Ezekiel 45: 1-8 The Set Aside Portions of the LORD and the Prince
1When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside for the LORD a portion of the land as a holy district, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand cubits wide; it shall be holy throughout its entire extent. 2Of this, a square plot of five hundred by five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. 3In the holy district you shall measure off a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide, in which shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. 4It shall be a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the LORD to minister to him; and it shall be both a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5Another section, twenty- five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their holding for cities to live in.
6Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign as a holding for the city an area five thousand cubits wide, and twenty- five thousand cubits long; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.
7And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the holding of the city, alongside the holy district and the holding of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary 8of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And my princes shall no longer oppress my people; but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.
As a modern Protestant Christian entering the worldview of Ezekiel the experience can seem disorienting or alien. The focus on holiness contrasts strongly with the modern Protestant Christian emphasis on the closeness and even intimacy of the relationship with God. The need to set aside holy space separated from the rest of the world has been lost to most modern people, but perhaps even stranger to us is Ezekiel’s focus on the land belonging to the LORD. The allotment of the land (literally casting lots for the land) indicates that all the land belongs to God and God can allocate the land however God chooses. The priests and Levites are highlighted for relying on God for their inheritance.
This section will be more fully developed in chapter forty eight (48:8-22) with the allocation of land to all the tribes, yet here we are given a way of looking at the holy space of the sanctuary with its bordering regions of buffer from the rest of the population. The location of this portion will be shown in chapter forty-eight, but here the focus is on the dimensions of this space surrounding the temple. This portion of land set aside by the LORD for the temple, the priests, and the Levites is slightly more than eight miles in length and six and a half miles in width, fifty square miles or 33,500 acres. (Block, 1998, p. 652) At the heart of this large section of the land is the 500 cubit square of the sanctuary and the fifty cubit buffer zone around the sanctuary.[1] The next layer of buffer is provided by the living area that the LORD provides for the priests. One half of this space (minus the area dedicated to the temple) is for the priests and their families who minister before the LORD. The remaining half of the space is for the Levites and their families. This space, designated as ‘arim which recollects the Levitical cities of Numbers 35:1-8, yet now instead of towns spread throughout the territory there is a concentrated space for the Levites to dwell. There are numerous changes throughout this section of Ezekiel to the original design of territory allocated in Numbers and Joshua, but worship is centralized in a common location in Ezekiel’s vision so the concentration of the priests and Levites in proximity to the temple is logical.
The next section that separates the holy space of the temple, priests, and Levites from the people is the ‘ahazzat ha’ir which is set aside for the whole house of Israel. This may have been a designated place for pilgrims to come to offer sacrifices or participate in the festivals to stay for the celebrations. Although there may have been a vision for structures to serve as temporary housing for the pilgrims that come, it may have also been an open space for people to set up camps or booths. Finally, there is a large section of land given to the prince (nasi) of Israel. The two sections of land for the prince should be sufficient that the prince does not need to claim the land of the people while still being able to provide for the proper sacrifices and festivals around the temple.
Ezekiel 45: 9-12 Just Expectations of Leaders and Trade
9Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my people, says the Lord GOD.
10You shall have honest balances, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. 11The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. 12The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall make a mina for you.
We live with the expectation of common standards for measurement where governments maintain the standards for economic commerce. That was also expected in the practice of Hebrew society, but the lack of common measurements that allowed merchants or nobles to exploit the population were a common protest of the prophets. The best-known example is probably Amos:
Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring ruin to the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat. Amos 8:4-6
Even Proverbs opines that, “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is his delight.” Proverbs 11:1.
The prince of Israel has just received a sizeable grant of land from the LORD, and now the attention turns to the unjust ways the princes of Israel have preyed upon the people.[2] This new future for a reordered people centered around a holy temple will also be expected to be a just people. Sometimes holiness and justice, or righteousness, are looked upon as contradictory impulses but in the prophets, both are expectations of covenantal faithfulness to the LORD. Rather than preying upon the people and evicting them from their land, the LORD has provided a substantial portion for the prince with the expectation of righteousness by these princes of Israel.
