Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 43:1
Afterward he brought me to the gate, [even] the gate that looketh toward the east:
1 12. The glory of Jehovah enters the house by the E. gate. The sound of his chariot was as the sound of many waters, and his glory lightened the earth ( Eze 43:1-4). The prophet hears one speaking to him from the house and saying that the defilements to which the house had been exposed through idolatries and the burial of kings near it shall henceforth cease ( Eze 43:6-9). The prophet is commanded to make known the fashion and ordinances of the house to the people ( Eze 43:10-12).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The gate – This was the eastern gate from the precincts to the outer court.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XLIII
The glory of the Lord is represented as returning to the
temple, 1-6;
where God promises to fix his residence, if the people repent
and forsake those sins which caused him to depart from them,
7-12.
Then the measures of the altar, and the ordinances relating to
it, are set down, 13-27.
NOTES ON CHAP. XLIII
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
After that the measuring of the temple was finished,
he brought me, from the west gate where the whole was finished, and where the 42nd chapter left the prophet,
to the gate, which, lest we should mistake, is expressly described the east gate, of the first wall measured, where he began with the angel, Eze 40:6. From this gate, in a direct line, you have the fairest prospect of the temple.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Afterward he brought me to the gate,…. The dimensions of this wonderful building being finished, the prophet’s divine guide brought him from the wall about it, he had last measured, to the gate he first had him to, after he had observed to him the same wall, Eze 40:5:
even the gate that looketh toward the east; or, as the Targum, which was open to the way of the east. The reason of his being brought hither follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Entrance of the Glory of the Lord into the New Temple
Eze 43:1. And he led me to the gate, the gate which looked toward the east: Eze 43:2. And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the east, and its sound was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory. Eze 43:3. And the appearance which I saw, was to look at like the appearance which I saw when I came to destroy the city; and (there were) appearances like the appearance which I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell down upon my face. Eze 43:4. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate, the direction of which is toward the east. Eze 43:5. And wind lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. Eze 43:6. And I heard one speaking to me from the house, and there was a man standing by me. Eze 43:7. And he said to me, Son of man, the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I shall dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, they and their kings, through their whoredom and through the corpses of their kings, their high places, Eze 43:8. When they set their threshold by my threshold, and their door-posts by my door-posts, and there was only the wall between me and them, and they defiled my holy name by their abominations which they did, so that I destroyed them in my wrath. Eze 43:9. Now will they remove their whoredom and the corpses of their kings from me, and I shall dwell in the midst of them for ever. Eze 43:10. Thou, son of man, show to the house of Israel this house, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and may measure the well-measured building. Eze 43:11. And when they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the picture of the house and its arrangement, and its goings out and in, and all its forms and all its statutes, and all its forms and all its laws; and write it before their eyes, that they may keep all its form and all its statutes and do them. Eze 43:12. This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain all its territory round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. – The angel had shown the prophet the new sanctuary as already completed, and had measured it in his presence according to its several parts. But this building only became the house of God when Jehovah as the God of Israel consecrated it, to be the dwelling-place of His divine and gracious presence in the midst of His people, by the entrance of His divine glory into the house.
(Note: “The Lord appears, and fills the house with His own glory; showing that the house will not only be built, but will be filled with the power of God” (Theodoret).)
The description of the new temple closes, therefore, with this act of consecration. That the prophet might see this act of divine grace with his own eyes, the measuring man led him from the ground surrounding the temple (Eze 42:15-20) back again to the east gate (Eze 43:1). The allusion is to the eastern gate of the outer court; for it is not till Eze 43:5 that Ezekiel is taken into the inner court, and, according to Eze 44:1, he was brought back to the east gate of the outer court. Standing in front of this gate, he sees the glory of the God of Israel come by the way from the east with a great noise, and lighting up the earth with its splendour. The coming of the theophany from the east points back to Eze 10:19; Eze 11:1 and Eze 11:23, where the Shechinah, when leaving the ancient temple, went out at the east gate and ascended to the summit of the mountain, which was situated on the east of Jerusalem. It was from the east, therefore, that it returned to enter the new temple. This fact is sufficient of itself to show that the present entrance of the divine glory into the new temple did not lay the foundation for a new and more exalted bond of grace, but was simply intended to restore the relation which had existed before the removal of Israel into captivity. The tabernacle and Solomon’s temple had both been consecrated by Jehovah in the same manner as the seat of His throne of grace in Israel (compare Exo 40:34-35; 1Ki 8:10-11; and 2Ch 5:13-14, and 2Ch 7:1-3, from which the expression in Eze 43:5 has been borrowed). It is true that Hvernick, Kliefoth, and others find, along with this agreement, a difference in the fact that the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud in both the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple; whereas here, on the contrary, it appeared in that peculiar form which Ezekiel had already repeatedly seen. But it does not follow that there was really a difference, because the cloud is not mentioned in the verses before us; for it is evident that the cloud was not wanting, even in the manifestation of the glory of God seen by Ezekiel, from the words found in Eze 10:3: “The cloud filled the inner court, and the glory of Jehovah had risen up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the splendour of the glory of Jehovah.” If, therefore, it is expressly attested in Eze 43:3, as even Kliefoth admits, that the appearance of God which entered the temple as like the appearance which Ezekiel saw by the Chaboras and before the destruction of the temple, and in connection with the last-mentioned appearance the cloud was visible along with the brilliant splendour of the divine doxa , the cloud will certainly not have been wanting when it entered the new temple; and the only reason why it is not expressly mentioned must be, that it did not present a contrast to the brilliant splendour, or tend to obscure the light of the glory of God, but as a shining cloud was simply the atmospheric clothing of the theophany.
If, then, the cloud did not present a contrast to the brilliancy of the divine glory, it cannot be inferred from the words, “and the earth shone with His glory,” that there was any difference between this and the earlier manifestations of the divine glory at the consecration of the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple; more especially as these words to not affirm that it became light on earth, but simply that the earth shone with the glory God, – that is to say, that it threw a bright light upon the earth as it passed along, – so that this remark simply serves to indicate the intensity of the brightness of this theophany. The words ‘ are not to be understood, as we may learn from Eze 1:24, as referring to a voice of the coming God, but describe the loud noise made by the moving of the theophany on account of the rustling of the wings of the cherubim. This resembled the roaring of mighty waves. In Eze 43:3, the expression … is somewhat heavy in style, but is correct Hebrew; and the remark with which Hitzig seeks to justify his alteration of into , – namely, that “would signify ‘so the appearance,’ whereas Ezekiel intends to explain the present appearance from the well-known earlier one,” – is false so far as the usage of the language is concerned. When the Hebrew uses two in cases of comparison, which we are accustomed to express in German by so…wie (so…as), he always commences with the thing to which he compares another, and lets the thing which is to be compared follow afterwards. Thus, for example, in Gen 18:25, does not affirm that it happens as to the righteous so to the wicked, but vice vers, that it happens to the righteous as to the wicked; and in Gen 44:18, does not mean, for like thee so is Pharaoh, but “for thou art like Pharaoh.” According to this genuine Hebrew expression, the present appearance of the divine glory is mentioned first in the verse before us, and then in the earlier one which the present resembled. And even the apparent pleonasm vanishes if we render by “look,” – the look of the apparition which I saw was just like the apparition, etc. ‘ refers to the ecstatic transportation of the prophet to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8-11), to witness the destruction of the city (see more particularly Eze 8:4; Eze 9:1.). “The prophet destroyed the city ideally by his prophecy, of which the fulfilment simply forms the objective reverse side” (Hitzig). is appended in loose apposition, – there were appearances, visions, – and the plural is to be taken as in in Eze 1:1; Eze 40:2. For what follows, compare Eze 3:23; Eze 10:15. For Eze 43:5, compare Eze 3:14; Eze 11:24.
In Eze 43:6 and Eze 43:7 the question arises, who it is who is speaking to the prophet; whether it is Jehovah, who has entered the temple, or the man who is standing by Ezekiel in the inner court? There can be no doubt that is Jehovah here, as in Eze 2:2; though the commentators are divided in opinion whether Jehovah spoke directly to the prophet, or through the medium of the man who stood by his side. Hvernick presses the Hithpael , and imagines that Ezekiel heard God conversing within the sanctuary, in consequence of which the angel stood by his side; so that the words of God consisted chiefly in the command to communicate to Ezekiel the divine revelation which follows in Eze 43:7. But this view is proved to be erroneous by the expression which follows , and which Hvernick has overlooked. Kliefoth, on the other hand, is of opinion that the words contained in Eze 43:7, which proceeded from the , were addressed to the prophet directly by God Himself; for he heard them before anything was said by the man, and neither here nor in what follows is the man said to have spoken. On the contrary, both here and in what follows, even in Eze 46:20, Eze 46:24; Eze 47:6-7, it is always God Himself who appears as the speaker, and the man simply as the prophet’s guide. But this is also not correct. Such passages as Eze 46:20 and Eze 46:24 compared with Eze 43:19 and Eze 43:21, and Eze 47:6, Eze 47:8, compared with Eze 43:1 and Eze 43:4, show undeniably that the man who conducted the prophet also talked with him. Consequently, in the case referred to in the verse before us, we must also conclude that he who spoke to the prophet from the temple addressed him through the medium of the man who stood by his side, and that is the subject to in Eze 43:7; from which, however, it by no means follows that the was also an angel, who spoke to the prophet, not from the most holy place, but simply from within the house, as Hitzig explains the matter. The meaning is rather, that Ezekiel heard God conversing with him from the sanctuary, whilst a man, i.e., an angel, stood by his side and spoke to him as follows. is in that case not some angel merely who spoke in the name of Jehovah, but the angel of Jehovah, God’s own speaker, (Joh 1:1.). But according to his outward habitus , this angel of the Lord, who is designated as , is identical with the angel who showed the prophet the temple, and measured it (Eze 40:3 onwards). For according to Eze 47:1. this had also a measuring rod, and measured. The absence of the article from in Eze 43:6, which prevents Kliefoth from admitting this identity, does not indicate decidedly that a different man from the one mentioned before is introduced here as the prophet’s attendant, but simply leaves the identity of this with the former indefinite, so that it can only be inferred from the further course of events; because the point of importance here was neither to establish this identity by employing the article, nor to define the medium of the word of God more precisely, but simply to introduce the words which follow as the words of God Himself. The address commences with an explanation on the part of God that the temple into which the glory of the Lord had entered was the place of His throne, where He would dwell for ever among the sons of Israel. The is a concise expression, in which is nota accus ., and we have to supply in thought either or : “behold the place.” , the place of the soles of my feet (cf. Isa 60:13), is equivalent to the footstool of my feet in Isa 66:1. The ark of the covenant is called the footstool of God in 1Ch 28:2 and Psa 132:7; compare Psa 99:5 and Lam 2:1, where this epithet may possibly be used to designate the temple. This also applies to the throne of Jehovah, since God was enthroned above the cherubim of the ark in the holy of holies (cf. Exo 25:22; 1Sa 4:4, etc.). In the sanctuary which Ezekiel saw, no reference is made to the ark of the covenant, and the silence with regard to this is hardly to be regarded as a mere omission to mention it, inasmuch as none of the things contained in the temple are mentioned with the exception of the altars, not even the table of shew-bread or the candlestick. The ark of the covenant is not mentioned, because, as is stated in Jer 3:16, in the Messianic times the ark of the covenant will not be remembered, neither will it be missed.
, as in Eze 37:26 and Eze 37:28. The promise culminates in this. does not apply either to the tabernacle or to Solomon’s temple, in which Jehovah also had His dwelling-place, though not for ever. These sanctuaries He left, and gave them up to destruction, because the Israelites had profaned His holy name by their idolatry. This will not take place any more after the erection of the new sanctuary. is not imperative, but a simple future: “they will no more defiled,” because they come to a knowledge of their sins through the punitive judgment of exile, so that they become ashamed of them, and because the Lord will have poured out His Spirit upon them (cf. Eze 37:23., Eze 39:29). – Formerly, however ( Eze 43:7), they profaned the holy name of God by their spiritual whoredom (cf. Ezekiel 16) and by dead idols, for which they erected high places in the immediate neighbourhood of the dwelling-place of Jehovah, that is to say, even in the temple courts, so that Jehovah was only separated from the idols by a wall. This is the general meaning of Eze 43:7 and Eze 43:8, in which the exposition of is difficulty. Rosenmller, Hvernick, and others understand by the “corpses of their kings,” the dead idols. Ewald, Hitzig, and Kliefoth, on the other hand, take the expression in a literal sense, as referring to the corpses of kings which had been buried near to the temple, so that the temple had been defiled by the proximity of these graves. But the latter view is precluded by the fact that not a single instance can be adduced of the burial of a king in the vicinity of the temple, since Neh 3:15 contains no allusion to anything of the kind, and the tombs of the kings upon Zion were not so near to the temple that it could possibly be defiled in consequence. Moreover, cannot be reconciled with this view; and for that reason Ewald and Hitzig propose to read , “in their death.” The attempt of Kliefoth, however, to defend the reading , by taking it as in apposition to and not to , is a desperate remedy, which clearly shows the impossibility of connecting with the “corpses of the kings.” We therefore understand by the dead idols, in accordance with Lev 26:30 (cf. Jer 16:18); but by we understand, not the idols, but the Israelitish kings, as in the case of the preceding ; partly because it cannot be shown that the plural is ever used in the sense of idols (though the singular is used of Baal in Zep 1:5 and Amo 5:26), and partly on account of the harshness involved in interpreting the two when standing so close together, in the first instance of the kings, and in the second of the idols of Israel. The corpses of the kings are therefore the dead idols, for which the kings (for example, Manasseh) had built altars or high places ( ) in the sanctuary, i.e., in the courts of the temple (2Ki 21:4-7). The objection that without anything further, such, for instance, as sa ,ecnatsn i rof ,hcus in Lev 26:30, cannot signify the dead idols, will not bear examination, as the more precise definition which is wanting is supplied by the context, where idolatry is the point in question. without the preposition is a loosely attached apposition to and , which defines more precisely in what way the whoredom of the nation and the dead idols of the kings had amounted to a defiling of the house of the Lord, namely, from the fact that the people and the kings had erected temples of high places ( bamoth ) for dead idols by the side of the temple of the living God, and had placed them so close that the threshold and door-posts of these idol-temples touched the threshold and door-posts of the temple of Jehovah, and there was nothing but the wall of the temple ( ) between Jehovah and the carcase-gods. is explained in this way in Eze 43:8, and then the defiling of the holy name of the Lord is mentioned again for the purpose of appending, by means of (imperf. Piel of ), the allusion to the penal judgment which they had thereby brought upon themselves. Eze 43:9. Such profanation as this will not take place any more in time to come, and Jehovah will dwell for ever in the midst of Israel.
To lead Israel to this goal, Ezekiel is to show them the house (i.e., the temple). In this way are the further words of God in Eze 43:10-12 attached to what goes before. , show or make known the house, is equivalent to proclaim to the people the revelation concerning the new temple. In this were the Israelites to discern the magnitude of the grace of God, that they might blush at their evil deeds, and measure the well-measured building ( , as in Eze 28:12), i.e., carefully consider and ponder what the Lord had bestowed upon His people through this sanctuary, so that they might suffer themselves to be brought to repentance by means of its glory. And if they felt shame and repentance on account of their transgressions, Ezekiel was to show them the shape and arrangement of the sanctuary, with all its forms and ordinances, an write them out before their eyes, that they might have the picture of it impressed upon their minds, and keep the statutes thereof. In Eze 43:11 the words are crowded together, to indicate that all the several parts and arrangements of the new temple are significant and worthy of being pondered and laid to heart. is the shape of the temple generally, its external form; , the internal arrangement as a whole. Both of these are noticed specifically by the allusion to the goings out and in, as well as to the forms ( ) of the separate parts, and their statutes and laws. are the precepts concerning the things to be observed by Israel when appearing before the Lord in the temple, the regulations for divine worship. , the instructions contained in these statutes for sanctification of life. The second is omitted in the lxx and some of the Hebrew Codd., and has therefore been expunged as a gloss by Dathe, Hitzig, and other critics; but it is undoubtedly genuine, and in conformity with the intentional crowding together of words. – The admonition to keep and to observe everything carefully is closed in Eze 43:12 with a statement of the fundamental law of the temple; that upon the lofty mountain the whole of its domain round about is to be most holy. does not belong to ot g in the sense of the house which is to be built upon the top of the mountain, but to the contents of the thorah of this house. It is to stand upon the top of the mountain, and to be most holy in all its domain. is to be understood in accordance with Eze 40:2; and points back to . Both by its situation upon a very high mountain, and also by the fact that not merely the inner sanctuary, and not merely the whole of the temple house, but also the whole of its surroundings (all its courts), are to be most holy, the new sanctuary is to be distinguished from the earlier one. What has been already stated – namely, that the temple shall not be profaned any more – is compressed into this clause; and by the repetition of the words, “this is the law of the house,”’ the first section of this vision, viz., the description of the temple, is rounded off; whilst the command given to the prophet in Eze 43:10 and Eze 43:11, to make known all the statutes and laws of this temple to the house of Israel, forms at the same time the transition to the section which follows.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Vision of the Temple. | B. C. 574. |
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: 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. 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. 4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the 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. 6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
After Ezekiel has patiently surveyed the temple of God, the greatest glory of this earth, he is admitted to a higher form, and honoured with a sight of the glories of the upper world; it is said to him, Come up hither. He has seen the temple, and sees it to be very spacious and splendid; but, till the glory of God comes into it, it is but like the dead bodies he had seen in vision (ch. xxxvii.), that had no breath till the Spirit of life entered into them. Here therefore he sees the house filled with God’s glory.
I. He has a vision of the glory of God (v. 2), the glory of the God of Israel, that God who is in covenant with Israel, and whom they serve and worship. The idols of the heathen have no glory but what they owe to the goldsmith or the painter; but this is the glory of the God of Israel. This glory came from the way of the east, and therefore he was brought to the gate that leads towards the east, to expect the appearance and approach of it. Christ’s star was seen in the east, and he is that other angel that ascends out of the east, Rev. vii. 2. For he is the morning star, he is the sun of righteousness. Two things he observed in this appearance of the glory of God:– 1. The power of his word which he heard: His voice was like a noise of many waters, which is heard very far, and makes impressions; the noise of purling streams is grateful, of a roaring sea dreadful, Rev 1:15; Rev 14:2. Christ’s gospel, in the glory of which he shines, was to be proclaimed aloud, the report of it to be heard far; to some it is a savour of life, to others of death, according as they are. 2. The brightness of his appearance which he saw: The earth shone with his glory; for God is light, and none can bear the lustre of his light, none has seen nor can see it. Note, That glory of God which shines in the church shines on the world. When God appeared for David the brightness that was before him dispersed the clouds, Ps. xviii. 12. This appearance of the glory of God to Ezekiel he observed to be the same with the vision he saw when he first received his commission (ch. i. 4), according to that by the river Chebar (v. 3); because God is the same, he was pleased to manifest himself in the same manner, for with him is no variableness. “It was the same” (says he) “as that which I saw when I came to destroy the city, that is, to foretel the city’s destruction,” which he did with such authority and efficacy, and the event did so certainly answer the prediction, that he might be said to destroy it. As a judge, in God’s name, he passed a sentence upon it, which was soon executed. God appeared in the same manner when he sent him to speak words of terror and when he sent him to speak words of comfort; for in both God is and will be glorified. He kills and he makes alive; he wounds and he heals, Deut. xxxii. 39. To the same hand that destroyed we must look for deliverance. He has smitten, and he will bind up. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit–The same hand inflicted the wound and healed it.
II. He has a vision of the entrance of this glory into the temple. When he saw this glory he fell upon his face (v. 3), as not able to bear the lustre of God’s glory, or rather as one willing to give him the glory of it by a humble and reverent adoration. But the Spirit took him up (v. 5) when the glory of the Lord had come into the house (v. 4), that he might see how the house was filled with it. He saw how the glory of the Lord in this same appearance departed from the temple, because it was profaned, to his great grief; now he shall see it return to the temple to his great satisfaction. See Eze 10:18; Eze 10:19; Eze 11:23. Note, Though God may forsake his people for a small moment, he will return with everlasting loving-kindness. God’s glory filled the house as it had filled the tabernacle which Moses set up and the temple of Solomon, Exo 40:34; 1Ki 8:10. Now we do not find that ever the Shechinah did in that manner take possession of the second temple, and therefore this was to have its accomplishment in that glory of the divine grace which shines so brightly in the gospel church, and fills it. Here is no mention of a cloud filling the house as formerly, for we now with open face behold the glory of the Lord, in the face of Christ, and not as of old through the cloud of types.
III. He receives instructions more immediately from the glory of the Lord, as Moses did when God had taken possession of the tabernacle (Lev. i. 1): I heard him speaking to me out of the house, v. 6. God’s glory shining in the church, we must thence expect to receive divine oracles. The man stood by me; we could not bear to hear the voice of God any more than to see the face of God if Jesus Christ did not stand by us as Mediator. Or, if this was a created angel, it is observable that when God began to speak to Ezekiel he stood by and gave way, having no more to say. Nay, he stood by the prophet, as a learner with him; for to the principalities and powers, to the angels themselves, who desire to look into these things, is known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. iii. 10. The man stood by him to conduct him thither where he might receive further discoveries, ch. xliv. 1.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
EZEKIEL – CHAPTER 43
THE GLORY OF JEHOVAH REVEALED
Verses 1-6:
Verses 1, 2 certifies that “after” the survey of the temple precincts, as described Eze 42:15-20, the measuring man conducted Ezekiel back to the east gate, the principal entrance to the sanctuary, where the Lord is to enter in resplendent glory at His return. In vision he beheld the glory of the God of Israel coming from the way of the east, the way from which he had formerly departed, Eze 10:19; Eze 11:22-23. His voice was described as the sound of “many waters,” and the earth shined with His glory presence, bespeaking the soon coming of the Lord in glory and great power, Psa 93:3-4; Rev 1:15; Rev 18:1; 1Ti 6:16.
Verse 3 states that the “glory one” of this vision was very similar to the former vision that Ezekiel saw when he came to destroy (or declare the destruction) of Jerusalem, Eze 1:4; Eze 1:10; Eze 9:1; Eze 9:5; He further declared that the vision was much like the one he saw at Chebar; And he fell upn his face, Eze 3:23; See also Eze 1:28.
Verse 4 declares that the glory of the Lord came into the house, by way of the gate whose prospect, projected opening, was toward or faced the east, the due and true source of light, Eze 10:19; The first time, he fell upon his face before an angry God. This time, it is before Him as He comes with grace, in glory.
Verse 5 adds that “the glory of the Lord filled the house,” as he was by the spirit, to behold His glory in the inner court, as foreshadowed by the consecration of both the tabernacle, (Exo 40:34-35); and of the temple of Solomon, 1Ki 8:10-11. See also Eze 3:12; Eze 44:4.
Verse 6 declares that this person of glory stood up and spoke to Ezekiel, out of the house of the Lord; For He had a special message for him, Eze 40:3; Joh 1:1-3; Joh 1:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE CONSECRATION OF THE TEMPLE. (chap. 43)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.Eze. 43:2. Behold, the glory of God. As the Shechinah-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 fact that the Shechinah-glory was not in the second Temple proves that it cannot be that Temple which it meant in the prophecy. The glory came by the way of the east. The same way by which Jehovah had left the house to destruction because it had been polluted and profaned (chap. Eze. 11:22-23). He now returns to take possession of His holy habitation, prepared and sanctified for His reception. His voice was like a noise of many waters. The creature has its voice only from the Creator, and therefore must His voice sound above its voice, loud though it be (Psa. 93:3-4; Rev. 1:15). The earth shined with His glory. He who said, Let there be light, shines forth, when He appears in the clearest light, as He who dwells in inaccessible light (1Ti. 6:16; Psa. 50:2. Rev. 18:1). By this burst of light extending far beyond Israel is symbolised an enlightenment of the face of the whole earththe entire region of humanity thus shown to have been in itself and hitherto dark.
Eze. 43:3. When I came to destroy the cityi.e., to pronounce Gods word for its destruction: so completely did the prophets identify themselves with Him in whose name they spake. I fell upon my face. As in chap. Eze. 1:28 the prophet fell down upon his face before the majesty of an angry God, so here before that of God appearing in His grace.
Eze. 43:5. The glory of the Lord filled the house. So when Jehovah took possession of the Tabernacle (Exo. 40:34-35), and of Solomons Temple (1Ki. 8:10-11).
Eze. 43:7. And he said unto me. The speaker is designated as a man (Eze. 43:6), and yet he here speaks as God and applies to himself that which can belong only to Jehovah. We have thus without doubt the angel of God before us, the only one in whom the opposition of God and man is mediated and removed.Hengstenberg. The place of My throne. God from the first claimed to be their King politically and religiously, and had resisted their wish to have a human king as implying a rejection of Him as the proper Head of the State. The Messiah-King shall realise the original idea of the theocracy, with its at once Divine and human King reigning in righteousness over a people all righteous (Isa. 52:1; Isa. 54:13; Isa. 60:21).
Eze. 43:7. For ever. Observe that the words for ever mark the distinction between the new and the former sanctuary.
Eze. 43:9. Put away their whoredom, and the carcasses of their kings. As whoredom designates idolatry in general, so what is meant to be said by the corpses of their kings applies to the worship of kings, the forgotten subjection to Jehovah under them, who, if kings, yet are perpetuated only as corpses.Lange. Ahaz brought in an idolatrous altar from Damascus (2Ki. 16:11), and Manasseh built altars in the house of the Lord (2Ki. 21:4).
Eze. 43:10. That they may be ashamed of their iniquities. When the holy significance of the Gospel is shown to men by the Holy Spirit, they are ashamed of their sins. Let them measure the pattern. Deviation from the exact rules of the Mosaic ordinances was connected with the transgression of the people. So the restoration according to the pattern of the Law was symbolical of their return to obedience.
Eze. 43:12. The whole limit thereof shall be most holy. This superlative most holy which had been used exclusively of the Holy of Holies was now to characterise the entire building.
Eze. 43:13. These are the measures of the altarthe altar of burnt offering, the appointed means of access to God. God is about to instruct the seer as to the sacrifices of inauguration whereby places, services, priests, and people were to be dedicated anew to the Lord, as of old under Solomon (1 Kings 8).
Eze. 43:18. These are the ordinances of the altar.The consecration of the altar corresponds to the consecration of the people to Jehovah, their entire surrender and presentation of themselves to Him. The burnt-offerings usher in the class of offerings which obtains in the state of grace. The justified man lives henceforth not to himself; the service of the Lord which is ministered in the Church is symbolised by this purpose of the altar of burnt-offering; hence there is no and of worship without burnt-offering. The self-surrendering reliance on grace continues to be taken into account, as in the past so for the future, and so the burnt-offering may be called the perpetual offering of the Church of God.Lange.
Eze. 43:24. Shall cast salt upon them. Salt was to be cast on every meat-offering (Lev. 2:13). Here it is added to the burnt-offering to express still more the idea of purification. In the second Temple no sacrifice was complete without the use of salt, and the Rabbis tell us that there was a great heap of salt close to the altar always ready for use, and that the inclined plane to the altar was kept covered with salt.Edersheims Temple.
Eze. 43:26. And they shall consecrate themselvesliterally, fill their hands; the conferring of office upon persons in whose hand is laid what they have forthwith to offer and what they have to handle, referring to Lev. 8:27; Exo. 29:24-25.
Eze. 43:27. And I will accept yon. After this inauguration the regular service is resumed, and will be acceptable to God. Under the guidance of the Epistle to the Hebrews we cannot fail to recognise in this vision the symbol of the purification of the Church of God by the cleansing blood of Christ, Victim and Priest (Hebrews 8, 9, 10).
HOMILETICS
THE REVELATION OF THE GLORY OF JEHOVAH
(Eze. 43:1-6.)
I. It was a revelation possessing some remarkable features.
1. It was a revelation of the Divine Word. His voice was like a noise of many waters (Eze. 43:2). The dreamy murmur of summer streams soothes the soul into peace; but the roar of the ocean-storm fills it with dread. So God can speak to man in a whisper that comforts, or in a voice that alarms the soul with its trumpet-like tones. The Word of God is His voice; it is powerful, and is intended to be heard afar. In the constant declaration of the Gospel-message that voice is ever pealing in the ears of the nations, and is distinctly heard above the din of loudest opposition.
2. It was a revelation of visible splendour. The earth shined with His glory (Eze. 43:2). The works of God are a revelation of His glorious character. He is said to clothe Himself with light as with a garment, and His works are a garment jewelled with stars, embroidered with constellations, and glittering with the riches of all worlds, at once hiding and revealing the Divine form. His glory is the fulness of the whole earth (Isa. 6:3).
3. It was a revelation of overwhelming majesty. And I fell upon my face (Eze. 43:3), overpowered with the awful grandeur of the vision. The greatness of the Creator rises sublimely above His mightiest works; and a sight of the peerless majesty of Jehovah prostrates the soul with a humbling consciousness of imperfection and sin.
II. It was a revelation of the glory of Jehovah consecrating His Temple. The glory of the Lord filled the house (vera. 4, 5). So it filled the ancient Tabernacle and the Temple of Solomon (Exo. 40:34; 1Ki. 8:10). No such visible glory filled the second Temple. It is to be seen again only in the completed Temple of the future. The manifested presence of God in the believing soul, as in the perfected Church, is its holiest consecration. The glory of the new Temple shall never fade, because the Divine presence will never be withdrawn.
III. It was a revelation requiring spiritual help to see and understand.
1. The help of the Spirit is necessary to see the visions of God. So the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory (Eze. 43:5). The unaided intellect is incapable of perceiving spiritual realities; they must be Divinely unfolded (1Co. 2:9-10; 1Co. 2:14). The Spirit throws around the soul a heavenly-tempered atmosphere, through which are sifted the glorious visions of God.
2. The help of the Spirit is necessary to interpret the Word of God. And I heard Him speaking to me out of the house (Eze. 43:6). The Bible is a closed book to the unspiritual. The literary student may find pleasure in its history and poetry; but its inner meanings are a hidden secret until the soul is anointed with the unction of the Spirit. It is in the Temple that the Spirit delights to interpret to the devout worshipper the transcendent revelations of the Divine Word.
LESSONS.The glory of Jehovah
1. Shines in all His works.
2. Should be prayerfully sought out.
3. Is abundantly satisfying.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Eze. 43:1-6. The glory of the God of Israel must take possession of the new Sanctuary, as in time past of the Tabernacle and of Solomons Temple. But it is in a different form. The glory was of old veiled in a cloud resting on the mercy-seat of the Ark between cherubim of carved wood, lifeless and motionless, as though the mercy and the power of God were in some sort restricted to the material building and the people to whom it belonged. Now a personal and living God enters the Sanctuary, condescending to occupy it, not merely as a fixed dwelling-place, but as a centre from whence His power and mercy radiate freely to the utmost ends of the earth. Hence amidst the detailed preparations of the house no mention is made of mercy-seat, so important a part in the former Sanctuary.Speakers Commentary.
What we are taught here is, that Jehovah would renew the manifestation of His favour to the covenant-people. which He did pre-eminently when He dwelt among them in the person of His Incarnate Son.Henderson.
We have to notice the essentially moral character of all that was here displayed in vision respecting the future things of Gods Kingdom. It was not a pattern which God was going to carry out anyhow and accomplish as by a simple fiat of Omnipotence. It depended upon the condition of the people, and only if they agreed to put away sin from among them and give God the supreme place in their hearts could He manifest Himself toward them in the manner described.Fairbairn.
Divine Manifestations
1. Are always made at the right time and place (Eze. 43:1).
2. Are on a scale of imposing magnificence (Eze. 43:2).
3. Though retaining points of similarity, they are suited to special emergencies (Eze. 43:3).
4. Overawe the soul with their grandeur (Eze. 43:3).
5. Are chiefly seen in connection with the Sanctuary (Eze. 43:4-5).
6. Have a distinct significance for the privileged beholder (Eze. 43:6).
7. Are more highly appreciated when shared with a sympathetic companion (Eze. 43:6).
Eze. 43:1. The prophet saw not the glory of God till he had first seen the Mount measured, the Temple restored. Men must usually wait upon God in the use of means ere they see the King in His glory. Men must awake out of the west of wickedness and stand up from dead courses and companies, if Christ, the Day-Star from on high, shall give them light (Eph. 5:14; Luk. 2:28-32).Trapp.
Open to me the pearl gates, Thou who art the ornament of heavens city, Light from Light, chosen as the light before the world began. The entrance of the glory from the east for lighting the Temple took place when the apostles, on the Day of Pentecost, were endued with power from on high.Lange.
Eze. 43:2. The glory of God which shines in the Church shines on the world. When God appeared for David the brightness that was before him dispersed the clouds (Psa. 18:12).
All knowledge, all religion, and all arts and sciences have travelled according to the course of the sun, from east to west. From that quarter the Divine glory at first came, and thence the rays of Divine light continue to diffuse themselves over the face of the earth. From thence came the Bible, and through that the new covenant. From thence came the prophets, apostles, and first missionaries that brought the knowledge of God to Europe, to the isles of the sea, and to the west first, and afterwards to these northern regions.A. Clarke.
This glory of the Lord seems to have been intended as an emblem of the light of the Gospel, which is the glory of Christ, and which spread from the eastern part of the world into the western; and which has been, and still is, powerful and mighty in operation in saving mankind and enlightening the earth with abundance of knowledge, holiness, and comfort.Benson.
Where the Gospel is preached the waters of life make a noise, not only of themselves, but also from the stones which men cast in, and from the rocky banks of worldly hearts which make resistance; but the glory of eternity shines on earth. The loud noise of the glory is the voice of them who praise the Lord with one heart and one voice, here on earth as there in heaven (Rev. 14:1). Let us pray God to enlighten the dark earth of our heart with that holy light of His glory.Lange.
And the earth shined with His glory. How can it do otherwise when the Sun of Righteousness cometh in place and irradiateth both organ and object? (2Co. 4:6). Into Solomons Temple God came in a thick cloud; not so here. Light is now more diffused than ever. Woe be to those who wink, or who seek straws to put out their eyes withal.Trapp.
Before the coming of Christ the world was full of heathenish darkness, and Canaan full of types, ceremonies, and shadows; there was little light or lustre there. But when Christ came the oracles of the heathen ceased, the Jewish shadows vanished, and the earth shined with the glory of the Gospel (Mat. 4:16).Greenhill.
Eze. 43:3. God appeared in the same manner when He sent him to speak words of terror, and when He sent him to speak words of comfort, for in both God is and will be glorified.
The knowledge of God never causes pride but humility, because it at the same time discovers the corruption of the heart. The more modest a man is and the less he trusts to himself, the more he is endowed with the knowledge of God. The bowed down are revived by the Lord, and led by the Spirit to the place where the majesty of the God of glory shines.Lange.
Eze. 43:4. The sins of impenitent Israel caused the glory of the Lord to go out of His house, but now the repentance of Israel is blessed with the return of this glory.Pool.
What hinders this glory from filling also thy heart, provided it is not lull of other things, and needs first to become empty, that thy hunger and desire may, by the breath of the Spirit, seek and find satisfaction in its fulness?Lange.
Eze. 43:5. Humility
1. The true attitude of the soul in the revealed presence of God.
2. The result of conscious personal unworthiness.
3. Leads to exaltation.
Eze. 43:6. I heard distinctly, intelligibly, so that I am sure it was no delusion. The Lord, who was in that glory, speaks to His people out of His Temple.Pool.
The Lord Christ, who is the chief Architect in Temple work, stands by His prophets and servants who are employed therein. When the Temple was first built many were employed therein, but they were not left to their own wisdom and skill. Solomon was principal; he was present, counselled, directed, and assisted; therefore it is said he built the house. So in Ezekiels Temple, a type of the Gospel Temple, Christ was present; He counselled, directed, assisted, and stood by the prophet.Greenhill.
HOMILETICS
HOLINESS THE LAW OF THE NEW TEMPLE
(Eze. 43:7-12.)
I. The Divine government is based in holiness (Eze. 43:7). The throne of God, the symbol of regal and governmental authority, is firmly established in righteousness. God is holy, His throne is holy, His law is holy, and every single act of His universal administration is pervaded and beautified by His immaculate holiness (Psa. 47:8). The perfected Temple will be the everlasting home and resting-place of Jehovah, and holiness will be the unchanging law of the house (Psa. 93:5).
II. The transgressions of Gods people against the law of holiness was the cause of their ruin (Eze. 43:7-8). Nothing is more plainly revealed or more frequently and emphatically repeated than this truth, that the sufferings of Gods people were brought upon themselves by their disobedience. Sin is so deceptive in its lure and so demoralising in its subtle action, that when its inevitable punishment comes the transgressor is surprised and aggrieved, as if some undeserved injustice had been done to him. It is the nature of sin to blind the soul to its real enormity. Sin cannot reveal itself as sin: it is only as the light of Divine holiness is flashed into it that its terrible havoc is exposed. Therefore, in vindication of His holy name and to produce genuine repentance in the defaulter, Gods denunciations of sin are incessant.
III. The blessings of the law of holiness may be enjoyed by all who truly repent.
1. True repentance is a humbling consciousness of sin (Eze. 43:10). The seer is instructed to reveal to Israel the glorious character of the new Temple in order to make them ashamed of their iniquities. A revelation of the goodness of God in what He provides for us, of the purity of God in what He demands, prostrates the soul in humiliation and sorrow. A sense of shame is the first hopeful sign towards moral reform. A teacher of the deaf and dumb once asked his pupils to write down what they thought was the most delightful emotion. One wrote joy, another hope, another gratitude, another love; but one peaceful-looking girl, with eyes shining with tears, wrote, Repentance is the most delightful emotion; and when asked why, answered, Because it is so delightful to be humbled before God!
2. True repentance is the putting away of sin (Eze. 43:9). Sorrow for sin is puerile, weak, illusive, unless accompanied by a sturdy resolution to amend. Sin must not only be grieved over, but forsaken. Maudlin tears reform nothing.
3. True repentance is evidenced by obedience. That they may keep all the ordinances and do them (Eze. 43:11). The proof of genuine sorrow is seen in an honest endeavour to observe the laws over whose violation we grieve. It is not enough to know the right; we must do it. God reveals His laws, not that they may be admired and praised, still less transgressed, but that they may be observed and practised. Let sorrow for the past urge to prompt and faithful service.
IV. The law of holiness is all-comprehensive in its operation (Eze. 43:12). In the old Temple only one spot was accounted the Holy of Holies; but in the new Temple every part is most holy: the law applies with equal force to each portion of the consecrated house. The law of Gods Temple is the law of the universe, and furnishes the standard by which all thoughts, words, and deeds will be unerringly estimated.
LESSONS.
1. Holiness is the law of the highest life.
2. Holiness is the glory of a perfect character.
2. Holiness is the organ of the grandest spiritual visions.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Eze. 43:7-9. The Divine Ruler
1. Is enthroned in the midst of His people (Eze. 43:7).
2. Cannot tolerate a rival (Eze. 43:8).
3. Ensures the everlasting happiness of the obedient (Eze. 43:9).
Eze. 43:8. Spurious Religion.
1. Its institutions a poor imitation of the genuine. Setting their threshold by My thresholds, and their post by My posts.
2. Gains no authority by its proximity to the genuine. The wall between Me and them.
3. Is an aggravated profanation of the genuine. They have even defiled My holy name by their abominations that they have committed.
4. Incurs the Divine displeasure and punishment. Wherefore I have consumed them in Mine anger.
The palace of Solomon abutted upon the southern side of the embankment of the Temple platform. Thus the threshold of the Kings dwelling was set by the threshold of Jehovah, and their posts by His posts, and there was but a wall between Jehovah and them. It was not that the act of building a palace close to the Temple was in itself profane, but when the kings gave themselves up to idolatry this vicinity was to the Temple a pollution and defilement.Speakers Commentary.
Eze. 43:9. God now first returns to the apostates; but His grace is designed to work repentance, and then He will never more depart from them.Diedrich.
Eze. 43:10-12. The Vision of Divine Things
1. Humbles the soul under a sense of ingratitude and sin (Eze. 43:10).
2. Stimulates to a more earnest and practical obedience (Eze. 43:11).
3. Reveals the exalted sanctity of the Divine law (Eze. 43:12).
Eze. 43:10-11. The New Temple. The Israelites of the Captivity might see the pattern when they had repented of their iniquities; till then it was impossible. The idea of a spiritual society could not unfold itself to them while they were living in a heartless, divided, self-righteous state. They must be humbled before they could feel the possibility of such a society; still more before they could confess it to be real. The hindrance to the discernment of it was not an intellectual one; it was not that they wanted the intuition and the foresight of the prophet; it was wholly moral. It was their baseness and selfishness which made their eyes dim that they could not see, and their ears heavy that they could not hear. It was so then; it was so in every generation afterwards. Repent, said John the Baptist, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The pattern of the house is about to be presented to you. The spiritual society, of which your Temple is the imperfect outward embodiment, is going to be manifested. The Head of it is among you, but you cannot see it, you cannot see Him. Repent; turn round to God, that He may remove the film from your eyes and enable you to receive the revelation which He is making to you. The same language goes through the Gospels. All the blindness which is ascribed to the Jewish nation is mainly this, that they would not accept it as the manifestation of a kingdom for human beings, of a society grounded upon the name of the Son of God and the Son of Man; that they would have only a Jewish society. And that Jewish society proved itself not to be Jewish, but a miserable collection of sects, hating each other and contrary to all men, not claiming to be children of God, and therefore not able to assert their title as children of Abraham; essentially inhuman, and therefore necessarily given up to the worship of a false godof Mammon instead of Jehovah. Ezekiel was to show his countrymen the form of the house when a confession of their iniquities should enable them to discern the pattern after which it was to be built. The law must hold good for all time to come. There may be such a house yet built in Jerusalem. But it must be built by a people who are capable of giving the outward expression to an inward truth that is possessing them; who have humbled themselves in dust and ashes before God for their selfishness, their exclusiveness, their worship of gold; who have confessed the Cross to be the highest manifestation of the wisdom and power of God; who have rejoiced in that manifestation because it is universal, and who have perceived that the Divine Unity is not a narrow, selfish individuality, but the unity of a Father with a Son in one Spirit.F. D. Maurice.
Eze. 43:10. Solomons Temple left the people in their disobedience and worship of idols; but this house belongs to a higher order. He who lays it to heart will cease sinning and duly examine the Temple and its measurements. The shame of the poor sinner finds in the Templewhich is Christexactly the right measure.Lange.
Nothing so effectually makes men ashamed of their sins as the revelation to them by the Holy Ghost of Christ crucified and Christ glorified in the hearing of the Word. The height, depth, length, and breadth of the love of Christ to His spiritual Temple, the elect Church, causes the believer to loathe his past course of life and henceforth desire to live wholly to Christ. Thus believers are prepared for further discoveries of the blessed laws of Gods spiritual house.Fausset.
1. When God reveals mercy and shows kindness to a sinful people, they ought to be ashamed and repent of all their former iniquities.
(1.) As acts of filthiness.
(2.) As acts of folly.
(3.) As acts of unkindness and ingratitude.
(4.) As fearing a just reproof.
(5.) As fearing Gods cause and name will suffer by them.
2. Those who have humbled themselves for their former sins are fit to be spiritual mathematicians.Greenhill.
And let them measure the pattern. That by a holy geometry they may in the spirit of their minds take all the dimensions of it and be transformed into the likeness of the heavenly pattern. These are those holy and heavenly mathematics which none can learn but those that are taught of God, and without which none can be Christs disciple; like as none might be scholar to Plato that had not the grounds of geometry.Trapp.
Eze. 43:11. They who repent of their sins are capable of knowing the Temple and its arrangements, while those who wantonly pursue fleshly desires receive not the spirit of wisdom, and are incapable of knowing the law of the Lord (2Ti. 2:19; 1Jn. 3:3).Lange.
The Ordinances of the Temple.
1. That to repentant men, ashamed of all their evil doings, the ways of Gods house are to be made known by the prophets and ministers.
2. Temple and Church work must not be according to mens fancies, but according to the mind of God and that pattern He gives forth.
3. That the Temple and Church of Christ has distinct and peculiar laws of its own.
4. The Church in due time shall be such a Temple as is represented by this vision.
5. The end of making known the laws and ways of Gods house is, that they may be observed and practised.Greenhill.
Eze. 43:12. The Law of Gods Church.
1. The Church of God has a good foundation. Upon the mountain.
2. The Church of God is eminent and conspicuous. Upon the top of the mountain.
3. The whole Church of God is to be made up of holy materials. The whole limit thereof round about.
4. The law of this house, which is holiness, is specially to be observed. Behold, this is the law of the house.Greenhill.
The law of the housewhich was pre-eminently entitled to be called the lawconsisted in the whole region of the Temple-Mount being most holy. Not, as hitherto, was this characteristic to be confined to a single apartment of the Temple; it was to embrace the entire circumference occupied by the symbolical institutions of the kingdom, the chambers allotted to the priests, and even the courts trodden by the people, as well as the immediate dwelling-place of Jehovah. So that the pattern delineated is that of a true theocracy, having God Himself for King, with the community in all its members for true denizens of the kingdom and acceptable ministers of righteousness before the Lord.Fairbairn.
Let none expect the protection and blessings of it that will not submit to this law.
HOMILETICS
THE ALTAR AN EMBLEM OF TRUE WORSHIP
(Eze. 43:13-27.)
I. That true worship must be offered at the Divinely consecrated shrine (Eze. 43:13-26). The important attached to the altar here described is seen in the minute particulars given concerning its measurements and structure, and the elaborate ceremonial observed in its dedication to the service of Jehovah. It was not like one of the portable altars that idolatrous worshippers were accustomed to carry about with them in their journeys and wars, but was a fixed shrine having a permanent place in the Temple, and was the recognised medium of access to God. Here the worship of the Temple must be offered. The Jewish system being a theocracy, a visible representation of the reign of God, Jehovah was worshipped by them as both God and King. This twofold character was observable in all the arrangements of the ancient cultus. The Temple was at once the shrine of God and the palace and throne of the King. Christ is the Altar of the new dispensation, the Divine shrine consecrated by suffering and death, through whom alone worship can be offered to the God of heaven. From any other altar worship rises no higher than the smoke that ascends from it, and its effect disappears as quickly.
II. That true worship is a sacrifice (Eze. 43:27). As soon as the altar was duly consecrated sacrifices were perpetually offered upon it. The burnt-offering was the perfect sacrifice, because the victim was wholly consumed by fire and sent up to God, as it were, on the wings of fire. It was a memorial of Gods covenant, and signified that the offerer belonged wholly to God, that he dedicated himself, soul and body, to Him, and placed his life at His disposal. Every such sacrifice was a type of the perfect offering made by Christ on behalf of the human race. The peace-offering was not an atoning sacrifice to make peace with God, but a joyful celebration of peace made through the covenant. In this part of the ritual, more than in any other, we see Jehovah present in His house inviting the worshipper to feast with Him. Peace-offerings were presented either as a thanksgiving, or in fulfilment of a vow, or as a free-will offering of love and joy. True worship is a sacrifice, a free offering up of the worshipper and all he has to God, and is expressed in devout adoration and thanksgiving and in joyful praise. It is the spontaneous outburst of a loving heart, yearning to render homage to the great object of its love, and finding its deepest satisfaction in the exercise.
III. That true worship is acceptable to God (Eze. 43:27). It is acceptable when and as it is offered in the manner and spirit God has Himself prescribed. It must be offered through Christ, the true Priest and Altar, and with the aid of the Divine Spirit. Many of the heathen priests acknowledged the moral element in worship, as when one counselled, Sacrifice to the gods, not so much clothed with purple garments as with a pure heart. And another said, God regards not the multitude of the sacrifices, but the disposition of the sacrificer. God must cease to be Spirit before any service but that which is spiritual can be accepted by Him. David expresses the blessedness and help received in worship by men of all ages, in that earnest invitation, O come, let us worship and bow down (Psa. 95:6-7). To refuse to worship God is as great a folly as to deny His existence. He who denies the being of God is an atheist to His essence; he who denies His worship is an atheist to His honour. The instinct of worship is as universal as the notion of a God, or else idolatry would never have gained so firm a footing in the world. Our minds are a beam from God, and, as the beams of the sun when they touch the earth, should reflect back upon God. We unsoul our souls when we neglect the worship of God, and are like flies that are found oftener on dunghills than among flowers.
LESSONS.
1. Worship is absolutely necessary for the culture of the soul.
2. Worship is acceptable only as it is offered according to Divinely sanctioned methods.
3. Idolatry is a false and debasing worship.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Eze. 43:13-27. Now that the Lord has taken possession of the house, the prophet goes on to show how the work of fellowship and communion with Him is to proceed on the part of the people. It must begin anew, and of course be conducted after the old manner, for no other could here come into contemplation. In ancient times the grand medium of Divine intercourse was the altar, at which all gifts and sacrifices were to be presented for the Divine favour and blessing.Fairbairn.
The Divinely Authorised Altar
1. Is minutely described that there might be no question as to its identity (Eze. 43:13-17).
2. Is solemnly consecrated that there may be no doubt as to the necessity for its use (Eze. 43:18-26).
3. Provides a way of acceptance to every penitent seeker (Eze. 43:27).
Eze. 43:13. The Jews after their return from captivity had an altar long before they had a Temple (Ezr. 3:3), but the altar here spoken of is an altar in the Temple, the mystical Temple, emblematic of the Gospel Church; and this altar is mystical too, for Christ is our Altar.
No one could go into the Temple without passing by the altar, and so no one can go into heaven without the sacrifice of the death of Christ.Starck.
Eze. 43:15-17. The number twelve was symbolical of the twelve tribes, four of the earth, sixteen is the square of four, and fourteen the double of seventhe number of the covenant as being composed of three, the number of God, and of four, the number of the world. Thus we have in the altar a special instance of Hebrew symbolism.Speakers Commentary.
Eze. 43:15. So the altarHeb., the mount of God. And from the altarHeb., from the lion of God. Perhaps the first was a name given to the altar when elevated to the honour of God, and on which the victims were offered to Him; and the second, the lion of God, may mean the hearth, which might have been thus called because it devoured and consumed the burnt-offerings as a lion does his prey.A. Clarke.
Eze. 43:16. Christ, the Christian Altar, is complete, firm, and fixed.Trapp.
Eze. 43:17. Toward the east. These stairs were placed eastward that he who went up should have his face to the west, his back to the east: his face toward God, not toward the rising sun, as they who made the sun their idol.Pool.
Eze. 43:18. Thus God comes first and gives grace; His grace makes ashamed, chastises, sanctifies, reconciles, and produces intimate eternal fellowship. This is always Gods way with men, provided only we recognise it aright in these days of ours when now it is set in the most glorious light; Christ and the apostles have given additional clearness to Ezekiel.Diedrich.
Eze. 43:18-27. Although the chief scope of this vision be to set out the glory and greatness of the Church under the Gospel and among the Gentiles, yet, because the Jews at this time being in Babylon were to return to Jerusalem, the Lord alludes to ordinances, rites, and ceremonies which were well known among the Jews, holding out under them the spiritual worship of the Gospel.Greenhill.
Eze. 43:24. The Best Efforts of Man
1. Are tainted with impurity.
2. Need to be cleansed and made wholesome.
3. Augmented in efficacy when salted with study, prayer, tears, and suffering.
Grace is the salt with which all our religious performances must be seasoned (Col. 4:6).
True Christians are sacrifices well seasoned: incorrupt doctrines will make incorrupt souls and bodies; the salt makes both immortal: men soundly salted with Gospel truths shall never perish.Greenhill.
Eze. 43:27. As to the future sacrificial service of Israel, we can well afford to wait till God by the event shall clear up every difficulty; and throughout eternity we shall adoringly wonder at the beautiful variety and, at the same time, perfect unity of the several parts of the mighty scheme of redemption through the incarnate Son of God.Fausset.
Those who were in Christ before others ought in this to serve as priests to the younger believers.Lange.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
G. The Return of the Divine Glory 43:112
TRANSLATION
(1) Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east: (2) and behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory. (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. (4) And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. (5) And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. (6) And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me. (7) And he said unto me, Son of man, this is 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 forever; and the house of Israel shall no more defile My holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; (8) in their setting of their threshold by My threshold, and their door-post beside My door-post, and there was but the wall between Me and them; and they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in My anger. (9) Now let them put away their whoredom, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from Me; and I will dwell in the midst of (hem for ever. (10) As for you, 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. (11) And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the entrances 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. (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.
