7 and He saith unto me: `Son of man, the place of My throne, And the place of the soles of My feet, Where I dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel to the age, Defile no more do the house of Israel My holy name, They, and their kings, by their whoredom, And by the carcases of their kings -- their high places.
Now do they put far off their whoredom, And the carcases of their kings -- from Me, And I have dwelt in their midst to the age.
God hath reigned over nations, God hath sat on His holy throne,
And ye, O house of Israel, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Each his idols -- go -- serve ye, And, afterwards, if ye are not hearkening to me, And My holy name ye do not pollute any more by your gifts, and by your idols.
And above the expanse that `is' over their head, as an appearance of a sapphire stone, `is' the likeness of a throne, and on the likeness of the throne a likeness, as the appearance of man upon it from above.
And David the king riseth on his feet, and saith, `Hear me, my brethren and my people, I -- with my heart -- to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and for the footstool of our God, and I prepared to build,
In that day there is on bells of the horse, `Holy to Jehovah,' And the pots in the house of Jehovah Have been as bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem, and in Judah, Have been holy to Jehovah of Hosts, And all those sacrificing have come in, And have taken of them, and boiled in them, And there is no merchant any more in the house of Jehovah of Hosts in that day!
but I -- I say to you, not to swear at all; neither by the heaven, because it is the throne of God, nor by the earth, because it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is a city of a great king,
teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days -- till the full end of the age.'
Jesus answered and said to him, `If any one may love me, my word he will keep, and my Father will love him, and unto him we will come, and abode with him we will make;
`But the Most High in sanctuaries made with hands doth not dwell, according as the prophet saith: The heaven `is' My throne, and the earth My footstool; what house will ye build to Me? saith the Lord, or what `is' the place of My rest?
and I, John, saw the holy city -- new Jerusalem -- coming down from God out of the heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice out of the heaven, saying, `Lo, the tabernacle of God `is' with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them -- their God,
and any curse there shall not be any more, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him,
Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast taken captive captivity, Thou hast taken gifts for men, That even the refractory may rest, O Jah God.
Exalt ye Jehovah our God, And bow yourselves at His footstool, holy `is' He.
In the year of the death of king Uzziah -- I see the Lord, sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train is filling the temple.
Thus said Jehovah: The heavens `are' My throne, And the earth My footstool, Where `is' this -- the house that ye build for Me? And where `is' this -- the place -- My rest?
Do not despise, for Thy name's sake, Dishonour not the throne of Thine honour, Remember, break not Thy covenant with us.
And I have recompensed a first -- A second time -- their iniquity and their sin, Because of their polluting My land, With the carcase of their detestable things, Yea, their abominable things have filled Mine inheritance.
And I look, and lo, on the expanse that `is' above the head of the cherubs, as a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne, He hath been seen over them.
Again, this they have done to Me, They defiled My sanctuary in that day, And My sabbaths they have polluted. And in their slaughtering their sons to their idols They also come in unto My sanctuary in that day to pollute it, And lo, thus they have done in the midst of My house,
And I have made to them a covenant of peace, A covenant age-during it is with them, And I have placed them, and multiplied them, And placed My sanctuary in their midst -- to the age. And My tabernacle hath been over them, And I have been to them for God, And they have been to Me for a people. And known have the nations that I Jehovah am sanctifying Israel, In My sanctuary being in their midst -- to the age!'
And My holy name I make known in the midst of My people Israel, And I pollute not My holy name any more, And known have the nations that I, Jehovah, the Holy One, `am' in Israel.
Round about `is' eighteen thousand, and the renown of the city `is' from the day Jehovah `is' there.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 43
Commentary on Ezekiel 43 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 43
Eze 43:1-27. Jehovah's Return to the Temple.
Everything was now ready for His reception. As the Shekinah glory was the peculiar distinction of the old temple, so it was to be in the new in a degree as much more transcendent as the proportions of the new exceeded those of the old. The fact that the Shekinah glory was not in the second temple proves that it cannot be that temple which is meant in the prophecy.
