20 And he said to me, This is the place where the offering for error and the sin-offering are to be cooked in water by the priests, and where the meal offering is to be cooked in the oven; so that they may not be taken out into the outer square to make the people holy.
And the Passover lamb was cooked over the fire, as it says in the law; and the holy offerings were cooked in pots and basins and vessels, and taken quickly to all the people.
And when you give a meal offering cooked in the oven, let it be of unleavened cakes of the best meal mixed with oil, or thin unleavened cakes covered with oil. And if you give a meal offering cooked on a flat plate, let it be of the best meal, unleavened and mixed with oil. Let it be broken into bits, and put oil on it; it is a meal offering. And if your offering is of meal cooked in fat over the fire, let it be made of the best meal mixed with oil.
Their food is to be the meal offering and the sin-offering and the offering for error; and everything given specially to the Lord in Israel will be theirs.
And this is the law of the offering for wrongdoing: it is most holy. They are to put to death the offering for wrongdoing in the same place as the burned offering; and the priest is to put the blood on and round the altar. And all the fat of it, the fat tail and the fat covering the inside parts, is to be given as an offering. And the two kidneys, and the fat on them, which is by the top of the legs, and the fat joining the liver and the kidneys, he is to take away: They are to be burned by the priest on the altar for an offering made by fire to the Lord: it is an offering for wrongdoing. Every male among the priests may have it as food in a holy place: it is most holy. As is the sin-offering, so is the offering for wrongdoing; there is one law for them: the priest who makes the offering to take away sin, he is to have it. And the priest offering any man's burned offering for him, may have the skin of the burned offering which is offered by him. And every meal offering which is cooked in the oven and everything made in a cooking pot or on a flat plate, is for the priest by whom it is offered. And every meal offering, mixed with oil or dry, is for all the sons of Aaron in equal measure. And this is the law for the peace-offerings offered to the Lord. If any man gives his offering as a praise-offering, then let him give with the offering, unleavened cakes mixed with oil and thin unleavened cakes covered with oil and cakes of the best meal well mixed with oil. With his peace-offering let him give cakes of leavened bread, as a praise-offering. And let him give one out of every offering to be lifted up before the Lord; that it may be for the priest who puts the blood of the peace-offering on the altar. And the flesh of the praise-offering is to be taken as food on the day when it is offered; no part of it may be kept till the morning. But if his offering is made because of an oath or given freely, it may be taken as food on the day when it is offered; and the rest may be used up on the day after: But if any of the flesh of the offering is still unused on the third day, it is to be burned with fire. And if any of the flesh of the peace-offering is taken as food on the third day, it will not be pleasing to God and will not be put to the account of him who gives it; it will be unclean and a cause of sin to him who takes it as food. And flesh touched by any unclean thing may not be taken for food: it is to be burned with fire; and as for the flesh of the peace-offerings, everyone who is clean may take it as food: But he who is unclean when he takes as food the flesh of the peace-offerings, which are the Lord's, will be cut off from his people. And anyone who, after touching any unclean thing of man or an unclean beast or any unclean and disgusting thing, takes as food the flesh of the peace-offerings, which are the Lord's, will be cut off from his people. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel: You are not to take any fat, of ox or sheep or goat, for food. And the fat of that which comes to a natural death, and the fat of that which is attacked by beasts, may be used for other purposes, but not in any way for food. For anyone who takes as food the fat of any beast of which men make an offering by fire to the Lord, will be cut off from his people. And you are not to take for food any blood, of bird or of beast, in any of your houses. Whoever takes any blood for food will be cut off from his people. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel: He who makes a peace-offering to the Lord, is to give an offering to the Lord out of his peace-offering: He himself is to take to the Lord the offering made by fire, even the fat with the breast, so that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the Lord. And the fat is to be burned by the priest on the altar, but the breast is for Aaron and his sons. And the right leg you are to give to the priest for an offering to be lifted up out of what is given for your peace-offerings. That man, among the sons of Aaron, by whom the blood of the peace-offering and the fat are offered, is to have the right leg for his part. For the breast which is waved and the right leg which is lifted up on high I have taken from the children of Israel, from their peace-offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their right for ever from the children of Israel. This is the holy part given to Aaron and to his sons, out of the offerings made to the Lord by fire, on the day when they were made priests before the Lord; Which the Lord said the children of Israel were to give them, on the day when he made them his priests. It is their right for ever from generation to generation. These are the laws for the burned offering, the meal offering, and the offering for wrongdoing; and for the making of priests, and for the giving of peace-offerings; As they were given by the Lord to Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day when the Lord gave orders to the children of Israel to make their offerings to the Lord, in the waste land of Sinai.
And the priests' way with the people was this: when any man made an offering, the priest's servant came while the flesh was being cooked, having in his hand a meat-hook with three teeth; This he put into the pot, and everything which came up on the hook the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. And more than this, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was making the offering, Give me some of the flesh to be cooked for the priest; he has no taste for meat cooked in water, but would have you give it uncooked.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 46
Commentary on Ezekiel 46 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 46
Eze 46:1-24. Continuation of the Ordinances for the Prince and for the People in Their Worship.
2. The prince is to go through the east gate without (open on the Sabbath only, to mark its peculiar sanctity) to the entrance of the gate of the inner court; he is to go no further, but "stand by the post" (compare 1Ki 8:14, 22, Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the congregation; also 2Ki 11:14; 23:3, "by a pillar": the customary place), the court within belonging exclusively to the priests. There, as representative of the people, in a peculiarly near relation to God, he is to present his offerings to Jehovah, while at a greater distance, the people are to stand worshipping at the outer gate of the same entrance. The offerings on Sabbaths are larger than those of the Mosaic law, to imply that the worship of God is to be conducted by the prince and people in a more munificent spirit of self-sacrificing liberality than formerly.
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.
10. prince in the midst—not isolated as at other times, but joining the great throng of worshippers, at their head, after the example of David (Ps 42:4, "I had gone with the multitude … to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day"); the highest in rank animating the devotions of the rest by his presence and example.
12-15. 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.
16-18. The prince's possession is to be inalienable, and any portion given to a servant is to revert to his sons at the year of jubilee, that he may have no temptation to spoil his people of their inheritance, as formerly (compare Ahab and Naboth, 1Ki 21:1-29). The mention of the year of jubilee implies that there is something literal meant, besides the spiritual sense. The jubilee year was restored after the captivity [Josephus, Antiquities, 14.10,6; 1 Maccabees 6:49]. 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."
19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set at the corners of the outer court, for cooking the flesh of the peace offerings, of which the people partook along with the priests. All this implies that no longer are the common and unclean to be confounded with the sacred and divine, but that in even the least things, as eating and drinking, the glory of God is to be the aim (1Co 10:31).
22. courts joined—Fairbairn translates, "roofed" or "vaulted." But these cooking apartments seem to have been uncovered, to let the smoke and smell of the meat the more easily pass away. They were "joined" or "attached" to the walls of the courts at the corners of the latter [Menochius].
23. boiling places—boilers.
under the rows—At the foot of the rows, that is, in the lowest part of the walls, were the places for boiling made.