Ezekiel 44:16

16 They are to come into my holy place and they are to come near to my table, to do my work and have the care of my house.

Ezekiel 44:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 44:16

They shall enter into my sanctuary
Both to officiate, and to participate, which strangers and uncircumcised persons might not do, ( Ezekiel 44:9 ) : and they shall come near to my table to minister unto me;
which some understand of the altar of burnt offering, which was as a table, and the sacrifice on it was the food of the Lord, ( Leviticus 3:11 Leviticus 3:16 ) , others, the altar of incense; see ( Ezekiel 41:22 ) . Kimchi interprets it of the table of shewbread; but, whatever is meant in the letter, the mystical sense is, the ordinance of the Lord's supper, called the Lord's table, ( 1 Corinthians 10:21 ) , a table richly spread, and well furnished with spiritual provision: here Christ himself sits, bids his people welcome, eats with them, and they with him; and here all the saints are guests, and ministers in particular officiate: and they shall keep my charge;
continue to do so; for this they did before, ( Ezekiel 44:15 ) , but now should be confirmed in their office, and never be displaced, as others; they that honour God he will honour, ( 1 Samuel 2:30 ) .

Ezekiel 44:16 In-Context

14 But I will make them responsible for the care of the house and all its work and everything which is done in it.

15 But as for the priests, the sons of Zadok, who took care of my holy place when the children of Israel were turned away from me, they are to come near me to do my work, they will take their places before me, offering to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord;

16 They are to come into my holy place and they are to come near to my table, to do my work and have the care of my house.

17 And when they come in by the doorways of the inner square, they are to be clothed in linen robes; there is to be no wool on them while they are doing my work in the doorway of the inner square and inside the house.

18 They are to have linen head-dresses on their heads and linen trousers on their legs, and they are to have nothing round them to make their skin wet with heat.