Ezekielchapter 46
24 verses · KJVEzekiel book hub →
Key verse
Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons.
It stands in scene A of the chapter, verses 1 to 8.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The liturgical calendar of the new temple. The east gate of the inner court stays shut the six working days and is opened on the sabbath and the new moon; the prince enters by the porch and worships at its threshold while the people worship at its door. Offerings are prescribed for sabbath, new moon and freewill gifts. Traffic is ordered so that no one turns back: whoever comes in by the north gate goes out by the south. The prince may give inheritance to his sons, but a gift to a servant returns in the year of liberty, and he shall not take the people's inheritance by oppression. Boiling and baking places stand in the corners of the court.
Context
Prophecy · Ezekiel · Ezekiel overview
Where the chapter sits
Ezekiel 46 falls in The Temple vision (chapters 40–48). Detailed architectural and liturgical vision. Literal-millennial (dispensational), symbolic-of-the-Church (Reformed), typological (amill) readings all surfaced. The glory returns; the city's name is YHWH Shammah (48:35).
Before it: Gog and Magog, chapters 38–39.
The whole shape of Ezekiel→The world behind this chapter
Ezekiel 46The history
The chapter is mostly protocol, and protocol is how ancient societies expressed rank. The inner east gate stays shut on the six working days and is opened on the sabbath and at the new moon. The prince enters by the porch of that gate, stands at the doorpost while the priests prepare his offering, worships at the threshold, and goes out, and the gate stays open until evening. He gets nearer than anyone but the priests, and he still does not go in.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The sabbath and the new moon are paired because both were public markers of time. The new moon opened each month in a lunar calendar, and its sighting mattered for the whole festival year.
One rule is pure crowd control and reads like it: whoever enters by the north gate to worship goes out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south goes out by the north. Nobody turns back the way they came. With thousands of pilgrims moving through gates at a festival, that is the difference between order and a crush.
The prince's gifts follow a land law the exiles knew. A gift from his inheritance to one of his sons is permanent. A gift to one of his servants is held only until the year of liberty, the jubilee, when property returned to its family, and then reverts. And he may not take any of the people's inheritance to give his sons a holding. It is the same fence as the previous chapter, built again from a different direction.
The chapter closes at the kitchens. There are boiling places in the corners of the outer court where the ministers cook the people's sacrifices, and separate ones near the sanctuary for the priests' portions. Most offerings were eaten, and a shared meal in the courts was what a festival actually looked and smelled like.
What it meant to them
After the enormous visions of glory and dry bones, this chapter is deliberately ordinary: gates opening on the right days, people walking in one door and out another, meat being boiled in the corner of a courtyard.
That ordinariness is the promise. Exiles do not only need to know that God will return; they need to know what an ordinary sabbath will look like afterwards. Here it is, down to which way you leave.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel
A. The prince worships at the opened east gate
1. (vv. 1-3)
a.shall be shut the six working days: The inner court's east gate stays shut through the working week and opens only on the sabbath and the new moon, the calendar itself built into the architecture. The prince enters by the porch of that same gate and stands at its post while the priests prepare his offerings, worshipping at the threshold rather than passing through into the priestly ground beyond it, and the ordinary people worship at the gate's own door. Keil reads the arrangement as the vision keeping the prince a worshipper among worshippers, near the sanctuary but never inside the priesthood's own space.
Ezekiel 46:1, 1 voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ezekiel 46:1
“The prophet beholds in vision people, priest, and prince uniting in most solemn worship before the throne of God. The character of the rites here described is symbolic.”
Ezekiel 46:2, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:2
“In the time of Solomon, priest, king, and people each took his due part in the temple-service. Of the later kings some forsook Yahweh for false gods, some encroached upon the prerogative of the priest. Now all should be set right. The prince occupies a position analogous to that of Solomon 2Ch 6:12-13, standing in front of the porch of the eastern gate of the inner court, and at the head of his people to lead their worship, while the priests are sacrificing before him.”
Ezekiel 46:3, 3 voices
Ezekiel 46:3
“Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord,.... Publicly, and in a spiritual manner; attending the ministration of the word and ordinances with constancy and fervency; praying to God, praising his name, and hearing his word with attention; and performing all the duties of religious worship. The allusion is to the people of Israel meeting at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, Exo 29:42, "in the sabbaths, and in the new moons"; at their stated weekly and monthly meetings; see Isa 66:23.”
Ezekiel 46:3
“At the door of this gate - In Herod’s Temple the place for worshipping “before the Lord” was the court of Israel, west of the court of Women, separated from the inner court by a low parapet. In Ezekiel’s the worshippers were admitted into the inner court itself. The upper pavement (E. Plan II) on either side of the eastern gate provided room for such worshippers.”
