Ezekiel 44:22, commentary and pictures

The rule bars priests from marrying a widow in general or a divorced woman, allowing only maidens of Israelite stock or a widow who had been married to a priest. Its marriages, divorces, widowhoods and deaths belong to mortal life where men marry and die, not to the age to come when they neither marry nor die any more, so it cannot describe the state after the second advent. It stands in the closing vision of Ezekiel 40 to 48 concerning the new temple, its service and the land, offered to Israel in Babylonian captivity on condition of shame for iniquity, repentance and obedience, which if met would have been fulfilled literally in fullest detail. It belongs to the Mosaic dispensation of Levitical priesthood, clean and unclean meats, feasts and animal sacrifices, and cannot be built literally in the future, since renewing its thousands of sheep and oxen would make Christ's offering once for all of none effect and return from sunlight to shadow. Because Israel remained unwilling and unrepentant the promised city and sanctuary were never built literally except in small part in the temple of Zerubbabel, and wherein the prophecy failed for earthly Jerusalem it will be grandly realized in the heavenly city descending to the new earth for the true Israel of God.

Priestly Marriage Rule

Priests under this order were forbidden to marry a widow in general or a woman divorced and put away, but were permitted to marry maidens of the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who had previously been married to a priest. The restriction therefore barred both ordinary widowhood and divorce as grounds for a priestly marriage, while leaving open two lawful unions: with an unmarried Israelite woman, or with the widow of a fellow priest. That arrangement belonged to a time when marriage still took place, unlike the age of the resurrection when people neither marry nor are given in marriage. It also belonged to a time when divorce was still allowed and when Israel was distinguished from other peoples, before the dividing wall was broken down and before the changes associated with Christ's work, so the rules are not for the present order. The allowance for marriage to a priest's widow further establishes a setting with marriage, second marriage, and death, proving that the priests themselves could die, unlike the redeemed who cannot die any more. Provision for a priest's second marriage shows a time that included both death and marriage and was not the perfect state in which death is no more. The sanctuary instructions of this chapter use much legal wording drawn from the Pentateuch, showing that those laws were known among the prophets and their people.

Conditional Offer to Israel

Ezekiel 44:22 belongs to the closing vision of Ezekiel 40 to 48, also described as chapters 36 to the end and 37 to 48, concerning the new sanctuary and temple, its service and offerings, its glory, the city, the division of the land, the river bringing healing and life, and God's promised blessings and salvation for Israel. That pattern shows a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem declaring that Jehovah is there, whose presence would heal all barren land, all salt marshes and deserts, and all impure waters and give life to all, with the sanctuary built, the water of life flowing, and the peaceful condition of the Messiah's kingdom gradually established on this present earth. In that promised order God directly promises great blessings in the salvation of Israel His people and glory for the land, the city and the sanctuary.

The vision was given to Israel in Babylonian captivity, twenty-five years in, as God's purpose for Jerusalem for the future of the city. In it a man with the appearance of brass holding a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed measures the temple and the city of God. It covers the same period and represents the same purposes toward Jerusalem as Zechariah 2 and is its counterpart and should be studied together with it. It gives part of the order of the city and temple as they would have been built if all Israel had responded to the three calls to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem at the restoration.

What was offered was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, putting away sins and wickedness, thorough repentance and reform, returning wholeheartedly from captivity, yielding to God, and faith and obedience, as stated in Ezekiel 43:10-11. If they did so and put iniquities away, God would establish the sanctuary and bring the twelve tribes back, with temple rites and regulations and all God was prepared to do for Israel after their return from Babylon. Blessing in that prophecy is based over and over on conditions, so failure to meet them meant the promise was not binding. Because Israel was unwilling and did not fully repent, the promised temple prophecy also has a spiritual aspect, pointing to greater things God would do for His people through Christ, as a general incomplete type of what God will do at the second coming without every prophetic detail being fulfilled as described.

Had Israel met the conditions, the promises would have been fulfilled literally and in fullest detail. That includes building the offered temple with its attendant sacrifices, priestly rules, worship, prosperity, and glory for land, city, and sanctuary, with the detailed description of sanctuary, city, and land given to Israel. Its provisions, like the temple described in the chapter and the restored worship Israel would have enjoyed, would have been realized if the Jews had returned to God wholeheartedly in faith and obedience. Because Israel failed to meet the conditions, they were fulfilled only in small part and not in their fullness.

Mortal Life, Not Immortality

The marriages, divorces, widows and deaths set out in the rule for priests belong to mortal life, where marriage, divorce, disease and death occur, and not to the age to come where marriage and death are unknown. The command telling whom the priests may and may not marry — an Israelite maiden they may take, a widow in general they may not take, a divorced woman put away they may not take, except a widow that had a priest before — itself proves marriage still takes place in the order described, unlike the resurrection age when people neither marry nor are given in marriage. Those raised to life in the future world do not marry, while these priests do marry under restriction, so the setting is one where marrying continues.

