Ezekiel 44

Gate for the Prince

1 Then He brought me back by the way of the ¹outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut.

2 The LORD said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the ²LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.

3 "As for the ³prince, he shall sit in it as prince to ⁴eat bread before the LORD; he shall ⁵enter by way of the ⁶porch of the gate and shall go out by the same way."

4 Then He brought me by way of the ⁷north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the ⁸glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD, and I ⁹fell on my face.

5 The LORD said to me, "Son of man, ¹⁰mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ¹¹statutes of the house of the LORD and concerning all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary.

6 "You shall say to the ¹²rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "¹³Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel,

7 when you brought in ¹⁴foreigners *, ¹⁵uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you ¹⁶offered My food, the fat and the blood; for they ¹⁷made My covenant void -this in addition to all your abominations.

8 "And you have not ¹⁸kept charge of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners to keep charge of My sanctuary."

9 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "¹⁹No * foreigner * uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners * who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

10 "But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who ²⁰went astray from Me after their idols, shall ²¹bear the punishment for their iniquity.

11 "Yet they shall be ²²ministers in My sanctuary, having ²³oversight at the gates of the house and ²⁴ministering in the house; they shall ²⁵slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall ²⁶stand before them to minister to them.

12 "Because * they ministered to them ²⁷before their idols and became a ²⁸stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore * I have ²⁹sworn * against them," declares the Lord GOD, "that they shall ³⁰bear the punishment for their iniquity.

13 "And they shall ³¹not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will ³²bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.

14 "Yet I will appoint them to ³³keep charge of the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.

Ordinances for the Levites

15 "But the ³⁴Levitical priests, the sons of ³⁵Zadok, who ³⁶kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel ³⁷went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall ³⁸stand before Me to offer Me the ³⁹fat and the blood," declares the Lord GOD.

16 "They shall ⁴⁰enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My ⁴¹table to minister to Me and keep My charge.

17 "It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with ⁴²linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house.

18 "Linen ⁴³turbans shall be on their heads and ⁴⁴linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat.

19 "When they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall ⁴⁵put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will ⁴⁶not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

20 "Also they shall ⁴⁷not shave their heads, yet they shall not ⁴⁸let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

21 "⁴⁹Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court.

22 "And they shall not marry a widow or a ⁵⁰divorced woman but shall ⁵¹take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

23 "Moreover, they shall teach My people the ⁵²difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

24 "In a dispute ⁵³they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My ⁵⁴appointed feasts and ⁵⁵sanctify My sabbaths.

25 "⁵⁶They shall not go to a dead person to defile themselves; however *, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves.

26 "After he is ⁵⁷cleansed, seven days shall elapse for him.

27 "On the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the ⁵⁸inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his ⁵⁹sin offering," declares the Lord GOD.

28 "And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that ⁶⁰I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel -I am their possession.

29 "They shall ⁶¹eat the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering; and every ⁶²devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

30 "The first of all the ⁶³first fruits of every kind and every contribution of every kind, from all your contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the ⁶⁴first of your dough to cause a ⁶⁵blessing to rest on your house.

31 "The priests shall not eat any bird or beast that has ⁶⁶died a natural death or has been torn to pieces.

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Ezekiel 44 Commentary

Chapter 44

- This chapter contains ordinances relative to the true priests. The prince evidently means Christ, and the words in ver. ( Ezekiel 44:2 ) , may remind us that no other can enter heaven, the true sanctuary, as Christ did; namely, by virtue of his own excellency, and his personal holiness, righteousness, and strength. He who is the Brightness of Jehovah's glory entered by his own holiness; but that way is shut to the whole human race, and we all must enter as sinners, by faith in his blood, and by the power of his grace.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 66

