Ezekiel (Ch 43-44)
During the Millennium we have an elaborate system of animal sacrifices and other material offerings, along with the faithful observance of New Moons and Sabbaths. And if the Churches teach that these ordinances are for ritual or sacrificial laws, then why are these brought back during the Millenniun? Surely false teachers abound in the land of Israel today, their shepherd and watchmen are blind and misguided!
Ezekiel 43
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east. — the gate; this was the eastern gate from the precincts to the outer court.
2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth shined with His glory. — as the Shekinah glory was the peculiar distinction of the old temple, so it was to be in the new in a degree as much more transcendent as the proportions of the new exceeded those of the old;
— the glory of God, the Father, enters the house by the East gate; the sound of his chariot was as the sound of many waters, and his glory lightened the earth; something new in contrast to the Solomon Temple.
3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision that I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell upon my face. — even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; the city of Jerusalem; not that the prophet destroyed it, or came to destroy it himself, which was to be done, and was done, by the Chaldeans;
— but to foretell the destruction of it; which prediction of his made it as certain as if it was done. So the Targum says, “when I prophesied to destroy the city.”
4 And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. — the glory of the Lord came into the temple by the way of the gate facing east.
5 So the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. — having seen the Shekinah enter by the eastern gate, the prophet, himself a priest, is brought into the into the inner court, and there sees the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle when that was set up in the Temple of Solomon.
6 And I heard Him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. — there can be no question that God, the Father Himself, spoke directly to the prophet.
7 And He said unto me, “Son of man, the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and My holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings, by their whoredom nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places. — and my name shall the house of Israel no more defile, or “profane” or cause to be blasphemed by immoralities, or false doctrines; denoting the holiness of life, purity of doctrine and worship.
8 In their setting of their threshold by My thresholds, and their post by My posts, and the wall between Me and them, they have even defiled My holy name by their abominations that they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in Mine anger. — a bit of a flashback; for My holy name have been defiled by their abominations; altars for their idols; therefore I have consumed them in Mine anger.
9 Now let them put away their whoredom and the carcasses of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. — carcasses of their kings; it is supposed that some of their idolatrous kings were buried within the bounds of Solomon’s Temple;
— nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places; or and “their high places” that is, by both; by the carcasses of their kings being buried in or near the house of God; so the Targum adds, at their death; or by human carcasses being sacrificed to Molech or Milcom, which signifies their kin;
— it was believed that Manasseh and his son, Amon, were buried in their palace garden, the garden of Uzza near the Temple and there had erected monuments to their idols.
10 “Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. — that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; when they shall blush to see what glory their iniquities had ruined, how great losers they were by their sins: or else thus interpret the meaning of these things;
— and let the children of Israel know what a Temple God would erect if only they had obeyed, that so they may be ashamed of their iniquities, which provoked God to cast them off for a while.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. — the ordinances; rites and orders, rules of governing priests, and their services. These are again repeated in the next words of the verse, which is usual in Scripture, and with this prophet.
— write it in their sight: that it may be remembered, they shall have a draught of it from thy hand, and drawn in their sight, that they may inquire of any particular wherein doubt ariseth.
— that they may keep the whole form thereof: as Moses and Solomon had done, so must the builders of this Temple, frame the whole to the pattern or exemplar set before them;
— again, if the Churches teach that these ordinances are for ritual or sacrificial laws, then why are these brought back during the Millenniun? Surely false teachers abound in the land of Israel today, their shepherd and watchmen are blind and misguided!
“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18
“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10
12 This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. — this is the law of the house; “the house” must not be restricted to the Temple proper, consisting of the holy place and the holy of holies, but extended to the whole free space encompassing the outer court, the quadrangular area of three thousand cubits square;
— upon the top of the mountain, perhaps it is meant the nations of Israel, the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house applying the them.
