Ezekiel: For His GlorySample

Today we end the tour of the temple with instructions about sacrifice procedures, management of the land belonging to the prince and the temple kitchens. 

The prince’s involvement in sacrifice procedures continues (vv. 1–15). He also provides offerings for the Sabbath and New Moon festival (vv. 4–6). The priest offers the sacrifice on the prince’s behalf but the prince still has the privilege of worshipping Yahweh at the threshold of the inner eastern gate (v. 2). By contrast, the people only have a limited view of the inner court from the entrance to the gate (v. 3). The movements of the prince and the people are regulated (vv. 8–10). The people move either north–south or south–north in one direction. This may be for practical reasons or because the east–west axis was ‘holy’.*

Regarding the prince’s land (vv. 16– 18), it can’t be given away permanently to someone outside his family because it is an inheritance from God. If the prince passes land to a servant, the land reverts to the prince’s family at Jubilee (cf. Lev. 25:13). Again there is a reminder that the prince can’t forcibly take the land belonging to others. 

The kitchens in the inner and outer courts are then described (vv. 19–24). The kitchens in the inner court are for the offerings that can’t leave the sanctity of the inner court (vv. 19–20). Again we see the idea of not transmitting holiness to the people (cf. 44:19). Returning to the outer court, the four kitchens are for the Levites to cook the peoples’ sacrifices (vv. 21–23). Even the kitchens maintain the gradation of holiness, protecting the sanctity of the temple.

Reflection

At the outer court, the people have the privilege of eating in the courts of Yahweh. God wants to commune with His people, a fact which we are reminded of especially in the Lord’s Supper (e.g. 1 Cor. 11:23– 26). As we feed on the ‘body’ and ‘blood’ of Jesus, we celebrate together the new covenant, the atonement, and deliverance that we have in Jesus Christ.

*See Milgrom, Jacob, and Block, Daniel I., Ezekiel’s Hope: A Commentary on Ezekiel 38–48 (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2012), p. 212; also see Figure 8 in Block, Daniel I., The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48, p. 573.