, and a homeland. When God reestablishes Israel as a nation in the messianic kingdom, these same three elements must exist. God will regather the people through the great restoration described in chs. 34–37 and then give Israel her new government (guidelines for living) and establish her in her Promised Land forever (chs. 40–48).
The reestablishment of Israel’s government is described in chs. 40–46. The center of her new life will be none other than the Lord, who will return in glory to rule in her midst (43:1–9). The need for a residence for God’s glory will be fulfilled in the construction of the millennial temple, described in detail in chs. 40–42. Here God will reign, with the temple as the divine throne (43:7), just as God did previously in the tabernacle and the subsequent temple. The regulations in 43:13–46:24 describe how the priests, leaders, and people are to live holy lives. Requirements and functions are outlined; and Israel is charged to perform these regulations in an unerring manner, thereby demonstrating God’s holiness (43:10–11; 44:5–8).
The description of Israel’s restoration to her Promised Land is given in ch. 36. Then in chs. 47–48 the Lord demonstrates the continual healing, blessing, and refreshing of the land in its perfect state through the river of life (47:1–12; cf. Ge 2:8–10; Rev 22:1–3). Tribal borders will be established. Land will be set aside for the priests, leader, city, and sanctuary. With Israel reestablished in the land of blessing, the eternal presence of the Lord with them will be reaffirmed in a new name for the city (Jerusalem): Yahweh šāmmâ (“THE LORD IS THERE,” 48:35). The Lord will be there forever!
1. The Setting of the Apocalyptic Vision (40:1–4)
1In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city—on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me there. 2In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. 3He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. 4The man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see.”
COMMENTARY
1–4 There are four essential elements in the literary setting of an apocalyptic vision: the date, the identity of the vision’s recipient, the location of the vision’s recipient, and noteworthy circumstances under which the vision was received.
The date of this apocalyptic vision has four aspects. First, Ezekiel has dated all the major sections of the book in reference to Jehoiachin’s deportation into Babylonian exile in 597 BC (cf. chronological discussions at 1:1–3). This vision is received in “the twenty-fifth year” of Jehoiachin’s captivity, or in 573 BC.
Second, the vision is received “at the beginning of the year,” or in the first month of the year. Israel had two annual calendars. The civil calendar began in the fall month of Tishri (September/October). The religious calendar began in the spring month of Nisan (March/April). Some expositors prefer the civil calendar, while others accept the religious calendar. Though the text is not explicit in this matter, the religious calendar seems preferable, since Ezekiel is a priest and the concerns of the apocalyptic vision relate to religious matters. According to the religious calendar, the date of the vision is more explicitly March/April 573 BC.
The vision is received on the tenth day of the month. If it is correct to designate the month as Nisan, then this apocalyptic vision is received on the tenth day of Nisan, the very day the people may have begun to prepare for the Passover four days later. Whether or not they actually observed Passover in exile, surely they would be contemplating Israel’s redemption out of Egypt and the creation of their nation. This vision, then, offers an encouragement that the Lord will complete the divine purposes for the nation in the messianic kingdom.
Finally, the vision is received in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, which occurred in 586 BC. This also corroborates the date of 573 BC.
The second major element of the setting of an apocalyptic vision is the identity of the vision’s recipient. Though Ezekiel’s name is not given in these verses, the copious use of the first person pronoun in the context of the entire book argues strongly that the recipient is Ezekiel.
The third aspect of a vision’s setting is the location where it is received. Ezekiel sees this vision from “a very high mountain” in Israel (v.2). From that mountain he can see a city to the south. Neither the mountain nor the city is identified in the passage, but Ezekiel is taken into the city, where he sees the temple’s construction in detail. The geography of Ezekiel’s day leads one most likely to identify that city as Jerusalem. To identify a high mountain north of Jerusalem, however, was impossible geographically in Ezekiel’s day and in ours. Perhaps it is best to leave the city and the mountain unidentified.
The final aspect of a setting of an apocalyptic vision is the noteworthy circumstances under which the vision is received (vv.3–4). A divine messenger with the appearance of bronze is present. He is carrying both a measuring rod and a linen measuring cord. He exhorts Ezekiel to pay careful attention to all that he will be shown, because this divine vision is being given to him so that he might tell it in detail to the “house of Israel.”
NOTE
2 
(minnegeb, “on the south”) is rendered ἀπέναντι (apenanti, “opposite”) in the LXX. This assumes a Hebrew text of 
(neged, “opposite”). The Hebrew letters 
(b) and 
(d) have reflected similar orthography throughout much of the history of the language and may account for a copyist’s error. It seems best to read the MT. “Visions of God” is best rendered “divine visions” in this context.
2. The Apocalyptic Vision (40:5–48:35)
OVERVIEW
The vision has four basic segments, primarily noted by different topics: (1) the description of the millennial temple (40:5–42:20); (2) the return of God’s glory to the temple (43:1–12); (3) the temple regulations (43:13–46:24); and (4) the topographical aspects of the millennium (47:1–48:35).
a. The millennial temple (40:5–42:20)
OVERVIEW
A divine messenger guides Ezekiel through the temple complex, beginning on the outside and working gradually inward through the outer and inner courts to the temple sanctuary. He provides an abundance of details, especially dimensions. These plans and specific dimensions are accurate enough to enable floor plans to be drawn and models to be constructed with a fair degree of accuracy.
Floor plans are revealed. Any superstructure must be conjectured. Such specific details and plans do argue for the literalness of this temple and its proposed construction. The reader should refer constantly to the accompanying diagrams of the temple complex, the outer gate system, the plan of the sanctuary, and the design of the altar of sacrifice as the text is read.
i. The outer court (40:5–27)
5I saw a wall completely surrounding the temple area. The length of the measuring rod in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each of which was a cubit and a handbreadth. He measured the wall; it was one measuring rod thick and one rod high.
6Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate; it was one rod deep. 7The alcoves for the guards were one rod long and one rod wide, and the projecting walls between the alcoves were five cubits thick. And the threshold of the gate next to the portico facing the temple was one rod deep.
8Then he measured the portico of the gateway; 9it was eight cubits deep and its jambs were two cubits thick. The portico of the gateway faced the temple.
10Inside the east gate were three alcoves on each side; the three had the same measurements, and the faces of the projecting walls on each side had the same measurements. 11Then he measured the width of the entrance to the gateway; it was ten cubits and its length was thirteen cubits. 12In front of each alcove was a wall one cubit high, and the alcoves were six cubits square. 13Then he measured the gateway from the top of the rear wall of one alcove to the top of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits from one parapet opening to the opposite one. 14He measured along the faces of the projecting walls all around the inside of the gateway—sixty cubits. The measurement was up to the portico facing the courtyard. 15The distance from the entrance of the gateway to the far end of its portico was fifty cubits. 16The alcoves and the projecting walls inside the gateway were surmounted by narrow parapet openings all around, as was the portico; the openings all around faced inward. The faces of the projecting walls were decorated with palm trees.
17Then he brought me into the outer court. There I saw some rooms and a pavement that had been constructed all around the court; there were thirty rooms along the pavement. 18It abutted the sides of the gateways and was as wide as they were long; this was the lower pavement. 19Then he measured the distance from the inside of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was a hundred cubits on the east side as well as on the north.
20Then he measured the length and width of the gate facing north, leading into the outer court. 21Its alcoves—three on each side—its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as those of the first gateway. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 22Its openings, its portico and its palm tree decorations had the same measurements as those of the gate facing east. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them. 23There was a gate to the inner court facing the north gate, just as there was on the east. He measured from one gate to the opposite one; it was a hundred cubits.
24Then he led me to the south side and I saw a gate facing south. He measured its jambs and its portico, and they had the same measurements as the others. 25The gateway and its portico had narrow openings all around, like the openings of the others. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 26Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them; it had palm tree decorations on the faces of the projecting walls on each side. 27The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured from this gate to the outer gate on the south side; it was a hundred cubits.
COMMENTARY
5 As the temple is measured, many dimensions are given in chs. 40–42. The cubit was the standard of measurement, but the cubit’s length was not as exact as one might prefer. Archaeological data has been sparse. Moreover, linear measurements of the ancient Near East were based on the parts of the body that, of course, vary from person to person. The normal cubit was the distance between the tip of the middle finger to the tip of the elbow. On the average person this distance was approximately eighteen inches. The handbreadth was the measurement of the hand’s width at the base of the fingers. This normally measured about three inches. In addition, there were long cubit measurements and short cubit measurements in different countries and in the same country at different time periods. Precision, therefore, is impossible in light of the nature of the measurement and the limitation of data. For the purposes of measurement in chs. 40–42, it seems best to take the normal cubit length of approximately eighteen inches.
The divine messenger who guides Ezekiel carries a measuring “rod” of six long cubits; each cubit is a standard cubit plus a handbreadth, or eighteen plus three inches (total of twenty-one inches). A table of measurement equivalents in Ezekiel follows.
| Measurement Equivalents |
|---|
|
(Based on a cubit of approximately 21 inches) |
|
1 palm = c. 3 inches (equals 1/6 cubit) |
|
1 cubit = c. 1.75 feet (21 inches) |
|
1 rod = c. 10.5 feet (or 6 cubits) |
The examination of the temple complex begins on the outside, where the messenger shows Ezekiel a wall that surrounds the entire complex. The wall is one rod high and one rod wide, or six long cubits for each dimension—approximately ten and one-half feet.
6–16 Ezekiel is taken to the eastern outer gate of the temple complex (v.6). The divine messenger explains in detail the gate’s design and dimensions. The description begins from the outside of the gate and works inward. Not all the terminology is clear in the Hebrew language, since some words are used only in this context; therefore, the exact meaning of each item and the corresponding relationship of each dimension cannot always be certain. But there is sufficient clarity to give a good account of the plan of the gate system and to enable a basic diagram (see Fig. 1). The capital letters following an item in the description below refer to the corresponding item in the diagram.
Key:
FW: Wall (barriers, borders, space) (Eze 40:12a)
A: Alcoves (side rooms, guardrooms) (Eze 40:7a, 10a, 12b)
P: Portico (porch, vestibule) (Eze 40:7c, 8–9, 14)
S: Walls separating alcoves (Eze 40:7b, 10b)
OT: Outer threshold of the gate (Eze 40:6, 11)
IT: Inner threshold of the porch (Eze 40:16)
O: Windows (parapet openings) (Eze 40:16)
E: Steps (Eze 40:6b, 22b, 26a)
Overall height, length, and width of the gate (Eze 40:13–15)
Figure 1 Gate Systems for all Gates of the Outer Court
The gate is composed of seven steps (E) that lead up to the gate from the outside. Perhaps these steps are the equivalent of the “entrance” mentioned in v.11. If so, the entrance steps measured ten cubits wide and thirteen cubits long. The north and south outer gates have the identical dimensions of the eastern gate (cf. vv.20–27).
The gate’s outer threshold (OT) measures ten cubits wide (v.11) and six cubits deep (v.6). The entire gate system resembles the multiple entry gates archaeologists discover from the Solomonic period. There are several guardrooms (cf. 1Ki 14:28; 2Ch 12:11), or alcoves, on either side of the inner part of the Solomonic gate. In this gate there are three alcoves (A) on either side of the inside of the gate, each six cubits square (vv.7a, 10, 12b) with a wall (FW) one cubit high in front (v.12a). The dimension of the walls (S) separating the three inner alcoves is five cubits (v.7b). The gate’s inner threshold (IT) is one rod deep (six cubits), as is the outer threshold (v.7c).
A portico (P), or vestibule, on the inside of the gate faces the courtyard. It is eight cubits wide, with a two-cubit doorjamb facing the temple (vv.8–9). Verse 14 could be understood to give the total dimensions of the portico if all sides (both widths and both lengths) are measured. There would be a total of sixty cubits (eight cubits wide by twenty-two cubits long). On the other hand, if ʾēlîm (“projecting walls, porticoes”) is taken to mean doorjambs or pilasters, the sixty cubits could be the height of each doorjamb of each gate. There are windows, or parapet openings (O), in each alcove and in the portico; but the number and exact location of each is uncertain (v.16). The diagram only gives an example. The only decorations mentioned are palm tree designs that are found on the inner walls of the alcoves and/or on the doorjambs of the portico.
The overall dimensions of the gate system were twenty-five cubits wide by fifty cubits long (vv.13, 15).