COMMENTS
After he had witnessed the measuring of the outer wall, the interpreting angel brought Ezekiel back to the east gate of the Temple where he was privileged to witness an awe-inspiring scene (Eze. 43:1). Nineteen years earlier Ezekiel had seen the glory of God leaving the Temple by that east gate (Eze. 10:18-22; Eze. 11:22-24). Now the prophet sees the glory of God returning to sanctify the new structure as His holy dwelling. The roar of the cherubim in their flight sounded like the roar of many waters. The splendor of the divine presence illuminated the earth (Eze. 43:2). On two previous occasions Ezekiel had seen this vision of the throne-chariot once at his call by the river Chebar (chap. 1), and again when he saw in vision the destruction of Jerusalem (chaps. 811). The prophet attributes the destruction of Jerusalem to himself in Eze. 43:3 because he had prophesied it. Ezekiel was awestricken at the sight of the divine glory entering that eastern gate (Eze. 43:4).
After viewing the divine throne-chariot Ezekiel was whisked away into the inner court by the Spirit (cf. Eze. 2:2; Eze. 8:3). From that vantage point Ezekiel could see that the glory of God completely filled the Temple (Eze. 43:5). A man probably the interpreting angel of the previous chapters stood beside Ezekiel there. The voice of God could be heard from within the sanctuary (Eze. 43:6).
The voice from the Temple spoke of the significance of that new Temple. The former Temple had served as Gods footstool; His throne was in heaven (Isa. 60:13; Psa. 132:7; Lam. 2:1; 1Ch. 28:2). The new Temple would be the throne room of God as well as His footstool. There He would dwell with His people forever.
In the new Temple age the Israel of God would no longer defile Gods holy name by their disgusting harlotry, i.e., idolatry. In days gone by kings were buried in close proximity to the Temple, and their graves apparently became pagan high places where idolatrous rites were performed (Eze. 43:7). In the pre-exilic Jerusalem the royal palace abutted the Temple; only a wall separated the holy sanctuary from the royal palace. The abominations (idolatrous practices) of the palace defiled the Temple. This was the reason God had consumed them (Eze. 43:8).
The sanctity of the new Temple would be safe-guarded by a large area of outer and inner courts wherein the priests and other sacred personnel would dwell. Furthermore, in that new age the people of God would be dominated by a new spirit, one which abhorred idolatry. God can and will dwell forever in the midst of such a purified and regenerated people (Eze. 43:9).
A new commission is given to Ezekiel in Eze. 43:10. He is commanded to describe the Temple of his vision to his fellow exiles in all its particulars. This vision would, among other things, serve to remind those exiles of the 10SS of their former sanctuary. Their hearts would be filled with contrition as they contemplated the reasons why God allowed their former Temple to be destroyed. Ezekiel is to urge the exiles to note carefully every measurement of the structure. Thus they would learn the standard of Gods holiness which is clearly set forth in the structure and design of the Temple.
If the people appeared to be moved to repentance by Ezekiels Temple preaching he was to give them all the details concerning the new structure: the form of the house, i.e., the general appearance of the new Temple; the fashion of it, i.e., the various sections, chambers and cells; the gates and entrances; the ordinances of it, i.e., the function and use of the various parts of the Temple complex; the forms of it, i.e., the cherubim and palms which decorate it; and all the laws which regulated the use of that facility. All of this was to be written down publicly. The Jews were expected to keep the whole form of that Temple, i.e., remember the shape and design of the structure; and to implement the ordinances pertaining to those sacred precincts (Eze. 43:11).
One other detail is added about the future Temple in Eze. 43:12. Whereas Solomons Temple occupied the slope of a hill, the future Temple was to crown the summit. In comparison to the rest of Jerusalem which was considered holy, the Temple area would be considered most holy (Eze. 43:12).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XLIII.
The new Temple had now been shown to the prophet with all its arrangements and measurements; it remained that the structure should be divinely accepted by the manifestation of the glory of the Lord, as in the case of the Tabernacle (Exo. 40:34-35), and of the former Temple (1Ki. 8:10-11; 2Ch. 5:13-14; 2Ch. 7:1-3). The description of this and the accompanying message occupy Eze. 43:1-12. With Eze. 43:13 the account of the ordinances of Divine worship to be celebrated in the Temple begins, and is continued to the close of Ezekiel 46.
(2) From the way of the east.The prophet had been brought (Eze. 43:1) to the east gate, from which he had formerly seen the glory of the Lord depart (Eze. 10:18-19; Eze. 11:1; Eze. 11:23) on account of the pollution of His house. By the same way the glory of the Lord was now to return to the sanctuary prepared for it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
RETURN OF JEHOVAH TO HIS NEW TEMPLE, AND ITS CONSECRATION TO HIS SERVICE.
1-5. The Lord’s glory returns to the temple by the same gate through which the prophet had seen it depart (Eze 43:1-2; Eze 10:19; Eze 11:23), and the sound of the chariot’s movement was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory (Eze 3:23; compare Eze 1:4-13; Eze 1:24; Eze 10:4-5). It was the same vision which Ezekiel had seen at the Chebar (Eze 1:1), and also in Jerusalem when he was summoned thither to announce its overthrow (Eze 43:3; Eze 8:4; Ezekiel 10). Overawed by the glory he falls upon his face, but is lifted up by the spirit as previously (see notes Eze 2:2; Eze 3:12), and is carried from the eastern gate into the inner court (Eze 43:1; Eze 43:5).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Return of Yahweh to the Land in His Heavenly Temple. His Throne Enters the Heavenly Holy of Holies ( Eze 43:1-12 ).
‘Afterwards he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks towards the east, and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and his voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. 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 on my face.’
Ezekiel was now brought back to the East Gate, (having followed his visitant as he measured the externals), the temple and its environs having been fully measured in order to demonstrate that God was about to act again in relation to it. And there he saw again the vision of the glory of God. Especial stress is laid on the massive volume of sound (‘as the voice of many waters’ like the thunder of the mighty Niagara or Victoria falls – Eze 1:24; Rev 1:15) and the greatness of the glory (the earth shone with His glory, reflecting the glory of God – Isa 60:1-3; Hab 3:3-4 see also Deu 33:2; Exo 34:29-30; Exo 34:35; Mar 9:3; 2Co 4:6; Rev 1:16; Rev 18:1). ). The heavenly temple now having been established, the heavenly chariot throne of Yahweh in all its majesty, the great reality behind the symbolic ark of the covenant, now comes to enter the ‘real’ holy of holies in the heavenly temple. God is here in earnest.
‘Came from the way of the east.’ Previously it was from the north (Eze 1:4). God can come from anywhere. We must not limit Him to one place, and it was towards the east that He had previously departed. See Eze 11:23.
‘When I came to destroy the city.’ Ezekiel felt so involved with his visions that he saw himself as having had a part in the destruction of Jerusalem. His words of prophecy had, as it were, brought it about.
‘And I fell on my face.’ His reaction was the same as before. A response of awe and worship. Before the glory of Yahweh none could stand. All had to hide their eyes.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The New Temple ( Eze 40:1 to Eze 48:35 ).
The book of Ezekiel began with a vision of the glory of God and the coming of the heavenly chariot throne of God in order to speak directly to His people through Ezekiel (chapter 1). He then recorded the departure of God’s glory from Jerusalem and the Temple because of the sins of Israel (chapters 8 – 11). This was followed by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Now it ends with another vision, the return of God’s glory to the land and to His people (chapters 40 -48) depicted in the form of a heavenly temple established on the mountains of Israel to which the glory of God returns, resulting in the final restoration of ‘the city’ as ‘Yahweh is there’. Thus this part of the book follows both chronologically and logically from what has gone before.
Furthermore at the commencement of the book Ezekiel received his divine commission as a prophet (chapters 1 – 3), then he pronounced oracles of judgment against Judah and Jerusalem for their sins, declaring that Jerusalem must be destroyed (chapters 4 – 24). He followed this up with oracles of judgment against the foreign nations who had opposed Israel (chapters 25 – 32). Then on hearing of Jerusalem’s fall (Eze 33:21), the prophet proclaimed messages of hope for Israel, declaring that God would fulfil His promises to deliver and bless His people Israel, and would restore them to the land of their fathers and establish them in the land.
Yes, more, that they would be established there everlastingly under a new David, with an everlasting sanctuary set up in their midst (stressed twice – Eze 37:26; Eze 37:28) (chapters 34 – 39). And now he declares the presence of that new Temple, even now present in the land, invisible to all but him and yet nevertheless real in so much that it can be measured. It is ‘the icing on the cake’, the final touch to what has gone before (40-48). God is back in His land. For such an invisible presence, a glimpse of another world, present but unseen except by those with eyes to see, compare Gen 28:12; 2Ki 2:11-12; 2Ki 6:17; Zec 1:7-11. Indeed without that heavenly temple the glory could not return, for it had to be guarded from the eyes of man.
The heavenly temple can be compared directly with the heavenly throne with its accompanying heavenly escort which Ezekiel saw earlier (chapter 1). That too was the heavenly equivalent of the earthly ark of the covenant, and huge in comparison. So Ezekiel was very much aware of the heavenly realm and its presence in different ways on earth, for he was a man of spiritual vision.
But there is one remarkable fact that we should notice here, and that is that having been made aware of the destruction of Jerusalem, and looking forward to the restoration of Israel and its cities and the Satanic opposition they will face, and even speaking of the building of a new Temple, Ezekiel never once refers directly by name to Jerusalem in any way (in Eze 36:38 it is referred to in an illustration). This seems quite remarkable. It seems to me that this could only arise from a studied determination not to do so. He wants to take men’s eyes off Jerusalem.
Here was a man who was a priest, who had constantly revealed his awareness of the requirements of the cult, who had been almost totally absorbed with Jerusalem, who now looked forward to the restoration of the land and the people, and yet who ignored what was surely central in every Israelite’s thinking, the restoration of Jerusalem. Surely after his earlier prophecies against Jerusalem his ardent listeners must have asked him the question, again and again, what about Jerusalem? And yet he seemingly gave them no answer. Why?
It seems to me that there can only be two parallel answers to that question. The first is that Jerusalem had sinned so badly that as far as God and Ezekiel were concerned its restoration as the holy city was not in the long run to be desired or even considered. What was to be restored was the people and the land, which was his continual emphasis. Jerusalem was very secondary and not a vital part of that restoration. And secondly that in the final analysis the earthly Jerusalem was not important in the final purposes of God. Jerusalem had been superseded. His eternal sanctuary would be set up, but it would not be in the earthly Jerusalem (chapter 45 makes this clear). Rather it would be set up in such a way that it could more be compared to Jacob’s ladder, as providing access to and from the heavenlies (Gen 28:12) and a way to God, and yet be invisible to man. It is a vision of another world in its relationships with man (compare 2Ki 6:17). It was the beginnings of a more spiritual view of reality. And it would result in an eternal city, the city of ‘Yahweh is there’ (Eze 48:30-35).
Now that is not the view of Jerusalem and the temple of men like Nehemiah (Neh 1:4) and Daniel (Dan 9:2; Dan 9:16; Dan 9:19), but they were God-inspired politicians thinking of the nearer political and religious future not the everlasting kingdom. (Daniel does of course deal with the everlasting kingdom, but he never relates Jerusalem to it. He relates the everlasting kingdom to Heaven). Nor do the other prophets avoid mentioning Jerusalem, and they do see in ‘Jerusalem’ a place for the forwarding of the purposes of God (e.g. Isa 2:3; Isa 4:3-5; Isa 24:23; Isa 27:13; Isa 30:19; Isa 31:5; Isa 33:20-21; Isa 40:2; Isa 40:9; Isa 44:26-28; Isa 52:1-2; Isa 52:9; Isa 62:1-7; Isa 65:18-19; Isa 66:10-20; Jer 3:17-18; Jer 33:11-18; Joe 2:32; Joe 3:1; Joe 3:16-20; Oba 1:17-21; Mic 4:2-8; Zep 3:14-16; Zec 2:2-4; Zec 2:12; Zec 3:2; Zec 8:3-8; Zec 8:15; Zec 8:22; Zec 9:9-10; Zec 12:6 to Zec 13:1; Zec 14:11-21; Mal 3:4), although some of these verses too have the ‘new Jerusalem’ firmly in mind. And certainly God would in the short term encourage the building of a literal Temple in Jerusalem (Haggai and Zechariah). Thus all saw the literal Jerusalem as having at least a limited function in the forward going of God’s purposes, simply because it was central in the thinking of the people of Israel. Although how far is another question. However, Ezekiel’s vision went beyond that. It seems to be suggesting that in the major purposes of God the earthly Jerusalem was now of little significance. It was not even worthy of mention. It is now just ‘the city’.
Yet we find him here suddenly speaking of the presence of a new Temple in the land of Israel. But even here, although it is referred to under the anonymous phrase ‘the city’ (Eze 40:1), Jerusalem remains unmentioned by name. And the temple is not sited in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is simply a place called anonymously ‘the city’, whose future name, once it is redeemed and purified, is ‘Yahweh is there’ (Eze 48:35). What Ezekiel is far more concerned to demonstrate is that the glory of Yahweh, and His accessibility to His own, has returned to His people in a new heavenly Temple, which has replaced the old, and is established on a mysterious and anonymous mountain, rather than to stress His presence in an earthly Jerusalem. Indeed he will stress that this temple is outside the environs of Jerusalem (Eze 45:1-6).
This should then awaken us to the fact that Ezekiel is in fact here speaking of an everlasting sanctuary (Eze 37:26; Eze 37:28). This is no earthly Temple with earthly functions. There is no suggestion anywhere that it should be built, indeed it was already there and could be measured. It is an everlasting heavenly Temple of which the earthly was, and will be, but a shadow.
It is true that a physical temple would be built, and they are specifically told that the altar described (but pointedly not directly ‘measured’) is to be made (Eze 43:18), for physical sacrifices would require a physical altar, and that will be the point of contact with the heavenly temple, but the important thing would be, not the physical temple, but the invisible heavenly temple, present in the land, of which the physical was but a representation. The ancients regularly saw their physical religious artefacts as in some way representing an invisible reality, and so it is here. A fuller picture of the heavenly temple is given throughout the Book of Revelation. And this temple was now ‘seen’ to be established in the land even before a physical temple was built. God had again taken possession of His land, and awaited the return of His people for the ongoing of His purposes.
But a further point, putting these verses firmly in its context, is that this will make them realise that once they have come through the trials brought on them by Gog and his forces, fortified by the presence of God in their midst, they will be able to enter the eternal rest promised them by God, for His heavenly, everlasting temple was here so that He could dwell among them in an everlasting sanctuary. This was thus putting in terms that they could understand the heavenly future that awaited His people. It was a fuller and more perfect sanctuary (Eze 37:26-28; Heb 9:11). And it had relevance from the beginning as the sign that God had returned to His land.
This section about the ‘heavenly’ temple can be split into five parts. The first is a brief introduction in terms of the vision that Ezekiel experienced (Eze 40:1-4). This is followed by a detailed description of the new temple complex with the lessons that it conveyed (Eze 40:5 to Eze 42:20), the return of Yahweh to His temple (Eze 43:1-9), the worship that would follow as a result of that temple (Eze 43:10 to Eze 46:24), and the accompanying changes that would take place with regard to His people as they ‘repossessed the land’ with the final establishment of a heavenly city (chapters 47-48), all expressed in terms of what they themselves were expecting, but improved on. To them ‘the land’ was the ultimate of their aspirations, a land in which Yahweh had promised them that they would dwell in safety and blessing for ever. So the promises were put in terms of that land to meet with their aspirations. But there are clear indications that something even more splendid was in mind as we shall see. The land could never finally give them the fullness of what God was promising them, and once the temple moved into Heaven, ‘the land’ would move there too.
But we should perhaps here, in fairness to other commentators, pause to recognise that there are actually a number of main views (with variations) with regard to these chapters, which we ought to all too briefly consider for the sake of completeness, so as to present a full picture. As we consider them readers must judge for themselves which one best fits all the facts, remembering what we have already seen in Ezekiel the details of a vision that reaches beyond the confines of an earthly land. We must recognise too that accepting one does not necessarily mean that we have to fully reject the others, for prophecy is not limited to a single event, but to the ongoing action and purposes of God. Nevertheless we cannot avoid the fact that one view must be predominant
1) Some have considered that what Ezekiel predicted was fulfilled when the exiles returned and re-established themselves in the land, rebuilding the physical temple and restoring the priesthood. However nothing that actually took place after the return from Babylon matches the full details of these predictions. Neither the temple built under Zerubbabel’s supervision, nor the temple erected by Herod the Great, bore any resemblance to what Ezekiel describes here. In fact, there has been no literal fulfilment of these predictions. And there does not seem to have been a desire for it. Thus this view disregards many of the main facts outlined and dismisses them as unimportant. It sees them as mainly misguided optimism or permissible exaggeration.
2) Others have interpreted this section spiritually. They have seen these predictions as fulfilled in a spiritual sense in the church, and certainly the New Testament to a certain extent confirms this view. Consider for example the use of the idea in chapter 47 in Joh 7:38. But many consider that this approach fails to explain the multitude of details given, such as the dimensions of the various rooms in the temple complex. They point out that Ezekiel’s guide was careful to make sure that the prophet recorded these details exactly (Eze 40:4). The reply would be that what they indicate symbolically is God’s detailed concern for His people. This view presupposes that the church supersedes the old Israel in God’s programme (as many believe that the New Testament teaches) and that many of God’s promises concerning a future for Israel find part of their actual fulfilment in the church as God’s temple and as the new Israel, symbolically rather than literally. There is certainly some truth in this position.
3) Still others believe that these chapters describe a yet future, eschatological temple and everlasting kingdom in line with Eze 37:24-28, and following 38-39, but that they again do so only symbolically. These interpreters believe that the measurements, for example, represent symbolic truth concerning the coming everlasting kingdom, including the dwelling of God among His people, the establishing of true and pure worship, and the reception by His people of all that He has promised them in fuller measure than they can ever have expected, but they do not look for a literal temple complex and the establishment of temple worship. Indeed they consider that such would be a backward step in the progress of God’s purposes.
It is claimed by those who disagree with them that this view also overlooks the amount of detail given, so much detail, they would claim, that one could almost use these chapters as general blueprints to build the structures in view. To this the reply is partly that the detail is in fact not sufficient to prepare efficient blueprints, and partly that they bear their own message. Indeed they argue that all the many attempts to make a reliable blueprint have failed. If taken literally, they argue, there are problems with the detail that cannot be surmounted. They are therefore far better seen as depictions of the concern of God for perfection for His people.
4) Still others also take this passage as a an apocalyptic prophecy but anticipate a literal fulfilment in the future. While they accept that some of the descriptions have symbolic significance as well as literal reality, and that some teach important spiritual lessons, and can also be applied to the eternal state, nevertheless, they argue, the revelation finally concerns details of a literal future temple to be built to these specifications, details of a system of worship and priesthood which will be literally established, and actual physical changes in the promised land, which will occur when a people identifying themselves specifically as Israel, not the church, dwell there securely (i.e. during what they call the Millennium).
Those who disagree with them point among other things to the impracticality of the plans for the temple, the impossibility of now establishing a genuine Zadokite priesthood, the contradiction of establishing a system of sacrifices when the New Testament points to a better sacrifice, made once for all, which has replaced all others, the discrepancies and difficulties with regard to the siting of the temple, and the unfeasability of dividing the land in the way described.
5) And finally there is the view that we are proposing here, that the Temple of Ezekiel was never intended to be built by man, but was rather a genuine and real presence of the heavenly temple which was from this time present invisibly on earth (invisible to all but Ezekiel, as the armies of God were present but invisible to all but Elisha –2Ki 6:17). It is saying that God has established Himself in His own invisible temple in the land ready to carry out His campaign into the future. This can then be seen as connected with the temple seen in Revelation in heaven, with the earthly temples to be built as but a shadow of the heavenly, and with the final temple in the everlasting kingdom. The strength of this position will appear throughout the commentary. Suffice to say at this point that there is nowhere in the chapters any suggestion that the temple should be built from the description presented (in complete contrast with the tabernacle – Exo 25:40). And this is even more emphatically so because instructions are given to build an altar for worship. Given Ezekiel’s visionary insight this fact in itself should make us hesitate in seeing this as any but a visionary temple already present in Israel at the time of measuring.
Whatever view we take we cannot deny that the New Testament does see God’s temple as being present on earth in His people (Eph 2:20-22; 1Co 3:16-17 ; 2Co 6:16; Rev 11:1), and that John in Revelation refers throughout to a temple in Heaven, and to a new Jerusalem, clearly related to some of the things described in these chapters. Furthermore his description of the eternal state, of life in ‘the new earth’ after the destruction of the present earth, is partly based on chapter 47-48 (Revelation 21-22). And we might see that as suggesting that once the Messiah had been rejected God’s heavenly temple was thought of as having deserted Israel, and as having gone up into Heaven where it was seen by John, although still being represented on earth, no longer by a building, but by His new people.
Bearing all this in mind we will now consider the text.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Israel’s Glorification Eze 35:1 to Eze 48:35 deals with the topic of Israel’s glorification. The description of the restored land of Israel and the new Temple and its worship (36-48) reveals a building and nation more majestic and beautiful that that found during the time of Solomon. These passages reveal the glorification that God has in planned for His people Israel. This glorification is different than what He has planned for the Church. The prophecies of this passage signify the fact that God has a much greater blessing in store for His people than any earthly kingdom in the past, even greater than Israel in its golden age of King Solomon. The future glories of the heavenly kingdom will far exceed the earthly. The Book of Jubilees (4.26-27) tells us that this Mount Zion will be sanctified in the new creation for a sanctification of the earth; through it will the earth be sanctified from all (its) guilt and its uncleanness throughout the generations of the world.
From these last chapters in the book of Ezekiel we know that the full restoration of Israel involves three key events that will take place in order to make their restoration complete and everlasting. These events will involve the restoration of Israel as a nation (36-37), the battle against Gog and its allies (38-39), and the restoration of the Temple and its worship (40-46) and its land (47-48).
Here is a proposed outline:
1. Judgment upon Edom Eze 35:1-15
2. The Restoration of Israel as a Nation Eze 36:1 to Eze 37:28
3. The Battle against Gog and its Allies Eze 38:1 to Eze 39:23
4. The Restoration of the Temple and its Worship and Land Eze 40:1 to Eze 48:35
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Restoration of the Temple Eze 40:1 to Eze 46:24 deals with the issue of the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Entrance of Jehovah’s Glory
v. 1. Afterward He brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east, v. 2. and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, v. 3. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, v. 4. And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, v. 5. So the Spirit, v. 6. And I heard Him speaking unto me out of the house, v. 7. And He said unto me, Son of man, the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, v. 8. In their setting of their threshold by My thresholds and their post by My posts, v. 9. Now let them, v. 10. Thou son of man, show the house, v. 11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, v. 12. This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
The consecration of the new temple by the entrance into it of the glory of the God of Israel (Eze 43:1-12), and a description of the altar with its dedication to the solemn ritual for which it was in future to be employed (Eze 43:13-27), form the contents of the present chapter, and complete the prophet’s picture of the future sanctuary of Israel.
Eze 43:1-12
The consecration of the temple by the entrance into it of the glory of the God of Israel.
Eze 43:1
Afterward, etc. Having completed the survey of the temple precincts (Eze 42:15-20), the prophet’s guide, “the measuring man,” conducted him back to the gate that looked towards the east, i.e. to the gate leading into the outer court from the east (see on Eze 40:6), perhaps because this was the principal entrance to the sanctuary, but chiefly because through it the impending theophany was to pass.
Eze 43:2
Scarcely had the prophet taken up his station at or near the gate when the glory of the God of Israel (see on Eze 1:28; Eze 3:23) came from the way of the east, as if intending to enter the temple by the very door through which it had previously departed from the temple (comp. Ezekiel, Eze 10:19; Eze 11:22, Eze 11:23). The voles which proceeded from the theophany and resembled the noise of many waters, is after the LXX. ( ) by Keil and Smend understood to have been the sound produced by the motion of the wheels and the rustling of the wings of the cherubim (see on Eze 1:2, Eze 1:4; Eze 10:5), but is better taken, with Kliefoth and Hengstenberg, to signify the voice of the Almighty himself, i.e. of the personal Jehovah (comp. Rev 1:15). The statement that the earth shined with his glory (comp. Rev 18:1) has by Havernick, Kliefoth, and others been supposed to indicate the absence of that “cloud” in which the glory of Jehovah appeared in both the Mosaic tabernacle (Exo 40:34, Exo 40:35) and the Solomonic temple (1Ki 8:10, 1Ki 8:11), and thereby to point to the clearer and more resplendent manifestations of the Godhead, which were to be given in connection with the new dispensation for which Ezekiel’s “house” was being prepared. This, however, as Keil has shown, cannot be main-rained in face of the facts that in both Exodus and 1 Kings “the glory of the Lord“ is used synonymously with “the cloud,” and that in Ezekiel’s vision “the glory” and “the cloud” were alike present (see Eze 10:3, Eze 10:4). Kliefoth and Schroder hold “the earth” which was illumined to have been “the whole globe,” “the entire region of humanity,” as in Isa 6:3; Isa 60:1, etc.; but there does not appear ground for departing from the ordinary sense of the words, that “the path” of the advancing God was irradiated by the brilliance of his material glory.
Eze 43:3
The prophet identifies the vision on which he now looks as the same he had formerly beheld on the hanks of the Chebar, when he came to destroy the city, i.e. when, in obedience to Divine command, he stood forth to announce the destruction of Jerusalem. Ewald and Smend follow the Vulgate. quando venit ut disperderet, in substituting “he,” Jehovah, for “I,” Ezekiel; but the change is unnecessary, as the prophet’s language is perfectly intelligible and quite correct, since “the prophet destroyed the city ideally by his prophecy” (Hitzig), and it is not unusual for Scripture to represent a prophet as himself doing what he is only sent to predict (comp. Eze 4:2; Eze 32:18; Jer 1:10). The prophet’s reason for introducing this clause was manifestly the same he had for identifying the visionsto show that, while it was the same Jehovah who had departed from the old temple that was now returning to the new, there was nothing incongruous in the idea that he who in the past had shown himself a God of justice and judgment by overturning and destroying the old, should in the future exhibit himself as a God of grace and mercy by condescending to establish his abode in the new. The impression produced upon the prophet’s soul by his vision was the same that had been produced by the formerhe fell upon his face in awe and wonder.
Eze 43:4, Eze 43:5
The prophet next narrates that he saw the glory of the Lord entering into and taking possession of the “house,” as formerly it had entered into and taken possession of the tabernacle and the temple (Exo 40:34, Exo 40:35; 1Ki 8:10, 1Ki 8:11), and that of this he was further assured by experiencing immediately thereafternot a push from the wind, as Luther and Kliefoth translate, but an impulse from the Spirit (not “a spirit,” Ewald, though the Hebrew word wants the article), which raised him from the ground upon which he had fallen (Eze 43:3), took him up (see on Eze 2:2; Eze 3:12), and brought him into the inner court, exactly in front of the “house,” where, having looked into the interior, he saw that the glory of the Lord filled the house, the language being that used in connection with the tabernacle and the temple.
Eze 43:6
And I heard him (better, one) speaking unto me out of the house; and the (literally, a) man stood by me. Two questions ariseWho was the speaker? and, Who the man? As to the speaker, the natural reply is that the One who addressed Ezekiel from the interior of the “house” was Jehovah himself, whose “glory” had just entered in to take possession of the house, and this view is adopted by most interpreters, though Hengstenberg and Schroder regard the man who stood beside the prophet as the one who addressed him. As to the man, it cannot, as Kliefoth maintains, be decided solely by the absence of the article before “man” that this was a different person from the guide who had hitherto conducted the prophet and measured the Building. The article may have Been emitted because the important point to be recorded was not the circumstance that the “one” who stood beside him was his quondam guide, but the fact that this “one” was a man. That he was also Ezekiel’s old conductor is at least a natural suggestion when one finds him afterwards appearing as a measurer with a line in his hand (Eze 47:3).
Eze 43:7-12
Debate exists as to who the speaker in the seventh verse was, whether Jehovah or the mansome holding with Kliefoth, Ewald, Smend, and Currey, that he was Jehovah; others, with Havernick, Keil, Hengstenberg, and Schroder, that he was “the man;” and still others, with Plumptre, that it cannot be decided which he was. One thing is clear, that if “the man” was the speaker, his words and message were not his own, but Jehovah’s. Yet unless the man had been the angel of the Lordthe view of Hengstenberg and Schroderit will always seem incongruous that he should have addressed Ezekiel without a “Thus saith the Lord.” Hence the notion that the speaker was Jehovah is, perhaps, the one freest from difficulty. The message announced or communication made to the prophet related first to Jehovah’s purpose in entering the temple (verses 7-9), and secondly to his object in showing the house to the prophet, viz. that he might show it to the house of Israel (verses 10-12).
Eze 43:7
The LXX. and the Vulgate divide the present verse into two parts, and take the first as equivalent to a solemn word of consecration, the former supplying the latter vidisti, “thou hast seen.” The Chaldee Targum inserts, hic est locus, “this is the place,” and in so doing is followed by Luther and the Revised Version. Some word, it is obvious, either a “see!” or a “behold!” must be interpolated, in thought at least, unless one adopts the construction of the Authorized Version, with which Smend agrees, and makes “the place of my throne,” etc; to be governed By the verb “defile,” or, with Ewald, places it under the regimen of “show” in Eze 43:10, throwing the whole intervening clause into a long parenthesisa device which does not contribute to lucidity. Of the two expressions here employed to designate the sanctuarynot the temple proper, but the whole house with its surroundingsthe former, the place of my throne, though peculiar to Ezekiel, receives explanation from the conception, familiar to earlier writers, of Jehovah as dwelling between the cherubim (Exo 25:22; 1Sa 4:4; 2Ki 19:15; Psa 80:1; Isa 37:16); the latter, the place of the soles of my feet, was of frequent occurrence to denote the ark of the covenant (1Ch 28:2; Psa 99:5; Psa 132:7) and the temple (Isa 60:13; Lam 2:1). The word of consecration was expressed in the promise, I will dwell (in the temple) in the midst of the children of Israel forever, etc; which went beyond anything that had been spoken concerning either the tabernacle of Moses or the temple of Solomon (comp. Exo 25:8; Exo 29:45; 1Ki 6:13). The second part of the verse announces what would be the result of Jehovah’s perpetual inhabitation of the templethe house of Israel would no more defile his holy Name either by their whoredom or by the carcasses of their kings in their high places, or, according to another reading, in their death. That the whoredom signified idolatry (comp. Eze 16:1-63.) commentators are agreed. What divides them is whether this also is alluded to in the alternative clause. Rosenmller, Havernick, Keil, Fairbairn, and Plumptre believe it is, contending that the “carcasses of their kings” (comp. Lev 26:30; and Jer 16:18) was a contemptuous and satirical designation of the idols they had formerly served, that the word “kings ‘ is frequently employed in this sense in Scripture (see Isa 8:21; Amo 5:26; Zep 1:5), and that the special sin complained of, that of building altars for dead idols in the very temple court, had been practiced by more kings than one in Judah; and in support of this view may be urged first that it is favored by the use of the term bamoth, or “high places,” in verse 7, and secondly by the exposition offered in verse 8 of the nature of the sin. Ewald, Hitzig, Kliefoth, and Smend, on the other hand, regard the sin spoken of in the second clause as different from that indicated in the first, maintaining that while this was the practice of defiling Jehovah’s sanctuary by idolatry that was the desecration of the same by the interment in its courts of their dead kings. Against this, however, stands the fact that no authentic instance can be produced of a Judaean sovereign’s corpse having been interred in the temple area. David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, and others were buried in the city of David (1Ki 2:10; 1Ki 11:43; 1Ki 22:50), and a place of sepulchers existed on the south-west comer of Zion in the days of Nehemiah (Neh 3:16); but these prove nothing unless the temple hill be taken, as no doubt it sometimes was, in an extended sense as inclusive of Mount Zion. Similarly, the statement that Manasseh had a burial-place in the garden of Uzzah (2Ki 21:18, 2Ki 21:26) cannot be adduced in support of this view, unless it can be shown that the garden of Uzzah was situated on the temple hill. On the whole, therefore, the balance of argument inclines in favor of the first view, though it does involve the introduction of a figurative sense into the words.
Eze 43:8
In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds etc. The first “their” can only refer to “the house of Israel and their kings;” the second “their” may also allude to these, but is best taken as pointing to the “idols,” whose thresholds or temples, according to the view adopted of the preceding verse, were set up in the court of Jehovah’s temple, and so close to the latter that nothing stood between them except the temple wall Smend, who favors the second view of the preceding verse, considers this verse as a complaint against the kings for having erected their royal residence on Mount Zion, in the immediate vicinity of the temple; but as David’s palace was older than the temple, it is not likely Ezekiel was guilty of perverting history in the manner this hypothesis would imply.
Eze 43:9
Now let them put away their whoredom, etc. What has just been declared to be the necessary consequence of Jehovah’s abiding in the midst of Israel is now enjoined upon Israel as an indispensable prerequisite of Jehovah’s taking up his residence amongst them. Ezekiel’s theology in this respect harmonizes with that of Old and New Testament writers generally, who invariably postulate purity of heart and life as a necessary condition of God’s abiding in the heart, while asserting that such Divine indwelling in the heart is the only certain creator of such purity (comp. Eze 18:31; Eze 36:26; Isa 1:16, Isa 1:25; Isa 26:12; Joh 14:23; 2Co 6:17; Jas 4:8).
Eze 43:10
Show (or, make known, i.e. publish the revelation concerning) the house to the house of Israel For this purpose the vision had been imparted to the prophet. That they may be ashamed of their iniquities. This told the reason why the vision of the house should be made known to Israel. And let them measure the pattern; sum, number, or well-proportioned building. This explained how, by beholding the house, Israel would be led to repent, and be ashamed of her iniquities. There is no ground for thinking the ultimate object Jehovah had in view, in recommending the house of Israel to note the proportions of the visionary edifice, was, as Wellhausen, Smend, and others allege, that they might reproduce these in the post-exilic building; if they were to measure, i.e. scan and meditate upon the fair dimensions of the “house,” it was that they might understand its religious or moral and spiritual significance, both as a whole and in detail.
Eze 43:11
And if they be ashamed of all that they have done. This cannot signify that Ezekiel was not to show the house until they had evinced a sincere penitence for past wickedness, since the converse has just been stated, that their repentance should flow from a disclosure to them of the house: but that in the event of the presentation to them of the “well-measured” building awaking in them any disposition of regret and sorrow, then the prophet should proceed to unfold to them its details. He should show them first the form of the house, i.e. the external shape of the building, and the fashion thereof, or its well-proportioned and harmonious arrangements; the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, i.e. its exits and entrances (Eze 44:5), and all the forms thereof; which can only mean the shapes of its several parts; and all the ordinances thereof, or regulations concerning its use in worship, and all the forms thereofthe same words as above, and therefore omitted by the LXX. as well as some Hebrew manuscripts, and, after their example, by Dathe, Hitzig, Ewald, Smend, and others, though Keil, Kliefoth, Schroder, and others retain the clause as genuine, and regard it as an illustration of Ezekiel’s habit of crowding words together for the sake of emphasisand all the laws thereof, by which were probably signified “the instructions contained in these statutes for sanctification of life” (Keil). In addition to rehearsing the above in the hearing of the people, the prophet was directed to write them in their sight, if it be not open to understand the “writing” as explanatory of the way in which the” showing” was to be made.
Eze 43:12
This is the law of the house. In this instance “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 (Eze 42:16-20); and concerning this house as so defined, the fundamental torah, law, or regulation, is declared to be that of its complete sanctity. Ewald and Smend, as usual, unite with the LXX. in connecting “upon the top of the mountain” with “house;” but expositors generally agree that the clause belong to the words that follow, Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about; and that the prophet’s thought is that the entire territory upon the mountain summit included within the above specified border, and not merely the inner sanctuary, or even that with its chambers and courts, was to be regarded as most holy, or as a holy of holies, i.e. was to be consecrated as the innermost adytum of the tabernacle and temple had been. by the indwelling of Jehovah. Smend notes that “This is the law” is the customary underwriting and superscription of the laws of the priest-code (see Le Eze 6:9, Eze 6:14; Eze 7:1, 37; 11:46; Eze 12:7; Eze 13:1-23 :59; 14:54; 15:32); but it need not result from this that the priest. code borrowed this expression from Ezekiel, who employs it only in this verse. The more rational hypothesis is that Ezekiel, himself a priest, made use of this formula, because acquainted with it as already existing in the so-called priest-code.
Eze 43:13-27
The temple-altar described (Eze 43:13-17), and the ritual for its consecration explained (Eze 43:18-27).
Eze 43:13
The measures of the altar. The altar is , that formerly mentioned as standing in the inner court, immediately in front of the” house” (Eze 40:47), the altar of burnt offering, and not the altar of incense in the holy place (Eze 41:22). Its dimensions, then omitted, are now reported in connection with its consecration, which also is narrated as a pendant to that of the “house,” because of the intimate connection between the twothe consecration of the altar being practically equivalent to the consecration of the house, and the consecration of the house finding approximate expression in the consecration of the altar. As in the other portions of the temple, so in this, the measurements are given after the cubits, i.e. by or in cubits, the length of each cubit being noted at “a cubit and an hand-breadth,” as in Eze 40:5. They are likewise taken first from the foundation upwards (Eze 40:13-15), and then from the top downwards (Eze 40:16, Eze 40:17). The first portion measured is the bottom; literally, the bosom (Hebrew, , “that which embraces,” from “to embrace;” LXX; : Vulgate, sinus); but what exactly that signified is debated among interpreters. Gesenius thinks of “the hollowed part for the fire;” Hitzig, of “a frame running round, a stand in which the altar stood;” Kliefoth, of “a deepening on the wooden ring in which the whole altar stands;” Keil, of” a lower hollow or base of the altar, formed by a border of a definite height;” Smend, of “the channel or gutter of the altar base, which should receive the sacrificial blood;” Havernick, Currey, and Plumptre, of “a base upon which the altar stood.” If Smend’s feasible notion be not adopted, then probably that of Hitzig, Kliefoth, or Keil most nearly expresses the conception of the Hebrew term. The altar was surrounded by an enclosure in which it seemed to be set, or out of which to rise; the dimensions of this “stand” or “enclosure” being a cubit in height, and a cubit in breadth, with a border on its edge round about a span or half a cubit high. This, the stand just described, should be the higher place; literally, the back; hence the support, base (Revised Version), or elevation, (LXX.) of the altar.
See drawing, The Altar
The Legend for the Altar
A, base.
B, border.
C, lower settle.
D, upper settle.
E, “mount of God” (harel).
F, “hearth of God” (ariel).
H, H, horns of altar.
Eze 43:14
The next measurements which are taken from the bottom upon the ground, i.e. from the , “base,” or ground framework above described, to the lower settle, i.e. to the top of the undermost of the two “terraces,” or enclosures,” or “platforms,” of which the altar consisted, are two cubits of height with one cubit of breadth; the measurements which follow, from the lesser settle, i.e. the undermost, to the greater settle, i.e. the uppermost, are four cubits of height with one cubit of breadth.
Eze 43:15
Noteworthy is the word altar, which in this verse renders two distinct Hebrew terms, and , which Gesenius, Hitzig, Ewald, Smend, and others, after the LXX. ( ), identify as synonymous, and translate by “hearth.” But the first can only signify “the mount of God,” while the latter may mean either “lion of God” or “hearth of God.” Kliefoth, deriving the latter from , “to consume,” and , “a ram,” prefers as its import “ram-devourer;” Hengstenberg, resolving into “a ram,” and , “a lion,” proposes as its equivalent “ram-lion.” i.e. “the lion that consumes the rams for God”a ten-doting closely allied to that of Kliefoth. In any case, the terms allude to parts of the altar: the second, Ariel (equivalent to the hearth on which God’s fire burns), according to Keil, Kliefoth, and the best expositors, meaning the flat surface of the altar; and the first, Harel (conveying the ideas of elevation and sanctity), the base on which it rested. The height of this base was four cubits, while from the hearth projected four horns, as in the altars of the Mosaic tabernacle (Exo 27:2; Exo 38:2; Le Exo 4:7, Exo 4:18; Exo 8:15) and Solomonic temple (Psa 118:27). If the length of these be set down, as Kliefoth suggests, at three cubits, then the whole height of the altar will be in cubitsone for the ground bottom, two for the lower settle, four for the upper, four for the bases of the hearth, with three for the horns, equal to fourteen in all; or, omitting the horns, of which the length is not given, and the altar base, which is distinguished from the altar, ten cubits in all for the altar proper. As to the symbolic import of the “horns,” Kurtz, after Hofmaun and Kliefoth, finds this in the idea of elevation, the “horns,” as the highest point in the altar, bringing the blood put upon them nearer to God than the sides did the blood sprinkled on them (see ‘Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament,’ 13); Keil, after Bahr, in the notions of strength, beauty, and blessing, the horns of an animal being the points in which its power, grace, and fullness of life are concentrated, and therefore fitting emblems of those points in the altar in which appears “its significance as a place of the revelation of Divine might and strength, of Divine salvation and blessing” (‘Biblische Archaologie,’ 20).
Eze 43:16, Eze 43:17
The measurements that now begin concern the breadth of the altar, and proceed from above downwards. First the altar, or, hearth of God (Hebrew, ariel) was twelve cubits long and twelve broad, i.e. was square in the four squares (or, sides) thereof, or a perfect square (comp. Exo 27:1; Rev 21:16). Next the settle, or, enclosure (Hebrew, ) of Eze 43:14, was fourteen cubits long, and fourteen broad in the four squares (or, sides) thereof; the fourteen being made up of the twelve cubits of the altar-hearth’s side with one cubit of ledge from the settle all round. The only question is to which “settle,” the upper or the under, reference is made. Some expositors, identifying the greater Azarah with the Harel, i.e. the “upper settle,” with “the mount of God” or the base of the hearth, make the altar height only seven cubits from the ground to the hearth. The general belief, however, is that they cannot be so identified. Among interpreters who distinguish them, Kliefoth, with whom Smend agrees, holds the “settle” in this verse to be the harel, or “mount of God,” which extended (Smend says with a hek. or “gutter”) one cubit on each side beyond the ariel, or “hearth of God,” so that the “mount of God,” on which the” hearth of God” rested, was fourteen cubits square. Then, assuming a similar extension of one cubit at each stagein the greater azarah, the lesser azarah, and the hek, or ground bottomhe finds the surface of the greater azarah to be sixteen, of the lesser azarah eighteen, and of the ground bottom twenty cubits square. Keil, with whom Schroder and Currey agree, objects to this as involving too much of arbitrary assumption, and takes the” settle” of this verse to mean the lower azarah; so that no additional measurements are required beyond those given in the text. If the square surface of the greater azarah be considered as having been the same as that of the harel, so that their sides were continuous, then, as the “ground bottom” extended one cubit on each side beyond the lower azarsh, the altar at its base was a square of sixteen cubits. Comparing now these measurements with those of the altar of burnt offering in the tabernacle and the temple, one finds that the former was only five cubits square and three cubits high (Exo 27:1), while the latter was twenty cubits broad, but only ten cubits high (2Ch 4:1), which awakes the suspicion that the different views above noted have been insensibly influenced by a desire on the part of their authors to make them harmonize with the measurements of the temple. But there does not appear sufficient reason why the measurements of Ezekiel’s altar should have agreed with those of Solomon’s rather than with those of Moses’, The border (or, parapet) of half a cubit which ran round the ledge, or bottom, of a cubit, at the foot of the lower azarah was clearly designed, not for the protection of the priest officiating, but for ornament. The stairs (or, steps), mention of which closes the description, mark a departure, not from the pattern of the Solomonic temple, in which the altar must have had steps, but from the pattern of the tabernacle, in which altar-steps were disallowed (Exo 20:26) and did not exist (Exo 38:1-7). But if, as Jewish tradition asserts, the pest-exilic altar had no steps as Ezekiel’s had, having been reached by an inclined plane, because in the so-called book of the covenant steps were forbidden, how does this harmonize with the theory that Ezekiel’s vision temple was designed as a model for the post-exilic temple? And why, if the priest-code was the composition of a writer who worked in the spirit and on the lines of Ezekiel, should it have omitted to assign steps to the tabernacle altar?
Eze 43:18
The ordinances of the altar. These were not the regulations for the sacrificial worship to be afterwards performed upon this altar, but the rites to be observed at its consecration when the day should arrive for its construction. As the altar in the tabernacle (Exo 29:1-46; Le Exo 8:11 -33), and that in Solomon’s temple (1Ki 8:63-66; 2Ch 7:4-10), so was this in Ezekiel’s “house” dedicated by a special ceremonial before being brought into ordinary use. The particular ritual observed by Solomon is not described in detail; but a comparison between that enjoined upon and practiced by Moses with that revealed to and published by Ezekiel shows that while in some respects they agreed, in other important particulars they differed. In both the ceremony largely consisted in offering sacrifice and smearing blood, and lasted seven days; but in the former the ceremony was performed exclusively by Moses, consisted, in addition to the above, of an anointing of the altar, the holy utensils, and the tabernacle itself with oil, and was associated with the consecration of the priests; whereas in the latter, in addition to some variations in the sacrificial victims, which will be noted in the course of exposition, the priests should bear an active partthere should be no anointing with oil, and no consecration of the priests, the priesthood being assumed as already existing. If in Ezekiel’s ritual there was no mention of a cleansing of the sanctuary (that of Eze 45:18 referring to a special ease), but only of the altar, that was sufficiently explained by the circumstance that Jehovah was already in the “house.” The final clause, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon, indicates the purpose for which the altar was to be used.
Eze 43:19
Thou shalt give to the priests. This injunction, which was addressed to Ezekiel, not as the representative of the people or of the priests (Smend), but as the prophet of Jehovah, made it clear that Ezekiel was not to act in the future consecration of the altar alone as Moses did in the dedication of the tabernacle altar, but that the priests were to bear their part in the ceremonial. If some expressions, as the use of “thou” in this and the following verses, appear to suggest that Ezekiel alone should officiate, the employment of “they” in verses 22, 24, 25, 26 as plainly indicates that Ezekiel’s share in the ceremonial was to be performed through the medium of the priests. And, indeed, if the temple was a pattern designed to be converted into an actual building after the return from captivity, as the newer criticism contends, it is apparent that Ezekiel could not have been expected to have any hand in its erection. The Levites that be of the seed of Zadok. The assistants of Ezekiel and the officiating priests at the new altar were not to be the whole body of the Levitical priesthood, but those only who derived their descent from Zadok (see on Eze 44:15). A young bullock for a sin offering. With the offering of this the ritual commenced, as in Exo 29:1, Exo 29:10 and Le Exo 8:14 (comp. Eze 45:18). It is observable that in the Levitical code a young bullock, i.e. of a bullock in the full vigor of youth, is appointed as the requisite sin offering for the priest, i.e. the high priest, who was the head and representative of the people.
Eze 43:20
And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it. The application of the victim’s blood to and upon the altar formed an integral part of every expiatory offering; but “whereas in all the other kinds of sacrifice the blood was poured indifferently round about the altar of the fore court, in the sin offering it was not to be sprinkled, lest the intention should be overlooked, but smeared with the finger upon the horns of the altar (‘And the priest shall put of the blood upon the horns,’ Le Eze 4:7, 18, 25, 30, 34). In the present instance the blood was to be carefully put upon the four horns of the altarthe only part to be smeared with blood in the Mosaic consecration (Exo 29:12)the four corners of the settle, or azarah, but whether the greater or lesser is left undecided, though in all probability it was the under, if not both, and the border round about, that mentioned in Eze 43:17; and the effect of this smearing with blood should be to cleanse and purge, or, make atonement for, the altar; not for the people, as Havernick interprets, saying, “without an atoned-for altar, no atoned-for people (ohne entsuhnten Altar, kein entsuhntes Volk),” but for the altar, either, as Kliefoth suggests, because, being made out of a part of the sinful earth and world, it required to be sanctified, or because, as Plumptre prefers, the sins of the people having been, as it were, transferred to it, it stood in need of cleansing.
Eze 43:21
As a further stage in the ceremony, the Bullock of the sin offering, i.e. the carcass of the victim, was to be burned by Ezekiel or the priest acting for him in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary, as in the Mosaic code it was prescribed that the flesh of the bullock, with his skin and dung, should be burned without the camp (Exo 29:14; Le Exo 4:12, Exo 4:21; Exo 9:11, Exo 9:15; comp. Heb 13:13). Ewald at first sought the place here referred to in the sacrificial kitchens (Eze 46:19), which it could not be, as these belonged to the “sanctuary” in the strictest sense; he has, however, since adopted the view of Kliefoth, which is doubtless correct, that the “place of the house, without the sanctuary” meant the gizrah, or separate place (Eze 41:12), which was a part of the “house” in the widest sense, and yet belonged not to the “sanctuary” in the strictest sense. Smend thinks of the migrash, “suburbs” or “open spaces,” which surrounded the temple precincts (Eze 45:2); and these were certainly without the sanctuary, while they were also appointed for the holy place, and might have been designated, as here, miphkadh, as being always under the inspection of the temple watchmen. The fact that in post-exilic times one of the city gates was called Hammiphkadh (Neh 3:31) lends countenance to this view. That in this “appointed place” the carcass of the bullock should be consumed was a deviation from the Mosaic ritual, which prescribed that the fat portions should be burned upon the altar, and the rest eaten as a sacrificial meal (Le Eze 4:10, 26, 35; Eze 7:15, 81; Deu 12:7, Deu 12:17, Deu 12:18). Keil appears to think that the fat portions may have been burned upon the altar, although it is not so mentioned, and that only “those points” were mentioned “in which deviations from the ordinary ritual took place.”
Eze 43:22
The second day’s ceremonial should begin with the offering of a kid of the goats (rather, a he-goat) without blemish for a sin offering, the ritual observed being probably the same as that of the preceding day. The substitution of a “he-goat,” the offering for a ruler who sins (Le 4:23, 24), instead of a “young bullock,” which formed the first day’s offering, was a deviation from the ritual prescribed for the consecration of the Mosaic altar and priesthood (Exo 29:36). The object of the offering of the “he-goat” was the same as that of the offering of the “bullock,” viz. to cleanse the altar; not, however, as if the previous day’s cleansing had been insufficient and required to be supplemented, or had already become inefficient so as to call for renewal, but in the sense of recalling the meaning and impression of the previous day’s ceremonial, and so in a manner linking it on with the several rites of the succeeding days.
Eze 43:23, Eze 43:24
The presentation of a burnt offering unto the Lord was the next item in the ritual that should be observed. The material composing it should consist of a young bullock without blemish, as in the ordinary sacrificial cede (Le Eze 1:3, Eze 1:4, Eze 1:5), and a ram out of the flock without blemish, as in the consecration of the priests (Exo 29:18) and of the altar (Le Eze 8:18). The persons presenting it should be the prophet, thou, and the priests, they, as his representatives. The mode of offering should be by burning, the distinctive act in a burnt offering, as that of a sin offering was sprinkling, and that of a peace offering the sacrificial meal, and by casting salt upon the carcass, a feature in every meat offering (Le 2:13), and here added probably to intensify the idea of purification. “In the corrosive and antiseptic property of salt there is hidden something of the purifying and consuming nature of fire; hence the Redeemer, in Mar 9:49, combines the salting of the sacrifice with the purifying fire of self- denial”. The significance of it should be an expression of complete self-surrender unto Jehovah, as the necessary outcome of the antecedent act of expiation. The time of its presentation should be immediately after the cleansing of the altar on the second day, and presumably also on the succeeding days. Whether the burnt offering was, as Keil maintains, or was not, as Kliefoth contends, offered also on the first day is difficult to decide, though the former opinion has, perhaps, most in its favor. The Mosaic ritual always enjoined a burnt offering to be offered as a sequel to the sin offering (comp. Exo 29:14, Exo 29:18, with Le Exo 8:14, Exo 8:18; and see Kurtz, ‘Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament,’ 86); and, in accordance with this, Mar 9:23 and Mar 9:24 naturally follow on Mar 9:19-21, Mar 9:22 being interposed because of the variation in the sin offering for the second day.
