Ezekiel 43:26

The ceremonial of consecrating the altar lasts seven days. On to "purge" cf. Ezekiel 43:20.

consecrate themselves consecrate it, i.e. the altar, lit. fill its hand (or, hands). The phrase is properly said of the priests, to install; here of the altar, to inaugurate it. Originally the expression had probably a literal meaning, to put the things to be offered into the hands of the priests (Leviticus 8:25 seq.), but later it came to be used generally in the sense of initiate, consecrate (Exodus 28:41; Exodus 29:9; Exodus 29:29; Exodus 29:33; Exodus 29:35; Leviticus 7:37; Numbers 3:3; Judges 17:5; Judges 17:12), cf. Exodus 32:29. Wellh. Hist. p. 152, argues that the priest's hand was originally "filled" with money (Judges 17). The phrase "fill the hand" of one appears also in the general meaning "to invest with office" in Assyrian; Fd. Del. Heb. Lang. p. 20, Prolegomena, p. 48.

In all the above passage it is the altar not the priests that is consecrated. The consecration of the altar appears to carry with it that of the whole sanctuary. The altar needs atonement not because it is a work of human hands, but because it belongs to the things of the world. The sin of the world has defiled all things, penetrating even to the precincts of that where Jehovah abides as he is in himself (Hebrews 9:23). The passage can scarcely be compared with Exodus 29 and Leviticus 8 because there the ceremonies refer to the consecration of the priests chiefly and little to the altar. Cf. Exodus 29:36; Leviticus 8:11; Leviticus 8:15; Leviticus 8:33. In these passages the altar is said to have been anointed with oil, a ceremony wanting in Ezek.; the sin-offering was a young bullock eachday and the burnt offering simply a ram each day.