Ezekiel 42 Study Notes: Holy Rooms and the Surrounding Wall
Ezekiel is shown the priests’ rooms beside the temple courtyard, where they are to eat the holiest offerings and change out of their sacred clothing before going among the people. The guide then measures the whole area, enclosed by a wall that divides what is holy from what is ordinary.
General
According to the guide, what were the holy rooms on either side of the temple courtyard for (42:13)?
Answer: For the priests to eat and keep the holiest offerings
The guide explained that the rooms on either side of the temple courtyard were holy rooms. There the priests who come near the LORD would eat the holiest offerings, and there they would store the grain, sin and guilt offerings, since that whole place was holy (42:13). This follows the law of Moses, which said the priests’ share of the grain offering, a most holy portion, was to be eaten on holy ground (Leviticus 6:16; 10:12-13). What was given to God was not to be treated as ordinary food; it belonged to His holy service.
- Ezekiel 42:13 (BSB)“Then the man said to me, “The north and south chambers facing the temple courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy.”The guide says the rooms on the courtyard’s two sides are holy; there the priests who serve near the LORD eat and store the holiest offerings.
- Leviticus 6:16 (BSB)“Aaron and his sons are to eat the remainder. It must be eaten without leaven in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.”Under the law of Moses, Aaron’s family ate what was left of the grain offering on holy ground.
- Leviticus 10:12-13 (BSB)“And Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that remains from the food offerings to the LORD and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy. You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your share and your sons’ share of the food offerings to the LORD; for this is what I have been commanded.”Moses told Aaron and his sons to eat the leftover grain offering beside the altar, since it was most holy and was their portion.
Theological
What function does the guide assign to the holy rooms beside the temple courtyard in 42:13?
Answer: For the priests to eat and keep the holiest offerings
The guide designates the rooms flanking the temple courtyard as holy rooms in which the priests who draw near to the LORD eat the holiest offerings and store the grain, sin and guilt offerings, since the place itself is holy (42:13). This continues the Mosaic regulation that the priests’ portion of the most holy grain offering must be eaten within holy ground (Leviticus 6:16; 10:12-13). The offerings consecrated to God remain set apart even as they sustain His ministers, so holiness governs not only worship at the altar but the priests’ very table.
- Ezekiel 42:13 (BSB)“Then the man said to me, “The north and south chambers facing the temple courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy.”The guide says the rooms on the courtyard’s two sides are holy; there the priests who serve near the LORD eat and store the holiest offerings.
- Leviticus 6:16 (BSB)“Aaron and his sons are to eat the remainder. It must be eaten without leaven in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.”Under the law of Moses, Aaron’s family ate what was left of the grain offering on holy ground.
- Leviticus 10:12-13 (BSB)“And Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that remains from the food offerings to the LORD and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy. You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your share and your sons’ share of the food offerings to the LORD; for this is what I have been commanded.”Moses told Aaron and his sons to eat the leftover grain offering beside the altar, since it was most holy and was their portion.
General
True or False: After serving in the holy area, the priests could wear their ministering garments straight out among the people in the outer court.
Answer: False
This is false. The guide said that priests who had been in the holy area had to remove the clothes they served in before leaving for the outer court, because those clothes were holy (42:14). They had to change into different clothing before coming near the places meant for the people (42:14). The LORD later repeats this rule, adding that it keeps their clothing from passing holiness on to the people (44:19). On the Day of Atonement the high priest also changed out of his holy linen garments before going out (Leviticus 16:23-24). All of this taught the priests to tell apart what is holy, set apart for God, from what is ordinary (Leviticus 10:10).
- Ezekiel 42:14 (BSB)“Once the priests have entered the holy area, they must not go out into the outer court until they have left behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the places that are for the people.””Priests leaving the holy area must leave their holy serving clothes behind and change before going near the people’s areas.
- Ezekiel 44:19 (BSB)“When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they are to take off the garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes so that they do not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.”The LORD later restates the rule so that the priests’ clothing would not pass holiness on to the people.
