Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Ezekiel-Chapter 46

Ezek 46.1-24 tells us about the shutting of the east gate to the inner court on working days, and opening it up on the sabbaths and new moons for the prince and the people to worship in. It also discusses the boiling places where the priests will boil the korbanot of the people.

v 1…’Thus says the Lord God (Adonai Yehovah), “The gate of the inner court that faces east (44.1) shall be shut the six working days, but it shall be opened on the sabbath day, and opened on the day of the new moon.

v 2…And the prince (44.3) shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate (a pillar of the gate leading to the court of the priests). Then the priests shall provide his burnt offering (Korban Olah) and his peace offerings (Korban Shelemim), and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until evening (of the sabbath or new moon).

v 3…The people of the land (am ha eretz) shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the Lord (Yehovah) on the sabbaths and new moons (outside the threshold like they did at the Mishkan-Exo 29.42).

v 4…And the burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the Lord on the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish (this differs from Num 28.9);

v 5…and the grain offering (Korban Minchah) shall be an ephah with the ram, and the grain offering with the lambs without blemish as much as he is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah (a much larger quantity than in the Torah-Num 28.9).

v 6…And on the day of the new moon he shall offer a young bull without blemish, also six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish (also differs from the Torah-Num 28.11).

v 7…And he shall provide a grain offering, an ephah with a bull, and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, and a hin of oil with an ephah.

v 8…And when the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate and go out the same way (no crowd to deal with).

v 9…But when the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals (this may be alluding to the three pilgrim festivals called the Shelosh Regalim in Deut 16.16), he who enters by way of of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate (for crowd control). And he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered but shall go straight out (all confusion avoided and this alludes to a “different walk” like Jacob, Israel, the wisemen-Jer 10; 1 Kings 13.9).

v 10…And when they go in, the prince shall go in among them; and when they go out, he shall go out.

v 11…And at the festivals (“hagim”) and the appointed festivals, the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah (same as the new moon in v 7).

v 12…And when the prince provides a free will offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a free will offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him (same place he worshiped on the sabbath). And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out.

v 13…And you shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it (the Tamid is offered only in the morning, none in the afternoon).

v 14…And you shall shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a sixth of an ephah, and a third of of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour, a grain offering to the Lord continually (tamid) by a perpetual ordinance (this is the Tamid offering, but it differs from the one in Num 28.1-4).

v 15…Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering (Olah Tamid).”

v 16…’Thus says the Lord God, if the prince gives a gift out of his inheritance to any of his sons (literal sons of the civil leader-44.3), it shall belong to his sons, it is their possession by inheritance (and not revert back at the Yovel).

v 17…But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty (Yovel or jubilee); then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons; it shall belong to them (Lev 25.10).

v 18…And the prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance (like Ahab did with Naboth-1 Kings 21.1-16), thrusting them out of their possession; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own possession so that my people shall not be scattered, anyone from his possession (the prince is not the Messiah because he would never do this-see also Ezek 45.7-8).’ “

v 19…Then he brought me through the entrance (north gate of the inner court), which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers (it had a kedusha) for the priests, which faced north; and behold (see), there was a place at the extreme rear toward the west (west side of the chambers).

v 20…And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order that they may not bring them out into the outer court to transmit holiness (kedusha) to the people (eaten within the azarah because the outer court did not have the same kedusha).”

v 21…Then he brought me out into the outer court and led me across to the four corners of the court (Mishnah, Middot 2.5 says there were four smaller courtyards in the outer court called the Nazarite Chamber on the southeast, the Wood chamber in the northeast, the Leper chamber in the northwest, and the wine and oil chamber in the southwest where they were stored), in every corner of the court there was a small court.

v 22…In the four corners of the court there were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were the same size.

v 23…And there was a row of masonry round about in them, around the four of them, and boiling places were made under the rows round about (next to the walls).

v 24…Then he said to me, “These are the boiling places where the ministers (Levites) of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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