Tag Archives: Ezekiel’s Temple

Ezekiel 46 Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Sacrifices, Land, and Sanctified Food

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James Tissot, Solomon Decicates the Temple (1896-1902)

Ezekiel 46: 1-15 The Sabbath and New Moon

1Thus says the Lord GOD: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall remain closed on the six working days; but on the sabbath day it shall be opened and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his offerings of well-being, and he shall bow down at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be closed until evening. 3The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the LORD on the sabbaths and on the new moons. 4The burnt offering that the prince offers to the LORD on the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; 5and the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. 6On the day of the new moon he shall offer a young bull without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish; 7as a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he wishes, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. 8When the prince enters, he shall come in by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.
9When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed festivals, whoever enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate; and whoever enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: they shall not return by way of the gate by which they entered, but shall go out straight ahead. 10When they come in, the prince shall come in with them; and when they go out, he shall go out.
11At the festivals and the appointed seasons the grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs as much as one wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. 12When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or offerings of well-being as a freewill offering to the LORD, the gate facing east shall be opened for him; and he shall offer his burnt offering or his offerings of well-being as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be closed.
13He shall provide a lamb, a yearling, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the LORD daily; morning by morning he shall provide it. 14And he shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning regularly, one-sixth of an ephah, and one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the choice flour, as a grain offering to the LORD; this is the ordinance for all time. 15Thus the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, as a regular burnt offering.

The reestablishment of the temple enables a resumption of the weekly and monthly offerings to the LORD. One of the first things that a careful reader of the Hebrew Scriptures will notice is the differences between the offerings in Ezekiel and in the Mosaic torah (Numbers 28:9-15). The quantity of sacrificial animals and the type of additional items offered with the sacrifice has changed between Numbers and Ezekiel. Although the sense of order is very important for the prophet, it is also possible that he does not have access to the torah scrolls. When the temple is reestablished under Nehemiah and Ezra, they explicitly indicate they are utilizing the Mosaic torah and may be unaware of this portion of Ezekiel. Yet to understand the prophet Ezekiel’s ordered world these sacrifices weekly and monthly are important.

The Mosaic torah on the sabbath dictates two lambs, 2/10 ephah of flour mixed with oil and the drink offering compared to Ezekiel’s ram and six lambs, with an ephah of flour with a hin of oil for the ram and ‘the gift of his hand’[1] for the grain offering with the lambs. The drink offering of wine is omitted by Ezekiel, and this may be intentional to prevent the priests from becoming intoxicated while performing their duty.[2] In Ezekiel’s vision everything occurs in an orderly manner. These sabbath offerings are provided by the prince on behalf of the people and the prince enters with the people and oversees the offerings he has provided on their behalf. The eastern door of the inner court is opened on the sabbath, and new moon festivals and it is at this door (at the post of the gate) he watches the offerings. The prince prostrates himself before the offerings which is the appropriate position for a mortal in the presence of the holy, yet even the prince does not enter this holy space. He remains in the outer courtyard looking through the gate at the inner courtyard. He arrives with the people and when the ceremony is over, he departs with the people.

The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, and so the ‘new moon’ festival is a monthly commemoration and not associated with the worship of the moon. The offering for this festival is reduced from the two bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in Numbers 28:11-15 to one bull, one ram, and six lambs here, but the amount of grain offering increases.  For both sabbath and the festivals the eastern gate to the inner court is opened for the sacrifice and then closed when the people and prince depart and remains closed throughout the non-sabbath, non-celebration days. Perhaps this is to prevent the people from being observed by the LORD at their work when they are not physically clean from working in the fields, but it also is likely an additional barrier between the holiness of God and the lack of holiness among the people.

For the daily offering the pronoun shifts from third person to second person (not reflected in the NRSV) and this may indicate that now the prophet is being addressed. The prince would not be present at the temple on the non-sabbath days and so the prophet or priest would be responsible for the conduct of the morning offerings, yet the prince likely was the patron who provided the animals. For Ezekiel a perfectly ordered world has a role for the priests every day but delineates ceremonially the sabbath and monthly festivals. Yet, as Tova Ganzel notes:

The book of Numbers enumerates the sacrifices to be brought at other times: Shavuot, Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, and Shemini Atzeret. Ezekiel mentions none of these. Each of these holidays lasts for a single day, and perhaps the book of Ezekiel does not mention any of them because Ezekiel’s prophecy makes no change in any of them. However, this may be a deliberate omission – implying no future commemoration of these holidays. (Ganzel, 2020, p. 391)