Eze 43:25
Seven days. Hitzig reckons these as additional to the first (Eze 43:19) and second (Eze 43:22) days; Kliefoth begins them with the second; Keil, Schroder, Currey, and the majority of expositors take them as inclusive of the first and second. Hitzig’s proposal may be set aside, since it cannot be maintained without erasing “thou shalt make atonement for it” in Eze 43:20, and the first half of the present verse. In favor of Kliefoth’s view may be urged that the first day appears to stand out from the others, ‘and to be distinguished by the peculiar character of its offeringa young bullock for a sin offering, without any accompanying burnt offering; that the offerings on the second and subsequent days are alike, a he-goat and a ram; that on each of the seven days a goat is mentioned for a sin offering, whereas on the first day it was a young bullock that was slain; and that in Zec 3:9 occurs an allusion to what seems a special day such as this first day of Ezekiel. In support of Keil’s interpretation it is contended that the seven days were to be employed in purging or making atonement for, and purifying the altar, which was in part at least (even admitting a distinction in meaning between and ) the business of the first day; that the general statement in verse 20 as to a goat for a sin offering on the seven days admits of easy qualification by the previous statement in verse 19; and that seven days was the normal duration of religious solemnities under the Law (see Le 8:33; 1Ki 8:65; 2Ch 7:8, 2Ch 7:9).
Eze 43:26
They shall purge the altar. Smend thinks it strange that only the purification of the altar should be mentioned here, while that of the sanctuary is referred to later (Eze 45:18), and finds in this an explanation (at least, perhaps) of the fact that in Exo 29:36 only the consecration of the Mosaic altarnot of the Mosaic tabernacleis reported. He conceives it likely that the author of Exo 29:36 copied Ezekiel, but does not explain why Ezekiel may not have copied the author of Exo 29:36. And they shall consecrate themselves; more correctly, theyi.e. the priestsshall consecrate it; literally, fill its hand. The phrase, , “to fill one’s hand,” sc. with gifts, occurs with reference to Jehovah (Exo 32:29; 1Ch 29:5; 2Ch 29:31). It is also employed in the sense of filling the hand of another, as e.g. of a priest, with sacrificial gifts, when he is instituted into his sacred office (Exo 28:41; Exo 29:9; Le Exo 21:10; comp, Le Exo 8:27). Here the hand to be filled is that of the altar, which is personified for the purpose (compare the use of the terms “bosom” and “lip” in connection with the altar). The meaning is that the altar, at its consecration, should have a plentiful supply of gifts, to symbolize that the offering of such gifts was the work for which it was set apart, and that it should never be without them.
Eze 43:27
The eighth day, and so forward. Omit “so.” With this day the regular sacrificial service should commence. Thenceforward the priests should offer upon the altar the burnt offerings and peace offerings of the people. The omission of sin offerings is explained by Keil, on the principle that “burnt offerings” and “peace offerings” were “the principal and most frequent sacrifices, whilst sin offerings and meat offerings were implied therein;” Kliefoth adding that Eze 44:27, Eze 44:29; Eze 45:17, Eze 45:19, Eze 45:22, Eze 45:23, Eze 45:25; and Eze 46:20 show it cannot be inferred that sin offerings were no more to be offered on this altar. At the same time, the prominence given to “burnt” and “peace” as distinguished from “sin offerings” may, as Schroder suggests, have pointed to the fact that the sacrificers who should use this altar would be “a people in a state of grace,” to whom Jehovah was prepared to say, I will accept you, not your offerings alone, but your persons as well; and not these because of those, but contrariwise, these on account of these. Kliefoth’s idea, that the first day symbolized the future day of Christ’s sacrifice, that the seven intermediate days (on his hypothesis) pointed to the period of the Christian Church, and that the eighth day looked forward to the time of the end, while not without elements of truth, is open to this objection, that in the period of the Christian Church there should have been “no more sacrifice for sin;” and yet, as Kliefoth admits, “sin offerings” were afterwards to be made upon this altar.
HOMILETICS
Eze 43:2
The glory of the God of Israel.
The visionary glory that dazzled the eyes of the rapt seer is but an earthly suggestion of that ineffable glory in which the unseen God is ever clothed. We may take the manifestation of glory as a type and suggestion of that higher wonder.
I. IN WHAT THE GLORY OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL CONSISTS.
1. The radiance of heavenly light. The glory is like the effulgence of sunlight, the raying forth of beams of splendor from the central fountain of light.
(1) It is perfect truth. All error and falsehood are excluded. God dwells in infinite knowledge and wisdom and truthfulness.
(2) It is absolute holiness. No stain or fleck of sin ever touches the supreme purity of God.
(3) It is infinite love. The glory of God is most seen in his goodness. By wonderful deeds of grace he manifests his glory.
(4) It is unutterable joy. The joy of truth, holiness, and love must ever dwell in the heart of God. God smiles over his creatures: that is his glory.
2. The wealth of heavenly voices. “His voice was like a noise of many waters.” God has broken the silence of eternity. He has called to his lost and wayward children. With variety of utterance and of truth God has made his voice heard. His gospel message is his glory.
II. HOW THE GLORY OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL APPEARS. Ezekiel saw the glory dawn in the east like the pure, bright light of a rising sun.
1. It was not always manifest. There had been a night previous to this glad dawn. There had been dark days in the Captivity, when even the radiance of God seemed to be dimmed.
(1) In the world’s history there have been awful, blank ages, out of which all Divine glory seems to have been excluded.
(2) In individual experience there are sad days when the soul exclaims, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
2. It is made manifest.
(1) To the world, in Christ, who manifested forth the glory of his Father. Thus St. John says, “And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father” (Joh 1:14).
(2) To the individual, by faith. When we truly seek for the brightness of God’s countenance in Christ, and trust his grace, there rises a light in the darkness, and God’s glory appears.
III. THE RESULTS THAT FOLLOW THE MANIFESTATION OF THE GLORY OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL. “And the earth shined with his glory.” This radiance was not confined to celestial regions. It was no vain pageantry displayed among the clouds. It came into the world as a brightness for earthly things. This is ever the case with manifestations of God’s glory. It is especially so with Christ who” tabernacled among us,” and so brought the celestial glory to dwell on earth. The shining forth of God’s truth and goodness makes a new day for the world. It is already reflected in purified, gladdened-lives; it will be fully seen in a renewal of the whole face of society. That which seems to be most remote and unpractical is thus most closely associated with the needs and hopes of mankind. The world pines and despairs for lack of more visions of Divine truth and goodness. The perfect day will be when this light shines into the darkest places of the earth, i.e. when all men have received “the glorious gospel of the blessed God.”
Eze 43:3
God the same in judgment and in mercy.
The remarkable point of this verse lies in the fact that Ezekiel could detect no change in the manifestation of the Divine glory when he compared the new appearance which heralded the great redemption of Israel with the earlier appearance which preceded the denunciation of wrath and doom. God is the same in both cases.
I. THE FACT. This has two sidesone relating to the time of judgment, and the other concerned with the period of redemption.
1. God‘s mercy is not lost in judgment. He was glorious when he came to judgment, and one essential element of the glory of God is his ineffable love. We may not see love in wrath, but it is present, for “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Heb 12:6). God does not change his nature because men sin, nor indeed does he cease to yearn over his poor fallen children with infinite pity because it has become well that he should smite them in his great anger.
2. God‘s righteousness is not lost in redemption. He loses none of the glory of his holiness by saving sinners. Christ came to “magnify the Law and make it honorable” (Isa 42:21). Righteousness is honored
(1) in the Person of Christ, our great Representative, who offered his pure and spotless soul as a perfect sacrifice to God;
(2) in the deliverance of man from sin. Righteousness itself desires an end of sin more than the mere punishment, which is but a means towards that end. Thus the glory of God’s holiness is most manifest when he redeems man from sin and leads him into a new, holy life.
II. ITS CONSEQUENCES.
1. There is no escape from the law of righteousness. The subjects of a changeable autocrat watch his fickle moods, and endeavor to seize on lucky moments when he appears to be in a good burnout, in order to extract some favor from him. No such maneuvers are needed, or can be of any use, when men are looking for God’s grace. On the one hand, he is always desirous to save and bless; on the other hand, he is never weakly negligent in regard to the great principles of justice. We can never evade his laws.
2. There is no reason to despair on account of the wrath of God against sin. That wrath was always felt by God, though it has not always been perceived by man. “God is angry with the wicked every day“ (Psa 7:11). Yet God has shown continuous love, and has put forth repeated efforts of mercy to save his fallen children. He has not changed towards us because he has veiled his mercy and displayed his wrath for a season. The same ever-righteous and ever-merciful Father who at one time smites in anger and at another saves in grace will act to us just as we do to him. With the froward thou wilt show thyself froward, etc. (Psa 18:26). Therefore our part is to be plain and straight with God, simply trusting his great love, and honestly endeavoring to fulfill his holy will.
Eze 43:5
Filled with glory.
I. THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE TEMPLE. Ezekiel saw the temple filled with the glory of God. This was only a vision; but it was predicted concerning the rebuilt temple that the glory of the latter house should exceed that of the former (Hag 2:9). Yet, while young men rejoiced at the sight of the new structure, old men wept as they remembered the greater splendor of Solomon’s temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed (Ezr 3:12, Ezr 3:13). Nevertheless, it was promised that, though in materials and architecture Zerubbabel’s temple might be inferior to Solomon’s; there was this unique privilege reserved for the new buildingthe Lord himself should suddenly appear in it (Mal 3:1). This promise was fulfilled in the advent of Christ (Luk 2:27).
II. THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE CHURCH. The spiritual brotherhood of Christians, the Church of Christ, has taken the place of the temple of the Jewish economy (1Co 3:16; Eph 2:21). Now God has manifested his glory in the Church, for it is seen in the display of Christian graces, so that she is like a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. But the brightness or the dimness of this glory will be just proportionate to the Christ-likeness or the worldliness of the Church. The more of the Spirit of Christ there is in this great temple, the more of the glory of God will there be there. Her glory has been looked for in size, numbers, wealth, power, influence, intellect; in her sons of genius and her works of worldly importance. But these things do not reveal God’s glory. Christ is the Glory of the Church”Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
III. THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE WORLD. Ezekiel saw the broad earth ablaze with the radiance of the heavenly glory (verse 2). But this glory was concentrated in the temple. God has a brightness for all men, but the best light for those who seek his near presence. The world now reveals the glory of God in creation and in providence. When the world is brought to the feet of Jesus Christ it will enjoy the richer, fuller glory of God in Christ. Even now, in so far as a Christ-spirit is spread through society, a new light dawns over the old weary world. The day is coming when the earth shall be full of his glory. That will be the day of the earth’s perfect redemption and man’s perfect blessedness.
IV. THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE SOUL. God’s glory comes into the Church and the world by first entering individual souls. To the darkest and saddest this joy and tight will appear, when the barred door is opened to the Guest who stands knocking and graciously waiting for admission. There is no glory equal to that which his in-coming will bring. We may think much of riches, popularity, intellect, and power. But the greatest glory of a human life is the glory of goodness. The highest ambition should be to live a good and useful life. Christ’s aureole surrounds such a life.
Eze 43:10
The goodness that leads to repentance.
The people of Israel are to see the new temple in order that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. The goodness of God in restoring the temple will induce them to look with new horror on their old sins. Thus God’s goodness in life generally, and in the gospel of Christ, should lead men to see the evil of their ways and to repent of it.
I. GOD‘S GOODNESS PRECEDES MAN‘S REPENTANCE. The full enjoyment of that goodness is not possible for those who are still living in sin. The prodigal son cannot enjoy the fatted calf before he comes to himself, or arises and returns to his father. But long before any movement is made on the side of the sinner to return, God is preparing the way for him. The shepherd seeks the wandering sheep. The woman sweeps for the lost piece of silver. Even in Eden, on the discovery of the Fall, God promised a gospel and victory (Gen 3:15). The pity of God for Israel in Egypt was made known to Moses in the bush before the people made any effort to effect their own escape. Christ came into a world that was even unwilling to receive him, yet he came for the world’s salvation. The gospel is now only too often offered to unwilling hearers. God now waits to be gracious.
II. THE REVELATION OF GOD‘S GOODNESS SHOWS THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE.
1. It should reveal our sin.
(1) By contrast. God is good to us, while we behave ill to him. Surely we should see how sad it is to live in rebellion against a gracious God. Thus the dreadful guilt of ingratitude is added to other sins.
(2) By the manner of the revelation. It is a revelation in holiness. God’s glory was seen in the temple. It is a revelation in atonement for sin: the temple was for sacrifices; Christ died on the cross as a sacrifice for the world’s sin. Thus the very proclamation of the gospel involves a declaration of man’s sinfulness.
2. It should incline us to return. If God had turned against us we might feel no inclination to go back to him. But his graciousness should serve as a great attraction. Surely it is bad indeed to hold out against such forgiving mercy as that of our Father and of our Savior Jesus Christ.
III. GOD‘S GOODNESS ASSISTS US IN REPENTANCE.
1. It opens the door for our return. There is no longer any excuse for delay. Despair need not paralyze our returning footsteps. The preparation is an invitation; the invitation should be an inspiration.
2. It moves our hearts to return. We may only be hardened by denunciations of wrath and doom. But love should melt the heart of ice. God’s love is shed abroad in the hearts of his people. It comes as a glow of reviving energy to the soul that is unable to save itself because it. is just “dead in trespasses and sin.” All is now ready. The temple built, the sacrifice offered, the welcome waiting. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17).
Eze 43:18-22
The sin offering.
When Ezekiel, a prophet, describes the ceremonial of a sin offering with some minuteness, it is reasonable to suppose that he intends the details to be suggestive of spiritual facts.
I. THERE MUST BE AN OFFERING FOR SIN. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” The practical universality of sin offerings among various races has made it appear that the sacrifice arose from an instinct of conscience. We feel that we need a propitiation for our sins. Now, Christ has come to satisfy that need, and his one death on the cross is the great atonement for the world’s sin. How the Sacrifice is efficacious may be a matter of consideration, and may give rise to divergent views. The important point lies in the fact that Christ is a Sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:12).
II. THIS OFFERING MUST BE UNBLEMISHED. God cannot take what is not pure and perfect, even in our daily work we should give our best to God. But in making an offering for sin, no man can come before God without blemishes being seen on all he is and all he does. Christ is the one Perfect Sacrifice for sin, the Lamb without spot. No one ever convicted him of evil-doing. He is the well-beloved Son of God.
III. A PRIEST MUST PRESENT THE OFFERING. It must be given by one who has a right of close access to God. With our sin we shrink back from God and dare not enter his holy presence. Therefore, though in rite and symbol priests may be found to present sacrifices, as a fact, since all men are alienated from God, no men can truly serve as priests. But Christ, who became a Man, and so our Representative, and was like us in all other points, was’ unlike us in his sinlessness. He never lost his near communion with God, He is our one High Priest, and he does not need to offer sacrifices first for himself, as was the case with the Aaronic priesthood.
IV. THE BLOOD OF THE OFFERING MUST BE SPRINKLED. This essential part of the ceremonial was necessary that the completed sacrifices might be efficacious by the application of its results to the worshippers. Christ has made his great sacrifice of himself once for all. But now the benefits of his death have to be shared individually by men. These benefits do not accrue spontaneously and without men’s actively receiving them. The blood must be sprinkled; the grace of Christ’s great sacrifice must be taken home.
1. There must be individual faith in Christ. Thus the sacrifice is made efficacious in the case of each man who will avail himself of it.
2. There must be an application to the whole of life. The blood of the Passover lamb was sprinkled on the lintels and doorposts of the houses of the Hebrews. We need to have our homes and all that belongs to us brought into subjection to Christ, and then brought under the gracious influences that stream from the great Sacrifice on Calvary.
Eze 43:27
(last clause, “And I will accept you, saith the Lord God”)
Accepted by God.
I. CONSIDER THE MOTIVES THAT MAY INDUCE GOD TO ACCEPT MEN. It might be supposed that God was self-sufficient and would not look beyond the range of his own infinite Being; or that, if he took note of what was other than himself, he would be satisfied with the high intelligence and pure character of angel-beings, and not condescend to notice such feeble and sinful creatures as mortal men. Yet God has reasons for accepting men.
1. His infinity. This, which has been raised as an objection, really works the other way, for an infinite Being is not simply vast and only concerned with vast things. To him the greatest finite thing is infinitely small. If he attends to the greatest he may as easily stoop to the smallest. But, further, his very infinity embraces all things, the moat minute as much as the most gigantic.
2. His royalty. God is the supreme Sovereign of the universe; therefore he is concerned with all the subjects of his realm.
3. His justice. Having made men, he will not desert his own creatures.
4. His love. God is love, and love is full of sympathy. From this supreme motive God must be ever yearning to gather his children to himself, ever longing to give them a welcome home.
II. OBSERVE THE GREAT HINDRANCE THAT MAY PREVENT GOD FROM ACCEPTING MEN. If God is the infinite Sovereign of the universe, what is to hinder his welcoming whomsoever he will? The Greeks dreamed of a fate ruling supreme even over the dread Olympian deities; but we hold that there is no power above that of God. No power, it is true. Yet there is the awful principle of righteousness, and even God follows and does not bend that supreme principle. It may be identified with his own holy nature. Then we must say that God cannot but be true to himself. This being so, a great obstruction stands in the way of man’s being accepted by God, viz. man’s sin. The holy God cannot give a free welcome to the unholy man. It would be to contradict his own being and character.
III. NOTE THE CONDITIONS OF WHICH GOD ACCEPTS MEN. The Divine act of receiving men is placed by Ezekiel after the sacrificial ritual. God accepts on condition of sacrifice. There were first of all sin offerings, and then dedication (burnt) offerings and thank (peace) offerings. With us the first grand condition is fulfilled. Christ is the one Sacrifice for the world’s sin. In Christ’s great surrender of his pure soul to God through death, God sees the sacrifice of man by his Representative, and therefore, accepting the sacrifice, accepts man on whose behalf it is offered. We must make the sacrifice our own by entering into the spirit of it, by ourselves dying to sin and yielding our hearts and wills to the crucified Savior. Then God accepts his penitent children. But for full acceptance thank and dedication offerings were added. God expects us to come to him with grateful hearts, and to yield our souls to him in obedient service. When we approach him thus, as it were with our peace and our burnt offerings, he accepts us.
IV. LOOK AT THE RESULTS OF BEING ACCEPTED BY GOD. The first is immediate and personalthe reconciliation of the child with his father, and the glad return of the wanderer to the home of his childhood. But from this follow other consequences. We desire that God will accept us as his servants; when he does we have the privilege of living and laboring for him. We would have our work and gift accepted by God; for him to receive our offerings of service or sacrifice is to be most honored by God. At death he will receive his faithful servants to the heavenly rest.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
Eze 43:1-5
The glory of the Lord in the house.
The glory of the house of God does not consist in its beauty and grandeur, but in the indwelling of the Eternal himself. When the tabernacle of witness reared in the wilderness was completed, when Moses had finished the work, “then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Upon the occasion of the dedication of Solomon’s temple, “it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the Cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” What Ezekiel, in vision, observed upon the inauguration of the ideal temple was therefore in agreement with what had taken place upon two of the most memorable occasions in the history of the Jewish Church.
I. THIS WAS A RESTORED GLORY.
1. The prophet had seen the glory of the Lord depart from the temple by the way of the east, towards the Mount of Olives. In consequence of the sin of the people and the defilement of the sacred building, the holy Presence had been removed. The idolatry by which the temple and the city had been profaned had caused the withdrawal of the Divine favor. Man was constituted to be the temple of the Eternal; by his sin he alienated and repelled “the Divine Inhabitant.”
2. The purification of the temple was the occasion of the return of the lost favor and glory. The presence of the Most High is represented as returning by the way by which it had departed. When man’s nature is cleansed, when the way is made open for the restoration of relations long suspended, then the glory of God is once again displayed, and his favor once again enjoyed.
II. THIS WAS AN IMPRESSIVE GLORY.
1. As described in itself it is characterized by majesty. The figurative language employed is drawn from those sources by which the senses are chiefly impressed. When we read that the voice was as the sound of many waters, and that the earth shone with the splendor, we are assured that the spiritual majesty which such figures are employed to set forth was nothing ordinary.
2. And this assurance is deepened as we are led to recognize the manner in which the manifestation affected the prophet himself: he “fell upon his face,” overcome with the grandeur of the spectacle. It is not every nature that is so affected by great spiritual realities. Yet there is nothing in the world so deserving of reverence, so truly fitted to call out emotions of awe, as the spiritual presence of the Eternal in his Church. It is only because men are so carnal, so insensible to true grandeur, that they can know of the Divine nearness and yet remain unmoved.
III. THIS WAS A DIFFUSED GLORY. In simple and sublime language the prophet relates what followed the marvelous return of Deity: “The glory of the Lord filled the house.” How wonderfully does the Statement express the universal pervasion of the Church by the Divine presence and splendor! How fitted is such a representation to remove our misconceptions and our prejudices! There is no member of Christ’s Church however lowly, there is no work in Christ’s Church however unobtrusive, there is no section of Christ’s Church however lacking in learning, wealth, refinement, or power, which is not full of the glory of the Lordof that glory which is spiritual, which is apprehended by human minds when quickened and enlightened by the Spirit of God.
IV. THIS WAS A PERMANENT GLORY. The glory of the temple at Jerusalem passed away. In the appointed time the building perished, and not one stone was left upon another. But the temple which Ezekiel saw in his vision was a spiritual, and therefore an abiding, temple, whose walls shall never be taken down, whose ministrations and offerings shall never cease, and which shall ever echo with ten thousand voices uttering the high praises of our redeeming God.T.
Eze 43:7
The Divine indwelling.
There peculiar solemnity in this utterance. The prophet has beheld the return of the Lord’s glory to his house, and has seen its courts filled with the mystic luster. He stands in the ironer court, the attendant angel being by his side. And the voice of the Lord, mighty as the sound of many waters, addresses him as the son of man, and assures him that the Eternal. Spirit has now takes up a perpetual abode within his consecrated temple, and that those courts shall henceforth be pure from every defilement, and shall be holy unto the Lord.
I. THE FACT OF THE DIVINE INDWELLING. It appears that this is set forth under two metaphors, both just and impressive, yet, even when taken together, inadequate to set forth the great reality.
1. The Church is God’s dwelling, his home, where he reveals himself in his compassion and kindness, and where he admits men to his sacred fellowship, upon terms of delightful, though reverent, intercourse and familiarity.
2. The Church is God’s throne, whence he rules by the publication of his Divine and righteous laws, and the exercise of his just, irresistible, and yet benign authority. It is as though he were at once the Father of the spiritual family and the King of the spiritual dominion. He is, indeed, all this, and more than this, to the Church he loves and has redeemed.
II. THE ACCOMPANIMENTS OF THE DIVINE INDWELLING. These, as represented in this passage, are:
1. Deliverance from past idolatries, by which humanity has been defiled, degraded, and disgraced.
2. By implication, reverence for God’s holy Name, displaying itself in holiness, in obedience, in praise. It was the expulsion of evil abominations which made the return of the Lord a possibility; it is the prevalence of holy worship and affectionate service which secures the lasting residence and reign of the great and glorious Inhabitant.T.
Eze 43:10
Shame for sin.
Shame is an emotion which is often misdirected. Men are ashamed sometimes of those things of which they ought rather to boast, whilst they boast of those things of which they ought to be ashamed. There is one habit of which men ought always to be ashamedthe habit of sinning against God. It was this which Ezekiel was directed to bring home to the hearts of his fellow-countrymen of the house of Israel.
I. THE SIN OF WHICH A JUSTLY SENSITIVE NATURE IS ASHAMED. The iniquities with which the prophet was directed to charge the people of Jerusalem, and for which he was instructed to reproach them, were their idolatrous practices, especially in connection with the temple precincts. The palaces of the idolatrous monarchs of Judah adjoined the consecrated edifice, and in those palaces heathen rites were celebrated. Not only so, some of the kings of Judah, as Ahaz and Manasseh, actually introduced idolatry into the very courts of the temple. Of such infamous conduct both monarchs and subjects may well have been ashamed. All who put the creature in the place of the Creator, who worship, whether with their lips or in their hearts, others than God, are virtually guilty of idolatry, and have need to humble themselves with shame and confusion of face.
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH SHAME FOR SIN IS AWAKENED.
1. The Word of God. Without propounds the sacredness and the exacting character of the Divine Law which has been violated, and summons the offender to contrast his conduct with the commandment which is holy, just, and good.
2. The voice of conscience within responds to the voice of the Word, testifies to its Divinity and its authority, rebukes the sinner for his rebelliousness, and awakens within the soul fear of the righteous judgment of God. No wonder that this conjunction should cause bitter humiliation, poignant shame, deep contrition.
III. THE PROPER EFFECTS OF SHAME FOR SIN.
1. The offence is loathed and forsaken; the idolater abandons his idols, the unjust, impure, and profane relinquish their sinful practices.
2. Reverence ensues for the Law and ordinances of God. Corresponding to the aversion and humiliation felt in the retrospect of evil courses now abandoned, is the aspiration which takes possession of the penitent, urging him to conformity to the Divine character, and subjection to the Divine will. To be ashamed of sin is to glory in righteousness, to boast one’s self in God.T.
Eze 43:12
The law of the house.
The connection to which is owing the introduction and treatment in this place of the law of the house, appears, though it is not very plain, to be thisLawlessness has been described, lawlessness, taking the form of sinful rebellion against God, and defiance of just authority, especially in the sacred precincts of the temple, which have been diverted from spiritual worship to idolatrous rites. Lawlessness, by contrast, suggests law, and especially law as applicable to the house of God. And to the spiritual apprehension, the orderly arrangement, the symmetrical proportions of the temple, and the provision made for all proper services, all speak of the Church of Christ, which is obviously symbolized by the sanctuary beheld by the prophet in his vision.
I. THE FACT OF DIVINE LAW IN THE CHURCH. With the increase of habits of observation and of accuracy, with the diminution of superstition, men have come to recognize throughout the universe the presence and operation of law. Many different opinions prevail regarding natural law; but it is recognized as a reality. No wonder that a settled conviction should have formed itself in men’s minds that “order is Heaven’s first law.” It would be strange, indeed, were the Church, God’s noblest revelation of himself now on earth, exempt from what seems a condition of all God’s works. As there was a law of the house in the Jewish temple, so also is there in the Church of the redeemed, the living temple of the Spirit.
II. THE RANGE OF DIVINE LAW IN THE CHURCH. Referring to the context, we observe that the prophet notes the application of law to the form, the furniture, the ordinances, the holiness, of the temple. When we come to consider the range within which law is observable in Christ’s Church, we find ourselves constrained to believe that the principles are universal and unmistakable, but that in the details there is uncertainty. Opinions differ as to the measure in which law of an explicit character governs the constitution, the ministry, the observances, etc; of the Church of Christ. Some students are disposed to look to Scripture and to primitive usage for more explicit instructions regarding Church matters than are others; and this holds good of those taking different views of what are known as ecclesiastical principles. But all are agreed that mutual love is a universal obligation, that acceptable worship must be spiritual, that efforts are to be made for the enlightenment and salvation of mankind. And such laws as these are of far more importance than many customs and regulations upon which different opinions prevail.
III. THE AUTHORITY OF DIVINE LAW IN THE CHURCH. It is the authority of right, which, however it may be misunderstood and practically repudiated by any, is not denied, but is admitted by all. It is also the authority of love; the Divine Lawgiver himself declared, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
IV. THE BLESSINGS OF DIVINE LAW IN THE CHURCH. These are apparent to those who consider how wretched would be the state of a Church without a law, and how little less wretched the state of a Church handed over to the control of fallible and imperfect human legislators. The past history of the Church shows that it has truly prospered just so far as the rules laid down for it by Divine authority have beer obeyed, just so far as man has been kept in abeyance, and human policy and human selfishness have been repudiated. Beside the direct blessings which have accrued to the Church itself through subjection to “the law of the house,” it must be borne in mind that the world has benefited by the example which has thus been set to earthly institutions and secular rulers, that owe more than they are forward to acknowledge to those principles of authority and subjection which by the Church have been introduced into and impressed upon the world.T.
Eze 43:27
Acceptance.
The purpose of the temple is the establishment and maintenance of harmonious relations between God and the sons of men. By sin those relations have been interrupted; by religion they are restored. What was symbolized by the material temple at Jerusalemits priesthood and services and sacrificesis realized in the spiritual temple of the new covenant, in which Christ is the Sacrifice and the Priest, and in which the Holy Spirit sheds the Shechinah-glory through the holiest of all. Acceptance thus takes the place of estrangement.
I. ACCEPTANCE IS OF GOD‘S GRACE, AND IS UNDESERVED.
II. ACCEPTANCE IS IN VIRTUE OF THE HIGH PRIEST‘S MEDIATION AND INTERCESSION.
III. ACCEPTANCE IS FOR THE OBEDIENT, THE COMPLIANT, THE SUBMISSIVE.
IV. ACCEPTANCE IS ALIKE OF THE PERSON AND OF THE SERVICE.
V. ACCEPTANCE INVOLVES THE ENJOYMENT OF ALL THE MANIFESTATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE DIVINE FAVOR
APPLICATION.
1. One aim of a spiritual ministry to men is to convince them that in their sinful state they are without acceptance with God.
2. Another aim of such a ministry is to exhibit the divinely appointed method of obtaining and enjoying acceptance with God.
3. Yet another aim is to expose false and delusive representations of the way of acceptance. “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”T.
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES
Eze 43:1-9
Sunshine after storm.
The prophet of Jehovah has inspected all the plans of the second temple. In clearest vision he has seen all its parts arranged. The sacred edifice has grown to perfection before his eyes. Court within court has successively appeared. And now the great question arises, “Will the God of heaven again stoop to dwell there?” In vain will be all this preparation and toil unless Jehovah shall fill the house again with his presence. In vain will be all ceremony and all sacrifice unless the God of Abraham responds to human appeals. The prophet’s suspense is only for a moment. As soon as the separation between the “sanctuary and the profane place n is accomplished, the God who had retired because of the desecrations of his palace again approaches. He resumes his wonted place. Again, as in the days of Solomon, his glory fills the central shrine. No change has occurred in his dispositions and intentions. He is ready to keep to the full his part of the Abrahamic covenant. As he fulfilled his word in departing, so will he in returning.
I. GOD‘S UNCHANGEABLENESS IN HIS SELF–MANIFESTATIONS. “The visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar.” As the splendor of light had been the best imagery that could illustrate his presence in the past, so is it still. All that God had been to Israel in the ages gone, he was prepared to be again. The past condescensions of God were a pattern according to which he will act in the future. It was an accommodation to human weakness that the sun should image forth the essential nature of Jehovah, and, inasmuch as it worthily serves that purpose, it shall be a permanent dress in which Jehovah shall appear. But all metaphors are inadequate, all conceptions of him are inadequate. The light of his presence transcends far the brightness of the material sun. He is the Light of all light.
II. GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE IN THE PRINCIPLES OF HIS RULE. “The vision which I saw was according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city.” Although God had withdrawn his favor from Israel, although he had chastised his people sore, he had not altered a single rule of action nor abandoned any principle of covenant. He was the same God who had pledged himself to Abraham’s seed, the same God who had delivered them from the hands of their foes, the same Cod who had given them over to the Chaldeans, who non, was preparing for them restoration and honor. God had acted throughout upon a line of clear consistency. The conduct and the loyalty of the people had changed; therefore they had felt the rod of his anger. The same fatherly heart which had rewarded obedience also punished rebellion. The man who turns his back upon the sun makes a shadow for himself, yet the sun has in no wise changed. The warm beams that penetrate and bless the ploughed furrows of the field only harden and injure the trodden surface of the soil. God remains, in the essential principles of his government, the same, although sometimes men bask in his friendship, and sometimes writhe beneath his rod.
III. GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE IN HIS CHOICE OF ABODE. “I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.” So long as they are children of Israelmen of faith and prayerso long will God dwell among them. It is a permanent and unchangeable law that God finds delight among the sons of men, and wherever his presence is desired his presence will be found. If provision is made for him in the heart, in the home, or in social gatherings, he will speedily descend. If separation from sin has been made; if altars are reared and sacrifices are brought; if, in humility and reverence, he is sought, certainly he will come and dwell in their midst. In such circumstances, God may always be expected to come.
IV. GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE IN HIS MODE OF COMMUNICATING WITH MEN. “I heard him speaking unto me.” It has ever been God’s wont to communicate to the race by the agency era man. He speaks to one, that the one may convey the message to the many. He enlightens one, that the one may enlighten others. God honors the human family by making one a mediator between himself and the rest. The man selected to be a prophet is blessed thereby, and he learns the lesson of responsibility. To have at our disposal the well-being of many (if a man have the true prophet’s spirit) elevates a man, and brings into activity all the best qualities of his nature. In every age God has thus dealt with men.
V. GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE IN HIS MORAL LIKINGS AND DISLIKINGS. “They have even defiled my holy Name wherefore I have consumed them in my anger.” That which was offensive to God in Eden was offensive to him in Jerusalem; and that selfsame thing is equally offensive to him today. Rebellion against his high authority, springing as it does from a lack of love, is to him an abomination. All sin is pollution, a stench in Jehovah’s nostrils. To a refined mind, some forms of sin are offensive enough. Drunkenness is a sore offence to many. Murder is an abomination to a larger number yet. But in the esteem of God all forms of disobedience areas ghastly as murder, and to him murder is tenfold more vile than it is to us. Our spiritual sensibility is weakened by long indulgence in evil practice. By-and-by the redeemed will regard sin as God regards it; they will loathe it as God loathes it; they will esteem it as of all things the most abominable.
VI. GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE IN HIS CONDITIONS OF BLESSING. “Let them put away their whoredom far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them.” In the eye of God all idolatry is whoredom. The heart had gone after a foul and unholy rival. And the abandonment of all idolatry is God’s immovable condition for blessing men. If every idol is cast out of the human heart, God will dwell there. The greatest promise he has ever made to men is based on this condition, either expressed or implied. His inmost nature is the quintessence of purity, and if the taint of active sin is in the atmosphere, he speedily departs. God’s gifts in nature always depend on fixed conditions. Light will come to us only through a proper condition of atmosphere. The electric message will travel to its destination only along conducting media. Health visits men only through fixed channels. And life itself is conveyed only through conditions that never change. To obtain the abiding presence of God we must concede to him his own terms.D.
Eze 43:10-12
The law of the house.
Through all the ceremonies and observances of the ancient temple one conspicuous lesson ran, viz. a lesson of purity. Every rite and sacrifice were vocal with this lesson. It was written on every altar. It was visible in the priestly dress. It was engraved on the high priest’s miter. On every side men saw and heard the cardinal truth that God is holy, and that on earth he has a residence in order to make men holy.
I. GOD‘S ABODE AMONG MEN IS THE HIGHEST PROOF OF HIS FAVOR. This is the climax of his condescension. Material gifts he imparts to all his creatures: “He makes his sun to shine on the evil and on the good.” It is an act of kindness for God to speak to men through a messenger; an act of kindness to provide pardon for the penitent; an act of kindness to open the way to spiritual eminence and joy. But to dwell among inferior, wayward, rebellious creatures is the highest piece of condescension we can conceive. Such an idea overwhelmed Solomon’s mind with surprise: “Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?” And the incarnation of God in the Man Christ Jesus will ever remain the mystery of mysteries. If God be with us we can have no need. If God be with us we are sure to conquer, sure to rise in excellence, sure to reach perfection.
II. GOD‘S AMAZING KINDNESS IS THE SOURCE OF PENITENCE. The end of this gracious revelation by Ezekiel is “that they may be ashamed of their iniquities.” “What the Law could not do” love has accomplished. So constructed is the human heart that love (if mighty enough) shall move and conquer it. The exile in Babylon had ploughed deep furrows in the hearts of the Hebrews, and now the dew and sunshine from heaven had fallen on them to make the Soil fruitful. The purity of the human. soul is an end so transcendently great that no measures are too costly by which such an end can be gained. The magnificent provision which God was making, in Ezekiel’s day, for dwelling again in the midst of Israel was welt calculated to awaken remorse and shame in every breast. Jehovah’s good will, in spite of provocation, was enough to melt the stoutest heart.
III. MAN‘S PENITENCE IS THE GROUND OF FURTHER REVELATION FROM GOD, “If they be ashamed show them the form of the house,” etc. Right moral dispositions are essential to an understanding of God. “To the froward God will appear as froward.” To the Jews of his day Jesus said, “How can ye believe, who receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” As natural light cannot find its way into our dwelling if the window be barred with shutters so cannot God’s truth enter the mind if the mind be choked with worldly things. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him;” “To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.” For God to reveal his will to sin-loving men would be “to cast pearls before swine.” That heart must be right towards God that desires to know the truth; and whensoever a man eagerly desires the truth, God will reveal it unto him. The man who has a docile mind shall see a light that others do not see, shall hear a voice that others do not hear.
IV. GOD‘S REVELATIONS TO MEN HAVE A PRACTICAL ASPECT. “Write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof.” God has seen fit never to indulge human curiosity. Questions that have no practical bearing on conduct God will not answer. To indulge the curiosity of men would divert them from the great practical tasks required of themtasks which are the largest channel of blessing. Further, God has condescended to put his will in a written form, that it may be more clearly known, and may have permanence amid the dissolutions of mankind. These chapters in the prophet’s book which seem to us void of interest, were written by special command of God. They have served a useful purpose in the past; they may fulfill a beneficent mission in time to come. “All Scripture, written by inspiration of God, is profitable”it promotes some noble end. The fashion of the temple, its court within court, its many gates and porches, all conveyed important lessons to the Jews, they convey momentous lessons still.
V. GOD‘S TEMPLE IS A VISIBLE AND IMPRESSIVE REVELATION OF HIS HOLINESS. “The law of the house” is this, viz. holiness. The sanctuary of God incorporates men’s idea of God. Unless men adopt God’s thoughts and cherish God’s feelings, they will not build God’s temple after God’s plan. This is the visible and eloquent witness for God, age after age. If it be truly a temple of God, and God reside in it, it will be a center of light and purity and blessing to the neighborhood. The purifying power will touch every worshipper. The gracious influence will be felt in the home, in the city, in every commercial circle; it will spread through the nation; it will bless the world. “The whole limit thereof round about shall be holy.” What the sanctuary is, the town or city will be. What the combined sanctuaries of the land are, the nation will be. This law of God’s house is influential holinessholiness that uplifts and ennobles and beautifies humanity; the holiness that springs from love.D.
Eze 43:27
Foundation of acceptance with God.
It is a question vital to the interests of men, “How to find reconciliation with God.” If the Bible contains no authentic information on this head, it contains no real gospel. Martin Luther tersely described this doctrine of justification as the hinge of a standing or a falling Church. It is the pivot of salvation or perdition for every man. What the sun is in the midst of the solar system, what the heart is to the human body, what the mainspring is to a watch, the doctrine of man’s justification before God is to all the other doctrines of religion. On this momentous matter God has clearly revealed to us his will. It is so plainly unfolded that he “may run who reads.” The Old Testament is in complete accord with the New. Acceptance is based on vicarious sacrifice. On the part of man active and implicit faith is required.
I. ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD IS MAN‘S PRESSING WANT. All other needs are subordinate to this. God’s favor converts man’s hell into heaven. To bring men into reconciliation with God, all these visions were vouchsafed to Ezekiel. For this, all the sacrifice of animal life had been made. For this, the temple had been erected, and was now to be reconstructed. For this, the office of priesthood had been instituted. For this, every written revelation has been given. For this, God’s mind has been deeply concerned.
II. FOR MAN‘S ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD A MEDIATING PRIEST IS REQUIRED. The work of bringing men back to God is so full of difficulty that it must be accomplished by distinct stages. A priest serves many useful purposes. He is an instructor, by deed, if not by utterance. He is a sympathizing helper. He has near access to God, and interest with him. The priest must be, of all men, the least erring. His mission must be marked as specially sacred. Every circumstance which can lend sanctity to his office must be provided. He must be mature in years, experienced in human needs. His person must be free from blemish. Frequent ablutions must be practiced. Exact obedience to the commands of God must be observed. He must be a pattern man. God has been pleased to do for us through a Priest what he will not do without a Priest. And all the complicated arrangements of the priesthood were designed to impress men’s minds with the gigantic evil of rebellion, and with the difficulty of regaining the lost place in God’s regard.
III. FOR MAN‘S ACCEPTANCE VICARIOUS DEATH IS NEEDED. The necessity for substitution for the endurance of penalty prior to reconciliation with God may be a necessity on God’s rode as well as a necessity on man’s side. The maintenance of the Divine government throughout the universe is an object of supreme moment. To make pardon cheap and easy would loosen the bonds of loyalty, and depreciate the value of righteousness, in men’s esteem. As law had expressed the moral relations between God and men, law must be maintained. The penalty of sin must be met. Innocent lambs and heifers must die that sentiments of penitence may be deepened in the human soul. So valuable is reconciliation between man and God that it is worthwhile to sacrifice hecatombs of inferior animals in order to gain the end. This was an educational process, that men might perceive how devoid of efficacy any sacrifice must be, short of the perfect sacrifice of God’s Son. Whether our minds can comprehend the reason of the atonement or not, it is clearly the will of God that restoration of man can come only by the channel of vicarious sacrifice.
IV. FOR MAN‘S ACCEPTANCE A COMPLETE CYCLE OF TIME FOR PREPARATION MUST ELAPSE. “When these days are expired, it shall be.” Day after day, for seven days, a victim slain was demanded in order to purify the altar. The Jewish altar had been grievously desecrated and polluted; hence a complete purgation was required. Not until the completion of the week could the priests proceed to present any offerings for guilty men. A cycle of time was to be spent in the work of preparation. In like manner, the patriarchal and Levitical periods were a time of preparation for Messiah’s work. Until men have learnt the tremendous evil there is in sin, until they have learnt that without Divine interposition moral renovation is impossible, they will not value a Savior from sin; they will not listen to him. Therefore “in the fullness time”then, and not till then”the Son of God came forth.”
V. FOR MAN‘S ACCEPTANCE COMPLETE CONSECRATION OF SELF IS DEMANDED. The offerings appointed to be laid upon the altar were “burnt offerings.” The burnt offerings must precede the peace offerings. By a burnt offering is meant that which must be wholly consumed. The sacrifice must be complete. A profound moral lesson is here inculcated; it should be written in capitals. Salvation means complete surrender to God, complete devotion to his service. If we keep back anything from God, we still grieve his heart, we mar our characters, we imperil our salvation. If one foe remains in the citadel, the city is not safe. One weed left in the garden may spread and spoil the whole. One germ of disease in the system may issue in death. Loyalty, to be worth anything, must be complete. In order to be saved, the Son of God must reign supremely in us, King over every thought.D.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Eze 43:1-6
The return of God’s glory.
The prophet had witnessed in sadness the departure of the glory of the Lord (see Eze 10:18, Eze 10:19; Eze 11:23). He has now a happy vision of its return; and of that return he gives a very graphic description. It affected him. With solemn awe (Eze 43:3) as well as with sacred joy. He found himself transported to the place where, as a priest, he had an official right to stand (Eze 43:5), and there he saw the brightness of Jehovah’s presence filling the sanctuary, while he heard the voice of the Lord communicating his holy will. The departure and the return of the Divine glory have various illustrations beside those which were witnessed in connection with the temple at Jerusalem. We may find this in relation to
I. THE HUMAN WORLD When man was sinless he enjoyed the very near presence and the very close fellowship of his Divine Maker; and even after he sinned, before the world was utterly corrupted by its iniquity, men possessed not a little of the near presence and of the communications of God. But as sin advanced God retired and there came to be no converse between earth and heaven. Then the glory of the Lord had departed. But “in the fullness of time” God manifested himself to the worldhe came in redeeming grace to raise and restore our fallen race. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory” (Joh 1:14); we had “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co 4:6). As men looked upon him, as they heard his words, as they witnessed his life, as they beheld the glories of his goodness and his power, they had a nobler vision of the glory of the Lord than that of Ezekiel, as here described.
II. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The glory of the Church is the presence of its Divine Lordthat presence as manifested by the indwelling and the action of his Holy Spirit. Great was its glory when that Divine presence was manifested on the day of Pentecost, not only (nor indeed chiefly) by the tongues of flame or the rushing mighty wind, but by the conversion of “three thousand souls.” But there may come, as there often has come, a time when the glory of Christ has departed. When a Church sinks down into a condition of unbelief, or of spiritual pride and fancied independence, or of indulgence and immorality, or of worldliness and prayerlessness, then might the prophet of the Lord, with inward eye, see the glory of the Lord “on the threshold” or on the summit of the mountain, no longer “filling the house.” But when the sacred and the blessed hour of penitence and of prayer, of humility and of faith, arrives, then may be had another and happier visionthat of the Lord’s return. Christ will come again, and he will reveal the glory of his goodness and his grace, imparting the blessings which once were lost, which had taken flight, and are now renewed; bringing with him power, beauty, joy, life, victory.
III. THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL. All outward pomps and all human distinctions are as nothing to the human soul compared with the glorious presence of the Divine Spirit in the heart of man. But though God comes to us thus and dwells with us, he will not abide with us if we do not retain our purity, our moral and spiritual integrity (see 1Co 3:16; 2Co 6:16). Yet may there be, in individual experience, a blessed return of the glory of the Lord. If there be a sincere and deep humility; if there be an earnest seeking after God in prayer; if there be a cordial reconsecration of the heart and life to the Divine Redeemer;then will there be a gracious and a glorious return of his presence and of his blessing to the soul.C.
Eze 43:7-9
God’s unapproachable sovereignty.
God now appears among his people as their Divine Sovereign; the house to which he comes in glorious manifestation is “the place of his throne” (Eze 43:7). There he is resolved to rule. Other kings, human potentates, had been reigning there, but their rule should now be over. They had been usurpers in that they had set up their will against his, “their threshold by his thresholds, their post by his posts” (Eze 43:8); but all such pretensions would be henceforth peremptorily disallowed; they would be unsparingly swept away. I consumed them in mine anger.” The Lord alone was to reign, without any rival, the unchallenged, unapproachable Authority. The sanctuary of the Lord was the throne of the great King.
I. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST THE SPHERE OF DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. AS God declared, through his prophet, that he would reign in the temple, so Jesus Christ claims to be the one and only Head and Ruler of his Church. “One is your Master, even Christ.” We must not invade his “crown rights” in any way or under any consideration whatever.
1. To him we must pay our worship, not placing any created being by his side upon his throne.
2. By his revealed will we must determine the constitution of his Church. Whether we gather that from his own words, or from the spirit of his life, or from the words and action of his apostles, we must make the will of Christ absolutely supreme in all our collective action, And his will not only affects us in deciding on the forms and the rules of our ecclesiastical association, but also as to the spirit in which we hold our post and do our work in his kingdom; we are essentially disloyal to him when our attitude or bearing toward any of our brethren is other than that which illustrates the spirit of Christ.
II. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST THE SOURCE OF DYING SOVEREIGNTY. The source in the sense of being instrumental in its promotion. For it is to the Church that God has committed that truth which alone will establish it; and it is of the Church he expects that life which will contribute so largely to its extension. The Churchevery Christian Churchhas:
1. To proclaim the sovereign rights of him who is the God of our life; to present God to men as the Divine Author of their being, Fountain of their joy, Source of all their comforts and their blessings, Father of their spirit, Preserver and Guardian of their life; as that Divine One in whom they “live and move and have their being, “with whom they have to do” in a deeper sense and to a far higher degree than they have with any human being.
2. To present the regal claims of the Lord of our salvation; to hold up before the eyes of men that Son of man who came down from heaven to be our Teacher, Leader, Friend, and Savior; who lived, taught, wrought, sorrowed, and died for our redemption; that Son of God who rose in triumph from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God; who has a supreme right to the trust, the love, the obedience, the full and entire devotion of all who have received the story of his dying love and living power.
3. To show the Way of a true, thorough, happy subjection to the Divine rule. Thus will the Church of Christ become “the place of his throne.”C.
Eze 43:12
The law of the house
Universal holiness. “The law of the house, what was pre-eminently entitled to be called the law, consisted in the whole region of the temple mount being most holy. Not, as hitherto, was this characteristic to be confined to a single apartment of the temple; it was to embrace the entire circumference occupied by the symbolical institutions of the kingdomthe chambers allotted to the priests, and even the courts trodden by the people, as well as the immediate dwelling-place of Jehovah. All were to have one character of sacredness, because all connected with them were to occupy a like position of felt nearness to God and equally to enjoy the privilege of access to him.” For the glory of the Lordhis manifested presencefilled the house; every one, therefore, in every part of the sacred precincts, stood in very close and hallowed relation to the living God, and-character must correspond with privilege. The Church of Christ is now the “house” of the Lord, and respecting its holiness we have
I. ITS TWO SPIRITUAL CONSTITUENTS. These are:
1. Felt nearness to God. He only can be truly said to be holy who realizes continually how near he is to the living God, how intimate is the relationship in which he stands to him, how free is his access to him; and who, realizing this, does in truth “walk with God” and “have fellowship with the Father.”
2. Separateness from sin. The holy man is he who, like the righteous and holy Father himself, “hates all manner of iniquity,” puts far from him, far from his sight and from his sympathy as well as from his conversation and his conduct, everything that defiles and dishonors; he is the man who repels from his soul, and therefore banishes from his life, all falsehood and falsity, all impurity, all covetousness, all forms of dishonesty and intemperance, all irreverence and. profanity.
II. ITS UNIVERSAL PREVALENCE. “The whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy.” Not one particular compartment, but the whole “mountain of the Lord,” Thus with the Church of Christ, holiness is to characterize:
1. All its members, whatever their position or function may be, whether they be ministers or whether they hold no official position at all. There is, indeed, a peculiar and emphatic demand made upon those who speak for Christ, that they should be holy; but any one member of the Christian household who does not realize his nearness to God and does not separate himself from sin, is not qualified to take his place there, he is not obeying “the law of the house,” he is a disloyal subject, an unworthy inmate.
2. Its members in all their relationships. Not only, though markedly and unmistakably there, in all their distinctively religious engagements, but in every sphere in which they movedomestic, social, literary, artistic, municipal, political. At all times and in every place the people of God are to have respect to “the law of the house,” for wherever they are they are members of the household of God.
III. THE SECRET OF ITS MAINTENANCE. How are we to be holy, and to maintain our sanctity in all the rush and strife, under all the burdens and provocations, in all the unwholesome atmosphere, of daily life?
1. By being much, in thought and prayer, with Jesus Christ, the holy Savior. Much of his friendship will mean much of his spirit, for we constantly grow into the likeness of him we love.
2. By receiving into our minds all we can welcome of Divine truth (see Joh 15:3; Joh 17:17).
3. By seeking and obtaining the cleansing and renewing influences of the Holy Spirit.C.
Eze 43:13-27
Purification and preparation.
Almost all the regulations pertaining to the sacrifices under the old economy bore upon the supreme question of sanctity. God would impress upon his people, by every means and in every way, that the Holy One of Israel must be approached by those only who were pure and holy; that if they would “ascend unto the hill of the Lord” they must come “with clean hands and a pure heart.” Hence everything and every one had to be carefully purified or consecrated in preparation for the solemn service. In these verses we have the same idea once more affirmed in the prophet’s vision. The priests who officiated were to be duly consecrated (Eze 43:26); the animals slain were to be very carefully selected, only those without blemish being allowed (Eze 43:22, Eze 43:23, Eze 43:25). And even the altar itself, which might have been thought to be incapable of any impurity, had to be formally purged and cleansed (Eze 43:20). Sin offerings and burnt offering were to be presented, not forgetting the salt (Eze 43:25), that the altar might be perfectly prepared for use, and that the worshippers who approached it might find acceptance with the Lord (Eze 43:27). Such preparation by sacrifice is unknown to the Church of Christ, the old ritual having happily become obsolete. But the essential idea of it remains and will never disappear. Before we draw near to God in public worship it becomes us to make-Reparation answering- to the purification of the older time. There is
I. THE PREPARATION OF THE BODY. Our Lord said there was a certain “kind” of evil which could only be expelled after prayer and fasting (Mat 17:21). We must recognize the fact that one bodily condition is much more favorable to pure and sustained devotion than another; e.g. a wakeful rather than a somnolent one; a wisely and moderately nourished state in preference to one incapacitated by indulgence on the one hand or by prolonged abstinence on the other. Not in weariness and exhaustion, nor yet in a disabling and unfitting fullness, should we bring our offering of prayer or praise, of exhortation or docility, unto the house of the Lord.
