Oblation - Ezekiel 48

Ezekiel 48:21 "And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof. See Revelation 21:3 and Joshua 18:1

It is, of course, appropriate that the book of Ezekiel end with an offering (oblation) for the prince. We know him and the coming king, Jesus Christ. This chapter should be read in conjunction with Revelation 22.

It tells of the dividing of the land of Canaan. I expect for the kingdom age but I am not sure. The words of this chapter are beautiful but there is still a bit of a cloud that is taken off in Revelation. It is amazing to me that our unworthy generation is able to see things that were kept from the old prophets. We are blessed.

Zadok, the priest, is given special mention because he did not go astray as the other Levites did. He is therefore allowed to approach the Lord.

v11 "It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray."

Although Zadok was of the priesthood, we see here a distinction between him and the Levites. It is like when the kingdom was divided and it became Israel and Judah. It is now Zadok and the Levites.

It is noted that Joseph gets two portions in the names of his sons.

v5 "And by the border of Manaseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim."

And so we end Ezekiel with a very appropriate verse. In the beginning of Ezekiel we saw the glory of the Lord depart the temple, then in the end we saw the glory of the Lord return. Oh happy day. Now we find another name for the city and it ought to be a joyous name.

v35 "It was round about eighteen thousand measures; and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there."

And that makes all the difference, to know that the LORD is there.

The book of Daniel is next.

Levites - Ezekiel 44

Ezekiel 44:4 "Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD; and I fell upon my face."

We leave the eastern gate where the prince shall enter and go toward the north where Ezekiel saw the reverse of earlier scripture. In the beginning of Ezekiel, the glory of the Lord departed the temple but now we see the vision of the return. I suspect this event is still to take place.

Then we see the office of priesthood narrowed to one family of the house of the Levites.

v15 "But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the LORD GOD:"

So the entire tribe of Levites can no longer enter into the most holy place, that is left for the children of Zadok who was faithful.

The Levites who went after idols and offered sacrifice to them will remain in service but are not to approach to the Lord.

v11 "Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them."

The balance of the chapter concerns the rules for the priests. It is good to know the rules before hand so there will be no mistakes.

v30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's, ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house."