The Prophets · Old Testament
Ezekiel 45
Ezekiel 45: the holy portion of the land, just measures and the feasts
General context
When the land is divided by lot, a holy portion twenty-five thousand reeds long and ten thousand broad is offered to the Lord. Within it the sanctuary takes a square of five hundred with fifty cubits of suburbs. The holy portion is for the priests who minister, a place for their houses; the Levites have a like measure for a possession of twenty chambers. The city's possession is five thousand broad and twenty-five thousand long. The prince's portion lies on both sides of the oblation and the city; "my princes shall no more oppress my people", and the rest of the land goes to the tribes. The Lord tells the princes of Israel it is enough: remove violence and spoil, execute judgment and justice, take away exactions. Balances, ephah and bath are to be just. The oblation is a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat and barley, a tenth of a bath of oil from the cor, and one lamb in two hundred, to make reconciliation. All the people give this oblation for the prince, whose part is to provide the offerings at feasts, new moons and sabbaths. On the first day of the first month a young bullock cleanses the sanctuary, the priest putting blood on the posts of the house, the altar's settle and the inner gate; the same is done on the seventh day for those who err and the simple. On the fourteenth day the passover is kept seven days with unleavened bread; the prince prepares a sin offering bullock for himself and all the people, then seven bullocks, seven rams and a kid of the goats daily. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day, he does the like in the feast of seven days.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 45:1, Ezekiel 45:2, Ezekiel 45:3, Ezekiel 45:4, Ezekiel 45:5, Ezekiel 45:6, Ezekiel 45:7, Ezekiel 45:8, Ezekiel 45:9, Ezekiel 45:10, Ezekiel 45:11, Ezekiel 45:12, Ezekiel 45:13, Ezekiel 45:14, Ezekiel 45:15, Ezekiel 45:16, Ezekiel 45:17, Ezekiel 45:18, Ezekiel 45:19, Ezekiel 45:20, Ezekiel 45:21, Ezekiel 45:22, Ezekiel 45:23, Ezekiel 45:24, Ezekiel 45:25
Ezekiel 45 (KJV)
1Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the Lord, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.
2Of 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.
3And 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.
4The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister unto the Lord: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary.
5And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the ministers of the house, have for themselves, for a possession for twenty chambers.
6And 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.
7And 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.
8In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
9Thus 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.
10Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
11The 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.
12And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.
13This 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:
14Concerning 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:
15And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel; for a meat offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord God.
16All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel.
17And it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.
18Thus 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:
19And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.
20And 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.
21In 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.
22And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering.
23And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering.
24And 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.
25In 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.
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Historical context
The chapter continues the Lord's speech from chapter 44 with "Moreover" and two further "Thus saith the Lord God" openings; the man does not speak. The units are mixed and partly unstated: the holy portion is given in "reeds", the sanctuary's "five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth" carries no unit in the printed text, and its suburbs are "fifty cubits". The prince is again unnamed, and the text also speaks of "princes" in the plural when it says they "shall no more oppress my people" and rebukes them for "violence and spoil" and "exactions". The measures are defined only against each other: ephah and bath as a tenth of a homer, the cor as a homer of ten baths, the shekel as twenty gerahs. The maneh is given as three numbers of shekels, "twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels", which the text does not add up or explain. The passover is dated to the fourteenth day of the first month and kept seven days; the seventh-month feast beginning on the fifteenth day is not named, only called "the feast of the seven days". The instructions for the first and seventh days of the first month are addressed to "thou". Nothing in the chapter says when the land division happens.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 45:1, Ezekiel 45:9, Ezekiel 45:18, Ezekiel 45:2, Ezekiel 45:8, Ezekiel 45:14, Ezekiel 45:12, Ezekiel 45:21, Ezekiel 45:25, Ezekiel 45:20
Literary context
The chapter moves through five kinds of ordinance: land, princes, measures, oblation and calendar. The land plan works by repeated numbers: "five and twenty thousand" and "ten thousand" recur for the priests, the Levites and, with a change of breadth, the city, so that the holy portion is heard as a refrain before the prince's strip is laid beside it. The rebuke to the princes uses the same opening the Lord used against the whole house in the previous chapter, "let it suffice you", and turns from geometry to conduct in a single verse, "remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice". Justice is then written into the standards themselves, "just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath", before the oblation is set out in fractions, a sixth, a tenth, one in two hundred. Reconciliation binds the offerings and the calendar together, twice in that form, of the lamb and of the prince's part, and once as "so shall ye reconcile the house" on the seventh day. The calendar is built on firsts and sevens: the first day, the seventh day, the fourteenth day and seven days of feast, seven bullocks and seven rams, the seventh month. The chapter ends not with a conclusion but with a comparison, "he do the like", leaving the seventh-month feast to mirror the first.
Cited passages: Ezekiel 45:3, Ezekiel 45:5, Ezekiel 45:7, Ezekiel 45:9, Ezekiel 44:6, Ezekiel 45:10, Ezekiel 45:15, Ezekiel 45:17, Ezekiel 45:20, Ezekiel 45:23, Ezekiel 45:25
Key moments
- A holy portion of the land (Ezekiel 45:1). When the land is divided, a portion twenty-five thousand by ten thousand is offered to the Lord.
- The sanctuary square (Ezekiel 45:2). Within the holy portion the sanctuary takes a square of five hundred with fifty cubits of suburbs.
- Princes shall no more oppress (Ezekiel 45:8). The prince has his possession in the land, and the Lord says his princes shall no more oppress his people.
- Let it suffice you, O princes (Ezekiel 45:9). The Lord tells the princes to remove violence and spoil and take away their exactions.
- Just balances (Ezekiel 45:10). The Lord requires just balances, a just ephah and a just bath.
- Cleansing on the first day (Ezekiel 45:18). On the first day of the first month a young bullock cleanses the sanctuary.
- The passover of seven days (Ezekiel 45:21). The passover is kept on the fourteenth day of the first month for seven days with unleavened bread.
For reflection
In the middle of a land survey and a list of offerings the Lord tells the princes to remove violence and take away their exactions, and requires just balances. Why might honest weights belong in the same breath as the plan of a sanctuary?
