Fragmenda

Scripture

Ezechiel 42–43

Ezechiel 42

A description of the courts, chambers, and other places belonging to the temple.

1 

And he brought me forth into the outward court by the way that leadeth to the north, and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate building, and over against the house toward the north.

2 

In the face of the north door was the length of a hundred cubits, and the breadth of fifty cubits.

3 

Over against the twenty cubits of the inner court, and over against the pavement of the outward court that was paved with stone, where there was a gallery joined to a triple gallery.

4 

And before the chambers was a walk ten cubits broad, looking to the inner parts of a way of one cubit. And their doors were toward the north.

5 

Where were the store chambers lower above: because they bore up the galleries, which appeared above out of them from he lower parts, and from the midst of the building.

6 

For they were of three stories, and had not pillars, as the pillars of the courts: therefore did they appear above out of the lower places, and out of the middle places, fifty cubits from the ground.

7 

And the outward wall that went about by the chambers, which were towards the outward court on the forepart of the chambers, was fifty cubits long.

8 

For the length of the chambers of the outward court was fifty cubits: and the length before the face of the temple, a hundred cubits.

9 

And there was under these chambers, an entrance from the east, for them that went into them out of the outward court.

10 

In the breadth of the outward wall of the court that was toward the east, over against the separate building, and there were chambers before the building.

11 

And the way before them was like the chambers which were toward the north: they were as long as they, and as broad as they: and all the going in to them, and their fashions, and their doors were alike.

12 

According to the doors of the chambers that were towards the south: there was a door in the head of the way, which way was before the porch, separated towards the east as one entereth in.

13 

And he said to me: The chambers of the north, and the chambers of the south, which are before the separate building: they are holy chambers, in which the priests shall eat, that approach to the Lord into the holy of holies: there they shall lay the most holy things, and the offering for sin, and for trespass: for it is a holy place.

14 

And when the priests shall have entered in, they shall not go out of the holy places into the outward court: but there they shall lay their vestments, wherein they minister, for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and so they shall go forth to the people.

15 

Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate that looked toward the east: and he measured it on every side round about.

16 

And he measured toward the east with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

17 

And he measured toward the north five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

18 

And towards the south he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

19 

And toward the west he measured five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.

20 

By the four winds he measured the wall thereof on every side round about, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits broad, making a separation between the sanctuary and the place of the people.


Ezechiel 43

The glory of God returns to the new temple. The Israelites shall no more profane God’s name by idolatry: the prophet is commanded to shew them the dimensions, and form of the temple, and of the altar, with the sacrifices to be offered thereon.

1 

And he brought me to the gate that looked towards the east.

2 

And behold the glory of the God of Israel came in by the way of the east: and his voice was like the noise of many waters, and the earth shone with his majesty.

3 

And I saw the vision according to the appearance which I had seen when he came to destroy the city: and the appearance was according to the vision which I had seen by the river Chobar: and I fell upon my face.

4 

And the majesty of the Lord went into the temple by the way of the gate that looked to the east.

5 

And the spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court: and behold the house was filled with the glory of the Lord.

6 

And I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and the man that stood by me,

7 

Said to me: Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever: and the house of Israel shall no more profane my holy name, they and their kings by their fornications, and by the carcasses of their kings, and by the high places.

8 

They who have set their threshold by my threshold, and their posts by my posts: and there was but a wall between me, and them: and they profaned my holy name by the abominations which they committed: for which reason I consumed them in my wrath.

9 

Now therefore let them put away their fornications, and the carcasses of their kings far from me: and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.

10 

But thou, son of man, shew to the house of Israel the temple, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the building:

11 

And be ashamed of all that they have done. Shew them the form of the house, and of the fashion thereof, the goings out and the comings in, and the whole plan thereof, and all its ordinances, and all its order, and all its laws, and thou shalt write it in their sight: that they may keep the whole form thereof, and its ordinances, and do them.

12 

This is the law of the house upon the top of the mountain: All its border round about is most holy: this then is the law of the house.

13 

And these are the measures of the altar by the truest cubit, which is a cubit and a handbreadth: the bottom thereof was a cubit, and the breadth a cubit: and the border thereof unto its edge, and round about, one handbreadth: and this was the trench of the altar.

