Ezekiel 43:10-12

10-12. These verses prove that there was a deep symbolic meaning, which would be understood by those for whom Ezekiel wrote, in all these minute particulars. This picture of a perfectly holy worship was intended to bring the exiles to repentance. (Compare the method used in the book of Hebrews.) Principal Douglas ( Expository Times, May-July, 1898; compare also Godet, Studies in the Old Testament) points out that much of the deviation from the Levitical law by Ezekiel is due to the principle enunciated in Ezekiel 43:12, that the whole limit should be most holy. For this reason the veil or door which in the tabernacle and in Solomon’s temple had separated the holy from the most holy place was removed, making the entire sanctuary most holy (compare Hebrews 9:7-11; Hebrews 10:19-23), and removing every barrier between God and his believing worshipers. So the altar, the chief thing in all the worship, becomes conspicuous for its height (Ezekiel 43:13-17), and the laver and the brazen sea are omitted, for these are no longer needed when the holy purifying stream springs from the temple; so the censer and the incense become unimportant in the presence of the living cherubim, and the golden candlesticks and all the ancient golden ornaments cease to be necessary since the presence of Jehovah fills the house with splendor. The greater holiness of the temple and the presence of the divine glory explain, therefore, the main differences in ritual between Ezekiel and Leviticus; even the king becoming merely a “prince” before this supreme majesty.