The Prince and the Rest of the Feasts 

Vision of Restoration (Ezekiel 40-48) 

Instructions Regarding Gates (1-15) 

Ezekiel was then given some directions concerning Sabbaths at the East Gate, which one could almost name the Worship Gate. This East Gate was always to be closed for six days a week, but then it was to be opened on the Sabbath day (1). On the Sabbath, the prince would enter the Gate and the Gate House structure and then stand at the gate post, while the priest offered the Burnt (dedication) Offering and the Peace (fellowship) Offering for him. This was all happening at the Gate House to the Inner Court.

The prince would enter the Gate and go out the same Gate, the Eastern Gate—one would assume the Eastern Gate to the Temple Outer Courts and the Temple Inner Courts. Thus, the Gate the prince entered would be the Gate through which he would exit. The gate would not be closed until evening (2). The people were given different instructions; they would enter the North Gate and leave by the South Gate. They were never to exit by the North Gate but the same Gate they entered through (9).

The prince, on special celebration and feast days, could enter and leave with the people through their gates (7-8, 10).

There in front of the Eastern Gate House to the Inner Court, the people would bow to worship Yahweh (3).

Ezekiel finishes off the feasts he describes in chapter 45, for which the prince was to supply the sacrifice.

• Sabbath: Once a week on the seventh day (4-5)

• New Moon: Once per month, at the beginning of each month (6)

• Festivals and Appointed Feast Days: Spontaneously scheduled feasts (11)

• Voluntary Offerings: The prince could offer a sacrifice at any time. When he did, the entire Inner Court would be opened to him. The East Gate would be opened and shut, just like on Sabbath days (12).

• The Daily Morning Sacrifice: Every morning, a burnt offering would be offered “as a perpetual ordinance” (13-15). 

The Prince’s Sons’ Inheritance (16-18)

The inheritance of the prince would be governed by three basic rules:

• The prince could gift any part of his inheritance to one of his sons, and the property would remain his property, his or his son’s inheritance. It could not be transferred to another family or person (16).

• The prince could gift land outside the prince’s inheritance to a servant. However, in the year of Liberty or Jubilee, the land would revert back to the prince or one of his children. It could not perpetually belong to the servant (17).

• The prince could never, under any circumstances, gift land belonging to other Israelites to his children. There were no laws or provisions of eminent domain whereby the prince could force anyone off their land or force someone into a sale at a deflated price (18).

Preparation for the Offerings (19-25)

Ezekiel was then shown two separate sacrificial kitchens. One kitchen was for the priest, and one kitchen was for the people. The priests’ kitchens were located near the rear of the priests’ chambers. This was where the priests would boil the sacrifices for the guilt and sin offerings and bake the grain offering. They would do the cooking in these areas to keep the offerings from being treated passively and as not holy to Yahweh (19-20).

The kitchens for the people were located in the four corners of the outer court. This was where the priests would cook the sacrifices for the people (21-24).

Summary

Recommended Scripture Reading:

Matthew 16:24-28

Two lessons stand out in this chapter:

• Sabbath worship was given high priority and awarded more detail as to how the prince would enter and how the sacrifices should be offered above any other feast days. No doubt how we treat the Sabbath, how we weekly gather to Jesus and wait for Him to come among us in the special way He promised, is an absolute priority.

• Leaders are never, under any circumstances, to exercise privilege over the people they are guiding. They certainly are not to take advantage of their other people’s inheritances from Yahweh. 

So much detail—again, don't get lost in the forest. Ezekiel is seeking to communicate two issues in these nine chapters:

• First, how the character of priests and kings should be at all times—an application for that day. 

• Second, how we should relate to and intimately fellowship with the Father in the New Testament age, when the Prince Jesus is seated on His throne—an application for the day we live in.