Commentary on Ezekiel 1 part 18/19

Reasonably, therefore, he said that the fourteenth year from the capture of the city was the twenty-fifth of their captivity.

On that day the hand of the Lord came upon me.

(Chapter 2.) And He brought me thither in a vision of God, and He brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, and upon it there was, as it were, the building of a city over against me.

The God of all, having foretold to them the return from captivity, and having demonstrated His own power through the resurrection of those dry bones, now also foretells the rebuilding both of the city and of the temple;

and He does not employ words alone, but also displays such a vision to the prophet, having illumined the seeing faculty of his mind by the operation of the divine Spirit.

But lest, by interpreting each detail, we should weary those who read this book with the length of the discourse, we wish to make in summary a kind of paraphrase of the things spiritually shown to the divinely-inspired prophet.

He says, then, that in a vision of God—that is, in a spiritual, not a bodily sight—his mind was carried away into the land of Israel, and that he saw upon a certain high mountain a building, and someone standing there, having indeed the form of a man, but the color of most gleaming and most beautiful bronze, carrying a reed and a builder's measuring cord, and exhorting me both to behold the things being shown and to hear the things being spoken.

For it was for this reason, he affirmed, that he had come: namely, both to show and to teach.

'That you also,' he says, 'may convey these things to the house of Israel.' Then, measuring with the reed, he shows me all the measurements of the building;

and first the measurements of the gates, and of what are called the thresholds and lintels, and the door-posts.

For 'Ailam' he calls the door-post in the singular;

and 'thee' again, both the threshold and the lintel;

and 'theeim,' the same things in the plural.

For thus I found the interpretation of these terms in the Syriac.

He says that he saw not only the outer gates, but also the inner gates, and again the courts between them, and those yet further within.

For some were set apart for the priests, while others were accessible to all Israelites;

and the divine temple had one enclosure round about, very great and very lofty.

And some parts were assigned to all the people, but the more inner parts, close to the temple itself, were consecrated to the priests alone.

He says, then, that in the inner court he saw chambers, and thirty colonnades round about;

and the chambers the Syriac named 'exedrae' (halls).

And these too were set apart for the priests, as the same prophet teaches.

For to the divinely-inspired Isaiah God says:

'Go in to the chamber, to Shebna the scribe.' And he says that a breadth of one hundred cubits was assigned to the outer courts—both the one looking toward the north and the one looking toward the south, and likewise the one toward the rising sun;

while of the inner courts, each had a length of twenty-five cubits, and a breadth of fifty cubits.

He says also that the gates resembled one another in every respect, both in their measurements and in the carvings of the palm trees;

and the cornices on either side of the door, that is to say the moldings, he names 'aileu,' on which he said were carved the images of the palm trees.

He says also that he beheld tables lying on either side of the gates, on which the priests, placing the sacrificial victims, slaughtered them—both those wholly burnt as offerings, and those offered for sin and for ignorance;

and he said that there was nearby also a certain channel, receiving the blood of the sacrifices and conveying it entirely to some remote place set apart.

The tables also, he says, had roofs covering them from above, warding off the assault both of the rain and of the sun.

After these things he relates how he beheld two halls, the one looking toward the north, the other toward the south;

and both were built in the more inner courts.

And the one looking toward the south, he said, was assigned to the priests who guard the divine temple;

and the one looking toward the north, to those who guard the outer altar.

He said also that both these and those traced their descent from Zadok;

for long ago the God of all had removed the line of Abiathar from serving as priests, according to the sentence pronounced against Eli the high priest.

He says that the inner court, the one looking toward the rising sun, from the vestibule of the divine temple up to the gate had one hundred cubits, and its breadth likewise so many;

and opposite the temple was the altar;

and the vestibule of the temple was twenty cubits in length and fourteen in breadth;

and its door likewise fourteen in breadth, and the elbow-pieces (or door-posts) on either side of it, up to the corner, three cubits each.

For thus the measure of the twenty cubits is filled out: the door having taken fourteen, and the elbow-pieces on either side (for these he called 'shoulder-pieces') the remaining six—three on this side and three on that.

But the door of the temple itself, he said, had a breadth of ten cubits, and the elbow-pieces on either side of five cubits each, so that again the twenty cubits are filled out;

and he measured also the temple itself, he says, and showed me a length of forty cubits and a breadth of twenty, equal in measure to the vestibule.

