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Matthew Henry |
E Z E K I E L.
CHAP. XLIII.
The prophet, having given us a view of the mystical temple, the
gospel-church, as he received it from the Lord, that it might appear
not to be erected in vain, comes to describe, in this and the next
chapter, the worship that should be performed in it, but under the type
of the Old-Testament services. In this chapter we have,
I. Possession taken of this temple, by the glory of God filling it,
II. A promise given of the continuance of God’s presence with his
people upon condition of their return to, and continuance in, the
instituted way of worship, and their abandoning idols and idolatry,
III. A description of the altar of burnt-offerings,
IV. Directions given for the consecration of that altar,
Ezekiel seems here to stand between God and Israel, as Moses the
servant of the Lord did when the sanctuary was first set up.
| The Vision of the Temple. | B. C. 574. |
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1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that
looketh toward the east:
2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way
of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and
the earth shined with his glory.
3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which
I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to
destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I
saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of
the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner
court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the
man stood by me.
After Ezekiel has patiently surveyed the temple of God, the greatest
glory of this earth, he is admitted to a higher form, and honoured with
a sight of the glories of the upper world; it is said to him, Come
up hither. He has seen the temple, and sees it to be very spacious
and splendid; but, till the glory of God comes into it, it is but like
the dead bodies he had seen in vision
(ch. xxxvii.),
that had no breath till the Spirit of life entered into them.
Here therefore he sees the house filled with God’s glory.
I. He has a vision of the glory of God
(v. 2),
the glory of the God of Israel, that God who is in covenant with
Israel, and whom they serve and worship. The idols of the heathen have
no glory but what they owe to the goldsmith or the painter; but this is
the glory of the God of Israel. This glory came from the way of the
east, and therefore he was brought to the gate that leads
towards the east, to expect the appearance and approach of it.
Christ’s star was seen in the east, and he is that other
angel that ascends out of the east,
Rev. vii. 2.
For he is the morning star, he is the sun of righteousness. Two things
he observed in this appearance of the glory of God:–
1. The power of his word which he heard: His voice was like a noise
of many waters, which is heard very far, and makes impressions; the
noise of purling streams is grateful, of a roaring sea dreadful,
Christ’s gospel, in the glory of which he shines, was to be proclaimed
aloud, the report of it to be heard far; to some it is a savour of
life, to others of death, according as they are.
2. The brightness of his appearance which he saw: The earth shone
with his glory; for God is light, and none can bear the lustre of
his light, none has seen nor can see it. Note, That glory
of God which shines in the church shines on the world. When God
appeared for David the brightness that was before him dispersed
the clouds,
This appearance of the glory of God to Ezekiel he observed to be the
same with the vision he saw when he first received his commission
(ch. i. 4),
according to that by the river Chebar
(v. 3);
because God is the same, he was pleased to manifest himself in the same
manner, for with him is no variableness. “It was the same” (says
he) “as that which I saw when I came to destroy the city, that
is, to foretel the city’s destruction,” which he did with such
authority and efficacy, and the event did so certainly answer the
prediction, that he might be said to destroy it. As a judge, in God’s
name, he passed a sentence upon it, which was soon executed. God
appeared in the same manner when he sent him to speak words of terror
and when he sent him to speak words of comfort; for in both God is and
will be glorified. He kills and he makes alive; he wounds and
he heals,
Deut. xxxii. 39.
To the same hand that destroyed we must look for deliverance. He has
smitten, and he will bind up. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque
tulit–The same hand inflicted the wound and healed it.
II. He has a vision of the entrance of this glory into the temple. When
he saw this glory he fell upon his face
(v. 3),
as not able to bear the lustre of God’s glory, or rather as one
willing to give him the glory of it by a humble and reverent adoration.