17–19 In examining the outer courtyard, compare Figure 2. The courtyard has a pavement strip (LP) the width of the eastern gate’s length: fifty cubits. The pavement forms a border all around the outside edges of the outer court and is known as the lower pavement. Thirty rooms (R) are on this pavement around the outer court. The diagram places these rooms equally on all three sides, but the actual arrangement is not given in the text (vv.17–18). The dimension of the outer courtyard from the inside of the outer eastern gate to the inner eastern gate was said to be one hundred cubits (v.19). The same dimension separates the gate systems of the north and south from their corresponding inner gates (40:23, 27).
20–27 The outer northern and southern gate systems are exactly identical with the outer eastern gate (cf. vv.6–16).
NOTES
8 More than twenty Hebrew MSS, the Syrian, and the Vulgate omit from this verse the last three Hebrew words—
(mēhabbayit qāneh ʾeḥād, “from the house, one rod”). Most understand this as dittography from v.7. If the MT is allowed to stand, the six-cubit rod measurement does not coordinate with the other measurements of the portico in v.9.
14 The meaning of this entire verse is uncertain due primarily to the uncertain meaning of the word 
(ʾayil, “projecting wall”). In v.9 it appears to mean “doorjamb,” but in vv.10, 16 it seems to mean “a face of a projecting wall.” In addition, it is not clear which specific wall or jamb would be meant when the dimension of sixty cubits is given in this verse. As implied in the commentary, perhaps the term) 
(ʾêlîm, “projecting walls”?) in this verse refers to the total dimensions of the portico or to the height of the doorjambs (pilasters). This is conjectured due to the sum of the wall sides in the portico equaling the number sixty, whereas other wall dimensions in the gate system do not total sixty. If the meaning “doorjamb” (pilasters) is held, the sixty cubits most likely indicate the height.
15 The term 
(hāy ʾitôn, “entrance”) is obscure. The Qere reading is 
(ʾîtôn, “entrance”; BDB, 87), which is derived from rearranging the letters. This makes good sense in the verse. In addition, more than twenty Hebrew MSS, the Vulgate, and the LXX would agree with the Qere reading.
ii. The inner court (40:28–47)
28Then he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it had the same measurements as the others. 29Its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 30(The porticoes of the gateways around the inner court were twenty-five cubits wide and five cubits deep.) 31Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated its jambs, and eight steps led up to it.
32Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gateway; it had the same measurements as the others. 33Its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 34Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it.
35Then he brought me to the north gate and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others, 36as did its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico, and it had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 37Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it.
38A room with a doorway was by the portico in each of the inner gateways, where the burnt offerings were washed. 39In the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings were slaughtered. 40By the outside wall of the portico of the gateway, near the steps at the entrance to the north gateway were two tables, and on the other side of the steps were two tables. 41So there were four tables on one side of the gateway and four on the other—eight tables in all—on which the sacrifices were slaughtered. 42There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offerings, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide and a cubit high. On them were placed the utensils for slaughtering the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. 43And double-pronged hooks, each a handbreadth long, were attached to the wall all around. The tables were for the flesh of the offerings.
44Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, were two rooms, one at the side of the north gate and facing south, and another at the side of the south gate and facing north. 45He said to me, “The room facing south is for the priests who have charge of the temple, 46and the room facing north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who are the only Levites who may draw near to the LORD to minister before him.”
47Then he measured the court: It was square—a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple.
28–37 In the examination of the inner court, the guide first discusses the gates, then the rooms for preparation of the sacrifices, next the rooms for the priestly guards, and last the general dimensions and character of the inner court.
The guide shows Ezekiel the three gates to the inner court, beginning at the southern gate and proceeding in a counterclockwise direction. Each of these gates is identical in dimensions and basic design to the three gates of the outer court (cf. vv.28–29, 32–33, 35–36). Two distinct alterations are made in the design of the inner gate as compared to that of the outer gate. All inner gates have their porticoes facing outward toward the outer court rather than on the inside (vv.31, 34, 37). In addition, each stairway leading up to an inner gate system has eight steps rather than seven.
Verse 30 indicates that the dimensions of the inner gates’ porticoes measure five cubits by twenty-five cubits. But this dimension does not harmonize with the dimensions of the porticoes in the outer gates (cf. vv.8–9, 14), and the text states that the dimensions are the same between the inner and outer gate systems, excluding the two exceptions just mentioned. Perhaps the best solution is to say that the dimensions of the inner gates’ porticoes vary slightly as compared to those of the outer gates as a third modification.
38–43 As Ezekiel and the divine messenger are standing beside the northern inner gate system, the messenger describes the rooms (W) and tables (T) to be used for the preparation of the sacrifices. There is a room located beside the doorjamb outside each inner court gate. This means that each room (W) is in the outer courtyard beside the stairs leading up to the portico of the inner gate. Here the burnt offerings are to be washed for ceremonial cleansing (v.38). Though the word for gate is plural in v.38, it is singular in v.39. The implication is that the two tables on either side of each inner-gate portico are for the slaughter of sacrifices. This is supported in part by the use of all three gates for entrance to offer sacrifices by the prince and the people (cf. 46:1–2, 9). On these four tables (T) in each portico, the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings—the only sacrifices requiring animals or birds to be killed—will be slaughtered. The significance of the offerings is discussed above in the introduction to this section and below, where these sacrifices are mentioned in the worship ritual.
The northern inner gate has some furniture unique only to it (vv.40–43). Two additional tables (T) for the slaughter of sacrifices are placed on either side of the stairs outside the north inner gate in the outer courtyard. This makes a total of eight tables both outside and inside the north inner gate: four inside and four outside. Four additional small tables of dressed stone, one and one-half cubits square and one cubit high, on which the utensils for slaughtering the sacrifices will be laid, are distributed around the northern inner gate (v.42). Double-pronged hooks are placed around the portico’s wall (v.43).
44–46 Inside the northern and eastern inner gates are rooms (PS) for the priests of the sons of Zadok. They are the only ones of the Levitical priesthood permitted to minister directly to the Lord. The exclusion of Levi’s other descendants from this ministry is explained in ch. 44. The MT states that the rooms are specifically for priests who sing. But a better reading seems to be “guard.” The function of these priests is apparently to protect the sanctity of the temple and altar. The rooms that face south and north on the inside of the northern inner gate house these priests who guard the temple.
47 The inner court courtyard is one hundred cubits square. The altar of sacrifice, described in ch. 43, is in front of the temple (TEM; see fig. 2).
Key:
A: Altar (40:47b)
WB: Building of the separation yard (41:12, 13b, 15)
K: Kitchen for the priests to boil sacrifices (46:19 – 20)
OK: Kitchens for the priests to boil -people’s sacrifices (46:21 – 24)
LP: Pavement strip (40:17 – 18)
PB: Priests’ chambers (42:1 – 14)
R: Rooms in outer court for storage or priests’ quarters (40:17)
PS: Rooms for singers (priests) (40:44 – 46)
T: Tables for slaughter of sacrifices (two at each point) (40:39 – 43)
TEM: Temple proper (40:48 – 41:11, 13a, 14, 16, 23 – 26)
W: Rooms for washing offerings (40:38)
Inner court (40:44 – 47a)
Outer court (40:17 – 19, 23, 27, 39 – 43)
Width from outer gates to inner gates (40:19, 23, 27)
Figure 2 Temple Complex
30 Though it might be attractive to omit this verse, only a few Hebrew MSS and the LXX do so. The LXX is not a strong witness when it comes to the prophetic books, especially Ezekiel. The rationale for this deletion is dittography from v.29. It is difficult to harmonize this verse with the dimensions of the porticoes in vv.8–9, 14 (the latter a problem verse, too).
37 The difficulty in determining the meaning “portico” over against “doorjamb” comes from the various forms of words with the consonants 
(ʾlm; cf. vs.31, 34). In v.8 ʾulām (“portico”) is clear. The problem of 
(ʾayil, “doorjamb”?) and 
(ʾêlîm, “projecting walls”?) was discussed in the Note at v.14. Here in v.37 the form 
(ʾêlāw, “its jamb”) would be better understood with the LXX as “portico,” in parallel with 
(ʾēlammāw, “its portico”) in vv.31, 34.
38–40 The LXX and Syriac read the singular 
(beʾûlām haššaʿar, “the portico of the gate”), instead of the plural of the MT 
(beʾêlîm haššeʿārîm, “the porticoes of the gates”). This is based on understanding beʾêlîm as a corruption of beʾûlām. The MSS evidence is not strong, nor is the alteration necessitated by the context. Since 46:1–2, 9 indicate that all three gates are used to enter for sacrifice, the plural of gates is fitting. The placing of the rooms beside the doorjambs is even more fitting than beside the portico, though both readings imply the same location. It seems best to read the MT.
One could, however, take the singular “gate” in v.39 together with the instructions in vv.40–43 and understand v.39 to refer only to the northern inner gate. The reference only to the “north gate” in v.40 would distinguish the information relating to the northern gate from the previous data relating to all three inner gates.
44 The LXX reads δύο ἐξέδραι (duo exedrai, “two rooms”). The MT reads 
(liškôt šārîm, “rooms for singers”). Verse 44 indicates more than one room on the inside of the northern gate even without changing the word šārîm to 
(šetayim, “two”). Šāmar mišmeret (v.45) refers normally to military guard duty. “Priestly guards” seems to fit better than singers. The LXX seems the better reading. The MT may be explained as a spelling error reading taw (
) for resh (
).
In addition, the 
(ʾeḥād, “one”) indicates only one room beside the eastern gate, whereas the plural 
(penêhem, “their faces”; NIV, “facing”) implies two or more beside the northern gate.
The LXX reads πρὸς νότον (pros noton, “to the south”) in place of the MT’s 
(haqqādîm, “the east”). It would seem best to accept the MT (contra the NIV), since there is no apparent reason to alter the MT.
iii. The house of God (40:48–41:26)
48He brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the jambs of the portico; they were five cubits wide on either side. The width of the entrance was fourteen cubits and its projecting walls were three cubits wide on either side. 49The portico was twenty cubits wide, and twelve cubits from front to back. It was reached by a flight of stairs, and there were pillars on each side of the jambs.
41:1Then the man brought me to the outer sanctuary and measured the jambs; the width of the jambs was six cubits on each side. 2The entrance was ten cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were five cubits wide. He also measured the outer sanctuary; it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.
3Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance; each was two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were seven cubits wide. 4And he measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the outer sanctuary. He said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
5Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits thick, and each side room around the temple was four cubits wide. 6The side rooms were on three levels, one above another, thirty on each level. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports were not inserted into the wall of the temple. 7The side rooms all around the temple were wider at each successive level. The structure surrounding the temple was built in ascending stages, so that the rooms widened as one went upward. A stairway went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor.
8I saw that the temple had a raised base all around it, forming the foundation of the side rooms. It was the length of the rod, six long cubits. 9The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. The open area between the side rooms of the temple 10and the priests’ rooms was twenty cubits wide all around the temple. 11There were entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one on the north and another on the south; and the base adjoining the open area was five cubits wide all around.
12The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.
13Then he measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits long, and the temple courtyard and the building with its walls were also a hundred cubits long. 14The width of the temple courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was a hundred cubits.
15Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, including its galleries on each side; it was a hundred cubits.
The outer sanctuary, the inner sanctuary and the portico facing the court, 16as well as the thresholds and the narrow windows and galleries around the three of them—everything beyond and including the threshold was covered with wood. The floor, the wall up to the windows, and the windows were covered. 17In the space above the outside of the entrance to the inner sanctuary and on the walls at regular intervals all around the inner and outer sanctuary 18were carved cherubim and palm trees. Palm trees alternated with cherubim. Each cherub had two faces: 19the face of a man toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were carved all around the whole temple. 20From the floor to the area above the entrance, cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary.
21The outer sanctuary had a rectangular doorframe, and the one at the front of the Most Holy Place was similar. 22There was a wooden altar three cubits high and two cubits square; its corners, its base and its sides were of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.” 23Both the outer sanctuary and the Most Holy Place had double doors. 24Each door had two leaves—two hinged leaves for each door. 25And on the doors of the outer sanctuary were carved cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls, and there was a wooden overhang on the front of the portico. 26On the sidewalls of the portico were narrow windows with palm trees carved on each side. The side rooms of the temple also had overhangs.
