Ezekiel 44:16-19

16 They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and serve me as guards.

17 “ ‘When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple.

18 They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire.

19 When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so that the people are not consecrated through contact with their garments.

Ezekiel 44:16-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 44

This chapter treats of the eastern gate of the temple being appropriated to the use of the prince, Eze 44:1-3, of the sin of the Lord's people, in admitting strangers and unholy persons into the sanctuary, either to officiate or communicate there, Eze 44:4-9 of the degrading of the Levites, that went astray, assigning them inferior posts and service in the house of God, Eze 44:10-14 and of the establishment of the sons of Zadok in their ministry, who were faithful, Eze 44:15,16, then follow various laws relating to their garments; shaving of their heads; drinking wine; their marriage; performance of their ministerial work; their regard to the dead, and their food and maintenance, Eze 44:17-31.

Cross References

• 1. S Ezekiel 41:22
• 2. Leviticus 3:16-17; Leviticus 17:5-6; Numbers 18:5; S 1 Samuel 2:35; Zechariah 3:7
• 3. Exodus 39:27-28; Revelation 19:8
• 4. S Exodus 28:39; S Isaiah 3:20
• 5. S Exodus 28:42
• 6. S Leviticus 16:4
• 7. S Leviticus 6:27; Ezekiel 46:20
• 8. Exodus 39:27-29; Leviticus 6:10-11; S Ezekiel 42:14