And I saw, he says, also another, more inner door, having a breadth of six cubits, and the elbow-pieces on either side of seven cubits each;

the fourteen, therefore, being added to the six cubits, fill out the twenty.

He says that he beheld also the doors which separate the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, and that their breadth was equal in measure to the temple, that is, twenty cubits;

and their height forty cubits.

But having inquired after the measurements both in the Syriac and in the Hebrew, I found the height also to be equal in measure to the breadth;

for both agreed—both the Syriac and the Hebrew—saying twenty cubits for both the breadth and the height.

He says also that he beheld a double structure round about the temple, and other walls built on the outside of the roofing, and between the two walls, round about, a walkway and a passage.

He states also the reason for this construction;

and I beheld, he says, also two other halls on either side of the divine temple, the one looking toward the north, the other toward the south;

for this he called a place of prayer, since it is the custom for the Jews dwelling in the more northerly parts of Jerusalem, when they pray, to look toward the south, according to the situation of the city.

He says that between the divine temple and what is called the hall there was a separation of five cubits;

and from the western wall up to the hall itself there were seventy cubits, and the breadth ninety.

And in the midst, he says, was the divine temple, entirely covered with boards—not the walls only, but also the floor and the roof.

It had also latticed windows, that is to say, pierced through, resembling a net.

And the carvings upon the walls and upon the door-jambs bore the likenesses of the cherubim and of palm trees;

and each of the cherubim had two faces, one of a lion and one of a man, and the one looked toward this palm tree, and the other toward that.

For it was not even possible to carve out four figures accurately upon boards.

He says also that he beheld the altar that stood before the Holy Place.

It had, he says, a height of three cubits, a length of two cubits, and likewise a breadth of two cubits, that is to say, it was square and equal-sided.

And I was taught by the one who showed me these things that this was the table which stood before the Lord.

It is fitting to observe that he called the table which receives the loaves of the presentation an altar, whereas the great Moses named it merely a table.

A door, therefore, is opened beforehand for our people through this prophecy.

The door of the Holy Place, he says, was also not two-leaved but four-leaved, so that when opened the leaves folded back upon themselves.

And these too bore the same carvings.

He says also that he saw other chambers situated in the outer court, and before the chambers a walkway ten cubits in breadth and a hundred cubits in length.

The light of the walkway he calls what among us is termed a skylight.

He said too that these were set apart for the priests, that they might there partake of the hallowed food; and the one who was pointing out these things charged that none of the people should share with the priests in entering into them, nor indeed should the priests themselves, while clothed in the priestly vestment and performing the divine liturgy, go out into the outer court.

For it is not lawful that any of the people should touch them while they are clothed in the priestly vestment.

Therefore it is fitting that in those chambers they should put off the garment set apart for the liturgical services and put on another, and thus go out to the people.

He also showed me, employing the measuring rod, and taught me, having measured, that each of the four sides—the eastern and the western, the southern and the northern—had five hundred cubits, so that the circuit of five hundred, multiplied fourfold, came to two thousand cubits.

And he led me, he says, to the gate that looks toward the east, and brought me out.

And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came by the way that is toward the east, and there was a sound of the encampment, like the sound of many redoubling.

In the Hebrew and in the Syriac I found:

And the earth shone forth like radiance from his glory round about. (Chapter 3.)

And the vision which I saw was according to the appearance which I saw when I went in to anoint the city.

Here again, both in the Syriac and in the Hebrew, I found:

And it is likely that the Seventy, attending to the meaning, called the marking of the foreheads of those delivered from the punishment of the slayers an 'anointing.'

(4.) And the glory of the Lord entered into the house by the way of the gate that looks toward the east.

And he did not say that the Lord entered, for the divine nature is uncircumscribed;

for the divine nature is uncircumscribed;

rather, it was the glory of the Lord, that is, the vision that was seen.

And the Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the house of the Lord was full of glory.

And I stood, and behold, a voice from the house speaking to me.

And the man stood beside me. This showed that the one who had measured and pointed out the building was an angel; and it is likely that he was the holy Michael,

for he had been entrusted with the guardianship of the people.

You have seen, son of man, the place of my throne and the place of the sole of my feet.

For 'worship,' he says, 'at the footstool of his feet, for he is holy.' And he named this the place of the throne, as one resting upon it.

Where my name shall dwell in the midst of the house of Israel forever. He did not say 'it dwelt,' but 'it shall dwell';

and it shall dwell forever in the midst of the saints, and of those who are truly named Israel and are able to see him, insofar as it is possible for a man to see—

not in the figure, but in the truth.