COMMENTARY
48–49 The divine messenger next moves to the temple structure (cf. fig. 3). The fourteen-cubit-wide sanctuary entrance (v.48) is reached by a flight of stairs (v.49). Facing the entrance (EP) Ezekiel observes five-cubit-wide doorjambs (PJ) protruding three cubits from the inside of the temple wall on either side. Pillars (PL), perhaps similar to Joachin and Boaz of the Solomonic and Herodian temples, stand in front of the doorjambs, one on either side. As Ezekiel steps into the temple’s portico (vestibule; EP), he sees a room twenty cubits wide by twelve cubits deep.
41:1–2 The outer sanctuary (OS), or Holy Place, consists of a room twenty cubits wide by forty cubits long. Its ten-cubit-wide entrance (ET) is bounded on either side with six-cubit-wide doorjambs (TJ) on walls that protrude from the side walls of the chamber by five cubits on each side.
3–4 Ezekiel moves into the inner sanctuary (IS) through a six-cubit-wide entrance (HJ) with two-cubit-wide doorjambs (HJ) on walls seven cubits wide. As Ezekiel views the twenty-cubit-square room, he is told that this room is “the Most Holy Place” (Holy of Holies). By narrowing the entrances to the portico (40:48), the outer sanctuary (41:2), and the inner sanctuary (41:3) from fourteen cubits to ten cubits to six cubits, respectively, the architect focuses the worshiper’s eyes on the Most Holy Place, the center of worship.
5–11 A six-cubit-thick wall (v.5a) surrounds the entire temple. Next to this wall are ninety side rooms (SR), four cubits wide and constructed on three stories. The thirty rooms on each level become wider as one moves higher through each story (vv.5b–7). This increased width is due to the ledges cut into the temple wall from the outside to act as the inner support for each level of rooms. Stairs join the three stories from bottom to top. These side rooms (SR) have an outer wall five cubits thick (v.9), and they all rest on a six-cubit-high foundation on both sides of the temple proper (v.8). This foundation extends an additional five cubits beyond the outer wall to the edge of the foundation (v.11b). Entrances to these side rooms are only on the northern and southern sides of the temple structure (v.11a). One enters from the inner court into the single entrance on each side. Twenty cubits separate these side rooms from the priests’ chambers (cf. 42:1–14; cf. also fig. 2) at the side of the inner court on both the north and south (vv.9–10).
12–26 A separate building (WB) is west of the temple proper (fig. 2), seemingly next to the western wall of the entire temple complex (vv.12, 13b). Its function is unknown. The structure is seventy cubits wide by ninety cubits long with a five-cubit-thick wall all around. With its five-cubit wall on both sides plus its ninety-cubit length, the building is exactly one hundred cubits across, from north to south—exactly the same width as the inner courtyard and the inner court to the east of the temple proper (vv.13–15).
The decorations of the temple structure (vv.15–20) consist of windows all around the portico, the outer sanctuary, and the inner sanctuary. All the inside walls of each aspect of the temple structure are covered with a wood wainscoating up to the windows, and the windows are covered, too. These wooden inner walls, as well as the outer walls, are carved with cherubim interspersed with palm trees. Each cherub has two faces, one of which faces the palm tree on either side of it. The faces are those of a man and a lion. Though the cherubim may symbolize the guardianship of God’s holiness, the significance of the palm trees is uncertain.
The only furniture in the temple is a wooden altar, three cubits high by two cubits square (v.22). The divine messenger calls it “the table that is before the LORD.” This altar is much smaller than the altar of sacrifice (cf. 43:13–17). Some have suggested that this is the altar of incense that sat before the veil of the Most Holy Place in the Mosaic system. The altar of incense symbolized the saints’ prayers in the tabernacle.
Both the entrance to the outer sanctuary (ET) and the entrance to the inner sanctuary (EH) have rectangular doors. These are double doors hinged with two leaves for each door. The doors to the outer sanctuary are carved with cherubim interspersed with palm trees in the same manner as the outer walls (v.25).
The entire temple complex is of great beauty and symmetry.
NOTES
48 The LXX’s insertion of πηχῶν δέκα τεσσάρων, καὶ ἐπωμίδες τῆς θύρας (pēchōn deka tessarōn, kai epōmides tēs thyras, “fourteen cubits, and the projecting walls of the door”) is unwarranted and redundant, since the MT may be clearly understood as three cubits on either side of the entrance itself. Verse 49 shows the entire portico to be twenty cubits wide.
49 The depth of the portico is 
(ʿaštê ʿeśrēh, “eleven”) cubits in the MT. The LXX reads δώδεκα (dōdeka, “twelve”) cubits. If all of the detailed dimensions of the length of the temple are added, the sum would be ninety-nine cubits with the MT reading. The LXX reading gives a total of one hundred cubits in keeping with 41:13; therefore the LXX should be read.
41:1 The LXX (cf. NIV) probably deleted the MT’s 
(rōḥab hāʾōhel, “the width of the tent”) because of its awkwardness in the flow of the text. But the phrase could be stating that the width of the jamb walls is the same as the width of the wall of the entire sanctuary, that is, six cubits (cf. v.5).
Key:
ET: Entry to the temple (outer sanctuary) (Eze 41:2a; cf. 41:23–25)
EH: Entry to the Most Holy Place (inner sanctuary) (Eze 41:3; cf. 41:23–25)
OS: Holy Place (outer sanctuary) (Eze 41:2b, 21b)
IS: Most Holy Place (inner sanctuary) (Eze 41:4)
EP: Portico (porch, vestibule) (Eze 40:48–49)
PL: Pillars (Eze 40:49)
HJ: Projecting wall (jamb, post) of the entry to the Most Holy Place (Eze 41:3)
PJ: Projecting wall (jamb, post) of the porch (Eze 40:48)
TJ: Projecting wall (jamb, post) of the temple proper (Eze 41:1)
SR: Side rooms of the temple sanctuary (Eze 41:5b–11a)
S: Space left around the temple (platform) (Eze 41:11b)
W: Wall of the temple (Eze 41:5a)
Overall dimensions of the temple with yard on either side (Eze 41:13a, 14)
Windows (Eze 41:16, 26) on the porch, side chambers, and decorations (Eze 41:16–20)
Figure 3 The Temple Sanctuary
iv. The priests’ buildings (42:1–14)
1Then the man led me northward into the outer court and brought me to the rooms opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall on the north side. 2The building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide. 3Both in the section twenty cubits from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery faced gallery at the three levels. 4In front of the rooms was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long. Their doors were on the north. 5Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building. 6The rooms on the third floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors. 7There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for fifty cubits. 8While the row of rooms on the side next to the outer court was fifty cubits long, the row on the side nearest the sanctuary was a hundred cubits long. 9The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.
10On the south side along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall, were rooms 11with a passageway in front of them. These were like the rooms on the north; they had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions. Similar to the doorways on the north 12were the doorways of the rooms on the south. There was a doorway at the beginning of the passageway that was parallel to the corresponding wall extending eastward, by which one enters the rooms.
13Then he said to me, “The north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard are the priests’ rooms, where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy. 14Once the priests enter the holy precincts, they are not to go into the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people.”
COMMENTARY
1–9 There are two buildings (PB) in the outer court just outside the inner court on the north and south (vv.1, 3, 10, 13; cf. fig. 2). The northern building is described in detail, while the southern building is likened to the northern one. The building is one hundred cubits long, east to west, and fifty cubits wide, north to south (vv.2b, 8). It lies parallel to both the outer court’s pavement to the north (v.3) and the inner court’s northern wall abutting it (cf. 41:10).
The northern building is three-storied, with many rooms and galleries on each floor (v.3c). The two lower stories have pillars as structural supports (v.6). The rooms on the third floor are smaller, though the third floor has larger galleries than the middle and ground floors (v.5). All rooms appear to have doors on the northern side (v.4b). The lower floor has an entrance on the north (v.2a) with a ten-cubit wide and one-cubit long step in front of it (v.4a; cf. vv.11–12). The building’s lower floor also has an eastern entrance (v.9). In front of this eastern entrance is a wall parallel to the east end of the building (vv.7–8a). Perhaps this wall provides a separation from the rest of the activity of the outer court, giving privacy.
10–12 The southern building is similar to the northern building in every facet, providing perfect symmetry, which is a hallmark of the overall design. The singular problem found in these verses is the reading of the word “south” rather than the word “eastward” in the MT of v.10. The LXX reads “south.” In this case, this is most likely the better reading. The explicit statement in vv.12–13 that this is a building on the south supports this view. Likewise, the parallel to the northern building along with the symmetry of the entire complex argues for the building to be on the south.
13–14 These two buildings provide a holy place for the ministering Zadokite priests to eat the holy offerings and change from their holy ministering garments to everyday clothes. The priests are to eat portions of the grain, sin, and guilt offerings here. This building also provides a place to store these portions of the sacrifices. The priests leave the priestly garments in these buildings. In doing so they continue to distinguish between the holy and the profane.
NOTE
4 The use of 
(mahalak, “inner passageway”) and the assertion that this “passage,” or “step,” is ten cubits wide but only one cubit long are difficult problems. Since there is no textual question concerning mahalak, a common solution is to accept the LXX and Syriac readings that would change the 
(ʾeḥāt, “one”) to one hundred cubits, the length of the northern side of the building. Though this is an option, the term mahalak can be rendered “step.” By continuing to accept the MT, one can understand the phrase as a singular step that is ten cubits wide and one cubit long.
v. The measurement of the temple area (42:15–20)
15When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he led me out by the east gate and measured the area all around: 16He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits. 17He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 18He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 19Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod. 20So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.
15–20 The divine messenger brings Ezekiel outside the entire temple complex through the eastern gate (v.15). Ezekiel is shown the vast area that will be set aside for the sanctuary. It measures five hundred square. But what measurement is used? The text uses the word “rod,” which makes the area almost a square mile. Some immediately reject the term “rod” and replace it with “cubit,” the standard of measure in these verses. As support, the deletion of “rods” in the LXX is cited. The use of “rod” four times in vv.16–18, however, makes it hard to argue for its deletion. “Rod” could be used only to describe the instrument of measurement, while the “cubit” is understood as the unit of measurement, as in 43:16–7; 45:1–2; and 46:22. This would be consistent with the total measurements in 40:15–41:13, which envision a five-hundred-cubit-square temple complex.
Some argue that an area five hundred rods square is too large and does not fit the topography well. But Zechariah and other prophets demonstrate that the whole topography will undergo geographical modifications at the beginning of the millennium, so such could be possible. However, a five-hundred-square-cubit precinct seems to fit the context best. It does not violate the grammar, syntax, and style of the text.
The wall surrounding the temple precinct separates the holy (the temple complex and its worship) from the common (or profane) terrain of everyday life (v.20b). Israel frequently failed to make this distinction in her past history.
NOTE
16 The MT reads 
(ʾēmôt, “cubits”) instead of 
(mē ʾôt, “one hundred”). A large number of Hebrew MSS along with the Qere reading and the unquestionable parallel readings in vv.17–19 argue strongly that the text should read mē ʾôt. For the problem of 
(qānîm, “rods”), see the commentary section.
b. The return of the glory of God to the temple (43:1–12)
1Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, 2and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 3The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 4The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
6While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. 7He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places. 8When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. 9Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever.
10“Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, 11and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.
12“This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.
COMMENTARY
1–5 Ezekiel is brought to the outer court’s eastern gate, from where he looks toward the east (v.1). Here Ezekiel sees the most important aspect of this entire apocalyptic vision: God’s glory returning to the temple!
The glory that Ezekiel sees has the same likeness of God’s glory that he saw in his inaugural visions on the river Kebar (chs. 1, 3) and the glory that departed from the temple during his announcement of destruction on Jerusalem for spiritual adultery (chs. 8, 10–11). Since Jerusalem’s destruction, God’s glory had neither been present in Jerusalem nor among the chosen people. Israel was under discipline in Babylon and would remain under discipline until the end times. Then she will be cleansed and restored to her Promised Land by the Messiah. According to the biblical record, this manifestation of God’s glory does not fill either Zerubbabel’s temple or Herod’s temple.
The recipients of Ezekiel’s messages and visions will be encouraged by this vision. Some will remember the glory of Solomon’s temple, and this temple will be vastly superior to Solomon’s (cf. Hag 2:3). This vision makes it clear that God’s glory will return after Israel has been cleansed and after the millennial temple has been constructed according to the divine plan given in chs. 40–42. It will be similar to the dedication of the tabernacle (Ex 40:34–35) and the Solomonic temple (1Ki 8:10–11; 2Ch 5:13–14; 7:1–3) when God’s glory filled them. What a glorious climax to God’s good and wonderful plan for Israel!
