Ezekiel 46:16, commentary and pictures

When the prince gives a gift from his own possession to any of his sons it becomes their permanent possession by inheritance, and he is forbidden to oppress the people or take their possessions to enrich his sons. What he gives to a servant is different, for it returns to him in the year of Jubilee under the law of inheritance to which the rule belongs. The prince is a poor, frail, mortal ruler with sons and a family who even offers a sin offering for himself, and is therefore distinct from Jesus Christ reigning in the immortal state. The rule belongs to the closing temple vision in Ezekiel 40-48 given in Babylonian captivity, whose whole promise of return, city, temple and division of the land was provisional and conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities and returning in faith and obedience. Because Israel was unwilling and failed to meet the conditions the glorious sanctuary as shown was never built literally, and it will never be built literally after the opening of the Christian dispensation without making Christ's once-for-all sacrifice void, but wherein it failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will in spiritual aspect be more gloriously realized in the New City for the true Israel of God in the new heavens and new earth.

Prince and His Inheritance

When the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is to come out of his own possession and becomes their permanent possession by inheritance. He is forbidden to oppress the people or to take their possessions to give to his sons. What he gives to a servant is different, for it returns to the prince in the year of Jubilee under the law of inheritance to which this arrangement belongs.

The prince is a poor, frail, mortal ruler with sons and a family who can receive inheritances. He even offers a sin offering for himself, and is therefore distinct from Jesus Christ reigning in the immortal state. His limited possession proves he is not Christ, for Christ will have the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession.

Marriage and bearing children still go on in the time spoken of, since the prince is a mortal man with sons to whom he gives gifts that become their own possession by inheritance. Provision is made for marriages, divorces, widows and death. Those counted worthy to obtain the future world neither marry nor are given in marriage, so the prince with sons cannot be Christ and the vision does not describe the future glorified world.

Conditional Sanctuary Promise Unfulfilled

Ezekiel 46:16 belongs to the closing temple and sanctuary vision in Ezekiel 40-48, also described as chapters 36-48, 37-48, the last nine and the last nineteen chapters. It was given while Israel was in Babylonian captivity, promising Israel's return and restoration to the land, a city and temple, division of the land among the tribes, and allusions to the Sabbath, festivals, and worship. It is the counterpart to Zechariah 2, covering the same period and purpose toward Jerusalem.

The whole promise was provisional and conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, repenting, putting away wickedness, and returning wholeheartedly in faith and obedience to come up to the full measure of children of God. This is under the principle of Jeremiah 18:9-10 stated in Ezekiel 43:9-11. Those detailed promises about sanctuary, city, and land would have been literally fulfilled if they had met His conditions.

Because Israel was unwilling, refused to be ashamed, and failed to meet the conditions, with only about forty thousand returning from captivity, the glorious sanctuary, city, and restored Jerusalem as shown were never built or fulfilled literally. Only a lesser temple with a shadow of its greatness was erected by Zerubbabel, so God could not dwell among them as promised. The restoration, including the sanctuary and the land's division among the tribes, did not occur as described, and the prophecies are not to be fulfilled in every detail.

If the conditions had been complied with, the arrangements would have been literally fulfilled in the Mosaic dispensation then in force. That fulfillment would have included burnt offerings, sin offerings of bulls and goats by the sons of Levi, feasts, circumcision, distinction in meats, divorce, the Jubilee to which the inheritance law belongs, the Levitical priesthood, and the former service of sacrifices. In that glorious kingdom with a true-hearted people life would have been lengthened, the character of the people would have taken hold upon the very animals, and the manifest presence of God bringing life and healing would have been constantly seen, with no hurt nor destroying in His holy mountain, and with the raising of their righteous dead, the subjection of the kings of the North and all enemies far and near, a new temple, a new division of the land, and the life and healing power of God coming down upon Palestine and the earth as never before.

The sanctuary will never be built literally in any period after the opening of the Christian dispensation. Its sacrifices, offerings, and former service belong to a past dispensation and cannot continue without making Christ's once-for-all sacrifice on the cross void. The blood of bulls and goats will no longer be acceptable even as a type, and one exposition gives no specific explanation of verse 16 beyond this rejection of renewed animal sacrifices.

Not Future Reign but New Earth

Ezekiel's city is not the New Jerusalem of Revelation, for the prince there is forbidden to oppress the people or to take their possessions to give to his sons, but must give his sons inheritance out of his own possession. That limited possession proves he is not Christ, for Christ will have the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. The city shown was what Jerusalem could have become if Israel had answered the calls to leave Babylon, yet it was never built because Israel failed to do its part. God's plan for a holy city was fulfilled instead by preparing a city in heaven that will descend to earth.

The temple vision was offered on condition that Israel be ashamed of iniquities and put them away, which they never did, so it never has been built and never will be built. It does not belong to the future glorified age, for its prince is a poor frail mortal who offers a sin offering for himself, while Christ is to be Prince and Shepherd over Israel in the glorified state. When the prince gives property to one of his sons it becomes that son's inherited possession, a provision for a mortal ruler whose family can receive inheritances in a setting where what is given to a servant returns in the year of Jubilee. Its laws provide for marriages, divorces, widows and death, which will be unknown in the age to come, since marriage and bearing children still go on in the time spoken of while those counted worthy to obtain the future world neither marry nor are given in marriage. It would have been fulfilled in the Mosaic dispensation if the conditions had been complied with, when circumcision, divorce, distinction in meats, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee to which its law of inheritance belongs, and the Levitical priesthood were in force. To appeal to these closing chapters to teach the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ on earth, and an earthly inheritance of the saints is therefore wrong, because the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is desolated, which overthrows that theory and its connected theories.

The closing temple prophecy described what God promised Israel if they returned wholeheartedly from the Babylonian captivity and came up to the full measure of children of God by putting aside sins, covering the same period and purpose toward Jerusalem as Zechariah 2. Because Israel was unwilling and failed to meet that standard with faith, obedience and repentance, the restoration with sanctuary and division of the land among the tribes did not occur as described and was fulfilled only in small part. Wherein it failed for old earthly Jerusalem it will in its spiritual aspect and broad outline be grandly and more gloriously realized through Christ at the second coming in the New City that awaits the true Israel of God. That greater fulfillment will be in events connected with Christ's second coming, though not under the local conditions of Ezekiel's time and not to be fulfilled in every detail, with more or less of the former local detail eliminated. God's purpose for Israel will instead be fulfilled through a more glorious inheritance: the earth made new and the new heavens and new earth with absolute joy, peace and harmony. It must be read in the light of the clearer New Testament revelation that Gentiles are fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel, in which there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian or Scythian, so any exclusive theory goes astray.