Ezekiel 45

Eze 45:1-25.

ALLOTMENT OF THE

LAND FOR THE

SANCTUARY, THE

CITY, AND THE

PRINCE.

1. offer an oblation--from a Hebrew root to "heave" or "raise";

when anything was offered to God, the offerer raised the hand. The

special territorial division for the tribes is given in the

forty-seventh and forty-eighth chapters. Only Jehovah's portion is here

subdivided into its three parts: (1) that for the sanctuary

(Eze 45:2, 3);

(2) that for the priests

(Eze 45:4);

(3) that for the Levites

(Eze 45:5).

Compare

Eze 48:8-13.

five and twenty thousand reeds, &c.--So English

Version rightly fills the ellipsis (compare Note, see on

Eze 42:16).

Hence "cubits" are mentioned in

Eze 45:2,

not here, implying that there alone cubits are meant. Taking

each reed at twelve feet, the area of the whole would be a square of

sixty miles on each side. The whole forming a square betokens the

settled stability of the community and the harmony of all classes. "An

holy portion of the land"

(Eze 45:1)

comprised the whole length, and only two-fifths of the breadth. The

outer territory in its distribution harmonizes with the inner and more

sacred arrangements of the sanctuary. No room is to be given for

oppression (see

Eze 45:8),

all having ample provision made for their wants and comforts. All will

mutually co-operate without constraint or contention.

7. The prince's possession is to consist of two halves, one on the

west, the other on the east, of the sacred territory. The prince, as

head of the holy community, stands in closest connection with the

sanctuary; his possession, therefore, on both sides must adjoin that

which was peculiarly the Lord's [FAIRBAIRN].

12. The standard weights were lost when the Chaldeans destroyed the

temple. The threefold enumeration of shekels (twenty, twenty-five,

fifteen) probably refers to coins of different value, representing

respectively so many shekels, the three collectively making up a maneh. By weighing these together against the maneh, a test was afforded

whether they severally had their proper weight: sixty shekels in all,

containing one coin a fourth of the whole (fifteen shekels), another a

third (twenty shekels), another a third and a twelfth

(twenty-five shekels) [MENOCHIUS]. The

Septuagint reads, "fifty shekels shall

be your maneh."

13-15. In these oblations there is a progression as to the relation

between the kind and the quantity: of the corn, the sixth of a tenth,

that is, a sixtieth part of the quantity specified; of the oil, the

tenth of a tenth, that is, an hundredth part; and of the flock, one from

every two hundred.

18. The year is to begin with a consecration service, not mentioned

under the Levitical law; but an earnest of it is given in the feast of

dedication of the second temple, which celebrated its purification by

Judas Maccabeus, after its defilement by Antiochus.

20. for him that is simple--for sins of ignorance

(Le 4:2, 13, 27).

21. As a new solemnity, the feast of consecration is to prepare for

the passover; so the passover itself is to have different sacrifices

from those of the Mosaic law. Instead of one ram and seven lambs for the

daily burnt offering, there are to be seven bullocks and seven rams. So

also whereas the feast of tabernacles had its own offerings, which

diminished as the days of the feast advanced, here the same are

appointed as on the passover. Thus it is implied that the letter of the

law is to give place to its spirit, those outward rites of Judaism

having no intrinsic efficacy, but symbolizing the spiritual truths of

Messiah's kingdom, as for instance the perfect holiness which is to

characterize it. Compare

1Co 5:7, 8,

as to our spiritual "passover," wherein, at the Lord's supper, we feed

on Christ by faith, accompanied with "the unleavened bread of sincerity

and truth." Literal ordinances, though not slavishly bound to the

letter of the law, will set forth the catholic and eternal verities of

Messiah's kingdom.