Ezekiel sees the marvelous glory of God coming from the east (v.2), entering the eastern gate (v.4), and completely filling the temple (v.5). It causes the entire land to become radiant with God’s glory. The sound of its coming and its presence are just like the sound of rushing water Ezekiel heard from the cherubim’s wings in the previous visions of God’s glory (cf. 1:24). God has indeed returned to dwell among the chosen people!
6–12 The significance of this vision of God’s glory is so important that the Lord personally interprets it to Ezekiel (v.6). The temple is to be God’s throne and residence within Israel forever (v.7). The promises of chs. 33–37 will be fulfilled when God’s glory returns. The glory of God will fill the temple, and God’s holiness will permeate the entire temple complex. This is instructive both for Ezekiel’s contemporaries and for the house of Israel living in the messianic age. When God’s glory returns, Israel will never again defile the Lord’s holy name (cf. 39:7) through her religious prostitution in the temple precinct (cf. 2Ki 23:7) and the burial of the corpses of kings in their high places (v.7).
The indication is that these burial high places of Ezekiel’s day might have been located within the temple area, though the Scriptures do not explicitly mention such. The kings placed their palaces right next to the temple on the south and thereby defiled God’s name with detestable practices (v.8). Israel religiously defiled the Lord’s name through her idolatrous practices on high places, so the Lord uses this vision to exhort Israel to put away these practices of defilement (v.9).
Ezekiel’s contemporaries will be ashamed of their sins when they hear about this vision with the promised return of God’s glory and see the new temple’s design (vv.10–11). Likewise, millennial Israel will be ashamed for all her past sins as she reflects on the holiness of God’s glory and the perfection of the new temple’s design in contrast to her past unfaithfulness and defilement. The Lord instructs Israel in the vision’s interpretation to follow carefully the detailed plan of the millennial temple in its construction so that God’s glory might fill it.
There is only one basic law for the temple area: the entire area on the temple mountain will be holy. The stress will be on God’s holiness and his place of rule and residency. Holiness will be the emphasis in the millennium. All worship structures and regulations are to demonstrate God’s holiness. A continual contrast will be observed between the holy and the profane. The Messiah will judge unholiness with the rod of iron (cf. Ps 2:8–9; Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15)! Verse 12 provides a transition between the return of God’s glory to the temple and the description of the altar in 43:13–27.
NOTES
3 The MT reads 
(bebō ʾî, “when I came”), whereas a few Hebrew MSS, Theodotion, and the Vulgate read 
(bebō ʾô, “when he came”). In the first case, the meaning indicates that Ezekiel is coming to destroy (first common singular); in the second case, the Lord will be coming to destroy (third masculine singular). A scribe may have confused the final yod in the MT with a final waw, which would explain the variant. “When he came” fits the context better.
7 The last phrase of this verse (cf. also v.9) presents some difficulties in translation. The term 
(peger, “corpse, carcass”; GK 7007) is perhaps used metaphorically in Leviticus 26:30 for “lifeless . . . idols,” though in the same verse the same term is understood literally as “dead bodies.” It seems best to take this term in Ezekiel in its normal meaning rather than to understand a metaphorical use (which is used only once and is acccompanied with the word for idol). The MT reads 
(bāmôtām, “in their high places”). Some MSS, Theodotion, and the Targum read bemōtām (“in their death”). Though the latter seems easier, the MT reading could equally make sense in this context of religious pollution of the temple area.
c. Temple ordinances (43:13–46:24)
OVERVIEW
The Lord gives directives for maintaining holiness as the temple functions are performed. Instructions are given for the construction and consecration of the altar of sacrifice (43:13–27) as well as regulations to govern the proper use of the temple (44:1–9). Ezekiel 44:10–31 sets forth ordinances for priestly conduct. The land’s sacred district is marked out in 45:1–8. A historical exhortation to Ezekiel’s contemporary leaders interrupts the discussion of temple regulations (45:9–12). The worship duties of the prince (leader) are delineated in 45:13–46:18, followed by the manner in which the temple’s priestly kitchens are to function (46:19–24).
i. The altar of sacrifice: description and dedication (43:13–27)
13“These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits, that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around the edge. And this is the height of the altar: 14From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge it is two cubits high and a cubit wide, and from the smaller ledge up to the larger ledge it is four cubits high and a cubit wide. 15The altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth. 16The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide. 17The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide, with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around. The steps of the altar face east.”
18Then he said to me, “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built: 19You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 20You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, and so purify the altar and make atonement for it. 21You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.
22“On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull. 23When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. 24You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.
25“For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect. 26For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it. 27At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
COMMENTARY
13–17 Though not all the terms used to describe the altar of sacrifice have precise meanings, the basic design is sufficiently clear (cf. fig. 4). The altar is located in the inner court between the sanctuary and the eastern gate (cf. fig. 2, A).
The altar is described from the bottom to the top. The bottom portion (B) is composed of a one-cubit-high base with a one-cubit-wide gutter around the altar (v.13). The gutter has a rim of one span in length (approx. nine inches; v.13c). On top of this base are three sections of the altar (vv.14–17a). Above the base (B) is a two-cubit-high section (I), sixteen cubits square, with a one-cubit ledge around it (vv.14a, 17). This ledge forms a gutter one cubit wide, with a one-half-cubit-high rim. The middle section (E) is four cubits high and fourteen cubits square, including a one-cubit-wide ledge around it (vv.14b, 17a). The hearth (H), four cubits high and twelve cubits square (vv.15–16), forms the altar’s top portion. One horn (HA) projects from each of the four corners. Steps (S) lead to the top on the eastern side, but their dimensions are not given. These steps contrast with the altar of sacrifice in the Mosaic system, in which it was forbidden to ascend steps on the altar (Ex 20:24–26). This millennial altar is very large—approximately thirty-two feet square at the base and approximately nineteen feet high!
18–27 After the altar of sacrifice is constructed, it is necessary to cleanse and dedicate it (v.18). Cleansing is needed because everything associated with human beings becomes tainted by sin and needs to be cleansed, especially if it is to be used in the worship of the Lord. A similar cleansing and dedication took place with the altars of sacrifice for the tabernacle (Ex 29:36–37; Lev 8:14–17) and Solomon’s temple (2Ch 7:9).
Ritual cleansing and atonement for the altar takes seven days (vv.25–27). On the first day Ezekiel is to bring a young bull to the Zadokite priests for them to offer as a sin offering. Ezekiel is to take some of the blood of the sacrifice and put it on the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the altar’s upper ledge, and all around the rim (vv.19–20a). This sin offering, which J. Milgrom (“Sin-Offering or Purification-Offering?” VT 21 [1971]: 237–39) clarifies as a purification offering, will cleanse, or purify, the altar from its sinfulness, thereby making atonement for the altar. Atonement here has the idea of wiping away or cleansing, after which the altar will be holy (v.20b; cf. Lev 8:14–15). The remainder of the sin offering will be burned in a designated part of the temple area (cf. 42:20) but outside the sanctuary precinct per se (v.21, Lev 8:17).
Key:
H: Altar hearth (Eze 43:15–16)
E: Enclosure (Eze 43:14, 17)
I: Interior (Eze 43:14, 17)
B: Bottom (Eze 43:13)
HA: Horns of the altar (Eze 43:20)
S: Steps (Eze 43:17b; cf. Eze 40:47b)
Figure 4 Altar of Sacrifice
On the second and succeeding five days, Ezekiel is to present a male goat without defect, which the priests will offer as a sin (or purification) offering in order to continue to purify the altar (vv.22, 25a). After this ceremonial cleansing with the sin offering, the priests will symbolize the altar’s consecration by offering a young bull and a ram, both without defect and sprinkled with salt, as burnt offerings before the Lord (vv.23–24, 25b). With these seven daily offerings the altar will be purged and cleansed in dedication (v.26, cf. Ex 29:36–37).
After the seven-day ceremonial cleansing and dedication of the altar, the priests will begin to present the people’s burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar (v.27a). Not only will the Lord then accept their offerings, but, because they have properly consecrated the altar, God will also accept the worshipers. What a glorious truth! Because of the Messiah’s sacrifice, all who believe are accepted!
NOTES
13–16 For an alternative arrangement of the various parts of the altar, see Block, Ezekiel 25–48, 597–601.
20, 26 Three verbs connote cleansing and purification. 
(ḥiṭṭê ʾ, “purify”; GK 2627) conveys “cleansing from sin.” 
(kippēr, “atone”; GK 4105) implies “wiping away sin, purging,” or “cleansing.” 
(ṭāhēr; GK 3197) is the general Hebrew verb for “clean.”
In v.26 
(mil ʾû yādāw, “dedicate”) literally means “they filled his hands.” This idiom likely originates from a similar Babylonian expression depicting a ceremony in which a person was installed with dignity.
ii. Regulations for the eastern gate (44:1–3)
1Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. 2The LORD said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. 3The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way.”
COMMENTARY
1–2 The outer eastern gate (cf. 40:6–16) must remain closed permanently, out of reverence for the gate’s special sanctity, for it is the gate through which the glory of the Lord entered into the temple precinct (vv.1–2; cf. 43:1–4). This gate is not the “golden gate” located in the eastern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem today. The dimensions of the two temple areas are vastly different. The structures of the current “temple area” will not exist in the millennial period.
3 Only the “prince” is permitted to enter this gate. He must enter and leave by way of the portico from the outer court only. His only function within that gate is to eat bread in the presence of the Lord, but exactly which meal or for what purpose is not stated.
The identity of this “prince” has been a puzzle to many. The meaning of the Hebrew word nāśî ʾ (GK 5954) has in itself contributed to the problem. The English word “prince” connotes royalty. But the word nāśî ʾ is best translated “leader” (cf. E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nāśî ʾ,” CBQ 25 [1963]: 111–17). This leader is not the Messiah, for the leader makes a sin offering for himself (cf. 45:22). If the “leader” were Jesus Christ, then he, the Messiah, would be needing cleansing from sin. Such is not possible (cf. Heb 4:15). In addition, this leader has natural children (46:16)—another impossibility for the Messiah. The leader is only a man. Some have identified him with David, citing 34:23–24 and 37:24 as support. But these passages have been shown above to apply to the Messiah, not David.
The identity of the leader is unknown. He functions as the people’s leader in their millennial worship, almost like a high priest but not having the same role and function.
iii. The priests and the service of the temple (44:4–16)
4Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.
5The LORD said to me, “Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the LORD. Give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. 6Say to the rebellious house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Enough of your detestable practices, O house of Israel! 7In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant. 8Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary. 9This is what the Sovereign LORD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.
10“‘The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin. 11They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. 12But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign LORD. 13They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices. 14Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.
15“‘But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.’”
COMMENTARY
4–5 This vision has emphasized God’s glory and the resulting holiness required in all aspects of millennial worship. Ezekiel is brought again to see the Lord’s glory filling the temple. His immediate response is reverence and awe as he falls prostrate in worship (v.4). The Lord uses this experience to impress on Ezekiel the importance of holiness, for holiness must characterize the priests and their actions.
The priests will instruct the rest of the people in holiness by teaching it through their lives, their priestly function, and their word. For this reason Ezekiel is exhorted to watch and listen carefully to all the temple regulations, especially those concerning the entrances and exits (v.5). There the priests will meet and serve the people while maintaining the sanctity of temple’s inner court and sanctuary.
6–9 The religions of the ancient Near East frequently used foreign captives as temple servants to aid the priests. The Lord’s rebuke of Israel in these verses reflects ancient Israel’s adoption of this practice. This custom was first observed in Israel when Joshua made the Gibeonites temple servants (Jos 9:23, 27). Israel seems to have continued this practice through the time of Ezra (Ezr 8:20); however, the Mosaic covenant stated that foreigners who were uncircumcised in flesh and heart were not to minister in the temple in priestly functions. The same applied to all other Israelites not of the Aaronic line (cf. Nu 3:10).
Perhaps originally some of these foreigners had been circumcised both in the flesh and in heart so that they could enter the temple area lawfully and make an offering (cf. Nu 15:14). Certainly Isaiah 56:3, 6 indicate that such would be possible in the messianic kingdom (cf. Zec 14:21). But Israel had broken the Mosaic covenant with the detestable practice of having foreign temple servants not only entering the sanctuary but also taking charge of temple duties. By their serving priestly functions related to the holy things (vv.6–8), they had desecrated the temple. If these foreigners had been circumcised in flesh and heart, they could have assisted the priests. But foreigners should never have been permitted to take over the priests’ functions. This showed a great disregard for God’s covenant on the part of the priests.
