Ezekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - Ezekiel 43:1 - 43:12

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Ezekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - Ezekiel 43:1 - 43:12


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CHAPTER 43.

THE LORD’S RETURN TO THE TEMPLE.

IN the preceding part of the vision, the external things belonging to the Lord’s house have been exhibited in their vast proportions and manifold arrangements. Everything has become ready for the Lord himself taking formal possession of it, by the visible manifestations of his glory. This was now, as of old, to constitute the peculiar distinction of the place; and was to belong to this temple in a degree so much higher than formerly, as the general plan transcended what had existed in the past. The prophet had seen in vision the glory of the Lord depart from the old temple (Ezekiel 11.), by the way of the east, and rest over the Mount of Olives, as it were to watch upon the destruction which must thenceforth alight on the devoted city. And now, again, when the work of judgment has run its course, and due preparation has been made for the return of Jehovah to bless his people, a manifestation of the Divine glory appears to the prophet similar to what he had seen on the banks of the Chebar, and also in the old temple courts (Eze_43:1-3); and by the very same approach through which it had departed it comes back, and fills the whole house. The prophet is then caught up by the Spirit of the Lord, and placed in the inner court, where as a priest his proper position was; and he heard the voice of God speaking to him from within, while the interpreting angel beside him gives utterance to the message meant to be conveyed.

Eze_43:1. And he brought me to the gate that looks towards the east.

Eze_43:2. And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came by the way of the east; and its noise (What is meant is not the voice of God, but the sound or noise of the manifested glory of God, as formerly described, Eze_1:24. It is better, therefore, to render “its noise” than “his voice,” as the latter seems to point to what is not here intended a personal speaking on the part of God.) was as the sound of many waters; and the earth shone from his glory.

Eze_43:3. And according to appearance, the appearance that I saw was like the appearance which I saw when I came to destroy the city; (A striking example of the manner in which the prophets identified themselves with him in whose name they spake, and whose word they uttered. Ezekiel came to destroy when he came to utter God’s destroying word. Comp. Gen_48:22; Hos_6:5, etc.) and the vision like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.

Eze_43:4. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house, by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

Eze_43:5. And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the whole house.

Eze_43:6. And I heard him speaking to me from the house; and the man (viz. he who had been measuring the buildings) was standing beside me.

Eze_43:7. And he said to me, Son of man, the place of my throne, (The construction is here quite similar to that of Eze_35:10, where, to render the object uppermost in the thoughts particularly prominent, the speech begins with it, preceded by an àֶú . It is as much as to say, This is it—this that you have seen, with which your mind has been so long occupied, is my throne.) and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever; and not any more shall the children of Israel defile my holy name, they and their kings, by their whoredoms, and by the carcases of their kings their high places. (By mentioning the “carcases of their kings,” the prophet has been very commonly thought to refer to the burying-place of the kings being improperly situated within the temple mount, and, perhaps, to some connection between this and the abominations of idolatry. But there is no evidence of such a thing in the historical or prophetical books. No charge of corruption on this score is even so much as mooted against the people; while it is clear, from the manner it is noticed here, that not only a corruption, but a most flagrant and crying abomination, is referred to. I think, therefore, that we must understand by the expression, the pollutions of idolatry. These are characterised by a strong, yet in the circumstances not unnatural, epithet of contempt and abhorrence. Not unnatural; for God is here presenting himself as the glorious head and monarch of his people—so near to them that the earthly head, the David, has only the name of the prince (chapters 44, 36.). God himself occupies the throne; and in what light, then, appeared their old idols? Kings indeed—other kings, but dead and not living; only carcases of kings. And to make it more plain that such are really meant, the high places are immediately mentioned, and placed in apposition with these carcases of kings, as but another name for the same thing; for it was with the high places that the idol worship was more especially connected, insomuch that God gave the name of Bamah, high place, to all their worship (see on Eze_20:29). These rival monarchs, therefore, whose throne was as it were on the high places, but whose foul services had also been brought into the courts of God’s house, these must now be put away—must, like carcases, be buried out of sight.)

Eze_43:8. In that they have set their threshold by my threshold, and their posts beside my posts, and there was (but) a wall between me and them; and they defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have done, and I consumed them in mine anger.

Eze_43:9. Now they shall put far away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, from me; and I will dwell among them for ever.

Eze_43:10. Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, and let them be ashamed for their iniquities, and measure the pattern.

Eze_43:11. And if they are ashamed for all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the pattern of it, and the entrances out and in to it, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, even all its forms, and all its statutes; and write it before them, that they may observe all its forms, and all its statutes, and do them.

Eze_43:12. this is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain its whole boundary round about is most holy (a holy of holies). Behold, this is the law of the house.

In this striking passage we are first of all to note the character in which the Lord now appears to dwell and manifest himself among his people. It is as their Divine king, occupying that house as the throne of his kingdom. God had always claimed this position, and had at first resisted their desires to have an earthly sovereign, because this virtually implied a rejection of him as the proper head of the state. Even when he consented to their request, it was with a solemn and earnest protest against the person chosen ruling in his own name, and for selfish purposes, or in any other way than as the Lord’s vicegerent. The protest, however, was soon forgotten. The king looked upon himself, and the people also looked upon him, as possessing an absolute title to the throne, and the earthly head came very much to occupy in men’s eyes the place of the true and proper king. But in the new and more perfect order of things now unfolded in vision to the prophet, this flagrant perversion of the past must be rectified; God must be known and honoured as alone properly “king in Jeshurun.” And hence, not only here does he declare that he had come to occupy his throne in the house, but, as mentioned in the note on Eze_43:7, the earthly head, when spoken of in a subsequent chapter, is simply called “the prince.” The supremacy and glory of Jehovah were henceforth to appear in their full splendour. We have further to notice in the preceding passage the essentially moral character of all that was here displayed in vision respecting the future things of God’s kingdom. It was not a pattern which God was going to carry out anyhow, and accomplish as by a simple fiat of Omnipotence. It depended upon the condition of the people; and only if they agreed to put away sin from among them, and give God the supreme place in their hearts, could he manifest himself toward them in the manner described. And, finally, while the whole scheme was fraught with lessons of instruction, and inlaid with principles of holiness, the grand and distinguishing peculiarity of this pattern of the future as compared with the past, we are expressly informed, was to be a general and all-pervading sanctity. The law of the house—what was pre-eminently entitled to be called the law—consisted in the whole region of the temple mount being most holy. Not, as hitherto, was this characteristic to be confined to a single apartment of the temple; it was to embrace the entire circumference occupied by the symbolical institutions of the kingdom,—the chambers allotted to the priest, and even the courts trodden by the people, as well as the immediate dwelling-place of Jehovah. All were to have one character of sacredness, because all connected with them were to occupy a like position of felt nearness to God, and equally to enjoy the privilege of access to him. So that the pattern delineated is that of a true theocracy, having God himself for king, with the community in all its members for true denizens of the kingdom, and acceptable ministers of righteousness before the Lord.