But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house ,.... To be watchmen or porters in it; to open and shut the doors of it; to sweep and keep it clean; to repair and mend it, and to do such like works, as it follows: for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein ; in a servile way; but not as priests or ministers of the word. read more
But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok ;.... The priests who were of the tribe of Levi, whom the Lord chose and separated, to minister to him, and so had a lawful call to this office, and were regularly invested with it; and design true and lawful, as well as faithful, ministers of the word; these are called the sons of Zadok, who descended from Eleazar the son of Aaron in the line of Phinehas, to whom the Lord promised the everlasting priesthood, and who was put into this office by... read more
They shall enter into my sanctuary ,.... Both to officiate, and to participate, which strangers and uncircumcised persons might not do, Ezekiel 44:9 , and they shall come near to my table to minister unto me ; which some understand of the altar of burnt offering, which was as a table, and the sacrifice on it was the food of the Lord, Leviticus 3:11 , others, the altar of incense; see Ezekiel 41:22 . Kimchi interprets it of the table of shewbread; but, whatever is meant in the... read more
Come near to my table - To place the shew-bread there, and to burn incense on the golden altar in the holy of holies. read more
The relations of the people , Levites , and priests to the sanctuary . read more
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
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
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
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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