The Mosaic covenant called for all to be circumcised in their hearts as well as in the flesh, the sign of the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Lev 26:41; Dt 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:25). There must be a change of heart toward the Lord and his ways, a true circumcising of the hardness of the heart’s foreskin. This was necessary for the Israelite and the foreigner if they were to enter into a proper relationship with the Lord.
Thus, in order to maintain the holiness of the sacred area, an explicit command is given: No foreigner, uncircumcised of heart and flesh, may enter the temple, not even those living in Israel (v.9). But the implication is that the foreigner circumcised in heart and flesh can enter as any other person, though he cannot serve in any manner as a priest.
10–14 The Lord clarifies who may minister in the millennial temple and in what manner. The Levites will be in charge of the temple gates, where they will slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people and assist them in their worship (v.11). The Levites will also be responsible for all work done in the temple, perhaps including those duties previously handled by foreigners, such as guarding the gates (v.14).
Limitations are placed on the ministry of Levites. They will not be permitted to serve the Lord as priests, nor will they be allowed to come near any of the Lord’s holy things, especially the most holy offerings (v.13a). They will serve neither in the inner court nor in the temple itself. The reason for this restriction is explicit (vv.10, 12, 13b). As a group they strayed from the Lord in the past and pursued idolatry. In so doing they also led the nation into this sin (cf. ch. 8). To name a particular Levitical apostasy would only lead to speculation. But they are to be held accountable for these past transgressions even as they were warned in Numbers 18:23. They must bear sin’s consequences and shame, which are always difficult to hide.
15–16 The Levitical descendants of Zadok were first placed into major priestly functions under Solomon (1Ki 2:26–35), though this had been foretold in 1 Samuel 2:35 (cf. 2Sa 8:17; 15:24–29; 1Ch 6:7–8). They alone had remained faithful to their duties in the Lord’s house when all the rest of Israel had gone astray from the Lord (v.15a). Because of that faithfulness, the Lord will give to them a unique ministry before him in the millennial sanctuary. They alone will stand before the Lord to offer sacrifices (v.15). They alone will be permitted to enter the temple and approach the Lord’s table to perform his service of worship (v.16). Exactly which “table” is meant is not certain, though the only “table” within the temple that has been mentioned is the altar within the temple’s outer sanctuary (41:22).
The altar of sacrifice is not called a “table” in Ezekiel 40–48, though this term is used for the altar of sacrifice in the Mosaic system. It is clear from chs. 40–46 that the Zadokites will offer sacrifices for the prince and the people daily, on the Sabbaths, and at appointed festivals. What a great privilege and blessing will be theirs because of their past faithfulness to God’s commands!
NOTES
15 Zadok was the son of Ahitub, a descendant of Aaron through the line of Eliezer (cf. 1Ch 6:50–53). He was a priest alongside Abiathar during David’s reign (cf. 2Sa 8:17) and showed loyalty to David during Absalom’s rebellion (cf. 2Sa 15:24–29; 19:11–13). When the house of Abiathar (cf. Eli) was deposed by Solomon (cf. 1Sa 2:27–36; 1Ki 2:27), the Zadokite priesthood remained. The Zadokite line remained until Antiochus IV, a Gentile, inappropriately appointed non-Zadokite Menelaus to the high priesthood in 171 BC. Interestingly, the Qumran community looked forward to the restoration of the Zadokite priesthood.
15–16 Isaiah 66:21 seems to contradict the exclusive priestly ministry of the Zadokite Levitical line during the millennium. Isaiah 66, however, primarily reflects the conditions of the eternal state, whereas Ezekiel 44 is discussing primarily millennial worship. (See discussion on the relationship of Ezekiel 40–48 to the millennium and the eternal state in the Overview to chs. 40–48.) Perhaps these separate emphases help explain the differences, with a broader priestly ministry in the eternal state, though the close relationship between the millennium and the eternal state seems always to exist in the prophets.
iv. Ordinances for the Zadokite priesthood (44:17–31)
17“‘When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. 18They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire. 19When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so that they do not consecrate the people by means of their garments.
20“‘They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed. 21No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22They must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests. 23They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
24“‘In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.
25“‘A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself. 26After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days. 27On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Sovereign LORD.
28“‘I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession. 29They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings; and everything in Israel devoted to the LORD will belong to them. 30The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household. 31The priests must not eat anything, bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals.’”
COMMENTARY
17–19 Various regulations and functions for the Zadokite priests are spelled out in the remainder of ch. 44. The clothing worn when ministering highlights the holiness of their ministry. Linen is to be worn when these priests enter the inner court to serve (vv.17–18; cf. Ex 28:42; Lev 16:4). The linen not only depicts purity by its whiteness, but its coolness keeps the priests from perspiring and thereby becoming unclean. In addition to the outer linen garment, the priests are to wear linen undergarments and a linen turban. Woolen clothes, or those made of material that might tend to make the priests hot so that they perspire, are forbidden.
When the priests leave the inner court to go out among the common people, they are required to change their clothes (cf. Lev 6:11) and leave their linen garments in designated sacred rooms (42:1–14). In this way they will not improperly make the people holy with their ministering clothes (v.19). Contact with a holy thing will consecrate. The Levitical concept of transmission of holiness concerns the transmitting of the state of holiness (Ex 29:37; 30:29; Lev 6:27). A person or object will enter into the state of holiness in the sense of becoming subject to restrictions of holiness to which other holy people or objects are subject (cf. TWOT, 2:786–87). Haggai 2:12 demonstrates that such holy objects consecrate that which they have touched, but nothing else (i.e., they do not communicate holiness to the third degree), while defilement spreads. Ezekiel prohibits wearing the consecrated priestly garments in everyday situations (i.e., outside the inner court) to avoid diffusion of the priesthood’s state of holy restriction (cf. Lev 21:1–8). This will aid in maintaining a clear distinction between the holy and the profane.
20–22 The Zadokite priests are to keep several additional regulations. They are not to shave their heads or allow their hair to grow long; it must be trimmed properly (v.20). Shaving the head was often associated with pagan religion, in which hair was offered to the gods in order to establish a relationship. Perhaps this is at least one of the reasons for forbidding the shaving of the head. Long hair could depict mourning. Priests are not to practice idolatry or pagan mourning rites (cf. Lev 10:6; 21:5, 10). As this hair regulation was a sign of holiness for the priests in the Mosaic system (Lev 21:6), so it must be in the millennial system.
No priest is to drink wine while ministering (v.21; cf. Lev 10:9). He is to make sure that he has full control of himself when performing the Lord’s service. This is holiness.
A Zadokite priest is permitted to marry an Israelite virgin or the widow of a priest. This will maintain the holiness of marriage. He cannot marry any other widow or a divorced woman (v.22). This restriction, which was true for the high priest in the Mosaic system, will now be applied to all priests (cf. Lev 21:7, 14).
23–24 The reasons for the above regulations for the Zadokite priests are here stated. They will enable the priests to teach the Israelites the difference between the holy and the common through the visual lessons of their priestly lives. The above regulations (vv.17–22) show the people how to distinguish between clean and unclean acts and objects (v.23; cf. Lev 10:10–11; 11:47; Dt 33:10; contra Eze 22:26). In addition, these priests will serve as judges for any dispute, making their decision according to God’s ordinances (v.24a; cf. Dt 17:9; 19:17; 21:5). They will always keep God’s laws and every decree concerning the appointed feasts and the Sabbaths, the sign of the Mosaic covenant (v.24b).
25–27 There will be individuals with natural bodies entering the millennium from the period of the tribulation. These, of course, will ultimately die physically, though physical life will be much longer during the millennium (cf. Isa 65:20). A priest is defiled by coming near a dead person, and so this is forbidden except in the case of a member of his immediate family (v.25; Lev 21:1–3). Though the priest may care for a dead family member, he will be defiled. It will be necessary for him to be cleansed according to biblical guidelines (cf. Nu 19:11–19) and to wait seven days, the period of cleansing (v.26). When a priest returns to minister in the inner court after defilement and cleansing, it will be necessary for him to offer a sin offering as a purification offering for himself (v.27).
28–31 The Lord will make all provisions for the priests. He will be their inheritance and their possession. No other possessions are to be given to them except those specified in these verses (v.28). The Lord will provide the priests’ food through the people’s offerings. The priests will eat from the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. They will also partake of everything devoted to the Lord by the Israelites, the best of all the firstfruits, all special gifts, and the ground meal of the people (vv.29–30a; cf. Nu 18:10–13). A “devoted” thing (ḥērem) is something given by an Israelite that in no way can be regained or redeemed (cf. Lev 27:21, 28; Nu 18:14). But the priests are not allowed to eat anything that has been torn by a wild animal or is found dead (v.31; cf. Lev 17:5; 22:8; Dt 14:21).
The Israelites are promised blessing for their faithful giving to the priests in this way (v.30b; cf. Mal 3:8–12). There is always blessing in giving to the Lord!
NOTE
28 The NIV’s “I am to be the only inheritance the priests have” is certainly a free rendering of the MT’s 
(wehāyetâ lāhem lenaḥalâ ʾanî naḥalātām, “And it will be for their inheritance [that] I am their inheritance”), though it may be considered a dynamic equivalent.
v. The sacred area of the Holy Land (45:1–8)
1“‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy. 2Of this, a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land. 3In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the LORD. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. 5An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.
6“‘You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to the whole house of Israel.
7“‘The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions. 8This land will be his possession in Israel. And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the house of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes.’”
Key:
L: Levites’ portion (Eze 45:5; 48:13–14)
P: Prince’s portion (Eze 45:7–8; 48:21–22)
S: Sanctuary (Eze 45:2, 4; 48:10)
Z: Priests’ (sons of Zadok) portion (Eze 45:4; 48:10–11)
F: Area for food for the city workers (Eze 48:18–19)
The allotments are only estimated since the Scripture is clear that major topographical changes will occur prior to the millennium.
Figure 5 Land Allotment in the Millennium (Eze 45:1–8; 47:13–48:35)
1–8 A specific portion of Israel’s land in the millennium will be set apart as a sacred area for the priests, Levites, sanctuary, and prince (cf. fig. 5, items C, L, P, S, Z, F). The entire area will be a contribution to the Lord by Israel. That land will not really belong to the priests but to the Lord. In this sense, also, the Lord will continue to be the priests’ inheritance.
This contribution to the Lord for a holy area will measure 25,000 cubits by 20,000 cubits. Actually, the MT includes no word for a standard of measurement. This is because a standard has already been given in 42:15–20—most likely cubits (see comments).
This area of 25,000 cubits by 20,000 cubits is further subdivided into two equal areas of 25,000 cubits by 10,000 cubits (vv.3–5). One is a sacred portion (Z) for the Zadokite priests, who are to minister to the Lord in the temple (v.4; cf. 44:15–16; 48:9–12). Here they will locate their houses. In the center of this area would be the 500-cubit-square area for the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place (v.3). This 500-cubit-square area would have a 50-cubit-wide border of open land all around it as a barrier to separate it from all else. This will stress the holiness of the sanctuary area. The centrality of the sanctuary in the midst of the priests’ area argues for the centrality of the priest’s portion in the midst of the sacred contribution (see fig. 5; cf. 48:8–22).
The other area of 25,000 cubits by 10,000 cubits (L) will belong to the Levites, who will assist the Zadokite priests in the temple (v.5; cf. 44:10–14; 48:13–14). They will use the area for their towns. This entire area will run parallel to the portion for the Zadokite priests.
Another area of 25,000 cubits by 5,000 cubits, south of the Zadokite sacred area, will provide for the city (F; v.6; cf. 48:15–19, 30–35). This city is most likely Jerusalem, though no name is given. The city area will belong to the entire house of Israel.
Finally, an area is allotted to the “prince” (P; vv.7–8). His portion is the land immediately to the east and west of the entire sacred area, composed of the Levites’ portion, the Zadokite priests’ portion, and the city area (cf. 48:21–22). It will parallel the tribal boundaries of Judah and Benjamin (see fig. 5 for the relationship of these areas).
Ezekiel concludes this section by declaring that Israel’s millennial leaders will no longer oppress God’s people, as leaders did in the past (cf. 11:1–13; 14:1–11; 20:1–23:49; 34:1–10). They will allow the people to possess their own land according to their tribes without any attempts to confiscate land, as happened in the past (cf. 48:1–29).
