Ezekiel 46:7, commentary and pictures

The verse prescribes the grain offering to accompany the prince's sacrifices, an ephah for a bullock and an ephah for a ram with what can be afforded for the lambs, and a hin of oil to every ephah. It belongs to the sanctuary pattern of Ezekiel 40 to 48, given as God's conditional offer in the Babylonian captivity of restoration, temple, city and worship if Israel would be ashamed of iniquity and return wholeheartedly. Because Israel did not repent and very few returned, that temple as described was never built and will never be built literally, with only Zerubbabel's temple as a faint shadow of its greatness. Those offerings belonged to the Mosaic sacrificial system of types pointing to Christ's once-for-all atonement, and with His death and heavenly priesthood after the order of Melchisedek they are abolished and can never be revived without annulling His offering. The vision does not describe Christ's future glorified reign, since its mortal prince offering for himself and its laws of marriage and death belong to the old order, but in its spiritual aspect it points to greater glory at the second coming when the Lord's presence heals and gives life in the new heavens and new earth.

Verse Wording and Context

The verse belongs to the sanctuary pattern and sacrificial ordinances shown in Ezekiel's vision in chapters 40 to 48, covering the temple, its service and offerings, the city, and the division of the land. It is part of the detailed description of the sanctuary, city, and land that would have been given if the conditions were met, with its promises and figures to have been fulfilled literally. It stands among the prescribed offerings of that new sanctuary vision, with its thousands of sheep and oxen and their grain and oil, and among the allusions in that offer to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals.

It prescribes a grain or meat offering of an ephah for a bullock and an ephah for a ram, with grain for the lambs according as the offerer's hand shall attain or what he can provide or afford, and a hin of oil to an ephah. The offering is prepared and presented by the prince or ruler, and the variable amount for the lambs depends on what he can provide. That provision for the prince to offer sacrifices for himself shows a mortal ruler and the meat-offering and animal-sacrifice system of that temple, with oil measured by the ephah.

These are regular offerings to be made from the eighth day onward every day after the altar's seven-day purification. The eighth day is the first day after the purification period, not an eighth day of the week, and the instruction has no connection with the Sabbath. Chapter 46:1-7 distinguishes the Sabbath from the six working days and describes offerings made on the Sabbath. The fact that offerings were made then does not show that the seventh-day Sabbath was ceremonial or belonged only to Israel's ceremonial law.

Conditional Offer to Israel

Ezekiel 46:7 belongs to God's offer while Israel was in Babylonian captivity to restore the people to their own land and give them again a city and worship and a temple and sanctuary under circumstances of wonderful glory. That vision of a future Jerusalem and temple shares the purpose and period of Zechariah's vision. It describes the city and its worship as they could have been established if Israel had responded to the calls to leave Babylon, and the sanctuary that would have been built with its prescribed offerings as part of its arrangements if God's people had met the conditions for the Messiah's kingdom. That city was never built because Israel failed to do its part, not because God changed His purpose.

The promise was conditional on Israel becoming ashamed of iniquities and evil doings and putting them away. It required putting away sins and wickedness, repentance, shame for sin, returning wholeheartedly from the Babylonian captivity, acceptance, and yielding fully to God on return from Babylon. The detailed description of sanctuary, city, and land with its ceremonies, rites, and offerings of an ephah for a bullock and ram and oil was a provisional sanctuary offered only on that condition. The promises and figures in these chapters would have been fulfilled literally if the people had met His conditions.

If Israel had met the conditions, God would have established the sanctuary and brought back the twelve tribes. He would have fulfilled these restoration promises then, in the Mosaic dispensation, and would have given Israel the sanctuary, city, and land as described. The meat offering of an ephah with an hin of oil would have been prepared literally by the sons of Levi if Israel had yielded to God.

Israel did not repent, was not ashamed, did not put away iniquities and wickedness, and very few returned. Because the condition was disregarded the offered glory was never inherited by them then. The restoration promises were therefore fulfilled only in part after the Babylonian captivity because the Jews did not meet those conditions. This is under the principle that God repents of promised good when a nation fails to do its part.