For both Jewish and Christian scholars the differences between the calendar and offerings of Numbers and Ezekiel are perplexing. Ezekiel’s world is a highly ordered world, yet it seems disconnected from the ordering of the world laid out in Torah. As mentioned above Ezekiel may not have had access to the torah when he recorded his vision, but the differences between the Mosaic torah and Ezekiel’s visions continue to cause interpreters to puzzle over which takes precedence in which circumstance. Ezra utilized the Mosaic torah in the reconstruction of the temple, but without the temple these discussions may be academic to concrete action. Yet, they remain important to understanding this prophet’s view of the world.

Ezekiel 46:16-18 The Prince, Inheritance and Land Protection

16Thus says the Lord GOD: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons out of his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons, it is their holding by inheritance. 17But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall revert to the prince; only his sons may keep a gift from his inheritance. 18The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their holding; he shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own holding, so that none of my people shall be dispossessed of their holding.

A central conviction of both the Mosaic torah and the prophet Ezekiel is that the land is a gift from God, and that God is the owner of the land. In the torah and in Joshua the intent is for inheritance to remain in families and now this ideal for all Israel is concentrated on the prince’s family. The prince may hand down an inheritance to his sons, but anything granted to a servant must be returned in the year of liberty (or Jubilee) every fifty years. The land granted to the prince in 45:1-8 is to remain in the prince’s family so that the prince can continue to be a patron for the temple and not need to take advantage of the people of Israel. The princes and nobles of Israel preying on the best land and best resources of the people has been a fear from Samuel’s initial warning in 1 Samuel 8: 10-18. The prophets have continually protested the actions by kings, princes, and nobles to exercise power over the people and deprive them of their inheritance. Here the protection of the royal lands is linked with the princes honoring the lands of the people.

Ezekiel 46:19-24 Set Aside Kitchens for Holy People

19Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests; and there I saw a place at the extreme western end of them. 20He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so communicate holiness to the people.”
21Then he brought me out to the outer court, and led me past the four corners of the court; and in each corner of the court there was a court — 22in the four corners of the court were small courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; the four were of the same size. 23On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. 24Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who serve at the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

Ezekiel’s ordered world separates into different gradients of holiness. The priest who are engaged in the holiest of work and occupy the holiest space have a place inside the holy chambers to prepare a meal. There is one kitchen inside this space for the priests to eat as they perform their work, so they do not communicate holiness to the people. Similarly, there are four kitchen-like structures in the outer court where the Levites likely prepare the food that the people will eat during the sacrifices. Within the temple there is a place for the priests, a place for the Levites, and a place for the people. Sacrifices were times of gathering to worship but also eat, and the portion of the priests must be separated from the portions of the people. The holiness of God is too dangerous for the majority of the population to approach.

[1] This is a literal rendering of the idiom translated ‘as much as he wishes to give’ by the NRSV. Block renders this as ‘Whatever he can afford.’ (Block, 1998, p. 668)

[2] Ezekiel 44:21.

Ezekiel 45 Land, Justice, Sacrifices, and the Passover

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Grigory Mekheev, Exodus (2000) artist shared work under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

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.

Ezekiel 44 The Sealed Gate, the Levites, and the Priests

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The Temple by Radojavor@deviantart.com

Ezekiel 44: 1-3 The Sealed Gate of the Temple

1Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. 2The LORD said to me: This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. 3Only the prince, because he is a prince, may sit in it to eat food before the LORD; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

The eastern gate of this temple is to remain closed for all human traffic because it is the path that the LORD has utilized to enter the temple. Even the priests and the prince (mentioned here for the first time in Ezekiel 40-48) must enter by the north or south gateways. The repetition of this gate remaining shut emphasizes the important nature of this command for the sanctity of the temple and the safety of the people. It also may serve as a polemic against the Babylonian New Year’s festival where Marduk is paraded from the temple and then reenters in procession to that temple’s central space. On the one hand, the LORD the God of Israel does not need human hands to carry the presence of God into the temple. Additionally, this permanent closing reinforces the LORD’s intention to be among the people forever and not to depart as the LORD’s presence did in Ezekiel 10.