But the Spirit took him up
(v. 5)
when the glory of the Lord had come into the house
(v. 4),
that he might see how the house was filled with it. He saw how the
glory of the Lord in this same appearance departed from the temple,
because it was profaned, to his great grief; now he shall see it return
to the temple to his great satisfaction. See
Note, Though God may forsake his people for a small moment, he will
return with everlasting loving-kindness. God’s glory filled the
house as it had filled the tabernacle which Moses set up and the
temple of Solomon,
Exod. xl. 34; 1 Kings viii. 10.
Now we do not find that ever the Shechinah did in that manner take
possession of the second temple, and therefore this was to have its
accomplishment in that glory of the divine grace which shines so
brightly in the gospel church, and fills it. Here is no mention of a
cloud filling the house as formerly, for we now with open face
behold the glory of the Lord, in the face of Christ, and not as of
old through the cloud of types.
III. He receives instructions more immediately from the glory of the
Lord, as Moses did when God had taken possession of the tabernacle
(Lev. i. 1):
I heard him speaking to me out of the house,
v. 6.
God’s glory shining in the church, we must thence expect to receive
divine oracles. The man stood by me; we could not bear to hear
the voice of God any more than to see the face of God if Jesus Christ
did not stand by us as Mediator. Or, if this was a created angel, it is
observable that when God began to speak to Ezekiel he stood by and gave
way, having no more to say. Nay, he stood by the prophet, as a learner
with him; for to the principalities and powers, to the angels
themselves, who desire to look into these things, is known by
the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph. iii. 10.
The man stood by him to conduct him thither where he might receive
further discoveries,
| The Vision of the Temple. | B. C. 574. |
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7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and
the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the
midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall
the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their
kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in
their high places.
8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and
their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they
have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they
have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of
their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them
for ever.
10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that
they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the
pattern.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them
the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings
out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms
thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms
thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight,
that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances
thereof, and do them.
12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain
the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold,
this is the law of the house.
God does here, in effect, renew his covenant with his people Israel,
upon his retaking possession of the house, and Ezekiel negotiates the
matter, as Moses formerly. This would be of great use to the captives
at their return both for direction and encouragement; but it looks
further, to those that are blessed with the privileges of the
gospel-temple, that they may understand how they are before him on
their good behaviour.
I. God, by the prophet, puts them in mind of their former provocations,
for which they had long lain under the tokens of his displeasure. This
conviction is spoken to them to make way for the comforts designed
them. Though God gives and upbraids not, it becomes us, when he
forgives, to upbraid ourselves with our unworthy conduct towards him.
Let them now remember therefore,
1. That they had formerly defiled God’s holy name, had profaned
and abused all those sacred things by which he had made himself known
among them,
v. 7.
They and their kings had brought contempt on the religion they
professed, and their relation to God, by their spiritual whoredom,
their idolatry, and by worshipping images, which they called their
kings (for so Moloch signifies) or lords (for so Baal
signifies), but which were really the carcases of kings, not
only lifeless and useless, but loathsome and abominable as dead
carcases, in their high places, set up in honour of them. They
had defiled God’s name by their abominations. And what were they? It
was in setting their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by
my posts, that is, adding their own inventions to God’s
institutions, and urging all to a compliance with them, as if they had
been of equal authority and efficacy, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men
or, rather, setting up altars to their idols even in the courts of the
temple, than which a more impudent affront could not be put upon the
divine Majesty. Thus they set up a separation wall between him and
them, which stopped the current of his favours to them and spoiled
the acceptableness of their services to him. See what an indignity
sinners do to God, setting up their walls in opposition to his, and
thrusting him out from what is his right; and see what injury they do
to themselves, for the nearer any come to God with their sins the
further they set him at a distance from them. Some give this sense of
it: Though their houses joined close to God’s house, their posts and
thresholds to hi, so that they were in a manner his next neighbours,
there was but a wall between me and them (so it is in the
margin), so that it might have been expected they would acquaint
themselves with him and be in care to please him, yet they were not so
much as neighbourly. Note, It often proves too true, The nearer the
church the further from God. They were, by profession, in covenant
with God, and yet they had defiled the place of his throne and
of the soles of his feet, his temple, where he did both reside
and reign. Jerusalem is called the city of the great king
and his footstool,
Ps. xcix. 5; cxxxii. 7.
