The Prophets · Old Testament
Ezekiel 43
Ezekiel 43: the glory returns to the house and the altar is consecrated
General context
The man brings the prophet to the east gate, and the glory of the God of Israel comes from the east, his voice like a noise of many waters. The prophet says it was like the vision when he came to destroy the city and like the vision by the river Chebar, and he falls on his face. The glory enters the house by the east gate; the spirit takes him into the inner court, and the glory fills the house. He hears a voice out of the house, the man standing by. The speaker calls the house the place of his throne and of the soles of his feet, where he will dwell among Israel for ever, a place they shall no more defile by their whoredom or the carcases of their kings; if they put these away, he will dwell among them for ever. The prophet is to show the house to Israel that they may be ashamed and measure the pattern, and if they are ashamed to write its form and laws. The law of the house is that its whole limit on the mountain top shall be most holy. The altar is measured by the cubit and a hand breadth: two cubits to the lower settle, four to the greater, the altar four cubits with four horns, twelve cubits square on a settle of fourteen, stairs toward the east. In the day it is made, a young bullock for a sin offering goes to the priests of Zadok's seed, its blood put on the horns, the settle's corners and the border, its body burned without the sanctuary. A kid of the goats follows on the second day, then a bullock and a ram salted by priests, and seven days of offerings purge the altar. From the eighth day the priests offer burnt and peace offerings there, "and I will accept you".
Cited passages: Ezekiel 43:1, Ezekiel 43:2, Ezekiel 43:3, Ezekiel 43:4, Ezekiel 43:5, Ezekiel 43:6, Ezekiel 43:7, Ezekiel 43:8, Ezekiel 43:9, Ezekiel 43:10, Ezekiel 43:11, Ezekiel 43:12, Ezekiel 43:13, Ezekiel 43:14, Ezekiel 43:15, Ezekiel 43:16, Ezekiel 43:17, Ezekiel 43:18, Ezekiel 43:19, Ezekiel 43:20, Ezekiel 43:21, Ezekiel 43:22, Ezekiel 43:24, Ezekiel 43:25, Ezekiel 43:26, Ezekiel 43:27
Ezekiel 43 (KJV)
1Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:
2And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
3And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
4And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
6And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
7And he said unto me, Son of man, 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 my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.
8In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
9Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
10Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
11And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
12This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
13And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.
14And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.
15So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.
16And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.
17And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.
18And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
19And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering.
20And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.
21Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.
22And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.
23When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.
24And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
25Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.
26Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.
27And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.
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Historical context
The prophet himself links this scene to two earlier visions: the one "by the river Chebar", where the book opens with him among the captives, and the one "when I came to destroy the city", a phrase the chapter does not explain. Earlier in the book the glory departed from the threshold of the house and went up from the midst of the city to the mountain on its east side; here it returns by the east gate. The speaker changes in verse 6: the Lord speaks "out of the house" and the man who measured stands by, so the words about the throne and the altar are the Lord's, not the guide's. "The carcases of their kings in their high places" is stated as a past defilement without further explanation. The altar's cubit is defined again as a cubit and a hand breadth, matching 40:5. The ordinances are addressed to "thou", the prophet, who is told to give the bullock and put the blood on the altar; the priests are "the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok", as in 40:46. The chapter fixes the consecration at seven days with offerings accepted from the eighth, but gives no time for the building of the altar beyond "the day when they shall make it". Nothing here identifies the house with any building of the past or future.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 43:3, Ezekiel 1:1, Ezekiel 11:23, Ezekiel 10:19, Ezekiel 43:4, Ezekiel 43:6, Ezekiel 43:7, Ezekiel 43:13, Ezekiel 40:5, Ezekiel 43:19, Ezekiel 43:18, Ezekiel 40:46
Literary context
After three chapters of measurement the writing changes register. The glory arrives with sound and light, "a noise of many waters", "the earth shined", and the prophet does what he did at the book's start: he falls on his face. The departure of the glory earlier in the book is reversed step by step, east gate, house, inner court, until "the glory of the Lord filled the house". Then a voice speaks from inside, and for the first time in the vision the Lord addresses the prophet directly rather than through the man. The speech turns on "for ever", used twice of the Lord's dwelling, and on the condition attached to it, that the whoredom and the carcases be put away. Shame is made the hinge of the disclosure: the house is shown so that Israel may be ashamed, and its full form is to be shown "if they be ashamed". The sentence "This is the law of the house" opens and closes verse 12 like a frame. The altar is described from the ground upward, bottom, settles, horns, and then in time, day one, day two, seven days, the eighth day, so that the chapter ends by moving from space into the calendar of worship and closes on acceptance.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 43:2, Ezekiel 43:3, Ezekiel 1:28, Ezekiel 10:18, Ezekiel 43:5, Ezekiel 43:6, Ezekiel 43:7, Ezekiel 43:9, Ezekiel 43:10, Ezekiel 43:11, Ezekiel 43:12, Ezekiel 43:27
Key moments
- The glory comes from the east (Ezekiel 43:2). The glory of the God of Israel arrives from the east with a voice like many waters.
- Like the vision by Chebar (Ezekiel 43:3). The prophet says the sight is like the vision by the river Chebar and the vision when he came to destroy the city, and he falls on his face.
- The glory fills the house (Ezekiel 43:5). The spirit carries the prophet into the inner court as the glory fills the house.
- The place of my throne (Ezekiel 43:7). The Lord names the house as the place of his throne and his feet, to dwell with Israel for ever.
- Shew the house, that they may be ashamed (Ezekiel 43:10). The prophet is told to show the house to Israel so they are ashamed and measure the pattern.
- The altar twelve cubits square (Ezekiel 43:16). The altar is measured twelve cubits long and twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.
- Seven days, then acceptance (Ezekiel 43:27). After seven days of purging, offerings from the eighth day will be accepted.
For reflection
The house is to be shown to Israel "that they may be ashamed", and its full plan only "if they be ashamed". Why might shame, rather than joy or awe, be the response the text asks for first when the glory has just returned?
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