The Cleansing of the Sanctuary

The expression, "cleansing of the sanctuary" is used one time in the Bible, Ezekiel 45:18-20:

18 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, "In the first month, on the first of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and cleanse <02398> the sanctuary.
19 "The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.
20 "Thus you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who goes astray or is naive; so you shall make atonement for the house.

Notice that the cleansing of the house is described as making an atonement for the house.

Reference to the cleansing of the altar is also made in the following two passages. These passage recount the ritual associated with the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests:

Ex 29:36 "Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify <02398> the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it.

Le 8:15 Next Moses slaughtered it and took the blood and with his finger put some of it around on the horns of the altar, and purified <02398> the altar. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.

In the case above, as in Ezekiel, the cleansing is also described as making an atonement for [the altar]. Leviticus also describes the purification as consecrating the altar.

There are only two passages in the entire OT in which the words "cleanse" and "sanctuary" are used together. One passage is quoted above. The other follows:

Nu 19:20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify <02398> himself from uncleanness <02398>, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary <04720> of the LORD; the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean.

This passage concerns the ritual involving the ashes of the red heifer. Those ashes, mixed with running water, were used to cleanse those who had contact with a corpse. The person who does not submit to the ritual cleansing shall be cut off because he has "defiled the sanctuary."