14 

And from the bottom of the ground to the lowest brim two cubits, and the breadth of one cubit: and from the lesser brim to the greater brim four cubits, and the breadth of one cubit.

15 

And the Ariel itself was four cubits: and from the Ariel upward were four horns.

16 

And the Ariel was twelve cubits long, and twelve cubits broad, foursquare, with equal sides.

17 

And the brim was fourteen cubits long, and fourteen cubits broad in the four corners thereof: and the crown round about it was half a cubit, and the bottom of it one cubit round about: and its steps turned toward the east.

18 

And he said to me: Son of man, thus saith the Lord God: These are the ceremonies of the altar, in what day soever it shall be made: that holocausts may be offered upon it, and blood poured out.

19 

And thou shalt give to the priests, and the Levites, that are of the race of Sadoc, who approach to me, saith the Lord God, to offer to me a calf of the herd for sin.

20 

And thou shalt take of his blood, and shalt put it upon the four horns thereof, and upon the four corners of the brim, and upon the crown round about: and thou shalt cleanse, and expiate it.

21 

And thou shalt take the calf, that is offered for sin: and thou shalt burn him in a separate place of the house without the sanctuary.

22 

And in the second day thou shalt offer a he goat without blemish for sin: and they shall expiate the altar, as they expiated it with the calf.

23 

And when thou shalt have made an end of the expiation thereof, thou shalt offer a calf of the herd without blemish, and a ram of the flock without blemish.

24 

And thou shalt offer them in the sight of the Lord, and the priests shall put salt upon them, and shall offer them a holocaust to the Lord.

25 

Seven days shalt thou offer a he goat for sin daily: they shall offer also a calf of the herd, and a ram of the flock without blemish.

26 

Seven days shall they expiate the altar, and shall cleanse it: and they shall consecrate it.

27 

And the days being expired, on the eighth day and thenceforward, the priests shall offer your holocausts upon the altar, and the peace offerings: and I will be pacified towards you, saith the Lord God.

Catechism

Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part 3, Introduction, Sections 12-13

Lessons To Be Drawn From Jewish History

From all this the pastor should especially note that out of all the nations God chose only one whom He called His people, and by whom He willed to be known and worshipped; not that they were superior to other nations in justice or in numbers, and of this God Himself reminds the Hebrews, but rather because He wished, by the multiplication and aggrandisement of an inconsiderable and impoverished nation, to display to mankind His power and goodness.

Such having been their condition, he was closely united to them, and loved them, and Lord of heaven and earth as He was, He disdained not to be called their God. He desired that the other nations might thus be excited to emulation and that mankind, seeing the happiness of the Israelites, might embrace the worship of the true God. In the same way St. Paul says that by discussing the happiness of the Gentiles and their knowledge of the true God, he provoked to emulation those who were his own flesh.

The faithful should next be taught that God suffered the Hebrew Patriarchs to wander for so long a time, and their posterity to be oppressed and harassed by a galling servitude, in order to teach us that none are friends of God except those who are enemies of the world and pilgrims on earth, and that an entire detachment from the world gives us an easier access to the friendship of God. Further He wished that, being brought to His service, we should understand how much happier are they who serve God, than they who serve the world. Of this Scripture itself admonishes us: Yet they shall serve him, that they may know the difference between my service and the service of the kingdom of the earth.

(The pastor) should also explain that God delayed the fulfilment of His promise until after the lapse of more than four hundred years, in order that His people might be sustained by faith and hope; for, as we shall show when we come to explain the first Commandment, God wishes His children to depend on Him at all times and to repose all their confidence in His goodness.

The Time And Place In Which The Law Was Promulgated

Finally, the time and place, in which the people of Israel received this Law from God should be noted. They received it after they had been delivered from Egypt and had come into the wilderness; in order that, impressed by the memory of a recent benefit and awed by the dreariness of the place in which they journeyed, they might be the better disposed to receive the Law. For man becomes closely attached to those whose bounty he has experienced, and when he has lost all hope of assistance from his fellow­man, he then seeks refuge in the protection of God.

From all this we learn that the more detached the faithful are from the allurements of the world and the pleasures of sense, the more disposed they are to accept heavenly doctrines. As the Prophet has written: Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand the hearing? Them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts.

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