For those things were a figure of the heavenly realities.

'For see,' he says, 'that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.' The promise, therefore, is not false;

'In my Father's house are many mansions;

if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you;

I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.' In the figure, therefore, God neither dwelt nor shall he dwell forever;

for he pronounced sentence against them, saying:

'Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.' It is fitting, therefore, to ascend from the figures to the truth, and to await that dwelling of God.

And what follows agrees with the interpretation set forth above.

'And they shall no more defile,' he says, 'the house of Israel my holy name, they and their leaders, in their fornication and in the transgressions of their leaders in their midst.' But if anyone should take this simply concerning Israel, he will find it false;

for both Ezra and the history of the Maccabees accuse them of much impiety even after the return;

and not only of the other Israelites, but also of the priests and the high priests.

'When they set my threshold,' he says, 'by their thresholds, and my doorposts close to their doorposts, and made my wall as though shared between me and them, and defiled my holy name by the lawless deeds which they did.'

Then he exhorts them to forsake their former way and to be delivered from their impiety, both they and their leaders;

and he promises that, if these things come to pass, he will dwell in their midst forever.

but since, when they saw him, they said to one another:

'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours,' he cast those men out of the vineyard and scattered them throughout the inhabited world, and gave over the vineyard to other husbandmen, with whom he dwells forever, receiving from them the fruits in due season.

Then he commands the prophet to show the people the building of the temple, so that, being put to shame by the greatness of the benefit and of the hope of restoration, they may cease from transgressing and acting impiously.

He says that he beheld also the altar of incense, its height two cubits, its length a cubit, and its breadth of equal measure.

He says too that he beheld two mercy-seats, not of equal measure, but the one smaller, the other larger.

It is necessary to inquire why, when the blessed Moses made one mercy-seat according to the divine commandment, here the prophet beholds two.

I consider that the smaller is a figure of the greater;

and Christ is our mercy-seat, as the divine Apostle says, 'Whom God set forth as a propitiation in his own blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness.' He says too that between the two mercy-seats there were four cubits, equal in number to the divine Gospels;

for between the law and the good things hoped for, the grace of the Gospels was given to men.

'And the Ariel,' he says, 'was twelve cubits in length, and its breadth of equal measure.'

'Ariel' signifies in the Hebrew tongue 'mountain of God,' or, according to another interpretation, 'light of God';

and he so names, as I suppose, the base of the mercy-seat.

This number of cubits also corresponds to the holy apostles, who became the foundations and stepping-places of the divine grace, and the substructure and base of the Church;

for 'You are Peter,' he says, 'and upon this rock I will build my Church,' the Lord declared.

'You are the light of the world.' And the mercy-seat itself he says is larger than the Ariel by two cubits, both in length and in breadth.

Then the God of all commands the prophet to teach the priests the laws concerning the sacrifices, and how one must both bring near and slay the bull-calf for sin, and where it is fitting to set it down, and how one must sprinkle both the horns of the altar and the corners of the mercy-seat;

then to bring near the goats for sin, being free from every blemish;

and again likewise to sprinkle the altar with the blood.

'And thus,' he says, 'when these things are done, and the atonement for sin has been fulfilled, they shall bring near a bull-calf and a sheep, these also being free from blemish, and shall complete the sacrifice with salt.'

The salt is a sign of discernment, of discrimination, and of a godly disposition;

for they shall not do these things simply, nor as slaves to custom, but with a certain reason and purpose that chooses to be godly.

'And they shall perform,' he says, 'such sacrifices for seven days.'

And from the eighth day onward, sacrifices of this sort — that I may not go through them one by one.

Not because He who is present everywhere and stands beside all things had need of doors in order to enter when He willed;

But He commanded that the ruler — that is, the high priest — should also enjoy the food beside the door, and should pass through by way of the portico, both when going out and when going up.

When these things had thus both been spoken and shown, again he beholds the glory of God at the gate that faces north, and he is commanded to speak to the people that provokes to bitterness, or that is contentious and quarrelsome;

For so also the other translators have rendered it.

That they should be content with their former transgression of the law, which they persisted in daring, when they brought foreigners and the uncircumcised into the divine temple;

But the greatest of the charges is this: that they had not only the flesh uncircumcised, but even, before the flesh, the mind itself.

