The Prince's Provision: A Well-Ordered Worship
Introduction: The Grammar of a Godly Society
When we come to the final chapters of Ezekiel, we are not reading a blueprint for a future millennial temple made of bricks and mortar, where animal sacrifices will be reinstated. To think that is to read the Old Testament with a veil over your heart, missing the glorious fulfillment that has come in Jesus Christ. The sacrifices of the Old Covenant were shadows, and Christ is the substance. To go back to the shadow after the substance has arrived is to insult the finality of the cross. No, what Ezekiel sees is a glorious, symbolic vision of the Christian Church, the New Jerusalem, and the well-ordered, Christ-centered world that flows from her influence. This is a picture of the Church age, the time between Christ's first and second coming, in which the gospel goes forth like a mighty river, healing the nations.
Ezekiel's vision is intensely practical. After describing the dimensions of the temple (the Church) and the river of life flowing from it (the Holy Spirit), the prophet turns his attention to the civil order that surrounds and supports this worship. He lays out instructions for land distribution, for honest weights and measures, and, in our text today, for the systematic, civil support of the worship of God. This is not some strange, irrelevant detail. This is the grammar of a godly society. It shows us that true worship is not a private, ethereal affair. It is earthy. It is structured. It involves grain, oil, and sheep. And it involves a right relationship between the people, their civil ruler (the prince), and the central worship of God. This passage gives us a foundational principle: a rightly ordered society provides for and protects the worship of the true and living God. It shows us that civil government has a stake in the public acknowledgment of God.
Our secular, pluralistic age finds this idea scandalous. The modern project is to build a society that is neutral toward God, which is a fool's errand. There is no neutrality. A society is either oriented toward the worship of Yahweh or it is oriented toward the worship of some idol, which is usually the state itself. Ezekiel shows us a different way, a way in which the people and their prince work together to ensure that the sacrifices, the symbols of atonement and fellowship, are faithfully offered. This is a picture of a society that knows where its life comes from.
The Text
“This is the contribution that you shall offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley, and the statute for the oil (namely, the bath of oil), a tenth of a bath from each kor (which is ten baths or a homer, for ten baths are a homer), and one sheep from each flock of two hundred from the watering places of Israel, for a grain offering, for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them,” declares Lord Yahweh. “All the people of the land shall give to this contribution for the prince in Israel. And it shall be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings, at the feasts, on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed times of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.”
(Ezekiel 45:13-17 LSB)
The People's Contribution (vv. 13-15)
The Lord begins by specifying the required contribution from the people. This is a form of sacred taxation, a tithe to support the central functions of the covenant community.
"This is the contribution that you shall offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley, and the statute for the oil (namely, the bath of oil), a tenth of a bath from each kor... and one sheep from each flock of two hundred... for a grain offering, for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them,” declares Lord Yahweh." (Ezekiel 45:13-15)
Notice the precision. A sixth of an ephah from a homer is one-sixtieth. A tenth of a bath from a kor is one-hundredth. One sheep from two hundred is one two-hundredth. This is not arbitrary. God is a God of order, not of chaos. He cares about details. This is the same God who gave meticulous instructions for the tabernacle. Why? Because this precision in worship reflects His own righteous and orderly character. It also establishes a principle of justice. The tax is proportional. It is a flat tax, based on a percentage of produce, not a burdensome, bureaucratic levy designed by a committee of Pharisees.
This contribution is comprehensive. It includes grain (wheat and barley), oil, and livestock (sheep). These are the staples of the economy, the fruit of the people's labor. God requires that the firstfruits of their productivity be dedicated to Him. This teaches a vital lesson: our economic life is not separate from our spiritual life. Our work, our fields, our flocks, all of it is to be ordered toward the worship of God. We do not give God the leftovers; we give Him the first and the best, acknowledging that He is the one who gives the increase.
And what is the purpose of this contribution? It is "for a grain offering, for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them." All of these offerings pointed to Christ. The grain offering spoke of His perfect life offered to God. The burnt offering spoke of His total consecration and substitutionary death, satisfying God's wrath. The peace offering spoke of the fellowship and communion with God that His sacrifice secures. And it is all "to make atonement for them." The entire economic structure of this visionary society is built around the central need for atonement. A society that forgets its need for atonement is a society that will inevitably descend into tyranny, because it will forget that there is a Judge higher than the state.
