Ezekiel 45:5, commentary and pictures

The verse gives the Levites, the ministers of the house, a possession twenty-five thousand in length by ten thousand in breadth for twenty chambers. It belongs to the sanctuary pattern and temple vision of Ezekiel 36 to 48, especially chapters 40 to 48, offered while Israel was captive in Babylon as what God would do at the return from exile to restore them with a city and temple of wonderful glory. That sanctuary, restoration, and allotment of the land was conditional on Israel being ashamed of iniquities, repenting and obeying, and because they remained unwilling and in apostasy it was never built as described and its offered glory was forfeited. It has not been fulfilled and never will be fulfilled literally or be built in the future age, for the priesthood changed from Levi to Christ and to renew its thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices now would deny the sufficiency of Christ's once-for-all offering. In its spiritual meaning it points to greater things God will do through Christ, fulfilled in substance to the true Israel in the New City and the new heavens and earth made new in connection with the second coming of Christ.

Wording and Allotment

The twenty-five thousand in length by ten thousand in breadth is assigned to the Levites as a possession for twenty chambers. Those Levites are the ministers of the house, who minister and serve in the temple and sanctuary. The allotment is a measured portion of land set apart for them within the sanctuary pattern and its division of the land.

The adjoining instructions require the prince to present offerings for himself, and that prince is a mortal ruler and not Jesus Christ. Christ is himself the great sin offering, and by his death he caused offerings to cease.

The exact measuring and assigning of this possession shows that God is a God of order.

Vision Setting and History

Ezekiel 45:5 belongs to the sanctuary pattern and temple vision of Ezekiel 36 to 48, especially chapters 40 to 48, describing the sanctuary, its holy places, ceremonies, rites, offerings, glory, city, and division of the land. It is part of the detailed description of the sanctuary, city, and land that would have been given to Israel, in which the Levites serve as priests and ministers of the house and temple and receive as their possession a portion twenty-five thousand in length by ten thousand in breadth for twenty chambers.

Its setting was the Mosaic dispensation while the Levitical priesthood and its ordinances were in force, the time before Christ when the temple's types met their antitype. It was offered while Israel was captive in Babylon as what God was prepared to do at the return from seventy years of exile, when all who chose could go up under the decree of Cyrus, to restore them to their own land with a city and temple under circumstances of wonderful glory. The vision of the city and its land with its holy places, size of the most holy, and use of the word sanctuary was the pattern of another sanctuary offered to the house of Israel where they were, with promise of what God would do if they fulfilled the conditions.

The temple built after the return by Zerubbabel was only a feeble, partial realization and shadow of that plan and fell far short of the pattern shown to Ezekiel. Jerusalem was not restored as envisioned because Israel did not yield fully to God and remained in apostasy, so the glorious new temple with its greater land division was not built and only one with a shadow of its greatness was erected. What would have been far greater than Zerubbabel's temple was therefore fulfilled only in small part and in part after the return from Babylon.

The greater temple it describes was understood to be fulfilled by the construction of Herod's temple, whose building circumstances are separate from the prophecy itself.

Conditional Offer and Failure

The sanctuary, restoration, and land allotments including the Levites' possession with twenty chambers were offered only on condition that Israel be ashamed of iniquities, repent, put away sins and wickedness, and yield to God in faith and obedience, under the principle of Jeremiah 18:7-10. That condition required a wholehearted return from captivity and faithfulness upon return to the land, and if met God would establish the building and bring the twelve tribes back. This conditional character means the vision of city and sanctuary is not evidence for a future restoration of the Jewish people or the Levitical sacrificial system, but a forfeited conditional prophecy.

If the people had met the conditions, the detailed arrangements for sanctuary, city, land, and worship would have been literally fulfilled and built on this present earth. There would have been a glorious new temple with God's life and healing power coming upon Palestine and the earth as never before, as part of the new division of the land promised from Ezekiel 36 onward. That restoration would have been an act of God like His work after the exodus, with the Messiah's kingdom established gradually, bringing restoration and prosperity in which the serving Levites received their defined possession twenty-five thousand by ten thousand with twenty chambers. It would have included healed marshes and deserts and salt lands, tamed wild beasts, and complete safety even for an infant at the hole of a venomous serpent.

Because Israel was unwilling, remained in apostasy, and disregarded the condition of shame and repentance, the sanctuary was never built as described and its offered glory was never inherited. The plan for return to the land and rebuilding was not fulfilled under the former covenant or at that time, and its promises were forfeited. What was realized was only feeble, with merely a shadow of its greatness erected by Zerubbabel.

