GOD, OUR INHERITANCE
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Opening Prayer
Mighty God, my rock and strong tower, thank you for your work done in me; work through me today and help me be an instrument of blessing to all you bring across my path.
Read EZEKIEL 45
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Israel Fully Restored
45 “‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the Lord a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy. 2 Of this, a section 500 cubits square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubits around it for open land. 3 In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4 It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the Lord. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.
6 “‘You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to all Israel.
7 “‘The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions. 8 This land will be his possession in Israel. And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the people of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes.
9 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have gone far enough, princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. 10 You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephah and an accurate bath. 11 The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both. 12 The shekel is to consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels equal one mina.
13 “‘This is the special gift you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley. 14 The prescribed portion of olive oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (which consists of ten baths or one homer, for ten baths are equivalent to a homer). 15 Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the people, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 All the people of the land will be required to give this special offering to the prince in Israel. 17 It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths—at all the appointed festivals of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the Israelites.
18 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.
21 “‘In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a festival lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. 22 On that day the prince is to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. 23 Every day during the seven days of the festival he is to provide seven bulls and seven rams without defect as a burnt offering to the Lord, and a male goat for a sin offering. 24 He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin of olive oil for each ephah.
25 “‘During the seven days of the festival, which begins in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.
Reflect
‘Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.’1
Today’s reading continues the topic started in Ezekiel 44:28–31 regarding the provision for priests and Levites. Since they serve God full-time, they receive a portion of the people’s contribution to God, a principle reflected in the financial support that pastors and missionaries get from their church’s monetary offerings today. Priests and Levites do not own land because God is their inheritance.2 Instead, they share in the Lord’s holy allotment, which consists of two strips of land about 13.2 km long and 5.3 km wide each (vv. 1–5). One contains the square temple complex, with a buffer zone separating it from the priests’ houses. The other is for the Levites to live on.
Since Christians are part of God’s royal priesthood,3 the idea that the Lord is our possession (just as we are his) encourages us to focus on him and hold loosely our material belongings and whatever else we might have in this life.4 The apostle Paul reapplies the idea of table fellowship between God and those eating meat from the altar to our sharing in the Lord’s Supper.5 God is truly our possession as Christians because, on the cross, Jesus Christ has given himself fully to us. What a privilege to have such a depth of connection to the Lord!
The next chapter will say more about the prince, but here, he is presented as a patron of the sacrificial system who provides the various offerings and collects the people’s contributions toward them (vv. 16, 17). The prominent element in the sacrifices offered around the New Year, Passover, and what we know as tabernacles (vv. 18–25) is purification (of temple and people) and atonement. These remind us of the importance of being cleansed from sin and having fellowship with God.
Apply
In what ways do you see your church meeting the needs of your pastor(s) as they serve its members?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, that I belong to you and you to me. Please help me order my priorities so I can live wholeheartedly for you.
1 Ps 16:5, NLT. 2 Ezek 44:28. 3 1 Pet 2:9. 4 1 Cor 7:29–31. 5 1 Cor 10:16–18.
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