Ezekiel 45

The Sacred Portion of the Land

1 "When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance,[a] you must set aside a donation to the Lord, a holy portion of the land,[b] eight and one-third [miles][c] long and six and two-thirds [miles][d] wide. This entire tract of land will be holy.
2 In this area there will be a square [section][e] for the sanctuary, 875 by 875 [feet],[f][g] with 87 and a half feet[h] of open space all around it.
3 From this holy portion,[i] you will measure off an area eight and one-third [miles][j] long and three and one-third [miles][k] wide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place,[l] will stand.[m]
4 It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who draw near to serve the Lord.[n] It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary.
5 There will be [another area] eight and one-third [miles][o] long and three and one-third [miles][p] wide for the Levites who minister in the temple;[q] it will be their possession for towns to live in.[r]
6 "As the property of the city, you must set aside an area one and two-thirds [of a mile][s] wide and eight and one-third [miles] [t] long, adjacent to the holy donation [of land].[u] It will be for the whole house of Israel.
7 And the prince will have the area on each side of the holy donation [of land] and the city's property, adjacent to the holy donation and the city's property, stretching to the west on the west side and to the east on the east side.[v] [Its] length will correspond to one of the [tribal] portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary.
8 This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress My people[w] but give the [rest of the] land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
9 "This is what the Lord God says: You have gone too far,[x][y] princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right.[z] Put an end to your evictions of My people." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .
10 "You must have honest balances, an honest dry measure,[aa] and an honest liquid measure.[ab][ac]
11 The dry measure[ad] and the liquid measure[ae] will be uniform, with the liquid measure containing five and a half gallons[af] and the dry measure [holding] half a bushel.[ag] Their measurement will be one-tenth of the standard larger capacity measure.[ah]
12 The shekel will weigh 20 gerahs. Your mina will equal 60 shekels.

The People's Contribution to the Sacrifices

13 "This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts[ai] from five bushels[aj] of wheat and[ak] three quarts from five bushels of barley.
14 The quota of oil in liquid measures[al] will be one percent of every[am] cor. [The cor equals] 10 liquid measures [or] one standard larger capacity measure,[an] since 10 liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure.
15 And [the quota] from the flock is one animal out of every 200 from the well-watered pastures of Israel. [These are] for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings, to make atonement for the people." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .
16 "All the people of the land must take part in this contribution for the prince in Israel.
17 Then the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths-for all the appointed times of the house of Israel-will be the prince's responsibility. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.
18 "This is what the Lord God says: In the first [month], on the first [day] of the month, you are to take a young, unblemished bull and purify the sanctuary.
19 The priest must take some of the blood from the sin offering and apply [it] to the temple doorposts, the four corners of the altar's ledge, and the doorposts of the gate to the inner court.[ao]
20 You must do the same thing on the seventh [day] of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance.[ap] In this way you will make atonement for the temple.
21 "In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month, you are to celebrate the Passover, a festival of seven days [during which] unleavened bread will be eaten.[aq]
22 On that day the prince will provide a bull as a sin offering on behalf of himself and all the people of the land.
23 During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering.
24 He will also provide a grain offering of half a bushel[ar] per bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon[as] of oil for every half bushel.
25 At the festival [that begins] on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,[at] he will provide the same things for seven days-the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.

Ezekiel 45 Commentary

Chapter 45

- In the period here foretold, the worship and the ministers of God will be provided for; the princes will rule with justice, as holding their power under Christ; the people will live in peace, ease, and godliness. These things seem to be represented in language taken from the customs of the times in which the prophet wrote. Christ is our Passover that is sacrificed for us: we celebrate the memorial of that sacrifice, and feast upon it, triumphing in our deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery of sin, and our preservation from the destroying sword of Divine justice, in the Lord's supper, which is our passover feast; as the whole Christian life is, and must be, the feast of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Footnotes 46

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 45

This chapter treats of the division of the land in future time, and the persons and uses for which it is to be made; one part being for the sanctuary, and the priests that serve in it, and for their houses for them to dwell in, Eze 45:1-4, another for the Levites and their chambers, Eze 45:5, and another for the city, for the Israelites in common, Eze 45:6, and the last for the prince; and of the situation and extent of it, Eze 45:7,8 and of the righteous administration of civil government in the time of the spiritual reign of Christ, in abstinence from violence and exactions, and doing justice, for which orders and directions are given, Eze 45:9-12, then of the oblations of the people of the land, Eze 45:13-16, and next of those that are to be prepared by the prince, Eze 45:17, and the times of the offering of them, at the beginning of the year, on the feasts of the passover and tabernacles, Eze 45:18-25, the rules for which are so different from the Mosaic law, as show the abrogation of that; and that all this is to be understood in a spiritual and evangelic sense.

Ezekiel 45 Commentaries

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