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Ezekiel Chapter
Forty-five
Ezekiel 45
Chapter Summary
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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 45
Verse 2
[2] Of
this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred
in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs
thereof.
Of this —
Whole portion of twenty five thousand cubits long, or twelve miles and half,
and ten thousand broad, or five miles and a little more.
For the sanctuary —
For a platform for the sanctuary, both house and court.
Verse 3
[3] And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty
thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary and
the most holy place.
And in it — In
the center of this.
Verse 6
[6] And
ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and
twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall
be for the whole house of Israel.
The possession —
Land to be a possession to the citizens of Jerusalem, and to be the content of
the city.
Broad —
About two miles and half broad, and twelve miles and half long.
Long —
This must run along parallel in length with the holy portion, though but half
its breadth.
For the whole house — As
the capital city, to which the tribe's resort, it must be large enough to
entertain them.
Verse 7
[7] And
a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the
oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the
oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the
west side westward, and from the east side eastward: and the length shall be
over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.
The prince —
The king.
Our side —
One half of the prince's portion lay on the west side of those three already set
out.
The other side —
The other half lay on the east-side thereof, so the portion of the city,
Levites and priests, lay in the middle.
The holy portion — Of
priests, and Levites, and sanctuary.
Before — It
lay parallel as broad as these three were broad, and so run on both sides in
its breadth from north to south, and had its length as the other, from east to
west.
Over against —
What is called now over-against, or by the side, is called before three times
together. So now you have an exact square of twenty-five thousand cubits laid
out for God, the Levites and city, which appears thus in the breadth. 10000 For
the priests. 10000 For the Levites. 5000 For the city. And the length of each,
twenty-five thousand, that is twelve miles and half square.
Verse 9
[9] Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove
violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions
from my people, saith the Lord GOD.
Let it suffice — Be
content, aim not at more.
Verse 11
[11] The
ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth
part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof
shall be after the homer.
Of one measure —
One shall contain as much as the other, the ephah shall contain as many gallons
of dry, as the bath of liquid things.
An homer —
Thirty bushels. So the ephah will be three bushels in dry things, and the bath
eight gallons in liquid things.
Verse 12
[12] And
the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels,
fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.
Twenty gerahs — A
gerah was one penny half-penny, the shekel then was two shillings and
six-pence, twenty shekels was two pounds ten shillings, fifteen shekels was one
pound seventeen shillings and six-pence, and twenty five was three pound two
shillings and six-pence.
Maneh — It
seems there was the small, the middle, and the great Maneh.
Verse 13
[13] This
is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of
wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of barley:
Offer — In
the daily service, the morning and evening sacrifice.
Verse 14
[14]
Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part
of a bath out of the cor, which is an homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an
homer:
Bath —
Which contained about twenty-four gallons.
The cor — Or
homer; these were two names of the same measure.
Verse 16
[16] All
the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel.
With the prince — By
a common purse of prince and people.
Verse 18
[18] Thus
saith the Lord GOD; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou
shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary:
Thou shalt take —
Procure, this the prince must do.
Verse 20
[20] And
so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and
for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house.
For every one that erreth — For all the errors of all the house of Israel, through ignorance.
For him that is simple — That is half-witted, or a fool.
Reconcile —
Cleanse, as verse 18, which legally was defiled by those errors
done in the city, or courts of the house, whither these persons might come.
Verse 21
[21] In
the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the
passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
In the first month —
Nisan, which is part of March, and part of April with us.
Verse 22
[22] And
upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of
the land a bullock for a sin offering.
Upon that day —
Upon the fourteenth day, on which the passover was slain.
Verse 24
[24] And
he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a
ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah.
An hin —
This was about one gallon and three quarters of a pint.
Verse 25
[25] In
the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in
the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the
burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.
In the seventh month — According to their ecclesiastical account, which is Tisri, and answers to
part of our August and September.
In the fifteenth day — On that day the feast of tabernacles began, and continued seven days.
He — The prince.
In the feast of the seven days — Hence we also may learn the necessity of frequently repeating the same
religious exercises. Indeed the sacrifice of atonement was offered once for
all. But the sacrifice of acknowledgement, that of a broken heart, that of a
thankful heart, must be offered every day. And these spiritual sacrifices are
always acceptable to God through Christ Jesus.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
45 Chapter 45
Verses 1-25
Verse 10
Ye shall have Just balances.
God requires just dealings
That our consciences may be enlightened and set right, we want a
standard, like the standard weights and measures that are kept in the Tower of
London, to which all the people in the little country villages may send up
their yard measures, and their pint pots, and their pound weights, and find out
if they are just and true. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
And so thou shalt do . . . for everyone that erreth, and for him
that is simple.
Provision for the erring and simple
A very touching provision is here. When the services of the newly
constituted temple were in full operation, and the priests were performing the
usual rites in all the pomp and splendour of their ceremonial on the behalf of
all righteous and godly souls, there was to be special thought of the erring
and simple; for these two characters a special offering was made. Perhaps the
erring were too hardened and the simple too obtuse to bring an offering for
themselves; but they were not forgotten. The blood of the sin-offering was to
be placed on the posts of the house and on the posts of the gate of the inner
court, each seventh day of the month, on their behalf. Whenever we draw around
the altar of God, whether in the home or church, we should remember the erring
and simple. If a family misses from its ranks one erring member, its prayer and
thought are more directed towards that one than to those that have not gone
astray. Does not the child who is deficient in its intellect attract more
loving care than those who are able to care for themselves? Should it be
otherwise in God’s home? (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》