Eze 46:1-15 | Clarke | STEP | Ordinances of worship prescribed for the prince and for the people, ; and the gifts he may bestow on his sons and servants, . A description of the courts appointed for boiling or baking any part of the holy oblations, .

Ezekiel 46:1-15

Introduction

Ordinances of worship prescribed for the prince and for the people, Eze 46:1-15; and the gifts he may bestow on his sons and servants, Eze 46:16-18. A description of the courts appointed for boiling or baking any part of the holy oblations, Eze 46:19-24. Verse 4

The burnt-offerings that the prince shall offer - The chief magistrate was always obliged to attend the public worship of God, as well as the priest, to show that the civil and ecclesiastical states were both under the same government of the Lord; and that no one was capable of being prince or priest, who did not acknowledge God in all his ways. It is no wonder that those lands mourn, where neither the established priest nor the civil magistrate either fear or love God. Ungodly priests and profligate magistrates are a curse to any land. In no country have I found both so exemplary for uprightness, as in Britain. Verse 7

According as his hand shall attain unto - According to his ability, to what the providence of God has put in his hand, i.e., his power. This proportion of offerings is different from that prescribed by the Mosaic law, Num 15:4-12. Verse 9

He that entereth in by the way of the north, etc. - As the north and the south gates were opposite to each other, he that came in at the north must go out at the south; he that came in at the south must go out at the north. No person was to come in at the east gate, because there was no gate at the west; and the people were not permitted to turn round and go out at the same place by which they came in; for this was like turning their backs on God, and the decorum and reverence with which public worship was to be conducted would not admit of this. Besides, returning by the same way must have occasioned a great deal of confusion, where so many people must have jostled each other, in their meetings in different parts of this space. Verse 10

And the prince in the midst of them - Even he shall act in the same way: he must also go straight forward, and never turn his back to go out at the same gate by which he entered. The prince and the people were to begin and end their worship at the same time. Verse 13

Thou shalt prepare it every morning - The evening offering is entirely omitted, which makes an important difference between this and the old laws. See Exodus 29:31-46.