NOTES
1 The MT’s 
(ʿaśārâ, “ten”) would be read better as 
(ʿeśrîm, “twenty”) with the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate. Verses 3, 5, and 48:13 show that this sacred area is to encompass both the 10,000-cubit Levitical area and the 10,000-cubit Zadokite area—the total being 20,000 cubits.
5 The LXX has read 
(ʿārîm lašabet, “towns to live [in]”) over against the MT’s 
(ʿesrîm lešākōt, “twenty chambers”). The variants can easily be attributed to mental error of the scribes. The LXX’s reading fits the context best and is preferred.
vi. The role of the prince in the millennium (45:9–46:18)
9“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 10You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah and an accurate bath. 11The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both. 12The shekel is to consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels equal one mina.
13“‘This is the special gift you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley. 14The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (which consists of ten baths or one homer, for ten baths are equivalent to a homer). 15Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16All the people of the land will participate in this special gift for the use of the prince in Israel. 17It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths—at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.
18“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. 19The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.
21“‘In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. 22On that day the prince is to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. 23Every day during the seven days of the Feast he is to provide seven bulls and seven rams without defect as a burnt offering to the LORD, and a male goat for a sin offering. 24He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.
25“‘During the seven days of the Feast, which begins in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.
46:1“‘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. 2The 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 worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening. 3On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the LORD at the entrance to that gateway. 4The burnt offering the prince brings to the LORD on the Sabbath day is to be six male lambs and a ram, all without defect. 5The grain offering given with the ram is to be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs is to be as much as he pleases, along with a hin of oil for each ephah. 6On the day of the New Moon he is to offer a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all without defect. 7He 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 with each ephah. 8When the prince enters, he is to go in through the portico of the gateway, and he is to come out the same way.
9“‘When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, 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 he entered, but each is to go out the opposite gate. 10The prince is to be among them, going in when they go in and going out when they go out.
11“‘At the festivals and the appointed feasts, the grain offering is to be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as one pleases, along with a hin of oil for each ephah. 12When 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.
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. 14You are also to provide with it morning by morning a grain offering, consisting of a sixth of an ephah with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour. The presenting of this grain offering to the LORD is a lasting ordinance. 15So the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided morning by morning for a regular burnt offering.
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. 17If, 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. 18The 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 none of my people will be separated from his property.’”
9–12 (a) An exhortation to the contemporary unrighteous leaders. The concluding verse of the preceding section implies that the leaders in Israel’s past and in Ezekiel’s day had seized property that was not theirs (cf. 46:18). For that reason, Ezekiel exhorts his contemporary princes (leaders) concerning their violence and oppression through unjust and inaccurate scales and standards of measure. This kind of unrighteous conduct of leaders must stop (v.9). It may not exist in the messianic kingdom.
The proper standards of measure are given. Linear measurements in the ancient Near East were not as accurate as those of today (see comments on 40:5). This was also true of measurements of volume. Ezekiel delineates the proper standard for measurements of volume in the terms of his day. An ephah (approx. one bushel) was a dry measure equivalent to a bath (approx. nine gallons), a liquid measure. Both were equivalent to one-tenth of an homer (approx. ninety gallons or eleven bushels), which was the basic standard of measure for volume (v.11). Ezekiel also exhorts his contemporaries to make sure that their scales and measures are accurate according to this standard (v.10).
Likewise, Ezekiel clarifies the proper standard for weights. One shekel weight (about two-fifths of an ounce) consists of twenty gerahs (each about one-fiftieth of an ounce). Sixty shekels comprised one mina (about twenty-four ounces; v.12). It is important that the leaders of the people model justice in all business dealings (cf. Pr 11:1).
13–20 (b) Making atonement for the people and the sanctuary. Contrary to the unrighteous behavior of Israel’s past leaders, Israel’s prince (leader) in the millennium will be faithful to the Lord’s righteous requirements. One of the prince’s duties will be to make atonement for the people.
Atonement is a word that carries many connotations. Most view this term theologically with a sense of expiation for sin of a person or a people. Such was the picture-lesson of the Day of Atonement in the Mosaic system (cf. Lev 16). The concept of atonement may also stress purification, especially when atonement is made for things. In either case, the atonement rituals of the Mosaic system and those of the millennial system described in these chapters are picture-lessons and reminders of humankind’s sinfulness and need for a complete cleansing from sin and forgiveness through the efficacious, atoning sacrifice of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. No other sacrifice will ever provide efficacious atonement. The full and complete provision for forgiveness of humanity’s sin has been provided once and for all by Jesus Christ’s shed blood, when he delivered humankind from all sin by the substitute of his life for ours (cf. Overview of chs. 40–48). In this context purification of people is the focus.
In the wilderness the Israelites made special contributions of materials for the tabernacle’s construction (cf. Ex 25:2–7; 35:5, 21, 24; 36:3, 6). In a similar manner, Israel in the messianic kingdom will make contributions of grain, oil, and sheep to the prince from which he will provide the sacrificial materials for making atonement for them (vv.13–16; cf. Ex 30:13–15; Lev 1:4). The contribution from each Israelite is one-sixth of an ephah (about one-sixth of a bushel) for each harvested homer (about eleven bushels) of wheat or barley (v.13). They gave one-tenth of a bath (about one gallon) of oil for each cor (or liquid homer—about ninety gallons) of oil (v.14) and one sheep for every flock of two hundred (v.15a).
From this contribution the prince, as Israel’s patron and guardian, will provide grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to the priests for the people’s atonement (vv.15b, 17b; cf. Lev 9:7; 10:17). The prince (or leader) will bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, fellowship offerings, sin offerings, and drink offerings to make atonement for Israel at each of her festivals, New Moon celebrations, and Sabbaths (v.17). These rituals of atonement are commemorative of the complete and finished work of Christ for sin through the sacrifice of himself. They are in no way efficacious. They are picture-lessons and reminders to the people of their Messiah’s marvelous saving work. What praise and worship they give to the Lord for this gracious provision for sin (cf. Rev 5:7–14)!
These acts commemorating the atonement are limited to the weekly Sabbath, the celebration of the New Moons, and all the appointed festivals in Israel (cf. Lev 23:1–44; Nu 28:1–29:40). No Day of Atonement is mentioned. That day had its full fruition in the day of efficacious atonement provided by Christ on the cross. Neither are the people asked to contribute any bulls, goats, or rams, which will later be specified as the animals for sin and burnt offerings (cf. 45:21–25; 46:2–8, 11–12), in addition to the daily burnt offering (46:13–14). Though data is insufficient, perhaps the prince, not the people, will provide these animals for the atoning sin and burnt offerings (cf. vv.18, 22; 2Ch 31:3) in order to symbolize that God alone makes that provision; the people cannot. The offerer in the Mosaic system was reminded of the substitutionary death for his own sins when bringing an animal for a sin offering. In the millennium the stress seems to be that God provides the substitute, as the prince provides from his own resources the bulls, rams, and male goats.
As vv.18–20 testify, it is also the millennial prince’s duty to purify the temple sanctuary. On the first day of the first month (Nisan) of the ecclesiastical year, the prince (“you”) will bring a sin offering of a young bull without defect in order to purify the temple sanctuary (v.18; cf. Lev 16:16, 33; 22:20). The sin of humankind that defiles the temple’s holiness necessitates this act (v.20b). Even the Zadokite priests, being human, can sin. Therefore the temple sanctuary must be cleansed through this atoning (purifying) sacrifice to remind all of the holiness of God and the sanctuary (v.20c; cf. 2Ch 7:1–10; 29:20–24).
The priests will take blood from the sacrificial bull and place it on the temple’s doorposts (where the priests enter; cf. 41:21), on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar of sacrifice, and on the gateposts of the inner court (v.19). This is to be repeated on the seventh day of the month (v.20a). Through this ceremony the temple is purified so that all may worship the Lord in holiness and purity. Whether this ritual is an inauguration purification of the temple or an annual purification ceremony is not clear from the text.
45:21–46:15 (c) Leadership in worship. The prince is to lead in the observance of the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. These are the only two feasts specifically mentioned in the worship procedure of Ezekiel.
The Passover (45:21; cf. Ex 12:1–14; Lev 23:5–8; Nu 28:16–25) is to be observed in a manner similar to the Mosaic observance. The day of Passover will be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan). The prince will provide a sin offering for himself and the people in commemoration of Christ’s work (v.22). The Feast of Unleavened Bread will continue for seven days, during which no one will eat leavened bread. Each day the prince will make a daily sacrifice of seven bulls and seven rams, all without defect, as a burnt offering (commitment) to the Lord. The prince will also offer daily a male goat as a sin offering for the nation (v.23; cf. Nu 28:19–24). A grain offering of one ephah mixed with one hin (about twelve pints) of oil accompanies each burnt offering (v.24).
But there are significant differences in the millennial Passover. The prince plays a leading role, providing the sacrificial animals. Most significantly, the sacrifice changes from an unblemished lamb to a bull on the first day and bulls, rams, and goats on succeeding days. Grain offerings are introduced. The emphasis shifts from deliverance to purgative concerns. Perhaps these changes reflect Christ’s fulfillment of the lamb’s role and the millennial concern for holiness.
The Feast of Tabernacles begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Tishri) and lasts for seven days (v.25; cf. Lev 23:33–43; Nu 29:12–38, where minor variations are observed). The same daily sacrifices made for Passover will be made also for the Feast of Tabernacles. This observance provides a continual reminder of God’s gracious fulfillment of the promise to restore Israel securely and permanently to the Promised Land. Surely the Israelites will give continual praise and thanksgiving to God for this!
According to 46:1–8 the Sabbath and New Moon observance will be part of the worship ritual during the millennium. It may seem incongruous that the Sabbath, the sign of the Mosaic covenant (cf. Ex 31:13, 16–17), is to be observed in the millennial kingdom though it is not being observed during the church age under the new covenant. Is this a retrogression in God’s purposes? Not if it is understood that all God’s covenants will be fulfilled and operating in the messianic kingdom (cf. 37:15–28). The Mosaic covenant will find its fruition in the messianic kingdom in that Israel will finally be God’s people and the Lord will be their God—a relationship that was to exist under the Mosaic covenant.
The pictorial sacrifices have their reality in the work of Christ. This does not nullify the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant that are holy. The Mosaic covenant showed Israel how to live a holy life in relationship with God, and that type of life is still valid under the new covenant (cf. Jer 31:33–34; Ro 8:4); therefore, for the Mosaic covenant and the new covenant to be fulfilled side by side is not incongruous. Ezekiel is looking at the situation primarily from his perspective under the Mosaic covenant.
As Israel worked for six days and rested on the Sabbath, so for six days the inner court’s eastern gate will remain closed but on the Sabbath will be open for worship (vv.1, 2c). On the Sabbath the prince will lead his people in worship. He will enter the inner court’s eastern gate and stand by the gatepost enjoying a view of the worship of the people (v.2a). Though the specific post is not clear, it seems likely that he stands by the doorjamb of the portico, since the tables for the slaughter of offerings are in the portico. Here the prince will bring his burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to be sacrificed by the priests, since he cannot enter into the inner court (v.2b; cf. Nu 29:38).
The burnt offering will consist of six male lambs and a ram, all without defect, and each accompanied by a grain offering composed of one ephah of flour for the ram but as much as desired for the lambs. One hin of oil is to be mixed with each ephah of flour (v.5; cf. Nu 28:9–10). The makeup of the fellowship (thanksgiving/peace) offering is not stated, since it was normally a freewill offering of whatever the offerer chose to bring.
The prince will worship at the gate’s inner threshold and then return in the same way that he entered (vv.2c, 8). He will not enter the inner court. The people will worship at the eastern gate in the Lord’s presence as the prince performs these sacrifices and worships within the gate (v.3). The procedure for worship on the New Moons is exactly the same for worship on the Sabbath, except that the makeup of the burnt offering adds a young bull along with the animals offered on the Sabbath (vv.6–7; cf. Nu 28:11–15).
When Israel comes to worship at the time of the appointed feasts (v.9; cf. Lev 23:37), the prince will participate with the people, going in to worship and leaving whenever they do (v.10). The people enter through either the northern or southern gate. They are not to return through the gate they have entered but are to exit through the gate opposite their point of entrance (v.9). By entering one gate and leaving through its opposite, the flow of the festive crowd is regulated and confusion eliminated (cf. 1Co 14:33). Whether these gates are the outer or inner temple gates is not stated, though presumably they are the inner court gates since the people have normal access to the temple’s outer court. If so, this is the first instance of others besides the priests entering the inner court. If the outer gates are in view, the arrangement of entering by one gate and leaving by its opposite pertains only to these special days, probably because of the masses.
