Study Desk

"After seven months, teams of men will be appointed to search the land for skeletons to bury, so the land will be made clean again.

"And now, son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call all the birds and wild animals. Say to them: Gather together for my great sacrificial feast. Come from far and near to the mountains of Israel, and there eat flesh and drink blood!

Gorge yourselves with flesh until you are glutted; drink blood until you are drunk. This is the sacrificial feast I have prepared for you.

The nations will then know why Israel was sent away to exile—it was punishment for sin, for they were unfaithful to their God. Therefore, I turned away from them and let their enemies destroy them.

"So now, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will end the captivity of my people; I will have mercy on all Israel, for I jealously guard my holy reputation!

They will accept responsibility for their past shame and unfaithfulness after they come home to live in peace in their own land, with no one to bother them.

When I bring them home from the lands of their enemies, I will display my holiness among them for all the nations to see.

And I will never again turn my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon the people of Israel. I, the Sovereign Lord , have spoken!"

A door led from the entry room of one of the inner gateways into a side room, where the meat for sacrifices was washed.

On each side of this entry room were two tables, where the sacrificial animals were slaughtered for the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.

There were also four tables of finished stone for preparation of the burnt offerings, each 31 1⁄2 inches square and 21 inches high. On these tables were placed the butchering knives and other implements for slaughtering the sacrificial animals.

And the man said to me, "The room beside the north inner gate is for the priests who supervise the Temple maintenance.

The room beside the south inner gate is for the priests in charge of the altar—the descendants of Zadok—for they alone of all the Levites may approach the Lord to minister to him."

These side rooms were built in three levels, one above the other, with thirty rooms on each level. The supports for these side rooms rested on exterior ledges on the Temple wall; they did not extend into the wall.

I saw that the Temple was built on a terrace, which provided a foundation for the side rooms. This terrace was 10 1⁄2 feet high.

Each of the two upper levels of rooms was narrower than the one beneath it because the upper levels had to allow space for walkways in front of them.

This wall added length to the outer block of rooms, which extended for only 87 1⁄2 feet, while the inner block—the rooms toward the Temple—extended for 175 feet.

Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: These will be the regulations for the burning of offerings and the sprinkling of blood when the altar is built.

At that time, the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who minister before me, are to be given a young bull for a sin offering, says the Sovereign Lord .

You will take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the upper ledge, and the curb that runs around that ledge. This will cleanse and make atonement for the altar.