II. THE PREPARATION OF THE MIND. They who have undertaken the sacred task of speaking for God should surely prepare for this high and exalted work. If we carefully prepare to speak in our own name, how much more should we do so when we speak in his! Should we not gather all the knowledge we can anywise obtain, think our subject through to the best of our ability, search the Scriptures to sustain the truth we are to utter by the Word of God, lay all our mental acquisitions and information under contribution to give clearness and cogency to our argument or appeal, order and arrange our thoughts that we may present them as freely and as forcibly as we can?
III. THE PREPARATION OF THE HEART. This preparation, more than that of the body or the mind, answers to the purification described in the text. Our hearts need to be “cleansed and purged” (Eze 43:20). It has to be cleansed from:
1. All self-seeking; so that we aim, not at our own honor or advancement, but at the glory of Christ and the good of men.
2. All worldliness and vanity; so that when we bow in prayer or assume the attitude of attentiveness we are not lost in the remembrance or the anticipation of bargains in the market or of pleasures in society.
3. The search for enjoyment rather than the seeking after God; the temptation to come to the house of the Lord to partake of that which is sweet unto our taste rather than that which is strengthening to our character and nourishing to our soul. Such preparation or purification as this must be wrought in the secret chamber of devotion, when we are alone with God, in solemn contemplation and in earnest and believing prayer.C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
CHAPTER 43
1And he led me to the gate, the gate that looks toward the east: 2And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the east, and its [His] voice 3was as the voice of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory. And as the appearance [was] the appearance which I saw, as the appearance which I saw when I came to destroy the city, and [there were] sights like the appearance which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. 4And the glory of Jehovah came to the house by the way of the gate whose face [front] 5is toward the east. And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the inner court, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. 6And I heard one speaking to me from the house, and a man was standing beside me. 7And He said to me: Son of man, [behold] the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the sons [children] of Israel for ever, and the house of Israel shall no more defile the name of My holiness, they and their kings, by their whoredom and by the corpses of 8their kings, their high places; When they gave their threshold beside My threshold and their post beside My post, and [only] the wall [was] between Me and them, and they defiled [so defiled they] the name of My holiness by their abominations which they did, and I consumed them in My anger [breath of9anger]. Now shall they put away their whoredom, and the corpses of their 10kings from Me, and I dwell in their midst for ever. Thou, son of man, show to the house of Israel the [this] house, that they may be ashamed because of their iniquities, and they measure [so they measure] the harmony of proportion. 11And if they be ashamed because of all that they did, make them know the conformation of the house, and its arrangement, and its out-goings, and its incomings, and all its forms, and what relates to all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its precepts [laws]; and write before their eyes, that they may keep its whole conformation and all its ordinances, and they do them. 12This is the law [the Thorah] of the house; on the head [top] of the mountain all its border round and round is most holy! Behold, this is the law of the house. 13And these are the measures of the altar [altar of burnt-offering] in cubits: the cubit a cubit and a hand-breadth, and [indeed] the [a] bosom (the girth) had the cubit, and [i.e.] one cubit broad [thick], and its border at its lip [its edge] round about was a span, and this is the elevation of the altar; And [namely] from the bosom [at] the ground to the lower rest were two cubits, and a breadth, of one cubit; 14and from the lesser rest to the greater rest, four cubits and a 15breadth of one cubit. And the mountain of God four cubits; and from the 16hearth of God and upwards were the four horns. And the hearth of God 17twelve in length by twelve in breadth, square in all its four sides. And the rest fourteen in length by fourteen in breadth in its four sides, and the border round about it was half a cubit, and its bosom [girth was] a cubit round about, and its [the altars] steps toward the east. 18And He said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: These are the ordinances of the altar on the day when it is made, to cause burnt-offerings to ascend upon it, and to sprinkle 19blood upon it. And thou givest to the priests, the Levites, those who are of the seed of Zadok, who draw near to Me,sentence of the Lord Jehovah,20to minister to Me, a bullock, a young steer, for a sin-offering. And thou takest of its blood, and givest it upon its [the altars] four horns, and on the four corners of the rest, and on the border round about, and thou dost cleanse and 21expiate it. And thou takest the bullock of the sin-offering, and one burns it in the assigned [appointed] place of the house, without the sanctuary. 22And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin-offering, and they cleanse the altar as they cleansed with the bullock. 23When thou hast completed the cleansing, thou shalt offer a bullock, a young steer 24without blemish, and a ram of the flock without blemish. And thou offerest them before Jehovah, and the priests cast salt upon them, and make them ascend as a burnt-offering [Olah] to Jehovah. 25Seven days shalt thou prepare a kid for a sin-offering daily, and they shall prepare a bullock, a 26young steer, and a ram of the flock without blemish. Seven days do they 27expiate the altar, and purify it, and fill its hand. And they shall have completed the [these] days; thus it comes to pass on the eighth day and onwards, that the priests shall make upon the altar your burnt-offerings, and your peace-offerings; and I receive you graciously,sentence of the Lord Jehovah.
Eze 43:2. Sept.: … . . . .
Eze 43:3. . . . . ,Vulg.: Et vidi visionem secundum speciem, quam videram quando venit ut disperderet et speciem secundum aspectum quem videram(Another reading: , i.e. cum venit dominus.)
Eze 43:4. ingressa est templum
Eze 43:6. . . ,
Eze 43:7. … , .; . , (8) . . , . . . , . . . . Vulg.: vestigiorum pedum meorum, ubi habito et in ruinis regum suorum et in excelsis, (8) qui fabricati sunt propter quod consumpsi eos(Another reading: , in morte eorum.)
Eze 43:9. … . . Vulg.: ruinas regum semper.
Eze 43:10. Another reading: pro .
Eze 43:10. … . . . (11) . . . . . . . . . . Vulg.: ostende templum et metiantur fabricam (11) et erubescant Figuram domus et fabric et omnem descriptionem prcepta cunctumque ordinem ostende eis omnes descriptiones(Desunt in nonnullis codd.: , or only . In fine versus legitur plur.: .)
Eze 43:12. . . . Vulg.: domus in summitate montis.
Eze 43:13. … , . . , . . Vulg.: In sinu ejus erat cubitus hc quoque erat fossa altaris.
Eze 43:14. Sept.: . . . . Vulg.: usque ad crepidinem novissimam a crepidine minore
Eze 43:15. . . (Another reading: , montes dei. Syr.: Adiel., litteris transpositis.)
Eze 43:16. . (eadem codicum varietas).
Eze 43:17. . . .Vulg.: Et crepido et corona in circuitu ejus
Eze 43:19. … , Vulg.: vitulum de armento pro peccato.
Eze 43:20. . . . . , . . . Vulg.: angulos crepidinis et super coronam et mundabis illud et expiabis.
Eze 43:21. . . .
Eze 43:22. …
Eze 43:23. … Vulg.: de armento et de grege
Eze 43:24. .
Eze 43:25. … (26) , .
Eze 43:26. Qeri: . Idem legunt quam plurimi codices.
Eze 43:27. … . Vulg.: et placatus ero vobis
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
Eze 43:1-12. The Entrance of the Glory of Jehovah
The measuring is over, the house is in this respect finished as an actual house (Eze 42:15), that is, its measurements are completed. But heaven and earth are said to be finished (Genesis 2.) only when the Eternal rested. And so the prophets guide leads him back
Eze 43:1to the gate (), to the one that principally comes into consideration (comp. what has been remarked in the foregoing chapters regarding the significance of this gate, and also the Doctrinal Reflections), to the east gate,we will have to imagine Ezekiel standing before this gate,that after all the measuring he
Eze 43:2may see the glory, sq. (see pp. 38 sq., 52), coming to its rest. Hengst.: a parallel to Exo 40:34 sq., and 1Ki 8:10 sq., and the counterpart to Ezekiel 11 of our prophet (comp. Eze 10:19; Eze 11:1; Eze 11:23). The gate of exit then is the gate of re-entrance now., comp. on Eze 1:24. The voice might refer more to the manifestation of the glory; comp. however. Rev 1:15 : His glory is at all events the glory of the God of Israel (Luk 2:9; Rev 18:1). The significant addition: and the earth, etc., is not sufficiently explained by a brilliant light cast upon the ground; but as the land of Canaan is hardly meant here, by this burst of light extending far beyond Israel is meant to be symbolized an enlightenment also of the face of the whole earth, that is, of the entire region of humanity, thus shown to have been in itself and hitherto dark, Isa 6:3; Isa 60:1 sq. It is like sunrise ( in the Hiphil, to make or give light, Gen 1:15; Gen 1:17) for the world through Israels temple-gate, and in so far is certainly something additional which was not in the tabernacle or Solomons temple; just as in general the temple of Ezekiel is a symbol of the future.
Eze 43:3 in no way contradicts this. may be translated: and as the appearance of the appearance which, etc., as the appearance (closer definition) which I saw when, etc., that is, quite as conspicuous as that was, was the appearance of glory this time also. Keil: And the appearance which I saw was to look upon just like the appearance which I saw when I, etc. is evidently a resumption of . The former appearance () comes first before the prophets mind when he wishes to describe what he saw, and seeks therefore for an appearance with which he can compare it; and then he characterizes more closely this appearance (), with which he compares that now seen. Keils observation against Hitzig does not meet the point, but neither is Hitzigs alteration of the text necessary. In the first place, by means of this comparison the re-entrance of the divine glory is attested in the strongest way, and therefore so circumstantially. It was the same glory then as now. For all this, the prophet does not intend to deny the anger in the execution of judgment then, for he expressly defines more closely , which alone is the correct text, since the Lord did not come, but rather went, giving over the city to destruction, and in reality Ezekiel was the person comingof course in the vision of God, the subject to be spoken of immediately. The prophet did not come in order to see the destruction of the city, but his coming was a seeing which had for its aim and issue his announcement of the overthrow; and then this ideal destruction on the part of the prophet was also realized by the judgment of God fulfilling it. Ezekiel first, Nebuchadnezzar afterwards (Eze 30:11), but by both certainly Jehovah. In the second place, the prophet, as he had already done in Eze 10:15; Eze 10:20, compares the last visions (comp. Eze 40:2), hence the coming of the glory with its individual manifestations, with the appearance which the manifestation had had on the Chebar (Ezekiel 1).On his falling down Hengstenberg observes: In Eze 1:28 it was before the majesty of the angry God; here before the majesty of God appearing in His grace (Rev 1:17). Comp. also on Eze 3:23.
Eze 43:4. A continuation of Eze 43:2; there: whence the glory of the God of Israel came; here: whither the glory of Jehovah came; there: from the east; here: to the house through the east gate, to its dwelling, to its rest.
Eze 43:5. Comp. on Eze 3:12. There is still less need of the wind here; to arrive at the inner court, the prophet needed only to go, as hitherto, in vision. But Ezekiel needs taking up by the Spirit, not only because the impression of Eze 43:2 has cast him to the ground (Hengst.), but also in order to be able to follow, so far as was permitted to him as priest, the fresh revelation of the glory of Jehovah filling the temple. For the form of manifestation, 1Ki 8:10 sq. might be compared, and so much the more as that becomes quite plain there, which indeed is already indicated in Exo 40:35 sq., that the cloud is as significant in the manner of manifestation as the glory is in the actual fact, according as the cloud is one of fire or of light (Mat 17:5).
Eze 43:6. Evidently, however, the [Hv. understands the Hithpael of a conversation in the interior of the sanctuary (?), of a command to the angel to communicate to the seer the revelation of God], that is, the one speaking to him from the house whom Ezekiel hears first, is meant to be represented as visible by , so that the man is the medium between Jehovah and the prophet, and so must certainly be conceived of in analogy with Eze 40:3 (which comp.), as Keil: , John 1. Hengst. supposes: the man has entered the door to speak to him. in Eze 43:7 is certainly the of Eze 43:6. denotes an accusative, and requires a behold to be supplied. What the man says identifies him entirely with Jehovah, wherefore the reference by the article back to the man in Eze 40:3 is intentionally omitted. We no longer walk with the prophet through the courts of the sanctuary to the measurings of his guide, but the vision is interpreted to Ezekiel, and through him to us, from the most holy place. The mans speech, legitimating itself as word of Jehovah, shows him to be essentially the glory of the God of Israel, so that we now know why nothing farther was said regarding the way and manner in which the glory of Jehovah filled the house (Eze 43:5), and the form of its manifestation. Between the statement, rightly remarks Hengst., that one spake, and the speech that was spoken, stands the account of the person of the speaker, to which the prophet has his attention first directed by the speech; the seeing was first occasioned by the hearing. We have before us in the man the essential revelation of Jehovahs glory. Comp. on Eze 1:26, pp. 55, 56; Rev 1:10 sq. The Messianic-christological interpretation is the only explanation corresponding to the connection, so much the more significantly, as there is no mention in Ezekiel of the ark of the covenant, with which elsewhere the dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of Israel is wont to be connected; and hence also the here, and in Eze 43:9, is to be taken as unconditionally literal (Eze 37:26; Eze 37:28). Neither in the tabernacle nor in the temple of Solomon had Jehovah dwelt for ever, although these might be called the place of His throne, that is, of the ark of the covenant (1Sa 4:4; Exo 25:22); see Bhr, Symb. der Mos. Kult. i. p. 387 sq., and parallel therewith , by which the lower part of the throne, more exactly the ground whereon it stands, is particularized. Comp. for the latter mode of expression, Isa 60:13. According to Isa 66:1 : place of the soles of My feet, hence the same footstool (the earth) as here, perhaps alludes to the most holy place of the temple, where the ark stood, while the ark which was set up upon the floor of the most holy place is to be compared to heaven, Isa 66:1; Psa 99:5; Psa 132:7. Reference is also made hereby to the ark of the covenant (1Ch 28:2). Both modes of expression symbolize the temple in the traditional legal manner as the dwelling-place of Jehovah ( ),the first referring chiefly to the ark, and the second chiefly to the most holy place (for which see Eze 43:12). Bhr says: What the dwelling is in a larger sense and generally, the ark of the covenant is in a narrower sense and in particular; in it the dwelling of Jehovah is concentrated in a single point, etc.In conformity with his theory of the conditionality of certain promises, Hengst. finds in the statement: shall no more, etc., reference to a condition, whereas it simply repeats negatively what the dwelling of Jehovah for ever has already said positively (Eze 37:23 sq., Eze 39:24; Eze 39:29; comp. Joh 10:28).On: the name of My holiness, comp. on Eze 36:20 sq. Ch. 16., 20. is something fallen down, flaccid, a corpse. It cannot be proved that the burial-places of kings were in the neighbourhood of the temple. It will not do to take the corpses for dead idols, even although it should be a quotation from Lev 26:30, for that passage speaks of demolished idols, whereas flourishing idols are treated of here. Moreover, a closer definition could hardly be omitted (Jer 16:18), which Keil, indeed, finds here in the context. Hv. insists on finding the idols in the kings (Amo 5:26; Zep 1:5), holding it to be a contemptuous expression for: the lifeless idols. On the other hand, Keil and Hengstenberg remind us of kings like Manasseh and Amon, who took to do with dead bodies, which according to the law were to be avoided, as unclean and polluting, had built for them altars or high places in the courts of the temple (2Ki 21:4-5; 2Ki 21:7), and patronized the worship of idols. As whoredom designates idolatry in general, so what is meant to be said by the corpses of their kings applies to the worship of kings, the forgotten subjection to Jehovah under them, who, if kings, yet are perpetuated only as corpses; one might be allowed, to call to mind Schuberts poem: The Princes Vault. To this the appositional, loosely strung the more fittingly attaches itself, as in the thought of the kings as also high points, points of worship in social life, easily connects itself with the worship on the high places, which was specially popular in the time of the kings, and tolerated even by the better kings; the worship of the king, and the worship favoured by the kings, would border on one another. As idolatry in general constitutes the defilement of the name of Jehovah, the doings on the part alike of the house of Israel in general, and of their kings in particular, so the figurative and literal worshipping on high places forms, with special reference to the kings, a contrast to the enthronement of the King Jehovah, and to His dwelling in the literal sense in the midst of Israel. [In the interest of the different explanation of it has been proposed to read , in their death, as the Chaldee paraphrase already interprets. Zunz makes dependent on , but the wanting before can be easily supplied from the preceding and ]
Eze 43:8. (The subject in is not the kings (Hengst.), but what was subject in Eze 43:7, the house of Israel and their kings. The suffix in means, if any particular persons, the kings, but better, Israel in general. What is then said refers neither to the temples of the high places, which had been placed so close beside the temple of God (Keil), for their threshold cannot refer to their high places, nor to idol-chambers there (comp. for this Ezekiel 8.), and idol-altars in the courts of the temple, which the kings of Judah built (such things would require to be expressed more plainly); nor is this disparaging expression meant to condemn the building of royal palaces like that of Solomon (1 Kings 7.); but if kings are specially aimed at, then the figurative mode of expression, as given by the temple of Jehovah, will pronounce sentence on the conduct of the kings who assumed an equality with Jehovah (1Ki 12:28; 1Ki 12:32), by their idolatrous appointments and arrangements with respect to religion and worship. It is better, however, to hold that the defilement of the name of the holiness of Jehovah by the people and the kings consisted in this, that the consciousness of the distance between Jehovah and Israel had entirely disappeared from the life of the latter, the dwelling of Jehovah was as if it were not present in Israel, Israel performed his domestic and secret worship of idols as his worship of Jehovah, so that only the temple wall () still protested, and preserved, or at least marked to Israel the boundary between the Holy One and His people. [Keil understands of the temple wall, which was the only thing between Jehovah and the corpse-gods.], from imperf. apoc. Piel (Exo 32:10; Exo 30:3!), signifies: to make the measure full, to finish sin by death (Jam 1:15)., comp. on Eze 38:18.
Eze 43:9 resumes, in conclusion, the subject of Eze 43:7, as also to the same purpose; the eternal duration of the new and perfect revelation of God as distinguished from the Old Testament merely temporary one, which is at this time passing over into complete fulfilment and glorification (Hv.), is repeatedly set forth. (Piel: to put far away) corroborates with respect to the corpses of kings the interpretation proposed (Eze 43:7) of idolatrous adulation and adoration of them and their edicts regarding worship.
Eze 43:10. , Eze 40:4.The Aim of the Announcement of the Temple-vision, and consequently of the Vision itself as regards Israel.
It is not said that Israel is again to build a temple of the kind; but neither is it said that he is to build up his phantasy on this architectonic interim phantasy. But with the perception that Jehovah still, and now first in the proper sense, desires to dwell in the midst of Israel,a perception which will be brought about by the announcement of this house to the house of Israel,shame shall come over them through the knowledge of their iniquities, from a comparison of these iniquities with the mercy and grace of God (Eze 36:31-32), so that the goodness of God leads them to repentance (Rom 2:4). This moral-prophetic tendency is thoroughly in accordance with the Messianic acceptation of the templevision. (comp. Eze 28:12), not so much: plan, model (Hengst.), but ( proportionality, says Frst): the harmony of the proportions, the regular character of the edifice. Keil: the well-apportioned edifice. Hengst. observes on this measuring: not as architects, but as Abraham went through the length and breadth of the Promised Land (Gen 13:17) with the interest of the family belonging to the house, in a meditating and loving and thankful spirit, following the measures shown, etc.
Eze 43:11. And the announcement for this purpose is not, if they are ashamed of themselves, to be confined to the harmony of the whole, but will enter into particulars, which, being enumerated at the beginning, and in a profusion of words, are well fitted to produce from the outset the impression of something important. , from , to form (Psa 49:15 [14]), is the shape, the form, hence primarily the outside, with which is joined , which Gesenius would derive from , and compares with . The word is derived from , and signifies the inside plenishing of a dwelling-place, as also the dwelling-place itself (Job 23:3), for which its out-goings and its in-comings, taking into account both the exterior and the interior, come above all into consideration. is everything that is in the particular, the individual forms; the regulations in regard to the particulars of the arrangement; according to Keil: regarding what Israel has to observe, the ordinances of worship. [Hengst.: All here has a practical import (2Ti 3:16). The high mountain, for example, on which the house is situated proclaims: Hearts upward. The wall which surrounded the whole (Eze 42:20) proclaims: Ye shall be holy, for I am holy. The guardrooms of the gates embody the word: Without are dogs, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters. The chambers for the people in the outer court preached: Rejoice before the Lord always, and: Be ye thankful. The arrangements for the priests reminded of sin, and demanded that one should consecrate himself to God in the burnt-offering, present to Him always the thank-offering and the meat-offering of good works. The altar of incense proclaimed to all: Pray without ceasing.] That the dwelling of the Holy One among His people has as its aim their sanctification in repentance and faith as to every part of them, is clear from the accompanying , which is, moreover, repeated by a parallel expression, and so strengthened (and all its forms and ), that is, all instructions and directions, what has thereby been given in doctrine according to which a man should live. And thus the symbolical view of the section (see Doct. Reflec.) has no need to seek elsewhere for farther justification. By the command: write, etc., the: make them know, passes over from oral annunciation into a more abiding form, into the written outline we have before us of the new temple, into the description given of the vision.The: do, corresponding to the preceding: all that they did, certainly does not mean that they are to build such a temple, and just as little that they were to console themselves therewith. They are to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The doing intended is a spiritual, ethical doing.
Eze 43:12. The mention of the leads to the summary of all doctrine and precepts in respect to this temple, which is significantlyin contrast with the law of Moses which Israel has not keptone might indeed say: as the law of Christlaid down repeatedly (Eze 43:13) as the Thorah of the house. For all is summed up in this, that what has been represented on the (going back to Eze 40:2) top of the mountain ( head of the mountain and head article of the doctrine!), the whole boundary marked out for the house round and round, is most holy (Eze 45:3). The summary thought which underlies the whole, the holiness of Jehovah, the sanctification of Israel, is in a way set forth by this, that even the courts appear in the light of the most peculiar abode of Jehovah, so that the perfection of a new temple as the completion of the old is here proclaimed as a close to the temple-vision proper. Hengst. quite uselessly takes pains to tone down the into eminently holy. For if it is conceded to him that ideally (as he says) such (a holy place) was already extant in the tabernacle and the temple of Solomon, and all behoved in view of it to strive to be holy in their whole conversation (for which he appeals to 1Pe 1:15), then he will have to concede that this ideal is set down here as a real, as the fulfilled law, since its ideality was nothing else than the idea of the future, the promised fulfilment in Christ. Num 18:10 rather proves this advance than furnishes ground for contending against it, with Hengstenberg; for what is said in that passage of the court of the tabernacle is expressly limited to the priestly families representing the people, and, moreover, to the male portion of them. The Old Testament form, indeed, still obtains on the top of the mountain here, but yet the novum quod in vetere latet is distinctly apparent. The question is not concerning the world surrounding the sanctuary, but when the vision here finishes with the temple, the mutual relation of its parts must be vieweda view rendered possible just by this, that the most holy place still remains, as the prophet has shown. Certainly the point of view is a practical one; but when Hengst. says: the passage serves as the foundation for the confident expectation expressed in Eze 43:7; Eze 43:9, that the people will in future lay aside all unholy dispositions, then this looks forward to a future which points far beyond the immediatly post-exile period, namely, that God (to speak with Hengstenberg) holds in prospect to the children of Israel a help against themselves, whereby they may succeed in conquering the enemy that makes the dwelling of God among them impossible, this help being, of course, the Spirit of the Anointed One, of the fulfilling of the law, somewhat as in the passage cited by Hengst., 1Pe 1:3 sq. Comp. 1Co 1:30 : (2Th 2:13 sq.; Eph 4:20 sq., and similar passages). Cocceius: And the least on this mountain, within this wall of God, is greater than the high priest in the temple of Solomon, Mat 11:11; Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10; 1Pe 2:9; comp. also Zec 14:20-21.
Additional Note on Eze 43:1-12
[ In this striking passage we are first of all to note the character in which the Lord now appears to dwell and manifest Himself among His people. It is as their divine King, occupying that house as the throne of His kingdom. God had always claimed this position, and had at first resisted their desires to have an earthly sovereign, because this virtually implied a rejection of Him as the proper head of the State. Even when He consented to their request, it was with a solemn and earnest protest against the person chosen ruling in his own name, and for selfish purposes, or in any other way than as the Lords vicegerent. The protest, however, was soon forgotten. The king looked upon himself, and the people also looked upon him, as possessing an absolute title to the throne, and the earthly head came very much to occupy, in mens eyes, the place of the true and proper King. But in the new and more perfect order of things now unfolded in vision to the prophet, this flagrant perversion of the past must be rectified; God must be known and honoured as alone properly King in Jeshurun. And hence, not only here does He declare that He had come to occupy His throne in the house, but, as mentioned in the note on Eze 43:7, the earthly head, when spoken of in a subsequent chapter, is simply called the prince. The supremacy and glory of Jehovah were henceforth to appear in their full splendour. We have farther to notice in the preceding passage the essentially moral character of all that was here displayed in vision respecting the future things of Gods kingdom. It was not a pattern which God was going to carry out anyhow, and accomplish as by a simple fiat of Omnipotence. It depended upon the condition of the people, and only if they agreed to put away sin from among them, and give God the supreme place in their hearts, could He manifest Himself toward them in the manner described. And finally, while the whole scheme was fraught with lessons of instruction, and inlaid with principles of holiness, the grand and distinguishing peculiarity of this pattern of the future, as compared with the past, we are expressly informed, was to be a general and all-pervading sanctity. The law of the housewhat was pre-eminently entitled to be called the lawconsisted in the whole region of the temple-mount being most holy. Not, as hitherto, was this characteristic to be confined to a single apartment of the temple; it was to embrace the entire circumference occupied by the symbolical institutions of the kingdom,the chambers allotted to the priest, and even the courts trodden by the people, as well as the immediate dwelling-place of Jehovah. All were to have one character of sacredness, because all connected with them were to occupy a like position of felt nearness to God, and equally to enjoy the privilege of access to Him. So that the pattern delineated is that of a true theocracy, having God himself for king, with the community in all its members for true denizens of the kingdom, and acceptable ministers of righteousness before the Lord.Fairbairns Ezekiel, pp. 473, 474.W. F.]
Eze 43:13-27. The Altar of Burnt-offering (Eze 43:13-17), and its Consecration (Eze 43:18-27)
[ The remaining verses of this chapter (Eze 43:13-27) which contain a description of the altar of burnt-offering, and of the necessary rites of consecration connected with it, seem at first view somewhat out of place. But there is an historical reason for such a description being given here. Now that the Lord has taken possession of the house, the prophet goes on to show how the work of fellowship and communion with Him is to proceed on the part of the people. It must, as it were, commence anew, and of course be conducted after the old manner; for no other could here come into contemplation. But in ancient times the grand medium of divine intercourse was the altar, at which all gifts and sacrifices were to be presented for the divine favour and blessing. And therefore, the prophet here, to show that the way was open, and that the people might have free access to the fellowship of God, after having briefly sketched the dimensions of the altar, gives instructions for its consecration, and the consecration of the priesthood, which was all that was needed to complete the arrangements. The seven days purification services for the altar have respect to the original directions of Moses for the same purpose, in Exo 29:37, and are simply a preparation for the great end aimed atthat God might accept the sacrifices of the people, and be gracious to them (Eze 43:27). This indispensably required that there should first be a consecrated way of accessa holy altar, and a holy priesthood to minister at it.Fairbairns Ezekiel, pp. 474, 475.W. P.]
Eze 43:13, with which the vision already turns more expressly to the second particular, the service in the temple of Jehovah, has been prepared for by occasional references, such as Eze 40:38 sq., Eze 42:13 sq., but is introduced in particular by the ordinances and precepts commanded to be made known in Eze 43:11 of our chapter. We remark, as regards the predominating evangelical tone of the vision, that the statement that Jehovahs sanctuary, as well as Jehovah Himself, will dwell among His people, precedes any commandment or ordinance in regard to it. So the time of the wandering patriarchs was likewise before the time of the law, which simply came in between promise and fulfilment.And these are the measures, the idea is symbolized in the measure. is the altar of burnt-offering (Eze 40:47; Eze 9:2; Exo 30:28 sq.). Both on account of its significance in regard to the people in their relation to Jehovah,since it is for the court what the ark which is wanting in Ezekiel is for the most holy place, and the altar of incense for the holy place (comp. Ezra 3),and also because a fresh section of the vision announces itself here, the more exact statement of the measures is repeated in accordance with Eze 40:5., from , to surround, is the so-called bosom,Gesenius: the hallowed part of the altar, where the fire burnt; Keil: its base; Hengst.: the same as its back (?), namely, the enclosure, which was of brass,as being on the outside; back, because it formed the periphery of the altar; bosom, because it embraces and grasps the heart, since properly means something that grasps. Evidently the whole circumference of the altar will be first given. Keil translates: a bottom-frame one cubit high and one cubit broad (?). In the case of that which encloses the earth and stone, the kernel of the altar, the breadth is the thickness. (the feminine suffix here and in , referring to , has been explained from the transferred relation); more closely defined by , is, since anything else can scarcely be understood from the foregoing, the one span, that is, half cubit broad edging projecting over the circumference. , as noun: a span of unity, of the one = one span. Keil, who interprets from below upwards, places here a moulding a half cubit high. is commonly translated: the back, which must as little signify as it can denote the socle of the altar, the bottom-frame with its moulding. According to the fundamental idea of the root-word, to be drawn together, heaped up, may at least quite as well denote something elevated or high, which is so easily expressed by this object (altare), as what is bowed or bent, especially when circumference and edging have preceded, and when in this way the configuration in height was not yet touched on.
Eze 43:14 would describe this from the bottom upwards; hence = from the circumference (starting from that with which the description began in Eze 43:13), where it rose above the earth, apparently as belonging to it and raising itself out of it. [And for this reason Hvernick already in Eze 43:13 makes the bosom mean: the lowest part of the altar, the part immediately on the earth, the support of the whole. Keil understands of the filling up of the with earth (?).], Hengst.: closing; Keil: walling round. The Aramaicized word, which is derived as a softened form from , denotes in 2Ch 4:9; 2Ch 6:13, the court (, the enclosure). If derived from , to hold off (hence, to protect, to help), the word would indicate a rest or landing-place, as the courts formed such ascending landing-places or terraces. It can hardly be a third designation for the wall of the altar (Hengst.: especially the external wall of the two cubits thick enclosure). When, as here, the height of the altar is treated of, two rests are to be understood, one above the other,first a lower one, because only two cubits high, and therefore called the lesser, in relation to the greater of four cubits high, the next and higher one. The repeatedly stated breadth of one cubit makes the detailed description of the more general description in Eze 43:13 more intelligible. We make by addition the height six cubits; Keil, seven cubits, but where is his half cubit ?
Eze 43:15. , the mountain of God, four cubits high, denotes after the two court-like rests, in the priestly mode of expression, the altar proper, as it were the sanctuary upon the very high mountain (Eze 40:2). The height of the altar which is being described suggested the expression; and accordingly the entire temple edifice, as it has been designated after the temple proper, house or palace, concentrates itself in the altar with its rests, designated as it is after its upper part: mountain of God. From this, however, the genuine priestly term: , is still to be distinguished. The Qeri reads: , adopting which Keil interprets, in conformity with Isa 29:1, not: lion of God, but, from , to burn (ara Dei): hearth of God. Hengst. holds for the reading in the text: , lion, and takes , the being elided by the Masoretes, as ram, while he thinks it possible that the original form was , instead of , so that a double sense had been intended. Lion of God and ram-lion, the lion that consumes the rams for God! At all events, what is meant is the upper surface, that is, in reality the fire-hearth of the altar from the four corners of which the four horns extended, and these, according to Jewish tradition, belonged to the essential requisites of the altar, and indicate the insignia of kingly dominion, hence the revelation of divine power and glory, etc. (Bhr, Symb. i. p. 473); with these our description is completed as regards extent upwards. The altar has, like that of Solomon, a height of ten cubits.
Eze 43:16. The account of the height is followed by that of the length and breadth, measured at the highest point of the altar, and given for the whole four sides from the ground up.
Eze 43:17. Setting out now from that which is not a part of the altar proper (, collective, comp. Eze 43:14), the lower ledge, in contrast and as complement to (Eze 43:16), the top surface, Eze 43:17, measures fourteen instead of twelve cubits square, since it adds from Eze 43:13-14 the thickness of the bosom, a cubit on each side, to the length and the breadth; this is referred to in what follows: and the border round about it, etc. = and its border at its lip round about (Eze 43:13), although for the sake of variety we have half a cubit here, instead of a span there.And its bosom, etc. (Eze 43:13); this explains the difference in the measurement here from that of Eze 43:16. The mention of the bosom and the border reverts to the beginning of the description of the altar (Eze 43:13), so that only there still needs to be mentioned, and this is now done by naming the steps, in distinction from Exo 20:26, indicating the elevation of the altar of burnt-offering. [Bhr carries an inclined plane round the altar for a similar purpose as the two rests here.], infinitive = when one turns, equivalent to: toward; according to others, a noun, read by Hitzig as participle .
Eze 43:18 leads to the consecration of the altar of burnt-offering, forming an introduction to its ritual for the purpose stated, and to its service. In other words, as the entire temple-edifice was referred to the underlying idea by means of the measuring, that is, was set forth as to its symbolical signification, so, in accordance with its intention as respects the people, in whom the idea is to be realized, the altar of burnt-offering has been purposely described at such length; but this intention will be effected only by this means, that, strictly parallel with the entrance of the glory into the sanctuary, a formal act of sacrificial consecration in respect of the altar of burnt-offering is provided for beforehand. The clothing of the idea is a kind of dramatic transaction between Ezekiel and the priests of the new temple, an act of the future with which we can compare from the past Leviticus 8. (Exo 29:10 sq.); 1Ki 8:62 sq.; 2Ch 8:4 sq.By the words: on the day when it is made, the ordinances of the altar are more closely defined as ordinances which are fulfilled (as to their idea) as soon as the whole temple, including this altar, will be in actual existence. A being made is also spoken of in the sense of the reference throughout to the people, just as the whole consecration points to men, who as such can do nothing pure or holy. Comp. Exo 20:22; Lev 16:16. But the consecration of the altar, the ritual of which is told to the prophet in the Old Testament mode of expression, particularly by the solemn: thus saith the Lord, etc., holds out the prospect of a consecration of the people by Jehovah.By the avowed purpose of the altar, to cause ascendings (as the burnt-offerings meant to be wholly burnt, specially fulfilling the view, are called) to ascend upon it (with reference to the altar, the raising up of the gift), and to sprinkle blood upon it (which precisely in these offerings was done merely on the altar round about), is therefore signified in the first instance, and corresponding at the same time to the act of consecration here, the consecration of the people to Jehovah, their entire surrender and presentation of themselves to Him. The burnt-offerings usher in the class of offerings which obtains in the state of grace. The justified man lives henceforth not to himself; the service of the Lord which is ministered in the Church is symbolized by this purpose of the altar of burnt-offering; hence there is no act of worship without burnt-offering. Its expiatory significance comes out only in a secondary way in referring to the altar, just as the sprinkling with blood in the case of the burnt-offering takes place in the most general form. But since, in the time before the law, the burnt-offerings were at the same time the sin-offerings,just as their atoning nature reminds of the sin which continually adheres to us, although the awakened conscience is again hushed,so likewise the history of sacrifice is represented to us by this oldest of all sacrifices; thus the self-surrendering reliance on grace continues to be taken into account, as in the past, so for the future, and so the burnt-offering may be called the perpetual offering of the Church of God.
Eze 43:19 passes over from the altar as to its purpose to the priests and the appropriate victims. The former are simply presupposed as a body of priests descended from Levi, belonging through the tribe to the whole people as their natural and official representatives, and that without consecration, which took place at the tabernacle; nevertheless, instead of consecration the elective appointment is repeated (comp. Eze 40:46), so that only the race of Zadok who draw near to Jehovah (Eze 42:13) are qualified for the service (comp. on Eze 44:15 sq.). As to the second element, the victim, , a young bullock was fixed on. The male was the fitting victim for the burnt-offering, and the bullock was the most distinguished among the animals coming into consideration for a sin-offering; and so the high priest, as priestly head and representative of the community, offered for his cleansing a bullock still in the full flower of his strength (Lev 4:3 sq., comp. 13 sq.).
Eze 43:20. Comp. Eze 43:15; Eze 43:14; Eze 43:17; Eze 43:13. The sprinkling of the blood is the sprinkling in detail of the particular parts characteristic of the sin-offering. The cleansing and expiation of the altar have a reflex influence on the people that made it, and that, at the word of God (in Lev 17:11 the altar is a place of God), raise themselves up there to God. That which the two words employed express (cleanse, and expiate), that which the procedure above and below and around the extremities symbolizes, will be a complete sanctification of the people. With such a strong representation of the cleansing, an anointing of the altar, etc. (Lev 8:11) was not necessary in order to give expression to the idea.
Eze 43:21. , the article before the stat. constr. It is quite as unwarranted simply to suppose everything omitted, as from what is not said to make the prophet be in contradiction with the Mosaic ceremonial. The statements in this vision are mainly determined by the idea to be set forth, and which shows itself everywhere. Thus there was no need of saying anything about the blood which was not consumed, and which elsewhere was poured out at the foot of the altar of burnt-offering to prevent its being profaned, since the sanctification is so strongly expressed in that no mention is once made of the fat upon the inwards which came upon the altar, but it is so spoken as if the fire consumed the whole animal (comp. besides in Lev 4:12; Lev 8:17, the manner of expression) without the sanctuary; comp. Lev 4:21; Lev 6:23. Thus not within the house, and if in a place that may be supposed related to it, certainly (comp. what was remarked in speaking of the gizrah, Ezekiel 41) in the off-place, hardly Eze 46:19 sq.
Eze 43:22. The goat is the atonement for a prince (Lev 4:23), but also the characteristic offering for the people on the great day of atonement (Leviticus 16.). Thus the people might be looked upon as perfectly represented at the altar of the court, Eze 43:19 sq. ecclesiastically, and here civilly, by their two heads the high priest and the prince (comp. Eze 44:3 sq.), with reference at the same time to the great yearly atonement. At any rate, only the second day is marked at the beginning which is made with the bullock as sin-offering; the following days up to the seventh are, as respects sin-offering, introduced and indicated by the second., integer, which had to be the quality of every victim, but clearly more noteworthy here when the civil side is treated of., the priests, or: one, etc., while at the same time Eze 43:21 sq. is illustrated in this respect by . The prophet does it by instructing the priests to do it.After what has been stated regarding these two days, that the bullock cleanses the altar, etc. (Eze 43:20), to which reference is expressly made in speaking of the goat of the second day (Eze 43:22), then in Eze 43:23 can be understood only of the completion of the two sin-offerings, to which the subordinate purpose of the altar, the mention of the sprinkling of blood (Eze 43:18), had led the prophet, so that he now comes to what is spoken of as the principal purpose, to the burnt-offering, which, in the indefiniteness as regards time with which the bullock and ram of which it consists are spoken of, can be quite as easily assigned to the first day as it is expressly assigned in Eze 43:25 to seven days.
Eze 43:24. What remained still indefinite in Eze 43:22 now becomes quite clear by the mention of the priests.
Very significant, however, and exceedingly telling for the setting forth of the idea of sanctification already remarked in Ezekiel, is the casting of salt by the priests, which in the law is expressly demanded for the meat-offering, and appears here connected in a similar manner () with the burnt-offering, although salt (Lev 2:13) was to be put on every oblation. Salt (especially in contrast with leaven and honey), by its seasoning and antiseptic power, with its hidden cleansing fire which consumes everything unclean, is meant to bring out the signification of the powerful truth which keeps off impurity and hypocritical legal sanctity, viz. the surrender to the service of the Lord symbolized in the burnt-offering. Perhaps its character as salt of the covenant of God, with reference to the eternity thereof (Num 18:19; 2Ch 13:5), comes additionally into consideration for the act of consecration. The quality of human nature, observes Hengst., is unsalted, and may not enter into relation with God.
Eze 43:25. The seven days can be neither nine nor eight days, i.e. excluding the first two days, or at least the first day, for they are expressly seven; as also it is said again in Eze 43:26, (Qeri: ), with evident allusion to in Eze 43:20. Moreover, apart from the significance of the number seven as the number of the covenant, consecration, sanctification, etc., it is the basis of all solemnities in Israel, as Keil observes: prescribed in the law without exception for every act of consecration continuing over one day. Comp. particularly Exo 29:37; 2Ch 7:9. The one kid for a sin-offering daily cannot possibly be held to run counter to this, for it expresses what relates to the majority of these days, six days; and in respect of the first day, the bullock (Eze 43:19 sq.) stood clearly defined from the outset. The two victims appointed for burnt-offering (Eze 43:23 sq.) are also distinguished from the kid by the change from to . And not without significance could the cleansing sin-offering, in distinction from the burnt-offering, be ascribedalthough only formallyto the prophet; in this keeping separate he represents the sanctifying grace of God, and the priests the community sanctifying themselves to God.As Eze 43:23 sq. is supplemented by the placed at the beginning of Eze 43:25, and qualifying the whole verse, the burnt-offering in question is to be offered daily during the seven days after the daily completion of the cleansing.
Eze 43:26, concluding the act of consecration,hence couched in general terms,confirms both the merely seven days duration of the consecration of the altar (for nothing else is meant by ), and also, in virtue of the entire consecration above mentioned, its perfect purification, on the ground and in consequence of the expiation () of the altar, which according to Eze 43:20 is its cleansing. We might translate; a pronouncing clean for the present use, treated of in Eze 43:27. It is certainly also in harmony with this when, in making over to the altar thereby represented as entering personally on its functions, the peculiar phrase: fill its hand, is used. After the use previously in the description of the altar of the words bosom and lip in reference to it, its hand (, plur., is a needless gloss) can cause no surprise, especially in Ezekiel, who delights in bold symbols. The altar representing the people in the priests, even of itself, easily becomes a person, and still more readily if the idea of it is to be made prominent. But to fill the hand is the expression used in Leviticus 8. on occasion of the offering for consecrating the priests, inasmuch as those parts of the offering, which otherwise were heaved and waved in the thank-offering, were laid, along with the loaves and cakes, into the hands of the priests. With exception of the breast and shoulder, all this was laid on the altar as a sacrifice of consecration (). The expression: , occurs similarly in Exo 32:29; 1Ch 29:5; 2Ch 29:31 (), in reference to Jehovah, so that the application to the priests in general denotes the giving of a present to them, which, although by the people, is yet as from Jehovah. It indicates in particular, however, their official right to their ministry, and the obligation of this ministry to offer to Jehovah in the fire of the altar. Since the expression, different from the consecration proper of priests, implies the conferring of the priestly office, the formal installation into it,the making of it over to the altar here, corresponding to its purification, is designed to represent the making over of the altar of burnt-offering for the service assigned to it, as Eze 43:27 farther describes. The use for which this altar will have to be employed henceforth, after the completion of what has to be completed in regard to it in the seven days, as, moreover, it is expressly said: on the eighth day and onwards, is intimated by the burnt-offering and the Shelamim, which, however, appear not exactly as the principal and most frequent offerings, instar omnium (Keil, Hengst.), but to make prominent the idea of a people of God in the state of grace, as the kinds of offering befitting such a relation to Jehovah. Hence also the Shelamim are not called here , slain offerings, in order to give a general designation for offerings, or to mark the distinction from the burnt-offering, which falls entirely to Jehovah, but , that is, salvation-offerings (peace-offerings), a designation well fitted to place them on a level with the whole offering (), as the burnt-offering is also called: full surrender is met by full grace, salvation perfect in respect to the past and for the future, and the individuals enjoyment of peace resting on and flowing from it (in which perhaps the more private character of this species of offering compared with the more official character of the burnt-offering should be noticed). The burnt-offerings mentioned first give the key-note, just as they are also strengthened through the bullock in the seven days consecration. As supplicatory offerings, the Shelamim, therefore, are also rather thank-offerings, because the praying Church knows on whom she believes (as Joh 11:41). Finally, the Shelamim were in the Old Covenant the oldest flesh-offerings after the burnt-offerings. Comp. also Exo 10:25; Exo 18:12 (in reference to the delivering of Israel out of Egypt), and Gen 46:1., thus only here, elsewhere (Eze 20:40-41), refers to: restraining, so that the guilt presupposed in having recourse to the sacrifice is confessed; hence Niphal in Isa 40:2 (Lev 26:41; Lev 26:43 : ) of guilt being recompensed, here: to receive as unrestrained by guilt (the idea of justification is perceptible in the word), equivalent to: to receive graciously.
HOMILETIC HINTS
On Ch. 43
Eze 43:1. Jerusalem, how gladly would our foot stand in thy gates! (Psalms 122.)Open to me the pearl gates, Thou who art the Ornament of heavens city, Light from Light, chosen as the Light before the world began, etc. (Dessler).To come to Christ is really to find out the bearings of this world.The entrance took place after the measuring of the temple and consideration of its adornment. So did Christ show His disciples, represented in the person of the prophet, the whole heavenly edifice by word and work (Joh 17:6); and everything pertaining to the building of this spiritual temple was finished on the cross. The entrance of the glory from the east for lighting the temple took place when the apostles, on the day of Pentecost, were endued with power from on high, etc. (col.)When Jesus comes there is light; darkness must disappear, and all is pure joy and comfort, Psa 97:11 (Cr.).
Eze 43:2 sq. The gracious advent of Jehovah indicates the visitation of grace in the forgiveness of all sins, in light, salvation, and blessedness (Starck).The voice is that of Psalms 19, the voice of the gospel, which resounds through the whole world (Starck).Where the gospel is preached, the waters of life make a noise not only of themselves, but also from the stones which men cast in, and from the rocky banks of worldly hearts which make resistance; but the glory of eternity shines upon earth.The loud noise of the glory is the voice of them who praise the Lord with one heart and one voice, here on earth as there in heaven, Rev 14:1 (Heim-Hoff.).We have here the hymn of praise and the triumphant joy of the saints as they cheer and encourage one another; the contradiction, confutation, and blasphemy of the wicked at the confessions of believers; the cries of the spectators expressing their various opinions, and the songs of the witnesses unto blood at the stake; just as in a triumphal procession the victors shout with joy, the vanquished howl. There is no more glorious victory than that of faith (Cocc.).The creature has its voice only from the Creator; and therefore His voice must sound louder than its, however loud it is, Psa 93:3-4 (Dan 10:6; Rev 1:15). He who said: Let there be light, Himself shines forth at His appearing in the clearest light, as He who dwelleth in light that is inaccessible, 1Ti 6:16; Jam 1:17 [Psa 50:12; Deu 33:2; Rev 18:1] (Hengst.).The justice and wisdom of God, kept secret since the world began, are set before the eyes of all. There was no corner in which the truth was not heard, whether it met with approval or contradiction. Thus no one perishes unless he is an enemy to the light. Christ is altar, priest, and sacrifice; hence they who are near the altar cannot but have a sight of His glory (Cocc.).Let us pray God to enlighten the dark earth of our heart with that holy light of His glory! (col.)
Eze 43:3. The terror of the prophet on account of the past and in the present; what will be the future terrors of the wicked!The thought of the perdition of the lost always causes pain and alarm to the true prophets (Starck).The knowledge of God never causes pride, but humility, because it at the same time discovers the corruption of the heart. The more modest a man is, and the less he trusts to himself, the more is he endowed with the knowledge of God. The bowed down are, however, revived by the Lord and led by the Spirit to the place where the majesty of the God of glory shines (Heim-Hoff.).
Eze 43:4 sq. Whom the Spirit has cast down, the Spirit raises up again.This is life in dying, rising up in falling.Yea, thus shall Gods temple be, full of divine spirit and life; but then it must consist of other materials than brick or stone (Diedrich).What hinders this glory from filling also thy heart, provided it is not full of other things, and needs first to become empty, that thy hunger and desire may by the breath of the Spirit seek and find satisfaction in its fulness? (Berl. Bib.)
Eze 43:6 sq. God does not relinquish mankind; He continually creates anew His Israel for Himself (Diedrich).That Jesus aimed at the preservation of the temple is shown by His cleansing of the temple at the commencement of His ministry, whereby He intimated His intention to effect a wholesome reformation. Not until after this reformation was decisively rejected did He, at the close of His ministry, effect the second cleansing of the temple, which is the symbolical announcement of its destruction: Ye would not have reformation, therefore ye must have revolution. The sentence: Behold, your house is left unto you desolate (Matthew 23), immediately follows the saying: How often would I have gathered thy children, etc. Had they let themselves be gathered, their house would not have been destroyed; it would have become a house of prayer for all people (Isa 56:7). Jesus speaks first in view of His passion in Mat 24:2, when the stiff-necked obduracy of the people had been completely revealed. Had the Jews listened to Him, had they not imposed silence on His disciples, the stones of the temple would not have cried out (Luk 19:40; comp. Hab 2:11). Not until they had stopped up the mouths of the true witnesses did the preaching of the stones sound forth. But while the abolition of the form was brought on by the mass of the people, who once more, and in the most culpable manner, thrust away from them their Creator, and lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation (Deu 32:15), the election, far from being deprived of the blessing pertaining to them, found a glorious compensation for the loss of the temple in the Church of Christ, the legitimate continuation of the temple, Joh 2:19 (Hengst.).It is man in whom, as in a temple chosen for Himself, He sets the throne of His glory. This is a New Testament word of promise; for what else does it imply than that sins are forgiven, our heart renewed, confirmed, and made obedient to the truth? (Heim-Hoff.)(1) This temple shall be the true temple; (2) this temple is different from the former temple. Into it nations and kings bring indeed their glory, but the kings and people of Israel no longer their abominations (Cocc.).False doctrine brings the threshold of God and the threshold of men close to each other.Where the government of the Church is conducted by and according to the spirit of the State (Berl. Bib.).In this way the divine becomes human, and the human looks as if divine; and this is the devils union-work.Therefore the sanctuary of the king is still not Jehovahs sanctuary.A table at once the Lords and the devils, Paul has expelled from the Church (Starck).
Eze 43:9. God now first returns to the apostates; but His grace is designed to work repentance, and then He will never more depart from them (Diedrich).
Eze 43:10 sq. Solomons temple left the people in their disobedience and worship of idols; but this house belongs to a higher order. He who lays it to heart will cease sinning, and duly examine the temple and its measurements. For the measuring of the temple, which is not visibly present, must be done in the Spirit, which temple, however, are ye (1 Corinthians 3). And therefore each one should examine with abasement his heart and conscience, and be displeased with himself because he has lived so long in ingratitude toward God, etc. (col.)The shame of the poor sinner finds in the temple, which is Christ, exactly the right measure.The understanding of Ezekiels temple-vision from the self-knowledge of the heart.The turning to repentance through the promises of the gospel.The contemplation of the goodness and the works of God ought to bring shame into our hearts (Starck).The form of the divine economy of grace is, in outline, here described (Berl. Bib.).
Eze 43:11 sq. They who repent of their sins are capable of knowing the temple and its arrangements, while those who wantonly pursue fleshly desires receive not the Spirit of wisdom, and are incapable of knowing the law of the Lord (2Ti 2:19; 1Jn 3:3). For the law of the house is Gods law, that everything be most holy (Heim-Hoff.).That the temple stood on the top of the mountain lets the whole land have it continually before its eyes in its midst, and not now and then only on occasional visits (Diedrich).
Eze 43:13 sq. Christ is the true altar (Heb 13:10); for He is the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 2:2; Rom 3:25), and He has sanctified Himself for us, Joh 17:19 (C).No one could go into the temple without passing by the altar, and so no one can go into heaven without the sacrifice of the death of Christ, Act 4:12 (Starck).Golgotha the true altar of burnt-offering: here hangs the antitype of all the sacrifices (Lampe).