The sacrifices offered on these appointed festivals were enumerated when each festival, such as Passover and Tabernacles, was discussed. Otherwise they are not specified. A grain offering of one ephah of flour must accompany each bull or ram offered, and as much flour as desired will make up the grain offering that accompanies the sacrifice of a lamb (v.11). If the prince desires to make a freewill offering of a burnt offering or a fellowship offering of thanksgiving/peace, the eastern inner gate is to be opened specially for this act of worship and then closed when he finishes. This is the only exception to that gate’s remaining closed throughout the normal six days (v.12). The prince is to present his freewill offerings in the same manner as he makes offerings on the Sabbath.
There are, therefore, three occasions for sacrifice: (1) major festivals, (2) freewill offerings, and (3) daily offerings. In the daily offerings the prince leads the people. Each morning he is to present a burnt offering of a one-year-old lamb without defect accompanied by a grain offering of one-sixth of an ephah of flour and one-third of a hin of oil (v.13). Under the Mosaic system the daily burnt offering was offered both morning and evening. Here the offering is to be made only in the morning. The reason is not stated. This daily burnt offering is a regular reminder of the atonement God made for his people. The grain offering accompanying animal sacrifices is a lasting ordinance among God’s people as a reminder of God’s provision (v.14).
46:16–18 (d) Inheritance. Inheritance was extremely important to the Israelites. Laws were established to guarantee that an Israelite retained family property. This concept continues in the messianic kingdom, at least in the case of the prince. Any inheritance given to one of his sons will remain with that son’s descendants (v.16). Anything given to one of his servants will revert to the prince in the Year of Jubilee, or “the year of freedom” (v.17a; cf. Lev 25:10; 27:24). The emphasis is that the prince’s inheritance belongs solely to his sons (v.17b). Ezekiel also stresses that the prince is not permitted to take other people’s property and make it part of his inheritance, as Israel’s past leaders had so often done (v.18a; cf. 34:3–4; 1Ki 21:19; Mic 2:1–2). No one is ever to be separated from his property (v.18b). The fact that the prince has sons argues against his identity as the Messiah.
NOTES
45:13 The term 
(terûmâ, “special gift”; GK 9556) is best rendered “contribution.” In the Mosaic system the word was used for any special offering or gift that an Israelite voluntarily contributed to the Lord. These contributions always went to the priests (cf. Lev 7:14; Dt 12:6, 11, 17). In the millennium the people will contribute supplies for offerings and land for the sacred area (v.1). 
(tārîmû, “you are to offer” [plural]) indicates that the people make this contribution (cf. v.16; NIDOTTE, 4:335–38).
45:18, 20 In both verses the main verbs are second person singular, with the exception of 
(kippartem, “you are to make atonement”) in v.20, which is second person plural. This clarifies that the prince actually makes the offering.
45:20 The NIV’s translation of 
(šōgeh ûmippetî, “going astray and naive”) as “sins unintentionally or through ignorance” confuses the issue and creates theological perplexity concerning the concept of “unintentional sin” (cf. Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward an Old Testament Theology [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978], 117–18).
vii. The priests’ kitchens (46:19–24)
19Then 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. 20He said to me, “This is the place where the priests will cook the guilt offering and the sin offering and bake the grain offering, to avoid bringing them into the outer court and consecrating the people.”
21He then brought me to the outer court and led me around to its four corners, and I saw in each corner another court. 22In the four corners of the outer court were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide; each of the courts in the four corners was the same size. 23Around the inside of each of the four courts was a ledge of stone, with places for fire built all around under the ledge. 24He said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the sacrifices of the people.”
COMMENTARY
19–24 Ezekiel is brought out of the inner court to the northern side of the outer court (v.19). He is led to the entrance of the building (PB, in fig. 2), where the priests ate the most holy offerings and changed their garments (cf. 42:13–14). The rooms in this building face north (42:1–5). Here the divine messenger shows Ezekiel the place at the end of these sacred rooms where the priests will cook guilt offerings and sin offerings (v.20). Here they also bake the grain offerings and eat all offerings. The priests will not have to take these offerings into the outer court to cook them and thereby consecrate the people (cf. 44:19).
There are four kitchens (OK) in the four corners of the outer court. Each of these kitchens is forty-by-thirty cubits. There is a stone ledge around the inside of each room under which fireplaces are built (vv.21–23). These kitchen facilities enable the priests (probably the Levites, cf. 44:10–14) to cook the people’s sacrificial meals (v.24).
d. Topographical aspects of the millennium (47:1–48:35)
OVERVIEW
It is appropriate to conclude this prophetic book with a discussion of the land of Israel during the millennium. The land has played a significant role in the history of God’s people. In the Abrahamic covenant God promised to give Canaan to Abraham and the descendants as their national land (Ge 12:7). As God created the nation, he gave the people a constitution in the Mosaic covenant and a homeland in Canaan. The land was acquired through Joshua’s conquest. In the nation’s constitution, the Mosaic covenant, God promised that Israel would appropriate the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant as the people obeyed the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant (Dt 7:12; 8:2). One of those blessings was to live in the land of Canaan.
But throughout her history Israel consistently broke the Mosaic covenant so that eventually God removed his people from the Promised Land and scattered them among the nations, especially Babylonia. Ezekiel has prophesied of God’s future promise to restore the people of Israel to their land, cleanse them from their wickedness, and give them a new heart, followed by the bliss of salvation in the land (36:24–30). Never again will Israel lose possession of her land (ch. 39).
A fitting climax to the book, therefore, has Ezekiel describing the character of Israel’s land during the millennium with, perhaps, glimpses into the eternal state. The divine messenger shows Ezekiel the river that will heal the land. Then he clarifies Israel’s boundaries and tribal allotments during the millennium (cf. fig. 5).
i. The temple river (47:1–12)
1The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.
3As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. 9Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. 11But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
COMMENTARY
1–12 Ezekiel is brought in the apocalyptic vision to the temple’s entrance, where he sees water flowing eastward from under the southern side of the temple-entrance threshold (41:2). The stream passes by the southern side of the altar of sacrifice in the inner court, through the outer court, and out of the temple complex along the southern side of the outer eastern gate (vv.1–2). The divine messenger takes Ezekiel to explore the extent of this stream. The messenger uses a measuring line to mark off four one-thousand cubit intervals (about one-third of a mile each; vv.3–5). At each one-thousand-cubit interval, the messenger takes Ezekiel out into the stream to examine its depth. The depth increases at each interval from ankle deep, to knee deep, to waist deep, and finally to a depth in which one must swim. At the four-thousand-cubit mark, the stream had become a river of such magnitude that it cannot be crossed. The river appears so torrential and/or so wide that it is impossible to swim across it. This river continues to flow southeasterly toward the Arabah, the desolate Jordan Valley rift that extends south to the Red Sea (modern Gulf of Aqabah). The river flows into the Dead Sea and causes that sea to become alive (vv.8–9).
The basic purpose of this divine river is to bring life. Many trees line its sides (v.7). Every kind of fruit tree grows on both sides. Their leaves never wither and their fruit is perennial, bearing every month of the year because the divine river waters these trees. Their fruit provides food, and their leaves provide healing (v.12). These waters heal the entire Dead Sea and the Arabah, causing the Dead Sea to swarm with marine life to the extent that fishermen fish its entire length from En Gedi to En Eglaim, catching a great variety of fish (vv.9–10). The Arabah blooms (cf. Isa 35:1–2, 6–7; Joel 3:18). Only the swamps and marshes are not healed; they provide salt for the people (v.11). Everywhere else the river brings its life-giving power (v.9).
This river is similar to the rivers in the garden of Eden and the eternal state. In Genesis 2:8–10 God provided a river that gave life to the land in that perfect environment. That life-giving river dried up with the fall of humans. Now, in Ezekiel and Revelation, the full redemption of the land will be completed (cf. Ro 8:19–22). Once again the divine life-giving waters will flow from the source of God’s residence, the temple, and heal the land.
The river in Revelation 22:1–2 (cf. Zec 14:8) is very similar to the one described in Ezekiel 47. Though Revelation 22:2 only mentions the tree of life on either side of the river, it seems that the word “tree” in that context is most likely used in a collective sense. No variance then exists with the trees in Ezekiel—only further clarification. As the tree of life was beside the river in the garden of Eden, so the tree of life in abundance will be beside the life-giving river in the eternal state, if not in the millennium.
The variance between Ezekiel’s account of this river and that of John in Revelation centers on the river’s source. God is the source of both rivers. Ezekiel sees the river issuing from the temple, whereas John sees the river coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb (a temple does not exist in the eternal state, according to Rev 21:22). The river in Revelation 22:2 also flows down the city’s street, which seems difficult but not impossible in Ezekiel’s account. Whether the visions of Ezekiel and John speak of the same river that is seen in both the millennium and the eternal state, or whether the two rivers are different—one in the millennium and one in the eternal state—both are similar in purpose. The source of the land’s redemption and healing come from God and the divine throne. God will heal the land in the millennium and also in the eternal state. After all, the millennium is the doorway to the eternal state.
NOTES
1–6 Commentators on John 7:37–39 struggle to identify which passages Jesus had in mind when he said, “As the Scripture has said,” concerning the “streams of living water” in their relationship to the Spirit. Usually commentators see the reference to the general tenor of the OT. That Ezekiel 47:1–12 is being “fulfilled” by John 7:37–39 is problematic in the least. “Fulfillment and interpretation” must be distinguished from “comparison and analogies” and other uses of the OT by the NT.
10 The location of En Eglaim is not certain. Some place it on the tongue of the Dead Sea, in which case the passage means that fishermen fish on both sides of the Dead Sea (cf. Student Map Manual: Historical Geography of the Bible Lands [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.], regional map, sec. 1–15). Others have conjectured that the site is more to the east of the Dead Sea. No one knows for sure.
ii. Divisions of the land (47:13–48:35)
13This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “These are the boundaries by which you are to divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel, with two portions for Joseph. 14You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with uplifted hand to give it to your forefathers, this land will become your inheritance.
15“This is to be the boundary of the land:
“On the north side it will run from the Great Sea by the Hethlon road past Lebo Hamath to Zedad, 16Berothah and Sibraim (which lies on the border between Damascus and Hamath), as far as Hazer Hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17The boundary will extend from the sea to Hazar Enan, along the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north. This will be the north boundary.
18“On the east side the boundary will run between Hauran and Damascus, along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel, to the eastern sea and as far as Tamar. This will be the east boundary.
19“On the south side it will run from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea. This will be the south boundary.
20“On the west side, the Great Sea will be the boundary to a point opposite Lebo Hamath. This will be the west boundary.
21“You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance,” declares the Sovereign LORD.
48:1“These are the tribes, listed by name: At the northern frontier, Dan will have one portion; it will follow the Hethlon road to Lebo Hamath; Hazar Enan and the northern border of Damascus next to Hamath will be part of its border from the east side to the west side.
2“Asher will have one portion; it will border the territory of Dan from east to west.
3“Naphtali will have one portion; it will border the territory of Asher from east to west.
4“Manasseh will have one portion; it will border the territory of Naphtali from east to west.
5“Ephraim will have one portion; it will border the territory of Manasseh from east to west.
6“Reuben will have one portion; it will border the territory of Ephraim from east to west.
7“Judah will have one portion; it will border the territory of Reuben from east to west.
8“Bordering the territory of Judah from east to west will be the portion you are to present as a special gift. It will be 25,000 cubits wide, and its length from east to west will equal one of the tribal portions; the sanctuary will be in the center of it.
9“The special portion you are to offer to the LORD will be 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. 10This will be the sacred portion for the priests. It will be 25,000 cubits long on the north side, 10,000 cubits wide on the west side, 10,000 cubits wide on the east side and 25,000 cubits long on the south side. In the center of it will be the sanctuary of the LORD. 11This will be for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray. 12It will be a special gift to them from the sacred portion of the land, a most holy portion, bordering the territory of the Levites.
13“Alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. Its total length will be 25,000 cubits and its width 10,000 cubits. 14They must not sell or exchange any of it. This is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands, because it is holy to the LORD.