So that it is clear that the circumcision of the heart is the accomplishing of righteousness, while the circumcision of the flesh is a sign and seal of the circumcision according to the mind.

The God of all things therefore charges that those who are uncircumcised in soul and also of alien race and foreign in body should remain far off from the divine precincts; and that the Levites who shared in the transgression of the people and embraced the service of idols should depart from their own rank, and should neither keep the gate, nor slaughter the whole burnt offering and the sin offering, nor even draw near to the holy things, but should receive dishonor as the fruit of their own impiety;

But only the family of Zadok should remain in the ancestral piety, and should minister as priests, and keep guard, and fulfill all the other duties.

It is fitting, he says, that they should by no means use garments woven of wool, but should clothe themselves in linen vestments only at the time of the sacred ministry; and let each one place a turban upon his head, and let girdles be worn underneath.

But when they go out to the people, let them put off the ministering robes, and putting on others let them go out through the gates;

For it is not lawful that one who is a stranger to the priesthood should come near to the priestly robes.

And they shall not shave their heads, for this was the custom for the priests of the idols to do;

And they shall not let their hair grow bare. But the Hebrew and the Syrian said, 'they shall not let it grow long.'

For neither is it fitting, he says, that they should shave themselves, nor that they should let their hair grow, but that they should be content with a moderate trimming;

For this is what he indicated by his words.

And to those wishing to enter into marriage, that they should take neither a widow nor a woman that has been put away, but a virgin.

But if a woman who has become the wife of a priest should be widowed, and someone should wish to marry her, not even such a marriage is unlawful; for the priestly family remains inviolate, since she who was joined to a priest is again joined to a priest.

And these men must again instruct the people concerning the difference between the common and the holy.

And let them also judge in cases of bloodshed, and let them resolve the other disputes, honoring justice in every matter.

And let them keep the feasts according to the law, and let them honor the Sabbaths with rest and with the other observances.

And they shall not go in unto a dead person so as to be defiled — that is, over a corpse;

For so also the Hebrew and the Syrian said;

But only, he says, for a father and mother, a son and daughter, a brother and a sister that has not yet been married. Then he charges how the unclean one must be cleansed, and so draw near to the sacred ministry;

Not because it was in reality abominable to look upon the dead;

For if it truly caused harm, then the sight of a dead father, or mother, or brother would also have brought defilement;

But through these things, wishing that the priest should be more venerable in the eyes of the Jews, who had been taught to esteem small things as solemn.

Then he further enjoins that the priest who is about to enter into the holy places should offer the sacrifice on his own behalf;

And that he should take no portion together with the sons of Israel in the distribution of the land;

'And I give to them the firstfruits for their enjoyment, and the portions set apart from the sacrifices I have again assigned to them.'

And he commands that a certain land be set apart as a suburb for the priests;

From where the sun rises toward the west, ten thousand cubits;

And from the north toward the south, twenty-five thousand — so that, he says, having their tithes, and their firstfruits, and their firstborn, and the portions set apart from the sacrifices, and the sustenance from the land, they might be content with what is just, and not covet more, nor wrong the people, but enjoy a sufficiency.

'Let it suffice you, O rulers of Israel!'

'Cast away injustice and oppression, and execute judgment and righteousness, and remove violence from my people, says the Lord Adonai.'

Then he legislates concerning balances, and weights, and measures, and says that these too are to be esteemed with equity and justice, and he enjoins that there be one measure for both what comes in and what goes out.

And he teaches us that the kor contains ten gomor, and each gomor ten choinices, so that the kor is a hundred choinices.

And he says that the ephah is equal in measure to the choinix.

And he enjoins that the mina contain fifty shekels, and each shekel twenty obols;

And he calls the ten kotylai of oil a gomor, which he said is a tenth of the kor.

And he commands that the firstfruit which is offered from wheat and from barley should be a sixth part of the gomor, which is called among us a half-medimnus;

For since the kor is thirty medimni, and the gomor is called a tenth of the kor, the gomor must necessarily be three medimni, and a sixth of the three medimni is a half-medimnus.

And he commanded that from the ten kotylai one kotyle should be offered, and likewise the tithes of the sheep.

And all these things, he says, the people shall give to the ruler for the need of the sacrifices, so that both at the feasts and at the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, the sacred ministries may be fulfilled by him, and God may be propitiated on behalf of the people.

