Seder 81: Ezekiel's Temple Vision and the Torah

 The vision of Ezekiel recorded in Ezekiel 40-48 is one of the most mysterious sections of Scripture.  In this vision, Ezekiel is escorted by a heavenly guide around a restored temple compound, with lots of measurements given for gates, courtyards, a sanctuary, and quarters for priests.  God's presence comes to this temple, where he will be present with his people forever.  Worship at the temple is then described, and finally an apportionment of the Holy Land among the tribes of Israel.  

Ezekiel received this vision in about 573 BC, during the time of Judah's exile in Babylon.  The vision was a comforting one for the exiles, assuring them that there would be a future restoration of Israel in the land, with God dwelling among his people and true worship reestablished.  

But how literally are we to take the details of the vision?  Is this a literal description of a millennial temple, as dispensationalists tend to believe, or is it more a symbolic description of true worship in images meaningful to the original readers of the book of Ezekiel? 

In any case, there are a number of parallels between the book of Ezekiel and the things revealed in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, as commentator Daniel Block points out.  In both accounts,

• God commissions a human agent---Exodus 3-4; Ezekiel 33.
• God separates Israel from the nations and delivers her from bondage---Ex 5-13; Eze 34-37.
• Attacking enemies are defeated---Exodus 14-15; Ezekiel 38-39.
• God appears on a high mountain---Ex 19; Eze 40:1-4.
• God provides for residence among his people---Ex 25-40; Eze 40-43.
• God prescribes the appropriate response to his grace---Lev 1-Num 21; Eze 44-46;
• God provides for apportionment of land to the tribes---Num 34-35; Eze 47-48.

So Ezekiel, a new Moses figure, describes a new exodus with a renewed covenant and Torah.

Seder 15: Jeremiah 33---God's Faithfulness to His Covenants

 In the final days of the kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem falling to the Babylonians, God sent a message through the prophet Jeremiah giving assurance that he had not abandoned his people.  Restoration would come, with spiritual cleansing and the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Jer 33:6-11).  The Messiah would come to rule over Israel (vv 14-16).  

God affirms his commitment to his covenants, including the Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:16) and his covenant with Phinehas (Num 25:11-13).  These things, God says, are as sure as the rising and setting of the sun (Jer 33:20-21), which is guaranteed by God's covenant with Noah (Gen 8:22).

Christians believe that Jesus is now the eternal occupant of the Davidic throne.  Jesus' connection with David is emphasized in the Gospels, beginning in Matthew 1.  Luke's genealogy in Luke 3 traces Jesus' legal ancestry---the ancestry of Joseph---back to David (and ultimately to Adam) by a different route. 

How God's commitment to the Levitical priesthood might play out in the future is as yet unknown.  We know that a future role for Levites is also part of Ezekiel's visions (Ezek 40:46; 43:!9; 44:15; 48:11). On the other hand, we don't know for sure that there will ever be another earthly temple.  In their commentary on Jeremiah, Walter Kaiser and Tiberius Rata ask, "Is this language, then, using older liturgies to make the future understandable to those in Jeremiah’s time? This is one suggestion as to how we are to understand such contrasting ideas" (p. 470).