The presence of the prince (Hebrew nasi) in this section will be expanded on later in Ezekiel 45:21-46:12 as the provider of offerings at festivals and a participant in those celebrations. Yet even this expansion does not offer a lot of specificity about the role of this prince of the people. On the one hand, the prince is permitted to eat before the LORD and has a special relation to the LORD. The presence of a new prince has been promised in both in Ezekiel 34: 23-24 and 37: 24-25 as a new David and one who is a faithful shepherd. Yet, this prince does not construct this temple like Solomon and Ezekiel’s focus is less upon this prince who shepherds the people, and more on the Levites and Zadokite priests who will keep the people from defiling the temple. This prince may have an honored role in God’s future but Ezekiel’s concern is primarily with priestly things and not princely things.

Ezekiel 44:4-31 The Levites and the Zadokite Priests

4Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple; and I looked, and lo! the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD; and I fell upon my face. 5The LORD said to me: Mortal, mark well, look closely, and listen attentively to all that I shall tell you concerning all the ordinances of the temple of the LORD and all its laws; and mark well those who may be admitted to the temple and all those who are to be excluded from the sanctuary. 6Say to the rebellious house to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: O house of Israel, let there be an end to all your abominations 7in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant with all your abominations. 8And you have not kept charge of my sacred offerings; but you have appointed foreigners to act for you in keeping my charge in my sanctuary.
9Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment. 11They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving in the temple; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall attend on them and serve them. 12Because they ministered to them before their idols and made the house of Israel stumble into iniquity, therefore I have sworn concerning them, says the Lord GOD, that they shall bear their punishment. 13They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my sacred offerings, the things that are most sacred; but they shall bear their shame, and the consequences of the abominations that they have committed. 14Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its chores, all that is to be done in it.
15But the levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me; and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord GOD. 16It is they who shall enter my sanctuary, it is they who shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen vestments; they shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. 18They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19When they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall remove the vestments in which they have been ministering, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, so that they may not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments. 20They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22They shall not marry a widow, or a divorced woman, but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24In a controversy they shall act as judges, and they shall decide it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and they shall keep my sabbaths holy. 25They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person; for father or mother, however, and for son or daughter, and for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. 26After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27On the day that he goes into the holy place, into the inner court, to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his sin offering, says the Lord GOD.
28This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no holding in Israel; I am their holding. 29They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30The first of all the first fruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests; you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, in order that a blessing may rest on your house. 31The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or animal, that died of itself or was torn by animals.

Charles Taylor, in his massive work A Secular Age, talks about the way the ancient world was viewed by its inhabitants as a ‘porous’ place with specific thin places where the holiness of the divine or the profanity of the demonic could come into contact with the people. These spaces were both places of great blessing and great danger, and it required the actions of the entire community to maintain a proper relationship with the divine to prevent the holiness of the God the community worshipped from either abandoning the protection of the community or actively inflicting punishment on the community. (Taylor, 2007, pp. 25-90) The purpose of the ordinances and regulations, the Levites, the priests, and the prophets within this world is to protect the holiness of the temple, the holy place for the city and people, as well as the life and prosperity of the people. Proximity to the LORD the God of Israel is a fraught reality and careless trespassing of the LORD’s holy space, in addition to the other ethical covenant violations of the people led to the departure of the LORD from the previous temple and the exile of the people. In this reconfigured world where the LORD will be present in the temple, the priests and Levites must maintain this holy space in a proper and respectful manner to the powerful God who resides at the center of the temple.

Up to this point in the temple vision Ezekiel has been asked to see and observe, but now Ezekiel’s focus moves to hearing and reporting. As Katheryn Pfisterer Darr states:

Until this point in the vision, Ezekiel has been called to focus attention upon everything his guide shows him (40:4); now, he is told to focus attention upon everything Yahweh tells him (44:5)… attention turns from the visual revelation of Yahweh’s glory filling the Temple (v.4) to God’s aural revelation in the form of ordinances and instructions concerning access to the Temple and its personnel. (NIB VI:1573)

Ezekiel is now giving actions that prescribe and prohibit activities within the temple to ensure that the temple remains undefiled and the people are protected from the holy and yet dangerous presence of God. The Levites, the priests, and the structure all separate the mundane from the holy, the clean from the unclean.