Ezekiel 46:3
“Note, The greatest of men are less than the least of the ordinances of God. Even princes themselves, when they draw near to God, must worship with reverence and godly fear, owning that even they are unworthy to approach to him. But Christ is our prince, whom God causes to draw near and approach to him, Jer. xxx.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 4-7)
a.six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish: The sabbath offering is fixed at six lambs and a ram, each without blemish, with a meat offering of an ephah for the ram and oil measured to match, while the new moon calls for a young bullock added to the same lambs and ram. Gill notes the sliding scale on the lambs' meat offering, as he shall be able to give, a rare flexibility inside an otherwise fixed ordinance. The unblemished standard from Leviticus carries forward unchanged into the vision's own calendar.
Ezekiel 46:4, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:4
“The burnt-offerings that the prince shall offer - The chief magistrate was always obliged to attend the public worship of God, as well as the priest, to show that the civil and ecclesiastical states were both under the same government of the Lord; and that no one was capable of being prince or priest, who did not acknowledge God in all his ways. It is no wonder that those lands mourn, where neither the established priest nor the civil magistrate either fear or love God. Ungodly priests and profligate magistrates are a curse to any land.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 46:6, 3 voices
Ezekiel 46:6
“And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish,.... This is also different from the law of Moses, which required two young bullocks and a ram, and seven lambs, Num 28:11, whereas here only one bullock: and six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish; and here Kimchi acknowledges again that this is a new thing to be done in future time.”
Ezekiel 46:6
“Compare with Num. 28. The enumeration of the offerings both for the Sabbath and new moon is here less complete than there; e. g., the drink offerings are passed by, and in the case of the new moon festival no mention is made of the blowing of trumpets (compare Num 10:10).”
Ezekiel 46:6
“Those who do much for God and their souls, statedly and constantly, must yet, upon some occasions, do still more. All the sacrifices were to be without blemish; so Christ, the great sacrifice, was ( 1 Pet. i. 19 ), and so Christians, who are to present themselves to God as living sacrifices, should aim and endeavour to be-- blameless, and harmless, and without rebuke.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 46:7, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:7
“According as his hand shall attain unto - According to his ability, to what the providence of God has put in his hand, i.e., his power. This proportion of offerings is different from that prescribed by the Mosaic law, Num 15:4-12.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3. (v. 8)
Ezekiel 46:8-10
a.he shall go in by the way of the porch: The prince enters and leaves by the same porch he always uses, but the ordinary people crossing the court at the great feasts are given a different rule: whoever enters by the north gate leaves by the south, and whoever enters by the south leaves by the north, never doubling back through the gate he came in by. Fairbairn reads the crossing pattern as crowd order for a packed festival court, keeping the traffic moving one direction rather than colliding at a single door. The prince walks in the midst of the people rather than ahead of them, entering and leaving as they do.
B. How the people come in and go out; the daily lamb
1. (vv. 9-10)
Ezekiel 46:9, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:9
“The worshippers were on the great feasts to pass from one side to the other, through the temple courts, in order that, in such a throng as should attend the festivals, the ingress and egress should be the more unimpeded, those going out not being in the way of those coming in.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 46:10, 2 voices
Ezekiel 46:10
“And the prince in the midst of them - Even he shall act in the same way: he must also go straight forward, and never turn his back to go out at the same gate by which he entered. The prince and the people were to begin and end their worship at the same time.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 46:10
“That the ordinances of worship were fixed. Though the prince is supposed himself to be a very hearty zealous friend to the sanctuary, yet it is not left to him, no, not in concert with the priests, to appoint what sacrifices shall be offered, but God himself appoints them; for it is his prerogative to institute the rites and ceremonies of religious worship.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 11-12)
a.in the feasts and in the solemnities: The feast-day meat offering repeats the same fixed ratio, an ephah for a bullock and for a ram, oil to match, while a voluntary offering the prince brings on his own gets its own gate opened for it and shut again after he goes out. The voluntary offering stands apart from the fixed calendar entirely, brought when the prince chooses rather than when the month requires it. Keil reads the separate gate procedure as marking the difference between required worship and free devotion, both given a place.
Ezekiel 46:12, 2 voices
Ezekiel 46:12
“Not only is he to perform official acts of worship on holy days and feasts, but in "voluntary" offerings daily he is to show his individual zeal, surpassing all his people in liberality, and so setting them a princely example.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 46:12
“Of the keeping of this gate ordinarily shut we read before ( ch. xliv. 2 ); whereas the other gates of the court were opened every day, this was opened only on high days and on special occasions, when it was opened for the prince, who was to go in by the way of the porch of that gate,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3. (vv. 13-15)
a.Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering: Beneath the sabbath and new moon offerings sits the base rhythm of every morning, a yearling lamb without blemish with its own meat offering of fine flour and oil, called a perpetual ordinance. Henry notes the daily lamb as the floor under the whole calendar, the one offering that never waits for a feast day. The vision's worship never has an empty morning.
