Ezekiel · chapter 45 of 48
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Ezekiel 45 sets aside a holy portion of the land for the sanctuary, the Levites and the city, and a share for the prince. God demands that Israel's princes give up violence and practice justice, with honest weights and measures. The chapter also fixes the offerings of the people and the prince, the cleansing of the sanctuary and the festivals of Passover and Booths.
After the rules for the priests, chapter 45 widens the vision to the division of the land and the order of social and religious life. It is a practical section that ties worship to justice: the temple is not separate from how people are treated or how things are bought and sold.
When the land is divided by lot, a holy portion will be set aside as an offering to the Lord, a square with the sanctuary in its center. That sacred portion is for the sanctuary and for the priests who minister in it. A neighboring area is for the Levites who serve in the temple, and another is for the city, which will belong to the whole house of Israel. On both sides, east and west, a share is assigned to the prince, so that my princes will no longer oppress my people, and the rest of the land is left to the tribes.
God calls the princes of Israel to give up violence and oppression, to practice justice and righteousness and to stop their evictions of his people. He commands honest scales, a just ephah and a just bath, equal measures, and regulates the proportion of the produce offerings the people are to give. The prince will be responsible for providing the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, Sabbaths and new moons, to make atonement for the house of Israel.
In the first month, on the first day, a young bull without blemish will be taken to cleanse the sanctuary, and the same will be done on the seventh day of the month. On the fourteenth day of the first month will be the Passover, a seven-day festival with unleavened bread, in which the prince will offer sacrifices for himself and for the people. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day, at the feast, the same sacrifices will be offered for seven days.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
When the land is divided, a holy portion will be set apart for the Lord. Before dividing the rest, the first step is to reserve what belongs to God, with the sanctuary at the center.
God tells Israel's princes that it is enough: they must give up violence and oppression, practice justice and righteousness and stop driving his people from their land. The vision of the temple demands just leadership.
The Lord commands honest scales, a just ephah and a just bath. For God, honesty in trade is part of holiness, just as worship is.
The fourteenth day of the first month will be the Passover, a seven-day festival with unleavened bread. The vision keeps the memory of the deliverance from Egypt at the center of the people's life.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: A holy portion as an offering to the Lord. — Ezekiel 45:1
Answer: Violence and oppression, and instead practice justice and righteousness. — Ezekiel 45:9
Answer: That they have honest scales, a just ephah and a just bath. — Ezekiel 45:10
Answer: The prince. — Ezekiel 45:17
Answer: A young bull without blemish is taken to cleanse the sanctuary. — Ezekiel 45:18
Answer: On the fourteenth day of the first month, as a seven-day festival. — Ezekiel 45:21
The chapter reminds us that worship and justice go together. The same God who asks for a clean sanctuary demands honest scales and rulers who do not oppress. In a class or small group you can talk about how we live our faith at work and in business: do we take care with honesty in what we sell, buy, pay and declare?
It also encourages us to reserve the first for God. Before the rest of the land is divided, the holy portion is set aside, a picture for thinking about how we order our priorities, our time and our resources.
Ezekiel 45 joins land, worship and justice. Chapter 46 continues with the rules of worship for the prince and the people, and with the temple kitchens.
The prince is a governing figure who appears in Ezekiel 44 to 48. He is neither the priest nor a king over the nations but a leader of the people with duties in worship and justice, who must sustain the festivals. Interpreters discuss whether he is a future ruler, a descendant of David or an ideal figure; the text stresses that he must act justly.
Interpreters answer this question in different ways. Some see the sacrifices as part of a symbolic vision that describes worship in the language Ezekiel's readers understood. Others think they will be memorials in a future temple. Others see in them an ideal description of restoration. The New Testament teaches that Christ offered a single and sufficient sacrifice.