13 “And these are the mesurements of the altar in cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): even the bottom shall be a cubit and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span; and this shall be the higher place of the altar. — the altar in Solomon’s Temple was of brass, 20 cubits square, and 10 cubits high (2 Chronicles 4:1), while that in the Tabernacle (of shittim-wood overlaid with brass) had been 5 cubits square, and 3 cubits high (Exodus 27:1);
— that in Herod’s Temple is said to have been 32 cubits square, and 10 cubits high, and was of hewn stone. The dimensions of Ezekiel’s altar seem to have been selected for the symmetry of the numbers in the several parts. In height, although the dimention not given, it exceeded any of the others.
14 And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower ledge shall be two cubits and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge even to the greater ledge shall be four cubits and the breadth one cubit.
15 So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. — now from hence and upwards were four horns at the four corners of the altar; which denote the strength of God; and that he is accessible to persons that come from all parts, from the four corners of the earth.
16 And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof. — and the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad; the length of it, from east to west, was twelve cubits; and the breadth, from north to south, was the same; so that it was a proper foursquare.
17 And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit, and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.” — and his stairs shall look towards the east; steps to the altar were forbidden by the law of Moses, Exodus 20:26 wherefore, as the height of the altar of Solomon, and so of the second temple, required some way and method of ascent to the top of it, to do the business upon it;
— the Jews had what they call “kibbesh” a way made of earth thrown up, which rose gradually, and led to the top of it, and was about two and thirty cubits long, and sixteen broad; but here steps or stairs are expressly mentioned, which show that this refers to times when the Mosaic laws should be re-established. These stairs were placed eastward, so that those that went up them looked toward the west, toward the Temple; and turned their backs to the east, or rising sun, in direct opposition to the worshippers of the sun, whose faces would be toward the east.
18 And He said unto me, “Son of man, thus saith the Lord God: These are the ordinances of the altar on the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon and to sprinkle blood thereon. — to sprinkle blood thereon, according to the law of a burnt sacrifice, Leviticus 1:5.
19 And thou shalt give to the priests, the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who approach Me to minister unto Me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering. — for a sin offering; the sprinkling of his blood on the horns of the altar is still needed to make an atonement for sins, and to reconcile the person that brought the sacrifice.
20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the border round about; thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.
21 Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. — this was done outside the gate, outside the camp where the Temple stood.
22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bullock. — and on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish “for a sin offering” this time it is “a kid of the goats without blemish” as commanded.
23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish and a ram out of the flock without blemish. — there was, on each of the seven days, a burnt-offering of a bullock and a ram, preceded by a “sin-offereng of a bullock” on the first day, and of a “kid of the goats” on the other days.
24 And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord. — when thou hast made an end of cleansing it; the altar, by the sacrifices of the bullock and the kid, on the first and second days;
— then, on the third day, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish; all these sacrifices was to be pure and perfect.
— and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord; throughout the whole seven days of the consecration and cleansing of the altar.
25 Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering; they shall also prepare a young bullock and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. — seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering; by this it appears that the altar was seven days a consecrating and cleansing; and that on each day a goat “for a sin offering” was prepared and offered as before observed.
26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it, and they shall consecrate themselves. — and they shall consecrate themselves: the priests shall consecrate themselves or devote themselves to the service of the Temple.
27 And when these days are expired, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.” — upon the eighth day, which begins a new week and it is probable the first of these seven days for sacrifice might be the Sabbath, and end on our Friday; however, the first week is spent in solemn consecration of altar and priests; all weeks after are to have, day by day, the usual appointed sacrifices;
— “and I will accept you” doesn’t sound like it would be merely a memorial; but a commandment as in Ezekiel 20:40 For in Mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve Me. There will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
— I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the Gentiles, Ezekiel 20:41;
— actually the offerings and sacrifices in the two verses above are flashforwards, after “For in Mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel,” beginning of Ezekiel 20:40;
— thus unless proven to the contrary, this read like these sacrifices and offerings will go on throughout each and every week, that is, it will be statutary and a required commandment throughout the Millennium.
Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. — the gate of the outward sanctuary; this is better rendered, the outer gate of the sanctuary;
— the prophet Ezekiel had been in the inner court, or court of the priests, where the altar stood, and is now brought back to the eastern gate of the outer court. He finds it shut, but when he was there before, it was open; for he saw the glory of the Lord enter into the house by the way of it; but now it was shut,
2 Then said the Lord unto me, “This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened and no man shall enter in by it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut. — shall not be opened, i.e. shall not ordinarily stand open, but be shut till occasion requires it should sometimes be opened.
— no man; none of the common ordinary sort of people, or none but the prince, God’s agent and the ministering priests. Contrast this with the Temple of old (whether Temple or tabernacle), in which the east gate stood always open; perhaps to express the idea that the glory of God should no more depart from the Temple, but abide in it forever.
3 It is for the Prince; the Prince shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate and shall go out by the way of the same.” — the Prince (nā·śî); Christians and Rabbis understood this to refer to the Messiah, and the Prince shall sit to eat bread before the Father.
— a parallel scene is found in Psalm 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord (the Son, the Messiah), “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.”
4 Then he brought me the way of the north gate before the house. And I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; and I fell upon my face. — and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD; as he had seen at the eastern gate, Ezekiel 43:2.
5 And the Lord said unto me, “Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. — mark well; or, “set thine heart” be attentive, Ezekiel, to what is about to be said, as being of great concern and importance concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof.
6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, — thus saith the Lord God, O ye house of Israel, let it suite you of all your abominations; that is, let the abominations you have committed, will worship and superstition, paying a regard to the false doctrines and commandments of men, be sufficient; stop and proceed no further; relinquish those things which are so abominable in my sight.
7 in that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to pollute it, even My house, when ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken My covenant because of all your abominations. — strangers; foreigners and heathens, who had their idols in the very courts of the Temple, and there worshipped their idols;
— uncircumcised in heart; the worst of them, profane and impious; uncircumcised in flesh: no uncircumcised one should come into the court of the Temple, but you have brought them into the very sanctuary at the times of worship;
8 And ye have not kept charge of Mine holy things; but ye have set keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for yourselves. — Tobiah, an Ammonite official (possibly a governor of Ammon, was allowed by the High Priest Eliashib Tobiah to lease the storerooms of the Temple to him, so that a stranger could conduct business in the newly constructed Temple; (more on Tobiah colluding with Eliashib the high priest in the Temple at the end).
9 “‘Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger, uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, or any stranger that is among the children of Israel. — these were great sins before the Lord, as Tobiah was a stranger, “uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh,” and as storerooms were intended for the Israelites’ grain offerings, incense, temple articles and the tithes of grain, new wine and oil meant for the work of the Temple and the Temple workers themselves.
10 And the Levites that have gone away far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray away from Me after their idols, they shall even bear their iniquity. — the influence of Tobiah corrupted the Levites and the priesthood, where they went astray and later emerged as the Sadducees administering the Temple service.
11 Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house and ministering to the house. They shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore have I lifted up Mine hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity. — “and they shall bear their iniquity” was implemented ib AD 70; so which sects went into their death?
— these sects of the Jews faced their days of vengeance and disappeared in the AD 70 inferno: All Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all ministered before their idols and faced their days of vengeance and disappeared from history. Were they receiving their judgement?
— but history recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70: (1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River;
— (2) some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.
13 And they shall not come near unto Me to do the office of a priest unto Me, nor to come near to any of My holy things in the Most Holy Place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. — they shall be dealt with according to their abominations, i.e. their apostacy and idolatry, hence all the Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians and Essenes faced their judgement and disappeared from history.
14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house for all the service thereof and for all that shall be done therein. — but I will make them keepers of the charge of the house; to be watchmen, Levites and priests; to administer the Temple, to open and shut the doors of it; to sweep and keep it clean;
— to administer the Feasts, the Passover; to all these, he must first of all be circumcised; (Exodus 12:43-44).
15 But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God. — some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel;
— they escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.