- Leviticus 16:23-24 (BSB)“Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on before entering the Most Holy Place, and leave them there. He is to bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his own clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering to make atonement for himself and for the people.”On the Day of Atonement the high priest likewise removed his linen garments in the tent and changed into his own clothes before going out.
- Leviticus 10:10 (BSB)“You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,”Priests were charged to keep what is holy and what is ordinary distinct.
Theological
True or False: According to 42:14, priests leaving the holy area could go among the people still wearing the clothes they had served in.
Answer: False
This is false. Priests who have been in the holy area may not leave for the outer court before taking off and leaving behind their holy ministering clothes, and they must change into different clothing before coming near the people’s areas (42:14). The LORD restates the rule in 44:19, so that holiness is not transmitted to the people through the garments. The high priest’s change of garments on the Day of Atonement follows the same pattern (Leviticus 16:23-24). The regulation enacts the priestly duty to keep the sacred and the ordinary distinct (Leviticus 10:10).
- Ezekiel 42:14 (BSB)“Once the priests have entered the holy area, they must not go out into the outer court until they have left behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the places that are for the people.””Priests leaving the holy area must leave their holy serving clothes behind and change before going near the people’s areas.
- Ezekiel 44:19 (BSB)“When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they are to take off the garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes so that they do not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.”The LORD later restates the rule so that the priests’ clothing would not pass holiness on to the people.
- Leviticus 16:23-24 (BSB)“Then Aaron is to enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on before entering the Most Holy Place, and leave them there. He is to bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his own clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering to make atonement for himself and for the people.”On the Day of Atonement the high priest likewise removed his linen garments in the tent and changed into his own clothes before going out.
- Leviticus 10:10 (BSB)“You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,”Priests were charged to keep what is holy and what is ordinary distinct.
General
According to 42:20, what was the purpose of the wall around the whole temple area?
Answer: To set apart the sacred from the ordinary
When the guide had finished measuring inside, he led Ezekiel out and measured the whole temple grounds, which were enclosed on every side by a wall dividing the sacred from the ordinary (42:20). The wall’s stated purpose is not defense; it marked the line between what belongs to God and what is everyday. Earlier, Jerusalem’s priests had ignored that line, treating sacred and ordinary things alike, and God judged them for it (22:26). In the vision the priests are to teach the people this difference again (44:23), and the whole area on the mountain is called most holy (43:12). The wall proclaims that God is holy and that His dwelling must be treated as His.
- Ezekiel 42:20 (BSB)“So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.”The guide measures the temple area on every side; its surrounding wall divides the sacred from the ordinary.
- Ezekiel 22:26 (BSB)“Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”Jerusalem’s priests had treated sacred and ordinary things alike, one of the sins that brought judgment.
- Ezekiel 44:23 (BSB)“They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.”In the vision the priests are to instruct God’s people in telling sacred from ordinary and clean from unclean.
- Ezekiel 43:12 (BSB)“This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be most holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.”The temple’s law declares the whole area around it on the mountaintop to be most holy.
Theological
What purpose does 42:20 assign to the wall enclosing the temple area?
Answer: To set apart the sacred from the ordinary
The survey of the temple complex ends with the outer boundary: a wall on every side whose stated function is to divide the sacred from the ordinary (42:20). Its purpose is theological, not military. Jerusalem’s priests had erased this distinction, profaning God’s holy things (22:26); in the restored order the priests instruct the people in what is holy and what is common (44:23), and the temple’s law declares its whole precinct most holy (43:12). The wall embodies the book’s central concern that the LORD is holy and must be honored as holy where He dwells among His people.
- Ezekiel 42:20 (BSB)“So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.”The guide measures the temple area on every side; its surrounding wall divides the sacred from the ordinary.
- Ezekiel 22:26 (BSB)“Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”Jerusalem’s priests had treated sacred and ordinary things alike, one of the sins that brought judgment.
- Ezekiel 44:23 (BSB)“They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.”In the vision the priests are to instruct God’s people in telling sacred from ordinary and clean from unclean.
- Ezekiel 43:12 (BSB)“This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be most holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.”The temple’s law declares the whole area around it on the mountaintop to be most holy.