All the people of the land will be required to give this special offering to the prince in Israel. – Ezekiel 45:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 7, 2014): Ezekiel 45

I was reminiscing with some friends about the 1971 Grey Cup (the Canadian Football version of the Super Bowl). In 1971, two of my favorite football teams met for the championship – The Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders. Three years earlier I had moved from Toronto to Calgary, but the reality was that I really hadn’t been interested in football until I moved to Calgary. So by the time of the 1971 football season, I lived and breathed the Stampeders.

That year, the Toronto Argonauts were led by a young rookie quarterback by the name of Joe Theismann. Theismann would later become an NFL great with the Washington Redskins. Toronto was favored to win the game, but the game was played in the rain and it became a low scoring affair. But when the final whistle blew, the 59^th Grey Cup was won by the underdogs from Calgary 14-11. It was only the second time in history that Calgary had won the Canadian Football Championship – and the first time Calgary had won it since 1948. I was eleven years old and a grade six student at the time. 

But what I really remember is what happened after the game. Because Grey Cup winners were not common in Calgary, to say that the sports fans of the city were excited would have been an understatement. So I remember when the mayor came on T.V. and Radio with an exciting announcement. We were going to welcome our Stampeders home in style, and the Mayor wanted all of the kids there screaming for their heroes. So on the afternoon of the homecoming, school was officially cancelled and all the students were invited to come to the Stampede Coral (the local hockey arena) and welcome our football heroes home. It didn’t take long for someone to question whether the Mayor had the authority to cancel school - and the answer that the school board arrived at was that the Mayor did not have that authority. So quickly the voice of the mayor was replaced by the voice of the Chairman of the School Board. Classes would not be cancelled so that the kids could welcome their Stampeders home. Everyone was expected to be in school.

Ezekiel says that the landowners are to give an offering to the prince of Israel (Israel no longer had a king). And the prince was to use the money for the various sin offerings at the religious festivals of the nation. But as I read this passage the question that jumps out is – why is the money being given to the prince. Would it not have been better to give the money directly to the priests who were responsible for making the sacrifice? Surprisingly, I consulted some of the experts and they are silent on the why, just that the money was not to be given to the priests.

So let me offer this as my humble suggestion. If the religious feasts were going to become a reality, they would not happen just because the religious structure decreed it. It was going to require the help of the political structure as well. And maybe the best way for that to happen was to divide the responsibility between the two forces in the lives of the people, the political would collect the offering and make it ready for the sacrifice, while the priests would be the ones to minister in front of the altar, properly offering the sacrifice to God. The political and religious fronts working in unity making the religious feast not just a possibility, but a reality in the life of the new nation. And in this way there would be no embarrassing conflicts between the two forces of the religious life in Judah.

Maybe that is the why, or not, but back when I was eleven it would have been nice to have the two forces in my life – the School Board and the Mayor - on the same page. Eventually, a compromise was reached. The schools would be open but no one was going to take attendance. And with that knowledge securely in hand, the eleven year old me headed for the Coral to welcome our Stampeders home.  

Just one more note. The prince of Israel could also be rephrased as the Messiah of Israel. When Jesus arrived on the scene, he became prophet, priest and king. But we should note that the major emphasis in the New Testament is on only one of those roles – king. Jesus was the Prince of Israel and heir to the throne of David. And just like the landowners during the rebuilding of Judah, the offerings were to be brought to the prince – and now we simply bring them to our King.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 46