2. the way of the east—the way whereby the glory had departed (Eze 11:22, 23), and rested on Mount Olivet (compare Zec 14:4).
his voice … like … many waters—So English Version rightly, as in Eze 1:24, "voice of the Almighty"; Re 1:15; 14:2, prove this. Not as Fairbairn translates, "its noise."
earth his glory—(Re 18:1).
3. when I came to destroy the city—that is, to pronounce God's word for its destruction. So completely did the prophets identify themselves with Him in whose name they spake.
6. the man—who had been measuring the buildings (Eze 40:3).
7. the place—that is, "behold the place of My throne"—the place on which your thoughts have so much dwelt (Isa 2:1-3; Jer 3:17; Zec 14:16-20; Mal 3:1). God from the first claimed to be their King politically as well as religiously: and He had resisted their wish to have a human king, as implying a rejection of Him as the proper Head of the state. Even when He yielded to their wish, it was with a protest against their king ruling except as His vicegerent. When Messiah shall reign at Jerusalem, He shall then first realize the original idea of the theocracy, with its at once divine and human king reigning in righteousness over a people all righteous (Eze 43:12; Isa 52:1; 54:13; 60:21).
9. carcasses of their kings—It is supposed that some of their idolatrous kings were buried within the bounds of Solomon's temple [Henderson]. Rather, "the carcasses of their idols," here called "kings," as having had lordship over them in past times (Isa 26:13); but henceforth Jehovah, alone their rightful lord, shall be their king, and the idols that had been their "king" would appear but as "carcasses." Hence these defunct kings are associated with the "high places" in Eze 43:7 [Fairbairn]. Le 26:30 and Jer 16:18, confirm this. Manasseh had built altars in the courts of the temple to the host of heaven (2Ki 21:5; 23:6).
I will dwell in the midst … for ever—(Re 21:3).
10. show the house … that they may be ashamed of their iniquities—When the spirituality of the Christian scheme is shown to men by the Holy Ghost, it makes them "ashamed of their iniquities."
12. whole … most holy—This superlative, which had been used exclusively of the holy of holies (Ex 26:34), was now to characterize the entire building. This all-pervading sanctity was to be "the law of the (whole) house," as distinguished from the Levitical law, which confined the peculiar sanctity to a single apartment of it.
13-27. As to the altar of burnt offering, which was the appointed means of access to God.
15. altar—Hebrew, Harel, that is, "mount of God"; denoting the high security to be imparted by it to the restored Israel. It was a high place, but a high place of God, not of idols.
from the altar—literally, "the lion of God," Ariel (in Isa 29:1, "Ariel" is applied to Jerusalem). Menochius supposes that on it four animals were carved; the lion perhaps was the uppermost, whence the horns were made to issue. Gesenius regards the two words as expressing the "hearth" or fireplace of the altar.
16. square in the four squares—square on the four sides of its squares [Fairbairn].
17. settle—ledge [Fairbairn].
stairs—rather, "the ascent," as "steps" up to God's altar were forbidden in Ex 20:26.
18-27. The sacrifices here are not mere commemorative, but propitiatory ones. The expressions, "blood" (Eze 43:18), and "for a sin offering" (Eze 43:19, 21, 22), prove this. In the literal sense they can only apply to the second temple. Under the Christian dispensation they would directly oppose the doctrine taught in Heb 10:1-18, namely, that Christ has by one offering for ever atoned for sin. However, it is possible that they might exist with a retrospective reference to Christ's sufferings, as the Levitical sacrifices had a prospective reference to them; not propitiatory in themselves, but memorials to keep up the remembrance of His propitiatory sufferings, which form the foundation of His kingdom, lest they should be lost sight of in the glory of that kingdom [De Burgh]. The particularity of the directions make it unlikely that they are to be understood in a merely vague spiritual sense.
20. cleanse—literally, "make expiation for."
21. burn it … without the sanctuary—(Heb 13:11).
26. Seven days—referring to the original directions of Moses for seven days' purification services of the altar (Ex 29:37).
consecrate themselves—literally, "fill their hands," namely, with offerings; referring to the mode of consecrating a priest (Ex 29:24, 35).
27. I will accept you—(Eze 20:40, 41; Ro 12:1; 1Pe 2:5).