Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Ezekiel, chapters 43 through 45. Chapter 43 Afterward,
he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces
toward the east. And behold, the glory of the
God of Israel came from the way of the east.
His voice was like the sound of many waters,
and the earth shone with his glory. It was like
the appearance of the vision which I saw. like
the vision which I saw when I came to destroy
the city. The visions were like the vision which
I saw by the river Shabar, and I fell on my face.
And the glory of the Lord came into the temple
by way of the gate which faces toward the east.
The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the
inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord
filled the temple. Then I heard him speaking
to me from the temple while a man stood beside
me. And he said to me, Son of man, this is the
place of my throne and the place of the soles
of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of
the children of Israel forever. No more shall
the house of Israel defile my holy name, they
nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the
carcasses of their kings on their high places,
when they set their threshold by my threshold
and their doorpost by my doorpost with a wall
between them and me. They defiled my holy name
by the abominations which they committed. Therefore
I have consumed them in my anger. Now let them
put their harlotry and the carcasses of their
kings far away from me, and I will dwell in their
midst forever. Son of man, describe the temple
to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed
of their iniquities, and let them measure the
pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that
they have done, make known to them the design
of the temple and its arrangement. its exits
and its entrances, its entire design and all
its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws.
Write it down in their sight, so that they may
keep its whole design and all its ordinances
and perform them. This is the law of the temple.
The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is
most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.
These are the measurements of the altar in cubits.
The cubit is one cubit and a handbreadth. The
base one cubit high and one cubit wide, with
a rim all around its edge of one span. This is
the height of the altar. From the base on the
ground to the lower ledge, two cubits. The width
of the ledge, one cubit. From the smaller ledge
to the larger ledge, four cubits. And the width
of the ledge, one cubit. The altar hearth is
four cubits high, with four horns extending upward
from the hearth. the altar hearth is 12 cubits
long 12 wide square at its four corners the ledge
14 cubits long and 14 wide on its four sides
with a rim of half a cubit around it its base
one cubit all around and its steps face toward
the east And he said to me, Son of man, thus
says the Lord God, these are the ordinances for
the altar on the day when it is made, for sacrificing
burnt offerings on it and for sprinkling blood
on it. You shall give a young bull for a sin
offering to the priests, the Levites, who are
of the seed of Zadok, who approach me to minister
to me, says the Lord God. You shall take some
of its blood and put it on the four horns of
the altar, on the four corners of the ledge.
and on the rim around it thus you shall cleanse
it and make atonement for it then you shall also
take the bull of the sin offering and burn it
in the appointed place of the temple outside
the sanctuary on the second day you shall offer
a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin
offering and they shall cleanse the altar as
they cleansed it with the bull when you have
finished cleansing it you shall offer a young
bull without blemish and the ram from the flock
without blemish When you offer them before the
Lord, the priests shall throw salt on them, and
they will offer them up as a burnt offering to
the Lord. Every day for seven days you shall
prepare a goat for a sin offering. They shall
also prepare a young bull and a ram from the
flock. both without blemish. Seven days they
shall make atonement for the altar and purify
it, and so consecrate it. When these days are
over, it shall be on the eighth day and thereafter
that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings
and your peace offerings on the altar, and I
will accept you, says the Lord God. Chapter 44
Then he brought me back to the outer gate of
the sanctuary, which faces toward the east, but
it was shut. And the Lord said to me, This gate
shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no
man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of
Israel has entered by it, therefore it shall
be shut. As for the prince, because he is the
prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before
the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule
of the gateway, and go out the same way. Also
he brought me by way of the north gate to the
front of the temple. So I looked, and behold,
the glory of the Lord filled the house of the
Lord, and I fell on my face. And the Lord said
to me, Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes
and hear with your ears, all that I say to you
concerning all the ordinances of the house of
the Lord and all its laws. Mark well who may
enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary.
Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel,
Thus says the Lord God, O house of Israel, let
us have no more of all your abominations, when
you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart
and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary,
to defile it, my house. And when you offered
my food, the fat and the blood, then they broke
my covenant because of all your abominations.
And you have not kept charge of my holy things,
but you have set others to keep charge of my
sanctuary for you. Thus says the Lord God, No
foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised
in flesh, shall enter my sanctuary, including
any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.
and the levites who went far from me when israel
went astray who strayed away from me after their
idols they shall bear their iniquity yet they
shall be ministers in my sanctuary as gatekeepers
of the house and ministers of the house they
shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice
for the people and they shall stand before them
to minister to them Because they ministered to
them before their idols and caused the house
of Israel to fall into iniquity. Therefore I
have raised my hand in an oath against them,
says the Lord God, that they shall bear their
iniquity. And they shall not come near me to
minister to me as priest, nor come near any of
my holy things, nor into the most holy place,
but they shall bear their shame and their abominations
which they have committed. Nevertheless, I will
make them keep charge of the temple for all its
work and for all that has to be done in it. But
the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok,
who kept charge of my sanctuary when the children
of Israel went astray from me, they shall come
near me to minister to me. and they shall stand
before me to offer to me the fat and the blood
says the lord god they shall enter my sanctuary
and they shall come near my table to minister
to me and they shall keep my charge and it shall
be whenever they enter the gates of the inner
court that they shall put on linen garments no
wool shall come upon them while they minister
within the gates of the inner court or within
the house. They shall have linen turbans on their
heads and linen trousers on their bodies. They
shall not clothe themselves with anything that
causes sweat. When they go out to the outer court
to the people, they shall take off their garments
in which they have ministered, leave them in
the holy chambers, and put on other garments,
and in their holy garments they shall not sanctify
the people. They shall neither shave their heads,
nor let their hair grow long, but they shall
keep their hair well trimmed. No priest shall
drink wine when he enters the inner court. They
shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced
woman, but take versions of the descendants of
the house of Israel, or widows of priests. And
they shall teach my people the difference between
the holy and unholy, and cause them to discern.
