Pray Thru the Bible

God Speaks

46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The east gateway of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six workdays each week, but it will be open on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations. ² The prince will enter the entry room of the gateway from the outside. Then he will stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He will bow down in worship inside the gateway passage and then go back out the way he came. The gateway will not be closed until evening. ³ The common people will bow down and worship the Lord in front of this gateway on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.

⁴ “Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects. ⁵ He will present a grain offering of a basket of choice flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb, and he is to offer one gallon of olive oil for each basket of flour. ⁶ At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no defects. ⁷ With the young bull he must bring a basket of choice flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another basket of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour he chooses to give. With each basket of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil.

⁸ “The prince must enter the gateway through the entry room, and he must leave the same way. ⁹ But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway. ¹⁰ The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions.

¹¹ “So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a basket of choice flour with each young bull, another basket of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the worshiper chooses to give with each lamb. Give one gallon of olive oil with each basket of flour. ¹² When the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the Lord, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him, and he will offer his sacrifices as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will leave, and the gateway will be shut behind him.

¹³ “Each morning you must sacrifice a one-year-old lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the Lord—about three quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil to moisten the choice flour. This will be a permanent law for you. ¹⁵ The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.

¹⁶ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to him and his descendants forever. ¹⁷ But if the prince gives a gift of land from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year. At that time the land will return to the prince. But when the prince gives gifts to his sons, those gifts will be permanent. ¹⁸ And the prince may never take anyone’s property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property.”

¹⁹ In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms. ²⁰ He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.”

²¹ Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure. ²² Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52 1⁄2 feet wide, surrounded by walls. ²³ Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around. ²⁴ The man said to me, “These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”

47 In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. ² The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway.

³ Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. ⁴ He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. ⁵ Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through.

⁶ He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank. ⁷ When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river. ⁸ Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. ⁹ There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean. ¹¹ But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty. ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”

¹³ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Divide the land in this way for the twelve tribes of Israel: The descendants of Joseph will be given two shares of land. ¹⁴ Otherwise each tribe will receive an equal share. I took a solemn oath and swore that I would give this land to your ancestors, and it will now come to you as your possession.

¹⁵ “These are the boundaries of the land: The northern border will run from the Mediterranean toward Hethlon, then on through Lebo-hamath to Zedad; ¹⁶ then it will run to Berothah and Sibraim, which are on the border between Damascus and Hamath, and finally to Hazer-hatticon, on the border of Hauran. ¹⁷ So the northern border will run from the Mediterranean to Hazar-enan, on the border between Hamath to the north and Damascus to the south.

¹⁸ “The eastern border starts at a point between Hauran and Damascus and runs south along the Jordan River between Israel and Gilead, past the Dead Sea and as far south as Tamar. This will be the eastern border.

¹⁹ “The southern border will go west from Tamar to the waters of Meribah at Kadesh and then follow the course of the Brook of Egypt to the Mediterranean. This will be the southern border.

²⁰ “On the west side, the Mediterranean itself will be your border from the southern border to the point where the northern border begins, opposite Lebo-hamath.

²¹ “Divide the land within these boundaries among the tribes of Israel. ²² Distribute the land as an allotment for yourselves and for the foreigners who have joined you and are raising their families among you. They will be like native-born Israelites to you and will receive an allotment among the tribes. ²³ These foreigners are to be given land within the territory of the tribe with whom they now live. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!

48 “Here is the list of the tribes of Israel and the territory each is to receive. The territory of Dan is in the extreme north. Its boundary line follows the Hethlon road to Lebo-hamath and then runs on to Hazar-enan on the border of Damascus, with Hamath to the north. Dan’s territory extends all the way across the land of Israel from east to west.

² “Asher’s territory lies south of Dan’s and also extends from east to west. ³ Naphtali’s land lies south of Asher’s, also extending from east to west. ⁴ Then comes Manasseh south of Naphtali, and its territory also extends from east to west. ⁵ South of Manasseh is Ephraim, ⁶ and then Reuben, ⁷ and then Judah, all of whose boundaries extend from east to west.

⁸ “South of Judah is the land set aside for a special purpose. It will be 8 1⁄3 miles wide and will extend as far east and west as the tribal territories, with the Temple at the center.

⁹ “The area set aside for the Lord’s Temple will be 8 1⁄3 miles long and 6 2⁄3 miles wide. ¹⁰ For the priests there will be a strip of land measuring 8 1⁄3 miles long by 3 1⁄3 miles wide, with the Lord’s Temple at the center. ¹¹ This area is set aside for the ordained priests, the descendants of Zadok who served me faithfully and did not go astray with the people of Israel and the rest of the Levites. ¹² It will be their special portion when the land is distributed, the most sacred land of all. Next to the priests’ territory will lie the land where the other Levites will live.

¹³ “The land allotted to the Levites will be the same size and shape as that belonging to the priests—8 1⁄3 miles long and 3 1⁄3 miles wide. Together these portions of land will measure 8 1⁄3 miles long by 6 2⁄3 miles wide. ¹⁴ None of this special land may ever be sold or traded or used by others, for it belongs to the Lord; it is set apart as holy.

