16 “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. 17 But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. 18 The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be scattered from his property.”
Boiling Places for Offerings
19 Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. 20 And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so transmit holiness to the people.”
21 Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me round to the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court— 22 in the four corners of the court were small[c] courts, forty cubits[d] long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size. 23 On the inside, round each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all round. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”
The regulations about property in 16-18 call to mind the story of Naboth's vineyard, and what Ahab and Jezebel did to Naboth in order to seize by force the delectable property on which an evil king set his heart. 'In the new time coming', Ezekiel says, 'there will be no more of that'. There was to be no more alienation of property and no more unlawful appropriation. Again it is a plea for the restoration of divine justice - and integrity - in public life. The chapter ends with an interesting footnote (19-24) about the kitchen arrangements in the Temple. Those involved in the work of the kitchen are not forgotten by the Lord, and that work has to be ordered in accordance with the divine word just as much as the other parts of the Temple. Those involved in it had just as integral a part to play as those offering the sacrifices. It is the emphasis made so clearly in Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 12 about 'members in particular' of the body of Christ, with each contributing his distinctive share in the whole, and no member would be able to do without the others. It is the fine distinction between the equality in dignity and status of God's people and the difference in function that each has in His purposes that is in view. Differentiation of function, not superiority or inferiority, is the point. And if we serve God with all our might in ways that we can, He will not hold it against us for not serving Him in ways that we cannot.