Day 254. Ezekiel 46-48

Barriers are important—for everybody's protection.
The priests controlled access to the Jerusalem temple, and access is a very important part of the mind-set of Ezekiel the prophet/priest—who may enter and where and who may not and why. He recognizes the sanctity of the LORD as a dangerous thing. He envisions the new temple as a set of barriers intended to protect the holiness of God from those who might otherwise break into places where they should not be and suffer the consequences. Ezekiel is very aware of these barriers.
If you remember from yesterday's reading the outer gate on the east side of the temple, the one through which the LORD had returned to it after his long absence, was to be closed forever thereafter. It belongs to the LORD only. Entry for mortals is taboo. The inner eastern gate, however, shall be opened "on the Sabbath day" and "on the day of the new moon" (46:1), but only to the priests and to the ruler of the people. Through the prophet, the LORD stipulates the ritual surrounding the prince's entry into the sanctuary by the east door and his making "offerings of well-being," which he tenders not only for his own sake, but for the sake of the people. Large numbers of people would be expected to be present at these sacrifices, and instructions are given in our text for their orderly movement through the temple courts. But the LORD's instruction is very specific--the ruler shall not separate himself from the ruled—he "shall come in
with them; and when they go out, he shall go out" (46:10). All mortals must learn their place in the presence of the eternal God.
Yet the prince has certain extraordinary duties. One of them is to provide "a lamb, a yearling, without blemish" for sacrifice in the temple "daily, morning by morning" (46:13), as well as special sacrifices on high holy days. These shall come from "the inheritance of the people," the public wealth. This public wealth is not the ruler's to use at his own discretion. He shall not give it to his servants or his children as a gift. Nepotism is prohibited. The treasury of the nation belongs to the people, and the ruler shall not appropriate it or treat it as his own. Barriers are important--there is to be a wall between public funds and the prince's own fortune.
Ezekiel's angelic guide takes him to visit "a row of holy chambers for the priests" on the north side of the sanctuary (46:20). These rooms are to function as sacred kitchens in which the flesh of the animals sacrificed as guilt offerings and sin offerings is to be cooked, and the grain offerings baked. They are cooked there on the premises of the temple in order "not to bring them out into the outer court [where the people are] and so communicate holiness to the people" (46:20). Holiness is an active force that can be dangerous unless it is channeled properly-- barriers help to do that.
Next Ezekiel's angelic guide shows him the most remarkable thing of all--from below the threshold of the temple a stream of water flows out into the world. And as it courses on it grows in size from an ankle-deep brook to a sacred "river that [the prophet] could not cross, for the water had risen; [and] it was deep enough to swim in" (47:5). The heavenly guide leads Ezekiel along the river, southward, among the "great many trees" that grow on its banks. Animals and birds swarm its margins and fish teem in its waters, turning the wilderness into a veritable Garden of Eden. And when the sacred river reaches the Dead Sea—here called "the Arabah" (47:8)—it has the power to make its salty, lifeless water fresh (47:10). People will fish in the Dead Sea—a thing never heard of before. The river gives life to everything it waters. Because of its virtue, the trees growing on both sides will never wither or die; "they will bear fresh fruit
every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. [The fruit of those trees] will be for food; and their leaves for healing" (47:12). We will encounter this same sacred river in Revelation 22:1-2, flowing from the throne of God through the middle of the street of the heavenly Jerusalem, watering the Tree of Life.
The long discussion follows about the boundaries of the twelve tribes in the reconstituted Promised Land. This is a highly optimistic forecast, considering that the Judean exiles are still in Babylon and the tribes of the northern kingdom have vanished completely. But the command to "divide it equally" comes directly from God himself, together with the command to share it with the "aliens who reside among you and have begotten children among you." The LORD directs that "they shall be with you as citizens of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel" (47:22). Each tribe is given an equal portion of the restored Land of Promise, and the citizens of restored Jerusalem are provided for. The descendents of Zadok—the high priestly family—are allotted the area directly surrounding the Temple Mount. Adjoining land is given to the other Levites, the temple servants, but with the command that "they shall
not sell or exchange any of it; they shall not transfer this choice portion of the land, for it is holy to the LORD" (48:14). Remaining portions of Jerusalem are divided between ordinary citizens as "the property of the city"—common land on which to raise their food and pasture their cattle.
And there Ezekiel's prophesy ends. Jerusalem lives on as a human city existing in time, and yet also as an unchanging holy city, beyond history. Its ultimate destiny is simply to be--enclosed by foursquare with three gates on each side, each gate representing one of the twelve tribes. It is a testimony to the faithfulness of the God who is worshipped in its temple. His presence makes the city the center of the earth, the navel of the universe, an earthly heaven, and gives it its new name—"The LORD is There" (48:35).