Topical Bible: Offerings: Meat: Provided for in the Vision of Ezekiel

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In the prophetic book of Ezekiel, the vision of the restored temple includes detailed instructions regarding offerings, including those involving meat. This vision, found in Ezekiel chapters 40-48, outlines a future temple and its associated rituals, which hold significant theological and eschatological implications.

Context of the Vision

Ezekiel, a prophet during the Babylonian exile, receives a vision of a new temple, symbolizing the restoration of Israel and the reestablishment of proper worship. This vision serves as a divine blueprint, emphasizing holiness, order, and the presence of God among His people. The detailed instructions for offerings underscore the importance of worship and obedience to God's commands.

Meat Offerings in Ezekiel's Vision

The vision includes specific regulations for various offerings, including burnt offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings, which often involve the sacrifice of animals. These offerings are integral to the worship practices described in the vision and reflect the sacrificial system established in the Mosaic Law.

In Ezekiel 43:18-27, the prophet describes the altar of burnt offering and the procedures for its consecration. The offerings include bulls, rams, and goats, which are to be sacrificed as sin offerings and burnt offerings. The text emphasizes the purification and dedication of the altar, highlighting the necessity of atonement and sanctification.

Ezekiel 44:15-31 further elaborates on the role of the Levitical priests, specifically the sons of Zadok, in offering sacrifices. These priests are tasked with maintaining the sanctity of the temple and ensuring that the offerings are conducted according to divine instructions. The passage outlines the portions of the offerings that the priests are to consume, including the meat from certain sacrifices, which serves as their provision and sustenance.

Theological Significance

The meat offerings in Ezekiel's vision symbolize the restoration of proper worship and the renewal of the covenant relationship between God and His people. The detailed instructions for these offerings reflect the holiness required in approaching God and the need for atonement through sacrifice. The vision points to a future time when God's presence will dwell among His people, and worship will be conducted in purity and truth.

Ezekiel's vision also foreshadows the ultimate fulfillment of the sacrificial system in the person and work of Jesus Christ. As the perfect and final sacrifice, Christ fulfills the requirements of the Law, rendering the need for animal sacrifices obsolete. However, the principles of atonement, holiness, and worship remain central to the Christian faith, as believers are called to offer themselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1).

Scriptural References

· Ezekiel 43:18-27 : "Then He said to me: 'Son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is constructed, so that burnt offerings may be offered on it and blood may be sprinkled on it...'"
· Ezekiel 44:15-31 : "But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, will approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD..."

The vision of Ezekiel, with its provision for meat offerings, serves as a profound reminder of the centrality of worship and the necessity of approaching God with reverence and obedience.

Nave's Topical Index

Ezekiel 42:13
Then said he to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach to the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.
Nave's Topical Index

Library

The Greater Prophets.
... offer me burnt-offerings and your meat-offerings, I will ... I come before him with
burnt-offerings, with calves ... Through them, moreover, God provided a treasury of ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter xxii the greater prophets.htm

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
... perform their high duties, in vision he was ... varied and powerful motives to duty,
were provided. ... burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meat-offerings, and incense ...
/.../cunningham/the ordinance of covenanting/chapter xi covenanting enforced by.htm

Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
... What God provided to be an help to the weakness of ... of worship, than that outward
court did (Ezekiel 10:3 ... it in which they boiled the trespass-offerings, and in ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/solomons temple spiritualized.htm

The Holy City; Or, the New Jerusalem:
... but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ; I have fed you with milk, and
not with meat; for hitherto ye ... Ezekiel, when he had the vision of this city ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/the holy city or the.htm

Manner of Covenanting.
... in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their ... which there would appear no
objection, provided that that ... their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the ...
/.../cunningham/the ordinance of covenanting/chapter ii manner of covenanting.htm

The Acceptable Sacrifice;
... Mark, he rejecteth sacrifices, offerings and sacrifices: that is ... it; as he desires
his company, has provided for him ... it abhors all manner of dainty meat (Job 33 ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/the acceptable sacrifice.htm

The Flight into Egypt and St. John the Baptist in the Desert
... who did no house-keeping and was provided for by ... of booty being brought in"clothes,
carpets, meat, young kids ... from the city to lay their offerings on them. ...
/.../emmerich/the life of the blessed virgin mary/xvi the flight into egypt.htm

The Iranian Conquest
... us, and receive us with plenteous offerings of food ... will extend even to the brute
beasts, provided that they ... the court with a sufficient supply of pure meat. ...
/.../chapter ithe iranian conquest.htm

The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
... felt, almost within his reach, and would inevitably fall into his hands provided
his courage ... to a banquet, and after plying them to excess with meat and drink ...
/.../chapter iiithe medes and the.htm

Period iii. The Dissolution of the Imperial State Church and the ...
... previously been spirits and holy powers, but that satiated with the vision of God ...
his soul, let him who ought to ordain ordain a bishop, provided, however, that ...
/.../ayer/a source book for ancient church history/period iii the dissolution of.htm