EZEKIEL
CHAPTER 44
The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord—No strangers may enter the sanctuary—Services of the priests in the temple are set forth.
1 THEN he brought me back the way of the gate of
the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.
2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. [The symbolism is the closing of the east gate memorializes
the appearance of the Lord and His acceptance of the Temple. It also serves
to indicate that no mortal is permitted, or even able, to enter the Temple
in the manner the Lord did, not even the most noble among men, the princes
of Judah. But, the princes of Judah may enter in by another way and sit in
the vestibule of the east gate and eat bread before the Lord.]
3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD;[see Num. 15:19 as v. 30 reminds all of the people to observe Num. 20-21. That the prince is permitted to eat in the vestibule of the east gate suggests he is one who should be especially close to the Lord given the Davidic ideal of a prophet-king, cf. 34:23-24, 37:24-25.] he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
[chapter 43 seemed to encourage separation of Church and State by forcing the palace outside of the confines of the Temple. But, here, the prince is told to enter into the Temple and approach the east gate and eat bread before the Lord there. Thus, the political leaders of the people are to worship the Lord in the Temple. The implicit message is the political leaders are not to corrupt to the Temple anymore, they are only to enter it to worship the Lord. Thus, the Church and State are divided bureaucratically and administratively, but are to be united spiritually.]
4 ¶ Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.
5 And the LORD said unto me, son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.
6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,
7 In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
8 And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
9 ¶ Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
10 And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.
11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.
13 And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.
14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
15 ¶ But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:
16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
17 ¶ And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
18 They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.
19 And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.
20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.
23 And they shall teach my people the bdifference between the holy and profane [ If you look up the entomology of the word "profane", you’re gonna find that the word comes from the Latin word "pro", which means "before or outside". And the Latin word "phantom", which means "temple". And when you put pro and phantom together, you get the Latin word "profanus", from which our English word profane is derived, which literally means "outside the temple". The word profane literally means one who is not sacred, one who is not allowed to enter sacred temple space. Profane comes from procul a fano, "far from the temple." When the ancients, even heathens, were about to perform some very sacred rites, they were accustomed to command the irreligious to keep at a distance ] , and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
24 And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.
25 And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.
27 And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD.
28 And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.
29 They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.