Ezekiel 44:8

8 And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things, but have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

Ezekiel 44:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 44:8

And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things
That is, have not kept and retained the holy doctrines of the Gospel; nor observed the holy ordinances of it, as they were first delivered: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves;
meaning either, that such as were in public office did not attend to it; but were idol shepherds, and left the flock, their care and charge, to others, to surrogates and curates, to do their work for them; while they indulged themselves in sloth and idleness: or that the members and hearers set up preachers for themselves, according to their lusts, agreeable to their own carnal sentiments, without any regard to the will and glory of God.

Ezekiel 44:8 In-Context

6 and say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Let it suffice you of all your abominations, O house of Israel,
7 in that ye have brought strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, [even] my house, when ye offered my bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken my covenant besides all your abominations.
8 And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things, but have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
9 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: No stranger, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
10 But the Levites who went away far from me, when Israel went astray, going astray from me after their idols, they shall even bear their iniquity;

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or 'of my sanctuary,' but the word here is kodesh, as ver. 13; ch. 42.13. 'Sanctuary' here is mikdash; see Ex. 25.8.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.