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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
E Z E K I E L.
CHAP. XLIV.
In this chapter we have,
I. The appropriating of the east gate of the temple to the prince,
II. A reproof sent to the house of Israel for their former profanations
of God’s sanctuary, with a charge to them to be more strict for the
future,
III. The degrading of those Levites that had formerly been guilty of
idolatry and the establishing of the priesthood in the family of Zadok,
which had kept their integrity,
IV. Divers laws and ordinances concerning the priests,
| Message of the House of Israel. | B. C. 574. |
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1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward
sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.
2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall
not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD,
the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be
shut.
3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat
bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of
that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
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 finds it shut, which intimates that the rest of the gates were open
at all times to the worshippers. But such an account is given of this
gate’s being shut as puts honour,
1. Upon the God of Israel. It is for the honour of him that the gate of
the inner court, at which his glory entered when he took possession of
the house, was ever after kept shut, and no man was allowed to enter in
by it,
v. 2.
The difference ever after made between this and the other gates, that
this was shut when the others were open, was intended both to
perpetuate the remembrance of the solemn entrance of the glory of the
Lord into the house (which it would remain a traditional evidence of
the truth of) and also to possess the minds of people with a reverence
for the Divine Majesty, and with very awful thoughts of his
transcendent glory, which was designed in God’s charge to Moses at the
bush, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot. God will have a way by
himself.
2. Upon the prince of Israel,
v. 3.
It is an honour to him that though he may not enter in by this gate,
for no man may, yet,
(1.) He shall sit in this gate to eat his share of the
peace-offerings, that sacred food, before the Lord.
(2.) He shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, by
some little door or wicket, either in the gate or adjoining to it,
which is called the say of the porch. This as to signify that
God puts some of his glory upon magistrates, upon the princes of his
people, for he has said, You are gods. Some by the prince here
understand the high priests, or the sagan or second priest; and that he
only was allowed to enter by this gate, for he was God’s
representative. Christ is the high priest of our profession, who
entered himself into the holy place, and opened the kingdom of
heaven to all believers.
| Idolatry of the Levites. | B. C. 574. |
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4 Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the
house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled
the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.
5 And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold
with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto
thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and
all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house,
with every going forth of the sanctuary.
6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of
Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it
suffice you of all your abominations,
7 In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,
uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my
sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my
bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant
because of all your abominations.
8 And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye
have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart,
nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any
stranger that is among the children of Israel.
This is much to the same purport with what we had in the beginning of
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,
v. 4.
Note, The more we see of the glory of God the more low we shall lie in
our own eyes. Now here,
I. God charges the prophet to take a very particular notice of all he
saw, and all that was said to him
(v. 5):
“Behold with thy eyes what is shown thee, particularly
the entering in of the house and every going forth of it,
all the inlets and all the outlets of the sanctuary;” those he must
take special notice of. Note, In acquainting ourselves with divine
things we must not aim so much at an abstract speculation of the things
themselves as at finding the plain appointed way of converse and
communion with those things, that we may go in and out and find
pasture.
2. Hear with thy ears all that I say unto thee about the
laws and ordinances of the house, which he was to
instruct the people in. Note, Those who are appointed to be teachers
have need to be very diligent careful learners, that they may neither
forget any of the things they are entrusted with nor mistake concerning
them.
II. He sends him upon an errand to the people, to the rebellious,
even to the house of Israel,
v. 6.
It is sad to think that the house of Israel should deserve this
character from him who perfectly knew them, that a people in covenant
with God should be rebellious against him. Who are his subjects if the
house of Israel be rebels? But it is an instance of God’s rich mercy
that, though they had been rebellious, yet, being the house
of Israel, he does not cast them off, but sends an ambassador to
them, to invite and encourage them to return to their allegiance, which
he would not have done if he had been pleased to kill them. The whole
race of mankind has fallen under the character here given of the house
of Israel; but our Lord Jesus, when he ascended on high, received gifts
for men, yea, even for the rebellious also, that, as here,
the Lord God might dwell among them,
Ps. lxviii. 18.
1. He must tell them of their faults, must show them their rebellions,
must show the house of Jacob their sins. Note, Those that are sent to
comfort God’s people must first convince them, and so prepare them for
comfort. Let it suffice you of all your abominations,
v. 6.
Note, It is time for those that have continued long in sin to reckon it
long enough, and too long, and to begin to think of taking up in time,
and leaving off their evil courses. “Let the time past of your lives
suffice, for by this time, surely, you have surfeited upon your
abominations and have become sick of them,”
That which is here charged upon them is,
(1.) That they had admitted those to the privileges of the sanctuary
that were not entitled to them; whereas God had said, The stranger
that comes nigh shall be put to death, they had not only connived
at the intrusion of strangers into the sanctuary, but had themselves
introduced them
(v. 7):
You brought in strangers uncircumcised in flesh, and therefore
under a legal incapacity to enter into the sanctuary, which was a
breaking of the covenant of circumcision, throwing down the
hedge of their peculiarity, and laying themselves in common with the
rest of the world. Yet if these strangers had been devout and good,
though they were not circumcised, the crime would not have been so
great; but they were uncircumcised in heart too, unhumbled,
unreformed, and strangers indeed to God and all goodness. When they
came to offer sacrifice they brought these with them to feast with them
upon the sacrifice, because they were fond of their company, and this
was one of their abominations, wherewith they polluted God’s
sanctuary; it was giving that which was holy unto dogs,
Matt. vii. 6.
Note, The admission of those who are openly wicked and profane to
special ordinances is a polluting of God’s sanctuary and a great
provocation to him.
(2.) That they had employed those in the service of the sanctuary who
were not fit for it. Though none but priests and Levites were to
minister in the sanctuary, yet we may suppose that all who were priests
and Levites did not immediately attend there, but chosen men of them,
who were best qualified, who were most wise, serious, and
conscientious, and most likely to keep the charge of the holy things
carefully; but, in making this choice, they had not regard to merit and
qualification for the work: “You have set keepers of my charge in my
sanctuary for yourselves, such as you had some favour or affection
for, such as you either had got, or hoped to get, money by, or such as
would comply with your humours and would dispense with the laws of the
sanctuary to please you; thus you have not kept the charge of my
holy things.” Note, Those who have the choice of the keepers of the
holy things, if, to serve some secular selfish purpose, they choose
such as are unfit and unfaithful, will justly have it laid at their
door, that they have betrayed the holy things by lodging them in bad
hands.
2. He must tell them their duty
(v. 9):
“No stranger shall enter into my sanctuary till he has first
submitted to the laws of it.” But, lest any should think that this
excluded the penitent believing Gentiles from the church, the stranger
here is described to be one that is uncircumcised in heart, not
in sincerity consenting to the covenant, nor putting away the filth of
the flesh; whereas the believing Gentiles were circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands,
Col. ii. 11.
This circumcision of the heart, in the spirit, not in the
letter, was what the unbelieving Jews were strangers to and
unconcerned about, while yet they were zealous to keep out of the
sanctuary uncircumcised Gentiles, witness their rage against Paul when
they did but suspect him to have brought Greeks into the temple,
Acts xxi. 28.
| Idolatrous Priests Degraded. | B. C. 574. |
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10 And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel
went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols;
they shall even bear their iniquity.
11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge
at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they
shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people,
and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and
caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have
I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they
shall bear their iniquity.
13 And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a
priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the
most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their
abominations which they have committed.
14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for
all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept
the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went
astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me,
and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the
blood, saith the Lord GOD:
16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near
to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
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
(v. 10),
who had complied with the idolatrous kings of Israel or Judah, who
ministered to them before their idols
(v. 12),
bowed with them in the house of Rimmon, or set up altars for them, as
Urijah did for Ahaz, and so caused the house of Israel to fall into
iniquity, led them to sin and hardened them in sin; for, if the
priests go astray, many will follow their pernicious ways.
Perhaps in Babylon some of the Jewish priests had complied with the
idolaters of the place, to the great scandal of their religion. Now
these priests who had thus prevaricated were justly put under the mark
of God’s displeasure; or, if they were dead (as it is probable that
they were, if the crime were committed before the captivity), the
iniquity was visited upon their children. Or perhaps it was the whole
family of Abiathar that had been guilty of this trespass, which was now
called to account for it. And,
1. They are sentenced to be deprived, in part, of their office, and
from the dignity of priests are put down into the condition or ordinary
Levites. God has lifted up his hand against them, has said it,
and sworn it, that they shall bear their iniquity
(v. 12);
assuredly they shall suffer for it, shall suffer disgrace for it;
they shall bear their shame
(v. 13),
for though they have (we charitably hope) repented of it, yet they
shall not come near to do the office of a priest, that is, those
parts of the office that were peculiar to them, they shall not come
near to any of the holy things within the sanctuary,
Note, those who have robbed God of his honour will justly be deprived
of their honour. And it is really a great punishment to be forbidden
to come near to God; and justly might those who have once gone away
from him be rejected as unworthy ever to come near to him and put at an
everlasting distance.
