CHAPTER 43 THE GLORY OF YAHWEH RETURNS TO THE LAND. Having completed his tour of the measurement of the heavenly temple, Ezekiel once again has a vision of the glory of God. This relates directly to the vision he saw when he was first called (chapter 1) and to the vision which he had when he witnes... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RETURN OF YAHWEH TO THE LAND IN HIS HEAVENLY TEMPLE. HIS THRONE ENTERS THE HEAVENLY HOLY OF HOLIES (EZEKIEL 43:1). ‘Afterwards he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks towards the east, and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and his voice was like th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the glory of Yahweh came into the house by way of the gate whose prospect is towards the east.' The glory of Yahweh now entered the heavenly temple situated ‘on a very high mountain somewhere in the land' (Ezekiel 40:2), through the East Gate. It was nineteen years since Ezekiel had seen Yahweh... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold the glory of Yahweh filled the house.' Ezekiel was not allowed to enter by the gate through which Yahweh had entered (compare Ezekiel 44:2). Instead he was lifted up by the Spirit Who carried him to the inner court. And ther... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and a man stood by me.' As Ezekiel watched, with the heavenly visitant beside him, he heard from the sanctuary the voice of One Who was speaking to him. The main reason for mention of the man is so that we would not think it was he who spoke from th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. And the house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their whoredom and by the carcasses o... [ Continue Reading ]
“You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern (or ‘the sum').” The details of the heavenly temple were to be explained to the exiles. The idea was that as they assessed the sum total of its significance (‘meas... [ Continue Reading ]
“And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make the form of the house known to them and its fashion, and its goings out and its comings in, and all its forms and all its ordinances, and all its forms and all its laws, and write it in their sight that they may keep all its forms and all its... [ Continue Reading ]
“This is the law of the house on top of the mountain. Its whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold this is the law of the house.” Note the vague description, ‘the house on the top of the mountain'. The mountain was described in Ezekiel 40:2 as ‘a very high mountain'. It is a special place w... [ Continue Reading ]
“And these are the measures of the altar by cubits, the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth. The bosom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and its border by its edge round about, a span. And this shall be the back (platform) of the altar. And from the bosom on the ground (or of the earth) to t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE IS TO BE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE AND THE EARTHLY TEMPLE YET TO BE BUILT AND IS TO BE COPIED FOR THAT PURPOSE (EZEKIEL 43:13). The heavenly visitant had now finished his measuring. But note that he was not ever told, and is not now, to measure the altar. Alt... [ Continue Reading ]
“And the altar hearth ('ari'el) shall be shall be twelve long by twelve broad, square in its four sides.” The whole altar was to be foursquare indicating its perfection but it is only as regards the altar hearth that we are specifically told this. It is a large altar, twelve cubits by twelve cubits... [ Continue Reading ]
“And the settle shall be fourteen long by fourteen wide in its four sides. And the border about it shall be half a cubit, and its bosom shall be a cubit about, and its steps shall look towards the east.” The next stage down, the ‘higher settle', was to be fourteen cubits by fourteen. There would be... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BUILDING OF THE ALTAR (EZEKIEL 43:18). ‘And he said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh, These are the ordinances of the altar in the day that they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it.” ' The altar described had to be made as a means by which ‘bu... [ Continue Reading ]
“You will give to the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me,” says the Lord Yahweh, “a young bullock for a sin offering, and you will take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and on the border ro... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SANCTIFYING AND CLEANSING OF THE ALTAR AND REINSTITUTION OF SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP (EZEKIEL 43:19). This process would take seven days. This was unlike the case of the sanctifying of the tabernacle, accomplished through the anointing oil (Exodus 30:22; Exodus 40:10), but like the sanctifying of th... [ Continue Reading ]
“And on the second day you will offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin offering, and they will cleanse the altar as they cleansed it with the bullock. When you have made an end of cleansing it, you will offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish, and you wil... [ Continue Reading ]
“For seven days you will prepare every day a goat for a sin offering, they will also prepare a young bullock and a ram out of the flock without blemish. For seven days they will make atonement for the altar and purify it. So will they consecrate it (fill its hands). And when they have accomplished t... [ Continue Reading ]