Ezechiele 46:2 Commento

In this chapter we have, I. Some further rules given both to the priests and to the people, relating to their worship (Eze 46:1-15). II. A law concerning the prince's disposal of his inheritance (Eze 46:16-18). III. A description of the places provided for the boiling of the sacrifices and the baking of the meat-offerings (Eze 46:19-24).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 46 This chapter treats of the shutting of the eastern gate of the inner court on working days, and opening it on sabbaths and new moons, for the prince and people to worship in, Eze 46:1, gives a further account of the sacrifices of both at these seasons, and of their different ways of going in and out, Eze 46:4, delivers some rules about the prince's disposing of his gifts to his sons and servants, Eze 46:16 and describes the places for the priest's baking and boiling the sacrifices, Eze 46:19

And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without,.... That is, by the way of the porch of the eastern gate, even the outermost gate of the porch; for, as every gate had a porch, so every porch had two gates, one at one end, and the other at the other; now this was the outermost gate of the porch, which looked to the outward court, and not that which led into the inner: and shall stand by the post of the gate; this denotes the presence of Christ, the Prince with his people waiting at Wisdom's gate, and watching at the posts of her door. The allusion seems to be to the king's pillar in the temple, where he used to stand, Ch2 23:13. Some understand this of Christ's incarnation, of his entrance into the world, and his standing before his Father, and praying for his people, as he did in the garden, and a little before his death, as recorded Joh 17:1. and the priests shall prepare his burnt offerings, and his peace offerings; that is, shall offer them. The meaning is, that the ministers shall preach Christ and him crucified, who, by his sacrifice, has made atonement for sin, and peace for his people; though some interpret this of the concern the priests had in the crucifixion and death of Christ: and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate; of the other gate that led into the inner court, and where he could see all that was done in it: or bow (i); which it is observed he did, when he fell prostrate in the garden, and when he expired on the cross, and was at the threshold of the gate of heaven launching into eternity: worship and adoration, or bowing, be ascribed to Christ as man; see Joh 4:22, then shall he go forth; out of this world to his Father, and be seen no more, until the restitution of all things; though this and the preceding may be understood of Christ's mystical worshipping; or of his people, who are one with him; and of their departure from public worship, when it is over: but the gate shall not be shut until the evening; of the sabbath, or new moon; or the evening of the world, the second coming of Christ; the Gospel ministry and ordinances will continue till then, and no longer; and this is owing to his powerful and prevalent intercession in heaven, whither he is gone then the door will be shut, and not before, Mat 25:10. (i) "incurvaverit se", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; "incurvato se", Piscator.