Temple Never Built

The sanctuary of Ezekiel 40 to 48, with its ephah for a bullock and for a ram and its hin of oil to the ephah, was never erected as described and never will be erected as written, and no such sanctuary stands today. Its thousands of sheep and oxen with their grain and oil will never be literally renewed, for to renew them would make Christ's once-for-all offering of no effect by building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow. That failure came because the promise was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, putting them away, repenting and returning wholeheartedly, which they never did and very few even returned. Nor does the vision belong to the future glorified age when Christ is Prince and Shepherd over Israel and marriage and death are unknown, since it presents a poor frail mortal prince offering a sin offering for himself with laws for marriages, divorces, widows and death. It would have belonged to the Mosaic dispensation then in force, with circumcision, divorce, distinction in meats, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee and the Levitical priesthood.

That temple is not to be built in any period subsequent to the opening of the Christian dispensation. When Christ was crucified and ascended the law of the priesthood changed, so that Levi is no longer priest but Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchisedek with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another. When His priesthood and probation end there is no more probation, and that priesthood and the everlasting gospel are contemporary. What resulted after the return from Babylon was far short of the pattern, for Zerubbabel's temple was the best that resulted, only a mere shadow and a faint and very limited fulfillment with a shadow of its greatness. The restoration promises were fulfilled only in part after the captivity because the people did not meet the conditions God set and did not yield fully to Him. The temple envisioned would have been far greater than the one built by Zerubbabel, but Israel's failure left only that faint fulfillment in the postexilic restoration.

The city of the vision, with its worship as it could have been established if Israel had responded to the calls to leave Babylon, was never built because Israel failed to do its part, not because God changed His purpose. The prophecy is therefore not fulfilled in detail as written, but its broad promises faintly point to what God will do for His people at the second coming. Its details will not all be fulfilled as written or as described under the local conditions of Ezekiel's time, because Israel did not truly repent and yield. The grain and oil service prescribed for the ruler, an ephah for a bull and for a ram with grain for the lambs according to what the giver can afford and an hin of oil for each ephah, depended on ancient Israel's faith and obedience and for that reason will not be fulfilled as described.

Types Ended at Christ

The grain with oil in ephahs and hins, with thousands of sheep and oxen, belonged to the time then present and to the sacrificial system and Mosaic sacrificial ordinances then in force. The amount of grain for the lambs was left to what the prince or worshiper could provide or afford, and these instructions for a mortal prince to present grain measured in ephahs with oil alongside animal sacrifices show the Mosaic system, not Christ's future reign. Every lamb offered in that past dispensation represented the Lamb of God.

They were types and shadows pointing forward to Christ's atonement and to the one effectual once-for-all offering of Jesus Christ. That atonement was made in fact by His death on the cross, fulfilled by His death and His heavenly ministry, and that temple with its sacrifices pointed to Christ who fulfilled them. To treat the grain and oil offerings of the proposed future city as future would restore the first covenant's sacrificial ordinances which pointed to that once-for-all sacrifice.

When Christ was crucified and ascended on high the law of the priesthood changed. Levi is no longer priest, but Christ became priest forever after the order of Melchisedek, with an unchangeable priesthood that does not pass from one to another. When His priesthood and probation end there is no more probation.

These sacrifices were in force for Israel but are no longer acceptable to God. The ceremonial law and sacrifices are abolished and are not still binding. They cannot be revived or continued after that atonement has been made in fact and Christ's ministry has closed.

To renew them literally would make Christ's once-for-all offering of no effect, annul its significance, and build again what was destroyed, returning from sunlight to shadow. Instituting such sacrifices would make Christ's sacrifice void. The blood of bulls and goats will no longer be acceptable even as a type.

God speaks to His children in the far future in the language of the then-present sacrificial system. This dispensation has its own sacrifices of consecrated life and praise. That priesthood of Christ and the everlasting gospel are contemporary, Christ is the great High Priest and the gospel is His gospel.

No Future Literal Fulfillment

The portion of grain and oil appointed here belongs to a system of animal sacrifice and food offering in the temple of Ezekiel 40-46, with an ephah for a bullock and an ephah for a ram and oil measured by the hin to the ephah. That temple never has been built and never will be built as written, because the offer was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities and putting them away, which they never did. The vision does not belong to the future glorified age when Christ is Prince and Shepherd over Israel and marriage and death are unknown, since it presents a poor frail mortal prince who offers a sin offering for himself and laws for marriages, divorces, widows and death. The amount for the lambs is left to what the offerer's hand can attain or what he can provide, which marks the prince as a mortal ruler and not Christ in an immortal future state.

