The Prince at the Gate, and the Boiling Places
1 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2 The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate; and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 3 The people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. 4 The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to Yahweh shall be on the Sabbath day, six lambs without defect and a ram without defect; 5 and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 6 On the day of the new moon it shall be a young bull without defect, six lambs, and a ram. They shall be without defect. 7 He shall prepare a meal offering: an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 8 When the prince enters, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go out by its way. 9 “‘“But when the people of the land come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he who enters by the way of the south gate shall go out by the way of the north gate. He shall not return by the way of the gate by which he came in, but shall go out straight before him. 10 The prince shall go in with them when they go in. When they go out, he shall go out. 11 “‘“In the feasts and in the appointed holidays, the meal offering shall be an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 12 When the prince prepares a free will offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a free will offering to Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out; and after his going out one shall shut the gate. 13 “‘“You shall prepare a lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering to Yahweh daily. Morning by morning you shall prepare it. 14 You shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour; a meal offering to Yahweh continually by a perpetual ordinance. 15 Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.” 16 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance. It shall belong to his sons. It is their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he gives of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. 18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people not each be scattered from his possession.”’” 19 Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy rooms for the priests, which looked toward the north. Behold, there was a place on the back part westward. 20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the meal offering, that they not bring them out into the outer court, to sanctify the people.” 21 Then he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. 22 In the four corners of the court there were courts enclosed, forty cubits long and thirty wide. These four in the corners were the same size. 23 There was a wall around in them, around the four, and boiling places were made under the walls all around. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the boiling houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.”
The prince worships at a threshold he may not cross, and the chapter ends in the kitchens where ordinary people's offerings are cooked.
The inner east gate is shut for the six working days and opened on the Sabbath and the new moon. Access to the courts is governed by the calendar, and the days on which the gate stands open are the days the covenant sign marks. The Sabbath is named first, as it was named among the things Israel profaned Ezekiel 20:12 Ezekiel 22:8.
What the prince does on those days is described with care, and every clause limits him. He enters by the porch of the gate. He stands by the post of the gate. The priests prepare his offerings — he does not. He worships at the threshold, and then goes out the way he came. He is the most privileged worshiper in the vision and he is stopped at a doorway, and the people of the land worship at the door of the same gate. The difference between prince and people is a matter of a few paces.
The traffic rules for the feasts are stranger and more practical than they first appear. Anyone entering by the north gate must leave by the south, and anyone entering by the south must leave by the north: he shall not return by the way of the gate by which he came in, but shall go out straight before him. In a crowded court that keeps people moving in one direction. It also means that nobody leaves by the way they came, which is a small physical statement about what worship is for.
The prince is addressed again on property, and the ruling is exact. A gift to a son is his permanently. A gift to a servant reverts to the year of liberty and then returns. And the rule underneath both: the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession. A king had once taken a vineyard from a man who would not sell it 1 Kings 21:15–16, and this provision makes that impossible.
The last verses of the chapter are the least expected in the whole vision. The guide shows him the kitchens — boiling places at the four corners of the outer court, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people. After nine chapters of holy portions and priestly garments, the survey ends among cooking pots in the public courtyard, in the part of the building where ordinary worshipers' food is prepared.
settled What this mark means