Ezekiel 44:8

And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. BUT YE HAVE SET KEEPERS OF MY CHARGE IN MY SANCTUARY FOR YOURSELVES - such as yourselves though fit, not such as I approve of. Or else, 'ye have not yourselves kept the charge of my holy things, but have set others as keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves' (Maurer)....

Admonition to the ministering priests, grounded upon former neglect. Ezekiel 44:4 THE NORTH GATE BEFORE THE HOUSE - The north gate of the inner court. God expostulates with His people in the seat of their former idolatries Ezekiel 8:3. Ezekiel 44:5 MARK WELL - The careful arrangements made had all been intended to keep the temple and its surroundings from profanation. Hence, attention to these particulars is enjoined. Ezekiel 44:7 STRANGERS - This refers especially to the

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 YE HAVE NOT KEPT THE CHARGE OF MINE HOLY THINGS,.... That is, have not kept and retained the holy doctrines of the Gospel; nor observed the holy ordinances of it, as they were first delivered: BUT YE HAVE SET KEEPERS OF MY CHARGE IN MY SANCTUARY FOR YOURSELVES; meaning either, that such as were in public office did not attend to it; but were idol shepherds, and left the flock, their care and charge, to others, to surrogates and curates, to do their work for them; while they indulged themselves in sloth and idleness: or that the members and hearers set up preachers for themselves, according to their lusts, agreeable to their own carnal sentiments, without any regard to the will and glory 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 LEVITES. The regulations that follow are among the most important in the book, and they have played a great part in the critical rearrangement of OT literature and the consequent reconstruction of OT history (p. 129). The drastic character of the innovation about to be described is forcibly suggested by the solemn introduction in Ezekiel 44:5. In the past the menial offices of the sanctuary _had_ been discharged by aliens often probably prisoners of waruncircumcised in flesh and therefore, from Ezekiel's point of view, also uncircumcised in heart. That is an abomination, to be tolerated no more within Yahweh's holy house. But who is henceforth to discharge those duties? The Levites, Ezekiel answers; and by that he means those who had officiated at the worship of the high places, nominally no doubt a Yahweh worship, but in reality, and especially to a man like Ezekiel, idolatrous. Whe

YE HAVE NOT KEPT, &c. See Ezekiel 40:46, &c. HOLY. See note on Exodus 3:5. YOURSELVES: i.e. your own pleasure....

_ye have set keepers_ Some would read: ye have _set them_keepers. This of course is the meaning. The change is hardly supported by LXX (as Well. p. 122)....

BUT YE HAVE SET KEEPERS— _And you make those who minister in my sanctuary, your own ministers._ Houbigant....

_2. The qualifications of the temple ministers (44:4-14_) TRANSLATION (4) Then he brought me by 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 your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say unto you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every egress of the sanctuary. (6) And you shall say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: O house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, (7) in that you have brought in foreigners uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, even My house, when you offer My bread, the fat and the blood, and they have...