Then he teaches what it is fitting to do at the new moon of the tenth month, and what at the fourteenth day, and what again in the seventh month.

And the fine flour that is offered he calls a sacrifice;

'For you shall make a sacrifice — a cake for the bull-calf, and a cake for the ram,' he says, 'and a hin of oil for the cake.' But the hin I found rendered as a hemina by the Syrian.

And he commands that the gate looking toward the east be shut on the six days of the week, but on the Sabbath be opened throughout the whole day.

And when the priests, he says, are offering the sacrifices on behalf of the high priest, he himself shall stand at this gate, and while the sacrifice is being offered, standing at the threshold he shall worship, and thus he shall go out;

And all the people also, standing before this door, shall offer to God their worship, both on the Sabbaths and at the new moons;

But the whole burnt offering of the Sabbaths the high priest shall offer.

For it is him that he calls the ruler.

And he states also the number of the priests;

And likewise he teaches what must be offered at the new moons.

And the 'manaa' he designates as the sacrifice of fine flour;

For so also the Syrian rendered it.

And he charges also those who enter for the worship of God into the outer court, that if they enter from the gate toward the north, they should go out through the one that looks toward the south;

But if from there they make their entrance, they should make their exit through the other, so that entering and going out in order they might offer to God their worship without any tumult;

And let the high priest also be present when these things are done, so that the worship may take place with greater reverence.

At the other feasts, he commanded that the gate toward the east be opened;

And to the high priest, when he wishes to offer to God out of his abundance a voluntary sacrifice, on whatever day he might wish to perform the sacrifice, let it be permitted, he says, to open the door.

'For let the sacrifice offered by him,' he says, 'be like the sacrifice of the Sabbaths.'

And if out of the land set apart for him he should wish to give to any one of his sons, let the one who receives it, he says, hold the ownership of it in perpetuity;

But if it be given to a servant, let the servant hold the ownership until the year of release, and in the so-called sabbatical year he shall restore the inheritance to the high priest;

For to the priestly family alone this inheritance has been set apart.

For it is not fitting that, the sons being deprived and stripped of the ancestral inheritance, the wrong should pass over to the people, while yet another land is set apart to the priests for their consolation;

Let the family therefore be the heir of the land set apart for the priests.

And he showed me, he says, another place also, lying toward the west, adjoining the northern chambers, and he said that this was set apart for the priests for boiling, so that they might there boil the offerings for ignorance and sin, and there bake the 'manaa.'

'For neither is it lawful,' he says, 'to make common by carrying outside the things that have once been set apart and sanctified.'

I saw also other courts, smaller than that one, lying round about the greatest court;

and each had a length of thirty cubits and a breadth of forty;

and beside them were built chambers also, which he called side-rooms, in which he commanded that the sacrifices of the people should be boiled.

Taking me thence again, he brought me to the entrance of the house; and behold, water was issuing forth from beneath the open court of the house toward the east, for the face of the house looked toward the east; and the water was coming down from the right side of the house, from the south, toward the altar.

Thus, having been instructed concerning the sacrifices, and having learned how the offerings for sins must be presented in a figurative manner, he is taught the true purification of souls, which comes about through water and the Spirit.

He sees this water going out from the doors of the house, passing through the altar, and proceeding through the more northerly parts toward the east.

These things the blessed Isaiah also foretells, saying:

'It shall come to pass in that day, as a glorious river borne along in a thirsty land.' And the blessed Zechariah too, foretelling the saving Passion and the darkness that came upon the earth:

'For it shall not be day,' he says, 'nor night; and that day shall be known to the Lord.'

'For neither,' he says, 'is it a full day, nor a full night'; for when it was midday, darkness came upon the earth. Then he adds:

'In that day living water shall go forth out of Jerusalem.'

He tells also the season of the gushing forth:

'In summer and in spring,' he says, 'it shall be so.' This too the Lord says to the Samaritan woman:

'Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst unto the age; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of living water, springing up unto eternal life.' And elsewhere:

'If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink;

he that believeth in me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' This water the wondrous Ezekiel saw first peering forth from the entrance of the house;

for through the Law and the Prophets our good things were foretold;

and coming through the altar;

for it made only a passage through the Jews;

the nations, and it waters the greatest and fairest paradise of the Churches.

Then he says that he beheld someone measuring a thousand by the measure, and passing through as far as the ankles;

and again measuring the same amount, and passing through as far as the knees;

and a third time applying the measure, and passing through as far as the loins;