What Does Ezekiel 42:13 Mean in the King James?
Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The priests are called “near ones,” and the holy food they eat is part of that nearness.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you a concrete picture of nearness to the LORD: those near him eat the most holy things, while the chambers hold them. Holiness takes tangible form as a boundary, a place, and nourishment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that what is set apart can only be viewed from afar: here, the priests near the LORD eat it.
THE ROOT
קְרוֹבִים
qerovim
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
Draw near, come close.
The priests are described as near ones, and qorban is an offering brought near. The food they eat belongs to the same language of approach: nearness receives what is brought near.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: Draw near, approach.
קָרַב
This is the verbal movement behind the priests’ nearness to the LORD.
qorban: Offering, that which is brought near.
קָרְבָּן
The offerings and the priests who approach belong to the same root family.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
ק־ד־שׁ
q-d-sh
Set apart, marked for sacred use.
The repeated q-d-sh language binds the chambers, food, and place into one set-apart domain. The phrase rendered “most holy things” intensifies that same root, showing how closely the food is marked as sacred.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the quality shared by the chambers and the place.
miqdash: Sanctuary, a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It shows how the root can mark a place as well as food and people.
THE PATTERN
Nearness to God is pictured through eating what belongs to the sacred domain.
And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?THE THREAD
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.Ezekiel calls the priests “those near to the LORD,” from the q-r-b root; Psalm 65 uses the same root when God causes someone to approach. In both verses, nearness opens into life within God’s house and its goodness.
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