EZEKIEL 45-46

Q: I hope this isn't a silly question. These chapter keep referring to the allotments and responsibilities of “the prince.” Who is this prince? In the minutia of detail describing the measurements of the Temple and the divisions of the land I failed to notice this prince coming into the picture. Where did I miss it?

This is not a silly question at all, but one that continues to confuse scholars.

The prince in these passages first comes into the picture in Ezekiel 44:1-3, where he is described as “less a messianic figure than a civil ruler with immediate, concrete tasks.” (NRSV Study Bible) J. A. Thompson (The Book of Jeremiah, p. 562) suggests that Ezekiel and Jeremiah (in Jeremiah 30:21) purposely use the term (nasi) for prince/king rather than the more common word for king (melek) in order to indicate that the ideal king (Messiah) is not being referred to. No particular prince/king is in mind in these later passages in Ezekiel, just whichever ruler is over Israel at the time. This fact is indicated by the use of the plural “princes” in Ezekiel 45:8, where they are limited by God in their power and in the amount of land they can take away from the people. The regulations in Ezekiel 45-46 show that these princes are also to be subservient to the priesthood. (New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, Vol. 3, p. 171) The International Bible Commentary (p. 844) adds that the princes “and others in authority will have no more excuse for exploiting or oppressing the people.”

Much of the mystery surrounding chapters 40-48 is due to the uncertainty regarding when the various cultic regulations are to apply since, as The Daily Bible (p. 1136) points out, the religious service and temple architecture pictured by Ezekiel differ significantly from that experienced by Israel before or after the exile. Premillennialists generally place the fulfillment of these passages during the Millennial Reign of Christ on Earth but stop short of explaining who the prince or princes are. However, the dispensationalist dean John Walvoord goes a little overboard in identifying the “prince” in Ezekiel as the bodily resurrected King David who will co-reign on earth with Christ. (The Millennial Kingdom, p. 300-301) 

Other schools of interpretation focus on the fact that these later chapters of Ezekiel are apocalyptic visions, and as such should probably not be interpreted in a woodenly literal manner. “Some future realities transcend the ability of human language to describe them, so the familiar and fundamental realities of Israel's life became the basis for representing the indescribable.” (C. Hassell Bullock, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books, p. 249)

Daniel Block (The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25-48, p. 497) states, “Here Ezekiel is offered a glimpse of spiritual possibilities for Israel...” On the other hand, some amillennialists treat Ezekiel 40-48 as a vision that was symbolically fulfilled by the coming of Christ and institution of the church.

Overall, I think the ancient rabbis were on the right track when they forbade any Jew under 30 years of age from reading the visions at the beginning and end of Ezekiel. Only I would increase the minimum age to about 90 or so.