The mention of a woman put away shows divorce was still allowed at the time when the order was to be fulfilled. That places the vision in the past Mosaic dispensation with circumcision, clean and unclean meats, animal sacrifices, feasts and Jubilee, the Levitical priesthood, and the distinction between the seed of Israel and the stranger, and not in the present dispensation where divorce is done away nor in the future immortal state where there is no marrying and no death. The sanctuary regulations therefore belonged to a time before the gospel dispensation, when divorce was permitted.

Because the priests marry, taking maidens of the house of Israel or a widow that had a priest before, the vision does not describe the state after the second advent, when those who are immortalized neither marry nor are given in marriage. The permission for a priest's widow to remarry further proves those priests themselves could die, unlike the redeemed who cannot die any more. Therefore the city and sanctuary of Ezekiel 40-48 is not the New Jerusalem of the future immortal age, but a conditional prophecy whose promises were forfeited.

Mosaic Age, Not Later

The marriage rule belongs to the Mosaic dispensation and its Israelite ordinances, with circumcision, clean and unclean meats, animal sacrifices, feasts and Jubilee, the Levitical priesthood in which Levites serve as priests, and the distinction between the seed of Israel and the stranger. It allows priests to marry maidens of Israel or a widow whose former husband was a priest, but forbids a widow in general and a divorced woman put away, showing divorce was still permitted when the order was to be fulfilled. That setting places the sanctuary order before the Christian era when divorce is done away and before the future immortal state where there is no marrying and no death, and after the dividing wall was broken down those ordinances and distinctions no longer apply. That priesthood belongs to the order that was changed when Christ became the everlasting priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The vision has not been fulfilled, for no such city or sanctuary stands today, and it will not be fulfilled literally in the future because renewing its thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices would make the offering of Christ once for all of none effect. To offer animal sacrifices again would annul God's plan, build again what was destroyed, and return from sunlight to shadow, since the former offerings were for the time then present shadowing forth the only effectual offering of Jesus Christ. Because Israel remained in apostasy and never complied with the condition of being ashamed of sins and returning to God, that sanctuary with all its blessed fullness was never built, with only a weak, shadow-like realization in the temple built by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and others. Its typical sacrifices pointed to Christ who fulfilled them, so the prescribed sacrifices show this is not a temple God would ordain again.

To build that temple-city literally in the thousand-year reign of Christ would revive the ordinances of the first covenant and put an earthly Jerusalem in place of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven to the new earth. That would make Christ's reign less glorious than the present dispensation of the better covenant, the more excellent ministry, and the one sacrifice for sins forever. The priestly marriage rules belonged to the period when that sanctuary and its priesthood would have been realized if Israel had accepted the offer, before the changes associated with Christ's work, and they are not rules for the present order.

Loss and Future Hope

The sanctuary order belongs to the closing vision of Ezekiel 40 to 48 for a glorious temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem declaring that Jehovah is there, whose presence would heal barren land, salt marshes and impure waters and give life to all, and it was offered on condition that Israel become ashamed of sins, return wholeheartedly, yield fully to God and keep His ordinances. Because the people remained in apostasy, unwilling and half-hearted, departing from God's ordinances and not fully repenting, the promises were never fulfilled in their fullness but only in small part and in weak, shadow-like form. Only about forty thousand responded to the three calls to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem, for Israel loved Babylon more than the Jerusalem professed to be loved, and God could not build a temple for His name for a half-hearted people to dishonor. That best they had was the temple erected by Zerubbabel, Ezra and others at the restoration from Babylon, which fell far short of the pattern and never saw the glory of Solomon's temple except in the person of Jesus Christ. The city shown to Ezekiel was therefore never built, not because God changed His mind but because Israel failed to do its part, and that temple-city with its sacrifices never will be built literally, since to offer animal sacrifices again would annul Christ's offering once for all and God's plan.

In order to have a holy city God prepared one in heaven that will descend upon the earth, with the ancient calls to come out of Babylon serving as an object lesson of the last call now sounding through the earth. Wherein the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will be grandly realized in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God and in the earth made new. The unfulfilled restoration offered after the return from Babylon is a general, incomplete type of what God will do for His people at the second coming, when the promised future glory will come to the faithful without every prophetic detail being fulfilled as described. What would have been established gradually on this present earth if Israel had yielded — the sanctuary built, the marshes and deserts and salt lands healed by the water of life, Palestine and the Jews brought to extraordinary glory, and the wild beasts made mild so the smallest infant would be safe — will be fulfilled more gloriously under greater conditions, with some former details omitted. Then the Spirit of absolute peace will preside over all nature so that no harm comes to the feeblest.