1. Ezekiel 40:6, 17; Ezekiel 42:14
2. Ezekiel 43:2-4
3. Ezekiel 34:24; Ezekiel 37:25
4. Genesis 31:54; Exodus 24:9-11
5. Ezek 46:2, 8-10
6. Ezekiel 40:9
7. Ezekiel 40:20, 40
8. Isaiah 6:3, 4; Ezekiel 1:28; Ezekiel 3:23; Ezekiel 43:4, 5; Haggai 2:7
9. Ezekiel 1:28; Ezekiel 43:3
10. Deuteronomy 32:46; Ezekiel 40:4
11. Deuteronomy 12:32; Ezekiel 43:10, 11
12. Ezekiel 2:5-7; Ezekiel 3:9
13. Ezekiel 45:9; 1 Peter 4:3
14. Exodus 12:43-49
15. Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 9:26
16. Leviticus 22:25
17. Genesis 17:14
18. Leviticus 22:2; Numbers 18:7
19. Ezekiel 44:7; Joel 3:17; Zechariah 14:21
20. 2 Kings 23:8, 9; Ezekiel 22:26; Ezekiel 44:12
21. Numbers 18:23
22. Numbers 3:5-37; Numbers 4:1-33; Numbers 18:2-7
23. 1 Chronicles 26:1-19
24. Ezekiel 40:45; Ezekiel 44:14
25. 2 Chronicles 29:34; 2 Chronicles 30:17
26. Numbers 16:9
27. 2 Kings 16:10-16
28. Ezekiel 14:3, 4
29. Ezekiel 20:15, 23
30. Ezekiel 44:10
31. Numbers 18:3
32. Ezekiel 16:61, 63; Ezekiel 39:26
33. Numbers 18:4; 1 Chronicles 23:28-32; Ezekiel 44:11
34. Jeremiah 33:18-22
35. Ezekiel 40:46; Ezekiel 43:19; Ezekiel 48:11
36. Numbers 18:7; Ezekiel 40:45
37. Ezekiel 44:10; Ezekiel 48:11
38. Zechariah 3:1, 7
39. Leviticus 3:16, 17; Leviticus 17:5, 6; Ezekiel 44:7
40. Num 18:5, 7, 8
41. Ezekiel 41:22; Malachi 1:7, 12
42. Exodus 28:42, 43; Exodus 39:27-29; Revelation 19:8
43. Exodus 28:40; Isaiah 3:20; Ezekiel 24:17, 23
44. Exodus 28:42; Leviticus 16:4
45. Leviticus 6:10; Leviticus 16:4, 23, 24; Ezekiel 42:14
46. Leviticus 6:27; Ezekiel 46:20
47. Leviticus 21:5
48. Numbers 6:5
49. Leviticus 10:9
50. Leviticus 21:7, 14
51. Leviticus 21:13
52. Leviticus 10:10; Ezekiel 22:26; Hosea 4:6; Micah 3:9-11; Zephaniah 3:4; Haggai 2:11-13; Malachi 2:6-8
53. Deuteronomy 17:8, 9; Deuteronomy 19:17; Deuteronomy 21:5; 1 Chronicles 23:4; 2 Chronicles 19:8-10
54. Lev 23:2, 4, 44
55. Ezekiel 20:12, 20
56. Leviticus 21:1-4
57. Numbers 19:13-19
58. Ezekiel 44:17
59. Leviticus 5:3, 6; Numbers 6:9-11
60. Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 10:9; Deuteronomy 18:1, 2; Joshua 13:33
61. Numbers 18:9, 14; Joshua 13:14
62. Leviticus 27:21, 28; Numbers 18:14
63. Numbers 18:12, 13; 2 Chr 31:4-6, 10; Nehemiah 10:35-37
64. Numbers 15:20, 21
65. Malachi 3:10
66. Leviticus 22:8; Deuteronomy 14:21; Ezekiel 4:14

Footnotes 18

[a]. Lit "by his way"
[b]. Lit "set your heart on"
[c]. Lit "set your heart on"
[d]. Lit "rebellion"
[e]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
[f]. Lit "as keepers of My charge in My"
[g]. Lit "lifted up My hand"
[h]. Lit "give"
[i]. Lit "keepers of the charge"
[j]. Lit "come upon"
[k]. Or "hang loose"
[l]. Lit "take as wives for themselves"
[m]. Lit "He"
[n]. Lit "be counted"
[o]. Or "dedicated"
[p]. Or "heave offering(s)"
[q]. Or "heave offering(s)"
[r]. Or "coarse meal"

Chapter Summary

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible