Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which 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 the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall 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 the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, enough of all your abominations, 7 in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. 8 And you 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: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment. 11 They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. 13 They shall 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 they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.
Rules for Levitical Priests
15 “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen 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 and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. 21 No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 They 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 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 In 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 they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 They 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 After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.
28 “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a blessing may rest on your house. 31 The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals. Ezekiel 44 ESV
Ezekiel 44
This gate shall remain shut - Not to be confused with the eastern gate of the city, by this gate the glory of the Lord returned to the temple, as Ezekiel had witnessed It depart in chapters 8 - 11. Since God's glory has returned not to depart again, it is sealed.
Only the prince may sit in it - This is not Christ as some suppose, since we see him participate in bringing a sacrifice for the sins of the people and also for himself. These he brings to the priest, for he is a prince.
…21On the fourteenth day of the first month you are to observe the Passover, a feast of seven days, during which unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22On that day the prince shall provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. 23Each day during the seven days of the feast, he shall provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD, along with a male goat for a sin offering.… Ezekiel 45: 21-23
And I fell on my face - These experiences, even in vision, never become common place. They are in stark contrast to the pretenders in every age.
Enough of all your abominations - We saw in past chapters how they incorporated the idols of foreign peoples, and how past kings had invited Babylon too far into Jerusalem. Ezekiel had been taken by vision to witness pagan drawings on the walls of the temple, priests and elders worshiping the sun, and women worshiping Tammuz.
Uncircumcised in heart and flesh - These foreigners were intrigued by the religious practices of others, and the Jews were willing to accommodate spiritual tourism, but note, heart and flesh, you must be born again. While many of the foreigners were not circumcised of the flesh, yet these priests and elders of God's people were not circumcised of the heart, and so not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. People still try to peddle God today, yet He looks at the heart and He knows His own.
…28A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical. 29No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God. Romans 2: 28-29
“It is clear from vs. 5-8 that in the last days of Solomon’s Temple the priests had allowed anyone, even uncovenanted pagans, to act as priests and temple servants. Either they had been lazy or busy with their own affairs, and had hired others to do their work; or they had taken bribes from pagans who wanted to serve in the Temple, perhaps for the offerings that they were able to take home and resell.” (Wright)
They shall be ministers in My sanctuary -
“Though lapsed, they shall not be altogether discarded, partly for the honour of the priesthood, but principally for the encouragement of such as, having fallen by infirmity, rise again by repentance.” (Trapp)
The sons of Zadok -
“The new priesthood is confined to the line of Zadok, who was a descendant of Eleazar, the third son of Aaron. Representatives of this line had evidently stood firm.” (Wright)
ii. “Zadok was the son of Ahitub of the line of Eleazar (2 Samuel 8:17; 1 Chronicles 6:7-8). He was faithful to David during the insurrection of Absalom (2 Samuel 15:24 ff.), and anointed Solomon as king after the abortive attempt of Adonijah to seize the throne (1 Kings 1:32 ff.).” (Feinberg)
They shall have nothing of wool on them - Some have made the comparison to that of a yoke, with the heaviness of wool and the sweat of human effort not being acceptable service.
They shall put off the garments - This is to protect the sheep from their superstition.
They shall not sanctify the people: “To ‘sanctify the people,’ in this text, is to persuade them that they are sanctified by the touch or sight of the priestly vestments. The monks at this day make the silly people believe that they cannot be damned when they die if they be buried in a Franciscan’s cowl.” (Trapp)
I am their inheritance - They need nothing for everything is in Christ. Christ is all I need.
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