Eze 43:18 sq. Thus God comes first and gives grace; His grace makes ashamed, chastises, sanctifies, reconciles, and produces intimate eternal fellowship. This is always Gods way with us men, provided only we recognise it aright in these days of ours, when now it is set in the most glorious light; Christ and the apostles have given additional clearness to Ezekiel (Diedrich).In the New Testament we no longer offer material, but spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ, etc., 1Pe 2:5 (Tb. Bib.).He who would bring an offering pleasing to God must be of the race of Zadok, Isa 1:15 sq. (starke).The prayer of a righteous man availeth much, because it is effectual, Jam 5:16.All true believers are priests who can draw near to God, for access to the throne of grace has been opened to us through Christ (Starck).The ministers of a king are glorious; how much more so are they who minister before the King of all kings!
Eze 43:21. Comp. Heb 13:11 sq.All this only illustrates more clearly the sacrifice of Christ (Richter).
Eze 43:22. Golgotha the place of purification of all altars.
Eze 43:23 sq. A man can offer himself as a burn-sacrifice to the Lord, when he fully, entirely, and unreservedly devotes himself to Him in faith and love. The end of our creation, redemption, and sanctification, involves this (Berl. Bib.).
Eze 43:25 sq. Christ finishes His work in His people too.It is not enough to begin well in what is good; we must also stand fast in the Lord, and continue stedfast unto the end, 2Th 3:13; Heb 3:14; Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11 (Cr.).But those who are sanctified to the Lord by the sacrifice of Christ ought to praise Gods benefits, and especially to remember them at the Holy Supper, according to the saying: This do in remembrance of Me, and: Show the Lords death till He come (Heim-Hoff.).
Eze 43:27. They who were in Christ before others ought in this to serve as priests to the younger believers (Berl. Bib.).
DOCTRINAL REFLECTIONS ON CH. 4046
1. Hvernick rightly finds the nervous and lofty unity in the prophecies of Ezekiel manifested in this section also. The visions of the prophet find here their fairest completion and perfect rounding off. Already in the exposition (on Eze 40:1 sq.) the harmony with the former part of Ezekiels prophecy has been remarked. Eze 43:3 expressly refers back to Ezekiel 1, 8. The free conformity in expression between our chapters and the whole closing portion generally, and the earlier chapters, has been often proved (comp. Philippson, p. 1294). The proof is the more striking when we consider the complete difference of the subject. That we have a vision here too harmonizes not only with Ezekiel 1, 8, but in general with the prophetic character of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 8, 15, 17. The prophet has repeatedly hinted at this close of his book. Thus Eze 11:16; Eze 20:40; Eze 36:38; Eze 37:26 sq. The last passage in particular might be regarded as the text for Ezekiel 40 sq. The eighth and following chapters required by the necessity of the idea our conclusion of the book.
2. In regard to analogies in the other prophets, Ezekiels contemporaries, as we may well conceive, will chiefly come into consideration. Hence, above all, Ezekiels fellow-labourer Jeremiah. Jeremiah represents the restoration and renewal of Israel as a rebuilding of Jerusalem, Jer 31:38 sq. (with this comp. in our prophet, Eze 47:13 sq., Ezekiel 48). Jer 33:18 is similar to Eze 44:9 sq. Hag 2:7 sq. follows entirely the thought here of a new temple, insisting on its glory in view of a meagre present. But still more analogous are the night-visions of Zechariah (Eze 2:5 [1] sq., Ezekiel 4, Eze 6:13 sq., Ezekiel 14).
3. The parallel between Isaiah and Ezekiel, as it stands in relation to the vision in Ezekiel 1 (p. 41), is not completed by citing Isaiah 60 as corresponding to the close of our book; but we shall have to seek the culminating point of Isaiahs prophecy for the culmination of Ezekiels, in accordance with the office of this prophet to be the prophet of Jehovahs holiness to obdurate Israel, just as for the commencement Isaiah 6 is covered by Ezekiel 1not so much in the close as in Ezekiel 53. The corresponding pendant to our closing chapters is the life-like description given there of the Messiah and His sacrifice of Himself. It is this self-sanctification of Jehovah through His servant Israel which in Isaiah corresponds to the self-glorification of Jehovah in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40 sq.) by means of the new sanctuary and the new nationality; and this, again, accords with Ezekiels office, to behold the glory of Jehovah in the misery of the exile. In this respect Ezekiel stands to Isaiah somewhat as Easter and Pentecost do to Good Friday.
4. The different views, especially regarding the vision of the temple, may be distinguished generally as subjective and objective. I. The views which derive the explanation of Ezekiel 40 sq. solely or chiefly from Ezekiels subjectivity: (1) Already Villalpandus saw everywhere here only reminiscences of Solomons temple and of Solomons era, and consequently a similar line of thought to that in Ezr 3:12. Similarly Grotius, only that he reconciled the differences between Ezekiels temple and that of Solomon by ascribing them to the temple at the time of its destruction, just as Bunsen refers in this connection to 2 Kings 16. According to both these expositors, Ezekiel traced out from reminiscences a pattern for the future restoration. Thus, according to Ewald, Ezekiel becomes a prophetic lawgiver. Such an undertaking, quite unusual in the case of earlier prophets, is explained from the predominating thoughts and aspirations of the better class of those days for the restoration of the subverted kingdom. Ezekiel probably meditated long, with passionate longing and lively remembrance, on the institutions of the demolished temple, etc.; what appeared to him great and glorious became impressed upon his mind as a pattern, with which he compared the Messianic expectations and demands, etc., until at length the outline of the whole arrangement which he here writes down pressed itself upon him! Above all, he sketches the holy objects, temple and altar, with the utmost exactness and vividness, as if a spirit (!) impelled him, now when they were destroyed, at least to catch up their image in a faithful and worthy form for the redemption that will one day certainly come; so that he must have diligently instructed himself in these matters from the best written and oral sources (!). Thus it is quite in keeping with Ezekiels way of prophesying, that he introduces everything as if he had been borne in spirit into the restored and completed temple, accompanied throughout by a heavenly guide, and had learned exactly from him all the single parts of this unique building as to their nature and use. The paragraph Eze 47:1-12 is, in Ewalds opinion, from its great, all-embracing sense, quite adapted to bring to a close briefly and pithily all these presentiments! Yet when precepts more moral are to be given, or the perfected kingdom has to be described in its extent, reaching even beyond the temple, this assumed form (!) easily passes over into the simple prophetic discourse. (2) While the foregoing view looks to realization, Hitzig, for example, entirely rejects the idea that Ezekiel considered such things (as our chapters contain) possible, feasible, or probable, and relatively commanded and prescribed them. One does not or did not reflect that the prophets calling was to express the demands of the idea, indifferent in the first instance about their realization. All is pure fancy, a mere castle-in-the-air, a kind of Platonic sketch, as Herder expresses himself. The self-criticism of this view of our chapters can hardly be more suitably given than when Hitzig continues: Inasmuch as this or that could be set in order otherwise than he imagines, he would not in regard to plans and proposals have resisted obstinately, but would have known how to distinguish the unessential of the execution from the essential of the thing itself. He sketches the future in the form he must wish it to take, in which it really would have the fairest appearance. If the reality falls short of the image, then the idea is defectively realized; but the fault lies in the reality, not in the idea, and Ezekiel is not responsible for it. This, moreover, is merely what already Doederlein and others have held with respect to the closing portion of our book. Similarly Herder: Ezekiels manner is to paint an image entire and at length; his mode of conception appears to demand great visions, figures written over on all sides, even tiresome, difficult, symbolical acts, of which his whole book is full. Israel in his wandering upon the mountains of his dispersal, among other tongues and peoples, had need of a prophet such as this one was, etc. So also as regards this temple. Another would have sketched it with soaring figures in lofty utterances; he does so in definite measurements. And not only the temple, but also appurtenances, tribes, administration, land, etc. How far has Israel always, so far as depended on his own efforts, remained below the commands, counsels, and promises of God! (3) Bttcher has attempted to combine both views, and after him Philippson, who expresses himself to the following effect: Ezekiel the prophet, sunk in himself, brooding over matters in the distance and in solitude, had not, like Jeremiah, upon whom the immediate reality pressed, viewed the occurrences simply as punishment of defection and degeneracy, but was conscious also of their inward signification, which came to him in the appearance of a vision. Hence he represented the destruction of the temple as a suspension of the relation of revelation between God and Israel; and so much the more necessary was it to represent the restoration of that same relation as the return of God into the restored sanctuary. Now, from the peculiar character of Ezekiel, this necessarily had to assume a form at once ideal and real,ideal in its entirety as something future, real as individual and special, matter of fact in its appearance. As the indubitable motive of the prophet, the following is given: to keep alive in the exiles in the midst of Babylonian idolatry the idea of the one temple, and the priestly institute consecrated to it, as the centre of the religion of the one God; and at the return into Palestine to confirm the life of the people in their calling, by the removal of all elements of strife, and by approximation to the Mosaic state of things. Hengstenbergs view is surprisingly near the above one; he says: With the exception of the Messianic section in Eze 47:1-12, the fulfilment of all (!) the rest of the prophecy belongs to the times immediately after the return from the Chaldean exile. So must every one of its first hearers and readers have understood it. Jeremiah, whom Ezekiel follows throughout, had prophesied the restoration of the city and temple 70 years after the beginning of the Chaldean servitude, falling in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. Thirty-two years had already elapsed. Forty years after the devastation of Egypt (Eze 29:13), the nations visited by the Chaldeans shall get back to their former state. According to Eze 11:16, the restoration is to follow in a brief space after the destruction of the temple. We have before us a prophecy for which it is essential (!) to give truth and poetry (! !), which contains a kernel of real thoughts, yet does not present them naked, but clothed with flesh and blood, that they may be a counterpoise to the sad reality, because they fill the fancy, that fruitful workshop of despair, with bright (!) images, and thus make it an easier task to live in the word at a time when all that is visible cries aloud, Where is now thy God? The incongruity between the prophecy of Ezekiel and the state of things after the exile, vanishes at once by distinguishing between the thoughts and their clothing, and if we can rightly figure to ourselves the wounds for which the healing plaster is here presented, and at the same time the mental world of the priest (Ezekiel), and the materials given in the circumstances surrounding him, for clothing the higher verities which he had to announce to the people. II. The views which above all look to and keep hold of the objectivity of the divine inspiration of Ezekiel. The very regard which must, in one way or other, be paid to the circumstances under which the people for whom, and the Babylonian exile in which, Ezekiel prophesied, objectivizes in some measure his subjectivity, so that not all the views hitherto cited of our chapters and the ones that follow are to be designated as purely subjective; the properly objective, however, will be, that the hand of Jehovah was upon him, that he was brought in visions of God to the land of Israel. Here the distinction is drawn by his own hand between the prophet of Israel and the fanciful Jewish priest; and not only this, but the unavoidable and irreconcilable alternative presents itself: either Ezekiel was a man of God, or a deceiver, for whom the fact that he had deceived himself also with assumed divine objectivity were no excuse, but would only be his self-condemnation. The case of Ezekiel, for the sake of truth, is too solemn for thinking of poetic clothing in the case before us. The subjective for the form before us, is to keep in mind when considering it what that form is. It has pleased God to speak to us through men. If we take full account of the national peculiarity of Israel in general during the whole old covenant, and of the peculiar personality in the case of our vision here, that is, that Ezekiel is the priest-prophet, that he above all other prophets is, as Umbreit says, a born symbolist ( in the temple which he erects he makes known his greatness as a symbolist, as well by what he says as by what he passes over in silence),if we concede to Umbreit the surprising skill in popularizing instruction which he observes in Ezekiel, we shall have to accept as the ultimate ground why Israel was the mediator of the worlds salvation, and Ezekiel was chosen to behold the temple of the future, divine wisdom and its purpose for the world, that is, the objective above everything subjective. In accordance with this principle, we have to judge of (1) the view objectivized in this sense of a model for the rebuilding of the temple after the return from the exile, the supporters of which assume a building-plan issued under divine authority, given by Jehovah through the prophet. Although there is a resemblance between Exo 25:9; Exo 25:40 and Eze 40:4, yet it is not said to Ezekiel regarding Israel: according to all that I show thee, the pattern of the dwelling, etc., even so shall ye make it; the prophet is only to convey, announce () all that he sees to the house of Israel. From this circumstance, and not because the reality fell short of the idea (Hitzig, Herder), or, as Philippson adduces here, the similar fate of so many Mosaic precepts, the fact is explained that the post-exile temple was built without any regard to our vision. Only the fundamental reference to Solomons temple, which in general obtains in Ezekiel also, meets us in Ezr 3:12. This fact, the more remarkable considering the nearness of time, shows that Eze 40:4, soon after it was written, and when fully known, was not regarded as a divine building-specification. We do not need, therefore, to express, as Hengst., the obvious impossibility of erecting a building according to the specifications here given. The circumstance that the building materials are not given has at least not prevented the temple of Ezekiel from being, with more or less success, constructed and fashioned after his statements. Bunsen says that the temple here forms a very easily realized, congruous whole, of which an exact outline may be made, as the prophet also has evidently done. Umbreit, too, holds this latter view. And although we have to do not with an architect but with a prophet, yet nothing stands in the way of our believing that the subjectivity of Ezekiel was preeminently qualified for this vision, from the fact that he possessed architectural capacity (Introd. 7). (2) The symbolical view. It corresponds generally to the character of Holy Writ. (Comp. Lange, Rev. Introd. p. 11.) In particular it pays due regard to the law of Moses, to the part of it relating to worship, the subject here. Especially when the whole worship of Israel is concentrated in the temple, a symbolical view respecting a vision thereof will be quite in place. Thereby only its due right is given to this objective, to the divine idea, in the shape which it has above all assumed in
Israelitish worship. The symbolical character, moreover, is specially appropriate for the prophetic writings. As has already been often said and pointed out, the symbolical predominates in Ezekiel; and as to these concluding chapters, Hvernick adduces, as indicating their general character, the description of the circuit of the new temple (Eze 42:15 sq.), the representation of the entrance, etc. of the divine glory (Eze 43:1 sq.), the river (Eze 47:1 sq. etc.), and observes that it is just such passages that form the conclusion to the previous description, and hence cast a light on it. Comp. on Eze 43:10 sq. But everything architectonic is not a symbol, although everything of that nature will indeed primarily relate to the building to be erected, and will thereby at the same time in some way serve the idea of the whole. This character comes out clearly even in individual statements of number, yet all such measurements are not therefore to be interpreted symbolically. Nay, as the exposition shows, there are here bare numbers, resisting every attempt to trace them back to the idea. It is sufficient in respect to the numbers, that (comp. Umbreit, p. 259 sq.) 4, as signature not only of regularity but also of the revelation of God in space, e.g. in the quadrangle of the temple; 3, the signature of the divine, e.g. in the sets of three gates; 10, perfection complete in itself, occurring often; likewise the sacred number 7; and the number 12 in the tables for preparing the offerings (Ezekiel 40), represent symbolism. (On the symbolism of numbers, comp. Lange on Rev. Introd. p. 14.) Umbreit rightly maintains: It is a symbolical temple, notwithstanding the arid and dry description, in which only exact specifications of the number of cubits and the apparently most insignificant calculations and measurings occur; as he says, quite in keeping with the poverty of the immediately succeeding age and the dignity of the most significant inwardness. (3) The Messianic view (for which comp. Lange on Kings, p. 60 sq.) is only the taking full advantage of and applying the symbolic view in general. Symbol and type, emblem and pattern, must mutually interpenetrate one another in a law like that of Israel. What separates Israel from the heathen is its law; what qualifies Israel for the whole world is its promise. But now, because of sin, the law has come in between the promise and the fulfilment; that sin becoming the more powerful as transgression may make manifest for faith the grace which alone is still more powerful, and that consequently the necessity of the promise should be the more apparent; that is, the pedagogy of the law (and especially of its ethical part) to Christ. Thus the law of Israel is the theocratic expression of Israel, the servant of God, as he ought to be, and hence prefigures the servant of Jehovah who is the fulfilling of the law, as He is the personal fulfilling of Israel, inasmuch as in Him who was delivered for our transgressions, and raised again for our , Israel after the Spirit is represented; so that here out of the law relating to worship rise up, as on the one hand sacrifice and the priesthood, so on the other the concentration of the whole of worship in the temple, this parable of the future, with reference to which Christ, John 2, gives the : Destroy () this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (), saying this of the temple of His body; as also the disciples remembered when He had risen from the dead, and as the accusation against Him ran (Mat 26:61). Accordingly the law, and especially the temple and its service, is : the future is given in the ( , Hebrews 10). This reference to the future, says Ziegler (in his thoughtful little work on the historical development of divine revelation), is the most dynamical among all the references of the law; its significance for its own time is so weak and unimportant, that it seems to exist solely for the sake of the future, although its office is the opposite of the office of the New Testament, which is formed and abiding in the hearts of men ( , ); still it was a sensible type, a strongly marked and distinctly stamped shadow of the coming substances, and yet, moreover, a veil which concealed it. What has been said shows the typical signification of the vision of Ezekiel, in which the symbolical view of it is completed, and the pedagogic and providential necessity of that form borrowed from the legal worship in which it is enshrined. Here is more than what (as Hengstenberg can say) suffices to employ the fancy. For the anointed one is . But as the Messianic view of our chapters is thus justified by the symbolic view, when we have taken into account the law, particularly the law of worship in Israel, so likewise the already (Doct. Reflec. 1) noted connection of Ezekiel 40 sq. with the previous chapters, especially with Eze 37:26 sq. (p. 351), yields the same result, as also the position after Ezekiel 38, 39 and the relation to this prophecy will have to be taken into consideration. What holds good of Eze 37:26 sq. will also be a hint for our chapters. But even the Talmudists saw themselves compelled (principally because of the treatment of the law of Moses, to be spoken of presently) to acknowledge that the exposition of this portion would be first given in Messianic times, as the best (according to Philippson) Jewish expositors recognised here the type of a third temple. The saying of Jesus in John ii. possibly alluded to the exegetical tradition of the Jews. Hvernick accommodates as follows: The shattered old theocratic forms rather than new ones were above all cognate to the priestly mind of Ezekiel; so he sees nothing perish of that which Jehovah has founded for eternity; those forms beam before him revivified, animated with fresh breath, and lit up in the splendour of true glory; he recognises their full realization as coming in first in Messianic times. As errors are still committed, e.g. by Schmieder, in the symbolizing of particulars, so the Messianic typology of a Cocceius has deserved, although only in part, the anathema on mystical allegories, which above all modern criticism utters; for our defect in understanding in respect of many particulars will always have to be conceded. The Christian idea, however, the Old Testament typical symbolizing of which we have here to expound, is not only the idea of Christ, but also the idea of the Christian Church, the kingdom of God in Christ. If the resurrection of the Anointed One comes into consideration in the first respect, so in the latter does the consummation of the kingdom of grace, after its last affliction, into the kingdom of glory; comp. Rev 21:22. The one is as eschatological in the wider, that is, christological in the narrower sense, as the other is eschatological in the narrower, or christological in the wider sense. By the translating of our passage into the higher key of Johns Apocalypse, the relation of Ezekiel 40 sq. to Ezekiel 38, 39 must be so much the more evident. Comp. Doct. Reflec. on xxxviii. and xxxix. We refer, finally, to what has been said in the Introduction, 7, that Jehovahs building in Ezekiel here (still more in its already actual reality for the seer, so that what already existed had only to be measured to him) forms the architectonic antithesis to the buildings of Nebuchadnezzar. As the figure of Gog with his people may have presented itself to our prophet through means of Babylon (comp. Doct. Reflec. on Ezekiel 38 39, p. 375), so from that same quarter may have been derived the representation given of the kingdom of God in its victorious opposition to the world. Hitzig, too (as we now first see when treating of the closing chapters), supposes that there probably flitted before the eyes of the author living in Chaldea, when describing his quadrangle, the capital of the country and the temple of Belus,the former, like the latter, forming a square, with streets intersecting one another at right angles. Umbreit says of the vision of Ezekiel as a whole: It is a great thought, which presents itself unadorned to our view in the prophetico-symbolic temple: God henceforth dwells in perfect peace, revealing Himself in the unbounded fulness of His glory, which is returning to Jerusalem, in the purest and most blissful unison with His sanctified people, making Himself known in the living word of progressive, saving, and sanctifying redemption. Everything is placed upon the ample circuit of the temple, whose extended courts receive all people, and through whose high and open gates the King of Glory is to enter in (Psa 24:7; Psa 24:9), and then upon the order and harmony of the divine habitation, the well-proportioned building (Eze 42:10); and the revelations of the holiest are stored up in the pure, deep water of His word, which in life-giving streams issues from the temple. The stone tables of the law are consumed (?), and the fresh and free fountain of eternal truth streams forth from the temple of the Spirit, quickening and vivifying in land and sea, awakening by its creative and fructifying power a new and mighty race on earth. And thus hast thou, much misjudged yet lofty seer, in the unconscious depth of thy mysteriously flowing language, set up upon the great, undistinguishing (comp. Jer 31:34), well-proportioned, and beautifully compacted building, a type of the simple yet lofty temple of Christ, from which flows the spiritual fountain of life ! From this Messianic view of the section we have to reject (4) the chiliastic-literal view, according to which Ezekiel describes what may be called either the Jewish temple of the future, or the Jewish future of the Christian Church. It is interesting to observe what kind of spirits meet together here in the flesh; e.g. Baumgarten and Auberlen, Hofmann and Volck (who acts as champion for him, and that partly with striking power of demonstration against Kliefoth), are combined here only in general because they make the community of God at our Lords Parousia to be an Israelite one. Comp. moreover, p. 357 and 10 of the Introduction. Auberlen (Daniel and the Revelation of John, p. 348 sq., Clarks tr.) expresses the apocalyptic phantasm as follows: Israel brought back to his own land becomes the people of God in a far higher and more inward sense than before, etc.; a new period of revelation begins, the Spirit of God is richly poured forth, and a fulness of gracious gifts is conferred, such as the apostolic Church possessed typically (!). (One can hardly go farther in the delusion of deeper knowledge of Scripture than to make primitive and original Christianity a type of Judaism!) But this rich spirit-imparted life finds its completed representation in a priestly as well as in a kingly manner. That which in the ages of the Old Covenant obtained only outwardly in the letter, and that which conversely in the age of the Church withdrew itself into inward, hidden spirituality, will then in a pneumatic (!) manner assume also an outward appearance and form. In the Old Covenant the whole national life of Israel in its various manifestationshousehold and state, labour and art, literature and culturewas determined by religion, but only in an external legal manner; the Church, again, has to insist above all on a renewal of the heart, and must leave those outward forms of life free, enjoining it on the conscience of each individual to glorify Christ in these relations also; but in the millennial kingdom all these spheres of life will be truly Christianized from within outwardly. Thus looked at, it will no longer be offensive (?) to say that the Mosaic ceremonial law corresponds to the priesthood of Israel, and the civil law to its kingship. The Gentile Church could adopt only the moral law; so certainly the sole means of influence assigned to her is that which works inwardly,the preaching of the word, the exercise of the prophetic office.
(The Romish Church, however, has known how to serve itself heir satis superque to the Jewish ceremonial law!) But when once the priesthood and the kingship arise again, then alsowithout prejudice to the principles laid down in the Epistle to the Hebrews (?)the ceremonial and civil law of Moses will unfold its spiritual depths in the cultus and the constitution of the millennial kingdom (Mat 5:17-19). The present is still the time of preaching, but then the time of the liturgy shall have come, which presupposes a congregation consisting solely of converted people, etc. etc. When Hengstenberg calls such interpretation altogether unhappy, that is the least that one can say about it; but even that could not have been said if Ezekiels descriptions really had the Utopian character which Hengstenberg attributes to them. He, however, justly animadverts upon the incongruity of expecting the restoration of the temple, the Old Testament festivals, the bloody sacrifices (!!), and the priesthood of the sons of Zadok, within the bounds of the New Covenant. Comp. Keil, p. 500 sq., who, both from the prophetic parts of the Old Testament and from the New, refutes at length the notion of a transformation of Canaan before the last judgment, and a kingdom of glory at Jerusalem before the end of the world. (Auberlen, who looks on the first resurrection as a bodily coming forth of the whole community of believers from their hitherto invisibility with Christ in heaven, makes the now transformed Church again return thither with Christ, and the saints rule from heaven over the earth; and from this he concludes that the intercourse between the world above and the world below will then be more active and free, etc. Hofmanns transference of the glorified Church to earth, and his further connecting therewith the national regeneration of Israel, Auberlen declares to be incompatible with the whole of Old Testament prophecy, to say nothing of its internal improbability.)
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON Ezekiel 40-46
[Dr. Fairbairns classification of the views which have been held of Ezekiels closing vision generally, and in particular of the description contained in it respecting the temple, is as follows: 1. The historico-literal view, which takes all as a prosaic description of what had existed in the times immediately before the captivity, in connection with the temple which is usually called Solomons. 2. The historico-ideal view, that the pattern exhibited to Ezekiel differed materially from anything that previously existed, and presented for the first time what should have been after the return from the captivity, though, from the remissness and corruption of the people, it never was properly realized. 3. The Jewish-carnal view, held by certain Jewish writers, who maintain that Ezekiels description was actually followed, although in a necessarily imperfect manner, by the children of the captivity, and afterwards by Herod; but that it waits to be properly accomplished by the Messiah, who, when He appears, shall cause the temple to be reared precisely as here described, and carry out all the other subordinate arrangements,a view which, strangely enough, is in substance held also by certain parties in the Christian Church, who expect the vision to receive a complete and literal fulfilment at the period of Christs second coming. 4. The Christian-spiritual or typical view, according to which the whole representation was not intended to find either in Jewish or Christian times an express and formal realization, but was a grand, complicated symbol of the good God had in reserve for His Church, especially under the coming dispensation of the gospel. From the Fathers downwards this has been the prevailing view in the Christian Church. The greater part have held it, to the exclusion of every other; in particular, among the Reformers and their successors, Luther, Calvin, Capellus, Cocceius, Pfeiffer, followed by the majority of evangelical divines of our own country.
To this fourth and last view Dr. Fairbairn himself strenuously adheres, expounding, illustrating, and defending it at considerable length, and with marked ability and success. We give his remarks in a somewhat condensed form.
1. First of all, it is to be borne in mind that the description purports to be a vision,a scheme of things exhibited to the mental eye of the prophet in the visions of God. This alone marks it to be of an ideal character, as contradistinguished from anything that ever had been, or ever was to be found in actual existence after the precise form given to it in the description. Such we have uniformly seen to be the character of the earlier visions imparted to the prophet. The things described in chap, 13 and 811, which were seen by him in the visions of God, were all of this nature. They presented a vivid picture of what either then actually existed or was soon to take place, but in a form quite different from the external reality. Not the very image or the formal appearance of things was given, but rather a compressed delineation of their inward being and substance. And such, too, was found to be the case with other portions, which are of an entirely similar nature, though not expressly designated visions; such, for example, as Ezekiel 4, 12, 21, all containing delineations and precepts, as if speaking of what was to be done and transacted in real life, and yet it is necessary to understand them as ideal representations, exhibiting the character, but not the precise form and lineaments, of the coming transactions. Never at any period of His Church has God given laws and ordinances to it simply by vision; and when Moses was commissioned to give such in the wilderness, his authority to do so was formally based on the ground of his office being different from the ordinarily prophetical, and of his instructions being communicated otherwise than by vision (Num 12:6). So that to speak by way of vision, and at the same time in the form of precept, as if enjoining laws and ordinances materially differing from those of Moses, was itself a palpable and incontrovertible proof of the ideal character of the revelation. It was a distinct testimony that Ezekiel was no new lawgiver coming to modify or supplant what had been written by him with whom God spake face to face upon the mount.
2. What has been said respecting the form of the prophets communication, is confirmed by the substance of itas there is much in this that seems obviously designed to force on us the conviction of its ideal character. There are things in the description which, taken literally, are in the highest degree improbable, and even involve natural impossibilities. Thus, for example, according to the most exact modes of computation, the prophets measurements give for the outer wall of the temple a square of an English mile and about a seventh on each side, and for the whole city [i.e. including the oblation of holy ground for the prince, the priests, and the Levites] a space of between three and four thousand square miles. Now there is no reason to suppose that the boundaries of the ancient city exceeded two miles and a half in circumference (see Robinsons Researches, vol. i.), while here the circumference of the wall of the temple is nearly twice as much. And then, taking the land of Canaan at the largest, as including all that Israel ever possessed on both sides of the Jordan, it amounted only to somewhere between ten and eleven thousand square miles. Surely the allotment of a portion nearly equal to one-half of the whole for the prince, the priests, and Levites is a manifest proof of the ideal character of the representation; the more especially, when we consider that that sacred portion is laid off in a regular square, with the temple on Mount Zion in the centre. The measurements of the prophet were made to involve a literal incongruity, as did also the literal extravagances of the vision in chap. 38, 39, that men might be forced to look for something else than a literal accomplishment.
3. Some, perhaps, may be disposed to imagine that, as they expect certain physical changes to be effected upon the land before the prophecy can be carried into fulfilment, these may be adjusted in such a manner as to admit of the prophets measurements being literally applied. It is impossible, however, to admit such a supposition. For the boundaries of the land itself are given, not new boundaries of the prophets own, but those originally laid down by Moses. And as the measurements of the temple and city are out of all proportion to these, no alterations can be made on the physical condition of the country that could bring the one into proper agreement with the other. Then there are other things in the description, which, if they could not of themselves so conclusively prove the impossibility of a literal sense as the consideration arising from the measurements, lend great force to this consideration, and, on any other supposition than their being parts of an ideal representation, must wear an improbable and fanciful aspect. Of this kind is the distribution of the remainder of the land in equal portions among the twelve tribes, in parallel sections, running straight across from east to west, without any respect to the particular circumstances of each, or their relative numbers. More especially, the assignment of five of these parallel sections to the south of the city, which, after making allowance for the sacred portion, would leave at the farthest a breadth of only three or four miles a piece! Of the same kind also is the supposed separate existence of the twelve tribes, which now, at least, can scarcely be regarded otherwise than a natural impossibility, since it is an ascertained fact that such separate tribeships no longer exist; the course of Providence has been ordered so as to destroy them; and once destroyed, they cannot possibly be reproduced. Of the same kind, farther, is the very high mountain on which the vision of the temple was presented to the eye of the prophet; for as this unquestionably refers to the old site of the temple, the little eminence on which it stood could only be designated thus in a moral or ideal, and not in a literal sense. Finally, of the same kind is the account given of the stream issuing from the eastern threshold of the temple, and flowing into the Dead Sea, which, both for the rapidity of its increase and for the quality of its waters, is unlike anything that ever was known in Judea, or in any other region of the world. Putting all together, it seems as if the prophet had taken every possible precaution, by the general character of the delineation, to debar the expectation of a literal fulfilment; and I should despair of being able in any case to draw the line of demarcation between the ideal and the literal, if the circumstances now mentioned did not warrant us in looking for something else than a fulfilment according to the letter of the vision.
4. Yet there is the farther consideration to be mentioned, viz. that the vision of the prophet, as it must, if understood literally, imply the ultimate restoration of the ceremonials of Judaism, so it inevitably places the prophet in direct contradiction to the writers of the New Testament. The entire and total cessation of the peculiarities of Jewish worship is as plainly taught by our Lord and His apostles as language could do it, and on grounds which are not of temporary, but of permanent validity and force. The word of Christ to the woman of Samaria: Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father, is alone conclusive of the matter; for if it means anything worthy of so solemn an asseveration, it indicates that Jerusalem was presently to lose its distinctive character, and a mode of worship to be introduced capable of being celebrated in any other place as well as there. But when we find the apostles afterwards contending for the cessation of the Jewish ritual, because suited only to a church in bondage to the elements of the world, and consisting of what were comparatively but weak and beggarly elements; and when, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we also find the disannulling of the Old Covenant, with its Aaronic priesthood and carnal ordinances, argued at length, and especially because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof, that is, its own inherent imperfections, we must certainly hold, either that the shadowy services of Judaism are finally and for ever gone, or that these sacred writers very much misrepresented their Masters mind regarding them. No intelligent and sincere Christian can adopt the latter alternative; he ought, therefore, to rest in the former. And he will do so, in the rational persuasion, that as in the wise administration of God there must ever be a conformity in the condition of men to the laws and ordinances under which they are placed, so the carnal institutions, which were adapted to the Churchs pupilage, can never, in the nature of things, be in proper correspondence with her state of manhood, perfection, and millennial glory. To regard the prophet here as exhibiting a prospect founded on such an unnatural conjunction, is to ascribe to him the foolish part of seeking to have the new wine of the kingdom put back into the old bottles again, and while occupying himself with the highest hopes of the Church, treating her only to a showy spectacle of carnal superficialities. We have far too high ideas of the spiritual insight and calling of an Old Testament prophet, to believe that it was possible for him to act so unseemly a part, or contemplate a state of things so utterly anomalous. And we are perfectly justified by the explicit statement of Scripture in saying, that a temple with sacrifices now would be the most daring denial of the all-sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, and of the efficacy of the blood of His atonement. He who sacrificed before, confessed the Messiah; he who should sacrifice now, would most solemnly and sacrilegiously deny Him.1
5. Holding the description, then, in this last vision to be conclusively of an ideal character, we advance a step farther, and affirm that the idealism here is precisely of the same kind as that which appeared in some of the earlier visions,visions that must necessarily have already passed into fulfilment, and which therefore may justly be regarded as furnishing a key to the right understanding of the one before us. The leading characteristic of those earlier visions, which coincide in nature with this, we have found to be the historical cast of their idealism. The representation of things to come is thrown into the mould of something similar in the past, and presented as simply a reproduction of the old, or a returning back again of what is past, only with such diversities as might be necessary to adapt it to the altered circumstances contemplated; while still the thing meant was, not that the outward form, but that the essential nature of the past should revive. In this connection, Dr. Fairbairn refers to the vision of the iniquity-bearing in Ezekiel 4; to the sojourn in the wilderness spoken of in Ezekiel 20; to the ideal representation given of the king of Tyre in Eze 28:11-19; and to the prediction of Egypts humiliation in Eze 29:1-16. Now in all these cases, he goes on to remark, of an apparent, we should entirely err if we looked for an actual repetition of the past. It is the nature of the transactions and events, not their precise form or external conditions, that is unfolded to our view. The representation is of an ideal kind, and the history of the past merely supplies the mould into which it is cast. The spiritual eye of the prophet discerned the old, as to its real character, becoming alive again in the new. He saw substantially the same procedure followed again, and the unchangeable Jehovah must display the uniformity of His character and dealings by visiting it with substantially the same treatment. If, now, we bring the light furnished by those earlier revelations of the prophet, in respect to which we can compare the prediction with the fulfilment, so as to read by its help, and according to its instruction, the vision before us, we shall only be giving the prophet the benefit of the common rule, of interpreting a writer by a special respect to his own peculiar method, and explaining the more obscure by the more intelligible parts of his writings. In all the other cases referred to, where his representation takes the form of a revival of the past, we see it is the spirit and not the letter of the representation that is mainly to be regarded; and why should we expect it to be otherwise here? In this remarkable vision we have the old produced again, in respect to what was most excellent and glorious in Israels past condition,its temple, with every necessary accompaniment of sacredness and attractionthe symbol of the divine presence withinthe ministrations and ordinances proceeding in due order withoutthe prince and the priesthoodeverything, in short, required to constitute the beau-ideal of a sacred commonwealth according to the ancient patterns of things. But, at the same time, there are such changes and alterations superinduced upon the old as sufficiently indicate that something far greater and better than the past was concealed under this antiquated form. Not the coming realities, in their exact nature and glorious fulnessnot even the very image of these things, could the prophet as yet distinctly unfold. While the old dispensation lasted, they must be thrown into the narrow and imperfect shell of its earthly relations. But those who lived under that dispensation might get the liveliest idea they were able to obtain of the brighter future, by simply letting their minds rest on the past, as here modified and shaped anew by the prophet; just as now, the highest notions we can form to ourselves of the state of glory is by conceiving the best of the Churchs present condition refined and elevated to heavenly perfection. Exhibited at the time the vision was, and constructed as it is, one should no more expect to see a visible temple realizing the conditions, and a reoccupied Canaan, after the regular squares and parallelograms of the prophet, than in the case of Tyre to find her monarch literally dwelling in Eden, and, as a cherub, occupying the immediate presence of God, or to behold Israel sent back again to make trial of Egyptian bondage and the troubles of the desert. Whatever might be granted in providence of an outward conformity to the plan of the vision, it should only be regarded as a pledge of the far greater good really contemplated, and a help to faith in waiting for its proper accomplishment.
6. But still, looking to the manifold and minute particulars given in the description, some may be disposed to think it highly improbable that anything short of an exact and literal fulfilment should have been intended. Had it been only a general sketch of a city and temple, as in the 60th chapter of Isaiah, and other portions of prophecy, they could more easily enter into the ideal character of the description, and understand how it might chiefly point to the better things of the gospel dispensation. But with so many exact measurements before them, and such an infinite variety of particulars of all sorts, they cannot conceive how there can be a proper fulfilment without corresponding objective realities. It is precisely here, however, that we are met by another very marked characteristic of our prophet. Above all the prophetical writers, he is distinguished, as we have seen, for his numberless particularisms. What Isaiah depicts in a few bold and graphic strokes, as in the case of Tyre, for example, Ezekiel spreads over a series of chapters, filling up the picture with all manner of details,not only telling us of her singular greatness, but also of every element, far and near, that contributed to produce it, and not only predicting her downfall, but coupling it with every conceivable circumstance that might add to its mortification and completeness. We have seen the same features strikingly exhibited in the prophecy on Egypt, in the description of Jerusalems condition and punishment under the images of the boiling caldron (Ezekiel 24) and the exposed infant (Ezekiel 16), in the vision of the iniquity-bearing (Ezekiel 4), in the typical representation of going into exile (Ezekiel 13), and indeed in all the more important delineations of the prophet, which, even when descriptive of ideal scenes, are characterized by such minute and varied details as to give them the appearance of a most definitely shaped and lifelike reality.
Considering his peculiar manner, it was no more than might have been expected, that when going to present a grand outline of the good in store for Gods Church and people, the picture should be drawn with the fullest detail. If he has done so on similar but less important occasions, he could not fail to do it here, when rising to the very top and climax of all his revelations. For it is pre-eminently by means of the minuteness and completeness of his descriptions that he seeks to impress our minds with a feeling of the divine certainty of the truth disclosed in them, and to give, as it were, weight and body to our apprehensions.
7. In farther support of the view we have given, it may also be asked, whether the feeling against a spiritual understanding of the vision, and a demand for outward scenes and objects literally corresponding to it, does not spring, to a large extent, from false notions regarding the ancient temple and its ministrations and ordinances of worship, as if these possessed an independent value apart from the spiritual truths they symbolically expressed? On the contrary, the temple, with all that belonged to it, was an embodied representation of divine realities. It presented to the eye of the worshippers a manifold and varied instruction respecting the things of Gods kingdom. And it was by what they saw embodied in those visible forms and external transactions that the people were to learn how they should think of God, and act toward Him in the different relations and scenes of lifewhen they were absent from the temple, as well as when they were near and around it. It was an image and emblem of the kingdom of God itself, whether viewed in respect to the temporary dispensation then present, or to the grander development everything was to receive at the advent of Christ. And it was one of the capital errors of the Jews, in all periods of their history, to pay too exclusive a regard to the mere externals of the temple and its worship, without discerning the spiritual truths and principles that lay concealed under them. But such being the case, the necessity for an outward an literal realization of Ezekiels plan obviously alls to the ground. For if all connected with it was ordered and arranged chiefly for its symbolical value at any rate, why might not the description itself be given forth for the edification and comfort of the Church, on account of what it contained of symbolical instruction? Even if the plan had been fitted and designed for being actually reduced to practice, it would still have been principally with a view to its being a mirror in which to see reflected the mind and purposes of God. But if so, why might not the delineation itself be made to serve for such a mirror? In other words, why might not God have spoken to His Church of good things to come by the wise adjustment of a symbolical plan? Let the same rules be applied to the interpretation of Ezekiels visionary temple which, on the express warrant of Scripture, we apply to Solomons literal one, and it will be impossible to show why, so far as the ends of instruction are concerned, the same great purposes might not be served by the simple delineation of the one, as by the actual construction of the other.2
It is also not to be overlooked, in support of this line of reflection, that in other and earlier communications Ezekiel makes much account of the symbolical character of the temple and the things belonging to it. It is as a priest he gives us to understand at the outset, and for the purpose of doing priest-like service for the covenant-people, that he received his prophetical calling, and had visions of God displayed to him (see on Eze 1:1-3). In the series of visions contained in Ezekiel 8-11, the guilt of the people was represented as concentrating itself there, and determining Gods procedure in regard to it. By the divine glory being seen to leave the temple was symbolized the withdrawing of Gods gracious presence from Jerusalem; and by His promising to become for a little a sanctuary to the pious remnant in Chaldea, it was virtually said that the temple, as to its spiritual reality, was going to be transferred thither. This closing vision comes now as the happy counterpart of those earlier ones, giving promise of a complete rectification of preceding evils and disorders. It assured the Church that all should yet be set right again; nay, that greater and better things, should be found in the future than had ever been known in the past,things too great and good to be presented merely under the old symbolical forms; these must be modelled and adjusted anew to adapt them to the higher objects in prospect. Nor is Ezekiel at all singular in this. The other prophets represent the coming future with a reference to the symbolical places and ordinances of the past, adjusting and modifying these to suit their immediate design. Thus Jeremiah says, in Ezekiel 31:3840: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the gate of Hananeel to the corner gate. And the measuring line shall go forth opposite to it still farther over the hill Gareb (the hill of the leprous), and shall compass about to Goath (the place of execution). And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kedron, unto the corner of the horse-gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. That is, there shall be a rebuilt Jerusalem in token of the revival of Gods cause, in consequence of which even the places formerly unclean shall become holiness to the Lord: not only shall the loss be recovered, but also the evil inherent in the past purged out, and the cause of righteousness made completely triumphant. The sublime passage in Isaiah 60 is entirely parallel as to its general import. And in the two last chapters of Revelation we have a quite similar vision to the one before us, employed to set forth the ultimate condition of the redeemed Church. There are differences in the one as compared with the other, precisely as in the vision of Ezekiel there are differences as compared with anything that existed under the Old Covenant. In particular, while the temple forms the very heart and centre of Ezekiels plan, in Johns no temple whatever was to be seen. But in the two descriptions the same truth is symbolized, though in the last it appears in a state of more perfect development than in the other. The temple in Ezekiel, with Gods glory returned to it, bespoke Gods presence among His people to sanctify and bless them; the no-temple in John indicated that such a select spot was no longer needed, that the gracious presence of God was everywhere seen and felt. It is the same truth in both, only in the latter represented, in accordance with the genius of the new dispensation, as less connected with the circumstantials of place and form.
8. It only remains to be stated, that in the interpretation of the vision we must keep carefully in mind the circumstances in which it was given, and look at it, not as from a New, but as from an Old Testament point of view. We must throw ourselves back as far as possible into the position of the prophet himself. We must think of him as having just seen the divine fabric which had been reared in the sacred and civil constitution of Israel dashed in pieces, and apparently become a hopeless wreck. But in strong faith in Jehovahs word, and with divine insight into His future purposes, he sees that that never can perish which carries in its bosom the element of Gods unchangeableness; that the hand of the Spirit will assuredly be applied to raise up the old anew; and not only that, but also that it shall be inspired with fresh life and vigour, enabling it to burst the former limits, and rise into a greatness and perfection and majesty never known or conceived of in the past. He speaks, therefore, chiefly of gospel times, but as one still dwelling under the veil, and uttering the language of legal times. And of the substance of his communication, both as to its general correspondence with the past and its difference in particular parts, we submit the following summary, as given by Hvernick:1. In the gospel times there is to be on the part of Jehovah a solemn occupation anew of His sanctuary, in which the entire fulness of the divine glory shall dwell and manifest itself. At the last there is to rise a new temple, diverse from the old, to be made every way suitable to that grand and lofty intention, and worthy of it; in particular, of vast compass for the new community, and with a holiness stretching over the entire extent of the temple, so that in this respect there should no longer be any distinction between the different parts. Throughout, everything is subjected to the most exact and particular appointments; individual parts, and especially such as had formerly remained indeterminate, obtain now an immediate divine sanction; so that every idea of any kind of arbitrariness must be altogether excluded from this temple. Accordingly, this sanctuary is the thoroughly sufficient, perfect manifestation of God for the salvation of His people (Eze 40:1 to Eze 43:12). 2. From this sanctuary, as from the new centre of all religious life, there gushes forth an unbounded fulness of blessings upon the people, who in consequence attain to a new condition. There come also into being a new glorious worship, a truly acceptable priesthood and theocratical ruler, and equity and righteousness reign among the entire community, who, being purified from all stains, rise indeed to possess the life that is in God (Eze 43:13 to Eze 47:12). 3. To the people who have become renewed by such blessings, the Lord gives the land of promise; Canaan is a second time divided among them, where, in perfect harmony and blessed fellowship, they serve the living God, who abides and manifests Himself among them3 (Eze 47:13-23).Fairbairns Ezekiel, pp. 436450.W. F.]
5. In connection with the wall with which the description begins, mention is forthwith made (Eze 40:5) of the house. This makes clear in the outset what is the principal building, to which all else is subordinate, although the wall is called a building. However large, then, that which the wall comprehends may appear to be,and it is said in 40:2 to be a city-like building,the house is still the kernel. Comp. the measuring from it in 40:7 sq. Hence the symbolized idea is the dwelling of Jehovah as a permanent one, especially when we compare Eze 37:26 sq. As type, the realization of the idea is to be found in the Word become flesh (Joh 1:14), as also the (Joh 4:23) farther shows that the worship in spirit and in truth, and thereby the fulfilling of the worship at Jerusalem, has come with Christ. Salvation ( ) is of the Jews, as our vision also sets forth in an architectonic form; they worship what they know. But as the law was given by Moses, so grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The original influence of the sanctuary on the first constituting of Israel as a people through the making of a divine covenant is still held by in Eze 37:26 sq. (Yes, Israel is Jehovahs family, His house, , Joh 1:11; Jehovahs covenant with Israel is a marriage-covenant, Ezekiel 16.) The visibility of Jehovahs dwelling, even in the vision here, although spiritual, must be looked on as a pledge of the entire relation of Jehovah to Israel, and especially of the promise of the Messiah. This is the sacramental character of Ezekiels vision of the temple specially insisted on by Hengstenberg. But the temple as the abode of Jehovah is a place of farther revelation, for Jehovah is the Self-revealing One. The very name Jehovah contains a pledge for the whole future of the kingdom of God, the Church of the future. Now this name, as is well known, coincides most essentially and intimately with the destination of this house; Ezekiel repeatedly emphasizes the fact that it is the name of His holiness, just as in connection therewith the sanctification of Israel is again and again expressed. Now, as this expresses also the ultimate aim of all Jehovahs revelation in Israel, we must have got before us in the sanctuary the perspective to the end of Gods way with Israel and mankind in general, the vision of Israel fulfilling its destiny of being Gods tabernacle with men, and the consummation of the world in glory, Revelation 21, 22. But the holiness of Jehovah, the sanctification of Israel, is signified forthwith by the wall round about the house.
6. The significance of the wall, however, comes first info consideration in respect to the court of the people, so that in special the sanctification of Israel as the end and object of Jehovahs dwelling in their midst is before all thus symbolically expressed. If the house is the central point of the whole, still the court completes the idea of the house; as we have the temple in its entirety, as it was meant to be, only when it has the two courts conjoined with it. The reference to the city, and farther to the whole land, which undoubtedly was always contained in the idea of the court, is moreover expressly given shape to in Ezekiel (comp. Ezekiel 48). The court here represents the Israel in the widest extent that appears before Jehovah, as it lives in the light of His countenance and of intercourse with Him; that is to say, it refers to the idea proper of a holy people. When, accordingly, the visionary-prophetic description in Ezekiel exhibits a striking difference from the brevity, incompleteness, and indefiniteness of the historical account in the books of Kings and Chronicles, this indicates, as respects the idea, another Israel than the people had hitherto been. Hvernick remarks on the wide compass, in order to contain the new community, and the sanctuary extending itself on all sides of the temple indiscriminately, that which was formerly undefined is now, as he says, to receive a higher, a divine sanction. Bhr, speaking of Solomons temple, says that the almost total indefiniteness of its court is owing to its human character in contrast to the idea and purpose of the house, and that even the court of the tabernacle, although measured and defined more exactly than that of the temple, shows numbers and measurements which indicate imperfection and incompleteness. This latter statement might possibly give a hint as to Ezekiels description of the courts of the temple, which is, on the contrary, so exact and detailed, and would at least be plainer than what Bhr says of the human as not divine, etc., while yet he must concede to the court a mediate divineness. Israel in the wilderness might, as Jehovahs host, as the people under His most special guidance, still in some measure stamp this relation on the court of the tabernacle. In Solomons temple, on the contrary, the self-development, left more to the freedom of the people, especially as they now had kings like other nations, and when their position under Solomon was so influential, would be expressed in the characteristic indefiniteness of the peoples part in the sanctuary. But the Israel of the future, Ezekiel in fine would say, will be exactly and distinctly Jehovahs possession. Hvernick (and Bhr too) cites for the conformation of the court, shaping itself according to the need of the people and the times, its well-known division by Solomon into two courts. After referring to 2Ch 20:5, and the various annexes, the cells, and the frequent defilement of this locality (2Ki 23:11-12), he concludes thus: The treading of the courts (Isa 1:12) has now come to an end; the repentant people are ashamed of their sins, and draw near to their God in a new spirit, Eze 43:10. The new condition of the courts is a figure, an expression of the new condition of the community. (Comp. Zec 3:7; Rev 11:2.) Thus in Ezekiels symbolism the new garnishing of the courts comes to view as the quickening anew, the glorious restoration of the community of Israel. [Comp. additional note on p. 388.W. F.]
7. But the description in our vision begins with the gates, dwelling specially on the east gate. For the copiousness with which the gates are described, comp. Eze 43:11; Eze 48:31 sq. Hvernick, against Bttcher, dwells on their significance (p. 641 sq.); makes them since Solomon have acquired under his successors the disturbing character of the incidental; remarks that the law says nothing definitely regarding them; points out the profane use to which they were put (Jer 20:2); and maintains that, on the contrary, the prophet assigns to them a definite relation to the whole of the building, so that they are thoroughly in conformity with the idea of the building. But the contrast to Ezekiel 8 and those that follow is to be very specially observed. Brought to the gates of the temple, the prophet had been witness of the idol-worship prevalent there. And he had seen the Shechinah departing out of the east gate. To this we have now a beautiful and complete contrast. Henceforth Jehovah will no longer see the holy passages in and out so contemptuously desecrated and defiled (Eze 43:7 sq.); on the contrary, the holy bands that keep the feast and offer sacrifice shall go in and out with the prince of the people in their midst (Eze 46:8 sq.; comp. Rev 21:25 sq.). But above all, the glory of Jehovah shall enter in by the east gate (Eze 43:1 sq.). Hence this gate is the pattern for all the others, etc.
