45:17 the prince’s duty :
Ezekiel’s “prince,” the royal Son of David, is primarily a liturgical
figure, whose main duty is to support the sanctuary and promote the true
liturgy, largely at his own expense. While it was common for the kings of the ancient
Near East to patronize the cult of the gods, they typically had many other duties
as well. But in Ezekiel’s vision, the liturgy is the king’s only duty. (The
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, ed. Scott Hahn and Curtis J. Mitch [San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2024], 1439)
46:16 If the prince makes a
gift: Ezekiel makes an amendment to the Jubilee laws of Lev 25. The
original Jubilee legislation did not have any provision for dealing with royal
property because the laws of Leviticus did not foresee Israel having a king.
Ezekiel addresses this gap in the legal system by specifying how the Jubilee
Year (the 50th year, when all property reverted to its ancestral owner) should
apply to crown property. The principle is that all property in Israel should
stay within the line of inheritance of its original owners. (The Ignatius
Catholic Study Bible, ed. Scott Hahn and Curtis J. Mitch [San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 2024], 1440)
