Ezekiel 45:17

And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) The prince’s part.—The prince, receiving these contributions from the people, was bound to provide the offerings on the various stated occasions of sacrifice. This is an entirely new feature, for the Mosaic law made no provision in regard to the source from which the festal sacrifices were to be obtained. What had been left to free-will offering now becomes established duty.

Shall prepare.—The word means simply provide, not prepare in a priestly sense.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

45:1-25 In the period here foretold, the worship and the ministers of God will be provided for; the princes will rule with justice, as holding their power under Christ; the people will live in peace, ease, and godliness. These things seem to be represented in language taken from the customs of the times in which the prophet wrote. Christ is our Passover that is sacrificed for us: we celebrate the memorial of that sacrifice, and feast upon it, triumphing in our deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery of sin, and our preservation from the destroying sword of Divine justice, in the Lord's supper, which is our passover feast; as the whole Christian life is, and must be, the feast of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The people's gifts were to be placed in the hands of the prince, so as to form a common stock, out of which the prince was to provide what was necessary for each sacrifice. Compare 1 Kings 8:62; Ezra 7:17. The prince handed the gifts to the priests, whose part it was to sacrifice and offer. But the prominent part assigned to the prince in "making reconciliation for the sins of the people" seems to typify the union of the kingly and priestly offices in the person of the Mediator of the New covenant.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13-15. In these oblations there is a progression as to the relation between the kind and the quantity: of the corn, the sixth of a tenth, that is, a sixtieth part of the quantity specified; of the oil, the tenth of a tenth, that is, an hundredth part; and of the flock, one from every two hundred.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The prince’s part; beside the share he gives to the daily sacrifice in the common charge, Ezekiel 45:16, the prince is bound also on solemnities to give sacrifices out of his own.

Burnt-offerings: see Le 1, where these are described. Meat-offerings rings: see Leviticus 2:1, &c. Drink-offerings: see Exodus 30:9 Numbers 15:24 the drink-offering was ever joined with the meat-offering, Numbers 29:11,16,19,22.

In the feasts; which he doth particularly recount, as new moons, &c.; of all particularly to treat would be too long.

He shall prepare: here lieth the main deciding circumstance, whether the secular or ecclesiastical prince be here intended. Some say this preparing is a sacerdotal act in order to offering; if so, it must be the high priest; but I think they mistake. This preparing is nothing more than on the prince’s charge, and by his care, to see that there be such beasts ready at hand as are required at such solemnities; and so it is the secular prince.

To make reconciliation: see Ezekiel 45:15.

For the house of Israel; all the people.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings,.... Or, "upon the prince shall be the burnt offerings" (e); it shall lie upon him to provide them; who is not the high priest, as Jarchi; nor the civil magistrate or king, as Menachem; but Christ, who is both Prince and Priest; and whose sacrifice of himself is designed by these, and the other sacrifices after mentioned, of which the sacrifices were all typical; though he is but one, they many, his answers to them all, and is one for all; and though his is but once offered up, they often, because of the fulness of efficacy in the one, and the want of it in the other; and though in itself infinitely superior to these. Of the burnt offerings, and of their being typical of Christ; see Gill on Ezekiel 40:39,

and meat offerings, and drink offerings; the meat offerings, which were rather bread offerings, were made of fine flour, with oil poured, and frankincense put thereon, Leviticus 2:1 and were typical of Christ, compared to a corn of wheat dying in the earth, and bringing forth fruit, John 12:24 and to wheat as bruised and ground into fine flour, kneaded and baked, which may denote his various sufferings, and so made bread of; he being the true and living bread, which gives life to men. The "oil" poured upon this offering may signify the grace of the Spirit without measure on Christ; and the "frankincense" how savoury and acceptable he is to his people. The "drink offering" was of wine, which went along with other sacrifices, and was very acceptable to God; and may denote the blood of Christ, which is drink indeed; and his love expressed in shedding it, which is better than the choicest wine; both these are held forth, Christ's flesh, which is meat, and his blood, which is drink, in the ordinance of the supper, administered by his priests, whom he furnishes with such offerings to set before his saints:

in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, and in all solemnities of the house of Israel; in the feasts of the passover, tabernacle, and pentecost, which were all figures of Christ; of his being the passover sacrificed for us, of his tabernacling in our nature, and of the effusion of his Spirit; and the "new moons", and "sabbaths", and "solemn days", are only Old Testament phrases to express the times of New Testament worship; see Isaiah 66:23, as monthly days for the administration of the ordinance of the supper, and the Lord's day for the preaching of the word, and other parts of public worship; in all which the sacrifice of Christ, his blood, righteousness, and satisfaction, make a principal part:

he shall prepare the sin offering; which also was a type of Christ; of which See Gill on Ezekiel 40:39, and this, with the

meat offering; and the burnt offering, of which before, were to be prepared by the prince himself, or our Lord Jesus Christ: and also the "peace offerings", or thank offerings (f); his own thank offerings for himself and his people; see John 11:41 and the thank offerings of them, or their sacrifices of praise, which become acceptable through him, Hebrews 13:15, and even himself, for whom the saints offer thanks to God, 2 Corinthians 9:15, and as the end of all the legal sacrifices was

to make reconciliation for the house of Israel; so this is the end and use of the sacrifice of Christ, typified by them, to make peace for the Israel of God; which could not be made by them, by their obedience, repentance, or faith; and yet was necessary to their happiness, to their communion with God, and enjoyment of him; this Christ has made by his obedience, sufferings, and death, whereby he has fulfilled the law, satisfied justice, and made atonement for sin: this is all at his expense, and is meant by his "preparing" these offerings; which denotes his ready and cheerful engagement to become a sacrifice; his voluntary offering up himself unto God, or giving himself an offering and a sacrifice unto him; and also his furnishing his ministers with proper matter for their ministrations in all the solemn times and seasons thereof, which is the doctrine of his sacrifice and satisfaction, or salvation by a crucified Christ; and so as the people are to offer to their maintenance, Christ the Prince takes care to furnish them for their ministry.

