💾 Archived View for scholasticdiversity.us.to › scriptures › jewish › t › Steinsaltz%20on%20Ezekiel%… captured on 2024-05-12 at 17:10:41. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2024-05-10)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
45 [1] **When you allot the land, **dividing it by casting lots among the tribes, **as an inheritance, **according to the new division (chap. 48),** you shall set aside a gift for the Lord, consecrated from the land. **The prophet details the measurements of this special sacred territory: **The length **of the land** will be** **twenty-five thousand **reeds **in length,** **and the width, ten thousand; it shall be consecrated in its entire boundary all around. **The entire region will be sacred as it is designated for the Temple and those who serve in it.
[2] From this** **area, **there shall be **set aside **for the Sanctuary **an area measuring **five hundred by five hundred square all around, and **an open area **fifty cubits **in** **width **shall be** set aside as **a perimeter for it all around. **A belt of open green space shall be left on all sides of the Temple precinct.
[3] **With this measure, **the measurements used for the area of the Temple which, as stated earlier, is to be measured in cubits consisting of six handbreadths (40:5, 42:16–20), **you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand and a width of ten thousand, and in it shall be the Sanctuary, the sacred Sanctum,** the holiest** **place within the entirely sacred area. Some explain that the prophet is stressing that the area of five hundred by five hundred units is to be taken from the total area and not in addition to it.
[4] **It is consecrated from the land; it shall be for the priests **descended from Tzadok, who are** the servants of the Sanctuary who approach to serve the Lord, and it shall be for them a place for **their** houses. **In this new arrangement, there will no longer be cities of priests scattered throughout the land as all the priests will reside near the Temple, in which they serve. **And **in the center, there will be **a sacred place for the Sanctuary.**** **
[5] **And **there shall be an additional area with **a length of twenty-five thousand and a width of ten thousand,** an area equal in size to that of the Temple and the domain of the priests,** **which** shall be **set aside **for the Levites, the servants of the House, as a portion for them, **in which they will live and earn their sustenance. There will be** twenty chambers **there for the use of the Temple staff.
[6] The prophet addresses the third part of this gift. **You shall grant a portion of the city: Five thousand in width and twenty-five thousand in length, **half of the width of the previous sections, **parallel to the sacred gift; for the entire house of Israel it shall be. **This portion is for all Israelites who are not priests or Levites.** **
[7] **For the prince, **an area **will be **designated **on this side and on that side, **on both sides **of the sacred gift **designated for the Temple and the priests,** and of the portion of the city, **which belongs to the house of Israel. It will be** in front of the sacred gift and in front of the portion of the city, from the west side extending westward, **until the edge of the western border, **and from the east side eastward, and the length will be parallel to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. **Two additional strips of land will constitute the inheritance of the king. These strips will be situated on the two sides of the portions of the priests, the Levites, and the city.
[8] **It,** this portion,** shall be for him, **the prince,** as a portion in the land**** among Israel, and My princes will not exploit My people any longer. **Since the kings will inherit a portion in the land, they will not need to seize the inheritance of the people for themselves. **And they shall give the **remaining **land to the house of Israel, **dividing it** according to their tribes, **as described below.
[9] The prophecy begins with a call to leaders of the people to exercise their governmental roles with fairness: **So said the Lord God:** **It is enough for you, princes of Israel; eliminate **the **villainy and plunder** that have been perpetrated by kings in the past,** and **instead **perform justice and righteousness. **Treat the people honestly and with mercy, and** cease your evictions of My people, **do not remove them from their property – **the utterance of the Lord God. **Certain kings of Israel had usurped land belonging to private individuals for their own use, through libelous accusations or imposition of heavy taxes. The prophet exhorts the leaders to fight wickedness of that kind whenever it occurs.
[10] **Accurate scales, an accurate ephah, **a measure of volume for dry goods equivalent to more than 21 L,** and an accurate bat,**** **a liquid measure of volume,** you shall have. **
[11] **The ephah and the bat shall be of one measure, **equal in volume: **The bat, **which is for a liquid measure, must be a measure **containing one-tenth of the homer,**** and **similarly **the ephah, **for dry goods, must also be** one-tenth of the homer;** **its measure shall be on the basis of the homer. **You must ensure that the measuring vessels of the *bat* and the ephah must be calibrated relative to the volume of the better-known measure, the *homer*.