The ephah and the bath are the dry and liquid units of measurement for the people. An ephah is one tenth of a homer, a unit that comes from what a donkey could carry (NIB VI: 1583)[3] Both the ephah and the bath are roughly 22 liters (5.8 gallons). The unit of measure also needs to correspond to a consistent unit of payment in the shekel and mina. Ezekiel’s shekel would be 11.4 g (0.4 oz), and the sixty-shekel mina probably is inspired by Babylon’s “sexagesimal system.” (Block, 1998, p. 657)
Ezekiel 45: 13-17 The Temple Offerings
13This is the offering that you shall make: one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, 14and as the fixed portion of oil, one-tenth of a bath from each cor (the cor, like the homer, contains ten baths); 15and one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the pastures of Israel. This is the offering for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and offerings of well-being, to make atonement for them, says the Lord GOD. 16All the people of the land shall join with the prince in Israel in making this offering. 17But this shall be the obligation of the prince regarding the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the festivals, the new moons, and the sabbaths, all the appointed festivals of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, the burnt offerings, and the offerings of well-being, to make atonement for the house of Israel.
A rebuilt and rededicated temple exists for the sacrifice of the offerings of the people. Although instruction was undoubtably a part of the activities of the temple, much of the actions and learning is associated with the cultic practices of sacrifice of well-being, to atone for sin, and to give thanks for the prosperity of the people. Just as the land is a grant from God that can be rescinded, so is the prosperity the people enjoy. The requested sacrifices are modest as a percentage of the bounty of the field and flock:
To provide for these offerings wheat and barley are to be taxed at the rate of 1/6 of an ephah for every homer of grain, which amounts to a 1/60 levy, or 1.6 percent. The rate for olive oil is 1/10 a bath for every homer, or 1 percent. Sheep are to be taxed at one animal per 200, that is, at the rate of 0.5 percent. (Block, 1998, p. 659)
The people participate in bringing in the offering, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the prince to collect or provide for the actions of the temple and supply the sacrifices for the festivals as well as the regular offerings. The actions of worship are centralized in the temple and the prince centralizes the provision of offerings.
Ezekiel 45: 18-25 First Month Purification of Temple and Passover
18Thus says the Lord GOD: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish, and purify the sanctuary. 19The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.
21In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the festival of the passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. 23And during the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the LORD seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24He shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil to each ephah. 25In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the festival, he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.
Calendars matter in the ancient world. My one reading of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha was enough to reinforce that reality since many of the documents struggle over calendar. The beginning of a year, particularly the beginning of a year in this new temple, requires a purification of the site for its utilization throughout the year. Although there is some debate about whether the purification done here is an annual event or an initial event with the opening of the temple at the beginning of the new year, my gut tells me that Ezekiel intends this as an annual event. The closest analogue is Exodus 40:2 where the tabernacle is set up on the first day of the first month, and the echo is likely intentional. This parallel lends support to readers who view this as an initial event, but the beginning of the year is a significant event in most cultures and an annual purification in a worldview concerned with the holiness of this space seems appropriate. The offering of the young bull without blemish on the first and seventh day of the month seems reasonable accommodation to make atonement for the temple.
Ezekiel’s brief description of the Passover is shocking for its differences from the original celebration. Passover as initially outlined in Exodus 12: 1-28 is an event that occurs at the familial level, but now the event is centralized and is a festival that people are expected to make a pilgrimage for. In Exodus 34:21-24 it appears that the Passover is one of the three times the people are to gather and Deuteronomy 16: 1-8 does envision a central place where the people would gather for the Passover, but now the prince takes the central role in providing for the Passover rather than the family and the sacrifice moves from lamb to bull, ram, and goats. “Ezekiel retains the label of the ancient rite as Passover, his ordinances call for a dramatic transformation of the festival.” (Block, 1998, p. 667) Both Hezekiah and Josiah in their reforms bring the people together to celebrate the Passover and add bulls and goats to the offering of lambs (2 Chronicles 30, 35). Yet here the lamb, so central to the imagery and story of the original Passover, is gone as is the familial role in the celebration.
Ezekiel’s perspective values a centralization of worship and activities around the temple. In addition, there is a value for the role of the prince of Israel as a provider for the festival. This may look back fondly on the times of Hezekiah and Josiah where these two kings reestablished the festival from their own resources. Another factor may be the inability of families to ensure the faithful execution of the festival in the past. The practice of the Passover in Israel seems to quickly disappear without royal and priestly encouragement. For Ezekiel, who has seen the disastrous results of the people’s idolatry and their abominable practices, a return to a less centralized celebration of this critical festival may be unthinkable.
[1] This agrees with the dimensions of 42:20.
[2] See Ezekiel 19.
[3] A homer is approximately four to six bushels.
Sign of the Rose 