Ezekiel 45:18-25

2. Festival offerings (45:18-25)

TRANSLATION

(18) Thus says the Lord GOD: In the first month, in the first day of the month, you shall take a young bullock without blemish; and you shall cleanse the sanctuary. (19) And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering, and put it upon the doorposts of the house, and upon the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. (20) And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for every one that errs, and for him that is simple: so shall you make atonement for the house. (21) In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. (22) And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin-offering. (23) And the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt-offering to the l,ORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a he-goat daily for a sin-offering. (24) And he shall prepare a meal-offering, and ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah. (25) In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, shall he do the like seven days; according to the sin-offering, according to the burnt-offering, according to the meal-offering, and according to the oil.

COMMENTS

The regulations regarding festival offerings sketched out here presuppose the more detailed instructions found in the Pentateuch. Some of the sacrifices spoken of here and in the next Chapter s were unknown in Solomon's Temple. Some scholars hold that the sacrifices outlined here were intended to be replacement for the Mosaic regulations regarding these holy days. Others see these sacrifices as being in addition to those stipulated in the Mosaic law. Still others see these sacrifices as authorized only for the period of the dedication of the new Temple.

Ezekiel 45:18-20 speak regarding the New Year's celebration The blood of a bullock would be employed to purify the sanctuary on New Year's day (Ezekiel 45:18). The blood of that sin offering would be smeared on the doorposts of the Temple, on the four corners of the greater ledge of the altar (cf. Ezekiel 43:20), and on the post of the gate[534] of the inner court (Ezekiel 45:19). These actions were to be repeated on the seventh day of the month. This ritual served to cleanse the holy area from those who through ignorance had wandered into a restricted area of the Temple courtyard.

[534] The word gate may be used here in a collective sense of all three gates of the inner court.

In Ezekiel 45:21-24 Ezekiel speaks concerning the Passover. This feast commemorated the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt. It was celebrated on the fourteenth day of Nisan, the first month. This spring festival lasted seven days during which only unleavened bread was eaten (Ezekiel 45:21). The prince was to prepare, i.e., provide, a bullock as a sin-offering for himself and for the people (Ezekiel 45:22). No such sacrifice was connected with Passover in the Mosiac dispensation. In addition to the sin-offering bullock, the prince was to provide for burnt-offerings seven bullocks and seven rams on each of the seven days of the festival, as well as a he-goat each day for a sin-offering (Ezekiel 45:23). Along with each bullock and ram the prince was to provide a ephah of grain and a hin of oil (Ezekiel 45:24).

The feast of Tabernacles (Ezekiel 45:25) was observed during Tishri, the seventh month. During this joyous seven-day festival the prince was to duplicate the offerings required during Passover.