Ezekiel 44:17 - Exposition

Beginning with their attire when engaged in temple service, this verse states, in a general way, that the priests should be clothed with linen garments , as the priests were under the Law ( Exodus 28:40-43 ; Exodus 39:27-29 ; Le Exodus 6:10 ), with this difference, that whereas under the Law the terms employed were שֵׁשׁ , the white byssus of Egypt, and בַּד , "fine white linen," here the word is פִּשְׁתֶּה , or "flax"—a difference which assists newer critics to perceive in the so-called priest-code a refinement on Ezekiel, and therefore an evidence that the priest-cede arose later than Ezekiel But if the so-called priest-code had already indicated that the linen for priests' garments should be of the finest quality, Ezekiel may have felt there was no occasion for him to use other than the generic term for "linen," which פִעשׁתֶּה ( pishteh ) seems to have been (comp. Le 13:47, 48, 52, 59; Deuteronomy 22:11 ; Jeremiah 13:1 ). That this was so is suggested by the statement that no wool, צֶמֶר , "perhaps so called from its being shorn off" (Gesenius), should come upon them whiles they ministered in the gates of the inner court , or within the court itself, or the house—the contrast being between what was of vegetable and what was of animal production. The reason for the prohibition of wool is hinted at in verse 18—it was apt to cause sweat, and thus entail impurity; the clean white linen, on the other hand, was designed both for hygienic reasons and as an emblem of purity (comp. Revelation 19:8 , Revelation 19:14 ).