Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.
1. offer an oblation—from a
Hebrew root to "heave" or "raise"; when
anything was offered to God, the offerer raised the hand. The special
territorial division for the tribes is given in the forty-seventh and
forty-eighth chapters. Only Jehovah's portion is here subdivided into
its three parts: (1) that for the sanctuary (Ezekiel 45:2;
Ezekiel 45:3); (2) that for the
priests (Ezekiel 45:4); (3) that
for the Levites (Ezekiel 45:5).
Compare Ezekiel 48:8-13.
five and twenty thousand
reeds, &c.—So English Version
rightly fills the ellipsis (compare Note, see on Ezekiel 48:8-26). Hence "cubits" are mentioned in Ezekiel 48:8-26, not here, implying that there alone cubits are
meant. Taking each reed at twelve feet, the area of the whole would
be a square of sixty miles on each side. The whole forming a square
betokens the settled stability of the community and the harmony of
all classes. "An holy portion of the land" (Ezekiel 48:8-26) comprised the whole length, and only two-fifths of the
breadth. The outer territory in its distribution harmonizes with the
inner and more sacred arrangements of the sanctuary. No room is to be
given for oppression (see Ezekiel 48:8-26), all having ample provision made for their wants and
comforts. All will mutually co-operate without constraint or
contention.
Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.
And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary and the most holy place.
The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister unto the LORD: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary.
And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the ministers of the house, have for themselves, for a possession for twenty chambers.
And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.
And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward: and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.
7. The prince's possession is to
consist of two halves, one on the west, the other on the east, of the
sacred territory. The prince, as head of the holy community, stands
in closest connection with the sanctuary; his possession, therefore,
on both sides must adjoin that which was peculiarly the Lord's
[FAIRBAIRN].
In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD.
Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. I
The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.
And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your manneh.
12. The standard weights were
lost when the Chaldeans destroyed the temple. The threefold
enumeration of shekels (twenty, twenty-five, fifteen) probably refers
to coins of different value, representing respectively so many
shekels, the three collectively making up a maneh. By weighing
these together against the maneh, a test was afforded whether
they severally had their proper weight: sixty shekels in all,
containing one coin a fourth of the whole (fifteen shekels), another
a third (twenty shekels), another a third and a twelfth (twenty-five
shekels) [MENOCHIUS]. The
Septuagint reads, "fifty shekels shall be your
maneh."
This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of barley:
13-15. In these oblations there
is a progression as to the relation between the kind and the
quantity: of the corn, the sixth of a tenth, that is, a sixtieth part
of the quantity specified; of the oil, the tenth of a tenth, that is,
an hundredth part; and of the flock, one from every two hundred.
Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is an homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an homer:
And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel; for a meat offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord GOD.
All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel.
And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary:
18. The year is to begin with a
consecration service, not mentioned under the Levitical law; but an
earnest of it is given in the feast of dedication of the second
temple, which celebrated its purification by Judas Maccabeus, after
its defilement by Antiochus.
And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.
And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house.
20. for him that is simple—for
sins of ignorance (Leviticus 4:2;
Leviticus 4:13; Leviticus 4:27).
In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
21. As a new solemnity, the
feast of consecration is to prepare for the passover; so the passover
itself is to have different sacrifices from those of the Mosaic law.
Instead of one ram and seven lambs for the daily burnt offering,
there are to be seven bullocks and seven rams. So also whereas the
feast of tabernacles had its own offerings, which diminished as the
days of the feast advanced, here the same are appointed as on the
passover. Thus it is implied that the letter of the law is to give
place to its spirit, those outward rites of Judaism having no
intrinsic efficacy, but symbolizing the spiritual truths of Messiah's
kingdom, as for instance the perfect holiness which is to
characterize it. Compare 1 Corinthians 5:7;
1 Corinthians 5:8, as to our spiritual
"passover," wherein, at the Lord's supper, we feed on
Christ by faith, accompanied with "the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth." Literal ordinances, though not slavishly
bound to the letter of the law, will set forth the catholic and
eternal verities of Messiah's kingdom.
And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering.
And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering.
And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah.
In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.