This temple vision which includes the return of the LORD to Israel is a renewal of Ezekiel’s call. The people have been receiving messages of hope from the prophet but now his role is to form a new way of being for the people to operate in this hopeful and reordered future. To ensure this future Ezekiel becomes a new lawgiver providing critical actions the people must do to remain in a good relationship with their God and covenant partner. The departure of the people from Mosaic Torah has been drastic, and even the Levites have followed the people in their abandonment of the LORD. Now the reorganized temple and people have restated laws and ordinances to order their lives.

Although foreigners working in the temple was not mentioned earlier in Ezekiel 8 when the previous temple was examined the influence of foreigners on the policies and worship of Israel and Judah has been a regular part of the narration of Israel’s history. These foreigners may have been visiting dignitaries who participated in the celebrations of the people, but they may also have had some official function in the temple. It is conceivable that they would serve as guards since most kings of this time had foreigners who served in their household and military.[1] It is also possible that Israel and Judah, in their fascination with their neighbors, brought other religious leaders into the temple. Leviticus rejects even offerings coming from a foreigner as unacceptable,[2] yet this seems to be one of many ordinances that were either forgotten or ignored in the practice of the people. Now a reordered temple requires the right people performing the right tasks to ensure that the LORD’s offerings are holy.

The Levites were originally set apart for responding faithfully to Moses when the rest of the people abandoned themselves to the worship of the golden calf.[3] Now as the people strayed from following the covenant of the LORD the Levites followed the people and some may have led the people astray. The Levites are to bear responsibility for the space of worship and bear the responsibility for their own offenses and the offenses that happen within that space.[4] They stand between God and Israel and the consequences for their actions. Daniel Block quotes Jacob Milgrom’s note on the implications of this position for the Levites:

the Levites function as a “lightning rod to attract God’s wrath upon themselves” for Israel’s sin… for their own failure to guard the house against encroachment, the Levites will experience Yahweh’s punishment. Because of their guilt they may not perform the most sacred aspects of the temple ritual. (Block, 1998, p. 629)

The Levites serve as a focal point for God’s punishment and they become the ones who must bear it for the people. They also are charged with the security of the temple and ensuring the separation of the holy from the mundane. They will not participate in the full work of the Zadokite priests, but they do serve as a buffer between the people and the priests. The access of the people to the inner court has been removed and the priests now stand in this place securing the sanctuary but also preparing the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people.

The priests were originally Aaron and his family, referred to as the Elide line of the priesthood. The descendants of Aaron by the time of Eli had become corrupt and were eliminated by God (1 Samuel 3-4). Zadok becomes high priest under David and is one of the people who backs Solomon in his ascension to kingship at the end of David’s life.[5] Ezekiel may come from this line of Zadok and Ezra who will lead the renewal of the temple in a rebuilt Jerusalem is also from this line.[6] Ezekiel implies that the Zadokites never departed from the covenant while the Levites did, and because of their faithfulness they are given the central role in the ministry of the temple. We encountered the Zadokites previously in 40:46 as the priests who have charge of the altar and in 43:19 in the purification of the altar. Now these Zadokite priests have the privilege and responsibility of ministering before the LORD.

To minister before the LORD requires attention to the care of one’s body and clothing. The vestments, mentioned earlier in 42:14 where these vestments are to be stored, are to be linen, and the priest is not to wear any wool that would cause perspiration before the LORD. Sweat or any bodily excretion was viewed as a defiling thing.[7] In a similar manner the regulations on cutting hair or disfigurement are brought forward from Leviticus 21. Just as the animals brought for the sacrificial acts were to be unblemished, those who were to stand before God were not to be sweaty, not to have shaved their heads nor have unkempt hair. They also were not to drink and by their inebriation do something that would bring defilement to the space and offend the presence of God. For these priests there is an element of cleanliness being required to be in the space of godliness. Everything in this reordered temple among the reestablished priesthood was to have its proper actions and places. The Zadokites have no inheritance among the land, they are to trust in the LORD and the people of God to provide for them. They have no other responsibility than the maintenance of the holy temple. These priests are given the privilege of eating the offerings provided for the LORD, and that should satisfy them.

The priests are also to be holy in their relationships. Priests are only allowed to marry a virgin from the house of Israel or the widow of another priest. Their presence in this critical role before God requires a certain distance from the people. This concern for purity was also behind Ezra’s denunciation of mixed marriages for both priests, Levites, and even the people of Israel.[8] The priest were also not allowed to be in the presence of a dead person unless it is a very close relative (father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister) and even in the case of a close relative they must undergo a week for purification before they can resume priestly duties. Their job before the LORD is of critical importance in the life of the people and it impacts every aspect of their lives and relationships.

