Ezekiel 44:1-4

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

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 44:4-9

This is much to the same purport with what we had in the beginning of Ezek. 43:1-31 As the prophet must look again upon what he had before seen, so he must be told again what he had before heard. Here, as before, he sees the house filled with the glory of the Lord, which strikes an awe upon him, so that he falls prostrate at the sight, the humblest posture of adoration and the expression of a holy awe: I fell upon my face, Ezek. 44:4. Note, The more we see of the glory of God the more low we... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 44:1

Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary ,.... The prophet was brought by his divine guide, from the altar of burnt offerings, which stood before the house, where he had given him the dimensions of it, and the ordinances concerning it, to the temple or holy place, called the outward sanctuary, in distinction from the inward sanctuary, or holy of holies; and to one of the gates of it, which was a gate of the inner court: and which looketh toward the east : the... 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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 44:4

Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house ,.... The north gate of the inward court, whither he was brought from the east gate, which was shut: this, and what follow, may have some respect to the churches in these our northern parts of the world, in their now declining circumstances, which are aptly represented in some following verses; but will hereafter be filled with the glory of the Lord, as follows: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 44:1

The outward sanctuary - In opposition to the temple itself, which was the inner sanctuary. 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

The gate of the outward sanctuary , the outer gate of the sanctuary (Revised Version)— which looketh toward the east . To this door the prophet was conducted back, by way of the inner north or south gate, from the inner court, in which he had received the measurements of the altar and the instructions for its consecration ( Ezekiel 43:5 ). Whether Ezekiel stood upon the outside of this door as in Ezekiel 43:1 , or upon its inside, cannot as yet be determined; but in either ease he... 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

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