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The Prophets · Old Testament

Ezekiel 46

Ezekiel 46: the prince at the gate, the daily lamb and the boiling places

General context

The Lord says the inner court's east gate is shut on the six working days and opened on the sabbath and the new moon. The prince enters by its porch, stands by the post while the priests prepare his burnt and peace offerings, worships at the threshold and goes out, and the gate stays open until evening; the people worship at its door on sabbaths and new moons. The sabbath offering is six lambs and a ram; the new moon adds a young bullock. At the solemn feasts whoever enters by the north gate leaves by the south and the reverse, and the prince goes in and out in their midst. For a voluntary offering the east gate is opened for him and shut after he leaves. Every morning a lamb of the first year is prepared with a meat offering of a sixth of an ephah and a third of an hin of oil, a perpetual ordinance. A gift from the prince to his sons is theirs by inheritance; a gift to a servant returns to the prince in the year of liberty. The prince is not to take the people's inheritance by oppression but to give his sons from his own possession, so that the people are not scattered from their possessions. The man then brings the prophet through the entry into the priests' holy chambers facing north, to a place on the two sides westward where they boil the trespass and sin offerings and bake the meat offering, so that they do not carry them into the utter court to sanctify the people. In the utter court he passes the four corners, each with a court forty cubits by thirty, with boiling places under rows of building where the ministers boil the people's sacrifice.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 46:1, Ezekiel 46:2, Ezekiel 46:3, Ezekiel 46:4, Ezekiel 46:5, Ezekiel 46:6, Ezekiel 46:8, Ezekiel 46:9, Ezekiel 46:10, Ezekiel 46:12, Ezekiel 46:13, Ezekiel 46:14, Ezekiel 46:16, Ezekiel 46:17, Ezekiel 46:18, Ezekiel 46:19, Ezekiel 46:20, Ezekiel 46:21, Ezekiel 46:22, Ezekiel 46:23, Ezekiel 46:24

Ezekiel 46 (KJV)

1Thus saith the Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

2And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

4And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

5And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

6And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.

7And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

8And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.

9But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.

10And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.

11And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

12Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the Lord, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.

13Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.

14And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord.

15Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.

16Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance.

17But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them.

18Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.

19After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

20Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.

21Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.

22In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure.

23And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about.

24Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.

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Historical context

Two speakers divide the chapter. Verses 1 to 18 are the Lord's, opened twice with "Thus saith the Lord God"; from verse 19 the man resumes the tour and speaks twice, "Then said he unto me". The east gate here belongs to "the inner court" and is opened on sabbaths and new moons, which is a different gate from the outer east gate that 44:2 says is never to be opened. The prince remains unnamed; the chapter gives him sons and servants and mentions "the year of liberty" without defining it. The meat offering for the lambs is left to the prince's means, "as he shall be able to give" and "according as his hand shall attain unto". The daily offering is a lamb "every morning"; no evening offering is mentioned. The rule about not returning by the same gate is stated for "the people of the land" at the solemn feasts, while the prince's own rule is to use the porch of the east gate. The kitchens' purpose is given by the man in the same terms the Lord used of the priests' garments, that the people not be sanctified; the text does not explain the danger further. The corner courts are measured, forty by thirty cubits, and their rows of building and boiling places are described without dimensions.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 46:1, Ezekiel 46:16, Ezekiel 46:20, Ezekiel 44:2, Ezekiel 46:17, Ezekiel 46:7, Ezekiel 46:13, Ezekiel 46:9, Ezekiel 44:19, Ezekiel 46:22

Literary context

The chapter is built on the opening and shutting of a gate. It is shut six days, opened on the sabbath and the new moon, not shut until evening, opened again for a voluntary offering and shut after the prince goes out. The prince's movements are traced in small steps, porch, post, threshold, out again, and set against the people's crossing movement, in by the north and out by the south, with the prince "in the midst of them". The offerings are given in a repeated formula, "an ephah" for the bullock or ram, the lambs as he is able, "an hin of oil to an ephah", stated three times. The daily lamb is described with the word morning three times over, with the phrase "a perpetual ordinance". The chapter then turns from worship to property, and the inheritance rule ends on the same concern as the rebuke of the princes in the previous chapter, that the people not be thrust out of their possession. The last section returns the reader to the tour and to the most ordinary spaces in the vision, kitchens for boiling and baking, and the man's two explanations both concern where the sacrifices are cooked. The tour of the house ends at the boiling places rather than at the glory.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 46:1, Ezekiel 46:2, Ezekiel 46:12, Ezekiel 46:10, Ezekiel 46:7, Ezekiel 46:11, Ezekiel 46:14, Ezekiel 46:18, Ezekiel 45:9, Ezekiel 46:24

Key moments

  1. A gate for sabbaths and new moons (Ezekiel 46:1). The inner east gate is shut on working days and opened on the sabbath and the new moon.
  2. The prince at the threshold (Ezekiel 46:2). The prince stands by the post and worships at the threshold while the priests prepare his offerings.
  3. In by the north, out by the south (Ezekiel 46:9). At the feasts the people leave by the gate opposite the one they entered.
  4. A lamb every morning (Ezekiel 46:13). A lamb of the first year is to be offered every morning as a continual burnt offering.
  5. The year of liberty (Ezekiel 46:17). A gift from the prince to a servant returns to him in the year of liberty.
  6. No inheritance by oppression (Ezekiel 46:18). The prince must give his sons land from his own possession, not from the people's.
  7. The boiling places (Ezekiel 46:24). The man shows the corner courts where the ministers boil the people's sacrifices.

For reflection

At the feasts no one may leave by the gate they came in; the people cross the court and go out on the far side, with the prince among them. What might the text be saying about worship by insisting that people do not go back the way they came?