[12] With regard to weight, **the shekel,**** **a unit of weight roughly equivalent to 10 g, **shall be **equal to **twenty**** gera,**as stated explicitly in the Torah.** Twenty shekels and** another **twenty-five shekels and** yet another** ten and five shekels, **a total of sixty shekels, **shall be the maneh**** for you. **Silver, which at that time was not minted in coins, was weighed by these units of measurement. These ratios must be precise. The *maneh* must weigh sixty shekels and the shekel twenty *gera*. It is possible that the prophet expresses the sixty shekels in these specific amounts – twenty, twenty-five, and fifteen – because these were common weights in commerce. An alternative interpretation is that these sums represent different *maneh* units: a medium *maneh*, twenty shekels, a small *maneh*, fifteen shekels, and a large *maneh*, twenty-five shekels.
[13] **This is the gift that you shall set aside **for the communal sacrifices brought by the prince:** One-sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, **which is one-sixtieth of the total amount,** **since the ephah is one-tenth of a *homer*, as stated above (verse 11), **and** **you shall take one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley, **
[14] **and the set amount of oil **for the offering,** the bat is **to be used as the measuring vessel **for the oil, the bat shall be one-tenth of the kor, **a measure of volume equivalent to a *homer*. It thus follows that **ten bats **are equivalent **to** **a homer, as ten bats are a homer. **This ratio must be preserved in the future as well.
[15] The prophet turns his focus from the gifts of produce to gifts of animals: **And one lamb **shall be set aside** from two hundred from the flock from the saturated pastures of Israel.** These portions of grain, oil, and sheep are to be designated** for a meal offering and for a burnt offering and for a peace offering to atone for them, **Israel – **the utterance of the Lord God. **
[16] **All the people of the land shall take part, **be** **represented, **in this gift; **as they have all contributed to the gift, they will all own a portion of it. The gift is designated **for the prince in Israel, **which may refer to the supreme leader of the people or to the High Priest, to bring to the Temple.
[17] **And** with regard to the offerings brought from the donation of the entire community,** upon the prince **it** shall be **incumbent** **to present **the burnt offerings and the meal offerings and the libations,**** **the wine poured on the altar with the offerings, **on the festivals, and on the New Moons, and on the Sabbaths, on all the appointed times of the house of Israel; he shall present the sin offering and the meal offering and the burnt offering and the peace offering to atone for the house of Israel. **
[18] The prophet now enumerates the offerings the prince will bring for the inauguration of the Temple that will be constructed. Some authorities believe the offerings listed below will be brought in the future Temple on a regular basis. **So said the Lord God: In the first month, **Nisan, **on the first of the month, you shall take an unblemished young bull, and you shall cleanse the Sanctuary **with it. The reference is to the bull presented as a sin offering at the inauguration of the Temple (43:18–21).
[19] **The priest shall take from the blood of the sin offering, and he shall place it on the gatepost of the House, and on the four corners of the stratum of the altar, **the large square that encompasses the altar (43:20),** and on the gatepost of the gate of the inner courtyard, **where the altar is located, near the Entrance Hall.
[20] **So you shall do on the seventh of the **first **month, **or on each of the first seven days of the month, as an atonement **for **the sin of **the person who acted unwittingly and for the ignorant,** referring to people who defiled the House by mistake or due to lack of knowledge,** and you shall **thereby **atone for the House, **cleansing it of sin.
[21] **In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, there shall be the paschal lamb for you.** This offering marks the start of** a festival of seven days; unleavened bread, **but no leavened bread,** shall be eaten. **
[22] **The prince shall present on that day, **the fourteenth of Nisan,** a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. **
[23] **For the seven days of the festival, he shall present a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams, unblemished, for each day.** So shall he do **for** each of **the seven days, and **he shall present** a goat for each** **day as a sin offering. **
[24] **He shall present a meal offering: An ephah **of high-quality flour **for each bull and an ephah **of high-quality flour **for each ram, and oil, a hin, **a liquid measure equivalent to one-sixth of a *bat*,** for each ephah **of high-quality flour. These measures differ from those stated in the Torah for a meal offering. Perhaps this verse describes a special offering brought only on this one occasion, which had unique measures.
[25] **In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the Festival**** **of Tabernacles, **he shall present like these, for the seven days: like the sin offering, like the burnt offering, and like the meal offering, and like the oil. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center