Those instructions for a mortal prince to present grain measured in ephahs with oil alongside animal sacrifices show that the prophecy describes the Mosaic system then in force, with circumcision, divorce, distinction in meats, offerings of beasts, the Jubilee and the Levitical priesthood, not Christ's future reign. Christ's death brought such offerings to an end. The prescribed sacrifices themselves, an ephah of grain for each bull and ram with the amount for the lambs limited by what the offerer could afford and a hin of oil for each ephah, show that this was a sanctuary that would have been built if the Jews had been ashamed and repented, and not a temple God would later ordain again. To treat Ezekiel's description of offerings and sacrifices in the proposed future city as future would restore the sacrificial ordinances of the first covenant, which pointed to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

Appealing to the last nineteen chapters of Ezekiel for the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ on earth, and an earthly inheritance of the saints is false, because the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming of Christ when the earth is left desolate. The sanctuary with its specified grain and oil offerings will never be built, for the prophecy is conditional on Israel's response and must be understood in light of the Gospel and the new-covenant setting in which God's people are Israel by faith.

Greater Future Hope

Because Israel was unwilling to return wholeheartedly from Babylonian captivity, the description of a conditional temple with its ceremonies, rites and offerings stands in its spiritual aspect as a prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ. The restoration to land and rebuilt temple that God was prepared to give upon return from Babylon did not take place because the people were not ashamed of their iniquities, and the sanctuary was never rebuilt as described. God would have fulfilled these restoration promises then if Israel had yielded to Him, but Israel did not truly repent, so the details described will not all be fulfilled as written. The temple that would have been far greater than the one built by Zerubbabel was left with only a faint fulfillment in the postexilic restoration, because Israel's failure to turn from sin and return wholeheartedly left the local conditions of Ezekiel's time unmet.

The meat offering of an ephah with an hin of oil would have been prepared literally by the sons of Levi if Israel had yielded to God, but because Israel did not repent the sanctuary was never built and the offering was never made. The verse can never be fulfilled literally in the future because the blood of bulls and goats will no longer be acceptable even as a type, but its promise will be fulfilled even more gloriously in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Its broad promises only faintly point to what God will do for His people at the second coming, and the future glory and immortal inheritance promised to the faithful will come instead in the form described by later revelations. The prophecy ultimately points to the greater glory associated with Christ's second coming, not to a literal fulfillment under the local conditions of Ezekiel's time.

The conditional prophecy from chapter 36 onward promised Israel the raising of their righteous dead, the subjection of the kings of the North and all enemies far and near, a new glorious temple with sacrifices and offerings, a new division of the land, and the life and healing power of God coming down upon Palestine and the earth as never before. That temple and its sacrifices were offered only on the conditions that Israel put away wickedness and be ashamed of iniquities, under the principle that God repents of promised good when a nation fails to do its part. Israel was not ashamed and did not put away iniquities, so the glorious temple was not built and only a temple with a shadow of its greatness was erected by Zerubbabel. That temple with its sacrifices will never be built, because the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross fulfilled all sacrifices, yet all those promises are faintly typical of what God will restore by His mighty power in the new heavens and new earth. Sharing the purpose and period of Zechariah's vision, the vision of a future Jerusalem and temple depended on God's people putting away their sins, and because they failed it was not fulfilled for earthly Jerusalem, but its promised blessings will be realized in the New City for God's true Israel.

The central truth of the vision of a temple at the center of a restored Jerusalem is that the Lord is present, and that presence would heal barren land and impure waters and give life. The envisioned restoration and temple were never realized because Israel did not yield fully to God, and the later temple built after the return fell far short of Ezekiel's pattern. What was promised in the sanctuary and division of the land in chapters 40 to 48 was an unsurpassable glory in Palestine with lengthened life, character that would affect even the animals, and the constant manifest presence of God in His holy mountain where nothing would hurt or destroy. That conditional promise was not fulfilled then because Israel did not accept God's conditions, and it will be fulfilled under far greater conditions with much of the former detail eliminated, leaving for the new earth state only absolute joy and peace and harmony among all God's creatures. The detailed magnificent temple at Jerusalem is ultimately to become a house of prayer for all nations, though the prophecy does not reveal the process by which the greater temple would be built, since the circumstances of its construction are secondary to the facts of the building.