¹⁵ “An additional strip of land 8 1⁄3 miles long by 1 2⁄3 miles wide, south of the sacred Temple area, will be allotted for public use—homes, pasturelands, and common lands, with a city at the center. ¹⁶ The city will measure 1 1⁄2 miles on each side—north, south, east, and west. ¹⁷ Open lands will surround the city for 150 yards in every direction. ¹⁸ Outside the city there will be a farming area that stretches 3 1⁄3 miles to the east and 3 1⁄3 miles to the west along the border of the sacred area. This farmland will produce food for the people working in the city. ¹⁹ Those who come from the various tribes to work in the city may farm it. ²⁰ This entire area—including the sacred lands and the city—is a square that measures 8 1⁄3 miles on each side.

²¹ “The areas that remain, to the east and to the west of the sacred lands and the city, will belong to the prince. Each of these areas will be 8 1⁄3 miles wide, extending in opposite directions to the eastern and western borders of Israel, with the sacred lands and the sanctuary of the Temple in the center. ²² So the prince’s land will include everything between the territories allotted to Judah and Benjamin, except for the areas set aside for the sacred lands and the city.

²³ “These are the territories allotted to the rest of the tribes. Benjamin’s territory lies just south of the prince’s lands, and it extends across the entire land of Israel from east to west. ²⁴ South of Benjamin’s territory lies that of Simeon, also extending across the land from east to west. ²⁵ Next is the territory of Issachar with the same eastern and western boundaries.

²⁶ “Then comes the territory of Zebulun, which also extends across the land from east to west. ²⁷ The territory of Gad is just south of Zebulun with the same borders to the east and west. ²⁸ The southern border of Gad runs from Tamar to the waters of Meribah at Kadesh and then follows the Brook of Egypt to the Mediterranean.

²⁹ “These are the allotments that will be set aside for each tribe’s exclusive possession. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!

³⁰ “These will be the exits to the city: On the north wall, which is 1 1⁄2 miles long, ³¹ there will be three gates, each one named after a tribe of Israel. The first will be named for Reuben, the second for Judah, and the third for Levi. ³² On the east wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan. ³³ The south wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, will have gates named for Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun. ³⁴ And on the west wall, also 1 1⁄2 miles long, the gates will be named for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.

³⁵ “The distance around the entire city will be 6 miles. And from that day the name of the city will be ‘The Lord Is There.’”

Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com

We Respond

[TBR-254: Ezekiel 46-48 (September 11, 2023)]

Reflection: Consider the following questions regarding Ezekiel 46-48:

1. What does this chapter tell me about God?

2. What does this chapter tell me about the human beings He created?

Here is one possible answer to each of these questions. Ask the Holy Spirit if there are any others for you personally to ponder.

Ezekiel 46

1. The temple is God’s house; therefore, He is the one who gets to say who and how people should enter and leave and what they can or cannot do there. 

2. People should show their profound respect for God by how they behave in His house.

[Ezekiel 47-48 will be treated as a unit describing the boundaries of the land of Israel, the locations of the tribes and the dimensions of the capital city during the millennial reign as directed by God.]

1. God can and will create a new stream of water flowing from the Temple to freshen the Dead Sea and to nurture trees for food and for healing.

2. People should observe the boundaries of the land of Israel as directed by God. As to the non-Israelis living there, they should be treated civilly according to Ezekiel 47:23.

Prayer:

3. How might I pray regarding Ezekiel 46-48?

O Gracious and Mighty God, Lord of the universe, You are holy and wholly set apart from all Your vast creation, but You have chosen to interact with the human beings that You created. Throughout the Bible, You tell us how to show the awe and respect You deserve. The Temple described by Ezekiel is Your house. You are the one who gets to say who and how people should enter and leave and what they can or cannot do there. May all who worship You show their profound respect by how they behave, whether in that Temple or in their daily lives. In Ezekiel 47-48, You describe the boundaries of the land of Israel, the locations of the tribes, and the dimensions of the capital city during the millennial reign as You direct, LORD God. Thank You for the stream of water flowing from the Temple to freshen the Dead Sea and to nurture trees for food and for healing. Thank You for all that You provide for our benefit and enjoyment. Please help people to establish and maintain the boundaries of the land of Israel and the location of the tribes as You direct. As to other people living there, may they be treated civilly and fairly according to Your lovingkindness. Then everyone will bring You glory, LORD. AMEN 

Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)

4. What action does the LORD want me to take in response to Ezekiel 46-48? With the help of God’s Holy Spirit:

• I will strive to show profound respect for God when I gather with His people in His house. 
• I will calmly state the historical facts when discussing issues of conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere. 
• I will pray for the Holy Spirit of God to work in the minds and hearts of all involved in bringing His peace to Israel and Jerusalem.
• I will pray for God to rescue and bless those who have been kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.