18 He said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: 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 You shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Lord Yahweh, a young bull for a sin-offering.
20 You shall take of the blood of it, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border round about: thus shall you cleanse it and make atonement for it.
21 You shall also take the bull of the sin-offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary.
22 On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bull.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 43
Commentary on Ezekiel 43 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 43
The prophet, having given us a view of the mystical temple, the gospel-church, as he received it from the Lord, that it might appear not to be erected in vain, comes to describe, in this and the next chapter, the worship that should be performed in it, but under the type of the Old-Testament services. In this chapter we have,
Ezekiel seems here to stand between God and Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord did when the sanctuary was first set up.
Eze 43:1-6
After Ezekiel has patiently surveyed the temple of God, the greatest glory of this earth, he is admitted to a higher form, and honoured with a sight of the glories of the upper world; it is said to him, Come up hither. He has seen the temple, and sees it to be very spacious and splendid; but, till the glory of God comes into it, it is but like the dead bodies he had seen in vision (ch. 37), that had no breath till the Spirit of life entered into them. Here therefore he sees the house filled with God's glory.
Eze 43:7-12
God does here, in effect, renew his covenant with his people Israel, upon his retaking possession of the house, and Ezekiel negotiates the matter, as Moses formerly. This would be of great use to the captives at their return both for direction and encouragement; but it looks further, to those that are blessed with the privileges of the gospel-temple, that they may understand how they are before him on their good behaviour.
Eze 43:13-27
This relates to the altar in this mystical temple, and that is mystical too; for Christ is our altar. The Jews, after their return out of captivity, had an altar long before they had a temple, Ezra 3:3. But this was an altar in the temple. Now here we have,