8. From the relation on the whole to the temple of Solomon, Bunsen thinks that in general the old temple was the model; only, on the one hand, the disposition of the parts was simpler and less showy, and on the other, an effort was exhibited to attain to symmetry in the proportions and regularity in general. While Tholuck and others remark on the colossal size in different respects, as indicating the pre-eminence of the future community, Hengstenberg finds throughout always very moderate dimensions. Unmistakeably there is a reference throughout to the temple which Ezekiel had seen with his own eyes; this explains the brevity and incompleteness partially attaching to the description, although in respect to the sanctuary proper this peculiarity of Ezekiel, who is otherwise so pictorial, demands some farther explanation. That the knowledge of the temple, whenever it could be supposed, is supposed in our vision (comp. on Ezekiel 41), especially when what was seen presented itself, as it were, in short-hand to the prophet, is only what we should naturally expect. But it corresponded also to the typology of Solomon and the glorious age of Solomon, which had entered so deeply into the consciousness of Israel, and was so popular, when Solomons temple forms the foil for the still future revelation of glory and the form it assumes. Ezekiels vision presupposes, indeed, that which it passes over in silence, but certainly not always that which it suppresses, as having to be supplied from the days of Solomon. A supposition of this kind is least of all permissible for the metallic ornaments, of which nothing whatever is said in passages in which, on the contrary, e.g. Eze 41:22, what is made of wood is particularly mentioned, or when explanations are made, such, for example, as: This is the table which is before Jehovah. The old is presupposed, and also something new and different is inserted in the old when not put in its place. What Hvernick observes generally regarding the use made of the sacred symbols of the Old Testament and the allusions to the law by our prophet, may be applied to the way in which reference is made to Solomons temple and the knowledge of it supposed: He lives therein with his whole soul, but by the Spirit of God he is led beyond the merely legal consciousness, he rises superior to the legal symbolism, etc. In the prophetic description in the chapters before us, we can perceive a struggle as of a dawning day with the clouds of morning; and if something testifies to the derivation of our vision from a higher source than a fancy, however pious, would be, we may take that something to be the sudden advent of peculiar and quite unexpected lights, which have in them at least something strange and surprising in the case of Ezekiel, who was not only familiar with ancestral tenets and priestly tradition, but strongly attached to both. One might sometimes say a less than Solomon is here (Mat 12:42), and yet not be satisfied with Hengstenbergs reference to the troublous times in which temple and city were to be rebuilt, but (as Umbreit beautifully says) will feel constrained to take still more into consideration the worth of the most significant inwardness for the poverty of the immediately succeeding times, in view of the new temple for the new covenant, so that whatever of apparently meagre simplicity attaches to our temple-vision may have to be read according to the rule given in Mat 6:29. Umbreit aptly says: In the interior of the abode of the Holy One of Israel, quite a different appearance indeed is presented from that in Solomons temple, and the splendour of gold and brilliant hues is in vain sought for therein; no special mention is made of the sacred vessels, and only the altar of incense is changed into a table of the Lord, which, instead of all other symbols, simply suggests the purely spiritual impartation of the divine life. The ark of the covenant was destroyed by the fire of God, and our prophet no more than Jeremiah cared to know about a new one being made, as also, indeed, it was actually wanting in the so-called second temple. It is enough that the cherubim resume their place in the sanctuary, and, entering through the open doors, now fill the whole empty house, in which the distinctions of the old temple are very significantly left out; for we no longer see the veils, and the whole temple has become a holy of holies. In the same strain Hvernick says: If Jehovah wills to dwell among a new people, He must do so in a new manner, although in one analogous to the former. It is the same temple, but its precincts have become different, in order to contain a much more numerous people; and all the arrangements and adjustments here testify to the faithfulness and zeal with which the Lord is sought and served. The whole sacred temple area has become a holy of holies; in this temple there is no place for the ark of the covenant (Jer 3:16), instead of which comes the full revelation of the Shechinah. On the one hand, the legal form of worship is retained in every iota, or tacitly supposed; on the other, a new element, as with Eze 41:22, almost exactly what Christendom calls the Lords table, sheds its light over everything previously existing. On the one hand, the numbers and proportions express a magnitude and beauty, a majestic harmony, surpassing both the tent and the temple (Eze 41:1); on the other, there are unmistakeable indications, as respects the , in the simplicity and plainness of the whole and the parts, of an , a , and and here and there even a hint is perceptible of the outward poverty of the Church in the last times. Moreover, as the temple of Ezekiel consolingly presented to those who returned from the exile, approaching the more closely to them as respects its human character, its divinity and spirituality in their temple building, so again it contained a sacred criticism on the splendid edifice erected by Herod 500 years later (of the immensa opulentia of which the Roman Tacitus speaks),a criticism which He who walked in this last temple of Israel, and who was Himself the fulfilling of the temple, completed , and as , .
9. The treatment of the side-building (Eze 41:5 sq.), especially in its connection with the temple-house, and the detailed description, kept now first in due correspondence with the sanctuary, of the building on the gizrah (Eze 41:12 sq.), are worthy of observation, although not so important as Hvernick makes them. With a touch of human nature, Hengstenberg connects the side chambers with Ezekiels dearest youthful reminiscences, reminding us at the same time of Samuel, who, as well as Eli, had even his bedroom in such a side-chamber of the tabernacle. According to Hvernick, Ezekiels description is meant to keep the annexe in fairest proportion to the sanctuary itself, etc.; it is the perfect building, instead of the still defective and imperfect one described in 1 Kings 6. The side-building and the gizrah are evidently distinguished in relation to the temple as addition and contrast. The description, too, given of both, suggests a still farther realization of the temple-idea, as regards priestly service and other modes of showing reverence to God, and also of the in spirit and in truth for this future worship.
10. As to the temple of Ezekiels vision considered sthetically, Bhrs thoughtful analysis (Der sal. Tempel, pp. 7 sq., 269 sq.) is so much the more applicable, as this visionary temple is still more animated and dominated by the religious idea of Israel, which in its futurity is the Messianic idea. The temple before us is in the highest sense of the word music of the future, although only a variation of an old theme. The import of this old theme, Solomons temple and the original tabernacle, will first find full expression in Ezekiels temple, whether its measures and numbers are the old ones or different. We must not employ here the classical criterion of the beautiful; sensuous beauty of form is not to be found here. The adornment of the edifice is limited to cherubim and palms, either together or separate; and of the cherubim it must be granted that, sthetically considered, they are figures the reverse of beautiful. We meet, however, with nothing tasteless or repulsive, like the dog or bird-headed human forms, the green and blue faces of the Egyptian gods, or the many armed idols of the Indian cultus. But what a difference is there between the temple of Ezekiels vision and the fancy edifice, for example, the description of which is to be found in the younger Titurel (strophe 311415, edited by Hahn; comp. Sulp. Boisseree on the description of the temple of the Holy Grail, Munich 1834),the wondrous sanctuary on Mont Salvage, in which the ideal German architecture consecrates its poetic expression under the influence of reminiscences of Rev 21:11 sq.! (The chapel of the Holy Cross at Castle Karlstein, near Prague, presents to this day a partial imitation, and on a reduced scale, of the temple of the Grail.) A large fortress with walls and innumerable towers surrounds the temple of the Grail, like an extensive and dense forest of ebony trees, cypresses, and cedars. Instead of the guard-rooms (Ezekiel 40) and the express charge of the house (Ezekiel 44) of Ezekiel, are the guardians and protectors of the Grail,the templars, a band of spiritual knights of the noblest kind, humble, pure, faithful, chaste men. And whatever of precious stones, imagery, gold, and pearls the poetic fancy was able to imagine, is collected around the shrine of the Holy Grail. In the heathen temple, with its attempts to represent the divine, and especially in the Greek temple, conformably to the innate artistic taste of the Greeks, with such beautiful natural scenery cherishing and demanding this taste, where sky, earth, and sea on every side suggest the divine as also the beautiful, the execution, form, and shape, distribution and arrangement of the parts, as well as all its decorations, correspond to the demands of sthetics; but already in Solomons temple the ethical-religious principle of the covenant, and consequently of the theocratic presence of Jehovah among His people, penetrates and pervades everything else. Thus the tabernacle, and also the whole temple building, culminates in the holy of holies, which contains the ark of the covenant with the tables of the law, and in which the atonement par excellence is completed. A relation like this, then, is served by any form which rather fulfils its office than strives after artistic configuration, and the form has answered its purpose, provided it only is a religiously significant form. Solomons temple, says Bhr, cannot stand as a great work of art before the forum of the sthetic. Human art in general goes along with nature, hence its mainly heathenish, its cosmic (, decoration) character. Jehovah, on the contrary, is holiness, and no necessity of nature of any kind, no nationality as such, no deification of nature, no magic consecration binds Him to Israel, but the freest covenant grace, which has as its aim the sanctification of Israel as His people, with a view to all mankind. That Phnician artists executed the building of Solomons temple (comp. for this the exhaustive critique of Bhr in the work quoted above, p. 250 sq.)although (Krause, die drei ltesten Kunsturkunden der Freimaurer-brderschaft, Dresden 1819) freemasonry makes grand masters after Solomon, who is held to represent the Father (omnipotence), King Hiram as Son (wisdom), and Hiram Abif as Spirit (harmony, beauty)concerns chiefly the technical working in wood and metal. If the artistic execution, thus limited, of the temple decoration bore on it a Phnician character, and the employment of table work coated with silver showed signs of Hither Asia in general, yet the Phnician element, this mundane configuration, would not amount to much more than what the Greek language was, in which the gospel of the New Covenant, as well as that of the Old, came before the world. But a specifically Christian element, the really fundamental element in the first and oldest Christian church architecture, namely, that what is also called (it is true) Gods house is simply an enclosure of the congregation (; , , domus ecclesi), is an approximation to the extension of the outer court in Ezekiel, which extension is quite in unison with the Christological method of our prophet, with the peculiar regard he pays to the people of the Messiah (Introd. 9). Comp. 2Co 6:16; Eph 2:20 sq.; 1Pe 2:4. The Christian community forms in future the house of God, the temple; as also its development, externally and internally, is in the New Testament called edification, building. Voltaire has declared that he could remember in all antiquity no public building, no national temple, so small as Solomons; and J. D. Michaelis held that his house in Gttingen was larger; whereas Hengstenberg ascribes to Solomons temple, inclusive of the courts, an imposing size. The prominence given in Ezekiel to the east gate of the new temple, although the holy of holies still lies towards the west, may remind us of the projecting eastward of Christian church buildings from the earliest age, and especially of the Concha closing them on the east. As the glory of the God of Israel comes from the east (Ezekiel 43), so in the east is the Dayspring from on high (Luk 1:78; the Sun of Righteousness, Mal. 3:20 [4:2]), the Light of the world (Joh 8:12; Isaiah 4), which has brought a new day, the precursor and pledge of the future new morning and day of eternal glory (Rom 13:12; 2Ti 4:8). If the light-concealing stained windows of the Middle Ages are not to be traced back to the parts shut up and covered in Ezekiels temple, still the powerful tendency to elevation upwards, so appropriate to the Gothic style, has at least some support in the pillars (Eze 40:14), and even suggests an (Php 3:20; Col 3:1 sq.).
11. The designation of the temple in Ezekiel 43. as the place of Jehovahs throne, etc., might make us suppose the existence of the ark of the covenant, unless its significance as (to borrow Bhrs words) centre, heart, root, and soul of the whole edifice necessarily demanded an express mention, when, for example, we have in Ezekiel most exact accounts of the altars; comp on Eze 41:22. Solomons temple (1 Kings 8) first became what it was meant to be from the fact that the ark of the covenant came into it. But the post-exile temple had an empty holy of holies, as Tacitus (Hist. v. 9) relates of Pompey, that he by his right as conqueror entered the temple, from which time it became known that no divine image was in it, but only an empty abode, and that there was nothing in the mystery of the Jews. (Comp. Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 5. 5) The most probable supposition is, that the ark of the covenant disappeared at the destruction of Solomons temple, that it was consumed by fire. For the traditions of what became of it are mere myths; e.g. in 2 Maccabees 2, that Jeremiah, among other things, by divine command hid the ark in a cave in Mount Nebo, but when they who had gone with him could not again find the place, he rebuked them, and pointed to the future, when the Lord would again be gracious to His people and reveal i to them, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud would appear as formerly. [The Mishna makes it be hid in a cave under the temple, a statement which the Rabbins endeavour to confirm from 2Ch 35:3. Carpzov supposes the ark included in 2Ch 36:10, and holds that it was restored by Cyrus, Ezr 1:7; a statement which Winer rightly cannot find in that passage, but rather the reverse; while at the same time he is unable to agree with Hitzig, who concludes from Jer 3:16 that the ark of the covenant was no longer in existence even in the days of this prophet. According to the Mishna (Joma v. 2), there had been put in its place an altar-stone rising three fingers above the ground, on which the high priest on the great day of atonement set the censer.] That the symbolical designation of the temple expressed in Ezekiel with reference to the ark of the covenant is simply a legal technical term may be the more readily believed, as in certain respects in contrast thereto, at least in distinction therefrom (although this is strangely denied by Hengst.), the whole precincts of the temple, in consequence of the re-entrance of the glory of Jehovah, became a holy of holies in accordance with the law of this house; comp. on Eze 43:12. W. Neumann expounds Jer 3:16 of the new birth of Israel, when Jehovah will be glorified in the midst of His saints, that these shall no longer celebrate the ark of the covenant. He rejects the opinion of Abendana, who, from 43:17 of the same chapter, inferred that the whole of Jerusalem is to be a holy dwelling-place, and holds to Rashis view, that the entire community will be holy, and that Jehovah will dwell in its midst as if it were the ark of the covenant. For the ark of the covenant as such is a symbolical vessel. As it contains within it the law, which testifies to the covenant (Deu 4:13; Deu 26:17 sq.), so the covenant-people are represented in it, the bearers of the law through worldly life, until the days when it shall be written on the hearts of the saints (Jer 31:31 sq.). The Capporeth represents the transformation of the creature transformed by Israels perfection in the Lord (?), the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, Isa 66:22-23. If this is the thought which lies at the root of the symbolism, then when the ark of the covenant is no longer kept in commemoration, the shadows of the Old Covenant have passed away, all has become new, and the redeemed are the holy seed (Isa 6:13), to whom Jehovahs law has become the law of their life. The eloquent silence in our prophet regarding the ark of the covenant will, moreover, be understood in respect to the man who speaks as Jehovah (comp. on Eze 43:7), that is, in a Messianic-christological sense, notwithstanding that Ezekiels Christology (Introd. 9) has the Messianic people principally in view.
12. Ezekiels vision rests throughout on the law of Moses. Were it otherwise in our chapters, Ezekiel could have been no prophet of Israel, nor the Mosaic law the law of God. This legal character was, moreover, well adapted to put an arrest on a mere fancy portraiture, if not to make it altogether impossible. As to the departure from the law of Moses, which, however, he must concede, Philippson maintains that it is not great, and is limited to the number of victims (? ?). Hengstenberg denies any difference, calling it merely alleged. On the other hand, Hvernick, with whom many agree, speaks of Ezekiels many differences and definitions going beyond the law of the Old Covenant, while at the same time he rejects the idea that the prophet forms the transition to the farther improved system of the Pentateuch (Vatke), and affirms against J. D. Michaelis the unchangeable character of the law of Moses. Hvernick says: These discrepancies rather show with so much the more stringent necessity, that a new condition of things is spoken of in the prophet, in which the old law will continue in glorious transformation, not abrogated, but fulfilled and to be fulfilled, coming into full truth and reality. Bunsen speaks to this effect: Ezekiels design was to make the ritual more spiritual, and to break the tyranny of the high-priesthood. For mention is nowhere made of a high priest, whereas a high-priestly obligation, although slightly relaxed, is laid upon the priests (Eze 44:22). The daily evening sacrifice falls away, and among the yearly feasts we miss Pentecost and the Great Day of Atonement, all which accords with the absence of the high priest and the ark of the covenant; instead of these comes an additional feast of atonement at the beginning of the year (Eze 45:18 sq.), and the amount of the morning sacrifice and the festal sacrifices is enhanced. There is, indeed, much reference to the original law throughout, and it is anew set forth with respect to transgressions and abuses that had crept in, special weight being laid on the precepts concerning clean and unclean (Eze 44:17 sq.; comp. Eze 22:26); but still more does Ezekiel go beyond the law, and gives additional force to its precepts. We must call to mind the position generally of prophecy to the law of Moses. As prophecy is provided for in the law in the proper place (comp. our Comment on Deut. p. 134), namely, when Moses departure demanded it, so its foundation is traced back in Deu 18:16 sq. to Sinai, and thus it is thenceforth comprehended historically in the legislation. But although it thus stands and falls with the law, having by its own account, like all the institutions of Israel, its norm in the law, yet it rejoices in its extraordinary fellowship with God, its divine endowment and inspiration. And this not in order, like the priesthood, to teach after the letter, and to serve in the ceremonial; but the provision made and charge given already on Mount Sinai, as they make the official duty of prophecy to be the representation of Gods holy will against every other will, so they give to it the character of a legitimate as well as legitimatized officiality, which, like Moses, has to serve as the chosen means of intermediation in relation to the will of the Most High Lawgiver revealing itself; the calling is ordained in Israel for the continuity of the divine legislation. This latter qualification of the prophets of Jehovah in Israel afforded a foundation for their deepening of the legal worship, as opposed to hypocrisy and torpid formality, for their spiritual interpretation of the ceremonial; as, in view of their position towards the future, a consideration of the ecclesiastical and civil law in their bearing on the future followed as a matter of course. The idea which for this end dominates Ezekiels closing vision is the holiness of Jehovah, and the corresponding sanctification of Israel, their separation to Jehovah as a possession. It is the root idea which the law expresses and symbolizes in all its forms, whether of morality, worship, or polity. And as it is said already in Exodus 19 : Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, so it is also said in 1 Peter 2 of the Christian community, that they who are lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (comp. 1Pe 2:9). Peter thus makes a New Testament use of the same mode of expression regarding worship, which, carried out in Old Testament form, is Ezekiels representation of Jehovahs service of the future, when Jehovah shall dwell for ever in His people. Comp. Eze 20:40. Ezekiels position, therefore, to the law of Moses is not that of freedom from legal restraints,a position which might be subjective and arbitrary,but what he applies from the law for the illustration of the future, and the way in which he does so, passing by some things, more strongly emphasizing others, or putting them into new shapes, derives its legal justification from the idea of the law as it shall be realized in a true Israel, that is, the Messianic Israel. That the Messiah, who says in John 17 : And for them I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth, remains as a person in the background, is quite in correspondence with Ezekiels Christology (Introd. 9), which, as already said, characterizes the times and the salvation of the Messiah through the Messianic people.
13. The proper significance of the new temple lies in the full revelation of Jehovah in His sanctuary, in the new and living fellowship into which God enters with His people by this His dwelling among them (Hv.). As being a return, which it is in relation to Ezekiel 11, the entrance of the glory of the Eternal has, although with a New Testament application, corresponding to the: (Mat 28:20), also its Apocalyptic significance, as John says before the close of his Revelation (Ezekiel 22): , .
14. If the idea of the court is unquestionably that of the people, whose Messianic perfection as Israel Ezekiel is to behold, then, since everything on the mountain of the vision here is most holy (Eze 43:12), the immediately following detailed description of the altar of burnt-offering and its consecration can only point to the future manifestation of Jehovahs holiness and the sanctification of His peculiar people (1Pe 2:9). What holds good of the altar refers also to the whole court; the blessing of the altar includes in it that of the community. By means of the expiation of the altar, the purpose of the divine love, to see a holy people assembled, is effected. The first act, consequently, in which the significance of the new sanctuary is expressed, is the complete expiation of the people, and its efficacy in this respect far surpasses in extent and glory that of the old sanctuary (Hv.). Accordingly, if they who are sanctified are perfected by the (Heb 10:14), the full and complete offering on Golgotha, then the idea also of this altar of burnt-offering upon the very high mountain must be fulfilled. But as the offering which fulfils is the most personal priestly offering, so the sanctification of the people in Ezekiels typical temple takes place on the altar of burnt-offering in the priests court, which therefore still remains separated from the court of the people, as in Solomons temple, whereas in the tabernacle there was only one court. The symbolical representation of the dominant idea of the sanctification of the people was, from their being represented by the priests, rightly localized in a priests court, which gives it due prominence here, where everything hinges on locality and arrangement. Thus also, as Bhr observes, in the camp of Israel the priestly family in its four main branches encamped close around the sanctuary on its four sides. [Comp. with this section the Additional Note on Eze 43:13-27, p. 410.W. F.]
15. As the shutting of the east gate (Ezekiel 44) for the future puts the key of Ezekiels temple into the hand of Him who, according to the typology of the law and the prediction of the prophets, is the Coming One of Israel, so the princes sitting and eating in the east gate must be taken as throwing light on the Messianic future of the people of the promise. It is very evident that by the prince is not to be understood the high priest of Israel. This interpretation, which was a Maccabean prolepsis, has now been abandoned. Kliefoth, Keil, and Hitzig justly dispute the indefinite sense which Hvernick gives to the , yet they do not sufficiently attend to what may be said in defence of Hvernicks indefiniteness, and which certainly tells against those who make the future theocratic ruler to be one with the King David of Ezekiel 34, 37, because he too is called , as indeed he is also called . They must own, however, that there is a difference between: My servant David shall be king over them, between the one shepherd who is prince for ever, and the here, who comes into consideration qu . Now if this must be granted, then it is only with justice that Hvernick observes that the designation sets before us the original, or, as he calls it, the purely natural constitution of the Israelites (Exo 22:27 [28]), although not so much because the time of the exile had again limited the people to this original constitution, or left them only a poor remainder of it, as because, looking, as in our vision we always should do, at the Messiah and His times, the discrepancy between theocracy and kingly power, which showed itself at the rise of the latter under Samuel, is to be adjusted on the original ground of the peculiarity of Israel. The is the prince of the tribe, as the tribal constitution of Israel put the juridical power and the executive into the hands of the natural superiors, the heads, of families and tribes. And even when in time of need, as in the days of the judges, a dictatorship, the power of one over all others, is had recourse to, it is potestas delegata, and is on both sides considered as nothing else. With a tribal constitution such as the natural constitution of Israel was, the want of an outward centrum unitatis might in itself be painfully felt, and the instituting of one be looked on as a political necessity; but that for Israel the necessity of the time as such should have demanded a permanent institution of the kind, is strikingly refuted by the days of the judges, for the present aid of Jehovah answered to the momentary distress, and raised up the competent helper from out of the tribes of Israel,then when they entreated and wept, the faithfulness of God helped them, and sooner than they supposed all distress was over,just as the former examples of Moses and Joshua showed that in the Israelitish theocracy the right men were not wanting at the right time. Jehovah alone, as on another side the fundamental canon of the priesthood still held up before the people, claimed as His due to be Israels king in political respects also. Originally there could be beside Him no other political sovereign, but merely the institution, in subordination to Him, of the princes of the tribes, and a sort of hegemony of a single tribe. The unity of the religious sentiment, which made the twelve externally separate tribes internally one community, had in earlier times made up for the want of an external centrum unitatis, and the free authority of certain individual representatives of this sentiment was quite in harmony therewith. Hence Jehovah says in 1 Samuel 8 : They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. Thus the demand of the people requesting a king must, having regard to Samuel, who occupied in Israel a position similar to that of Moses, be looked on as a symptom of disease, although the disease was one of development. We may concede to the elders of Israel who come before Samuel, Samuels age, which they urge; and still more, as the occasion of their demand, the evil walk of his sons. We can point to the picture exhibited in the later period of the judges, when everything, even the temporary alliance of individual tribes, appears to be in a state of dissolution; we can along therewith take into account the pride of Ephraim, in whose midst the sanctuary stood, and to whose claims of superiority, even over Judah, all the tribes were more or less compelled to bow. Nay, even in the law (Deu 17:14 sq.), where it refers to the future taking possession of Canaan, the future development of an Israelitish kingdom is taken into view by Jehovah Himself, and the very form foreseen in which the demand came to Samuel: I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me. But although this possible desire of the people, because tolerated, is not expressly blamed, yet neither the self-derived resolution there: when thou sayest: I will, etc., nor the pattern: like all the nations that are about me, is spoken of approvingly; nor can there be behind the emphatic command: thou shalt in any wise set him to be king over thee whom Jehovah thy God shall choose, anything but a presupposed conflict with the kingly authority of Jehovah, against which provision must be made in the very outset. Accordingly, when Jehovah Himself takes into view the earthly kingship for Israel, He does so in a way not very different from what Christ says in Matthew 19 regarding the Mosaic permission of divorce because of Israels hard-heartedness: . But Jehovah is the Physician of Israel, who (Numbers 21) made Moses set the brazen serpent on a pole, as a remedy against the bite of the fiery serpents. That which expresses to the full the sentiment of the people under Samuel is also the undisguised: like all the nations; with this their request before Samuel closes emphatically as its culminating point. Although to Samuel the thing that personally concerned him: that he may judge us, which they gave as their object in the case of the king to be appointed, was displeasing, was in his eyes the bad element in the request, Jehovah first set the matter before him in the light that in His eyes the request for the king () was rather a rejection of His reigning over them, and explained to him the: like all the nations, in the mouth of the elders of the people, by their hereditary disposition: they forsook Me, and served other gods. Kingly power, such as the heathen nations have from early times, is a necessary self-defence of polytheism against its own divisive and centrifugal elements in the realm of politics; it is a socialistic attempt to arrange a life in community, and that is to unite, both to make the internal unity and order strong and powerful externally, and to keep them so. For , from , is derived from: judging, as still attested by the Syrian signification: to advise, and also by the fact that the kingly power in Israel arose from that of the judges: the ruler is he who stands over the opposing parties, over the strife, he who unites; very different from whom is , the tyrant, , the coming to power by the right of the strongest. Thus kingly power is from the first peculiar to heathenism;
and because the boundary between the human and the divine is to the heathen consciousness a fluctuating one, kingship, especially in connection with the idolatrous worship thereof which grew up among the heathen nations, comes to be regarded as the contrast to the theocratic relations of the monotheistic people of Israel. Accordingly, when the people of Jehovah ask a king such as all the nations have (comp. 1Sa 8:20), this indicates that the theocratic consciousness is darkened and weakened in them; and thus a visible king appears necessary to them, because the invisible Ruler has, as it were, disappeared from their view. In times of religious and moral insensibility, inquiries are always directed to the political constitution; not to the state of society, but to the civil arrangements. And when Israel, forgetting the divine national prerogative they had enjoyed since leaving Egypt, placed themselves on a level with the heathen, then they must have looked on themselves with eyes like those of the heathen; it could not but occur to them, that in comparison with heathen monarchy they were, as Ziegler says, a people poorly and weakly organized, visibly only republican, and therefore easy to be overcome by the heathen, whose power was concentrated in monarchy. Thus Israels disease in desiring a monarchy like the nations was, that they had become infected by the political miasma of the polytheistic spirit of the age. For while the first king of Israel, Saul, very soon entered on the path of the heathen, the monarchy which is in accordance with the law of Israel first assumes shape with David, and then chiefly internally, and with Solomon, and then almost entirely externally. This, too, explains the significance of these two types of kings for the Messianic idea. Ziegler calls David: the king among kings. He comprehended thoroughly the office of a king in a theocracy; he was the best mediator between the people and Jehovah. Because he was the servant of Jehovah, he was also the lawful king. Through him the kingdom became the very best means for attaining to the divine purposes. Comp. Doct. Reflec. 14, etc. on Ezekiel 34, and Doct. Reflec. 21 on Ezekiel 37 But already with Davidso that Solomons sinking down from the greatest external kingly glory into the surrounding polytheism, and the after-division of the royal power through its being broken into two kingdoms, only furnish the foil to itthe wider and higher future of Israel was founded in spirit, namely, as this future should be realized in the Messiah. According to the flesh, the Coming One of Israel is the son of David; according to the spirit of Messianic prophecy, David is the historico-personal basis, its personal foundation, a thoroughly prophetic personality; as Ziegler says: Partly inasmuch as he is manifestly a in many phases of his character and life, even in the minute particulars,that, like Christ, he began his official career in his thirtieth year, and that he went weeping over the Kedron, and ascended the Mount of Olives with covered head; but also partly because in his psalms he manifests himself a prophet in the narrower sense of the word, a prophet who by his psalms really adds new elements of revelation to the old, his prophecies entering into the most minute details, his Son is the Spirit of his poetry. If the people were comprehended in Moses as the as to the law, we may say of David that they are gathered together in him as to the theocratic kingdom. Hence these are far-seeing divine thoughts, and bearing special reference to the Messianic salvation which in 1 Samuel 8. Jehovah repeatedly urged upon Samuel, viz. to listen to the voice of the people, although the people will not at all listen to Samuels voice. Not that Israel had, as Ziegler supposes, to be set by the monarchy on a level with he world in order to be preserved in the world,for it was just the monarchy that destroyed its national existence, by drawing it into the politics of the great world,but (and this is the sole object in view in the law regarding the king in Deuteronomy 17) the possible conflict with Jehovahs royal dominion over Israel was guarded against by this, that in the Israelitish monarchy, especially as represented by David personally and by Solomon regally, Jehovah made His Anointed for eternity assume a preparatory shape, that is, filled the heathen-political form of government, which might be and still more might become such a contrast to the true, the theocratic Israel, with that which is the final purpose of Gods dominion over Israel (just as already to the patriarchs kings were promised as their descendants). Accordingly in Deuteronomy also, as the Israelitish kingship rises up as on the foundation of the judgeship, so, parallel therewith, and in connection with the priestly office, the prophetic office rises up as a continuation of the revelation by Moses ( or , Deuteronomy 18), in whom, according to Peter, was the . And not less significantly does the prince in Ezekiel sit and eat in the gate, through which the glory of Jehovah had entered, and which it has Messianically sanctified. With him Israel appears again as what it was, just as the elders of Israel asked from Samuel a king like the nations, to be chief representative of Israel according to its tribal constitution; he who can be styled directly ,4 will be so in Messianic consecration and sanctification, so that Christian kingship might be symbolized. Umbreit observes: Whereas at first every particular tribe had its Nasi, they now are all reunited under a single one. Thus an old name, and yet again new in its signification. From this Umbreit infers a prince clothed with great splendour (?), like another Melchizedek, who may combine well the rights of the state and of the Church in one spirit, etc. etc. Yet surely Hvernick is right in finding indicated here the true and complete harmony of civil and ecclesiastical order in the days of the Messiah. Christ has no vicar; to no one but Himself shall the kingdoms of the world belong; but to pious princes (to princes as they ought to be), to lawful magistrates and lords, pertains a prerogative over the faithful, which again is a duty and a service (Cocc.). Comp. what is said on this point in the exposition of Eze 46:2. [See also Additional Note on p. 417.]
16. In regard to the priests of Ezekiels temple, Hengstenberg thinks the prophet wishes to draw away the view from the dreary present,the priests without prospect of office, the ruins of the priesthood,and, on the contrary, presents to the eye priests in office and honour, in whom the Mosaic ordinances are again in full exercise and authority; and next he wishes to labour for the regeneration of the priesthood. It is only surprising, when in accordance with Hengstenbergs general view of our chapters the fancy is worked on here too by ideas of Mosaic priests, that the idea of the high priest is wanting, that this most powerful impression is disregarded. But as regards the removal of the degradation of the pre-exile priesthood, the mention of Zadok sets forth too prominently for this end just the age of David and Solomon. Ezekiels priests certainly are Mosaic priests, but the Mosaic priests had a people to represent of whom it is said in Exo 19:6 : Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation (at the passover the whole people acted as priests); so that it is certainly Mosaic, although according to the inmost idea of the Mosaic law, when the people of the future are in Ezekiel specially represented by the priests. But it is quite peculiar to Ezekiel, that, in order duly to set forth the sanctification of the people by the lofty holiness of their priests, the high priest appears in certain respects absorbed into the priests, and these are represented in a high-priestly aspect. As the people are dealt with in Eze 44:6 sq. for the bad priests set to keep the charge of Jehovahs holy things (44:8), so the exemplification of priestly instruction of the people given in 44:23 is that of the true priests teaching to discern the difference between the holy and the profane, the unclean and the clean: the high-priestly sanctity of the priests is to serve for a high-priestly sanctification of the people; the high-priestly idea is to become a national reality, just as the aggregate of these Old Testament letters (for which comp. Zechariah 6) is the fulfilling word of the body of Christ as the Church. For the figure of Zadok, the typical high priest, taken from the very specially Messianically-typical age of David and Solomon, corresponds to only such a Messianic prospect. Zadoks sons are called the true priests of the people, just as the true Shepherd of the people (Ezekiel 34, 37) is a descendant of David. And here we have a parallel exactly similar to that of Jeremiah 33, where the continuance of the Levitical priesthood is guaranteed in like manner as the continuance of the race of David, and similarly as to the increase of both,in which respect there shall, according to Isaiah 66, be taken of the Gentiles for priests and for Levites; and so in this way the position of priests among the Gentiles, promised to Israel in Isaiah 61, fulfils itself as a universal priestly position. Hvernick makes a special blessing for the priesthood be connected with the general blessing of the theocracy, inasmuch as not its hitherto meagre (?) form, but the priestly office, as a faithful expression of the idea inherent in it, will be established in perpetuity; and he compares Mal 3:3 : A new priesthood, made anew by the power of the Lord, arises on the soil of the Old Testament priesthood in the new theocracy; just as Ezekiels main concern is the priestly office in general, so also the idea of a really spiritual priesthood comes to light in his writings, etc. When Hengstenberg compares Psalms 24 for the reformation of the priesthood, we observe that the demands on His people, spoken of there from the coming of the Lord of glory, are no specially priestly demands, but are addressed to the whole house of Israel; and the same is really the case with Isaiah 40, which he also cites. The Messianic references of the priesthood of the sons of Zadok, whereby (neither by Zadok personally, nor by Samuel) the prophetic word spoken to Eli (1Sa 2:27 sq.) is fulfilled, is not only maintained by the Fathers, but also by Keil;5 comp. on 1Sa 2:35 sq. The Berleburg Bible observes: As in the person of Solomon the Spirit of prophecy pointed to the true and anointed Solomon, so also in this priest it points to the great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Hengst. remains quite on the ordinary priestly ground; the prospect into the New Testament relations remains completely closed. According to him, the prophet has to do only with what is to be accomplished after brief delay, etc. On the other hand, Umbreit says: The priesthood is quite in accordance with the transformation of the house of God. The old class of mediators between Jehovah and His people, consecrated by descent, has disappeared, and we no more find the high priest than we find the ark of the covenant. Instead of the Levites, who, together with the people, have to bear the guilt of the profanation of the covenant, there have come now only the inwardly worthy, the sons of Zadok, who should fulfil their significant name by maintaining fidelity in this ideal sense; and the supreme enhanced law of the new priesthood is the maintaining of inward purity from every outward stain, etc. Their outward support is the holy gift of Jehovah, so that they can say with the godly man in Psalms 16 : Jehovah is my portion and my cup; my lot has fallen to me in pleasant places (Psa 16:5 sq.). [Comp. Additional Note at pp. 419, 420.]
17. The temple building, with its sacred architecture on the basis of the first tabernacle, as Solomons temple most richly displays it, symbolizes essentially the same as that which in the priesthood of the temple of Ezekiels vision is illustrated liturgically by the ministrations in this temple. For the accomplished dwelling of the Holy One in Israel proclaims His people to be a sanctified, and therefore a holy people. These are the worshippers that the Father desires (John 4), a kingdom of priests, or a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2); just as the prince, representing the people civilly and politically, fulfils his idea in King-Messiah; while the priests, the sons of Zadok, represent them ecclesiastically and spiritually. This is the purpose and constitution of Israel, the people of God. What the temple is in spirit, the representation by the priesthood of the new temple gives in truth, that is, in faithfulness and trueness of life. In the former, everything is most holy; in the latter, all are high-priestly. But in Christ the idea to be represented is realized in so much the more priestly a manner, because we have here the community of the Lord, the , where, in the case of Israel, was the congregation of the people, the , the . We might, moreover, find some difficulty in reconciling the omissions, and also the occasional so pregnant additions and stricter definitions taken from the idea of the law, in the ordinances regarding the priesthood, with what Hengst. maintains, namely, that the aim is, by a few well-chosen strokes, to bring out the thought of the restoration of the Mosaic priesthood in its customs and its rights, while it has been so easy for the exposition (which comp.) to show the prominence given throughout to the priestliness and sanctity of the priests office and the priestly order with reference to the people to be represented. As, moreover, the prince is, in Ezekiel 44, advanced to a privileged relation to the sanctuary (comp. Eze 45:13 sq.), so along with teaching, instruction, especially in holiness ( ) and sanctification ( , Eze 44:23), the settlement of disputes by the judgment of God, the establishing of righteousness (as is perhaps indicated in the name Zadok), is specified in 44:24 among the official duties of the priests. The prince eats in the east gate in the enjoyment of peace; the priests have always to restore peace.
18. As, on the one hand, the burnt-offering is the predominant note in this temple-system of the future, so, on the other, in Ezekiel 45 oblation is said in reference to the whole land. It is the same idea of devotion to Jehovah which is expressed by both,the national life consecrated to the Lord in fellowship with Him (comp. the sacrificial feasts, in the east gate, of the prince of this people), Israels state of grace. The disquisition on the oblation of holiness, etc., preliminary to Ezekiel 47, 48, and for which Eze 44:28 sq. furnishes the occasion, is significant from the very fact of being thus occasioned. For where priests and Levites are taken account of expressly according to their ministry in relation to Jehovah (Ezekiel 45), there the whole house of Israel (45:6), and the prince in particular, with their portions of land, appear in the light of sacred property belonging to Jehovah, and also as His servants, who, while His more peculiar servants, the priests, are to see to holiness and sanctification, have to endeavour after judgment and righteousness. In this way the new nationality dedicated to the Lord (chiefly by the burnt-offering, and symbolized by the oblation) has to exhibit itself in civil, social, and secular life. It is actually a new nationality in relation to land and people; but, considered by itself, and apart from Eze 44:28 sq., it appears to mean the division of the land, and especially the oblation. Spring has come, yea, the fields are now already white for the harvest (John 4). The oblation of holiness announces itself as the commencement of the future harvest. Ewald: The holy portion, which is previously taken from the rest of the land (like the tithes from the fruits of the field), and set apart for its own special purpose, is here very expressively mentioned in the outset, and with manifest reference to the now completed description of the temple (44:2; comp. Eze 42:20); while the prophet evidently hastens more quickly over the portions connected therewith of the common Levites and the city of Jerusalem, in order to come to the portion and duties of the prince, etc.
19. Hvernick says on Ezekiel 45 : After the description of a so newly reviving order of things in church matters, it appears as a matter of course that the land itself must be treated as a new land, and stand in need of a new special division. This division stands in a converse relation to that under Joshua. While at that time the people before all, each particular tribe, receive their portion, and not until afterwards was a fixed seat in the land assigned to Jehovah, here Jehovah first of all receives a holy gift, which is presented to Him. A portion of land is separated for the sanctuary and the priests, and one of equal size for the Levites. The new temple is moreover kept separate by a kind of suburb, in order to point out its special holiness.
20. The design of the Mosaic regulation, according to which priests and Levites, especially the latter, were to dwell dispersed among all the tribes, whereby the curse formerly uttered with respect to Levi by Jacob in his blessing of the patriarchs (Genesis 49) became fulfilled as a blessing for Levi and for all Israel, was to settle the tribe among Israel in accordance with its calling. Bhr says: If the Levites were to preserve the law and word of God, and thereby spread religious knowledge, promote religious life, pronounce judicial decisions in accordance therewith, etc., then it was not only suitable, but necessary, that they should not all dwell in one place, in one district. Their dwelling dispersed reminded them to spread the light of the fear of God and piety among the whole people, to give preference to no tribe, and to neglect none. On this we observe, that it is certainly not to be looked on as an abolition of the Mosaic ordinance that in Ezekiel priests and Levites are all concentrated in one place,the negation of the former would necessarily have to be formally announced,but the fulfilment simply comes in place of the former arrangement, inasmuch as the end proposed by that arrangement and regulation is present with and in the future Church. Hengst. thinks the relation of the priests and Levites to the sanctuary is meant to be made clear by their concentration in its neighbourhood. But already before this the cities of the priests at least were to be found in those tribal districts which lay nearest to the place of worship. The idea from which the grouping of the priests and Levites around the sanctuary has to be understood is rather what Jeremiah predicts: that they shall no more teach every man his brother, etc., that from the least to the greatest they all shall know Jehovah (Jer 31:34). The aim of dividing Levi among all the tribes, viz. to care for, preserve, and spread abroad everywhere the law and the testimony, is thus attained. The people of the future will be such that their liturgical representation and the dwelling of their priests and Levites in the neighbourhood of the temple suffice; and besides, this significantly brings out the thought that Levi, this election from the elect people, is a people of God in the people of God (Bhr). For, what was designed by the appointed cities, in which we already see them collected while they were dispersed among all the tribes, is fully accomplished in the land of the priests and the Levites (Ezekiel 45); and if Bhrs interpretation of the number of the 48 cities of the priests and Levites as referring to the sanctuary (Symb. d. mos. Kult. ii. p. 51) needed confirmation, it might have it here, where what this interpretation makes of Levis dwelling in the midst of Israel is expressly stated of the dwelling-place of the priestly Levites: a holy place for the sanctuary (45:4). Accordingly it is with this diversity as respects the Mosaic law, which Philippson calls the real diversity, exactly as Christ says in Matthew 5.: I am come not to destroy (), but to fulfil, and that: not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law till all be fulfilled.
21. The sanctuary, the land of the priests and Levites, and the princes portion, form almost the centre of the land. The city does not include the sanctuary, but is situated beside it, also in the midst of the land. No jealousy about the possession of them can any longer separate the tribes (Hv.). This whole district, says Bunsen, is not to lie in the territory of a single tribe, which might thereby appear privileged, but, as accords with its sanctity, is separated from the tribal territories. In other words, the union-authority of the confederacy is to have a special seat for manifesting its activity. No wiser political idea could be devised. Hence Jerusalem still remains Jerusalem, but it no longer belongs to Benjamin. The central sanctuary is that which unifies also the tribes of Israel, just as the priesthood, royalty, and public property grouped around it give local expression to the unity and oneness of the whole. Instead of the violence-inflicting and heaven-assailing tower of Babel (Neteler), the tabernacle of Shem has become a divine sanctuary, which then no longer symbolizes solely Jehovahs dwelling in Israel, but is at the same time a type for mankind in general of His tabernacle with men (Rev 21:3), and of their being united to and under Him. Comp. the Doct. Reflec. on Ezekiel 47, 48.
22. Chiliasmand this is conceivable of the Jewish Chiliasm, whereas such a final Judaism cannot but prove injurious to modern Christian Chiliasm (Gal 3:3)forgets, while studying these closing chapters of our prophet, the beginning of his prophecy, the cosmic character of Ezekiel 1, which relates to creation generally, and on which the whole book is based. But indeed if in Romans 11 is the people, i.e. Israel after the flesh, then it is only logically consistent to interpret the requickening in Ezekiel 37 as a bodily resurrection of all dead Jews. Those who are raised become by this fact, or as at one stroke, converted to Christ; those who are alive are Christians already, or will become so in consequence of this; and this whole Israel returns to Palestine, and forms in a transformed state, as it is already marked out for being by this awakening, the focus of the millennial kingdom for fresh salvation to all nations. It is illogical to wish to pick out one piece here, and to understand another merely spiritually; but he who here says A must also say B. Whether the converted Jews are to live in their own land, under kings of the house of David, as a people who are to be preserved and finally also converted, as Kliefoth allows to be the doctrine of Scripture, or whether King David will then return and rule over Israel in glory, is rather an antiquarian than a theological question. Scripture teaches none of these fancies; nor does it speak of a kingdom of glory in the earthly Jerusalem, in which the Gentile Church is to be joined to Israel under the dominion of the then reappeared Christ-Messiah (as Baumgarten). According to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, it has been the destination of Israel, as the people separated from all nations from the time of their first fathers, to be a blessing to mankind. And the more its national theocracy expanded itself to universal Christocracy, which comprehended also the Gentiles under the blessing of the Messiah, the more evidently there becomes exhibited in Israel, with its ecclesiastical and political forms, the preformation of an Israel which wholly is what Israel exhibits only in type,a people of God that comprehends the redeemed, the saints of all mankind; in which accordingly, as to its worship, and as to its nationality in general, traced back to its original idea, and also viewed with respect to its future realization, the whole and (what is specially emphasized) every part always exhibits holiness and sanctification, the service of the holy God in spirit and in truth (Psa 22:28 [Psa 22:27] sq., Psa 47:10 [Psa 47:9], Psa 102:16 [Psa 102:15] sq.; Isa 26:2; Isaiah 51, 60; Luk 1:17; Rom 9:24 sq.; 2Co 6:16; Tit 2:14; 1Pe 2:5 sq., 1Pe 2:9-10, etc.). Nation and nationality are historical and hence perishable colourings of the idea of mankind, which have entirely faded since the eternal idea of Israel has been fulfilled in Christ, in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek (Galatians 3), but man, the new man (Ephesians 2) . What could be fulfilled according to the letterwhich, however, is the expression borne by the spirit of fulfilmenthas been fulfilled in the people of Israel by their rising and revival from the graves of the exile, by their return thenceforth to Canaan under Judah as Jews, by the period of the Maccabees, certainly in historical prelude only to the ideal, the entire, true fulfilment of the spirit-letter in the kingdom of God through Christ; according to which fulfilment the elect people are the people of the elect from all mankind, and the Jewish people now neither exist as a people, nor have a future such as Kliefoth would assign to them, namely, to be holy in the same way that every Christianized nation (!) now is, for (1Th 2:16). For the Church of God in Christ, so far as it belongs to this world, the representation of its spiritual life in a service of atoning sacrifices and cleansings, as here in Ezekiel, can be no antithesis; for still, according to Hebrews 12, the has to be laid aside, and (Jam 3:2) (comp. Eze 45:20). But to Ezekiel no other representation of the future could be given than in types of the sacred past of Israelas of its law, so of the Davidic royalty and of Canaan as the land of promise. But however prominent, observes Keil, is the Old Testament clothing of the Messianic prophecy in Ezekiel, yet even in this guise lineaments are found by which we recognise that the Israelitish-theocratic guise is only the drapery in which is concealed the New Testament form of the kingdom of God; and he very justly refers to 1Pe 1:10 sq., while he farther says: Even although the prophets, in their uninspired meditations on what they had prophesied as moved by the Holy Ghost, may not have known the typical signification of their own utterances, yet we who live in the times of fulfilment, and know not only the beginning in the appearing of our Lord, etc., but a considerable course of the fulfilment too in the eighteen hundred years spread of the kingdom of heaven on earth, have not so much to inquire after what the Old Testament prophets thought in their searching into the prophecies with which they were inspired by the Holy Ghost,if these thoughts of theirs could be in any way ascertained,but we have to inquire, in the light of the present measure of fulfilment (comp. 2Pe 1:19), what the Spirit of Christ, which enabled the prophets to behold and prophesy the future of His kingdom in figures of the Old Testament kingdom of God, has announced and revealed to us by these figures. Apart from the occasional references of Ezekiels representation to paradise, to the first creation (comp. on Eze 36:35; Eze 16:53), to which there is a return in Christ through Gods new creation, the whole handling of the Mosaic law in Ezekiel, of its forms of worship as hieroglyphs of the future to be prophesied of the true Israel, can be understood only from the point of view of a transmutation of the law into its fulfilment.
Footnotes:
[1]Douglas Structure of Prophecy, p. 71.
[2]See the Typology of Scripture, vol. i. Ezekiel 1, 2, for the establishment of the principles referred to regarding the tabernacle: and vol. ii. part iii., for the application of them to particular parts.
[3]Hvernick, Comm. p. 623.
[4]It will each time be a more definite person, but that does not determine who it will be: only this perhaps is implied, that each nation may retain what is natural to it, what accords with its special character and historic development. The Bible dictates neither a church constitution nor a state constitution; but in Ezekiel there is symbolized what in every constitution, in itself human, ought to be the abiding, the higher: the humanly highest one () sits and eats in the east gate of the Highest, of Jehovah.
[5]The final fulfilment comes with Christ and His kingdom; accordingly, the Lords Anointed, before whom the approved priest shall alway walk, is not Solomon, but David and Davids Son, whose kingdom shall endure for ever (Keil).
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Prophet having been in the preceding Chapters introduced into the house of God, is now led to behold the glorious Inhabitant, and Lord of it. A similar appearance, like that Ezekiel had seen at Chebar, is here manifested to him.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
We have a most interesting account in these few verses. Here is the Lord appearing to the Prophet in a similar glory to what we read of Ezekiel’s visions at the first: see Eze 1:26 . Coming from the way of the east, seems to be in allusion to the first rise of all things. Hence Jesus is said to be, the bright and morning star. Rev 22:16 . And the wise men, who came to Jerusalem to enquire after Christ at his birth, was led by the light of a star from the East. Mat 2:2 ; Rev 7:2 . The Prophet’s falling upon his face, is as might be expected. Hiding the face, or falling to the earth, are expressions of great humbleness of soul. Dan 10:8 ; Rev 1:17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 43:2
Mr. Augustus Hare, in Memorials of a Quiet Life, quotes a passage from his mother’s diary, in which, after writing down this verse, she adds: ‘Yes, with the glory of the God of Israel. In itself it was dark and lifeless; but when the glory of the God of Israel arose out of the East, even as the Sun of Righteousness, then the earth reflected His bright shining, and became glorious through His light resting upon it. So have I seen on a bright sunshiny morning at Hurstmonceaux, the line of the sea lit up by the beams of the morning sun, and shining with an almost dazzling brightness in a glory not its own…. There is no holiness, no loveliness in man of himself no, not in regenerate man. His beauty is a beauty wrought in him, and shining over him, through means of the Blessed Fountain of Light.’
References. XLIII. 2. Newman Smith, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. 1894, p. 243. Bishop Welldon, ibid. vol. xlviii. 1895, p. 250.
Eze 43:10-11
‘My very dear brother,’ wrote Samuel Rutherford to a young correspondent, ‘ye are heartily welcome to my world of suffering, and heartily welcome to my Master’s house. God give you much joy of your new Master. If I have been in the house before you, I were not faithful to give the house an ill name, or to speak evil of the Lord of the family; I rather wish God’s Holy Spirit (O Lord, breathe upon me with that Spirit!) to tell you the fashions of the house. One thing I can say, that by our waiting, ye will grow a great man with the Lord of the house.’
‘The great deeds of philosophers,’ says Huxley, ‘have been less the fruit of their intellect than of the direction of that intellect by an eminently religious tone of mind. Truth has yielded itself rather to their patience, their love, their single-heartedness, and their self-denial, than to their logical acumen.’
‘Mere culture of the intellect (and education as usually conducted amounts to little more) is hardly at all operative upon conduct Intellect is not a power, but an instrument not a thing which itself moves and works, but a thing which is moved and worked by forces behind it. To say that men are ruled by reason is as irrational as to say that men are ruled by their eyes. Reason is an eye the eye through which the desires see their way to gratification, and educating it only makes it a better eye gives it a vision more accurate and comprehensive does not at all alter the desires subserved by it. However far-seeing you make it, the passion will still determine the directions in which it shall be turned the objects on which it shall dwell.’
Spencer.
Eze 43:11
The idea of a spiritual society could not unfold itself to them while they were living in a heartless, divided, self-righteous state. They must be humbled before they could feel the possibility of such a society; still more before they could confess it to be real. The hindrance to the discernment of it was not an intellectual one; it was not that they wanted the intuition and the foresight of the Prophet; it was wholly moral.
F. D. Maurice.
Insight, sound, clear vision of the truth, wisdom at once piercing and comprehensive, the noblest and divinest achievements of the reason, demand serenity of soul as their imperative condition. Passion clouds the mental eye; emotion disturbs the organ of discovery; as the astronomer can only rely upon his nicest and loftiest observations when the air is still and the telescope is isolated from all the tremulous movements of terrestrial surroundings, so the thinker can only see justly and penetrate far, when all that could agitate his spirit is buried deep, or put quite away, or laid eternally to rest. The conscience must slumber either in conscious innocence or in recognized forgiveness; the aspirations and desires must be calm, simple, and chastened.
W. Rathbone Greg.
Eze 43:12
The once wealthy captives by the River Chebar were desiring to restore a society in which they should have the full swing of their tastes and appetites, and plenty of slaves to minister to them. And the false priests and false prophets were ready enough to encourage this opinion. They would have the fat of their sacrifices, they would have their obedient troop of female devotees to help them to hunt souls. All should come back again just as it was before; the same vanity, insolence, falsehood, devilry. That would be their mode of reviving a Divine society. But Ezekiel tells them it shall not be so at all.
F. D. Maurice.
Compare Prof. Royce’s satirical description ( The Spirit of Modern Philosophy, p. 446) of a certain other type of mind to which ‘there are no evils in society except competition and poverty, which will both cease so soon as we by chance fall to loving one another, and to owning the property of the nation in common. Crime is not a result of anything deep in human nature; selfishness is a mere incident of a defective social system…. Satan is mainly an invention of false theories of political economy. A single tax system, or a nationalized labour army, would end the sorrows of mankind.’
References. XLIII. 12. H. W. Webb-Peploe, Calls to Holiness, p. 75. W. L. Watkinson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. 1897, p. 49. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii. No. 1618. XLIII. 13. J. Parker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliv. 1893, p. 225; see also vol. liv. 1898, p. 262.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The Altar Measurable and Immeasurable
Eze 43:13
There is nothing held to be insignificant in the Book of God that pertains to the divine altar or the holy house. Everything is of consequence; perhaps it would be more than paradoxical to say that everything is of supreme consequence.
