Ezekiel 43
Ezekiel sees God’s shining presence
God comes to Ezekiel in a vision
1The guide led me to the gate facing east, toward the Jordan River Valley. 2I could see and hear the glorious presence of God approaching from the east. I heard the roar of a waterfall. I saw the glow of a brilliant light.3This was like a vision I had earlier of God coming to destroy the city of Jerusalem. [1] That was at the Chebar Canal, when I dropped to the ground, face down. 4I watched the shining presence of God go inside the Temple through the east gate. 5God’s Spirit lifted me off the ground and took me to the inner courtyard just outside the front of the Temple building.
6The guide stood beside me. I heard someone inside the Temple building calling for me. 7He said, “Human, this is where I keep my throne, with the Temple as my palace. I’ll rule from here and rest my feet here, as I live among my people. The people of Israel—kings included—won’t insult my name any longer. They’ll stop their sins of prostitution. And they won’t offer sacrifices in honor of kings who have died.
8They built their king’s palace right next to mine, and there went the neighborhood. They dirtied up my reputation by the disgusting things they did in my kingdom. So I angrily put a stop to it and erased them from the map. 9Now, if they stop their idol worship and stop sacrificing to honor dead kings, [2] I’ll stay here and live among you from now on.
”Shame on the people”
10Now for you, human, here’s what I want you to do. Tell the people about the measurements of this temple. And let them take ownership for what happened to them. They should be ashamed of themselves. 11When they show you they’re ashamed, tell them all about the Temple you saw. Everything. Exits. Entrances. Measurements high to low. And remind them about all the laws associated with the Temple. Write it all down while they watch, so they respect the rules and follow them.12Here’s the rule about that Temple: Treat the top of this mountain as holy ground—all the land around the Temple.
What the altar looks like
13Here’s the size of the altar as measured by the long cubit, not the short one. [3] The base of the altar includes a gutter that goes around the edge. It’s 21 inches[4] deep and 21 inches wide. The rim around the top edge of the gutter is 9 inches wide.14The altar extends 3 ½ feet above the gutter, to a ledge 21 inches wide. Then it extends another 7 feet above that to a second ledge, also 21 inches wide.
15The hearth on top—where the sacrifices are burned—rises another 7 feet. All four corners stick up like horns. [5] 16The top is a square, 21 by 21 feet.
17The top ledge is also a square, 24 ½ by 24 ½ feet wide. It’s surrounded by a gutter 21 inches wide, with a rim 10 ½ inches wide.”
How to purify the altar
18Then he said, “Human, this is what the Lord God is telling you: These are the rules to follow about the altar. The time will come when you’ll build this altar, bring a burnt offering, [6] and splash blood onto the altar. 19Bring a sacrificial bull to the priests descended from Zadok’s family, who minister among you.20Here’s how I want you to ritually purify the altar. Put some of the animal’s blood on the four corners of the altar and the corners of the top ledge. [7] Smear it all the way around the rim of the ledge. This will make it ready for those who want to atone for their sins.
21Burn it outside the Temple building, on the altar. That’s where you’re supposed to offer sacrifices. 22The next day, kill a goat that doesn’t have anything wrong with it. Present it as a purification offering. This will purify the altar like the bull did the day before. 23Then sacrifice a bull and a ram, both in perfect condition.
24Give them to the priests. They’ll salt them and present them to the LORD by burning them. 25Then, every day for the next seven days, sacrifice a bull and ram. There should be nothing wrong with those animals.
26Each day, this will ritually cleanse the altar and prepare it for service. 27When that week is over, starting with Day Eight, I’ll accept you and the offerings you bring to the priests—everything from burnt offerings to peace offerings. [8] I’m the Lord God, and that’s what I say.”
Footnotes
Ezekiel 1:1-4.
Apparently, the people were sacrificing animals as a way to honor dead kings in a way similar to how they worshipped God. That was not God-approved.
In the original Hebrew language, the unit of measure here was a cubit. Not just any cubit. The most common cubit was the “short cubit” of 18 inches (45 cm). That’s the distance from the tip of a man’s elbow to the tip of his longest finger. The long cubit added the width of a man’s hand, about 3 inches. So, the long cubit was 21 inches (53 cm). This verse suggests the man was measuring with a long cubit. The Temple wall measured 6 cubits high and six cubits wide. Six cubits equals one rod, which is about three meters.
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Cubits In/ft Cm/m 1 21″ 53 cm 2 3′6″ 107 cm 3 5′3″ 160 cm 4 7′0″ 2.13 m 5 8′9″ 2.67 m 6 10′6″ 3.20 m 7 12′3″ 3.73 m 8 14′0″ 4.27 m 9 15′9″ 4.80 m 10 17′6″ 5.33 m 20 35′0″ 10.67 m 30 52′6″ 16.00 m 40 70′0″ 21.34 m 50 87′6″ 26.67 m 60 105′0″ 32.00 m 70 122′6″ 37.34 m 80 140′0″ 42.67 m 90 157′6″ 48.00 m 100 175′0″ 53.34 m
Archaeologists have found altars with raised corners on the top. But they haven’t yet found any explanation for them. How about a guess? If we burn something on a fire, it’s going to roll around as the wood disintegrates into ashes. Corners tipped up in an altar might help keep the sacrifice from falling into the dirt, which could be taken as a bad sign.
Priests burn the entire animal in a burnt offering. It was one of the most common offerings in Bible times.
Bible writers don’t explain why priests here and elsewhere in the Bible splashed blood on the altar (Leviticus 8, 16; Exodus 29). But in the Bible, blood is to sin what a bar of soap is to an armpit. It’s the soap that washes away the stink we cause when we sin. Blood washes away the guilt, but not the memory. We can have a clean armpit, but people will remember when we didn’t.
Burnt offerings were for sin and peace offerings were the opposite. They were often an expression of thanks to God for something a person attributed to God, such as recovery from an illness or the healthy birth of a baby, preferably a boy. It was a patriarchal age, as today many would sadly say.
Discussion Questions
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