The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 357

oonseoration (Exod. xxix. 12)-the four Ver, 22.-The seoond day's ceremonial corners of the settle, or azarah, but should begin with the offering of a kid of whether the greater or lesser is left unde- the goats (rather, a he-goat) without blemish cided, though in all probe.bility it was the for a sin offering, the ri tue.l obsl':rved being nnder, if not both, and the border round probably the sC1rue as that of the preceding about, that mentioned in ver. 17 ; and the day. The substitution of a "he-goat," the effect of this smearing with blood should offering for e. ruler who sins (Lev. iv. 23, be to cleanse and purge, or, make atonement 24), instead of e. "young bullock," which for, the altar; not for the people, as lfaver- formed the first day's offering, was a devia- nick interprets, sayiug, "without an atoned- tion from the ritue.l prescribed for the con- for altar, no atoned - for people (o7rnll secration of the Mosaic altar e.nd priesthood enuuhnten Altar, 1.ein entsuhnfus Volk)," but (Exod. nix. 36), The object of the offeriDg for the altar, either, as Kliefoth suggests, of the "he-goe.t" was the same as that of because, being made out of a pa.rt of the sin- the offering of the " bullock," viz. to ful enrth and world, it required to be se.ncti- oleanse the altar; not, however, as if the ficd, or because, as Plumptre prefers, the previous de.y's clee.nsing had been insuffi- sins of the people having been, as it were, cient and required to be supplemented, or transfrrrcd to it, it stood in need of he.d already become inefficient so as to call cleansing. for renewal, but in the sense of reciAlling Ver. 21.-AB a further stage in the cere- the meaning and impression of the previous mony, the bullock of the sin offering, i.e. the day's ceremonial, and so in II manner link- carcase of the victim, was to be burned by ing it on witll the several rites of the suc- Ezekiel or the priest acting for him in the ceediDg days. appointed plaoe of the house, without the Vera. 23, 24.-The'presentation of a burnt se.nctuary, as in the Mosa.ic code it was pre- offering ,unto the Lord was the next item scribed that the flesh of the bullock, with in the ritual that should be observed. bis skin and dung, should be burned without The materie.l composing it should consist of the camp (Exod. x.xix. 14; Lev. iv. 12, 21; a young bullook without blemish, as in the ix. 11, 15 ; comp. Heh. xiii. 13), Ewald ordinary se.crificial code (Lev. i. 3, 4, 5), at first sought the place bere referred to and a ram out of the flock witllout blemish, in the sacrificial kitchens ( eh. xlvi. 19), as in the consecration of the priests (Exod, which it could not be, as these belonged to nix. 18) and of the altar (Lev. viii. 18). the " sanctuary" in the strictest sense; he The persons presenting it should be the has, however, siDce e.dopted the view of prophet, thou, e.nd the priests, they, as Kliefoth, wbich is doubtless correct, that his rep1·esentatives. The mode of offering the "place of the hoUBe, without the sanc- should be by burning, the distinctive act tuary" me!!_nt the gizrah, or separate {lace in a burnt offering, as the.t of a sin offer- (eh. xlL 12), which we.s a pe.:rt o the ing was sprinkling, and the.t of a peace "honse" in the widest sense, e.nd yet be- offering the se.crificial meal, and by casting longed not to the "se.nctne.ry" in the salt upon the carcase, a fee.ture in every strictest sellBe. Smend thinks of the meat offering (Lev. ii. 13), and here added migr(J,8h, " snbnrbs " or " open spe.ces," probably to intensify the idea of puri.fice.tion. which snrrounded the temple precincts "In the corrosive and antiseptic property (eh. xlv. 2); and these were certs.inly of se.lt there is hidden something of tbe without the sanctuary, while they were also purifying and consuming ne.tnre of fire; e.ppointed for {he holy place, and might hence the Bedeeruer, in Mark ix. 49, com- have been designated, a.s here, miphkadh, e.s bines the salting of the sacrifice with the being always under the inspection of tile purifying fire of self - denial " (Kurtz, temple watchmen. The fa.et that in post- 'Sacrificial Worship of the Old Testament,' nilic times one of the city gates was ea.lied § 145). The significance of it should be Hammiphkadh (Neh. iii. 31) lends counte- an expression of complete self-surrender nance to this view. That in this "appointed nnto Jehovah, as the neceeeary outcome of place " the carcase of the bullock should the e.ntecedent A.Ct of expiation. The time lie consumed was a deviation from the of its presentation should be immediately Mosaic ritual, which prescribed that the after the clee.nsing of the altar on the second fat portions should be burned upon the de.y, and presumably also on the succeeding altar, and the rest eaten as a sacrificial days. Whether the burnt offering we.a, 08 meal (Lev. iv. 10, 26, 35; vii 15, 31; Deut. Keil maintains, or wo.s not, as Kliefoth con• xii 7, 17, 18). Keil appears to think that tends, offered also on the first day is difficult the fat portions may have been burned to decide, though the former opinion has, u_pon the altar, although it is not so men- perhaps, most in its favour. The Mosaic tioned, and that only "those points" were ritual always enjoined a burnt offering to meut1ou(;d "in which deviations from the be offered as a sequel to the sin offering <>rdinary ritual too]!: place," (comp. Exod. xxi:11:, 14, 18, with Lev. viij. OH. XLm.1-27.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE'f EZEKIEL. 371