15“The remaining area, 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, will be for the common use of the city, for houses and for pastureland. The city will be in the center of it 16and will have these measurements: the north side 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500 cubits, the east side 4,500 cubits, and the west side 4,500 cubits. 17The pastureland for the city will be 250 cubits on the north, 250 cubits on the south, 250 cubits on the east, and 250 cubits on the west. 18What remains of the area, bordering on the sacred portion and running the length of it, will be 10,000 cubits on the east side and 10,000 cubits on the west side. Its produce will supply food for the workers of the city. 19The workers from the city who farm it will come from all the tribes of Israel. 20The entire portion will be a square, 25,000 cubits on each side. As a special gift you will set aside the sacred portion, along with the property of the city.
21“What remains on both sides of the area formed by the sacred portion and the city property will belong to the prince. It will extend eastward from the 25,000 cubits of the sacred portion to the eastern border, and westward from the 25,000 cubits to the western border. Both these areas running the length of the tribal portions will belong to the prince, and the sacred portion with the temple sanctuary will be in the center of them. 22So the property of the Levites and the property of the city will lie in the center of the area that belongs to the prince. The area belonging to the prince will lie between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin.
23“As for the rest of the tribes: Benjamin will have one portion; it will extend from the east side to the west side.
24“Simeon will have one portion; it will border the territory of Benjamin from east to west.
25“Issachar will have one portion; it will border the territory of Simeon from east to west.
26“Zebulun will have one portion; it will border the territory of Issachar from east to west.
27“Gad will have one portion; it will border the territory of Zebulun from east to west.
28“The southern boundary of Gad will run south from Tamar to the waters of Meribah Kadesh, then along the Wadi of Egypt to the Great Sea.
29“This is the land you are to allot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these will be their portions,” declares the Sovereign LORD.
30“These will be the exits of the city: Beginning on the north side, which is 4,500 cubits long, 31the gates of the city will be named after the tribes of Israel. The three gates on the north side will be the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah and the gate of Levi.
32“On the east side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin and the gate of Dan.
33“On the south side, which measures 4,500 cubits, will be three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar and the gate of Zebulun.
34“On the west side, which is 4,500 cubits long, will be three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher and the gate of Naphtali.
35“The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits.
“And the name of the city from that time on will be:
THE LORD IS THERE.”
COMMENTARY
13–23 (a) Boundaries of the land and principles for distribution. Ezekiel first sets forth the manner in which the land will be distributed (cf. fig. 5). The land will be divided equally (lit., “each like his brother”) among Israel’s twelve tribes (vv.13–14a). Two portions will go to Joseph in the form of tribal allotments for his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (cf. the promise in Ge 48:5–6, 22). The tribe of Joseph had been divided into two tribes so that there would continue to be twelve tribes when Levi became the priestly tribe without a tribal allotment of land; therefore here there are twelve tribal divisions of land with equal proportions. In the millennium the tribe of Levi will have a special land in which to reside (cf. 45:1–8; 48:8–14). The principle of equality prevails. Any past abuses or inequity will be remedied. The Lord reminds Israel that the reception of any portion of the Promised Land by a tribe is strictly on the basis of God’s promise (v.14). No one has done anything to deserve an allotment. God has promised the inheritance of this land in the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Ge 12:7; 15:7, 13–21; 17:8).
According to vv.15–20, Israel’s national boundaries in the millennium are similar to those of ancient Israel (cf. Nu 34:3–12). The borders follow mostly known geographical names from Ezekiel’s day, so it is normal to accept these borders as those that can be understood and followed. (Follow fig. 5 as this portion is studied.)
The boundary starts at the north, and each side is described in order clockwise. The northern border (vv.15–17; cf. Nu 34:7–9) starts at an unspecified point on the Great (Mediterranean) Sea, though the remainder of the description implies that that point might be around the mouth of the present-day Litanni River (on Lebo Hamath; cf. Note at 47:15). This border follows an easterly direction between the unknown boundaries of Damascus on the south and Hamath on the north to the site of Hazar Enan. The sites of Berothah, Sibraim, and Hazer Hatticon have not been located with certainty. Hamath and Zedad (perhaps modern Sedad southeast of Homs) as well as the area of Hauran have each received at least tentative identification.
The land’s eastern border runs between the Hauran and Damascus districts to the Jordan River, where it follows the river south of the eastern (or Dead) sea (v.18; Nu 34:10–12). The southern border extended from Tamar (southwest of the Dead Sea) through Meriboth Kadesh (or Kadesh Barnea; cf. Nu 20:13, 24; 27:14) to the Wadi of Egypt (present day Wadi el-Arish), which it follows to the Great (Mediterranean) Sea (v.19; cf. Nu 34:3–5). The western boundary is the Mediterranean Sea (v.20; cf. Nu 34:6). By contrast, the land of God’s people in the eternal state will have no sea since the sea will no longer exist (Rev 21:1). Old Testament Israelite boundaries included two and one-half tribes in Transjordan.
Further guidelines for the distribution of the land are given in vv.21–23 in order to treat the question of allotment as it related to aliens in Israel’s midst. Aliens who have settled within Israel in a given tribe and have borne children (indicating their permanency) are to be included in that tribe when the land is distributed. These aliens are to be treated as native Israelites (v.22). In this way Israel will obey the Mosaic covenant (cf. Lev 19:34).
48:1–7 (b) Tribal allotments in the north. Each tribal area is declared to be equal according to 47:14. Each will have parallel borders on the north and south and will stretch from the western boundary to the eastern boundary, one next to the other. (Note that fig. 5 only approximates the land areas since exact dimensions are not given.) The areas will be equally apportioned, though they may not be equal except for the north-south dimension. Parity is to neutralize any previous inequities.
The tribal allotments are listed beginning at the north and progressing south. The order has no conformity to any other in Israel’s history. The tribes that originated through the handmaids of Jacob’s wives are placed on the outer extremities, whereas the tribes from Jacob’s wives, Rachel and Leah, are in the center of the land (cf. Ge 35:23–26). The faithful tribes of the southern kingdom of Judah—Judah and Benjamin—have the privileged positions next to the land’s special sacred portion. The order of the tribes from the north to the special sacred portion of the land are Dan (v.1), Asher (v.2), Naphtali (v.3), Manasseh (v.4), Ephraim (v.5), Reuben (v.6), and Judah (v.7).
48:8–22 (c) The special gift of the land. A portion of the land—25,000 cubits wide and having the same length as the tribal allotments from east to west—is set aside by the people as a sacred contribution to the Lord (v.8; cf. 45:1–8). This special portion is composed of four distinct parts (cf. fig. 5): (1) the sacred area given to the Zadokite priests (vv.9–12), (2) the Levites’ sacred land (vv.13–14), (3) the city’s land (vv.15–20), and (4) the prince’s land (vv.21–22).
The contribution to the Lord for the sacred area of the Zadokite priests (Z, fig. 5; vv.9–12; cf. 45:2–5) is 25,000 cubits long on its northern and southern sides and 10,000 cubits long on its eastern and western sides. The Lord’s sanctuary (S) will be in the center of this territory (v.10b; cf. 45:4c). The temple’s centrality, the Lord’s house, argues that this priestly allotment itself is to be in the middle of the entire sacred contribution.
North of the Zadokite portion will lie the Levites’ land (L, fig. 5; vv.13–14). This territory has the same dimensions as that of the Zadokite priests mentioned above. The Lord exhorts the Levites to make sure that they do not sell, exchange, or in any way allow this land to pass to others since it belongs to the Lord (v.14). It is holy to God.
Land set aside for the city will be 25,000 cubits long on the northern and southern sides and 5,000 cubits long on the eastern and western sides (F, fig. 5; v.15a). This land will be used for the city, houses, and pasture (v.15b). The city (C, fig. 5) will be in the exact center of this portion (vv.15c, 18). It will be 4,500 cubits square with a strip of open land 250 cubits wide all around it on each side (vv.16–17). This land strip will be used for the city’s agriculture, from which sustenance will be provided for worshipers living in the city. The city’s total dimensions with its border would be 5,000 cubits square (cf. v.15; 45:6).
The remainder of the land on either side of the city will be used for growing food for the workers in the city (F, fig. 5; v.18). These two equal segments will be 5,000 cubits long on their eastern and western sides and 10,000 cubits long on their northern and southern sides (vv.15, 18). Workers from every tribe who live in the city will farm this land (v.19). The entire area that includes the Levites’ land, the Zadokite land, and the city’s land will form a combined sacred area 25,000 cubits square (v.20).
The land on either side of this 25,000-cubit-square sacred area will be given to the prince (P, fig. 5; v.21; cf. 45:7–46:18). His land areas to the east and west of the sacred portion will extend to the national boundaries, east and west, as do all the tribal areas. The property of the Levites and priests, along with that of the city, will lie in the center of the prince’s land. The entire sacred area and the prince’s land will lie between the tribal allotments of Judah to the north and Benjamin to the south (v.22).
48:23–29 (d) Tribal allotments in the south. These verses give the tribal allotments of Israel’s land south of the land’s sacred portion. Receiving equal allotments are, in order from Benjamin and moving south (see fig. 5): Benjamin (v.23), Simeon (v.24), Issachar (v.25), Zebulun (v.26), and Gad (vv.27–28). A summary is given in v.29.
48:30–35 (e) The city and its gates. The city in the center of the 10,000 by 5,000 cubit section south of the priests’ sacred area is not named (cf. vv.15–19). Most likely it is Jerusalem (cf. Zec 14:8), though this is not certain. In keeping with the dimensions given in vv.15–19, Ezekiel declares that the distance around the city, minus its pasture strip, will be 18,000 cubits (v.35a). The main emphasis in this section is on the city’s twelve gates, each named after one of Israel’s tribes (vv.30–34). Similarly, Jerusalem in the eternal state will have three gates on each side, each gate being named after one of Israel’s tribes (cf. Rev 21:12–13).
There are three gates on each side of the city in Ezekiel’s vision. The descendants of Leah are on the northern and southern sides. On the north the three gates are named Reuben (the firstborn), Judah (the tribe of David), and Levi (the tribe of priests; v.31). On the south the three gates are named Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun (v.33). The three gates on the east are named after Rachel’s two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, plus Dan, the son of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid (v.32). The three gates on the west are named after the descendants of the two handmaids, Zilpah and Bilhah: Gad, Asher, and Naphtali (v.34).
The city is square, and the city in Revelation also is square (actually, it is a cube; cf. Rev 21:16). These likenesses between the city in Ezekiel and that in Revelation have caused some to identify them with each other. But additional data in Revelation should cause some hesitancy about a quick decision. If the two are not identical, they certainly demonstrate that the characteristics of the millennium and those of the eternal state are similar.
Ezekiel concludes his great prophecy by giving the city a name, which it will have from that day forward: “THE LORD IS THERE” (yhwh šāmmâ). The Lord will reside forever with his people. Never again will they be separated from God through discipline. Forever Israel will live as God’s people, and the Lord as their God! This name will characterize God’s city just as in Hebrew thought any new name gave a new character to its recipient.
NOTES
47:15 The term 
(lebô ʾ, “Lebo”) is best rendered as a verb (“to enter”) in this verse due to the word order (see NIV note). Rearrangement of the word order is not warranted. In v.20 the term appears to be part of a combined place name, Lebo Hamath, likely identified with modern Lebweh near one of the sources of the Orontes river in the Beqaʾ.
15–17 Current ideas on identification often locate Hethlon at modern Heteila at the foot of Jebel Akkar, Berothah at Bereitan south of Baalbek, and Hazer Enan at modern Qaryatein.
18 Some read 
(tāmārâ, “toward Tamar”) in place of the MT’s 
(tāmōddû, “to measure”; cf. NIV note). Though the LXX and the Syriac support the first reading, it appears to be influenced by the place name Tamar in v.19. It seems best to accept the MT’s reading.
19 Though the place 
(merîbôt qādēš, “Meriboth Kadesh”) has a plural afformative rather than the singular afformative of 
(merîbat qādēš, “Meribah Kadesh”), the geographical context and the parallel in Numbers 34:3–5 argues for the sites as being identical.
48:10, 21 These verses state that the temple (S) will be “in the midst” of the Zadokite priestly area (Z, fig. 5). In vv.15, 18 most commentators understand this phrase to describe the city (C) as the exact center “in the midst” of the public allotment (F; cf. v.19). It should likewise describe the centrality of the temple (S) “in the midst” of the priestly area (Z). The temple, as the Lord’s house, is the center of all Ezekiel’s cartography. Thus it also seems appropriate that the priestly allotment (Z) itself must be the center of the entire sacred contribution between the Levites’ portion (L) to the north and the public/city area (CF) to the south (see fig. 5).