The Prince's Role (vv. 16-17)
Next, the text describes how this contribution is to be administered. It is collected from the people and given to the prince, who then has a specific duty to perform.
"All the people of the land shall give to this contribution for the prince in Israel. And it shall be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings, at the feasts, on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed times of the house of Israel..." (Ezekiel 45:16-17a)
Here we see a picture of a rightly ordered civil polity. The people of the land, all of them, are responsible for this sacred tax. And it is given "for the prince in Israel." The civil magistrate is the collection point. He is not the source of the provision, but the administrator of it. This is a crucial distinction. The prince's authority is a delegated authority. He is a servant, a minister of God for the good of the people (Romans 13:4). And what is the primary good here? The maintenance of public worship.
The modern libertarian recoils at this. The secularist is horrified. But this is the biblical pattern. The civil magistrate has a duty not in sacris (in sacred things, like administering sacraments or preaching), but circa sacra (around sacred things). He is to ensure that the Church has the freedom and the provision to do its work without molestation. He is to be a "nursing father" to the Church (Isaiah 49:23). In Ezekiel's vision, this is pictured as the prince taking the people's contribution and ensuring that everything needed for the sacrifices is provided at the proper times: feasts, new moons, and sabbaths. He is the guardian of the nation's liturgical calendar. He ensures that the rhythms of worship, which define the life of the nation, are maintained.
This is the opposite of the modern secular state, which either ignores the Church or actively seeks to regulate and control it. It is also the opposite of a tyrannical theocracy, where the church wields the sword. Here, the roles are distinct but cooperative. The people provide, the prince administers, and the priests (as we see elsewhere) offer. It is a beautiful picture of a society where every sphere of life works in harmony, oriented toward the glory of God.
The Ultimate Atonement (v. 17b)
The passage concludes by restating the ultimate purpose of this entire system.
"...he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.” (Ezekiel 45:17b)
The prince's duty culminates here. His administration of the people's contributions is all directed to one end: "to make atonement for the house of Israel." Of course, we know that the blood of bulls and goats could never truly take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). These sacrifices were types and shadows, promissory notes pointing to the one, final, perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The prince in Ezekiel's vision is therefore a type of Christ.
Jesus Christ is our great Prince. He is the one who provides the true sacrifice. He does not provide a sacrifice that comes from us; He provides Himself. We, the people, do not bring our wheat and our sheep to Him to make atonement. We bring our sin, our bankruptcy, our spiritual poverty. And He, our Prince, provides the perfect offering, His own body and blood, to make a true and final atonement. He is both the Prince who provides and the Lamb who was provided.
The entire system described here, this whole economy of worship, finds its fulfillment in Him. The feasts, the new moons, the sabbaths, they were all shadows, but the substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:17). He is our sin offering, our burnt offering, our peace offering. He is the one who makes atonement for the true house of Israel, the Church, which is made up of both Jew and Gentile.
Conclusion: Christ, Our Prince and Provision
So what do we do with a passage like this? First, we rejoice in the fulfillment. We do not have to calculate ephahs and homers. We do not have to set aside one sheep out of every two hundred. Our Prince, the Lord Jesus, has made the one, perfect provision for our atonement. Our responsibility is not to bring a contribution to qualify for atonement, but to receive by faith the atonement He has already secured.
Second, we learn the principle of worship. Our worship of God is not to be haphazard. It is to be ordered, regular, and supported by the fruit of our labor. In the New Covenant, this takes the form of our tithes and offerings. We give cheerfully and systematically, not to make atonement, but out of gratitude for the atonement that has been made. We support the ministry of the Word and sacrament, the work of the Church, because we are citizens of a kingdom that is centered on the worship of the King.
Finally, we learn the duty of the civil magistrate. While we do not live in the specific polity described by Ezekiel, the principle remains. The civil ruler's chief duty is to be a minister of God for good. And the highest good is the true worship of God. A Christian magistrate, therefore, should understand that his role is to protect and promote a social order in which the Church can flourish. He is to punish evil and praise good, creating a stable and just society where the gospel can run and be glorified. He does not fund the church through taxation, but he recognizes the Lordship of Christ and governs accordingly, acknowledging that the health of the nation is inextricably tied to the health of the Church.
This passage gives us a glimpse of a world put right. It is a world where the people are generous, the rulers are faithful, and the worship of God is central. This is the world that the gospel is creating. Christ is our Prince. He has provided the ultimate sacrifice. And as His people, we now offer our own contributions, our very lives, as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.