between the unclean and the clean. In controversy
they shall stand as judges, and judge it according
to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and
my statutes, in all my appointed meetings, and
they shall hallow my Sabbaths. They shall not
defile themselves by coming near a dead person.
Only for father or mother, for son or daughter,
for brother or unmarried sister, may they defile
themselves. After he is cleansed, they shall
count seven days for him. And on the day that
he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary,
he must offer his sin offering in the inner court,
says the Lord God. It shall be in regard to their
inheritance that I am their inheritance. You
shall give them no possession in Israel, for
I am their possession. They shall eat the grain
offering, the sin offering, and the trespass
offering. Every dedicated thing in Israel shall
be theirs. The best of all firstfruits of any
kind and every sacrifice of any kind from all
your sacrifices shall be the priest's. Also you
shall give to the priest the first of your ground
meal, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
The priest shall not eat anything, bird or beast,
that died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.
Chapter 45 Moreover, when you divide the land
by lot into inheritance, you shall set apart
a district for the Lord, a holy section of the
land. Its length shall be 25 ,000 cubits, and
the width 10 ,000. It shall be holy throughout
its territory all around. Of this there shall
be a square plot for the sanctuary, 500 by 500
rods, with 50 cubits around it for an open space.
So this is the district you shall measure. 25
,000 cubits long and 10 ,000 wide, and it shall
be the sanctuary, the most holy place. It shall
be a holy section of the land, belonging to the
priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who
come near to minister to the Lord. It shall be
a place for their houses and a holy place for
the sanctuary. An area 25 ,000 cubits long and
10 ,000 wide shall belong to the Levites, the
ministers of the temple. They shall have 20 chambers
as a possession. You shall appoint as the property
of the city an area 5 ,000 cubits wide and 25
,000 long, adjacent to the district of the holy
section. It shall belong to the whole house of
Israel. The prince shall have a section on one
side and the other of the holy district and the
city's property. And bordering on the holy district
and the city's property, extending westward on
the west side and eastward on the east side,
the length shall be side by side with one of
the tribal portions, from the west border to
the east border. The land shall be his possession
in Israel, and my princes shall no more oppress
my people, but they shall give the rest of the
land to the house of Israel according to their
tribes. Thus says the Lord God, Enough, O princes
of Israel. Remove violence and plundering, execute
justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing
my people, says the Lord God. You shall have
honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest
bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of the
same measure, so that the bath contains one -tenth
of a homer and the ephah one -tenth of a homer.
Their measure shall be according to the homer.
The shekel shall be twenty geras. Twenty shekels,
twenty -five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall
be your mina. This is the offering which you
shall offer. You shall give one -sixth of an
ephah from a homer of wheat, and one -sixth of
an ephah from a homer of barley. The ordinance
concerning oil, the bath of oil, is one -tenth
of a bath from a kor. A kor is a homer or ten
bath. For ten baths are a homer. And one lamb
shall be given from a flock of two hundred. from
the rich pastures of Israel. These shall be for
grain offerings, burnt offerings and peace offerings,
to make atonement for them, says the Lord God.
All the people of the land shall give this offering
for the prince in Israel. Then it shall be the
prince's part to give burnt offerings, grain
offerings, and drink offerings at the feasts,
the new moons, the sabbaths, and at all the appointed
seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare
the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt
offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement
for the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God,
in the first month, on the first day of the month,
you shall take a young bull without blemish and
cleanse the sanctuary. The priest shall take
some of the blood of the sin offering and put
it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four
corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the
gateposts of the gate of the inner court. And
so you shall do on the seventh day of the month
for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or
in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for
the temple. In the first month, on the fourteenth
day of the month, you shall observe the Passover.
A feast of seven days on leavened bread shall
be eaten. And on that day the prince shall prepare
for himself and for all the people of the land
a bull for a sin offering. On the seven days
of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering
to the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams without
blemish, daily for seven days, and a kid of the
goats daily for a sin offering. And he shall
prepare a grain offering of one ephah for each
bull and one ephah for each ram, together with
a hin of oil for each ephah. In the seventh month,
on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast,
he shall do likewise for seven days, according
to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the
grain offering, and the oil. I hope you enjoyed
today's reading as much as I did, and I look
forward to seeing you again tomorrow to continue
on our journey. God bless you and have a great
day.