“The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; 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. And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit. So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof” ( Eze 43:13-16 ).
And so the specification runs. “These are the measures of the altar after the cubits.” That is to say, if you look upon the thing geometrically, here it is, so long, so broad, so high, thus, and thus, and no other way. Such is the divine specification; the altar is measurable, it is a question of cubits; make the cubits right, and you make the geometric altar right. Beyond that, the measuring man can do nothing. He can only talk in cubits; he has no other measure but cubits and the varieties thereof. He measures up his work and returns it in arithmetical forms, and so far as he is concerned there is an end of the matter. But when you have given the cubits you have given nothing. Yet we cannot drive this out of people’s minds. They are learned in cubits; they know the length of the temple and the height thereof, and they can quote the specification for the woodwork and the goldwork and all the furnishing; and the worst of it is that, having done so, they think they have been in the temple, and that what they have told you is the temple: whereas they may know all about the cubits and the goldwork, and the cherubim and the seraphim, and the altar and all the order of the ceremonies, and never have been in the temple at all. The altar, as a mechanical structure, is measurable; as a spiritual symbol, it is without measure. There are persons who imagine that if they have read the book called the Bible through, they have read God’s revelation completely. It is the same sophism. There are ingenious men who have written at the very beginning of the English Bible how many chapters there are in Genesis, and how many in Exodus, and how many in the Apocalypse. In the front of most of your Bibles you will find an analysis of chapters; some other Bibles give you an analysis of the number of verses in each book. All this is interesting; it has its ingenious, and, indeed, its useful side: but, coming to realities, it is nothing. All this frivolous information may be familiar to you, and yet you may never have seen God in the book which bears his name. There are men who think if they have told you how far it is from Dan to Beersheba they have been preaching. They have not begun to preach in the name and spirit of Christ. All this is mere secular instruction. We sometimes boast that in the Sunday school there is now no need of secular education. What do we find in Sunday-schools and in Bible-classes that is more than secular instruction? We do not want a map of Palestine except as a momentary convenience; we do not want your waxen and wooden models of the temple except for a moment’s glance: what we want, to be at now is what the Apostle describes in the Hebrews as the altar not made with hands, of which all other altars are dim symbols, poor, wasting, yet in their limits useful, types.
There are what are called ecclesiastical antiquarians. They occupy a respectable position in society. They are often pensive-looking men; they are men of most studious habits. If you wanted to know the meaning of any ecclesiastical term, they would find it for you; they can go back century after century, and tell you the measure of every part, and the colour of every robe, and the significance of every line; and they can press matters down to the centuries of corruption, when all these original meanings were lost or perverted; then they can proceed to the centuries of restoration, and tell you all concerning the reconstruction of matters that had been overthrown, perverted, or neglected. All this they can do without ever praying. A man may build a cathedral and never pray. The workmen that built St. Paul’s or St. Peter’s may have mingled their cement with their blasphemy. Because you build a church you are not therefore pious; because you endow a church you are not therefore a saint; because you go to church you are not therefore good: this is the altar by cubits; this is the geometric story of the altar: and the mischief is that people hearing about all these cubits and colours, all these forms and relationships, call it instructive preaching. Whilst the pulpit is thus dragged down, it cannot live its own royal, spontaneous, divinest life. We want to hear about the Altar of which geometric altars are types. We ought to be above the temple in which we assemble. In itself, it should be little or nothing to us; beyond a momentary convenience, it should be a rough, palpable, almost wearisome incarnation of that Temple that has no form, that Sanctuary of which God is the eternal flame. It is so difficult to bring men out of the elementary and alphabetic.
But we have escaped all these geometrical limitations. Have we? Take care! We must be very careful how we throw stones at ecclesiastical antiquarians the most wan-looking and harmless of men. We also may have our measures and cubits and colours and forms. Beware lest we be deceived, and think ourselves freemen whilst we are in the veriest bondage. There are things in our church which, if they were missing, we should think the whole religious service had been wanting or had been polluted or corrupted. There are some of us who do not know a religious service except we begin at point A and go to point F by a certain stereotyped way. Kept on the highway, we think the service good. We are main-road travellers; we have no wings. We should not know Jesus Christ if he had not the same robe on every time we meet him. We do not know him when we see him in the beggar; we do not recognise the veiled Son of God when we see him and hear him in the crying of a little child. Nay, more, there are some who cannot hear the gospel out of their own surroundings. Whatever happens within their own four walls is right, pleasant, profitable, wholly commendable; but if the selfsame thing were to occur within any other four walls they would not know it These are the victims of the masonic altar, the geometric sanctuary, the brick and stone that should be transformed into poetry and music. We must not therefore ruthlessly condemn other men, even ecclesiastical antiquarians. It is so easy to smile at them. You do not know the exact use of the chasuble, refer to the ecclesiastical antiquarian; you are not sure what the stole meant in the fifteenth century, go to Oxford and consult the ecclesiastical antiquarians. You make light of these instructions. You are just as bad. If you want to know the creed of your own church you have to go to the iron safe and take out the trust-deed and turn it over to see really what is it that you do believe. You are not the men to smile at the ecclesiologist, or the antiquary. You would hardly know a hymn if you found it out of your own hymn-book; you would not know a sermon if it were not preached by your own favourite preacher. To get you out of this is my purpose; to lead you to see that all forms, shapes, colours, arrangements, relations, are significant of something impalpable, unseen, everlasting, that is my sublime, my tremendous theme! If we could retain all these outward forms and cubit measures, and yet rise into their highest meanings, we should develop along the right lines and come to consummations that would be rich in spiritual profitableness. If we could enter into the mystic meaning, the upper, ever-shining meaning of things, what charity there would be amongst men. We should then see restored an ancient order of officers in the Church, namely, the seers, the men of eyesight, the brethren who are up earliest and climb highest, and who telephone us from the mountains that the sun is coming. Let us escape from the letter into the spirit.
Remember in dealing with the altar we are not dealing with a merely geometrical figure. The altar has its finite side, yet it has also its infinite aspect. What does the altar do? Poor, man-built symbol, what dost thou do in the training of God’s Church? The altar looks towards the Unknown. If we might personify the altar, we should think of it as having eyes that wander through eternity. The altar would be saying in its silence, There is another home; this is but a stepping-stone to something higher, this is but the dawn of the coming day, this is but the seedtime the golden harvest is not yet: I look beyond all these white sapphires that make the midnight rich with their jewellery, and I see beyond, and still beyond, God’s unmeasured sanctuary. It ought to be a grand thing to have amongst us an altar that talks thus. We want some sublimating influences. We easily drop into commonplace and vulgarity; we need to have in the air evermore sounds like a great, mighty, rushing wind from heaven, telling us that there is a heaven and there is an eternity. That is what the altar ought to be and ought to do. The altar should speak of things supreme, the altar should give us the right relation and contrast and value of all things round about us. We should test our conduct at the altar; we should assay our gold at the altar; we should try everything by the spirit of the sanctuary. To know the measure of the altar by cubits and not to know the measure of the altar by spiritual influence is learned ignorance, is elevated and exaggerated impertinence. The tabernacle of God is with men upon the earth. Our houses are sanctified by the presence of the holy place. The walls of the sanctuary give security to the city; not its banks and festive chambers, but its sanctuaries are the glory of the town. We do not know what the sanctuary is doing in any city. It may be the humblest place viewed architecturally and geometrically, but seen in its spiritual significance and relationship it may be the poor little despised church or conventicle that is keeping the city out of hell. Do not, therefore, despise anything that has spiritual significance in it. There are no weak churches; there are no poor churches. Do not imagine that any church is standing at your door as a mendicant who cannot do without your support. It should be the proudest honour of your life that you are invited to sustain the outward and visible kingdom of God. Despise, I repeat, nothing that has spiritual significance in it. We cannot tell how far its influence reaches. Little noise it makes; the kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation: when the morning dawns there is no crash of wheels upon the hills; the dawn is glorified silence. What is true of the public sanctuary is true of the home sanctuary; it is your family altar which keeps your house together. It may not be a formal altar, but the spirit of prayer that is in your house makes your bread sweet, and keeps all the windows towards the south, though geometrically they may stand square north. It is the Spirit of God, the altar, the divine genius that makes the house warm in January and glorious in June. Spiritually minded men should seize upon these thoughts, and magnify them, and take heart when they are in moments of depression because only the spiritual worker touches the root. Every other worker brings his waxen apple and ties it to the tree. Summer finds the apple in the root, and brings it to its elevation, its beauty, and its usefulness.
See what other words occur in connection with the term altar. You never find that word alone. Some men could not read this description of the altar. They are too sensitive; there are men so super-refined that they could not read this description of God’s altar. Thou shalt “sprinkle blood thereon…. Thou shalt take of the bullock’s blood, and put it on the four horns of the altar, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.” They would not like to read about blood. Are they refined men? They are the vulgarest men. They do not know what blood means. They judge it by its commonest signification, and by its most revolting suggestion. Blood is life, love, God. We are not going to be driven away from our Calvary by men who think that the word blood has only one, and that the very lowest and meanest, signification. Wherever there is love there is giving of blood; wherever there is a withholding of blood there is no love. There is calculation, there is prudence, there is a selfish regard to limited interests, but if it come not to laying down the life, love has not begun to show its beauty or exert its influence. Nay, more still: according to the Revised Version, this altar is not to be cleansed and purged only; instead of these words we now have words which signify that for the altar itself atoning blood shall be shed. The altar which man has looked at needs to be atoned for because that sinful glance has fallen upon it. The Bible that man has touched with his worldly fingers would seem to require to be atoned for with blood before it can be really approached as to its innermost and tenderest meaning. God is a God of holiness Without holiness no man can see the Lord. Yet we are tempted away from all these holy innermost truths by people who say that they revolt from the word blood, they are shocked by the term blood; they cannot bear it, they hate it, they detest it. So they may, because they do not understand its significance. Without it the Bible would be an empty book; without it the Bible would be a forsaken sanctuary: with it, in all its sublimest meanings, the Bible is unlike all other books, unique in its individuality, unapproachable in its sublimity. If the altar needed cleansing or atoning for by blood, so do the priests; so does every minister of Christ. O poor soul, minister of the Saviour, thou dost need washing; the chrism of blood must be thine own deepest experience; unless thou hast been cleansed with blood thy lips cannot pronounce the message of the gospel, God is love. No man is love who withholds his blood. God is not love if he has not emptied his heart on the Cross. This is our faith. It presents to us an aspect of depth, grandeur, moral influence that nothing else has ever presented to our judgment, or our conscience, or our imagination. Beware of that insensate sensitiveness which cannot pronounce the word “blood” in its religious and spiritual signification. Do not imagine yourselves refined and sensitive because you can talk about the example of Christ but not about the blood of Christ. You can debase any word; you can pronounce the word “music” so as to take all melody and all harmony and rhythm out of it; you can pronounce the word “gospel” so that it shall be but a common word of two syllables; you can shrink from anything: but you can so pronounce music and blood and Cross and Christ as to give those who hear you to feel that you have caught some inner and upper meaning which had hitherto escaped your own attention.
This cleansing, this atoning for the altar, these burnt-offerings, these sin-offerings, these peace-offerings what will come out of it all? In the twenty-seventh verse we have the answer: Do all this, “and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.” Acceptance comes out of it all. We are accepted in the Beloved. Consider the meaning of the word “accepted” so rich in spiritual suggestiveness, so tender in spiritual pathos. “I will accept you”; I will take you into my heart, my home, my hope, my love I will accept you: the past as a simple record shall be forgotten, your transgressions I will take and cast them behind me who can find out the place that is behind the Infinite? As far as the east is from the west that always unmeasured line so far will I remove your transgressions from me.
Then how do we stand in this matter? You are Bible readers, are you students of revelation? You can quote all the dimensions of the altar, have you ever entered into its spirit? You know the meaning of every ecclesiastical garb and every ecclesiastical attitude, have you ever prayed the publican’s prayer and brought cleansing heaven down into your heart? If not, you are still in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity, whatever church you attend, whatever orthodoxy you deprave by your patronage. Then we must not rest in instruction; we must go from the altar to the spirit, from the altar of cubits to the altar of infinity; we must go from the altar itself to the thing that is signified by the altar. Have you been baptised by water? Did your mother bring you to the font, and did some loving father-pastor drop the dew upon your face and call you by your name in association with the Trinity? Unless you are baptised with fire, that baptism will stand you in no good stead. Were you baptised in the river, immersed, and did some holy man of God raise you from the water and proclaim you a member of the Church? Unless you are baptised with fire, with the Holy Ghost, that immersion will be an argument against your going into heaven at all. Were you taught to read the Bible, taught by your father, mother, teacher, pastor? and have you read all the sweet syllables of the Bible? If you can answer Yes, I will follow your admission with another inquiry Has the Spirit of revelation entered into your hearts? does it rule your lives? does it give vitality to your conscience? does it enlarge the sphere of your authority? If you say No, then the Lord will say, Thou wicked and slothful servant, out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee! thou hast read the letter, but not the word; the book, but not the revelation; thou hast heard all the syllables, but thou hast not transfused and elevated them into the music of a beautiful life. How stands this matter? Let every man answer for himself. I am afraid of the pedant. He has no business in the Church. I am ashamed of the antiquarian that he should know the merely and temporarily old, and not the eternity that preceded all time. I am afraid of the man who measures the prayer in words and in lines and in printer’s ink, and does not measure it by its yearning, its love, its passion. We are called to spirituality, not to carnality; to profoundest wisdom, not mere literal information; to an altar not made with hands, and not merely and exclusively to the altar built even upon the terms of a divine specification. Holy Spirit, baptise us as with fire! Spirit of the altar, teach us how to suffer, how to pray! And, O thou Spirit of the Cross, atone for us every morning, every night! Amen.
Prayer
Father in heaven, we come to thee in a spirit of triumph. Our victory is assured in Christ Jesus the Lord. Thou art against all evil, thou art for all good. If God be for us, who can be against us? If we are in Christ Jesus our Saviour, our dying, atoning, risen, triumphant Lord, who shall lay anything to our charge or overturn the foundations of our hope? God is for all that is good and beautiful and true; may we also follow things that are lovely and honest and of good report then shall we be found on the side of the majority, for God is with us. Take away all our love from things that are unworthy, and fix it upon things that are honourable and deserving; may we set not our affections on things below, but on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; may our life find its centre and its home, its rest and its hope, in heaven. We gather at the Cross; the world shall gather there, all nations shall rest under the shadow of the Tree of Life. Thou knowest our lives, our sorrows and doubts, our depressions and exultations; thou knowest the pain for which there is no word, thou knowest the joy that is unspeakable. We pray thee at the Cross to come to us according to our varied need; answer our hunger and thirst in thine own way; help us to be industrious, noting that in the day of work there are but twelve hours; may we consecrate every one of them to the service of the Cross. Make us strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; make us wise unto salvation, and especially wise to win souls. Take our poor little labour as we are able to do it day by day, purify it at the Cross, accept it, own it, and cover it with glory. The Lord be with the lonely and the sad; the Lord be the Helper of the helpless, and lead the blind by a way that they know not; and in the time of winter find flowers for those in whose hearts there is no hope. The Lord hear us in these things; mercifully condescend to visit us day by day: when all earth’s little days are passed and for ever closed, may our eyes behold the light that fills the city of the blest. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XIX
THE FINAL CONDITION OF THE REDEEMED
Ezekiel 40-48
The date of this prophecy as given in Eze 40:1 is about 572 B.C., thirteen years after his last prophecy before this one and fourteen years after the fall of the city of Jerusalem. Thus, there is an interval of thirteen years between the last writing of Ezekiel before this and this one.
As to what Ezekiel was doing during the thirteen years between his last prophecy and this one, we have no record whatever. Perhaps after he had prophesied the restoration of Israel and the glorious messianic age as found in Ezekiel 36-37, Ezekiel was thinking and pondering in his mind over the messianic kingdom. He was thinking of what it would be like, what would be its constitution, what would be its temple, what would be its temple service, what would be the relation between the king and the priesthood and what would be the condition of the people.
After those long years of thinking and pondering in his own mind, at last the vision broke upon him. A great many visions have come to God’s prophets and God’s servants along the line that they had been thinking and meditating. Thus the vision broke upon Ezekiel, and he saw in this vision the final condition of the restored and redeemed people of Israel. He does not picture any method of salvation in these chapters because he conceives of the people as enjoying salvation; they are in a condition of salvation, saved forever. It is the kingdom of God that he has in mind, the kingdom of God set up on earth with its center in Jerusalem and existing in all its glory, blessedness, and beauty. We call it the millennium, for to Ezekiel it was the millennial period of the world’s history.
This picture is cast in the Jewish mold. The best place to the Jew on this earth was in Palestine, his own land. There was death and burial and all the various incidents of life in this blessed age. There were families, there was a city of a certain size, a tabernacle of a certain size, and buildings, and chambers; there was a priesthood, there were sacrifices, there was to be a Prince of the line of David, the messianic Prince. All these things were to comprise the glorious messianic age, was all cast in the Jewish mold, and not to be taken as literal.
Now, in these chapters Ezekiel gives the religious side of the kingdom of Israel. He deals very little with anything but the religious phase. He touches on the geographical side of the country, a little on the civil side of affairs, but puts the emphasis almost entirely upon the religious and ecclesiastical. To Ezekiel religion was the foundation of a nation, for the foundations of national existence and the great informing principles in all national life from the beginning of history to the present time, have been the religious conceptions of the people.
Ezekiel, in vision, was brought by the hand of God into the land of Israel, and set down upon a very high mountain, whereon was, as it were, the frame of a city. Placed upon this high mountain Ezekiel opens his eyes in vision and sees a man, who appears to him as a man of brass. This is an angelic and supernatural being. He has a line of flax in his hand, also a measuring reed, and stands at the gate of this great structure.
Eze 40:1-4 gives the introductory remarks of Ezekiel showing how this vision occurred. He was standing facing the west and also facing the east gate of the great sanctuary. Before him lay an enclosure, a tabernacle, 500 cubits square, measuring probably 800 feet or about 250 yards square. This enclosure was surrounded by a wall six cubits high and six cubits broad, or thick. Right before him was a gate, the east gate, approached by seven steps. The gate itself was really a large building, twenty-five cubits broad altogether and fifty cubits long, reaching into the court of the temple. Inside that gate was the outer court. That outer court was 150 cubits from the outer wall to the inner wall, and one hundred cubits from the inside entrance of the gate to the next gate on the inner wall. This outer court ran around three sides of the enclosure and on these three sides were the pavements and chambers round about on the walls.
He then approached the inner court and that had a gate facing east just the same size as the gate on the outer court, approached by eight steps showing the gradations up into the holy place. Right in front of the gate which was the same size as the other gate, was a square place of 100 cubits and in the center of that was the altar for the burnt offerings. Right behind the gate approached by ten steps was the temple building itself. There was the porch, there the holy place behind it, and the most holy place behind that, and chambers around on three sides. There was a space of five cubits on either side of this temple building and chambers twenty cubits wide on the outside of that space. The raised pavement on which the temple stood was exactly 100 cubits square and reached back to the wall that surrounded the inner court. To the north of the outer court was a gate exactly the same as that of the east gate; to the south, a gate exactly the same as the one Ezekiel entered; on the west there was no gate at all. To the inner court there was a gate to the north and a gate to the south, exactly like the one to the east which Ezekiel entered.
A more detailed description of the temple with its parts is found in Eze 40:5-16 . There he describes the outer gate by which he approaches, ascending seven steps. The outer gate has a threshold, and the entrance into the outer court has on either side three lodges or guard chambers, intended for sentinels who abode there and watched the multitudes that thronged the gates into the temple courts. This entire gate was twenty-five cubits wide by fifty cubits long, reaching fifty cubits into the outer court minus the breadth of the wall.
In Eze 40:17-19 he describes the outer court just inside that gate. That outer court is altogether 150 cubits wide minus the wall and reaches around three sides. It is covered with a pavement and around on these three sides next the wall are chambers, large rooms. What these were for he does not tell us; doubtless they were intended for service in connection with the temple worship.
In Eze 40:20-23 we have described the north gate which is exactly the same as the one on the east which he entered. In Eze 40:24-27 he describes the south gate which is exactly the same as the east and the north gate.
In Eze 40:28-37 he describes the inner court. He enters the gate of the inner court by an approach of eight steps, passes through that fifty cubits deep into the inner court. There is & south gate and a north gate exactly the same, all facing the great altar in the center of the court 100 cubits square in the temple area itself.
In Eze 40:38-43 he describes the tables that are on either side of the north gate that enters into the inner court. Outside in the outer court are four tables for killing the sacrifices and washing them; inside are four tables for the sacrifices, and there are other large stone tables upon which they would lay the instruments for slaying their sacrifices. It was the law of Leviticus that the sacrifices were to be slain north of the altar, so all these tables and instruments are at the north gate which approaches the inner court north of the great altar.
Now in the inner court we have on either side of that court which is about 250 cubits square counting the thickness of the walls on the north side and on the south side, large chambers. These chambers were for the use of the priests in their ministrations. Those on the north were for the use of those who helped the priests in their services; the south for the sons of Zadok who were the leaders among the priests. In Eze 40:38-49 , he approaches the temple itself and the porch facing the temple building; ten steps brings him up on to the raised platform which is exactly 100 cubits square and which contains all the great temple buildings.
In Eze 41:1-14 , he describes the porch, gives the measurements, then the dimensions of the tabernacle which is forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide; then the holy of holies which is exactly twenty cubits square. Ezekiel does not go into the holy of holies; only the messenger goes in and brings out the measurements and tells them to Ezekiel. The walls are six cubits thick; then there are little chambers on either side, and there are walls five cubits thick beyond them. The lower chambers are four Cubits wide, the next, five; the next, six, just the same as those of Solomon’s Temple. All around on either side of that Temple with its chambers, which was nearly forty cubits wide altogether, was an open space of five cubits, and outside of that, again on this pavement of ten cubits, along the two sides were buildings used as chambers for the priests.
In Eze 41:15-26 he describes the inside of the temple proper. It is made of wood, beautifully carved wood, cherubim carved as was Solomon’s Temple; palm trees carved and engraved upon the wood also, and only one altar, no table of shewbread, no golden candlestick, no ark of the covenant, no laws written on tables of stone; they were written on the tables of the heart now and there is no need for an ark of the covenant or for these other things, only an altar representing the prayers and worship of the people. There are doors into the holy place and folding doors into the most holy place. We do not read that Solomon made any doors between those apartments.
Now in Eze 42:1-14 , the other buildings that are inside this inner court are described. This inner court, as we have said, is about 250 cubits square; 100 cubits are taken up by the altar, 100 for the temple buildings and chambers, then there are fifty cubits on either side along the north and south sides. Now these are described in the section we have just mentioned. They are chambers, and one row is three stories high, extending along 100 cubits on the north side of the temple buildings, and south side also a row 100 cubits long. These are for the priests, in which they store their garments, and in which they dress that they may appear before the people in the outer court and perform the services in the inner court.
In Eze 42:15-20 , we have the measurements of the outer wall and the whole area of the buildings. Here he gives the general measurements. Now note that he says 500 reeds. A reed is six cubits. Thus he gives the general measurements such as I have described. Thus far he has been describing the temple and we readily see it is impossible to give all the details.
In Eze 43:1-12 we enter upon a new theme: the vision of the entrance of Jehovah into this house, this temple, to abide forever. Notice that Ezekiel says in the latter part of verse Eze 43:3 : “The visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar.” The same magnificent picture of the four cherubim appears here now right at the gate of the temple and Jehovah thus enters into the temple by the east gate, there to abide forever. Note what he says to Ezekiel as he enters, verses Eze 43:6-7 : “And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, this is 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 forever. And my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile.” Thus he goes on to describe the new and blessed condition of Israel and how they are purified from all their sins. Then in Eze 43:10-12 Ezekiel shows to the people this vision of the great temple that they are to have, and he says that they shall be ashamed of their iniquities when they see and learn the pattern. It is a perfect temple, perfect equipment, divinely measured and symbolizes the relation of Jehovah to his people.
Now in Eze 43:13-17 he describes the altar of burnt offerings in the center of that 100 cubits square in the court. Bight in front of the east, north, and south gates: that altar has a base eighteen cubits square and one cubit thick, resting upon the solid earth; then another place above that sixteen cubits square, and another one fourteen cubits square, and the uppermost one twelve cubits square with four projections, or horns, one at each corner. So the altar stands high and is twelve cubits, or about twenty feet, square.
In Eze 43:18-27 he describes the sacrifices and the ceremonies relating to the altar. The sacrifices and ceremonies are to be performed by the sons of Zadok and they are to cleanse the altar and purify it and make it ready for the sacrifices of God.
In Eze 44:1-3 , he says that the east gate was to be kept forever shut, because through that gate Jehovah had entered and he had entered to remain forever, and therefore the gate by which he had entered must be closed forever, and no being in heaven nor on earth should pass through it.
In Eze 44:4-14 , we have the subordinate position of the Levites. The Levites previous to the exile had become idolatrous, almost to a man; they had gone after the worship of idols (but many of the priestly families had remained faithful to Jehovah) and because of that Ezekiel says that the Levites should not serve in the temple, but should be degraded to a secondary position and only the sons of Zadok could minister in the inner court.
In Eze 44:15-30 , Ezekiel gives the precepts and the rules regarding the priests. These priests were of the sons of Zadok. Doubtless, Ezekiel himself belonged to that line. They alone were to go into the inner court; the people were allowed in the outer courts, but only the priests in the inner court. They were to have linen garments and everything was to be so pure and so clean that they were not allowed to wear any garments that would hold perspiration; not one drop of perspiration was allowed to remain in their clothing; they were to be scrupulously clean. Their beards were not to be shaved; they were not to drink any wine while performing the services; they were to marry only a certain class of women, the widow of a priest or a virgin of the house of Israel; they were to teach the people, and they were to be the judges in all cases of the law. The priests were to judge between the litigants. They were to have no possessions, verse Eze 44:28 : “I am their inheritance; and ye shall give them no possessions in Israel; I am their possession.” They were to have all the first-fruits of the land and certain other material resources.
In Eze 45:1-8 , we have the portion of land assigned to the priests. In almost the center of this land of Israel, a space 25,000 cubits wide extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the river Jordan was set apart for the prince and the priests and the city and the temple. In the center of that was a section 25,000 cubits long and 25,000 cubits wide divided thus: 10,000 cubits of the northern part was for the Levites, 10,000 cubits in the center, for the priests and in the center of that was this section we have just described; south of that, 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long was the city area and in the center of that was the city itself, about two miles square; lands on either side also about two miles square; the whole section was about eight miles square. The Levites had a section about two by eight miles; the priests had a section about two by eight miles, and the city, a little more than two by eight. At each end of this section reaching to the Mediterranean Sea on the west side, and to the Jordan on the east, was the portion of the prince, or royal family, the messianic king.
In Eze 45:9-17 we have the ordinances for the prince. He was strictly commanded to be just and square in his dealings, and strange to say, the prince received the tithes from all the people of Israel, and he supplied the priests with all their sacrifices, and sustained them out of what the people brought to him. The prince was a very important personage. He was really the Messiah, the messianic King.
In Eze 45:18-25 we have the ordinances for cleansing the temple, for the atonement, for the Passover, and the various offerings, for which see the text.
In Eze 46:1-15 , we have the ordinances for the feasts. They are going to have sacrifices, feasts, pilgrimages, in this blessed messianic age, according to Ezekiel, and he lays down rules for the feasts of the new moon, the sabbath, the Passover, and all other appointed feasts. It is to be the Levitical system carried out to perfection all through the ages. But remember that this is only the Jewish mold into which these blessed events are cast.
In Eze 46:16-18 , Ezekiel says that a prince cannot forfeit permanently his inheritance. If he does deed it to any member of another noble family, it reverts back to the royal family in time. Thus these two portions of land are reserved to the line of David forever.
In Eze 46:19-24 we have described the kitchens for the priests. They are to have kitchens in the temple, and in the far northwest corner of the inner court, and the far southwest corner of this inner court are great buildings that serve as kitchens where the priests are to boil their meat for these services in the temple; then in the same corners of the outer court are large buildings where they are going to boil the meat and sacrifices for the people. The Levites are to do this, as they are not allowed in the inner court.
In Eze 47:1-12 Ezekiel describes a stream which issues from the temple and flows down to the inner court and outer court and out by the east gate through which Ezekiel had entered and through which Jehovah had entered, and which is forever closed, down across the land toward the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Many have preached from that chapter on “The River of Life.” It ran through that desert land, and coursed down to the awful wilderness surrounding the Dead Sea, making everything green and the trees bore their fruit every month, the analogue of John’s vision of the River of Life flowing through the great city of God. Then it flows through those deserts and into the Dead Sea healing the water which became alive with fishes and everything the river touches lives. It flows down into the barren deserts, the dead seas of life, the worthless places, and heals them. There are certain portions by that Dead Sea that Ezekiel says were given to salt, the marshes. These were not healed but were given to salt as they needed the salt in the east for their sacrifices and their food, that was a hot climate. Thus closes the vision of Ezekiel of the land of Israel. The land is rich and verdant, teeming with life and fruitage; it is the blessed messianic age. (See the author’s sermon on “The River of Life.”)
Eze 47:13-23 describe the boundaries of the Holy Land and the privilege of strangers attaching themselves to the tribes. The boundaries of the Holy Land we cannot exactly fix but they extend west to the Mediterranean Sea; to about the entering in of Hamath for the northern boundary; the eastern boundary is the valley of Jordan down through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea; the southern boundary is by way of Kadeshbarnea and to the brook of Egypt. That is Ezekiel’s Holy Land.
In Eze 48:1-7 , he tells what tribes are going to live north of the oblation. This tract of land, 25,000 cubits wide and reaching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, is the oblation; the tribes that are to live north of the oblation we find in verses 1-7. To the far north is Dan; south of him is Asher, reaching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan Valley; the same for Napthali, and a similar section for Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah, bordering on the oblation which was the center and contained the portion for the Levites, temple, city, and prince. Why he has them in that order we cannot tell.
In Eze 48:8-22 we have the oblation itself and its divisions again described: 25,000 cubits wide, reaching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan and in the center of that square, 10,000 to the north for the Levites, 10,000 for the priests and in the center of that, the temple; then a section, 5,000 wide to the south for the city. We see by this that Ezekiel does not think that the temple should be in the city, and he separated them by a distance of about three miles. The city is about two miles square. It has land on either side of it which is to support the people. Ezekiel makes no provision for the growth of the city, nor for the increase of the Levites, nor for the priests; there they are and they are going to abide forever.
In Eze 48:23-29 , he gives the tribes south of the city, and the first one is Benjamin. Ezekiel puts Judah north and Benjamin south, while before, they had always been the reverse. Below that is Simeon, then Issachar, then Zebulun, and Gad; previously they had been closer together.
Then Eze 48:30-35 tell of the gates of the city. There are three on each of the four sides. This is the analogue of John’s magnificent vision of the holy city “on the east three gates, on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.” He goes on to show which tribes shall enter in by these several gates: three tribes on one side, etc., grouping Ephraim and Manasseh under the name of Joseph. He closes by saying, Eze 48:35 , “And the name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah-shammah,” Jehovah is there, that is, all this land is to be sanctified by the presence of Jehovah, from Dan in the far north to Gad in the far south. As one approaches the oblation, it is to be more holy; the domain of the priests and the sanctuary, still more holy. The outer court, the inner court, the temple platform, the holy place, then the most holy of all.
That is Ezekiel’s picture of the great messianic age. He believed that all the people that inhabited this land were people who had a new heart and a right spirit, who had the old stony heart taken out of them and a heart of flesh given them; that God’s laws were written in their hearts and on their minds; that they walked in his statutes and in his law; converted people, regenerated people, living in bliss upon the earth.
Will this ever be literally fulfilled? Can it be possible that when Jesus Christ comes this will be fulfilled as Ezekiel pictures it? Our pre-millennialist brethren believe that this will be literally fulfilled. They believe that Christianity must revert back to Judaism with Jerusalem as its center. To me it is unthinkable that our gospel with its worldwide vision and mission can become so cabbined, cribbed, coffined, and confined that it will be shut up to Palestine and to Judaism. That would be an unthinkable anticlimax.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the date of the writing of this prophecy?
2. What was Ezekiel doing during the thirteen years between his last prophecy before this and this one and what the bearing on this last prophecy?
3. Give a bird’s eye view of the temple as Been by Ezekiel.
4. Give a more detailed description of the temple with its parts.
5. Describe Jehovah’s entrance into this temple and give its significance.
6. Describe the altar of burnt offerings and the sacrifices to be offered thereon.
7. What is the ordinance regarding the east gate and why?
8. What the ordinance respecting the position of the Levites and why?
9. What ordinances regarding the priests?
10. What provisions were made for the priests?
11. What are the ordinances regarding the prince and what special provision for the people by the prince?
12. What are the ordinances for cleansing the temple, etc.?
13. What are the ordinances for the feasts?
14. What are the ordinances for the inheritance of the prince?
15. What is the special provision for the work of the priests and Levites?
16. Describe Ezekiel’s “River of Life” and give its significance.
17. Give the boundaries of Ezekiel’s holy land.
18. What are tribes are to be north of the oblation?
19. Describe the oblation itself.
20. What are the tribes south of the oblation?
21. Describe the gates of the city and give the position of the tribes.
22. What do you say of the fulfilment of this magnificent prophetic picture by Ezekiel?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Eze 43:1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, [even] the gate that looketh toward the east:
Ver. 1. Afterwards he brought me. ] Non nisi dimenso prius montis ambitu. The prophet saw not the glory of God till he had first seen the mount measured, the temple restored. Men must usually wait upon God in the use of means ere they see the King in his glory.
Even the gate that looketh toward the east.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ezekiel Chapter 43
An incomparably more august sight now opens for the prophet. The Shechinah of Jehovah displays itself, returning to dwell in the midst of His people.
“And he brought me to the gate, the gate that faceth the east. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and his voice [was] as the sound of many waters, and the earth shined with his glory. And [it was] according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions [were] like the visions that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose aspect [is] toward the east. And the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house.” (Ver. 1-5)
The force of this is clear enough, if men were but simple. It is the sign of God’s return to Israel whom He had left ever since the carrying of the Jews to Babylon. But the return from Babylon in no way satisfies the prophecy; nor yet even the mission of the Messiah. He Himself lets us know, as we learn from elsewhere also, that the seasons of Gentile supremacy were then, as they are still, in progress. Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The Son of man at His appearing will gather Israel again and judge all the nations. Jehovah will then govern the earth with Jerusalem as His earthly centre. Of this the return of the Shechinah is the symbol. When it left, the Jews ceased to be the recognized people of Jehovah; when they are taken up again under Messiah and the new covenant, the glory comes back. No mistake can be greater than the idea that this vision applies to the first advent of Christ in humiliation when the Jews rejected and crucified Him. The prophecy requires us to believe that the glory will be actually restored; but it was not, when the Jews returned by Cyrus’ proclamation, any more than when the Lord Jesus was here; it will be, when He returns to reign. Theocracy will then be established and flourish as long as the earth endures; for it will rest on Christ, not on the first man with all his failures under law. With grace as its foundation, “glory will dwell in the land,” and this henceforth immutably. Then and not before shall the creature rejoice. Meanwhile it groans, but in hope, for all of it shall be delivered; and Christ is the sole deliverer at His coming in power and glory. The Spirit now works in testimony.
“And I heard [him] speaking to me from the house, and a man was standing by me. And he said to 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 the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, they nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the carcases of their kings in their sepulchres;* while they set their threshold beside my threshold, and their doorpost beside my doorpost, and the wall between me and them, they even defiled my holy name with their abominations which they committed, so that I consumed them in mine anger. Now let them remove their whoredom and the carcases of their kings far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.” (Ver. 6-9)
*Or, “on their death.” “When they are dead.” would seem to be the force of Soncin. edition, which is supported by more than a dozen of De Rossi’s MSS.
There was a dwelling of God in the midst of Israel of old, after He had wrought redemption for them and brought them out of the land of Egypt. At once they sung His praise when delivered from the house of bondage. “Thou leadest forth thy people whom thou hast redeemed; thou guidedst it in thy strength unto the habitation of thy holiness …. Thou wilt bring them and plant them on the mountain of thine inheritance, the place, O Jehovah, which thou hast wrought for thy dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, thy hands have established.” (Exo 15:13 , Exo 15:17 ) But there was more than anticipation; for He adds (Exo 29:45 , Exo 29:46 ) “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and I will be their God, and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I may dwell among them.” The temple was the same thing in substance; only it was suited to the established state of Israel in the land, not the tabernacle which wandered with the Israelites up and down the wilderness. But in either case, as this was but an external redemption, so His dwelling was of an outer sort and contingent on their fidelity to Him as witnesses of the one true God and placed under the responsibility of His law. The result was, as it must always be for the first man, ruin.
Afterwards in due time came the Lord Jesus, the Son of man, the true temple of God, and this in His case alone without blood, for He only was without sin, the Holy One of God. Alas! He was refused, and all the hopes of Israel and man after the flesh were buried in His grave. But the grace of God wrought redemption by Him crucified; and a new dwelling for God was formed in those who confessed His name, whether Jews or Gentiles, builded together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. It is the church and it goes on still, whatever be the ruined state of this holy temple.
That however of which Ezekiel speaks is none of these things, but the dwelling which Jehovah will make for Himself “in the land of the children of Israel for ever.” Of this we hear much and often in the later Psalms, especially Psa 132 . As yet it is wholly unaccomplished. Why should it be thought an incredible thing that God should thus dwell in the midst of Israel here below? Doubtless He is now forming a body for heaven by virtue of redemption in Christ. But its worth will be unexhausted for the earth; and grace will work afresh in power for Israel and the nations, as now for the church, that all the universe may know the virtues of Christ’s blood, and behold the glory of God to the blessing of the once sick and weary creation delivered from its long and otherwise hopeless thraldom. Moral evil and religious pravity shall vanish away. All will be to the praise of the only worthy One. The people who had so long wrought mischief in the earth will be ashamed of their defilements and rebellion against Jehovah, and be in that day the witness of His mercy yet more than they have been of His consuming anger.
So even then the prophet is commanded to set the house before Israel in its measured pattern, that they might feel of what their iniquity deprived them. Deeply will the vision act on them by-and-by.
“Thou, O son of man, tell the house of Israel of the house that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, let them know the form of the house, and its arrangements, and the goings out of it, and the comings in of it, and all the forms of it, and all the laws of it; and write it in their sight, that they may observe all its forms and all its statutes and do them. This [is] the law of the house: on the summit of the mountain shall its whole limit round about be most holy. Behold, this [is] the law of the house.” (Ver. 10-12) Far more than of old shall holiness reign in that day. Compare also Zec 14 .
Next in order we have the measurement of the altar, and then its statutes for the offering of burnt-offerings and sprinkling of blood.
We have already seen that it is in vain to apply this description to the past return from Babylon. Much more evidence will follow in refutation of such a thought. The present chapter is evidence enough; there has been no return of the Shechinah. The Jews were then groaning under Gentile power. Since the destruction of the city by the Romans still less can it apply. Why then should men evade the only alternative? The fulfilment is future. Israel shall yet return to the land, and be converted indeed, and blessed, under Jehovah their God, but as Israel, not as Christians, which all believers do become meanwhile, whether Jews or Gentiles. They belong to Christ in heaven, where such differences are unknown, and therefore one of the great characteristics of Christianity is that such distinctions disappear while Christ is the head on high, and His body is being formed on earth by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. When Ezekiel’s visions shall be accomplished, it will be the reign of Jehovah-Jesus on earth, and the distinction of Israel from the Gentiles will again be resumed, though for blessing under the new covenant, not as of old for curse under the law. Hence the total difference of what is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews as compared with this and other prophecies. There can be no doubt that that epistle applies now. There ought to be as little question that this prophecy will apply by-and-by. Those who make both converge upon the Christian destroy the force of both. The result is that one is half Jew, half Christian. And such is the prevalent aspect of Christendom, to the great dishonour of the Lord, the distress of souls, and the enfeebling of the word of God. No, we must give each scripture its own proper value, and, while cleaving as Christians to the doctrine of that epistle for ourselves, let us rejoice in the prophet’s bright anticipations for Israel. The heavenly people rest upon the one sacrifice, and draw near into the holiest of all, where Christ is at the right hand of God. But the earthly people will have a sanctuary as well as land suited to them, and such are all the ordinances of their worship.
“And these [are] the measure of the altar in cubits: The cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth, and the bottom a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and its border on its edge round about a span: this [shall be] the outside of the altar. And from the bottom [on] the ground to the lower projection two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser projection to the greater projection four cubits, and the breadth a cubit, and the hearth” (literally Ariel, or lion of God) “four cubits; and from the hearth and upwards four horns; and the hearth twelve [cubits] long, twelve broad, square on its four sides; and the projection fourteen [cubits] long, and fourteen broad, on its four sides; and the border round about it half a cubit, and its bottom a cubit round about. lend its steps shall look toward the east.” (Vers. 13-17)
Next follows the use to which it was to be applied. “And he said to me, Son of man, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: These [are] the ordinances of the altar on the day when it shall be finished, to offer burnt-offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon. And thou shalt give to the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who approach to me, saith the Lord Jehovah, to minister unto me, a young bullock for a sin-offering. And thou shalt take of his blood, and put it on its four horns, and on the four corners of its projection, and upon the border round about. And thou shalt cleanse it, and make an atonement for it. And thou shalt take the bullock for a sin-offering, and one shall burn him at an appointed place of the house outside the sanctuary. And on the second day thou shalt offer an he-goat, without blemish, for a sin-offering. And they shall cleanse the altar as they cleansed it for the bullock. 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, and thou shalt bring them near before Jehovah, and the priest shall throw salt upon them, and they shall offer them up a burnt-offering unto Jehovah. 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 shall they atone for the altar, and purify it. And they shall consecrate it. And when these days are expired, it shall be on the eighth day and forward, the priests shall prepare upon the altar your burnt-offerings, and your peace-offerings, and I will accept you, saith the Lord Jehovah.” (Vers. 18-27)
This is decisive. Not only do we hear of the priests, but of these as Levites; nor this only, but of the seed of Zadok, intrusted with the duties of the altar. Sin-offerings, burnt-offerings, thank-offerings, all follow in due order. It is the renewal of sacrifice when the earth and Israel come under the reign of Messiah, displayed in glory, and governing in righteousness and peace. It is the apostasy, the Judaizing, of ritualism, which seeks to introduce the sacrificial system now that we are called to act in faith of the one offering of Christ accepted in heaven. But we ought not to close our eyes to the revelation of this future day for the earth, when God sanctions priest and people, sacrifice and altar, for Israel. If we cannot adjust the differences, we are bound at least to submit to the scriptures, which are unanswerably plain in their import, both as to ourselves now, and as to Israel by-and-by. Simplicity of subjection to Christ and His word is the secret of all intelligence that has price in the eyes of God.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 43:1-5
1Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east; 2and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. 3And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the east. 5And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
Eze 43:2 the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east We must remember that the glory, or the presence of God, had left (cf. Eze 10:18-22; Eze 11:22-24). He is returning to His temple. It is a way of affirming that the ancient covenant had been re-established (cf. Psa 24:7-10).
His voice was like the sound of many waters See Eze 1:24 and Rev 1:15; Rev 14:2.
the earth shone with His glory The VERB (BDB 21, KB 24, Hiphil PERFECT) is used of the Shekinah Cloud of Glory during the wilderness wandering period (cf. Exo 13:21; Exo 14:20). This is part of the Aaronic blessing of Num 6:25. It involved God’s face (i.e., intimate presence) to shine in/on those whom He fully accepted. See Special Topic: Glory .
Eze 43:3 This vision of the manifested glory of YHWH is the same as in the vision that Ezekiel saw in chapters 1 and 10 (i.e., the portable throne chariot of YHWH).
NASB, NRSV,
REBwhen He came
NKJV, NJBwhen I came
TEVwhen God came
The MT has I (), but some Hebrew manuscripts (6) and the Vulgate have He (). There is much confusion in Ezekiel related to the PRONOUNS I, you, He, and they.
I fell on my face See Eze 1:28; Eze 3:23.
Eze 43:5 the Spirit lifted me up and brought me See note at Eze 40:1; Eze 3:12.
the glory of the LORD filled the house This was like the Shekinah cloud that came down on Mount Sinai (cf. Exo 19:16; Exo 19:18; Exo 19:20), the Tabernacle (cf. Exo 40:34-35), and Solomon’s temple (cf. 1Ki 8:10-11; 2Ch 5:14; 2Ch 7:1-2). This is another way of showing that God present and the covenant was reestablished.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Chapter 43
Now in chapter 43:
He brought him then to the gate that looks toward the east ( Eze 43:1 ):
This is at the bottom of your diagram.
And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory ( Eze 43:2 ).
Here you have the return of the glory of God to Israel. Now earlier Ezekiel saw in a vision the glory of God leaving the temple, and gradually as it left the temple, it settled at the gate towards the east and then it ascended and God’s glory was removed from Israel. Here we find the glory of God returning to Israel. And again, even as the glory of God departed by the gate to the east, so the glory of God returns by the gate to the east.
“And His voice was like the noise of many waters.” In Revelation chapter 1, as John is describing Jesus Christ in His glory, he does declare that His voice was like the noise of many waters. I would assume that this reference here in Ezekiel is a reference to the return of Jesus Christ in glory. “Then shall they see the Son of man coming with clouds and great glory” ( Luk 21:27 ). And He shall set His foot in that day on the Mount of Olives, and it shall split in the middle and a new valley will be formed from east to west when the Mount of Olives is split in the middle.
Now, according to other passages of scripture, when Christ returns, you remember when He ascended, He went with His disciples to the Mount of Olives and when they had gone as far as Bethany, which is just over the top of the Mount of Olives, Jesus ascended up into heaven and the disciples were standing there gazing up into heaven as they watched the cloud catch Him out of their sight. And two men stood by them in shining apparel and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing into heaven? For this same Jesus shall come again in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven” ( Act 1:11 ). And so the coming of Jesus Christ as He went in glory up into heaven He’ll come again setting His foot upon the Mount of Olives. A great cataclysmic event takes place as the Mount of Olives splits. No doubt creating what we will get to later this new stream that will issue from the southern part here… I mean from the eastern part here down in the bottom part of your page, the new stream that will issue from the temple of God which will flow down to the Dead Sea. And we’ll get to that after a while. But this is all a part of this great geological structural change that will take place when the Mount of Olives splits and when the city is shaken and the preparation for the return of Jesus Christ and the establishing of His kingdom.
“And the earth shined with the glory,” as Christ returns there in verse Eze 43:2 .
Now as He returns, surrounded of course with the angelic beings, the cherubim. The Bible speaks about His coming with the angels; it also speaks about His coming with the church, coming with clouds and great glory. Clouds symbolically are numbers of people, throngs of people. Paul said, “When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory” ( Col 3:4 ). Then shall they see the Son of man coming with the angels to judge the earth. And so the saints that came with Him, Rev 19:1-21 . So Christ coming with a heavenly multitude to establish God’s kingdom upon the earth.
And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. 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 the high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall [and so forth] my holy name they will not defile any more by their abominations which they have committed. 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 ( Eze 43:4-9 ).
And so the declaration of God’s coming, the coming of the kingdom to dwell in the midst of the people. So Ezekiel is commanded to show these things to the house of Israel,
that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern [and all] ( Eze 43:10 ).
Now he, in verse Eze 43:13 , gives you the measure of the altar. And we have the altar there in the center of the whole building, complex. And this altar is a fairly good size altar. It has four horns on the corners of the altar and they offered the sacrifices in verse Eze 43:19 through the end of the chapter. The priests make the offerings of the sacrifices and all, the various offerings: sin offering, burnt offering, and the peace offerings.
Now, here’s where one of the problems arises. And that is, why would sin offerings be made in the Kingdom Age? For we know that the Old Testament sacrifices all pointed to that one sacrifice of Jesus Christ whereby our sins would be purged once and for all. And in Hebrews we are told that Christ has suffered once and for all. That He is the sin offering of which all of the Old Testament offerings were just a shadow, the substance is of Christ. Why, then, will they be offering sacrifices again in the new temple during the Kingdom Age? And many suggestions have been offered for the reason for these sacrifices. Some of them saying, “Well, this is all symbolic. They really aren’t offered.” I cannot accept that. Many people spiritualize them. I cannot accept that. I think that it speaks very plainly that there will be these offerings offered during the Kingdom Age.
Now, as we look at the Old Testament sacrifices that were made, we realize, number one, that they did not actually put away sins. The Lord said, “And when they make the sacrifice it shall be for a kofar,” which Hebrew word is covering. And so the sins will be covered. It doesn’t say they would be put away; they would be covered. Now in Hebrews we read that it is impossible that the blood of bulls or goats could put away sin. But all they could do was to speak of the better sacrifice which was to come, that is of Jesus. So the Old Testament sacrifices did not put away sin, but they testified of that sacrifice that would come by which sins would be put away once and for all. I believe that the only explanation that can be given for sacrifices here in the temple in the Kingdom Age is that these sacrifices are memorial sacrifices looking back at what Christ has done. Even as the Old Testament sacrifices looked forward, did not put away sin, but gave anticipation for the sacrifice that would be offered, even now these are offered in memorial as we look back at that sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Now you remember that Jesus took bread and broke it and gave to His disciples and said, “Take, eat, this is My body broken for you.” He took also the cup after supper and He said, “Take, drink, this is the blood in the new covenant that is shed for the remission of sins. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord’s death until He comes. This do,” He said, “in remembrance of Me.” And even as we have our communion services and we break the break the bread and we drink the cup in remembrance of what Jesus did in His death for our sins, so when sacrifices are re-instituted in the Kingdom Age, they will not be for the purpose of putting away sin, but they will be memorial offerings by which we will be reminded of that sacrifice by which the sins were put away, and we’ll be looking back to the cross and the sacrifice that was made there by Jesus Christ. The sin offerings being made here in the Kingdom Age. And that is to me reading it the way it says, but in seeking to understand it, that is the only understanding that I personally can come to the reason for there being a sin offering sacrifice in those days. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Eze 43:1-12
Eze 43:1-12
Here is a vision of the return of God’s glory to the Temple, corresponding in every way to the visions of the departing glory in Ezekiel 10-11 (Eze 43:1-6). God cited the reprobacy of the priests as a hindrance and as a reason for leaving the Temple. God promised that his glory would dwell there forever (Eze 43:7-12); but that promise was made to be absolutely contingent upon Israel’s holiness (Eze 43:9-12). We also have the detailed measurements of the altar (Eze 43:13-17), certain details on animals sacrificed, the sprinkling of the blood, the choice of animals, the days when sacrifices were to be offered, etc,
The glory of Jehovah fills the new temple
(Eze 43:1-12)
Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory. 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. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, this is 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 the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post, and there was but the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. 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. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the egresses thereof, and the entrances 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. 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 (Eze 43:1-12).
The temple was now complete and ready for consecration. Ezekiel is brought in the spirit to East side of the temple and there he sees the glory of Jehovah coming from the east toward the temple. The prophet falls upon his face as when he witnessed the glory of Jehovah God at the river Chebar. The glory of Jehovah then passed into the house (temple).
Recall that the tabernacle in the wilderness was consecrated by Jehovah Gods presence at Exo 40:34-35 and 1Ki 8:10. Ezekiel had witnessed the glory of Jehovah God leaving the temple in an eastwardly direction at Eze 11:1; Eze 11:22-24 due to the iniquity of Israel. The reappearance of Jehovahs glory in the new temple indicates a new fellowship brought about by the forgiveness of the peoples sins. Gods mercy allotted forgiveness to those who saw with shame and embarrassment their sins. This new temple has a law and Ezekiel is to teach those who illustrate a spirit of humility this law that they may keep it.
The entire vision is one that looks to the future church where Christ will reign as king of His kingdom. Citizens of this kingdom will be those who have had their sins forgiven by following the Lords law of forgiveness, mercy, and grace.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The prophet’s next vision was of Jehovah’s return to the Temple. Again he beheld a vision and heard a voice. The visions which he had seen by the river Chebar appeared again. The same glory on which he had gazed when he came to destroy the city, that is, to utter his predictions concerning its destruction, appeared in this great hour of restoration, when Jehovah, so long exiled from His Temple, returned to it. The voice of Jehovah was as the sound of many waters, but in speaking to Ezekiel it became the voice of a man, and declared that Jehovah had taken up His abode in the house, that He would dwell in the midst of Israel forever, and that she should no more defile His holy name.
