Ezekiel 43:1-27
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.
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 defileda 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.b
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.
13 And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottomc 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.
Ezekiel 43:2. Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. In Ezekiel 10:18, we read that the glory had departed from the ancient temple. Here it returns at the east gate, which was the proper way to the sanctum sanctorum, or Holy of holies. The prophet had seen a similar vision at the river Chebar, as is intimated in the next verse; and now again he beholds the Messiah on the throne of his glory. This it is that gives a plenitude of joy to the church on earth; for what people have God so nigh unto them. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. His name is Immanuel, God with us.
Those who plead for the personal reign of Christ a thousand years on earth during the millennium, lay great emphasis on this chapter; but their whole theory seems to have no positive promise on that head. It is enough if he reign in his spiritual temple, reward the martyrs with an earlier resurrection, and cause the age of righteousness to follow the ages of wickedness.
Ezekiel 43:5. So the Spirit took me up. Not Ish, as in Ezekiel 41:4. But Ruach, the Holy Spirit, as elsewhere in this book: Ezekiel 37:1. Here is then an Adorable Trinity, Messiah and his Spirit reviving the prophet.
Ezekiel 43:7. My holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings by their whoredoms. The first temple was confessedly destroyed for these things; but here is a reference to the glory of the latter day, when the people shall be all righteous, and the sanctuary adorned with the beauties of holiness.
The carcases of their kings in their high places, the idols adored by the gentiles. The jews also had their monuments of dead men who had reigned, or been distinguished in antiquity; but it is probable that the allusion here is either to the bodies of Amon or Manasseh, who were not buried with their fathers, or to some idolatrous princes, who are here called kings, and who were interred near the high places of their idols.