Ezekiel 45:9-25
9 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Enough, O princes of Israel! Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people," says the Lord GOD. 10 "You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. 11 The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, so that the bath contains one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; their measure shall be according to the homer. 12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
13 "This is the offering which you shall offer: you shall give one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley. 14 The ordinance concerning oil, the bath of oil, is one-tenth of a bath from a kor. A kor is a homer or ten baths, for ten baths are a homer. 15 And one lamb shall be given from a flock of two hundred, from the rich pastures of Israel. These shall be for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them," says the Lord GOD. 16 "All the people of the land shall give this offering for the prince in Israel. 17 Then it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel."
Keeping the Feasts (Ex. 12:1–20; Lev. 23:33–43)
18 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary. 19 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the gate of the inner court. 20 And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.
21 "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22 And on that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. 23 On the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, daily for seven days, and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. 24 And he shall prepare a grain offering of one ephah for each bull and one ephah for each ram, together with a hin of oil for each ephah.
25 "In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall do likewise for seven days, according to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil."
The laws governing the leaders of Israel who serve the secular are laid out here after those for the priests who serve the holy things of God. They are to establish and enforce laws to stop violent crime and destructive havoc as a way to keep peace and safety for those under their rule of responsibility. They are also to exercise just and righteous laws to keep from evicting or pushing out their citizens from their homes or land for gain, instead giving judgment for truth, justice, and peace as it is written in Zechariah 8:16-17. God wants rulers to be holy as He is holy, righteous as He is, and merciful as He is towards the one who put them there in the first place (Romans 13:1) and who holds them as accountable as those who are under their authority. Fairness for fairness in business dealings and other matters of money such as taxes is also implied by the examples of set standards to do business with them and one another. The leaders are also to take the offerings meant for the LORD and to present them as his part to God as their representative in the days of the temple sacrifices. The duties of the priests who sacrificed these to the LORD are spelled out from there, first making the temple holy so the sacrifices are acceptable to God, which for us means to keep the house of God in order by doing according to His word in holiness and fairness. Only then can they minister to others rightly. The righteous sacrifices of service to God by both the rulers and the citizens of the kingdom are then acceptable by God (Romans 12:1-2) in giving of self first to God in that service by living as He has written for us to live in our respective roles and callings. These are principles based on the service of the temple and princes of Israel meant to guide all God’s people, especially in the separation of church and government. We the people of God ought therefore to learn from these pattern and examples and not relegate them to mere historical reading.
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