Ezekiel 45, The Perfect Temple (Part Six)

“A specific portion of Israel’s land in the Millennium would be set aside as a sacred area for the priests and the sanctuary. The entire area would be a contribution to the Lord by Israel. That land would not really belong to the priests but to the Lord. In this sense, also, the Lord would continue to be the priests’ inheritance.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

1 “When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, set aside a donation to Yahweh, a holy portion of the land, 8⅓ miles long and 6⅔ miles wide. This entire region will be holy. 2 In this area there will be a square section for the sanctuary, 875 by 875 feet, with 87½ feet of open space all around it. 3 From this holy portion, you will measure off an area 8⅓ miles long and 3⅓ miles wide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place, will stand. 4 It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who approach to serve the Lord. It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary. 5 There will be another area 8⅓ miles long and 3⅓ miles wide for the Levites who minister in the temple; it will be their possession for towns to live in.

6 “As the property of the city, set aside an area 1⅔ miles wide and 8⅓ miles long, adjacent to the holy donation of land. It will be for the whole house of Israel. 7 And the prince will have the area on each side of the holy donation of land and the city’s property, adjacent to the holy donation and the city’s property, stretching to the west on the west side and to the east on the east side. Its length will correspond to one of the tribal portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary. 8 This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people but give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

Various areas of land are specified. One for the priests of the family of Zadok, in the center of which was the sanctuary or temple, surrounded by open land to separate it from all else because it is holy; another for the Levites who would assist the priests with offerings; another for growing food for the city; and finally one for the prince. None of these leaders would oppress the people as had been done before.

9 “This is what the Lord Yahweh says: You have gone too far, princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh. 10 “You are to have honest scales, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure. 11 The dry measure and the liquid measure will be uniform, with the liquid measure containing 5½ gallons and the dry measure holding half a bushel. Their measurement will be a tenth of the standard larger capacity measure. 12 The shekel will weigh twenty gerahs. Your mina will equal sixty shekels.

Corruption of those in authority is one of the most degrading and destructive forces in a country or community. The promise of a corrupt free Jerusalem is an exhortation to current leaders to stop corruption. The correct standards are mentioned that will be observed in the holy city.

The People’s Contribution to the Sacrifices
13 “This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts from six bushels of wheat and three quarts from six bushels of barley. 14 The quota of oil in liquid measures will be one percent of every cor. The cor equals ten liquid measures or one standard larger capacity measure, since ten liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure. 15 And the quota from the flock is one animal out of every two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings, to make atonement for the people.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh. 16 “All the people of the land must take part in this contribution for the prince in Israel. 17 Then the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths—for all the appointed times of the house of Israel—will be the prince’s responsibility. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

“…the atonement rituals of the Mosaic system and those of the millennial system described in these chapters were picture lessons and reminders of humanity’s sinfulness and their need for a complete cleansing from sin and forgiveness through the efficacious atoning sacrifice of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The full and complete provision for forgiveness of sin was provided once and for all by Jesus Christ’s shed blood…These acts of commemoration of atonement were limited to the weekly Sabbath, the new moons, and all appointed festivals of Israel (cf. Lev 23:1-41; Nu 28:1-29, 40). There is no special Day of Atonement in the Millennium. That special day had its full fruition in the special day of efficacious atonement provided by Christ on the cross. The people also were not asked to contribute any bulls, goats, or rams that would later be specified as the animals for sin and burnt offerings (cf. 45:21-25; 46:2-8, 11-12). Though data is insufficient, perhaps these animals for the atoning sin and burnt offerings were provided by the prince (cf. vv.18, 22; 2Ch 31:3), not by the people, in order to symbolize that God alone could make that provision. The offerer in the Mosaic system was reminded of the substitute death for his own sins when he brought his own animal for his sin offering, except on the Day of Atonement, when all the sins of the nation were atoned for symbolically. In the Millennium the stress seems to be that God provides the substitute, insofar as the prince provided from his own resources the bulls, rams, and male goats. (Expositor’s) 

18 “This is what the Lord Yahweh says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you are to take a young, unblemished bull and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood from the sin offering and apply it to the temple doorposts, the four corners of the altar’s ledge, and the doorposts of the gate of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way you will make atonement for the temple.

21 “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you are to celebrate the Passover, a festival of seven days during which unleavened bread will be eaten. 22 On that day the prince will provide a bull as a sin offering on behalf of himself and all the people of the land. 23 During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to Yahweh on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering. 24 He will also provide a grain offering of half a bushel per bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon of oil for every half bushel. 25 At the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he will provide the same things for seven days—the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil. (Ezekiel 45)

The prince is required to cleanse the sanctuary because of the people’s sin. There will be resurrected people living in the Millennium, and they will be sinless, but those who entered the Millennium without dying and those born to them will still be sinners.