12. the Prince (Ezekiel 44:1-3; 45:7-25; 46:2-18; 48:21)
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12. The prince (Ezekiel 44:1-3; 45:7-25; 46:2-18; 48:21) The east gate of the outer court When Ezekiel saw the glory of the God of Israel entering the sanctuary, it entered “by way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east”1. It is for this reason that Ezekiel was told in 44:1,2 that the east gate of the outer court would be kept closed: “Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut”. This will serve to illustrate the fact that in the Age to come the glory of God will never again depart from the sanctuary - in stark contrast to Ezekiel 10, where the prophet saw a vision of the glory of God departing from the temple, prior to its destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Note that Ezekiel’s guide - the man with the measuring reed - is given the name of Yahweh: “Then said Yahweh unto me…”. We have previously seen that this man represents God in manifestation through Christ and the saints. He explains to the prophet that in the Age to come the people visiting the sanctuary will not be able to gain admittance into the temple precincts through the east gate of the outer court. Indeed, this point was emphasized to Ezekiel: “No man shall enter in by it”. But this gate will have another, very different function, as the man with the measuring reed continued to explain to the prophet: “It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the 1 Ezekiel 43:4 !115 porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same”2. If Yahweh is to be manifested in the Age to come through Christ and the saints, we conclude that the prince will have fellowship with Christ and the saints within this very gate. Once the glory of Yahweh has passed through the entrance of the gate, and the doors have been closed, the east gate will be for the exclusive use of the prince. The identity of the prince The prophecy introduces us here to one of the key figures in the temple visions - the prince - and it is fair to say that the identity of the prince has been a source of considerable debate amongst Bible students. Before seeking to identify the prince, it will be helpful to draw together the information that Ezekiel gives us regarding the prince and the roles that he will peform in the Kingdom: 1) He will eat bread before Yahweh in the east gate of the outer court (44:3). He goes in via the porch of the gate and leaves the same way. 2) He will receive a portion of the land for an inheritance (45:7,8; 48:21). 3) He will provide burnt offerings, meat offerings and drink offerings in the feasts, new moons and sabbaths. He will thereby “make reconciliation for the house of Israel” (45:17). 4) He will receive oblations for all the people of the land, and he will have to prepare offerings for the passover and the feast of tabernacles (45:22-25). 5) He will have to prepare a bullock for a sin offering for himself (45:22). 6) On the sabbaths and the new moons he will go through the east gate of the inner court to worship, with burnt offering and peace offering (46:2). 7) He will go in and out of the temple courts with the people (46:9,10). 8) He will have sons and servants, to whom he will be able to give gifts (46:16,17). This is not the first time that Ezekiel has spoken about a prince in the Age to come. Ezekiel 37 contains a prophecy regarding the time of Israel’s restoration as the Kingdom of God: “And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant 2 Ezekiel 44:3 !116 David shall be their prince for ever”3. Ezekiel speaks of this prince as “my servant David”, using the Hebrew word asn - ‘nasi’ - which means “captain, chief, ruler, governor”. He also calls him “a king over them”, and in this particular context this can refer to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, concerning whom the angel Gabriel said to Mary: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”4. Ezekiel 34 contains a similar prophecy concerning the future work of the Lord Jesus Christ: “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it”5. On this basis, some have concluded that the prince in the latter chapters of Ezekiel is a reference to Jesus Christ, the Son of David6. There are also a number of other scriptures, outside of the prophecy of Ezekiel, that speak of Jesus as a prince: • “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times”7. • “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”8. 3 Ezekiel 37:24,25 4 Luke 1:32,33 5 Ezekiel 34:23,24 6 “Jesus, The Messiah, is THE PRINCE. He is the Davidic King, our beloved shepherd mentioned in Ezekiel 37:24,25, who is to reign over Israel for ever… Jesus, the “Prince of Life”, is invested by the Father with supreme authority. The title Prince, therefore, is indicative of absolute supremacy, as pointedly expressed by the Apostle Peter, thus: “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour” (Acts 5:31)”. The Temple of Ezekiel’s Prophecy, H Sulley, page 88 7 Daniel 9:25 8 Isaiah 9:6 !117 • “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses”9. • “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins”10. • “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood”11. That Jesus is rightly descibed as a prince is thus without question, and the evidence for Jesus being the prince of Ezekiel’s prophecy would seem, on face value at least, to be significant. But there are a number of difficulties with the identification of the prince with Christ, which will be discussed in detail below. “Prince” in the Old Testament Firstly, it should be observed that when Daniel speaks of “Messiah the Prince” the word in Hebrew is dgn - ‘nagid’12 - not ‘nasi’. Also, when Isaiah speaks of Jesus as “the Prince of Peace”, the Hebrew word used is rs - ‘sar’13. The meaning of the Hebrew words may be similar, but the fact remains that the Spirit has chosen to use different words in the text. When we turn to the prophecy of Ezekiel, we find that ‘nasi’ is used 34 times, to refer to either a king, or other high officials within the kingdom. King Zedekiah is described as “thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end”14, but other noble officials in Judah, subordinate to the king, are also described as “the princes of Israel”15 on 9 Acts 3:14,15 10 Acts 5:31 11 Revelation 1:4,5 12 Heb. dgn - ‘nagid’ - Ruler, prince, captain, leader, governor. See 1 Samuel 9:16; 2 Samuel 7:8; 1 Kings 14:7; 1 Chronicles 12:27; Jeremiah 20:1 13 Heb. rs - ‘sar’ - Prince, ruler, leader, chief, captain, governor. Numbers 21:18; Exodus 18:21; 1 Samuel 8:12; 1 Kings 9:23; 2 Kings 23:8 14 Ezekiel 21:25 15 Ezekiel 19:1; 21:12; 22:6 !118 three occasions.