In the sequence of the prophecy a parenthesis occurs in which Ezekiel was charged to show the house of Israel this future glory, in order that they might be ashamed of their iniquities. To those who were ashamed, he was, moreover, charged to make known in detail the form and fashion of the house, and to declare its law.
Returning to the sequence of the message concerning the return of Jehovah, the prophet described the altar of burnt-offering, giving its measurements and a description of the ceremonies of its consecration and of its use.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Chapter Forty-three
The Return Of The Glory
In earlier chapters we have seen how the Shekinah Glory, the uncreated light that rested above the mercy-seat, moved slowly from the temple of Solomon, rising from its place between the cherubim, passing on to the door of the temple, then on to the gate in the east and thence to the Mount of Olives, from which the prophet saw it ascending to heaven; all of which is distinctly typical of our blessed Lords giving up of Israel when they knew not the time of their visitation. But that glory which departed is yet to return when Israel shall be restored to the Lord, and it is of this the present chapter treats.
In vision the prophet sees the divine chariot, the glory which he had beheld by the river Chebar, now returning to take its place in the magnificent structure which he saw spread before him as he looked down from the top of the mountain.
Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with His glory. 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. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the East. And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house-vers. 1-5.
Ezekiel was brought by the man with the measuring rod to the east gate, and there as he looked up he beheld the glory of the God of Israel coming from the way of the sunrising, and he heard a voice like the sound of many waters. So marvelous was the sight that the earth shone with the brilliance of the Shekinah. The prophet recognized it at once as the same glory which he had seen departing when God announced that the destruction of the city was near at hand. Reverently Ezekiel fell upon his face as a worshipper as he beheld the glory enter by way of the east gate, and then as he looked up he saw that it filled the entire house.
And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a Man stood by me. And He said unto me, Son of man, this is 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 the house of Israel shall no more defile My holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; in their setting of their threshold by My threshold, and their door-post beside My door-post, and there was but the wall between Me and them; and they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in Mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from Me; and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever-vers. 6-9.
A voice came from out of the house, and a Man hitherto unseen stood by Ezekiel. The voice announced, Son of man, this is 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. When the glory returns it will not be a question of whether the people themselves are deserving of blessing, but it will be a manifestation of the grace of God as set forth in the new covenant. The Lord Himself will see to it that the house of Israel shall never again defile His holy name nor bring dishonor upon His sanctuary by departing from Him and taking up with unclean and unholy practices. In that day His law will be written upon the hearts of His people so that they will delight to do His will. Idolatry will never again rear its hateful head in all the land of Palestine. No more will the priests of Baal and kindred systems set their thresholds by that of Jehovah as in the past when His house was often rendered unclean by the setting up of their images in or near to its courts. All this will be forever past, and God Himself will dwell in the midst of His people.
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. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the egresses thereof, and the entrances 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. 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-vers. 10-12.
The tenth verse gives the real key to the entire vision, the reason for which God gave it. He said to Ezekiel, 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. As they thus dwelt upon the glory they might be moved for the time being, and they would loathe themselves as they realized that their iniquities had separated between them and their God. If conscience were inactive, of course, all this would have no effect upon them. But. Jehovah said that if they were ashamed of all they had done, then the prophet was to make known the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, the exits and the entrances, and everything connected with the service and its laws, in order that they might yield glad-hearted obedience to all that God asked of them.
It is noticeable that the law of the house was really the way of holiness, for we are told in ver. 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. God makes Himself known to those who walk before Him in holiness and righteousness. We do not learn truth simply through the intellect; we learn it through the conscience. When the conscience is tender and responsive to the Word of God, then His truth is opened up to us in the power of the Holy Spirit, and we are enabled to understand His mind and find our delight in doing His will. So will it be with Israel when the many prophecies concerning their future regeneration shall have been fulfilled.
The measures of the altar are given in the verses that follow:
And these are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about a span; and this shall be the base of the altar. And from the bottom upon the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit. And the upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns. And the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve broad, square in the four sides thereof. And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad in the four sides thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit round about; and the steps thereof shall look toward the east-vers. 13-17.
It is noticeable here that the altar is measured not by ordinary cubits but by a cubit and a span. The ordinary cubit was approximately the measure from a mans elbow to the tip of his fingers, about eighteen inches; the span added to it would make it about twenty-one or twenty-two inches. It is by this longer cubit that the altar is measured, as though to remind us that the work of the cross is not to be measured by mans standards but by those that God Himself appoints. The altar here is, of course, the altar of sacrifice; and it speaks of the work of the cross.
It might seem as we read on in the chapter that sacrifices and offerings are to be presented to the Lord on this altar in millennial days, and, as we have mentioned previously, there have been many who have believed this in the past, and there are still numbers of very godly teachers who consider that the sacrifices will be reinstituted, but as memorials not as actually having any atoning value. It seems clear, however, that prior to the work of the cross there could be no other way of presenting that work prophetically than by directing attention to such offerings as the people understood, but when Christ fulfilled all the types on the cross and exclaimed, It is finished, these sacrifices were done away forever, so that the ordinances of the altar which are spoken of in the closing verses of the chapter, all picture, I have no doubt, the way in which the people will enter into and appreciate the work of our Lord Jesus Christ when at last He is revealed to them.
And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt-offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon. Thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that are of the seed of Zadok, who are near unto Me, to minister unto Me, saith the Lord Jehovah, a young bullock for a sin-offering. And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse it and make atonement for it. Thou shalt also take the bullock of the sin-offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary. And on the second day thou shalt offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock. 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. And thou shalt bring them near before Jehovah, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah. 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 shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it. And when they have accomplished the days, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt-offerings upon the altar, and your peace-offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord Jehovah-vers. 18-27.
Everything here speaks of Christ as the burnt offering, who offered Himself without spot unto God, a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savor. He is the true sin offering, who, though He was sinless, was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Israel has never yet entered into the reality of this, but in that coming day they will see how Christ is the fulfilment of all these types, and so they will reach the place where, in holy fellowship with the Lord, they will enjoy Christ as the peace offering, who has brought God and man together, and made them as He has made those of us, both Jew and Gentile, who believe, to be accepted in the Beloved.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
II. THE TEMPLE WORSHIP (43-44)
CHAPTER 43
1. The return of the glory of the Lord and filling the house (Eze 43:1-9)
2. The address to the nation (Eze 43:10-12)
3. The dimensions of the altar (Eze 43:13-17)
4. The offerings to be bought (Eze 43:18-27)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
the gate that: Eze 40:6, Eze 42:15, Eze 44:1, Eze 46:1
Reciprocal: Exo 31:6 – that they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 43:1. Ezekiel was not taken to this gate to see it measured this time. The building having been measured and hence officially checked, it was ready for use and the prophet was brought here with this in view.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Section 3 (Eze 43:1-27).
The glory of Jehovah filling the house
1. (1) The house and its holy precincts having been viewed in their entirety, the prophet is now called to see that which alone can give character to the whole -the entrance of the divine glory. He is brought to the east gate. In his earlier visions he had beheld the glory of God leave the defiled temple by way of the east gate, and take its stand upon the mountain which is on the east of the city -the Mount of Olives (Eze 11:22-25). He who is the perfect and eternal embodiment of all that this vision of glory sets forth symbolically also left the house of His day desolate, and as He sat on the Mount of Olives, looking over the rejected city, He unfolded the course of future events until the day when He shall stand upon that same mount on. the east, bringing the glorious dawn of that day which shall be ever bright with the light and healing of the Sun of Righteousness (Mat 24:1-51; Zec 14:1-21).
Along the path of exit the glory now returns to fill the house. It is “the glory of the God of Israel. . . and the glory of Jehovah.” Then all that those Names mean shall be found fully accomplished -Israel one nation, new born in fellowship with the Eternal, according to the new covenant, and in the power and blessing of the outpoured Spirit.
(2) Of old the cherubim were set and the flame of the flashing sword, east of Eden, to guard the way of the tree of life. Curse had come, none could claim right to life; from God alone could it come. Only in the place of His presence could it be found, but inexorable righteousness, inflexible holiness, and incontrovertible judgment stood guard. He who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” -the Tree of Life -bowed His blessed head to bear all and answer to all required by the divine glory, that the way might be opened to the poor sinner who draws near in the value of His precious blood. Now in the glory supported by the cherubim our attention is called to the figure of a Man. There indeed He ever was as foreknown before all ages, and so He is seen in the visions of God before the time of manifestation had come. This is one of the many foreshadows of the Incarnation, but now we know that He has actually appeared. Henceforth He, not apart from, but as identified with, all that the cherubim symbolize, stands at the very entrance of life, and He is ever found all along the way as He is its glorious and eternal end -“Christ our life.”
Of old the cherubim stood at the closed Garden of delight, and looked out on a cursed earth and a fallen race, but in the day of Ezekiel’s vision they shall bear the divine glory into its earthly resting-place (ver. 7), to look out upon an earth from every part of which the joyful song of deliverance shall be rising, every note blending and uniting in one universal Hallelujah.
No wonder the light of Jehovah’s glory shone forth to announce the birth at Bethlehem, and that out of the midst of its brightness the angelic choir chanted its anthem of glory and pleasure over the Child born and the Son given upon whose shoulder the government shall be, and whose name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace, the increase of whose government and peace shall never end, upholding all with judgment and with righteousness from henceforth even forever. Again that glory invests Him on the holy mount; as a cloud it receives Him ascending from Olivet; in it He shall come with all the holy angels to take His kingdom; and of the heavenly city, enlightened with the glory of God, He, the Lamb, is the Lamp.
God comes in this glory, with majesty and awe-inspiring utterance, and with light reaching to earth’s remotest bounds. The prophet assures us that he is seeing again the vision which appeared by the river Chebar (Eze 1:1-28; see notes), in the presence of which then and now he falls prostrate. Brought into the inner court, he sees that the Glory fills the house. Then he is personally addressed by some one speaking before the house, and he finds a man standing beside him. The Glory, majestic in appearance, mighty in speech, far reaching in its effect, has been seen to enter the Sanctuary, and now in the familiar accents of human speech Jehovah communicates His word. He speaks first of rest, and that forever in the midst of His redeemed earthly people. What He had said to Solomon after the dedication of the first house had been fulfilled in Israel’s long history of shameful departure, scattering, and judgment, yet it was also true as then declared that His eyes and heart were perpetually upon that house, the place of the soles of His feet, and the returning Glory proves that He abides faithful.
Rest can only be realized where He sets up His throne. The curse comes to Satan, to angel, to man by defiance of its holy claim, by resisting the righteous rule of an ever-loving, wise, holy and glorious Creator. The blessing of every creature is found only in submission, and if this is not accomplished through grace it must be through power, the Shepherd’s rod must become the rod of iron.
If the throne suggests the divine government as connected with the indwelling glory, the expression, “the place of the soles of My feet,” introduces the thought of worship (Psa 99:5; Psa 132:7). In that day there will be no other throne-house in Israel. The Prince of whom we read later evidently does not occupy the same position as former kings. They had assumed absolute right to the throne, and had acted in shameful disregard of Jehovah’s revealed will. Instead of acting as Jehovah’s vicegerents, they had practically ignored His supremacy, neglected or rejected His Word, and made their own will paramount. In this evil course they were followed by the people and the priesthood. Idolatry came to prevail throughout the land, and even invaded the temple precincts, defiling the house itself. When the time of Ezekiel’s vision has come, all such conditions will have passed forever. This change is declared to the prophet. Neither the people nor their kings will defile Jehovah’s holy name any more. Because of their abominations (compare 2Ki 16:14-15; 2Ki 21:4-7; 2Ki 23:11-12; 2Ch 33:4-7) His anger had consumed them; but then Israel’s time of suffering will be accomplished, her iniquity will be pardoned, having received double for all her sins (Isa 40:1-2). Israel as a nation new born, upon whom the Spirit has been. poured out, will dwell safely under the shadow of the Almighty. With the majesty of the glory will be the beauty of holiness. So the purgation of ver. 9 is essential to Jehovah’s dwelling in the midst of them.
(3) This lesson may be learned from the vision of the house (vers. 10, 11). It is sealed by the law of the house which decrees the whole limit of the top of the mountain to be most holy (ver. 12).
2. We pass from the vision of the entering glory of Jehovah to consider the detailed measure of the altar, which stood at the centre of the whole enclosure, and directly before the house. God looks out, as it were, from the place of His rest upon that which presents the basis of all blessing and glory -the place of sacrifice. It stands as a memorial bearing witness to Christ. He is the true Burnt Offering, whose sacrifice of perpetual efficacy is being recalled by every offering presented upon this altar.
Not all is perfectly clear as to its construction. It appears to be two cubits higher than that of the first temple, and eight cubits less in length and breadth. Ezekiel’s altar is 12×12 cubits.* Its principal dimensions are 18, 16, 14, and 12 cubits. The one common divisor of these numbers is two, which, as often remarked, speaks of competent witness, fellowship, and particularly of Christ. Dividing the measurements we obtain the Num 9:1-23; Num 8:1-26; Num 7:1-89; Num 6:1-27. Thus we have the complex idea of fullest manifestation (9=3×3) in the power of the Spirit and the glory of resurrection (3) and this in new covenant, new creation relations (8) into which all creation (4) will then be brought, according to perfection and rest (7), crowned of necessity with mastery over evil (6). This last is the topmost part of the structure, and it is foursquare, 12 cubits each side (4×3) -the number of divine government exercised throughout creation according to the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ, to which fulness all things in heaven and on earth are reconciled in the power of the blood of the cross by which peace has been made. Such seems to be the lesson of the altar if we are permitted to interpret it in the number-symbolism of Scripture.
{*See Outline Elevation of Altar. Appendix.}
Since God has abounded toward us in all wisdom and intelligence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, we may now rejoice in the knowledge of these precious and holy themes. They give comfort and confidence as we pass on in touch with a groaning creation which we know will be brought into the reality and blessing of Christ’s glory. God has given to us knowledge of His counsel, so that while it is still night for the world we may walk in the light of day. This is to have its practical effect upon us, for we are not of the night but of the day. It should lead us to walk through the world as not of it, not influenced by the spirit of this age, but as sober and watchful, wearing the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation -that salvation for which we wait and which will be realized at the coming of the Lord. Not only so, but when the redeemed creation will be enjoying the accomplishment of all that we now know to be God’s purpose and which gives cause for present rejoicing in the Lord, we shall be with Him, sharing as the Body with the Head in all the various features of that glorious kingdom, not in an earthly but heavenly relation. And though we shall then be in the glory and around the throne forever, we will never fail to look at and consider the place of sacrifice, viewing it then from the inner Sanctuary. The Lamb shall be seen in the midst of the throne.
3. The ordinances of the altar are now given. They relate to its establishment as a place of worship where the priests shall offer the burnt-offerings and peace-offerings of the people. In this there is an abiding witness to their acceptance by Jehovah (ver. 27).
As already pointed out, this altar stands at the very centre of the sacred enclosure. The worshippers in the outer court, and “the Prince” who came in among them or sat in the east gate, would have attention and interest focused upon this great altar, and, as we may say, the glory of God in the house would look toward it. It would ever stand before the eyes of all as of fundamental importance to the blessing and welfare of the people, affording visible expression of their acceptance and the ground upon which the glory could abide among them.
These ordinances are given in view of the day when they shall make the altar, a word of comfort and assurance to the remnant in the land of their captivity that the time would come when the nation would again be restored and the divine centre for worship be set up. With this prophecy before them it is not surprising to see that those who return from Babylon to the land of their fathers first built the altar.
The altar has a twofold purpose -to offer burnt-offering and sprinkle blood. The burnt-offering signifies full acceptance, the sprinkled blood, accomplished expiation. That offering all goes up to God as an odor of sweet smell, and the shed blood tells of judgment borne, vindicating the righteousness of God and answering to the holiness of His nature. The perfect service and obedience symbolized in the offering satisfies His heart, and the blood suffices to meet all the requirements of His throne. The altar too sanctifies the gift, and thus all combines to set before us the preciousness and perfection of the Person and work of Christ.
Then the priests of Zadok’s seed are to minister at the altar. Zadok fills a prominent place in the history of Israel, being high priest in David’s and Solomon’s reigns. He remained faithful to David during Absalom’s rebellion, and with Nathan the prophet espoused the cause of Solomon when Adonijah sought to secure the throne David being of one mind with them instructed Zadok to anoint Bathsheba’s son (1Ki 1:8; 1Ki 1:26; 1Ki 1:32-45). Zadok thus stands as representative of the priesthood in association with the king of God’s choice, and with the kingdom as established by Him in David’s seed -type of Christ. Zadok descended from Eleazar (1Ch 6:50-53), Aaron’s third son, who succeeded to the high priesthood upon his father’s death. We have already seen that this is a lesson of resurrection (see notes, Num 21:1-35). Eleazar being a type of the resurrection priesthood of Christ, his association was with the new generation who were to enter the land, suggesting Israel as new born, to whom under new covenant relation will be given possession of the land and the fulfilment of the promise. Fittingly, then, the seed of Zadok fill the priestly place in the glorious Millennial day.
There are seven days of consecration, on the eighth and thereafter the regular services may be performed. In the seven we have the perfect basis laid for abiding worship which is of new creation character and in the grace of the new covenant.
If the divine glory has found its resting-place in this shrine of holiness, the plan and order of which is expressive of the divine character, then for the people to be able to draw near in their place and enjoy the blessings of acceptance and fellowship with that glory, the altar and its service are essential. Only on the ground of sacrifice which presents the truth of atonement and purification can man make his approach to the dwelling-place of God. Thus the altar stands related to the people themselves and their place with God. It stands as identified with what they are, and they being sinful, makes atonement for it necessary to purify and consecrate it. In what is accomplished for it, the people see, as in an object lesson, what is accomplished for them.
It is not hard to see in this a picture of precious truth regarding Christ and His people. He in His grace identified Himself with them, and so what they were in themselves made it necessary for Him to be the sacrifice, bearing as in their place the very judgment they deserved. Thus He accomplished atonement that they might know identification with Him in the acceptance of the sacrifice He made. Of that one offering by which all who are sanctified are perfected -we now, Israel in the future, and all who believe -these sacrifices are the significant type, as in the future day they will be an ever-witnessing memorial. If our blessed Lord took our sins upon Himself, He also endured the smiting by which atonement was made, so that coming from under the curse which He took for our sakes He can stand before God’s glory, and appear in His presence on our behalf, even -may we say? -as the great altar stands before the house in which the glory dwells. Now in the place He fills we read our own acceptance and privilege in fellowship with the glory itself, together with the glory of redemption and the blessing of salvation.
Sin and burnt offerings are made for seven days. These present two aspects of atonement by which reconciliation is effectual and access procured. Sin is fully dealt with in judgment, and that as carried out in the burning in the outside place -the place where Jesus suffered that He might sanctify the people with His own blood. This was accomplished according to the will of God to which He rendered perfect obedience, offering Himself without spot in the power of the eternal Spirit. So we find what is toward man in his dire need as a sinner, but for the eternal satisfaction of God in respect to all that he deserved as being such a creature; and then what is toward God to His eternal glory, the one accomplished righteousness of the Man Christ Jesus, obedient even unto death, but for our eternal blessing as accepted in the abiding perfection of such fragrance as God alone can fully appreciate. Thus are we redeemed from destruction and crowned with loving-kindness.
There is the young bullock in all the energy and power of fresh, new life, neither aged nor blemished -type of the Perfect Servant who came only to do God’s will. The he-goat speaks of the sinner’s Substitute; the ram is the symbol of devotedness even unto death. The salt, the preservative power of holiness and the sign of the covenant, is that which secures beyond possibility of failure. And then the sprinkled blood of the salted sacrifice, the precious blood, effects expiation and the forgiveness of sins according to the holiness of God and the perfection of the offering.
Let us not leave this section without linking its three parts together -the glory, the sacrifice, and the worship of the redeemed people. As being a third section it suggests manifestation, the fulness revealed, and that is given in a threefold way, as just remarked. Is not the order here that which characterizes Christian blessing also? First, Christ in whom the glory all centres, in whom the fulness dwells, must be in His rightful place, that of being at the right hand of the Majesty on high in the heavenly Sanctuary, the true holy of holies. There He entered, saluted of God as priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Then the measure of the altar could be given, the truth of the wonderful work in all its varied parts be told out, be given manifestation in the testimony rendered in its due time. This brings out the meaning of the new place, its worship, the acceptance known and enjoyed in the light of the fulness now revealed. The place of Christ in glory, the testimony to His blessed Person and work in redemption and the place of His people as identified with Him, constitute the threefold cord of revealed truth which none can break.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Eze 43:1-2. Then he brought me to the gate The eastern gate of the court of the priests, which was just before the temple. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel The word behold is an expression of joy and admiration; as if the prophet had said, Behold, a wonderful and joyful sight! The glory of that God who calls himself the God of Israel, which had departed from this place and people, and had absented itself from them for so long a time, is now returning to them, and fixing its residence among them. When the glory of the Lord forsook the temple, it is represented as departing from the eastern gate of it; afterward, as quite forsaking the city, and removing to a mountain on the east side of it; and now that glory is described as returning by the same way it departed: see Eze 10:18; Eze 11:23. This was intended to signify that God would again accept of this place for a temple to be built on it, and dedicated to his worship, and would accept of the service that should be paid him there, and afford the place his peculiar protection. And his voice was like a noise of many waters Great and terrible: compare Eze 1:24; Rev 1:15. Either to signify the dreadfulness of Gods judgments, or the efficacy of his commands, who calls things into existence by the power of his word. And the earth shined with his glory The rays of his glory, like the sunbeams, enlightened the earth: see the margin. This glory of the Lord seems to have been intended as an emblem of the light of the gospel, which is the glory of Christ, and which spread from the eastern part of the world into the western; and which has been, and still is, powerful and mighty in operation, in saving mankind, and enlightening the earth with abundance of knowledge, holiness, and comfort.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 43:2. Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. In Eze 10:18, we read that the glory had departed from the ancient temple. Here it returns at the east gate, which was the proper way to the sanctum sanctorum, or Holy of holies. The prophet had seen a similar vision at the river Chebar, as is intimated in the next verse; and now again he beholds the Messiah on the throne of his glory. This it is that gives a plenitude of joy to the church on earth; for what people have God so nigh unto them. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. His name is Immanuel, God with us.
Those who plead for the personal reign of Christ a thousand years on earth during the millennium, lay great emphasis on this chapter; but their whole theory seems to have no positive promise on that head. It is enough if he reign in his spiritual temple, reward the martyrs with an earlier resurrection, and cause the age of righteousness to follow the ages of wickedness.
Eze 43:5. So the Spirit took me up. Not Ish, as in Eze 41:4. But Ruach, the Holy Spirit, as elsewhere in this book: Eze 37:1. Here is then an Adorable Trinity, Messiah and his Spirit reviving the prophet.
Eze 43:7. My holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings by their whoredoms. The first temple was confessedly destroyed for these things; but here is a reference to the glory of the latter day, when the people shall be all righteous, and the sanctuary adorned with the beauties of holiness.
The carcases of their kings in their high places, the idols adored by the gentiles. The jews also had their monuments of dead men who had reigned, or been distinguished in antiquity; but it is probable that the allusion here is either to the bodies of Amon or Manasseh, who were not buried with their fathers, or to some idolatrous princes, who are here called kings, and who were interred near the high places of their idols.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 43:1-9. The description of the Temple is fittingly followed by an account of Yahwehs solemn entry into ita passage which forms the real climax of the last section of the book, and is the counterpart to His equally solemn departure described in Eze 10:18 ff. and Eze 11:22 ff. Girt with splendour, He re-enters by the eastern gate through which He had departed, and from the midst of the Temple His voice rings mysteriously forth, declaring that there He will dwell for ever in the midst of Israel. But whereas, in the old days of the monarchy, palace and Temple had been contiguous, separated only by a wall, and the graves of the kings had defiled the Temple by their proximity to it, such profanations and defilementsno less than every trace of idolatrymust be absolutely removed; and then Yahweh would dwell with Israel for ever. (In Eze 43:3, for I came read He came.)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
3. The return of God’s glory to the temple 43:1-12
Having described the temple, God next revealed that He approved of it.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The vision itself 43:1-5
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Ezekiel’s guide next led him to the east gate in the outer wall. This was the wall of the millennial temple that he had been seeing and continued to see, not the wall of the Solomonic temple. There the prophet saw the glory of God approaching the temple from the east (cf. Deu 33:2; Isa 60:1-3). Ezekiel had seen God’s glory departing from Solomon’s temple to the east when the Babylonians destroyed it (ch. 8; Eze 10:4; Eze 10:18-19; Eze 11:22-25). It did not return when Zerubbabel rebuilt it or when Herod the Great remodeled it (cf. Hag 2:7). But now the Lord was about to take up residence in His millennial temple. God’s voice was as the sound of a mighty waterfall (powerful and majestic; cf. Eze 1:24; Rev 1:15; Rev 14:2), and His glory illuminated the land as it passed over it (cf. Exo 34:29-30; Exo 34:35; Mar 9:3; 2Co 4:6; Rev 1:16; Rev 18:1).
An interesting foreview of the departure and return of God’s glory occurred when God’s glory departed with the ark of the covenant into the Philistine camp (1Sa 4:19-22) and then returned when David brought the ark into Jerusalem (2Sa 6:17-19). Another parallel is Jesus’ departure from Jerusalem in His ascension and His return to it at His second advent, both events happening on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE IMPORT OF THE VISION
WE have now reached the last and in every way the most important section of the book of Ezekiel. The nine concluding chapters record what was evidently the crowning experience of the prophets life. His ministry began with a vision of God; it culminates in a vision of the people of God, or rather of God in the midst of His people, reconciled to them, ruling over them, and imparting the blessings and glories of the final dispensation. Into that vision are thrown the ideals which had been gradually matured through twenty years of strenuous action and intense meditation. We have traced some of the steps by which the prophet was led towards this consummation of his work. We have seen how, under the idea of God which had been revealed to him, he was constrained to announce the destruction of that which called itself the people of Jehovah, but was in reality the means of obscuring His character and profaning His holiness (chapters 4-24). We have seen further how the same fundamental conception led him on in his prophecies against foreign nations to predict a great clearing of the stage of history for the manifestation of Jehovah (chapters 25-32). And we have seen from the preceding section what are the processes by which the divine Spirit breathes new life into a dead nation and creates out of its scattered members a people worthy of the God whom the prophet has seen.
But there is still something more to accomplish before his task is finished. All through, Ezekiel holds fast the truth that Jehovah and Israel are necessarily related to each other, and that Israel is to be the medium through which alone the nature of Jehovah can be fully disclosed to mankind. It remains, therefore, to sketch the outline of a perfect theocracy – in other words, to describe the permanent forms and institutions which shall express the ideal relation between God and men. To this task the prophet addresses himself in the chapters now before us. That great New Years Vision may be regarded as the ripe fruit of all Gods training of His prophet, as it is also the part of Ezekiels work which most directly influenced the subsequent development of religion in Israel.
It cannot be doubted, then, that these chapters are an integral part of the book, considered as a record of Ezekiels work. But it is certainly a significant circumstance that they are separated from the body of the prophecies by an interval of thirteen years. For the greater part of that time Ezekiels literary activity was suspended. It is probable, at all events, that the first thirty-nine chapters had been committed to writing soon after the latest date they mentioned, and that the oracle on Gog, which marks the extreme limit of Ezekiels prophetic vision, was really the conclusion of an earlier form of the book. And we may be certain that, since the eventful period that followed the arrival of the fugitive from Jerusalem, no new divine communication had visited the prophets mind. But at last, in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity, and on the first day of a new year, he falls into a trance more prolonged than any he had yet passed through, and he emerged from it with a new message for his people.
In what direction were the prophets thoughts moving as Israel passed into the midnight of her exile? That they have moved in the interval-that his standpoint is no longer quite identical with that represented in his earlier prophecies-seems to be shown by one slight modification of his previous conceptions, which has been already mentioned. I refer to the position of the prince in the theocratic state. We find that the king is still the civil head of the commonwealth, but that his position is hardly reconcilable with the exalted functions assigned to the Messianic king in chapter 34. The inference seems irresistible that Ezekiels point of view has somewhat changed, so that the objects in his picture present themselves in a different perspective.
It is true that this change was effected by a vision, and it may be said that that fact forbids our regarding it as indicating a progress in Ezekiels thoughts. But the vision of a prophet is never out of relation to his previous thinking. The prophet is always prepared for his vision; it comes to him as the answer to questions, as the solution of difficulties, whose force he has felt, and apart from which it would convey no revelation of God to his mind. It marks the point at which reflection gives place to inspiration, where the incommunicable certainty of the divine word lifts the soul into the region of spiritual and eternal truth. And hence it may help us, from our human point of view, to understand the true import of this vision, if from the answer we try to discover the questions which were of pressing interest to Ezekiel in the later part of his career.
Speaking generally, we may say that the problem that occupied the mind of Ezekiel at this time was the problem of a religious constitution. How to secure for religion its true place in public life, how to embody it in institutions which shall conserve its essential ideas and transmit them from one generation to another, how a people may best express its national responsibility to God-these and many kindred questions are real and vital today amongst the nations of Christendom, and they were far more vital in the age of Ezekiel. The conception of religion as an inward spiritual power, moulding the life of the nation and of each individual member, was at least as strong in him as in any other prophet; and it had been adequately expressed in the section of his book dealing with the formation of the new Israel. But he saw that this was not for that time sufficient. The mass of the community were dependent on the educative influence of the institutions under which they lived, and there was no way of impressing on a whole people the character of Jehovah except through a system of laws and observances which should constantly exhibit it to their minds. The time was not yet come when religion could be trusted to work as a hidden leaven, transforming life from within and bringing in the kingdom of God silently by the operation of spiritual forces. Thus, while the last section insists on the moral change that must pass over Israel, and the need of a direct influence from God on the heart of the people, that which now lies before us is devoted to the religious and political arrangements by which the sanctity of the nation must be preserved.
Starting from this general notion of what the prophet sought, we can see, in the next place, that his attention must be mainly concentrated on matters belonging to public worship and ritual. Worship is the direct expression in word and act of mans attitude to God, and no public religion can maintain a higher level of spirituality than the symbolism which gives it a place in the life of the people. That fact had been abundantly illustrated by the experience of centuries before the Exile. The popular worship had always been a stronghold of false religion in Israel. The high places were the nurseries of all the corruptions against which the prophets had to contend, not simply because of the immoral elements that mingled with their worship, but because the worship itself was regulated by conceptions of the deity which were opposed to the religion of revelation. Now the idea of using ritual as a vehicle of the highest spiritual truth is certainly not peculiar to Ezekiels vision. But it is there carried through with a thoroughness which has no parallel elsewhere except in the priestly legislation of the Pentateuch. And this bears witness to a clear perception on the part of the prophet of the value of that whole side of things for the future development of religion in Israel. No one was more deeply impressed with the evils that had flowed from a corrupt ritual in the past, and he conceives the final form of the kingdom of God to be one in which the blessings of salvation are safeguarded by a carefully regulated system of religious ordinances. It will become manifest as we proceed that he regards the Temple ritual as the very centre of theocratic life, and the highest function of the community of the true religion.
But Ezekiel was prepared for the reception of this vision, not only by the practical reforming bent of his mind, but also by a combination in his own experience of the two elements which must always enter into a conception of this nature. If we may employ philosophical language to express a very obvious distinction, we have to recognise in the vision a material and a formal element. The matter of the vision is derived from the ancient religious and political constitution of the Hebrew state. All true and lasting reformations are conservative at heart; their object never is to make a clean sweep of the past, but so to modify what is traditional as to adapt it to the needs of a new era. Now Ezekiel was a priest, and possessed all a priests reverence for antiquity, as well as a priests professional knowledge of ceremonial and of consuetudinary law. No man could have been better fitted than he to secure the continuity of Israels religious life along the particular line on which it was destined to move. Accordingly we find that the new theocracy is modelled from beginning to end after the pattern of the ancient institutions which had been destroyed by the Exile. If we ask, for example, what is the meaning of some detail of the Temple building, such as the cells surrounding the main sanctuary, the obvious and sufficient answer is that these things existed in Solomons Temple, and there was no reason for altering them. On the other hand, whenever we find the vision departing from what had been traditionally established, we may be sure that there is a reason for it, and in most cases we can see what that reason was. In such departures we recognise the working of what we have called the formal element of the vision, the moulding influence of the ideas which the system was intended to express. What these ideas were we shall consider in subsequent chapters; here it is enough to say that they were the fundamental ideas which had been communicated to Ezekiel in the course of his prophetic work, and which have found expression in various forms in other parts of his writings. That they are not peculiar to Ezekiel, but are shared by other prophets, is true, just as it is true on the other hand that the priestly conceptions which occupy so large a place in his mind were an inheritance from the whole past history of the nation. Nor was this the first time when an alliance between the ceremonialism of the priesthood and the more ethical and spiritual teaching of prophecy had proved of the utmost advantage to the religious life of Israel. The unique importance of Ezekiels vision lies in the fact that the great development of prophecy was now almost complete, and that the time was come for its results to be embodied in institutions which were in the main of a priestly character. And it was fitting that this new era of religion should be inaugurated through the agency of one who combined in his own person the conservative instincts of the priest with the originality and the spiritual intuition of the prophet.
It is not suggested for a moment that these considerations account for the inception of the vision in the prophets mind. We are not to regard it as merely the brilliant device of an ingenious man, who was exceptionally qualified to read the signs of the times, and to discover a solution for a pressing religious problem. In order that it might accomplish the end in view, it was absolutely necessary that it should be invested with a supernatural sanction and bear the stamp of divine authority. Ezekiel himself was well aware of this, and would never have ventured to publish his vision if he had thought it all out for himself. He had to wait for the time when “the hand of the Lord was upon him,” and he saw in vision the new Temple and the river of life proceeding from it, and the renovated land, and the glory of God taking up its everlasting abode in the midst of His people. Until that moment arrived he was without a message as to the form which the life of the restored Israel must assume. Nevertheless the psychological conditions of the vision were contained in those parts of the prophets experience which have just been indicated. Processes of thought which had long occupied his mind suddenly crystallised at the touch of the divine hand, and the result was the marvellous conception of a theocratic state which was Ezekiels greatest legacy to the faith and hopes of his countrymen.
That this vision of Ezekiels profoundly influenced the development of post-exilic Judaism may be inferred from the fact that all the best tendencies of the restoration period were towards the realisation of the ideals which the vision sets forth with surpassing clearness. It is impossible, indeed, to say precisely how far Ezekiels influence extended, or how far the returning exiles consciously aimed at carrying out the ideas contained in his sketch of a theocratic constitution. That they did so to some extent is inferred from a consideration of some of the arrangements established in Jerusalem soon after the return from Babylon. But it is certain that from the nature of the case the actual institutions of the restored community must have differed very widely in many points from those described in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel. When we look more closely at the composition of this vision, we see that it contains features which neither then nor at any subsequent time have been historically fulfilled. The most remarkable thing about it is that it unites in one picture two characteristics which seem at first sight difficult to combine. On the one hand it bears the aspect of a rigid legislative system intended to regulate human conduct in all matters of vital moment to the religious standing of the community; on the other hand it assumes a miraculous transformation of the physical aspect of the country, a restoration of all the twelve tribes of Israel under a native king, and a return of Jehovah in visible glory to dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. Now these supernatural conditions of the perfect theocracy could not be realised by any effort on the part of the people, and as a matter of fact were never literally fulfilled at all. It must have been plain to the leaders of the Return that for this reason alone the details of Ezekiels legislation were not binding for them in the actual circumstances in which they were placed. Even in matters clearly within the province of human administration we know that they considered themselves free to modify his regulations in accordance with the requirements of the situation in which they found themselves. It does not follow from this, however, that they were ignorant of the book of Ezekiel, or that it gave them no help in the difficult task to which they addressed themselves. It furnished them with an ideal of national holiness, and the general outline of a constitution in which that ideal should be embodied; and this outline they seem to have striven to fill up in the way best adapted to the straitened and discouraging circumstances of the time.
But this throws us back on some questions of fundamental importance for the right understanding of Ezekiels vision. Taking the vision as a whole, we have to ask whether a fulfilment of the kind just indicated was the fulfilment that the prophet himself anticipated. Did he lay stress on the legislative or the supernatural aspect of the vision-on mans agency or on Gods? In other words, does he issue it as a programme to be carried out by the people as soon as the opportunity is presented by their return to the land of Canaan? or does he mean that Jehovah Himself must take the initiative by miraculously preparing the land for their reception, and taking up His abode in the finished Temple, the “place of His throne, and the place of the soles of His feet”? The answer to that question is not difficult, if only we are careful to look at things from the prophets point of view, and disregard the historical events in which his predictions were partly realised. It is frequently assumed that the elaborate description of the Temple buildings in chapters 40-42 is intended as a guide to the builders of the second Temple, who are to make it after the fashion of that which the prophet saw on the mount. It is quite probable that in some degree it may have served that purpose; but it seems to me that this view is not in keeping with the fundamental idea of the vision. The Temple that Ezekiel saw, and the only one of which he speaks, is a house not made with hands; it is as much a part of the supernatural preparation for the future theocracy as the “very high mountain” on which it stands, or the river that flows from it to sweeten the waters of the Dead Sea. In the important passage where the prophet is commanded to exhibit the plan of the house to the children of Israel, {Eze 43:10-11} there is unfortunately a discrepancy between the Hebrew and Greek texts which throws some obscurity on this particular point. According to the Hebrew there can hardly be a doubt that a sketch is shown to them which is to be used as a builders plan at the time of the Restoration. But in the Septuagint, which seems on the whole to give a more correct text, the passage runs thus: “And, thou son of man, describe the house to the house of Israel (and let them be ashamed of their iniquities), and its form, and its construction: and they shall be ashamed of all that they have done. And do thou sketch the house, and its exits, and its outline; and all its ordinances and all its laws make known to them; and write it before them, that they may keep all its commandments and all its ordinances, and do them.” There is nothing here to suggest that the construction of the Temple was left for human workmanship. The outline of it is shown to the people only that they may be ashamed of all their iniquities. When the arrangements of the ideal Temple are explained to them, they will see how far those of the first Temple transgressed the requirements of Jehovahs holiness, and this knowledge will produce a sense of shame for the dulness of heart which tolerated so many abuses in connection with His worship. No doubt that impression sank deep into the minds of Ezekiels hearers, and led to certain important modifications in the structure of the Temple when it had to be built; but that is not what the prophet is thinking of. At the same time we see clearly that he is very much in earnest with the legislative part of his vision. Its laws are real laws, and are given that they may be obeyed-only they do not come into force until all the institutions of the theocracy, natural and supernatural alike, are in full working order. And apart from the doubtful question as to the erection of the Temple, that general conclusion holds good for the vision as a whole. Whilst it is pervaded throughout by the legislative spirit, the miraculous features are after all its central and essential elements. When these conditions are realised, it will be the duty of Israel to guard her sacred institutions by the most scrupulous and devoted obedience; but till then there is no kingdom of God established on earth, and therefore no system of laws to conserve a state of salvation, which can only be brought about by the direct and visible interposition of the Almighty in the sphere of nature and history.
This blending of seemingly incongruous elements reveals to us the true character of the vision with which we have to deal. It is in the strictest sense a Messianic prophecy-that is, a picture of the kingdom of God in its final state as the prophet was led to conceive it. It is common to all such representations that the human authors of them have no idea of a long historical development gradually leading up to the perfect manifestation of Gods purpose with the world. The impending crisis in the affairs of the people of Israel is always regarded as the consummation of human history and the establishment of Gods kingdom in the plenitude of its power and glory. In the time of Ezekiel the next step in the unfolding of the divine plan of redemption was the restoration of Israel to its own land; and in so far as his vision is a prophecy of that event, it was realised in the return of the exiles with Zerubbabel in the first year of Cyrus. But to the mind of Ezekiel this did not present itself as a mere step towards something immeasurably higher in the remote future. It is to include everything necessary for the complete and final inbringing of the Messianic dispensation, and all the powers of the world to come are to be displayed in the acts by which Jehovah brings back the scattered members of Israel to the enjoyment of blessedness in His own presence.
The thing that misleads us as to the real nature of the vision is the emphasis laid on matters which seem to us of merely temporal and earthly significance. We are apt to think that what we have before us can be nothing else than a legislative scheme to be carried out more or less fully in the new state that should arise after the Exile. The miraculous features in the vision are apt to be dismissed as mere symbolisms to which no great significance attaches. Legislating for the millennium seems to us a strange occupation for a prophet, and we are hardly prepared to credit even Ezekiel with so bold a conception. But that depends entirely on his idea of what the millennium will be. If it is to be a state of things in which religious institutions are of vital importance for the maintenance of the spiritual interests of the community of the people of God, then legislation is the natural expression for the ideals which are to be realised in it. And we must remember, too, that what we have to do with is a vision. Ezekiel is not the ultimate source of this legislation, however much it may bear the impress of his individual experience. He has seen the city of God, and all the minute and elaborate regulations with which these nine chapters are filled are but the exposition of principles that determine the character of a people amongst whom Jehovah can dwell.
At the same time we see that a separation of different aspects of the vision was inevitably effected by the teaching of history. The return from Babylon was accomplished without any of those supernatural adjuncts with which it had been invested in the rapt imagination of the prophet. No transformation of the land preceded it; no visible presence of Jehovah welcomed the exiles back to their ancient abode. They found Jerusalem in ruins, the holy and beautiful house a desolation, the land occupied by aliens, the seasons unproductive as of old. Yet in the hearts of these men there was a vision even more impressive, than that of Ezekiel in his solitude. To lay the foundations of a theocratic state in the dreary, discouraging daylight of the present was an act of faith as heroic as has ever been performed in the history of religion. The building of the Temple was undertaken amidst many difficulties, the ritual was organised, the rudiments of a religious constitution appeared, and in all this we see the influence of those principles of national holiness that had been formulated by Ezekiel. But the crowning manifestation of Jehovahs glory was deferred. Prophet after prophet appeared to keep alive the hope that this Temple, poor in outward appearance as it was, would yet be the centre of a new world, and the dwelling-place of the Eternal. Centuries rolled past, and still Jehovah did not come to His Temple, and the eschatological features which had bulked so largely in Ezekiels vision remained an unfulfilled aspiration. And when at length in the fulness of time the complete revelation of God was given, it was in a form that superseded the old economy entirely, and transformed its most stable and cherished institutions into adumbrations of a spiritual kingdom which knew no earthly Temple and had need of none.
This brings us to the most difficult and most important of all the questions arising in connection with Ezekiels vision-What is its relation to the Pentateuchal Legislation? It is obvious at once that the significance of this section of the book of Ezekiel is immensely enhanced if we accept the conclusion to which the critical study of the Old Testament has been steadily driven, that in the chapters before us we have the first outline of that great conception of a theocratic constitution which attained its finished expression in the priestly regulations of the middle books of the Pentateuch. The discussion of this subject is so intricate, so far-reaching in its consequences, and ranges over so wide a historical field, that one is tempted to leave it in the hands of those who have addressed themselves to its special treatment, and to try to get on as best one may without assuming a definite attitude on one side or the other. But the student of Ezekiel cannot altogether evade it. Again and again the question will force itself on him as he seeks to ascertain the meaning of the various details of Ezekiels legislation, How does this stand related to corresponding requirements in the Mosaic law? It is necessary, therefore, in justice to the reader of the following pages, that an attempt should be made, however imperfectly, to indicate the position which the present phase of criticism assigns to Ezekiel in the history of the Old Testament legislation.
We may begin by pointing out the kind of difficulty that is felt to arise on the supposition that Ezekiel had before him the entire body of laws contained in our present Pentateuch. We should expect in that case that the prophet would contemplate a restoration of the divine institutions established under Moses, and that his vision would reproduce with substantial fidelity the minute provisions of the law by which these institutions were to be maintained. But this is very far from being the case. It is found that while Ezekiel deals to a large extent with the subjects for which provision is made by the law, there is in no instance perfect correspondence between the enactments of the vision and those of the Pentateuch, while on some points they differ very materially from one another. How are we to account for these numerous and, on the supposition, evidently designed divergencies? It has been suggested that the law was found to be in some respects unsuitable to the state of things that would arise, after the Exile, and that Ezekiel in the exercise of his prophetic authority undertook to adapt it to the conditions of a late age. The suggestion is in itself plausible, but it is not confirmed by the history. For it is agreed on all hands that the law as a whole had never been put in force for any considerable period of Israels history previous to the Exile. On the other hand, if we suppose that Ezekiel judged its provisions unsuitable for the circumstances that would emerge after the Exile, we are confronted by the fact that where Ezekiels legislation differs from that of the Pentateuch it is the latter and not the former that regulated the practice of the post-exilic community. So far was the law from being out of date in the age of Ezekiel that the time was only approaching when the first effort would be made to accept it in all its length and breadth as the authoritative basis of an actual theocratic polity. Unless, therefore, we are to hold that the legislation of the vision is entirely in the air, and that it takes no account whatever of practical considerations, we must feel that a certain difficulty is presented by its unexplained deviations from the carefully drawn ordinances of the Pentateuch.
But this is not all. The Pentateuch itself is not a unity. It consists of different strata of legislation which, while irreconcilable in details, are held to exhibit a continuous progress towards a clearer definition of the duties that devolve on different classes in the community, and a fuller exposition of the principles that underlay the system from the beginning. The analysis of the Mosaic writings into different legislative codes has resulted in a scheme which in its main outlines is now accepted by critics of all shades of opinion. The three great codes which we have to distinguish are:
(1) the so-called Book of the Covenant; (Exo 20:24 – Exo 23:1-33, with which may be classed the closely allied code of Exo 34:10-28)
(2) the Book of Deuteronomy; and
(3) the Priestly Code (found in Exo 25:1-40; Exo 26:1-37; Exo 27:1-21; Exo 28:1-43; Exo 29:1-46; Exo 30:1-38; Exo 31:1-18; Exo 35:1-35; Exo 36:1-38; Exo 37:1-29; Exo 38:1-31; Exo 39:1-43; Exo 40:1-38, the whole book of Leviticus, and nearly the whole of the book of Numbers).
Now of course the mere separation of these different documents tells us nothing, or not much, as to their relative priority or antiquity. But we possess at least a certain amount of historical and independent evidence as to the times when some of them became operative in the actual life of the nation. We know, for example, that the Book of Deuteronomy attained the force of statute law under the most solemn circumstances by a national covenant in the eighteenth year of Josiah. The distinctive feature of that book is its impressive enforcement of the principle that there is but one sanctuary at which Jehovah can be legitimately worshipped. When we compare the list of reforms carried out by Josiah, as given in the twenty-third chapter of 2 Kings, with the provisions of Deuteronomy, we see that it must have been that book and it alone that had been found in the Temple and that governed the reforming policy of the king. Before that time the law of the one sanctuary, if it was known at all, was certainly more honoured in the breach than the observance. Sacrifices were freely offered at local altars throughout the country, not merely by the ignorant common people and idolatrous kings, but by men who were the inspired religious leaders and teachers of the nation. Not only so, but this practice is sanctioned by the Book of the Covenant, which permits the erection of an altar in every place where Jehovah causes His name to be remembered, and only lays down injunctions as to the kind of altar that might be used. {Exo 20:24-26} The evidence is thus very strong that the Book of Deuteronomy, at whatever time it may have been written, had not the force of public law until the year 621 B.C., and that down to that time the accepted and authoritative expression of the divine will for Israel was the law embraced in the Book of the Covenant.
To find similar evidence of the practical adoption of the Priestly Code we have to come down to a much later period. It is not till the year 444 B.C., in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, that we read of the people pledging themselves by a solemn covenant to the observance of regulations which are clearly those of the finished system of Pentateuchal law. {Neh 8:1-18; Neh 9:1-38; Neh 10:1-39} It is there expressly stated that this law had not been observed in Israel up to that time, {Neh 9:34} and in particular that the great Feast of Tabernacles had not been celebrated in accordance with the requirements of the law since the days of Joshua. {Neh 8:17} This is quite conclusive as to actual practice in Israel; and the fact that the observance of the law was thus introduced by instalments, and on occasions of epoch-making importance in the history of the community, raises a strong presumption against the hypothesis that the Pentateuch was an inseparable literary unit, which must be known in its entirety where it was known at all.
Now the date of Ezekiels vision (572) lies between these two historic transactions-the inauguration of the law of Deuteronomy in 621, and that of the Priestly Code in 444; and in spite of the ideal character which belongs to the vision as a whole, it contains a system of legislation which admits of being compared point by point with the provisions of the other two codes on a variety of subjects common to all three. Some of the results of this comparison will appear as we proceed with the exposition of the chapters before us. But it will be convenient to state here the important conclusion to which a number of critics have been led by discussion of this question. It is held that Ezekiels legislation represents on the whole a transition from the law of Deuteronomy to the more complex system of the Priestly document. The three codes exhibit a regular progression, the determining factor of which is a growing sense of the importance of the Temple worship and of the necessity for a careful regulation of the acts which express the religious standing and privileges of the community. On such matters as the feasts, the sacrifices, the distinction between priests and Levites, the Temple dues, and the provision for the maintenance of ordinances, it is found that Ezekiel lays down enactments which go beyond those of Deuteronomy and anticipate a further development in the same direction in the Levitical legislation. The legislation of Ezekiel is accordingly regarded as a first step towards the codification of the ritual laws which regulated the usage of the first Temple. It is not of material consequence to know how far these laws had been already committed to writing, or how far they had been transmitted by oral tradition. The important point is that down to the time of Ezekiel the great body of ritual law had been the possession of the priests, who communicated it to the people in the shape of particular decisions as occasion demanded. Even the book of Deuteronomy, except on one or two points, such as the law of leprosy and of clean and unclean animals, does not encroach on matters of ritual, which it was the special province of the priesthood to administer. But now that the time was drawing near when the Temple and its worship were to be the very centre of the religious life of the nation, it was necessary that the essential elements of the ceremonial law should be systematised and published in a form understanded of the people. The last nine chapters of Ezekiel, then, contain the first draft of such a scheme, drawn from an ancient priestly tradition which in its origin went back to the time of Moses. It is true that this was not the precise form in which the law was destined to be put in practice in the post-exilic community. But Ezekiels legislation served its purpose when it laid down clearly, with the authority of a prophet, the fundamental ideas that underlie the conception of ritual as an aid to spiritual religion. And these ideas were not lost sight of, though it was reserved for others, working under the impulse supplied by Ezekiel, to perfect the details of the system, and to adapt the principles of the vision to the actual circumstances of the second Temple. Through what subsequent stages the work was carried we can hardly hope to determine with exactitude; but it was finished in all essential respects before the great covenant of Ezra and Nehemiah in the year 444.
Let us now consider the bearing of this theory on the interpretation of Ezekiels vision. It enables us to do justice to the unmistakable practical purpose which pervades its legislation. It frees us from the grave difficulties involved in the assumption that Ezekiel wrote with the finished Pentateuch before him. It vindicates the prophet from the suspicion of arbitrary deviations from a standard of venerable antiquity and of divine authority, which was afterwards proved by experience to be suited to the requirements of that restored Israel in whose interest Ezekiel legislated. And in doing so it gives a new meaning to his claim to speak as a prophet ordaining a new system of laws with divine authority. Whilst perfectly consistent with the inspiration of the Mosaic books, it places that of Ezekiel on a surer footing than does the supposition that the whole Pentateuch was of Mosaic authorship. It involves, no doubt, that the details of the Priestly law were in a more or less fluid condition down to the time of the Exile; but it explains the otherwise unaccountable fact that the several parts of the law became operative at different times in Israels history, and explains it in a manner that reveals the working of a divine purpose through all the ages of the national existence. It becomes possible to see that Ezekiels legislation and that of the Levitical books are in their essence alike Mosaic, as being founded on the institutions and principles established by Moses at the beginning of the nations history. And an altogether new interest is imparted to the former when we learn to regard it as an epoch-making contribution to the task which laid the foundation of the post-exilic theocracy-the task of codifying and consolidating the laws which expressed the character of the new nation as a holy people consecrated to the service of Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.