Ezekiel 45

Ezekiel 45 belongs to the vision of the new temple in Ezekiel 40–48. Ezekiel 44 dealt with access to the temple and the duties of the priests and Levites; this chapter regulates the allotment of land, the obligations of the prince, and the festival sacrifices.

Outline

• Verses 1–5: When the land is divided, a holy district 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide is to be offered to the LORD as an oblation. Within it are a sanctuary 500 cubits square with an open space of 50 cubits around it, the land of the priests, and the land of the Levites (with twenty chambers).
• Verses 6–8: The city's portion, 5,000 cubits wide, is given to the whole house of Israel, and the land on either side of the holy district and the city is given to the prince. As a result, the princes will no longer oppress the people.
• Verses 9–12: The princes of Israel are commanded to put away violence and plunder and to practice judgment and justice. The ephah and the bath are each set at one-tenth of a homer. The shekel is twenty gerahs, and the maneh is fixed at sixty shekels, the sum of twenty, twenty-five, and fifteen shekels.
• Verses 13–17: The people are to present to the prince as an offering one-sixtieth of their wheat and barley, one-hundredth of their oil, and one lamb out of every two hundred. With these offerings the prince provides the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the feasts, new moons, and sabbaths, to make reconciliation for Israel.
• Verses 18–20: On the first day of the first month, the blood of a young bull without blemish is applied to the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the lower ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court to cleanse the sanctuary. On the seventh day of that month the same rite is performed for anyone who has sinned in error or through ignorance.
• Verses 21–25: On the fourteenth day of the first month the seven-day feast of the Passover is kept, and unleavened bread is eaten. The prince provides sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and he does the same during the seven days of the feast that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. This seventh-month feast is commonly identified as the Feast of Tabernacles.

Key Verses

• Ezekiel 45:9: "remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice" — In the midst of the temple regulations, rulers are required to practice social justice.
• Ezekiel 45:10: "Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath" — Honesty in commerce is addressed alongside the order of worship.
• Ezekiel 45:17: "And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings" — The prince bears responsibility for the people's sacrifices.

People and Places

• The prince (ruler): The term renders the Hebrew nasi. The Korean Revised Version translates it "king," and the New Korean Revised Version "ruler"; the KJV has "prince." In return for receiving land, he provides the sacrifices from the people's offerings.
• Priests: Those who minister in the sanctuary; they receive land for their houses within the holy district.
• Levites: Those who serve in the temple; they receive a separate portion of land on which to establish their dwellings.
• The holy district: The portion in the midst of the land set apart and offered to the LORD. The sanctuary stands at its center.

Points for Reflection

• The festival regulations in this chapter differ from the Mosaic law in Numbers 28–29 in the number of sacrifices and in their dates. Rites for cleansing the sanctuary on the first and seventh days of the first month appear here for the first time, and the Feast of Weeks is not mentioned. In Jewish tradition, such differences are reported to have prompted debate over the book of Ezekiel.
• Dispensationalism often reads this chapter as describing a temple and sacrifices that will actually be established during the millennial kingdom; in this view the sacrifices are sometimes explained as memorial rather than atoning. Covenant theology and the Reformed tradition regard it as a symbolic vision of God's restored people and His presence among them, fulfilled in Christ and the church.
• The New Testament book of Hebrews teaches that Christ's once-for-all sacrifice brought repeated sacrifices to an end (Hebrews 10:1–14). This passage is frequently cited as a basis for interpreting the sacrificial regulations of this chapter.