Ezekiel 43
The Return of God's Glory 1–6
The Lord Establishes His Dwelling 7–12
Measurements of the Great Altar 13–17
Ordinances for Altar Consecration 18–27
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Study Notes for Ezekiel 43
Verse 2
the glory of the God of Israel — It comes 'from the way of the east', the direction in which it had left: it 'stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city' (11:23), after standing at 'the east gate of the LORD'S house' (10:19). His voice is like 'a noise of many waters', as the cherubim's wings were like 'great waters' (1:24) and as Christ's voice is in Rev 1:15.
Verse 3
when I came to destroy the city — Ezekiel ties this vision to two earlier ones: the vision of the city's destruction (chs.8–11) and the one 'by the river Chebar' (ch.1), where he also 'fell upon my face' (1:28). The glory that left the temple in judgment is the same glory that returns, and the prophet responds as he did then.
Verse 4
by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east — The glory enters by the gate at which it had stood when leaving (10:19), the east gate to which the measuring came in 42:15. The gate is then shut, as 44:2 says: 'because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut'.
Verse 7
the place of the soles of my feet — The ark is called God's footstool: David 'had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant… and for the footstool of our God' (1 Chr 28:2; Ps 132:7). The 'carcases' (peger) of their kings stand beside 'whoredom' among the things that defiled the place; Lev 26:30 uses the same word of 'the carcases of your idols'.
Verse 8
they have even defiled my holy name — 'Their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts' describes something set right against the LORD's house, with only 'the wall between me and them'. The defilement is of the 'holy name' by 'abominations', and the LORD says 'I have consumed them in mine anger'. 5:11 has the same charge: 'thou hast defiled my sanctuary'.
Verse 9
put away their whoredom — 'Put away… far' renders one Hebrew verb, rachaq, to make distant. Idolatry is called whoredom, as in v.7, and it and the kings' 'carcases' are to be moved far from the house. The promise to 'dwell in the midst of them for ever' is the covenant of peace of 37:26–28, 'my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore'.
Verse 10
that they may be ashamed — Kalam, to be confounded, the second verb of 36:32, 'be ashamed and confounded for your own ways'. The shame comes from seeing the house in its measured pattern, and 43:11 states the condition: 'if they be ashamed of all that they have done', they are shown the form, the ordinances and the laws of the house.
Verse 12
most holy — Qodesh qodashim, the term for the inner room of the tabernacle, 'the most holy' beyond the veil (Ex 26:33). Here it is given to 'the whole limit' round the top of the mountain, the 'very high mountain' of 40:2. The verse calls itself 'the law of the house', and it says it twice.
Verse 13
a cubit and an hand breadth — The cubit is the one of the measuring reed in 40:5, 'six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth'. The altar is measured by it before its parts are named. The tabernacle's altar was five cubits by five (Ex 27:1), and Solomon's twenty by twenty and ten high (2 Chr 4:1).
Verse 15
four horns — 'Altar' here is har'el, 'mount of God', the upper hearth, which stands four cubits high above the ledges of vv.14 and 17. The four horns are at the corners, as at the tabernacle's altar (Ex 27:2). At the consecration the blood is put on them, as Moses put it on the horns (Lev 8:15), and v.20 names these same horns.
Verse 17
his stairs shall look toward the east — The law at Sinai was 'Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon' (Ex 20:26). This altar has steps. The priests of this house wear 'linen breeches upon their loins' (44:18), as Aaron's sons did at the altar (Ex 28:42–43). The stairs face east, the side by which the glory entered (v.4).
Verse 18
to sprinkle blood thereon — Zaraq, the verb of 36:25, where clean water is sprinkled on the people; here it is blood on the altar. These are 'the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it'. The tabernacle's altar had its own consecration: 'Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it' (Ex 29:37).
Verse 19
the seed of Zadok — Zadok is the priest Solomon put 'in the room of Abiathar' (1 Kgs 2:35). His sons are 'the priests the Levites… that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray' (44:15; 40:46). The sin offering of 'a young bullock' is the offering brought at Aaron's own consecration (Lev 8:14).
Verse 20
cleanse and purge it — Chata, literally to un-sin, and kapar, to make atonement: two verbs, as in Lev 8:15, where Moses 'put it upon the horns of the altar… and purified the altar'. The blood goes on the four horns, the four corners of the ledge, and the border round about, so that the altar is cleared of defilement before any offering is made on it.
Verse 25
Seven days — The altar is consecrated for seven days, as the tabernacle's was (Ex 29:37). A bullock is offered on the first day (v.19), a kid of the goats on the second (v.22), and every day 'a goat for a sin offering', with a young bullock and a ram. All are to be 'without blemish' (tamim), as the burnt offering of the herd was in Lev 1:3.
Verse 27
upon the eighth day, and so forward — The eighth day is where the regular offerings begin, as in Lev 9:1, 'on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron'; Solomon's dedication of the altar also ran seven days (2 Chr 7:9). Burnt offerings and peace offerings follow on the altar. The promise 'I will accept you' (ratsah) is that of 20:41, 'I will accept you with your sweet savour'.