Ezekiel 44:31

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 ...

THE PRIESTS SHALL NOT EAT OF ANYTHING THAT IS DEAD OF ITSELF, OR TORN,.... They shall have no need to eat of such things, being plentifully provided for with better; nor will it become them so to do through avarice, not allowing themselves to enjoy what is liberally given them. Here the Jewish doctors t observe that it is said, the priests shall not eat of these things, suggesting that Israelites might; this puzzles them, therefore they say, Elijah will explain this verse; and the gloss says, till Elijah comes, and explains it to us, we know not how to explain it. In the mystic sense it may signify, that the priests of the Lord should have no communication with such as are dead in sin, or are given to rapine and violence, and should abstain from everything of this kind themselves. WHETHER IT BE FOWL OR BEAST; whether Pharisees and high flown professors of religion, or earthly and worldl...

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 revenues._) Certain offerings are to be the perquisites of the priests, also as they are the representatives of the Deity the best of the first-fruits. Formerly the sin-offering and the guilt-offering had been paid to them in money (2 Kings 12:16). The welfare of the people would depend upon their fidelity to the claims of the priests. The restrictions in Ezekiel 44:31 had formerly applied to all the people (Exodus 22:31). (In Ezekiel 44:28 for an read no.)...

DEAD OF ITSELF, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 22:8)....

The maintenance of the priest. He shall have no inheritance among the people: the Lord is his inheritance. He shall eat the meat-offering, the sin- and trespass-offering; everything put to the ban shall be his, and the best of all the first-fruits and of all the dues....

_4. The provision for the Zadokite priests (44:28-31_) TRANSLATION (28) And they shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. (29) They shall eat the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. (30) And the first of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every oblation of every thing, of all your oblations, shall be for the priest: you shall also give unto the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house. (31) The priests shall not eat of any thing that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast. COMMENTS Whereas other tribes received their inheritance in land tracts, the priesthood itself was the inheritance of the Zadokites. Spiritual privilege is greater blessing than material possession. Th...

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 ...

EZEKIEL’S LAST *VISION EZEKIEL CHAPTER S 40 TO 48 _COMMENTARY: KEITH SIMONS; TRANSLATION: IAN MACKERVOY._ CHAPTER 44 THE EAST GATE – EZEKIEL 44:1-3 V1 Then the man brought me back to the outer gate east of the *temple. But the gate was closed. V2 The *LORD said to me, ‘This gate must remain closed. Nobody may open it or enter by it. The *LORD, the God of *Israel, has entered by it so it must remain closed. V3 Only the prince may enter this gate. He will sit there and he will eat in front of the *LORD. The prince will enter through the hall of this gate. And he will go out the same way.’...