Ezekiel 44:17-20

Ezekiel 44:17-20. When they shall enter in at the gates of the inner court The court just before the temple, where the altar of the burnt-offering stood; they shall be clothed with linen garments The ephod, breeches, mitre, and girdle, (the habit of the ordinary priests,) were all of fine linen, contrived for glory and beauty, (Exodus 28:40,) fine linen being the habit of persons of the greatest quality; while they minister in the gates of the inner court That is, in the court of the priests; and within In the sanctuary itself. They shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat Not with a woollen girdle, which may make them sweat during their laborious service about the altar, and make their garments smell offensively. When they go forth into the outer court, they shall put off their garments See note on Ezekiel 42:14. They shall not sanctify the people with their garments According to the law, common things, touching holy things, became consecrated, and no more fit for common use. Neither shall they shave their heads This prescription is implied in the words of the law, Leviticus 21:5; especially according to the translation of the LXX., who render the sentence, Thou shalt not shave thyself with baldness [to make thyself bald] upon the head for the dead. They indeed understand it as an expression of mourning for the dead, which agrees with the sense of the parallel texts, Leviticus 19:27-28; Deuteronomy 14:1. But the words in the original contain a general prohibition, and consequently include other seasons, as well as times of mourning. St. Jerome upon this place supposes, with great probability, that the Jewish priests were forbidden to shave their heads, that they might distinguish themselves from the heathen priests, particularly the Egyptian priests of Isis and Serapis, who had their heads shaved and uncovered. Learned men have observed, that many other Jewish laws were made in opposition to the rites observed in the heathen worship. Nor suffer their locks to grow long Letting their hair grow long and neglected was a sign of mourning, as well as shaving it close to the head, and therefore was forbidden to be practised by the priests of God.