Ezekiel
Chapter 44
He took me back to the outer east gate of the Sanctuary, and it was shut.
The Lord told me: “This gate will be kept closed. No one will open it or go through it, since the Lord, the God of Israel, has been through it. And so, it must remain shut.
The prince himself, however, may sit there to eat his meal in the presence of the Lord. But he is to enter through the gate’s entrance and leave through the same way.”
He led me through the north gate to the front of the house. I looked; I saw the glory of the Lord filling his house; and I threw myself to the ground.
The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention; look carefully and listen closely to everything while I explain to you all the rules of the house of the Lord, and all its laws. Be careful about which men are admitted to the house and which are excluded from the Sanctuary.
And say to the rebels of the people of Israel, the Lord God says this: There has been enough of all your filthy practices, house of Israel.
You let foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and body, enter to frequent my sanctuary and defile my temple, when you offered me fat and blood for my food;
and you broke my covenant with all your filthy practices when you let them perform your duties in my sanctuary.
For the Lord God declared this: No alien who is uncircumcised in heart and body is to enter my Sanctuary; none of those foreigners living among the Israelites.
The Levites who abandoned me when Israel strayed far from me and followed their idols must bear the weight of their own sin.
They are to serve in my Sanctuary, responsible for guarding the gates and tending to the house. They will kill the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and serve the people willingly.
But since they used to serve in front of their idols and caused Israel to sin, (and I have raised my hand against them) the Lord says—they must bear the responsibility for their sins.
They are never to approach me again, perform the priestly duties in my presence, or touch my sacred things, including my most holy items; they must bear the shame of their filthy practices.
I will allow them to work in the house, serve there, and do everything that needs to be done.
The Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who faithfully served me in the Sanctuary when the Israelites strayed far from me, may still approach me to serve. They can stand in my presence and offer me the fat and blood—it is the Lord who says this.
They may enter my Sanctuary and come near my table to serve me; they are to perform my liturgy.
Once they pass through the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen garments; they are not allowed to wear wool while serving inside the inner court and in the house.
They are to wear linen caps on their heads and linen breeches around their loins; they are not to wear belts that could make them sweat.
When they go out to the people in the outer court, they must remove the garments they wore during the liturgy and leave them in the rooms of the Holy Place. Then, they should put on other clothes so as not to sanctify the people with their vestments.
They are neither to shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but must cut their hair to a reasonable length.
No priest is allowed to drink wine on the day he enters the inner court.
They are not to marry widows or divorced women, but only virgins of the race of Israel; however, they may marry widows if the widow is of a priest.
They are to teach my people what is sacred and what is profane, and make them understand what is clean and what is unclean.
They are to serve as judges in disputes; they must judge according to my statutes; they are required to follow my laws and ordinances during all my festivals, and they must keep my Sabbaths holy.
They must not go near a dead person, to avoid becoming unclean, except for a father, mother, daughter, son, brother, or unmarried sister.
After one of them has been purified, they must wait seven days.
Then, on the day they enter the Sanctuary—the inner court—to serve in the Sanctuary—they are to offer their sin sacrifice, because the Lord declares it.
They are not to have any inheritance in Israel; I myself will be their inheritance. You are not to give them any patrimony in Israel; I myself will be their patrimony.
Their food must be the offering, the sacrifice for sin, and the sacrifice of repayment. Everything in Israel that is consecrated by anathema shall belong to them.
The best of all your firstfruits of every kind and of all that you offer should go to the priests; and you are also to give the best of your dough to the priests, so that a blessing may rest on your houses.
Priests are not to eat the flesh of anything that has died a natural death or been torn apart, neither the flesh of a bird nor of any other creature.
Commentaries
New Temple and New Land.
The new temple is designed to avoid past mistakes: it will be reinforced. It will have new boundaries to separate the holiness of the people and their land (42:20). Everything will be reorganized from the sanctuary (43:12). God is returning to dwell among His people. This time, it will be forever (43:7).
The Glory Returns.
It was necessary to clearly mark the boundary of the temple area and, within it, the most sacred space, isolating it as much as possible from any external defilement (43:7-9) because what follows is the return of the Lord’s Glory to the new temple (43:4f); the entrance of the Glory is victorious. If for Ezekiel the experience of exile ends with the departure of God’s Glory from Jerusalem, then the end of exile begins with the return of that same Glory to its original place. The prophet notes that having the temple of the Lord and the king’s palace in the same location led to the desecration of the sacred space; therefore, the new temple includes a designated sacred area to prevent any possible defilement (43:10-12).
The place where the Glory of God made its triumphal entrance, the eastern gate, will remain closed forever, symbolizing God’s decision never to abandon his people again (44:1-9). This permanence calls for careful attention to the character of those allowed to enter the temple, excluding the uncircumcised and foreigners (44:7-9).
The next step in preparing the environment for worship involves the quality of those who will perform this ministry (44:10-31). Ezekiel differentiates between the Levites, who have lost their status due to past infidelities and are nearly second-class servants, and the priests, the sons of Zadok, who have the privilege of entering the sanctuary and must adhere to the strictest standards of personal, ritual, and cultic purity.