Day 258 Reading Schedule: Ezekiel 44-46

Ezekiel 44: Those Who Serve the Sacrifices

[Overview]

This chapter is about the priests who serve the sacrificial offerings in the temple. After describing the temple, Ezekiel describes the divine standards of future worship, asking the people of that time to reevaluate their current worship rituals. The prophet explains the duties of the priests, and in the next chapter, he describes the allocation of land for the priests of the temple. This chapter is composed of the first half (verses 1-8) which records the contents of entering and leaving the temple, the middle half (verses 9-11) which records the contents of the Levites, and the second half (verses 15-31) that records the regulations for the priests. Through these contents, this chapter emphasizes that those who serve the temple must be very holy.

Ezekiel 45: Things to Offer to God

[Overview]

This chapter discusses the distinction between God’s land and the land of the leaders of the people. If the entire chapter is mainly focused on humans, this chapter is organized around attitudes toward God. In other words, the holiness of the Levites and priests of the house of Zadok revealed in the entire chapter implies that it is within the context of a divine purpose toward God rather than a meaning in itself. In addition, if the content up to this point has mainly focused on the measurements of the temple and the design of the interior of the temple, this chapter focuses on the land outside the temple, showing that God’s domain of rule is not limited to the temple but includes the entire territory of Israel. This chapter is composed of references to the consecrated area (verses 1-8), exhortations to the ruler (verses 9-12), gifts to be offered to the king (verses 13-17), and regulations regarding the feasts (verses 18-25).

Ezekiel 46: Various Sacrificial Regulations

[Overview]

This chapter records the regulations that the king must observe. The reason why Ezekiel reveals the regulations for Sabbath observance while looking forward to the future reign of the Messiah is because he is under the Mosaic Covenant. In other words, he anticipated the future Messianic kingdom from a present perspective, that is, from the situation under the Mosaic Covenant. This fact is not only related to the Sabbath regulations but is also included in the mention of other festivals and sacrifices. Therefore, the various regulations in this chapter have a future and prophetic nature. This chapter consists of regulations for the Sabbath and the New Moon (verses 1-8), regulations for entering and leaving the temple (verses 9-10), regulations for other sacrifices (verses 11-15), regulations for the king's inheritance (verses 16-18), and regulations for boiling grain offerings (verses 19-24).