(Chapter 46—Verses 1 onwards). Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east will be closed for six days, during which work is being done; but on the Sabbath day it will be opened, and also on the day of the new moon it will be opened. And the prince shall enter through the vestibule of the outer gate, and shall stand at the threshold of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then leave. But the gate shall not be closed until evening. And the people of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate on the Sabbaths and on the new moons before the Lord. The prince shall offer on the Sabbaths, as a burnt offering to the Lord, six unblemished lambs and an unblemished ram, and a grain offering of an ephah for the ram. And for the lambs, whatever his hand gives as a sacrifice, and a hin of oil for each ephah. On the new moons, he shall offer an unblemished bull from the herd, and six lambs and rams shall be unblemished. And one ephah for a young bull, and one ephah for a ram shall he make a sacrifice: and with every ephah there shall be a hin of oil. Where we have translated ephah, which is a tenth part of an ephah, they have rendered it πέμμα, which in our language means a measure of volume. And where we have said sacrifice, they have used the Hebrew word Manaa, which Aquila translated as gift or sacrifice, and Theodotion translated as sacrifice. And meanwhile, before we discuss what these things mean, the very words of Scripture must be explained paraphrastically. 'The gate,' it says, 'of the inner court shall be closed for six days, as it is written: Six days you shall work and do all your works (Exod. XXIII, 12); and it shall not be any gate, but the one facing the East, where the sun of justice rises. Moreover, on the Sabbath day, that is, on the seventh day, which is a day of rest, it shall be opened each week, and again, when thirty days are complete, which is the end of one month and the beginning of another, that is, on the day of the calends, it shall be opened, so that what the seventh day has as a privilege in the week, the beginning of the month may have as a privilege as well.' But why it is opened on the seventh day, and on the first day of the month, the inner gate of the atrium facing the East will be explained in the following discourse. And the prince will enter, he says, through the path of the outer gate of the atrium: and he will stand at the threshold of the inner gate of the atrium, which faces the East: and he will not enter the inner atrium, but while he is standing there, other priests will make a burnt offering for him, which offering Symmachus interpreted as a holocaust: and peace offerings, or those pertaining to salvation, so that after the offering of the prince has been consumed by the holy fire, and the leader has been reconciled with God, then he may be able to worship on the threshold of the inner gate of the atrium where he stood, and he may exit. What then? Will the gate be immediately closed after the departure of the prince? By no means, but it will be open until evening, so that after the prince, all the people of the land may worship in front of that gate; they shall worship on the Sabbaths and the first days of the month when the gate is opened. And because he had said before: 'The priests shall make his burnt offering and his peace offerings,' and he had not indicated the number of burnt offerings, now he adds: 'On the Sabbaths, the prince shall offer this burnt offering to the Lord.' However, it is offered not by itself, but by the priests, of whom it is written: 'And the priests shall offer its burnt offering and its peace offerings: six flawless male lambs, and one flawless ram; and the sacrifice of the ram shall be measured by an ephah, which in Hebrew is called an Epha (). And the sacrifice that his hands who offer it are able to offer shall be six lambs; and for each ephah, the measure of oil shall be a hin, which is called in Hebrew a hin. But on the first day of the month, which is the day of the new moon, it shall have a greater privilege than the Sabbath, and a calf shall be offered from the herd, or a flawless bull.' The rest, that is, six spotless lambs and one spotless ram, and their sacrifices, shall possess the ritual of the Sabbath: only in this way, that just as in the ram the same amount of flour and oil is offered as a sacrifice, so it should be offered in the calf. These things are stated for the sake of clarity: now, with the Lord's gift, let us unlock the spiritual meaning. But when we have come to the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath, on which eternal rest is, or to the day of the Kalends, when after a blind night and horrible darkness, the beginning of light is, the Eastern gate is opened to us: and if any of us, by the merits of virtues, shall have attained to the name and dignity of leader by the way of the porch of the outer gate, that is, by the labours of this world: and shall enter the gate of the Church, which is as yet placed in earthly boundaries: it shall enter not the inner court, for this is written in the present place; but it shall stand at the threshold of the inner gate, and abide in it. But if the prince does not enter the inner atrium in the present Scripture, but stands at its threshold, there is no doubt that now we see and know in part; and not yet revealed, we contemplate the glory of the Lord. Finally, with the prince standing at the threshold of the gate of the inner atrium, the other priests, to whom this duty is delegated (whom we can understand as angelic virtues), will make a burnt offering and peace offerings on behalf of him. For we are born of the mercy of God, and every creature is unclean in comparison to the Creator, and must be cleansed by divine fire, as the lips of the prophet Isaiah were cleansed, so that after receiving peace through sacrifice, he may then stand at the threshold and worship the almighty God, and acknowledge his unworthiness to enter the inner court, and immediately enter. After the first person has exited, the inner gate of the court will not be closed until evening of this age, but will remain open so that the people of the earth may come to the door and worship him. Not at all times, but when they have rested from sins and the darkness of faith has been dispelled, and they have received the light of knowledge. But this very burnt offering that the prince offers through the priests on the Sabbath day is concluded with six unblemished lambs; namely, for the six days in which we work in the world, and a flawless ram, which is the leader of the flock; so that through each ram it may be offered in sacrifice an ephah, that is, a tenth part of a measure. In the sacrifice of the six lambs, a certain measure is not specified: but whatever amount the hand of the one offering has given, that is, according to the quality and measure of the works (Matthew 25). But he shall offer a hin of oil for each ephah, that is, the oil which the five virgins prepared for themselves, so that he may anoint the flour or mix it, and every offering of God may be full of the light of truth and the face of the one offering the oil may be brightened. But on the day of the kalends, that is, the thirtieth day, when the firstborn and the Levites are numbered in the Law, apart from all of Israel, of whom we have spoken above, an unblemished calf from the herd is offered, about which we discussed more fully in the previous chapter, and six lambs, and unblemished rams, and whatever is offered on the Sabbaths, so that we may attain eternal rest and deserve to hear: 'Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a few things, I will set you over many, enter into the rest of your Lord' (Matthew 25:21; Luke 19:17); and not only arrive at the gate of the inner courtyard, but also be able to enter its innermost parts, and possess it by work: 'Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God' (Psalm 92:14).

Ordinances of worship prescribed for the prince and for the people, Eze 46:1-15; and the gifts he may bestow on his sons and servants, Eze 46:16-18. A description of the courts appointed for boiling or baking any part of the holy oblations, Eze 46:19-24.

CONTINUATION OF THE ORDINANCES FOR THE PRINCE AND FOR THE PEOPLE IN THEIR WORSHIP. (Eze. 46:1-24) The prince is to go through the east gate without (open on the Sabbath only, to mark its peculiar sanctity) to the entrance of the gate of the inner court; he is to go no further, but "stand by the post" (compare Kg1 8:14, Kg1 8:22, Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the congregation; also Kg2 11:14; Kg2 23:3, "by a pillar": the customary place), the court within belonging exclusively to the priests. There, as representative of the people, in a peculiarly near relation to God, he is to present his offerings to Jehovah, while at a greater distance, the people are to stand worshipping at the outer gate of the same entrance. The offerings on Sabbaths are larger than those of the Mosaic law, to imply that the worship of God is to be conducted by the prince and people in a more munificent spirit of self-sacrificing liberality than formerly.