Note, When God’s ordinances are profaned his holy name is polluted.
2. That for this God had had a controversy with them in their late
troubles. They could not condemn him, for he had but brought upon them
the desert of their sins: Wherefore I have consumed them in my
anger. Note, Those that pollute God’s holy name fall under his just
displeasure.
II. He calls upon them to repent and reform, and, in order to that, to
be ashamed of their iniquities
(v. 9):
“Now let them put away their whoredom; now that they have
smarted so severely for it, and now that God is returning in mercy to
them and setting up his sanctuary again in the midst of them, now let
them cast away their idols and have no more to do with them, that they
may not again forfeit the privileges which they have been taught to
know the worth of by the want of them. Let them put away their idols,
those loathsome carcases of their kings, far from me, from being
a provocation to me.” This was seasonable counsel now that the prophet
had the model or pattern of the temple to set before them; for,
1. If they see that pattern, they will surely be ashamed of
their sins
(v. 10):
when they see what mercy God has in store for them, notwithstanding
their utter unworthiness of it, they will be ashamed to think of their
disingenuous conduct towards him. Note, The goodness of God to us
should lead us to repentance, especially to a penitential shame. Let
them measure the pattern themselves, and see how much it exceeds
the former pattern, and guess by that what great things God has in
store for them; and surely it will put them out of countenance to think
what the desert of their sins was. And then,
2. If they be ashamed of their sins, they shall surely see more
of the pattern,
If they be ashamed of all that they have done, upon a general
view of the goodness of God, let them have a more distinct particular
account of the temple. Note, Those that improve what they see and know
of the goodness of God shall see and know more of it. And then, and not
till then, we are qualified for God’s favours, when we are truly
humbled for our own follies. “Show them the form of the house;
let them see what a stately structure it will be; and withal show them
the ordinances and laws of it.” Note, With the foresights of our
comforts it is fit that we should get the knowledge of our duty; with
the privileges of God’s house we must acquaint ourselves with the rules
of it. Show them these ordinances, that they may keep
them and do them. Note, Therefore we are made to know
our duty, that we may do it, and be blessed in our deed.
III. He promises that they shall be such as they should be, and then he
will be to them such as they would have him to be,
v. 7.
1. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name. This
is pure gospel. The precept of the law says, You must not defile my
name: the grace of the gospel says, You shall not. Thus what is
required in the covenant is promised in the covenant,
2. Then I will dwell in the midst of them for ever; and the
same again
v. 9.
God secures to us his good-will be confirming in us his good work. If
we do not defile his name, we may be sure that he will not depart from
us.
IV. The general law of God’s house is laid down
(v. 12),
That, whereas formerly only the chancel, or sanctuary, was most
holy, now the whole mountain of the house shall be so; the
whole limit thereof, including all the courts and all the
chambers, shall be as the most holy place, signifying that in
gospel-times,
1. The whole church shall have the privilege of the holy of
holies, that of a near access to God. All believers have now, under
the gospel, boldness to enter into the holiest
(Heb. x. 19),
with this advantage, that whereas the high priest entered in the virtue
of the blood of bulls and goats, we enter in the virtue of the blood of
Jesus, and, wherever we are, we have through him access to the
Father.
2. The whole church shall be under a mighty obligation to press
towards the perfection of holiness, as he who has called us is
holy. All must now be most holy. Holiness becomes God’s
house for ever, and in gospel-times more than ever. Behold this is
the law of the house; let none expect the protection of it that
will not submit to this law.
| The Vision of the Temple. | B. C. 574. |
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13 And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits:
The cubit is a cubit and a hand breadth; even the bottom
shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border
thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and
this shall be the higher place of the altar.
14 And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower
settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from
the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four
cubits, and the breadth one cubit.
15 So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and
upward shall be four horns.
16 And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad,
square in the four squares thereof.
17 And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and
fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about
it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a
cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.
18 And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD;
These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they
shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle
blood thereon.