The priestly role has three components. First, they are commanded to educate the people in matters holy and profane, unclean and clean. Second, the priests are charged with responsibility for the administration of justice according to the law. The priests and religious leaders in Israel have been the ones with access to the law of God and are charged with ensuring that judgments are handled according to God’s law. Finally, the priests were to be models of obedience to the will of God. (Block, 1998, pp. 642-643) The temple was to be the center of life for the people, and the priests who ministered in the temple were to ensure that the actions that defiled the temple and the people in the past are not repeated.

[1] For example many of David’s mighty men are foreigners (2 Samuel 23:8-38).

[2] Leviticus 22:25.

[3] Exodus 32:28.

[4] Numbers 18:23.

[5] 1 Kings 1.

[6] Ezra 7:2.

[7] Deuteronomy 23:9-14 discusses nocturnal emissions and the necessity of covering excrement. For Ezekiel sweat likely falls under this type of consideration for defiling this holy space. Sweat is not prohibited in the camp, but only in this place in close proximity to the LORD.

[8] Ezra 9: 1-4.

Ezekiel 43 The Presence of the LORD Returns and the New Altar

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The Temple by Radojavor@deviantart.com

Ezekiel 43: 1-12 The Return of God’s Presence to the Temple

1Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. 2And there, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east; the sound was like the sound of mighty waters; and the earth shone with his glory. 3The vision I saw was like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like the vision that I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. 4As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east, 5the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court; and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
6While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me out of the temple. 7He said to me: Mortal, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will reside among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their whoring, and by the corpses of their kings at their death. 8When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they were defiling my holy name by their abominations that they committed; therefore I have consumed them in my anger. 9Now let them put away their idolatry and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will reside among them forever.
10As for you, mortal, describe the temple to the house of Israel, and let them measure the pattern; and let them be ashamed of their iniquities. 11When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the plan of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, and its whole form — all its ordinances and its entire plan and all its laws; and write it down in their sight, so that they may observe and follow the entire plan and all its ordinances. 12This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. This is the law of the temple.

The divine presence departed the temple and Jerusalem in chapter ten and the previous three chapters have been preparing a space for the divine presence to return to. God’s desire for Israel was to be a community where God could dwell among them, yet God’s presence is a dangerous and holy thing. God will not inhabit a defiled place, and the God of Israel will not be taken for granted. The mistakes of the previous generations are not to be repeated in this newly reorganized people gathered around a newly constructed people where God’s holiness is separated by walls and gates from the corruption that may be present among the people. Previously the glory of God departed through the east gate of the earlier temple, now God’s presence comes back from the east to enter the eastern gate and move along the spine of sacrality into the holiest place. The approaching presence of God is the same overwhelming visual and auditory experience that the prophet had both in his initial calling at the river Chebar and that he saw depart the temple in chapter ten. Here the departure in chapter ten is reimagined as when the LORD came to destroy the city and the temple, rather than utilizing the Babylonians to accomplish this work. Ezekiel’s response to the divine presence is the appropriate one, he prostrates himself before the glorious presence of God.

At the dedication of both the tabernacle (Exodus 25–40) and Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6-8) the presence (Hebrew kabod) of God comes and fills the space in an overwhelming manner. Now this new temple becomes a place where God’s presence inhabits the space and demonstrating divine approval of the new building. God claims this place as both throne and footstool, language familiar from 1 Chronicles 28:2 where David desires to build a holy place for the ark that can be a footstool for God. This place where God’s presence can rest on earth among the people is a place of great holiness that must not be defiled. The action of profaning God’s name before the nations and the action of Israel defiling by their actions this holy space are two different things as Tova Ganzel illustrates:

Unlike the concept of “profaning (ĥillul) of God,” which, in the book of Ezekiel, always refers to God’s status in the eyes of the other nations, the “defiling (tuma) of God’s name” arises from the actions of Israel – actions whose gravity causes a more profound desecration of God’s name than any outward apparent damage to His standing. (Ganzel, 2020, p. 371)

The unfaithfulness of Israel previously to the Torah as well as the actions of the kings of Israel and Judah have provoked God by their defiling actions. The ‘whoring’ refers to their practices of idolatry but may also have other covenantal implications. The corpses of kings at their death being in the presence of God may refer to the actions of Manasseh and Amon who are buried in the ‘gardens in his house’ (2 Kings 21:18, 26) presumably close to the temple. It may also refer to some unknown practice of having the deceased king lying in state before the temple prior to their committal to their burial place with the other kings of Israel or Judah. Regardless, the presence of a corpse would be a defiling presence in this holy space. In addition, the presence of the household of the kings of Judah directly beside the temple (with only a wall separating) would be dangerously proximity for these kings whose actions have previously defiled the place and the people. The presence of God among the people requires a separation of the holy space where God’s presence inhabits and the mundane space where the people, even the kings, inhabit.