(e) "et super principem erunt holocausta", V. L. Starckius; "nam principi incumbet dare holocausta", Junius & Tremellius. (f) "eucharistica", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. In return for these dues paid him by the people the prince shall be charged with providing the sacrifices for public worship.

he shall prepare] provide.

The “feasts” were the three great festivals, passover or unleavened bread (easter), the feast of weeks, or pentecost, and the feast of ingathering or tabernacles at the end of the vintage. Ezekiel, however, seems to give no place to pentecost.

all solemnities] i.e. stated seasons. A reconciling or “atoning” efficacy appears attributed by the prophet to all the various kinds of sacrifices.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - The prince, as receiver-general of the people's offerings, should devote them to maintaining (literally, it should be upon him, and so form part of his duty to maintain) the sacrificial worship of the new temple, in the feasts (הַגִּים, or joyous celebrations), and in the now moons, and in the sabbaths, and generally in all solemnities (מועָדִים, or appointed times, hence festal seasons) of the house of Israel (comp. 1 Kings 8:62; Ezra 7:17), that thereby he might make reconciliation (or, atonement) for the house of Israel. This combination of the kingly and priestly offices in the person of the prince (David) obviously typified the similar union of the same offices in David's Son (Christ). Ezekiel 45:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Heave-offerings of the People. - Ezekiel 45:13. This is the heave-offering which ye shall heave: The sixth part of the ephah from the homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of the ephah from the homer of barley; Ezekiel 45:14. And the proper measure of oil, from the bath of oil a tenth of the bath from the cor, which contains ten baths or a homer; for ten baths are a homer; Ezekiel 45:15. And one head from the flock from two hundred from the watered land of Israel, for the meat-offering, and for the burnt-offering, and for the peace-offerings, to make atonement for them, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ezekiel 45:16. All the people of the land shall be held to this heave-offering for the prince in Israel. Ezekiel 45:17. And upon the prince shall devolve the burnt-offerings, and the meat-offering, and the drink-offering at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, at all the festivals of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin-offering, and the meat-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel. - The introductory precepts to employ just measures and weights are now followed by the regulations concerning the productions of nature to be paid by the Israelites to the prince for the sacrificial worship, the provision for which was to devolve on him. Fixed contributions are to be levied for this purpose, of wheat, barley, oil, and animals of the flock - namely, according to Ezekiel 45:13-15, of corn the sixtieth part, of oil the hundredth part, and of the flock the two hundredth head. There is no express mention made of wine for the drink-offering, or of cattle, which were also requisite for the burnt-offering and peace-offering, in addition to animals from the flock. The enumeration therefore is not complete, but simply contains the rule according to which they were to act in levying what was required for the sacrifices. The word שׁשּׁיתם in Ezekiel 45:13 must not be altered, as Hitzig proposes; for although this is the only passage in which שׁשּׁה occurs, it is analogous to חמּשׁ in Genesis 41:34, both in its formation and its meaning, "to raise the sixth part." A sixth of an ephah is the sixtieth part of a homer. חק, that which is fixed or established, i.e., the proper quantity. הבּת השּׁמן is in apposition to השּׁמן (for the article, see the comm. on Ezekiel 43:21), the fixed quantity of oil, namely of the bath of oil-i.e., the measure of that which is to be contributed from the oil, and that from the bath of oil-shall be the tenth part of the bath from the cor, i.e., the hundredth part of the year's crop, as the cor contained ten baths. The cor is not mentioned in the preceding words (Ezekiel 45:11), nor does it occur in the Mosaic law. It is another name for the homer, which is met with for the first time in the writings of the captivity (1 Kings 5:2, 25; 2 Chronicles 2:9; 2 Chronicles 27:5). For this reason its capacity is explained by the words which are appended to מכּור: 'עשׂרת הבּתּים וגו, from the cor (namely) of ten baths, one homer; and the latter definition is still further explained by the clause, "for ten baths are one homer." - Ezekiel 45:15. ממּשׁקה, from the watered soil (cf. Genesis 13:10), that is to say, not a lean beast, but a fat one, which has been fed upon good pasture. לכפּר עליהם indicates the general purpose of the sacrifices (vid., Leviticus 1:4). - Ezekiel 45:16. The article in העם, as in הבּת ni sa ,העם ni in Ezekiel 45:14. היה אל, to be, i.e., to belong, to anything - in other words, to be held to it, under obligation to do it; היה על (Ezekiel 45:17), on the other hand, to be upon a person, i.e., to devolve upon him. In בּכל־מועדי the feast and days of festival, which have been previously mentioned separately, are all grouped together. 'עשׂה את החטּאת וגו' .rehtegot, to furnish the sin-offering, etc., i.e., to supply the materials for them.

So far as the fact is concerned, the Mosaic law makes no mention of any contributions to the sanctuary, with the exception of the first-born, the first-fruits and the tithes, which could be redeemed with money, however. Besides these, it was only on extraordinary occasions - e.g., the building of the tabernacle - that the people were called upon for freewill heave-offerings. But the Mosaic law contains no regulation as to the sources from which the priests were to meet the demands for the festal sacrifices. So far, the instructions in the verses before us are new. What had formerly been given for this object as a gift of spontaneous love, is to become in the future a regular and established duty, to guard against that arbitrary and fitful feeling from which the worship of God might suffer injury. - To these instructions there are appended, from Ezekiel 45:18 onwards, the regulations concerning the sacrifices to be offered at the different festivals.