Ezekiel 44

CHAPTER 44

The Prince, the Levites, the Priests (44:1–31)

1–3 Ezekiel is brought back to the east gate of the outer court, which was shut. The reason for its being shut was that the Lord⁹⁷ had entered the temple through that gate and therefore the gate was holy. The only other person allowed to use that gate was the prince (verse 3), the “ruler” of this Messianic temple. His identity is not known. The “prince” cannot be Christ, because later Ezekiel says that the prince is to provide a sin offering for himself (Ezekiel 45:22); Jesus would never have had to do that, because He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

4 Ezekiel looked and saw the glory of the LORD . . . and [he] fell face down. In his vision, Ezekiel had been shown this magnificent temple complex; surely he had been amazed. But his amazement at the temple was nothing compared to his wonder at seeing the glory of God.

Ezekiel had eyes to see the glory of the Lord. Do we too have eyes to see His glory? Let us learn from Ezekiel. Our churches may be grand, our congregations large, our pastors gifted. But all this has no meaning if the glory—the Spirit—of the Lord is not present in our churches. Can we see His glory? Do we experience His presence?

5–9 God’s chief concern with this future temple was that it should not be defiled, as Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem had been defiled. One way the Jews had defiled the old temple was by allowing unauthorized people to enter (verse 7), people who were uncircumcised in heart and flesh (see Jeremiah 4:3–4; 9:25–26 and comments). Even if these people were physically circumcised, they had not been spiritually circumcised—that is, they were not spiritually fit to enter God’s temple area. The same applied to foreigners: it wasn’t foreigners per se who were prohibited from entering the temple area but rather foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh (verse 9). Godly circumcised foreigners (aliens) were considered full members of the community of Israel (Ezekiel 47:22).

10–16 Here the Lord gives Ezekiel further instructions concerning who is to serve in the sanctuary. Traditionally, the Levites (descendants of Jacob’s son Levi) were to assist the priests in the work of the sanctuary; but only those Levites descended from Aaron, the first high priest, were allowed to serve as priests. In this future temple, however, only descendants of Zadok⁹⁸ would be allowed to serve as priests (verse 15). The reason is that they had been faithful to God throughout the years, while the other Levites had not (verse 10). Thus the other Levites could stand before the people and serve them (verse 11), but they could not stand before God and serve Him directly; only the descendants of Zadok could do that (verses 15–16). This demotion of the unfaithful Levites and the promotion of the faithful Zadokites was meant to ensure that only the fittest people would serve the Lord.

17–31 In these verses the Lord lists a number of regulations that are to determine the conduct of the priests in this new temple. These regulations are taken from various parts of the law of Moses.⁹⁹ By following these regulations, the priests would be able to demonstrate holy living and teach the people the difference between the holy and the common (verse 23).