16 They shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My charge. — these are the Rabbinic Jews, of the tribe of Levi; and for priests, of the sons of Aaron.
17 And it shall come to pass that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court and within. — these are from them priests who were of the tribe of Levi, of the sons of Aaron, whom the Lord chose and separated to minister unto him.
18 They shall have linen headdresses upon their heads and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. — these regulations as to the priests’ services; their garments are defined and various rules prescribed in the Law are repeated with some additions in order to denote additional care to avoid uncleanness.
19 And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments. — they shall put off their garments; this requirement that the priests shall wear their official dress only when engaged in official duty, putting it on when they entered the inner court, and putting it off when they went out, which is only implied in Exodus and Leviticus, but is here expressly enjoined.
20 Neither shall they shave their heads nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. — their locks to grow long; the law forbade the shaving of the head (Leviticus 21:5), but only condemned letting the hair grow long by implication, providing for it in the exceptional case of the Nazarite vow.
21 Neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court. — neither shall any priest drink wine, that is, as in Leviticus 10:9, “lest ye die. It shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations.”
22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow nor her that is put away; but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who had a priest before. — in regard both to marriage the Levitical law made a broad distinction between the ordinary priest and the high priest. The former was only forbidden to marry a divorced woman (Leviticus 21:7), but was allowed to marry a widow; the latter could marry only a virgin of Israel.
23 And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. — and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean; impure thoughts, doctrines, and manners, and those which are agreeable to the word of God; the sense is, that they shall take pains to instruct persons in the knowledge of divine things, and shall do it truly, faithfully, and sincerely.
24 And in controversy they shall stand in judgment, and they shall judge it according to My judgments; and they shall keep My laws and My statutes in all Mine assemblies, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths. — and in controversy they shall stand in judgement; when any controversy arises among them concerning the law, this shall be carried into a court, and there heard, tried, judged and determined;
— and they shall hallow My Sabbaths, not a pagan Sunday; such times as are appointed for divine worship; these they shall be kept holy. And those who profame the true Sabbaths will be put to death; “for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people,” Exodus 31:14.
25 And they shall come near no dead person to defile themselves; but for father or for mother, or for son or for daughter, for brother or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves. — they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves; whosoever touched a dead body became legally unclean, (Numbers 19:11,) and thereby was disqualified for attending upon God’s worship in the Temple, Leviticus 22:3.
26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. — seven days; that is, seven days shall be reckoned from the time of his cleansing, before he enters on public service again: according to the old law, seven days were reckoned from the defilement to the purification;
— here seven more are numbered after the purification is made; and therefore, this is a new law or rule, is to be observed during the Millennium.
27 And on the day that he goeth into the sanctuary unto the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God. — and in the day that the high priest goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD;
— yes, verse 44:27 says the high priest still offers his sin offering.
28 “‘And it shall be unto them for an inheritance. I am their inheritance, and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. — the priests were to be supported by the tithes given to God, and by their portion of the offerings made to Him.
29 They shall eat the meat offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering, and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.
30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s. Ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. — that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house; that is, that he, the priest or minister of the word, that partakes of the above things, and is comfortably provided for and supported, may pray to the Lord for such who liberally contribute to him;
— that a blessing may come and abide upon them and their families, and prosperity and success may attend them in their worldly business and employments of life;
31 The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself or torn, whether it be fowl or beast. — same as in Leviticus 22:8; the same law was binding upon all the Israelites, Leviticus 17:15.
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More on Tobiah colluding with Eliashib the high priest in the Temple – Nehemiah 13:4-9
4 And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah.
5 And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where previously they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense and the vessels and the tithes of the corn, the new wine and the oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers, and the offerings of the priests.
6 But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I came unto the king, and after certain days I obtained leave from the king.
7 And I came to Jerusalem and learned of the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.
8 And it grieved me sore; therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.
9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers; and thither I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.
Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 
[…] Study of Chapters 43 and 44 HERE ~ —— […]