Ezekiel 46:13, 2 voices
Ezekiel 46:13
“Compare with marginal references. The evening sacrifice is here omitted, because the seer is selecting a few only of the sacrifices of the Law, with a particular object in view.”
Ezekiel 46:13
“It is strange that no mention is made of the evening sacrifice; but Christ having come, and having offered himself now in the end of the world ( Heb. ix. 26 ), we are to look upon him as the evening sacrifice, about the time of the offering up of which he died.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 46:15, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:15
“Thus shall they prepare,.... This shows that not a single person is meant in the preceding verses, but all the Lord's people; who are all priests unto God, and who are to offer up daily spiritual sacrifices unto him: the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil every morning, for a continual burnt offering; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to excite a careful and constant attention to it.”
C. The prince's gifts and the people's inheritance protected
1. (vv. 16-18)
a.If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons: The prince's land follows different rules for different gifts: what he gives his sons stays theirs by inheritance, but what he gives a servant reverts to him at the year of liberty, keeping the crown's own estate from leaking away into other households. The chapter's closing line states the point outright, that my people be not scattered every man from his possession, the same guard against royal land-grabbing that chapter 45 already named. Gill reads the whole passage as the vision correcting the very abuse Ahab committed against Naboth, a prince who can no longer simply take what he wants.
Ezekiel 46:16, 2 voices
Ezekiel 46:16
“The prince was robe provided with possessions of his own, in order to prevent exactions from his subjects; further enactments are added to prevent the alienation of the prince’s land. Any gifts made to his servants must revert to the prince in the “year of liberty,” or jubilee (see the marginal reference note).”
Ezekiel 46:16
Perhaps it will be restored under Messiah's coming reign. Compare Isa 61:2, 3, where "the acceptable year of the Lord" is closely connected with the comforting of the mourners in Zion, and "the day of vengeance" on Zion's foes. The mention of the prince's sons is another argument against Messiah being meant by "the prince."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 46:17, 2 voices
Ezekiel 46:17
“To the year of liberty - That is, to the year of jubilee, called the year of liberty, because there was then a general release. All servants had their liberty, and all alienated estates returned to their former owners.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 46:17
“The servant might have the rents, issues, and profits, for such a term, but the inheritance, the jus proprietarium--the right of proprietorship, shall remain in the prince and his heirs. It was fit that a difference should be put between a child and a servant, like that John viii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
D. The kitchens where the offerings are boiled
1. (vv. 19-20)
a.into the holy chambers of the priests: The guide brings the prophet through a side entry to chambers on the north where the priests boil the trespass offering and the sin offering and bake the meat offering, done here rather than in the outer court so the holy food never has to pass among the people. The same protective logic runs through chapter 42's chambers, keeping what is most holy from mixing with what is common. Keil reads the separate kitchen as a practical extension of the wardrobe rule already given, holiness kept contained at every point of contact.
Ezekiel 46:19, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:19
“The careful provision here made to keep separate the offerings of priests and people was to prevent collision, just as the enactments Eze 46:16-18 were intended to secure their respective rights to prince and people. Eze 46:19 At the side of the gate - The entrance to the inner court at the same side as the northern gate Eze 42:9. Eze 46:20 See M Plan II. Boil - It was unique to the Paschal lamb, that it was to be eaten roasted.”
Ezekiel 46:20, 2 voices
Ezekiel 46:20
“The trespass-offering - Part of this, and of the sin-offering, and the flour-offering was the portion of the priests. See Num 18:9, Num 18:10.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 46:20
“Care was taken that they should not bear them out into the outer court, to sanctify the people. Let them not pretend to sanctify the people with this holy flesh, and so impose upon them; or let not the people imagine that by touching those sacred things they were sanctified, and made any the better or more acceptable to God.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 21-24)
a.caused me to pass by the four corners of the court: The tour moves to the outer court's four corners, each holding a smaller court of its own, forty cubits by thirty, walled and fitted with rows of boiling places beneath them. The guide names their use plainly, the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people. The chapter that began with the prince's own gate closes with the ordinary worshipper's own kitchens, the whole court equipped from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom for the sacrifices it exists to receive.
Ezekiel 46:22, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:22
“In the four corners of the court there were courts joined,.... To the side walls of the outward court, which met in right angles: or, "were made with chimneys" (r), as some render it; that the smoke of the fire of the kitchens in them, and the steam of the boiled flesh, might ascend through them.”
Ezekiel 46:23, 1 voice
Ezekiel 46:23
It was made with boiling places - These were uncovered apartments, where they kept fires for dressing those parts of the peace-offerings, which were made in the temple by individuals through a principle of devotion. On these their families and their friends feasted; and portions were sent to the poor, the widows, and the orphans. And thus the spirit of devotion was the means of preserving the spirit of mercy, charity, and benevolence in the land. How true is that word, “Godliness is profitable for all things.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Ezekiel 46. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill; Matthew Henry and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.
Keep studying
On this page
Studies1