(19) Thou shalt give.--Ezekiel is not actually to do this, like Moses, as the appointed consecrator; but, as frequently in prophecy, he is told to do that which he foretells is to be done.

Of the seed of Zadok.--See Note on Ezekiel 40:46. (Comp. also Ezekiel 44:15.)

A young bullock.--In the case of the altar of the Tabernacle, the consecration began with anointing with oil (Leviticus 8:11), and this was a prominent feature of the service; but is here wholly omitted. The service began with the offering of a sin offering, which was always, according to the law, to be first offered when several kinds of sacrifice were to occur together. The propriety of this is manifest, since the first act of man's approach to God must always consist of the confession of his sin.

Verse 19. - Thou shalt give to the priests. This injunction, which was addressed to Ezekiel, not as the representative of the people or of the priests (Smend), but as the prophet of Jehovah, made it clear that Ezekiel was not to act in the future consecration of the altar alone as Moses did in the dedication of the tabernacle altar, but that the priests were to bear their part in the ceremonial. If some expressions, as the use of "thou" in this and the following verses, appear to suggest that Ezekiel alone should officiate, the employment of "they" in vers. 22, 24, 25, 26 as plainly indicates that Ezekiel's share in the ceremonial was to be performed through the medium of the priests. And, indeed, if the temple was a pattern designed to be converted into an actual building after the return from captivity, as the newer criticism contends, it is apparent that Ezekiel could not have been expected to have any hand in its erection. The Levites that be of the seed of Zadok. The assistants of Ezekiel and the officiating priests at the new altar were not to be the whole body of the Levitical priesthood, but those only who derived their descent from Zadok (see on Ezekiel 44:15). A young bullock for a sin offering. With the offering of this the ritual commenced, as in Exodus 29:1, 10 and Leviticus 8:14 (comp. Ezekiel 45:18). It is observable that in the Levitical code a young bullock, i.e. of a bullock in the full vigor of youth, is appointed as the requisite sin offering for the priest, i.e. the high priest, who was the head and representative of the people.

43:1-27 After Ezekiel had surveyed the temple of God, he had a vision of the glory of God. When Christ crucified, and the things freely given to us of God, through Him, are shown to us by the Holy Ghost, they make us ashamed for our sins. This frame of mind prepares us for fuller discoveries of the mysteries of redeeming love; and the whole of the Scriptures should be opened and applied, that men may see their sins, and repent of them. We are not now to offer any atoning sacrifices, for by one offering Christ has perfected for ever those that are sanctified, Heb 10:14; but the sprinkling of his blood is needful in all our approaches to God the Father. Our best services can be accepted only as sprinkled with the blood which cleanses from all sin.And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites, that be of the seed of Zadok,.... Who, in Solomon's time, was put in the room of Abiathar; see Ezekiel 40:46, his name signifies a "righteous" one, a type he was of Jesus Christ the righteous; and here his seed signify the seed of Christ, such whom he makes priests unto the Lord; to these, in a visionary way, the prophet was to give this altar, for them to serve at, and eat of; and all the rites and ordinances to observe and keep; and the sacrifices to offer on it, after mentioned:

which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord God; See Gill on Ezekiel 40:46,

a young bullock for a sin offering: typical of Christ, strong and laborious, able to bear the sins of his people; to become a sin offering, and to be made sin itself for them.