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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 44:1-3

The prophet is here brought to review what he had before once surveyed; for, though we have often looked into the things of God, they will yet bear to be looked over again, such a copiousness there is in them. The lessons we have learned we should still repeat to ourselves. Every time we review the sacred fabric of holy things, which we have in the scriptures, we shall still find something new which we did not before take notice of. The prophet is brought a third time to the east gate, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 44:2

Then said the Lord unto me, this gate shall be shut ,.... In time to come, as Jarchi interprets it, in the latter day; it was shut, and it should continue to be shut: it shall not be opened ; any more; though it has been, yet hereafter no more: and no man shall enter in by it , into the house of the Lord, because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it ; the same with the glory of the God of Israel, Ezekiel 43:2 , therefore it shall be shut ; no one being to enter... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 44:3

It is for the prince: the prince shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord ,.... Or, "as for the prince, the prince shall sit in it" F5 את הנשיא נשיא הוא ישב בו "veruntamen ad principem quod attinet, princeps ipse inquam", &c.; Piscator; "quantum ad principem"; "princeps sedebit in ea", Noldius, Ebr. Part. Concord. p. 120. ; in the gate which is shut to others: not the high priest, as Jarchi, though he might have a particular seat in the temple, as Eli had in the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 44:2

This gate shall be shut - It was not to be opened on ordinary occasions, nor at all on the week days: but only on the Sabbaths and the new moons. See the account of the gates (4) in the explanation of the plan. This verse has been adduced by the Roman Catholics to prove the perpetual virginity of the mother of our Lord; and it may be allowed to be as much to the purpose as any other that has been brought to prove this very precarious point, on which no stress should ever be laid by any... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:1-2

The shut gate: reverence. What is the true significance of this closure? Much has been made of it by fanciful exposition; but surely the true lesson is that which lies upon the surface, viz. that the closed gate would be a continual reminder that the people must reverently abstain from using the entrance through which the Most High himself had once passed. It was another symbolic utterance of the truth that we must "put off our shoes" when we stand on "holy ground." The fact that there was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:1-3

The prerogative of the prince. The regulation prescribed in these verses is very remarkable, and is not free from difficulties. It appears that a peculiar sanctity attached to the eastern gate of the temple, owing to the fact that it was by this gate that the glory of the Lord entered, and by this same gate that the glory of the Lord had previously forsaken, the sacred precincts. To mark this sacredness, the gate was kept shut, and no one was permitted to pass through it, except the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:2

This gate shall be shut , The prophet must have noted this as an important difference between the new sanctuary and the old (whether temple or tabernacle), in which the east gate stood always open. That the gate of the new temple was to be closed only on the six working days Ewald mistakenly infers from Ezekiel 46:1 , where he reads, after the LXX ; the outer instead of the inner court. But Ezekiel 46:1 refers to the east gate of the inner court. Of the east gate of the outer court it... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:2-3

The shut gate. The "Golden Gate" at Jerusalem, on the eastern side of the temple area, looking towards the Mount of Olives, is now built up, so that it can only be traced by means of the form of the arches and carved work embedded in a line of wall. Tradition associates this now inaccessible archway with the gate which Ezekiel said should be shut till the Prince passed through it. There is a striking symbolism in Ezekiel's description of the shut gate. I. THE GATE WAS SHUT . ... read more

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