No Future Literal Temple

The temple prophecy to which the allotment for the Levites belongs was never fulfilled, for no such city or sanctuary stands today. It was never built as described, and it never will be built literally or erected in the future age. What was offered would have been built if the people had been ashamed and repented, but because they were not ashamed and did not put away iniquities it was not built, and only a temple bearing a shadow of its greatness was erected by Zerubbabel. Its prescribed sacrifices themselves show that God would not ordain such a temple again.

It is not evidence for the future restoration of the Jewish people or the Levitical sacrificial system, since its promises were forfeited. The closing chapters in which it stands are appealed to concerning the reign of Christ, the inheritance of the saints, and the return of the Jews. The temple and its service in which the Levites serve as priests were not to be built after the Christian dispensation began, because the priesthood changed from Levi to Christ, whose priesthood does not pass to another.

Its thousands of sheep and oxen sacrifices belonged to the time then present as shadows pointing to the only effective offering, that of Jesus Christ. The sanctuary described is not a future temple, since it includes sacrifices, and its provision for sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died upon the cross. To renew them literally now would make Christ's once-for-all offering of no effect, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow. Offering sacrifices now would deny the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice and make His sacrifice void, since the blood of bulls and goats is no longer acceptable even as a type.

Greater Spiritual Fulfillment

Ezekiel 45:5 belongs to a temple vision of ceremonies, rites, offerings and sanctuary plan that promised Israel restoration like God's work after the exodus if they returned wholeheartedly from captivity, but because Israel was unwilling that literal restoration was never built as described, and the prophecy therefore points in its spiritual meaning to greater things God will do for his people through Christ. It is a type of God's later work for his people, to be fulfilled in broad promises and in substance rather than in every old detail.

What God would have given to literal Israel at that time, including the measured possession for the Levites, the ministers of the house, for twenty chambers, was conditional under the principle of Jeremiah 18:7-10 upon yielding to Him in true repentance, shame for sin, faith and obedience at the return from seventy years in Babylon. Because fleshly Israel did not yield and did not meet those conditions, the land allotment and associated temple arrangements will never be fulfilled literally as described. The promise will instead be fulfilled in substance to the true Israel, not according to its old details but according to later revelation, with future glory and the fullness of the immortal inheritance given to the faithful in fullest measure in a more glorious inheritance, the earth made new.

Its promised purposes will be realized in the New City for God's true Israel, and more gloriously in the earth made new and in the new heavens and new earth when God shall restore them by His mighty power. That glorious new temple with the life and healing power of God coming down upon Palestine and the earth as never before was not built because Israel was not ashamed and did not put away wickedness and iniquities, and only one with a shadow of its greatness was erected by Zerubbabel, so the greater fulfillment comes with the second coming of Christ and related events, not through a literal return to the local conditions of Ezekiel's day. What would have been built on this present earth if the Jews had yielded and let the Messiah's kingdom be established gradually, with healed marshes and deserts and salt lands, tamed wild beasts, and complete safety even for an infant at the hole of a venomous serpent, will be fulfilled more gloriously where the Spirit of absolute peace presides over all nature so no harm comes to the feeblest.

That restoration was not fulfilled then because Israel did not accept God's conditions, and it will be fulfilled under greater conditions with some former details omitted, more gloriously in Christ's kingdom. Its provision for sacrifices was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died upon the cross, and its animal offerings cannot be fulfilled in the future because the blood of bulls and goats is no longer acceptable even as a type. The Levites who serve in the temple were assigned a portion of land with twenty chambers as their possession within Ezekiel's description of the sanctuary and division of the land from Ezekiel 36 onward, and had Israel repented and accepted God's message those Levitical arrangements of service and offerings would have been carried out.

The closing chapters containing the verse, the last nineteen chapters appealed to concerning the reign of Christ, the inheritance of the saints, and the return of the Jews, belong to the offer made while the Hebrews were captive in Babylon to restore them to their own land with a city and a temple under circumstances of wonderful glory. That offer was conditional, and because the condition was disregarded its offered glory was never inherited. Those chapters include allusions to the Sabbath of the Lord and to the festivals of the Hebrews, and describe in detail a grand and magnificent temple that Israel might build at Jerusalem which would ultimately become a house of prayer for all nations.