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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 44:10-16

The Master of the house, being about to set up house again, takes account of his servants the priests, and sees who are fit to be turned out of their places and who to be kept in, and takes a course with them accordingly. I. Those who have been treacherous are degraded and put lower those Levites?or priests who were carried down the stream of the apostasy of Israel formerly, who went astray from God after their idols (Ezek. 44:10), who had complied with the idolatrous kings of Israel or Judah,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 44:10

And the Levites that are gone away far from me ,.... These Levites were priests, as appears from Ezekiel 44:13 , who professed themselves Gospel preachers, ministers of the reformed churches; but departed from the reformation principles; erred from the faith; and either mixed it with the doctrines of men, or wholly dropped, concealed, or dissembled it; departed from the word of God, as the rule of faith and practice; and set up their own reason as their guide in matters of religion; were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 44:11

Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary ,.... Though degraded from their office as priests and ministers of the word, yet being restored from their sins and errors, shall have a place in the house of God, and do their work there in a less honourable and a more servile way; as in former times, when ministers had sinned foully, and were degraded from their office, upon repentance they were not restored to that, but only admitted to lay communion; see 2 Kings 23:9 , having charge at... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 44:10

And the Levites that are gone away far from me - This refers to the schism of Jeroboam, who, when he set up a new worship, got as many of the priests and Levites to join him in his idolatry as he could. These, on the return from the captivity, should not be permitted to perform the functions of priests in the new temple; but they might be continued as keepers of all the charge of the house - be treasurers, guards of the temple, porters, etc.; see Ezekiel 44:11-15 . The whole of these... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:4-16

The relations of the people , Levites , and priests to the sanctuary . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:9-14

Divine discrimination. The prophet is necessarily expressing himself in the terms of the old dispensation; and he declares, in God's name, that no man who has not received a right spirit ("uncircumcised in heart"), and that no man who has not been admitted to the citizenship of the kingdom of God ("uncircumcised in flesh"), can "enter the sanctuary"—can come into closest contact with, and render holiest service unto, the Lord (see Ezekiel 44:9 ). And he further declares that those of his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:9-16

Accordingly, that no such abuses might creep in to desecrate the temple of the future, a new Torah was promulgated concerning the persons who should have a right to participate in its services. If the "prince" is omitted, the reason probably was that a special section is subsequently devoted to him ( Ezekiel 46:1-8 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:10-14

The ordinance for the Levites . According to the so-called priest-code, the Levites were Levi's descendants, who were chosen by Jehovah for service in the tabernacle ( Numbers 3:6-13 ; Numbers 16:9 ), to minister to the priests when these sacrificed in the tabernacle ( Numbers 8:19 ; Numbers 18:6 ), and in particular to keep the charge of the tabernacle, i.e. of the house and all its vessels ( Numbers 1:53 ), as distinguished from the charge of the sanctuary and of the altar,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 44:10-16

The degradation of the Levites. From this interesting passage it would appear that there was a time when the Levites enjoyed free access to the altar, and were allowed to serve as priests before the Lord. But they had abused their privileges in admitting heathen people to the sacred enclosure, in doing their work by proxy, in even going aside to idolatry. Therefore they were degraded from their high functions—all of them except one family, that of Zadok. As the members of this family had... read more

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