God has acted to reestablish a newly reordered people around a new temple building where God’s presence and glory can inhabit. God is the actor throughout this section, there is no indication of a human builder. Even the presence of the human-like individual acting as a surveyor of the temple is clearly a figure from the heavenly realm. Israel has nothing to claim in this new beginning. As Katheryn Pfisterer Darr highlights the ending of this section:

Here as elsewhere, God’s restorative action elicits shame from the people for their past iniquities. True to form, Ezekiel permits no glimpse of a restored community celebrating the return of Yahweh’s glory in their midst. (NIB VI: 562)

Ezekiel 43: 13-27 The Dimensions and Purification of the Altar

13These are the dimensions of the altar by cubits (the cubit being one cubit and a handbreadth): its base shall be one cubit high, and one cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. This shall be the height of the altar: 14From the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a width of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits, with a width of one cubit; 15and the altar hearth, four cubits; and from the altar hearth projecting upward, four horns. 16The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve wide. 17The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide, with a rim around it half a cubit wide, and its surrounding base, one cubit. Its steps shall face east.
18Then he said to me: Mortal, thus says the Lord GOD: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for dashing blood against it, 19you shall give to the levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, says the Lord GOD, a bull for a sin offering. 20And you shall take some of its blood, and put it on the four horns of the altar, and on the four corners of the ledge, and upon the rim all around; thus you shall purify it and make atonement for it. 21You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area.
22On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. 23When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a bull without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. 24You shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall throw salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD. 25For seven days you shall provide daily a goat for a sin offering; also a bull and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided. 26Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it. 27When these days are over, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer upon the altar your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being; and I will accept you, says the Lord GOD.

For Ezekiel obedience to the LORD is central and Israel who was supposed to uphold the holiness of the temple instead defiled it. Now Israel is ashamed of their past as God creates a new future for them.

The examination of the altar may make sense to occur prior to the return of the glory of God, but Ezekiel, nor most ancient authors, are not concerned about our modern sense of organization. Previous generations of scholars saw the previous section as coming from a different time and place than this examination of the altar, but that is not necessary. Throughout my reflections I have focused on the text as we have received it and not some earlier generations of scholars’ quest for the original text.

Ezekiel’s altar is a large structure measuring roughly thirty-four feet on each side when you include the bottom gutter and lip which would catch any blood and other fluids from the animal. The altar proper is twenty-four feet on each side with horns at each corner. The horns are a common feature in ancient altars and previously had been a place a person could come to for sanctuary. I’m not sure in Ezekiel’s vision that the sanctuary of the horns would remain a crucial function with the focus on holiness throughout this section.

For the altar to conduct its holy function it must be sanctified by sacrificial offerings of goats, rams, and bulls for a period of seven days as outlined in the text. Ezekiel has been focused on the impurity of the people and although there is not an equivalent action prior to the dedication of the tabernacle or temple, any altar constructed for this space must be set aside and consecrated for its use. Both the prophet and the priests from the family of Zadok are to be a part of this week-long process of preparing to offer the sacrifices of the people in an acceptable manner.

Daniel Block notes that later when Ezra and Nehemiah build the temple after the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, they do not use Ezekiel’s vision. As he states, “Either the returned exiles were ignorant of Ezekiel’s vision, or they rejected it as normative Torah for themselves.” (Block, 1998, p. 602) Both are viable options. In the ancient world it would be surprising for there to be a complete collection of the scrolls we now consider scripture in one place, and it is plausible that Ezra and Nehemiah were not familiar with Ezekiel’s writings, but with both the focus of Ezra and Nehemiah on reestablishing the Torah they would likely privilege Moses over Ezekiel. As a modern reader we can see the way that Ezekiel in the book of Ezekiel is functioning as a new Moses, but for the exiles trying to begin again they likely tried to focus on the law received from Moses.