I. Summary
Ezekiel demarcates land around the temple for the priests, Levites, princes, and Israelites. YHWH tells the princes to do good, use proper measures, and provide offerings to the temple. YHWH describes the offerings for the first and seventh months.
II. Photo
The princes must use correct measurements: “The shekel shall weigh 20 gerahs. 20 shekels, 25 shekels [and] 10 plus 5 shekels shall count with you as a mina.” (v. 12)
III. Select Verses
4-8a: It is a sacred portion of the land; it shall provide space for houses for the priests, the ministrants of the Sanctuary who are qualified to minister to the LORD, as well as holy ground for the Sanctuary. Another [space], 25,000 long by 10,000 wide, shall be the property of the Levites, the servants of the Temple — twenty chambers. Alongside the sacred reserve, you shall set aside [a space] 25,000 long by 5,000 wide, as the property of the city; it shall belong to the whole House of Israel. And to the prince shall belong, on both sides of the sacred reserve and the property of the city and alongside the sacred reserve and the property of the city, on the west extending westward and on the east extending eastward, a portion corresponding to one of the [tribal] portions that extend from the western border to the eastern border of the land.
10-12: Have honest balances, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. The ephah and the bath shall comprise the same volume, the bath a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; their capacity shall be gauged by the homer. And the shekel shall weigh 20 gerahs. 20 shekels, 25 shekels [and] 10 plus 5 shekels shall count with you as a mina.
17: But the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the libations on festivals, new moons, sabbaths — all fixed occasions — of the House of Israel shall be the obligation of the prince; he shall provide the sin offerings, the meal offerings, the burnt offerings, and the offerings of well-being, to make expiation for the House of Israel.
21: On the fourteenth day of the first month you shall have the passover sacrifice; and during a festival of seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.
IV. Outline
1-4. Land for the sanctuary and the priests
5. Land for the Levites
6. Land for the city and all Israelites
7-8a. Two portions of land for the princes
8b. Proper behavior for the princes
9-17. YHWH’s speech to the princes
9. Do good, not evil
10-12. Proper measures explained
13-17. Required offerings and donations
18-25. YHWH’s speech about offerings
18-20. Purification and atonement on 1/1 and 7/1
21-24. The passover offerings beginning on 1/14
25. These should be repeated on 7/15
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Photo copied from http://supremecourtgifts.org/images/products/detail/Scale_03_a.jpg
