Ezekiel 44:24

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. No JFB commentary on these verses....

Regulations as to the priests’ services. The garments of the priests are defined and various rules prescribed in the Law are repeated with some additions in order to denote additional care to avoid uncleanness. Ezekiel 44:18 The material of which the four vestments of the ordinary priest were made was “linen,” or, more accurately, “byssus,” the cotton stuff of Egypt. The two special qualities of the byssus - white and shining - are characteristic, and on them part of the symbolic meaning depended. Compare Revelation 19:8. Ezekiel 44:19 THEY SHALL NOT SANCTIFY THE PEOPLE - They shall not touch the p

EXPOSITION The prophet, having finished his account of the temple, or place of worship, proceeds, in the second section of his vision (Ezekiel 44-46.), to set forth the culture, or ritual, to be performed in the temple; treating first of the several classes in the new community, and of their relation to the sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:1.); next of the regulations to be observed in the maintenance of worship (Ezekiel 45:1.); and, thirdly, of certain supplementary orders for the prince, the people, and the priests, when engaged in the solemnities of their religion (Ezekiel 46:1.). In particular, the present chapter deals (1) with the relation of the prince to the sanctuary ...

AND IN CONTROVERSY THEY SHALL STAND IN JUDGMENT,.... When any controversy arises among the saints concerning civil things, this shall not be carried into a court of judicature, of the men of the world; but it shall be brought before the church, and there heard, tried, judged, and determined; the ministers of the word there presiding, who shall give the definitive sentence, and stand to it, and abide by it, 1 Corinthians 6:1 and when any controversy arises about the doctrines of the Gospel, or modes of worship, or rules of discipline, they shall rise up, discuss the point, determine the question, pass the sentence, and not depart from it: AND THEY SHALL JUDGE IT ACCORDING TO MY JUDGMENTS; not according to their own judgments, or according to their own fancies, or the reasonings of their own minds, but according to those directions and rules given in the word of God

CHAPTER 44 _ 1. The outward eastern gate for the prince (Ezekiel 44:1) _ 2. The charge concerning the strangers and the rebellious tribes (Ezekiel 44:4) 3. The charge concerning the priests, the sons of Zadok (Ezekiel 44:15) 4. The inheritance of the priests (Ezekiel 44:28)...

THE PRIESTS. (_Their duties.) The_ only officials qualified to bear the name or discharge the duties of priests especially the duty of sacrifice are the Zadokites, _i.e._ the descendants of the Zadok who had been appointed head of the Jerusalem priesthood by Solomon, when Abiathar, who had sided with Adonijah, was deposed (1 Kings 2:35). Doubtless the Jerusalem priests were, in point of morality and religion, superior, broadly speaking, to the country priests (_cf._ Ezekiel 44:15), though the revelations in ch. 8 show that the Temple worship could be depraved enough; but the high prerogatives are here conferred upon them, just because of their connexion with Jerusalem. Their officiating dress, which was to be of linen, they had to change, before going out to the people in the outer court: ot

AND IN CONTROVERSY, do. Ref to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 17:9). App-92. CONTROVEREY. strife. ASSEMBLIES. appointed seasons. THEY SHALL HALLOW, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 19:30),...

General duties of the priests towards the people. They shall teach the people to distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean, cf. Ezekiel 22:26; Leviticus 10:10; Haggai 2:11; Malachi 2:7....

_3. The regulations for the Zadokite priests (44:15-27_) TRANSLATION (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, (oracle of 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 be 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, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. (18) They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causes sweat. (19) And when they go forth int...

THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES Standing at the inner northern gate Ezekiel again saw the glory of God filling the Temple and was again addressed by the divine voice (Ezekiel 44:4). The Speaker first rebuked the custom which had prevailed in the old Temple, of having foreigners as servants in the sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:6). He directed that in future their place should be taken by the Lévites who were not of the family of Zadok. These had formerly shared the priestly office, but for their encouragement of Israel's idolatry they were to be deprived of this privilege, and to have humbler services assigned to them (Ezekiel 44:9). The Levites of the family of Zadok alone were to exercise the priesthood in future ...