19 And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of
the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me,
saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering.
20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on
the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and
upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge
it.
21 Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he
shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the
sanctuary.
22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats
without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the
altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.
23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt
offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock
without blemish.
24 And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests
shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a
burnt offering unto the LORD.
25 Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin
offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out
of the flock, without blemish.
26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and
they shall consecrate themselves.
27 And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon
the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your
burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I
will accept you, saith the Lord GOD.
This relates to the altar in this mystical temple, and that is mystical
too; for Christ is our altar. The Jews, after their return out of
captivity, had an altar long before they had a temple,
But this was an altar in the temple. Now here we have,
I. The measures of the altar,
It was six yards square at the top and seven yards square at the
bottom; it was four yards and a half high; it had a lower bench or
shelf, here called a settle, a yard from the ground, on which
some of the priests stood to minister, and another two yards above
that, on which others of them stood, and these were each of them half a
yard broad, and had ledges on either side, that they might stand firmly
upon them. The sacrifices were killed at the table spoken of before,
What was to be burnt on the altar was given up to those on the lower
bench, and handed by them to those on the higher, and they laid it on
the altar. Thus in the service of God we must be assistant to one
another.
II. The ordinances of the altar. Directions are here given,
1. Concerning the dedication of the altar at first. Seven days
were to be spent in the dedication of it, and every day sacrifices were
to be offered upon it, and particularly a goat for a
sin-offering
(v. 25),
besides a young bullock for a sin-offering on the first day
(v. 19),
which teaches us in all our religious services to have an eye to Christ
the great sin-offering. Neither our persons nor our performances can be
acceptable to God unless sin be taken away, and that cannot be taken
away but by the blood of Christ, which both sanctifies the altar (for
Christ entered by his own blood,
and the gift upon the altar. There were also to be a bullock and
a ram offered for a burnt-offering
(v. 24),
which was intended purely for the glory of God, to teach us to have an
eye to that in all our services; we present ourselves as living
sacrifices, and our devotions as spiritual sacrifices, that we and they
may be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. The
dedication of the altar is here called the cleansing and
purging of it,
Christ, our altar, though he had no pollution to be cleansed from, yet
sanctified himself
and when we consecrate the altars of our hearts to God, to have the
fire of holy love always burning upon them, we must see that they be
purified and cleansed from the love of the world and the lusts of the
flesh. It is observable that there are several differences between the
rites of dedication here and those which were appointed
to intimate that the ceremonial institutions were mutable things, and
the changes in them were earnests of their period in Christ. Only here,
according to the general law, that all the sacrifices must be seasoned
with salt
(Lev. ii. 13),
particular orders are given
(v. 24)
that the priests shall cast salt upon the sacrifices. Grace is
the salt with which all our religious performances must be
seasoned,
An everlasting covenant is called a covenant of salt, because it
is incorruptible. The glory reserved for us is incorruptible and
undefiled; and the grace wrought in us is the hidden man of the
heart in that which is not corruptible.
2. Concerning the constant use that should be made of it, when it was
dedicated: Henceforward the priests shall make their
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon this altar
(v. 27),
for therefore it was sanctified, that it might
sanctify the gift that was offered upon it. Observe further,
(1.) Who were to serve at the altar: The priests of the seed of
Zadok,
v. 19.
That family was substituted in the room of Abiathar by Solomon, and God
confirms it. His name signifies righteous, for they are the
righteous seed that are priests to God, through Christ the Lord our
righteousness.
(2.) How they should prepare for this service
(v. 26):
They shall consecrate themselves, shall fill their hand
with the offerings, in token of the giving up of themselves with their
offerings to God and to his service. Note, Before we minister to the
Lord in holy things we must consecrate ourselves by getting our hands
and hearts filled with those things.
(3.) How they should speed in it
(v. 27):
I will accept you. And if God now accept our works, if our
services be pleasing to him, it is enough, we need no more. Those that
give themselves to God shall be accepted of God, their persons first
and then their performances, through the Mediator.
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