2. Yet there is a mixture of mercy in this sentence. God deals not in
severity, as he might have done, with those who had dealt treacherously
with him, but mitigates the sentence,
They are deprived but in part, ab officio–of their office, and,
it should seem, not at all à beneficio–of their
emoluments. They shall help to slay the sacrifice, which the
Levites were permitted to do, and which in this temple was done, not at
the altar, but at the tables,
ch. xl. 29.
They shall be porters at the gates of the house, and they shall
be keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service
thereof. Note, Those who may not be fit to be employed in one kind
of service may yet be fit to be employed in another; and even those who
have offended may yet be made use of, and not quite thrown aside, much
less thrown away.
II. Those who have been faithful are honoured and established,
These are remarkably distinguished from the other: “But the sons of
Zadok, who kept their integrity in a time of general apostasy, who
went not astray when others did, they shall come near to me,
shall come near to my table.” Note, God will put marks of honour
upon those who give proofs of their fidelity and constancy to him in
shaking trying times, and will employ those in his service who have
kept close to his service when others deserted it and drew back. And
it ought to be reckoned a true and great reward of stability in duty to
be established in it. If we keep close to God, God will keep us close
to him.
| Directions Concerning the Priests. | B. C. 574. |
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17 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the
gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen
garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister
in the gates of the inner court, and within.
18 They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall
have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird
themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.
19 And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the
utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments
wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and
they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the
people with their garments.
20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks
to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
21 Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into
the inner court.
22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her
that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the
house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.
23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the
holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean
and the clean.
24 And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they
shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my
laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall
hallow my sabbaths.
25 And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves:
but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for
brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile
themselves.
26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven
days.
27 And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the
inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin
offering, saith the Lord GOD.
28 And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their
inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I
am their possession.
29 They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and
the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall
be theirs.
30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and
every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall
be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of
your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine
house.
31 The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of
itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.
God’s priests must be regulars, not seculars; and
therefore here are rules laid down for them to govern themselves by and
due encouragement given them to live up to those rules. Directions are
here given,
I. Concerning their clothes; they must wear linen garments when
they went in to minister or do any service in the inner court,
or in the sanctuary, and nothing that was woollen, because it
would cause sweat,
v. 17, 18.
They must dress themselves cool, that they might go the more readily
about their work; and they had the more need to do so because they were
to attend the altars, which had constant fires upon them. And they must
dress themselves clean and sweet, and avoid every thing that was sweaty
and filthy, to signify the purity of mind with which the service of God
is to be attended to. Sweat came in with sin and was part of the
curse. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Clothes
came in with sin, coats of skins did; and therefore the priests must
use as little and as light clothing as possible, and not such as caused
sweat. When they had finished their service they must change their
clothes again, and lay up their linen garments in the chambers
appointed for that purpose,
as before,
They must not go among the people with their holy garments on, lest
they should imagine themselves sanctified by the touch of them; or,
They shall sanctify the people, that is (as it is explained,
they shall approach to those things which are for the people, in
their ordinary garments.
II. Concerning their hair; in that they must avoid extremes on both
hands
(v. 20):
They must not shave their heads, in imitation of the Gentile
priests, and as the priests of the Romish church do; nor, on the other
hand, must they suffer their locks to grow long, as the
beaux, or that they might be thought Nazarites, when really they
were not; but they must be grave and modest, must poll their
heads and keep their hair short. If a man, especially a
minister, wear long hair, it is not becoming
it is effeminate.
III. Concerning their diet; they must be sure to drink no wine
when they went in to minister, lest they should rink to excess, should
drink and forget the law,
It is not for kings to drink wine, more than will do them good,
much less for priests. See
IV. Concerning their marriages,
Here they must consult the credit of their office, and not marry one
that had been divorced, that was at least under the suspicion of
immodesty, nor a widow, unless she were a priest’s widow, that
had been accustomed to the usages of the priests’ families. Others may
do that which ministers may not do, but must deny themselves in, in
honour of their character. Their wives as well as themselves must be of
good report.
V. Concerning their preaching and church-government.
1. It was part of their business to teach the people; and herein they
must approve themselves both skilful and faithful
(v. 23):
They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the
profane, between good and evil, lawful and unlawful, that they may
neither scruple what is lawful nor venture upon what is unlawful, that
they may not pollute what is holy nor pollute themselves with what is
profane. Ministers must take pains to cause people to discern
between the clean and the unclean, that they may not confound the
distinctions between right and wrong, nor mistake concerning them, so
as to put darkness for light and light for darkness, but may
have a good judgment of discretion concerning their own actions.
