Ezekiel 44:23-31

23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

24 In a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall make my Shabbatot holy.

25 They shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.

26 After he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days.

27 In the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, says the Lord GOD.

28 They shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Yisra'el; I am their possession.

29 They shall eat the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every devoted thing in Yisra'el shall be theirs.

30 The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every offering of everything, of all your offerings, shall be for the Kohen: you shall also give to the Kohanim the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

31 The Kohanim shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or animal.

Ezekiel 44:23-31 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.