Ezekiel 45:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 45:18
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary:
a consecrated thing or place · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 16:16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions…
Exodus 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Leviticus 16:33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the al…
Leviticus 22:20 But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.
Ezekiel 43:22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did…
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead…
Ezekiel 43:26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.
Numbers 28:11-15 And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the firs…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 45:13–end
Having laid down the rules of the righteousness toward men, which is really a branch off true religion, he comes next to give some directions for their religion towards God, which is a branch of universal righteousness.
I. It is required that they offer an oblation to the Lord out of what they have (Eze 45:13): All the people of the land must give an oblation, Eze 45:16. As God's tenants, they must pay a quit-rent to their great landlord. They had offered an oblation out of their real estates (Eze 45:1), a holy portion of their land; now they are directed to offer an oblation out of their personal estates, their goods and chattels, as an acknowledgement of their receivings from him, their de…
The year is to begin with a consecration service, not mentioned under the Levitical law; but an earnest of it is given in the feast of dedication of the second temple, which celebrated its purification by Judas Maccabeus, after its defilement by Antiochus.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 45:18
Thou shalt take a young bullock - and cleanse the sanctuary - There is nothing of this in the Mosaic law; it seems to have been a new ceremony. An annual purification of the sanctuary may be intended.
John Gill on Ezekiel 45:18
Thus saith the Lord God,.... Here begins the account of the times and seasons in which the above sacrifices should be prepared and offered; or that which was signified by them be held forth in the ministry of the word to the faith of God's people:
in the first month, in the first day of the month; the month Nisan, as Kimchi observes, who adds,
"which is the month of redemption, in which Israel were redeemed out of Egypt, and in which they shall be redeemed in time to come:''
this month answers to part of our March and part of April; it was the first month in the year with the Jews for their ecclesiastical affairs; so that the first day of this month was New Year's Day:
thou shall take a…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 18 and following) Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish, and you shall purify the sanctuary. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorposts of the gate of the inner court. So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned inadvertently and been deceived by error, and you shall make atonement for the house. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, there shall be a solemn feast for you: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. And on that day the prince shall make a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land, a young bull. And during the seven-day feast he shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord: seven young bulls and seven spotless rams each day for seven days, and a male goat for a sin offering each day. And for each young bull he shall offer a hin of oil, and for each ram he shall offer a hin of oil, and for each male goat he shall offer a measurement of oil. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the feast, he shall perform as mentioned above for seven days: both for sin and for burnt offering, and in sacrifice and in oil. I have included the entire passage so as not to disturb the reader's mind by dividing it into individual parts. And first, we must speak of the variety of interpretations. Where we have interpreted, at the four corners of the altar's base. The Septuagint translated it as on the four corners of the temple and on the altar. And where we said 'for each and every one who is ignorant and deceived by error,' they put 'for the ignorant and for the little one.' In that same place where we said 'the offering of an ephah for a calf and an ephah for a ram,' and 'a hin of oil for each ephah,' their edition holds 'the offering and cooking of a calf and the cooking of a ram you shall give, and the cooking of oil.' And in the final verse where we said 'in the sacrifice and in the oil,' they said 'as in the manna, as in the oil.' In the first month and on the first day of the month (no doubt, Nisan signifies) you shall take a calf from the cattle: not one that is raised in the house, but one that is from the cattle, that is, from the flock and a larger…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
The Sin-Offerings in the First Month
Eze 45:18. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the first (month), on the first of the month, thou shalt take a bullock, a young ox without blemish, and absolve the sanctuary. Eze 45:19. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering, and put it upon the door-posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the enclosure of the altar, and upon the door-posts at the gate of the inner court. Eze 45:20. And so shalt thou do on the seventh of the month, for the sake of erring men and of folly, that so ye may make atonement for the house. - The Mosaic law had prescribed for the new moons generally the sin-offering of a he-goat, in addition to the burnt-…
The people were to provide for the regular daily offerings that will make atonement at the new Temple by means of a tax paid to the prince. The prince was to provide all of the offerings for special occasions, such as the religious festivals, the new moon celebrations, and the Sabbath days. Both the regular daily offerings and the special festival offerings functioned to purify the people of Israel, making them right with the Lord.
Rashi on Ezekiel 45:18
So says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first of the month, you shall take a young bull [and] without blemish This is the bull of investiture mentioned at the beginning of this section (43:18 27), and he teaches [us] here that the investiture should be on the first of Nissan.
and you shall purify [as translated,] and you shall purify.