2. It was part of their business to judge upon appeals made to them
and in controversy they shall stand in judgment,
v. 24.
They shall have the honesty to stand up for what is right, and, when
they have passed a right judgment, shall have the courage to stand to
it and stand by it. They must judge, not according to their own
fancies, or inclinations, or secular interests, but according to my
judgments; that must be their rule and standard. Note, Ministers
must decide controversies according to the word of God, to the law
and to the testimony. Sit liber judex–Let the judge be unbiased.
Their business is to keep courts in God’s name, to preside in the
congregations of his people. And herein they must go to the
statute-book: They shall keep my statutes in all my assemblies.
God calls the assemblies of his people his assemblies, because
they are held in his name, to his glory. Ministers are the masters of
those assemblies, are to preside in them, and in all their acts must
keep close to God’s laws. Another part of their work, as church
governors, is to hallow God’s sabbaths, to do the public work of
that day with a becoming care and reverence, as the work of a holy day
should be done, and to see that God’s people also sanctify that day and
do nothing to pollute it.
VI. Concerning their mourning for dead relations; the rule here agrees
with the law of Moses,
A priest shall not come near any dead body (for they must be
purified from dead works) except of his next relations,
Decent expressions of a pious sorrow for dear relations, when they are
removed by death, are not disagreeable to the character of a minister.
Yet by this approach to the dead body of a relation they contracted a
ceremonial pollution, from which they must be cleansed by a
sin-offering before they went in again to minister,
Note, Though sorrow for the dead is very allowable and commendable, yet
there is danger of sinning in it, either by excess or dissimulation;
and those tears have too often need to be wept over again.
VII. Concerning their maintenance; they must live upon the altar at
which they served, and live comfortably
(v. 28):
“You shall give them no possession in Israel, no lands or
tenements, lest they should be entangled with the affairs of this
life;” for God has said, I am their inheritance, and they need
no other in reserve; I am their possession, and they need no
other in hand. Some land was allowed them
but their principal subsistence was by their office. What God
appropriated to himself they were the receivers of, for their own
proper use and behoof; they lived upon the holy things, and so God
himself was the portion both of their inheritance and of their cup.
Note, Those who have God for their inheritance and their possession may
be content with a little, and ought not to covet a great deal of the
possessions and inheritances of this earth. If we have God, we have
all; and therefore may well reckon that we have enough.
Observe,
1. What the priests were to have from the people, for their maintenance
and encouragement.
(1.) They must have the flesh of many of the offerings, the
sin-offering and trespass-offering, which would supply them and
their families with flesh-meat, and the meat-offerings, which
would supply them with bread. What we offer to God will redound to our
own advantage.
(2.) They must have every dedicated devoted thing in Israel, which was
in many cases to be turned into money and given to the priest. This is
explained,
Every oblation or free-will offering (which in times of
reformation and devotion would be many and considerable) of all, of
every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s. We have the
law concerning them
(3.) They were to have the first of the dough when it was going
to the oven, as well as the first of their fruits when they were going
to the barn. God, who is the first, must have the first; and, if it
belong to him, his priests must have it. We may then comfortably
enjoy what we have, when a share of it has been first set apart for
works of piety and charity. To this the apostle’s rule bears some
analogy, to begin the week with laying by for pious uses,
The priests being so well provided for, it would be inexcusable in them
if they (contrary to the law which every Israelite is bound by) should
eat that which is torn or which died of itself,
v. 31.
Those that were in want of necessary food might perhaps expect to be
dispensed with in such a case. Poverty has its temptations, but the
priests were so well provided for that they could have no pretence for
it.
2. What the people might expect from the priest for their recompence.
Those that are kind to a prophet, to a priest, shall have a prophet’s,
a priest’s reward: That he may cause the blessing to rest in thy
house
(v. 30),
that God may cause it by commanding it, that the priest may cause it by
praying for it; and it was part of the priest’s work to bless the
people in the name of the Lord, not only their congregations, but
their families. Note, It is all in all to the comfort of any house to
have the blessing of God upon it and to have the blessing to rest in
it, to dwell where we dwell and to attend the entail of it upon those
that shall come after us. And the way to have the blessing of God abide
upon our estates is to honour God with them, and to give him and his
ministers, him and his poor, their share out of them. God blesses, he
surely blesses, the habitation of those who are thus just,
And ministers, by instructing and praying for the families that are
kind to them, should do their part towards causing the blessing to rest
there. Peace be to this house.
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