Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezekiel 46:18

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

More about the land and the temple (46:16-24)

If the king marked off a piece of his land and gave it to one of his sons, it remained the permanent property of the son. But if he made a similar gift to one of his servants, the land returned to the king at the year of jubilee. (Concerning the year of jubilee see Leviticus 25:8-34.) This ensured that the royal family retained possession of its land, and that the king was not tempted to seize other people’s land to compensate for what he gave away (16-18).

Returning to the details of the temple, Ezekiel adds that there were kitchens inside the enclosure of the inner court. These were provided so that the priests who offered the sacrifices (i.e. the Zadokite priests; see 44:15-16) could cook their portions of food from the holy offerings, without having to go outside the holy enclosure (19-20). There were also kitchens in the four corners of the outer court, where other temple officials (i.e. the Levites and non-Zadokite priests; see 44:10-14) cooked those portions of the sacrificial food that belonged to the common people (21-24).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the 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. And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Jehovah on the sabbaths and on the new moons. And the burnt-offering that the prince shall offer unto Jehovah shall be on the sabbath day six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; and the meal-offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal-offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. And on 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: and he shall prepare a meal-offering, an ephah for the bullock, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah. And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof. But when the people of the land shall come before Jehovah in the appointed feasts, he that entereth by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth 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 straight before him. And the prince, when they go in, shall go in in the midst of them; and when they go forth, they shall go forth together. And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meal-offering shall be an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. And when the prince shall prepare a freewill-offering, a burnt-offering or peace-offerings as a freewill-offering unto Jehovah, one shall open for him the gate that looketh toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, as he doth on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate. And thou shalt prepare a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah daily: morning by morning shalt thou prepare it. And thou shalt prepare a meal-offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal-offering unto Jehovah continually by a perpetual ordinance. Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meal-offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt-offering. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. But if he give of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession; he shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people be not scattered every man from his possession. Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the hinder part westward. And he said unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass-offering and the sin-offering, and where they shall bake the meal-offering; that they bring them not forth into the outer court, to sanctify the people. Then he brought me forth into the outer 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. In the four corners of the court there were courts inclosed, forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four in the corners were of one measure. And there was a wall round about in them, round about the four, and boiling-places were made under the walls round about. Then said he unto me, These are the boiling-houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people."

This chapter gives instructions for worship on the day of the new moon, and on the sabbath, and the gate by which the prince (or king) would be required to enter the temple. If one entered by the north gate he was required to exit by the south gate; and if he entered by the south gate, he was required to exit by the north gate. Also the king would be required to enter with the people and also to leave when they left. There are also directions for the king's offering of a voluntary burnt-offering or peace-offering.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The prince was robe provided with possessions of his own, in order to prevent exactions from his subjects; further enactments are added to prevent the alienation of the prince’s land. Any gifts made to his servants must revert to the prince in the “year of liberty,” or jubilee (see the marginal reference note).

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 46

Now it describes in chapter 46 how the prince worships in this new sanctuary.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it will be open, in the day of the new moon it will be open ( Ezekiel 46:1 ).

So this gate on the inner court that you see here in your diagram, six days of the week it will be closed. It will be open only on the sabbath day.

And 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: and he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons. And the burnt offerings that the prince shall offer unto the LORD ( Ezekiel 46:2-4 )

So the fact that he is offering burnt offerings unto the Lord, which are consecration offerings and all sort of precludes him being Jesus Christ.

The meal offerings ( Ezekiel 46:5 )

And it describes the various offerings that he will offer.

And 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. But when the people of the land come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, and enter, they enter by the north gate and they leave by the south; or if they enter by the south gate they leave by the noRuth ( Ezekiel 46:8-9 ):

And it goes ahead and tells of the offerings and how the offerings are to be boiled and so forth in offering them unto the Lord. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The prince’s gifts 46:16-18

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The prince was not to give gifts from the inheritances of the other people of the land but only from his own inheritance. Israel’s leaders and people in the past had appropriated other people’s property as their own (cf. Ezekiel 45:8-9; 2 Samuel 24:24; 1 Kings 21:19; Micah 2:1-2). This ordinance would also result in the prince’s sons remaining in his allotment of land rather than being scattered among the other tribal allotments. Since this prince would have sons it seems clear that he will not be the Messiah.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession,.... Christ, the Prince, will never do this; he will never take any part of his people's inheritance from them, or thrust them out of the possession of any benefit or blessing of grace; they have chosen that good part which shall never be taken from them, Luke 10:42, this is said, not as a direction to the prince, as a law enjoined him, or a caution to him against oppression; but as expressing his clemency, grace, and goodness to his subjects, and their safety and security under him:

but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession; whatever Christ gives his sons, whether present grace, or future glory, it is out of his own possession; for all that the Father has are his; all the blessings of goodness are with him; all the fulness of grace is in him; the eternal inheritance is reserved with him in heaven; and it is all his own he gives, and not another's:

that my people be not scattered every man from his possession; or, "that therefore my people may not be scattered every" "men from his possession" o; because what is given them, and they are in possession of, was Christ's own, and not another's; and which he had a right to dispose of, and therefore they need not fear being dispossessed by another claimant.

o למען אשר לא יפצו עמי "ideo ne dispergantur populus meus", Starckius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      16 Thus 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.   17 But 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.   18 Moreover 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.

      We have here a law for the limiting of the power of the prince in the disposing of the crown-lands. 1. If he have a son that is a favourite, or has merited well, he may, if he please, as a token of his favour and in recompence for his services, settle some parts of his lands upon him and his heirs for ever (Ezekiel 46:16; Ezekiel 46:16), provided it do not go out of the family. There may be a cause for parents, when their children have grown up, to be more kind to one than to another, as Jacob gave to Joseph one portion above his brethren,Genesis 48:22. 2. Yet, if he have a servant that is a favourite, he may not in like manner settle lands upon him, Ezekiel 46:17; Ezekiel 46:17. The servant might have the rents, issues, and profits, for such a term, but the inheritance, the jus proprietarium--the right of proprietorship, shall remain in the prince and his heirs. It was fit that a difference should be put between a child and a servant, like that John 8:35. The servant abides not in the house for ever, as the son does. 3. What estates he gives his children must be of his own (Ezekiel 46:18; Ezekiel 46:18): He shall not take of the people's inheritance, under pretence of having many children to provide for; he shall not find ways to make them forfeit their estates, or to force them to sell them and so thrust his subjects out of their possession; but let him and his sons be content with their own. It is far from being a prince's honour to increase the wealth of his family and crown by encroaching upon the rights and properties of his subjects; nor will he himself be a gainer by it at last, for he will be but a poor prince when the people are scattered every man from his possession, when they quit their native country, being forced out of it by oppression, choosing rather to live among strangers that are free people, and where what they have they can call their own, be it ever so little. It is the interest of princes to rule in the hearts of their subjects, and then all they have is, in the best manner, at their service. It is better for themselves to gain their affections by protecting their rights than to gain their estates by invading them.