Ezekiel 44

The Gate for the Prince

1 Then he brought me ¹back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ²which faces east. And it was shut.

2 And the LORD said to me, "This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ³the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut.

3 Only ⁴the prince may sit in it ⁵to eat bread before the LORD. He ⁶shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way."

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

5 And the LORD said to me, ¹⁰"Son of man, mark well, ¹¹see with your eyes, ¹²and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ¹³all the statutes of the temple of the LORD and all its laws. And mark well ¹⁴the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary.

6 And say to ¹⁵the rebellious house,^[a] to the ¹⁶house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: O house of Israel, ¹⁷enough of all your abominations,

7 in ¹⁸admitting foreigners, ¹⁹uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ²⁰profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You^[b] have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations.

8 And ²¹you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.

9 "Thus says the Lord GOD: ²²No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary.

10 But ²³the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ²⁴when Israel went astray, ²⁵shall bear their punishment.^[c]

11 They shall be ²⁶ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ²⁷at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ²⁸they shall stand before the people, to minister to them.

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

13 They ³¹shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but ³²they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed.

14 Yet I will appoint them to keep ³³charge of the temple, ³⁴to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

15 "But ³⁵the Levitical priests, ³⁶the sons of Zadok, who kept ³⁷the charge of my sanctuary ³⁸when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ³⁹to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ⁴⁰the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD.

16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ⁴¹my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.

17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear ⁴²linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within.

18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.

19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering ⁴³and lay them in the holy chambers. And ⁴⁴they shall put on other garments, ⁴⁵lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

20 ⁴⁶They shall not shave their heads or ⁴⁷let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads.

21 ⁴⁸No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.

22 ⁴⁹They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

23 ⁵⁰They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ⁵¹show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.

24 ⁵²In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and ⁵³they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

25 ⁵⁴They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves.

26 ⁵⁵After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him.

27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ⁵⁶into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, ⁵⁷he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.

28 ⁵⁸"This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ⁵⁹you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

29 ⁶⁰They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and ⁶¹every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

30 ⁶²And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. ⁶³You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, ⁶⁴that a blessing may rest on your house.

31 ⁶⁵The priests shall not eat of ⁶⁶anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.

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.

Cross References

• 1. [Ezekiel 43:5]
• 2. See Ezekiel 43:1
• 3. [Ezekiel 43:4]
• 4. Ezekiel 34:24; Ezekiel 37:25; Ezekiel 45:7; Ezekiel 46:2
• 5. [Genesis 31:54]
• 6. Ezekiel 46:2, 12
• 7. Ezekiel 40:20
• 8. See Ezekiel 43:5
• 9. See Ezekiel 1:28
• 10. See Ezekiel 2:1
• 11. Ezekiel 40:4
• 12. Ezekiel 40:4
• 13. [Ezekiel 43:11]
• 14. [Ezekiel 43:11]
• 15. See Ezekiel 2:3
• 16. Ezekiel 40:4
• 17. Ezekiel 45:9; [1 Peter 4:3]
• 18. [ver. 9; Nehemiah 7:64, 65; Acts 21:28]
• 19. [Jeremiah 9:26; Acts 7:51]
• 20. Ezekiel 23:39
• 21. [Ezekiel 22:26]
• 22. [ver. 7]
• 23. [ver. 15; Ezekiel 48:11]
• 24. Ezekiel 48:11
• 25. See Ezekiel 4:4
• 26. Ezekiel 46:24
• 27. [1 Chronicles 26:1]
• 28. Numbers 16:9
• 29. Ezekiel 7:19; Ezekiel 14:3, 4, 7; [Malachi 2:8]
• 30. Psalms 106:26
• 31. Numbers 18:3; 2 Kings 23:9
• 32. See Ezekiel 32:24
• 33. See Ezekiel 40:45
• 34. 1 Chronicles 23:28, 32
• 35. See Ezekiel 43:19
• 36. See Ezekiel 43:19
• 37. [See ver. 14 above]
• 38. [See ver. 10 above]
• 39. [ver. 11; Deuteronomy 10:8]
• 40. [ver. 7]
• 41. See Ezekiel 41:22
• 42. Exodus 28:39; Exodus 39:27
• 43. Ezekiel 42:14
• 44. Leviticus 6:11
• 45. [Ezekiel 46:20; Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; Leviticus 6:27]
• 46. Leviticus 21:5; [Ezekiel 5:1]
• 47. [Numbers 6:5]
• 48. Leviticus 10:9
• 49. Lev. 21:7, 13, 14
• 50. [Ezekiel 22:26]; See Leviticus 10:10, 11
• 51. [Ezekiel 22:26]; See Leviticus 10:10, 11
• 52. Deuteronomy 17:8, 9; [2 Chronicles 19:8]
• 53. [Ezekiel 22:26]
• 54. See Leviticus 21:1-3
• 55. Numbers 19:11, 12
• 56. ver. 17, 21
• 57. Ezekiel 40:39; Ezekiel 42:13; Leviticus 4:2, 3
• 58. See Numbers 18:20
• 59. [Ezekiel 45:4, 5]
• 60. See Lev. 6:14-18, 25-29; Leviticus 7:1-6
• 61. Leviticus 27:21, 28; Numbers 18:14
• 62. See Exodus 23:19
• 63. See Numbers 15:20
• 64. Malachi 3:10
• 65. Leviticus 22:8; [Exodus 22:31]; See Leviticus 7:24
• 66. Ezekiel 4:14

Footnotes

• [a]. Septuagint; Hebrew lacks house
• [b]. Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew They
• [c]. Or iniquity; also verse 12

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.