Scripture Daily

Context No. 1811 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 45:1-5: in context

1“‘“Moreover, when you divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to the LORD, a holy portion of the land. The length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the width shall be ten thousand. It shall be holy in all its border all around. 2Of this there shall be a five hundred by five hundred square for the holy place, and fifty cubits for its pasture lands all around. 3Of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a width of ten thousand. In it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy. 4It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the LORD. It shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5Twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, as a possession for themselves, for twenty rooms.

In Ezekiel's vision of the restored land, God commands that when the land is divided as inheritance, a portion be set apart first as a holy offering to the LORD. This holy portion is measured out and dedicated: within it stands the sanctuary, the most holy place, with land for the priests who minister before the LORD, and land for the Levites who serve. Before the rest of the land is allotted, a holy portion is reserved for God and his service.

The principle in this arrangement is worth drawing out: a holy portion is set apart for God first, before the rest is divided. The land was a gift to all Israel, but off the top of it a portion was consecrated to God and his service, reserved as holy before anyone took their share. God was given a first and set-apart portion, not the leftovers, but a portion consecrated to him from the start. This reflects a pattern that runs through Scripture: the giving of a first and holy portion to God, off the top of what we receive, rather than from what happens to be left over. The firstfruits of the harvest, the tithe, the setting apart of a portion as holy, all express the same principle, that God receives a dedicated share first, not last. There is a searching application in this for how we handle what God gives us, our income, our time, our energy, our lives. Do we give God a first and set-apart portion, consecrated to him off the top, as the holy portion was set apart before the land was divided; or do we give him only what is left after we have taken our fill, the leftover time, the spare money, the remnant of our energy? The order reveals the heart. To set apart a holy portion for God first, a dedicated share of our resources and time consecrated to him before we divide the rest for ourselves, is to acknowledge that all we have is his gift and that he deserves the first and best of it, not the remainder. The holy portion was measured out and reserved for God before the inheritance was distributed; and the call to us is to give God a first, set-apart portion of what he has given us, rather than an afterthought.

Do I give God a first and set-apart portion of what he has given me, consecrated to him off the top of my income, my time, my energy, as the holy portion was reserved before the land was divided, or do I give him only the leftovers, the spare and the remnant after I have taken my fill?

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