UNROLL
A Sabbath morning: the inner east gate of the vision’s temple stands open, sunlight pouring through onto the pale pavement, worshipers seen from behind bowed at the entrance.

The LORD is there

Ezekiel 46

When do you stop your work to bow before God?

24 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–3Visions of gloryBy the Kebar, about 593 BC: the throne, the scroll, the watchman
  2. 4–7Signs of the siegeA brick, a ration, a razor: the end has come
  3. 8–11The glory departsAbout 592 BC: the temple’s abominations, the mark, the glory goes east
  4. 12–15False hopesExile acted out, false prophets, a useless vine
  5. 16–19Parables and lamentsAn unfaithful bride, two eagles, the one who sins
  6. 20–24The sword drawnRebellion retold; the siege begins, about 588 BC
  7. 25–32The nations judgedAmmon to Egypt: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  8. 33–36A new heartThe city falls; the Good Shepherd; cleansed and made new
  9. 37–39Dry bones liveOne people raised up, and Gog of Magog defeated
  10. 40–48The LORD is thereAbout 573 BC: the new temple, the river, the landChapter 46

The Prince’s Offerings

God

“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘The gate of the inner court that faces east must be kept shut during the six days of work, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost, while the priests sacrifice his burnt offerings and peace offerings. He is to bow in worship at the threshold of the gate and then depart, but the gate must not be shut until evening. On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are also to bow in worship before the LORD at the entrance to that gateway.

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God

What to bring

The prince’s offerings

  1. On the Sabbath

    The burnt offering that the prince presents to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six unblemished male lambs and an unblemished ram. The grain offering with the ram shall be one ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able, along with a hin of oil per ephah.

  2. At the New Moon

    On the day of the New Moon he shall offer a young, unblemished bull, six lambs, and a ram without blemish. He is to provide a grain offering of an ephah with the bull, an ephah with the ram, and as much as he is able with the lambs, along with a hin of oil per ephah.

  3. In and out

    When the prince enters, he shall go in through the portico of the gateway, and he shall go out the same way.

God
High over the outer court on a feast morning: worshipers stream in through the north gatehouse while others stream out through the south gatehouse, two slow lines of people crossing the wide paved court.

When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by the north gate to worship must go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate must go out by the north gate.

God

No one is to return through the gate by which he entered, but each must go out by the opposite gate.

Ezekiel 46:9

God

When the people enter, the prince shall go in with them, and when they leave, he shall leave. At the festivals and appointed feasts, the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and as much as one is able to give with the lambs, along with a hin of oil per ephah.

God

When the prince makes a freewill offering to the LORD, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the gate facing east must be opened for him. He is to offer his burnt offering or peace offering just as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate must be closed after he goes out.

Question

Quick question

Picture the crowds at the appointed feasts.

At the feasts, how was a worshiper who came in by the north gate to leave?

God
First light in the inner court: a single healthy year-old lamb stands calm on the pale pavement near the foot of a great stepped stone altar, a thin smoke beginning to rise from its top.

And you shall provide an unblemished year-old lamb as a daily burnt offering to the LORD; you are to offer it every morning.

God
God

You are also to provide with it every morning a grain offering of a sixth of an ephah with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour—a grain offering to the LORD. This is a permanent statute. Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.’

God

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons as an inheritance, it will belong to his descendants. It will become their property by inheritance. But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it shall be theirs.

God
Evening on a family’s small terraced field in the hill country: young olive trees and a patch of barley inside a low fieldstone wall, an old boundary stone at the corner, a farmhouse beyond with a family at its door.

The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his property.’”

The Courts for Boiling and Baking

Ezekiel

Then the man brought me through the entrance at the side of the gate into the holy chambers facing north, which belonged to the priests, and he showed me a place there at the far western end and 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, so that they do not bring them into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people.”

Ezekiel
An enclosed stone courtyard in a corner of the outer court: domed clay ovens and stone hearths along the base of its walls, large clay cooking pots on the hearths, smoke rising, firewood stacked.

Then he brought me into the outer court and led me around to its four corners, and I saw a separate court in each of its corners. In the four corners of the outer court there were enclosed courts, each forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. Each of the four corner areas had the same dimensions. Around the inside of each of the four courts was a row of masonry with ovens built at the base of the walls on all sides.

Ezekiel

And he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the sacrifices offered by the people.”

Pray

Pray

LORD, Your mercies are new every morning. Teach me to stop and bow before You, to give as I am able, and to go out from meeting You a different way than I came. Amen.

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Ezekiel 46

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A verse to carry with you

No one is to return through the gate by which he entered, but each must go out by the opposite gate.

Ezekiel 46:9

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