Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezekiel 44:20

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Ezekiel 44:20. Neither shall they shave their heads — The priests of Isis shaved their heads close to the skin; the priests of Budhoo do so still, their ordinances oblige them to shave their heads every tenth day. To let the hair grow long would have been improper; therefore the Lord commands them to poll-cut the hair short, but not to shave.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Service in the temple (44:1-31)

Because the glory of God had entered the temple through the east gate of the outer court, no human being was considered worthy to enter by this gate. It therefore had always to be kept shut (44:1-2). The king, however, could eat his sacrificial meal in the vestibule that was on the inside of the east gate. He had to enter the temple compound by either the north or the south gate, then enter the vestibule from the courtyard side (3).

The presence of God’s glory in the temple meant that there were restrictions concerning those allowed to enter it. God did not want his temple to be defiled through the introduction of heathen practices (4-5). Therefore, only God’s covenant people could enter the temple. Foreigners were not allowed even to be employed as temple servants (6-9; cf. Joshua 9:23,Joshua 9:27; 2 Kings 11:4-8; 2 Kings 11:4-8).

Day to day duties in the temple, such as guarding its gates and helping with arrangements for the sacrifices, were to be carried out by the Levites along with those priests who were not of the family of Zadok. These non-Zadokite priests were excluded from higher responsibilities because of their idolatry in former days (10-14).
Zadokite priests, who were given full priestly responsibility, were to keep strictly all the laws concerning priests. They were not to allow anything connected with the sanctuary, not even the clothes they wore in the sanctuary, to be polluted through contact with people or things from the unclean world outside (15-19; cf. 42:14). In their appearance, habits, family life, purity and uprightness they were to be an example to the people of the true meaning of holiness (20-24). If for any reason they became ceremonially unclean, they had to go through the full purification rituals (25-27).
As in former days, priests were not to own any land. Their income and food supplies were to come from the various offerings of the people. However, the kind of food they ate was subject to the same restrictions as applied to the food of people in general (28-31).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. And Jehovah said unto me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut. As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before Jehovah; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah: and I fell upon my face. And Jehovah 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 Jehovah, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every egress of the sanctuary. And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add unto all your abominations. And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things; but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners that are among the children of Israel. But the Levites that went far from me, when Israel went astray, that went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and became a stumblingblock of iniquity unto the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord Jehovah, and they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall not come near unto me, to execute the office of priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, unto the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. 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 Jehovah: they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. And it shall be 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, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat. And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, that they sanctify not the people with their garments. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads. Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest. And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. And in a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to mine ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. And they shall go in to 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. And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord Jehovah. And they shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and ye shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. They shall eat the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every oblation of everything, of all your oblations, shall be for the priest: ye shall also give unto the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house. The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast."

The east gate is assigned to the priests (Ezekiel 44:1-3). The priesthood is reproved and condemned for their sins (Ezekiel 44:4-14). Next are given specific regulations for cleansing and purifying the priesthood (Ezekiel 44:15-31).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Regulations as to the priests’ services. The garments of the priests are defined and various rules prescribed in the Law are repeated with some additions in order to denote additional care to avoid uncleanness.

Ezekiel 44:18

The material of which the four vestments of the ordinary priest were made was “linen,” or, more accurately, “byssus,” the cotton stuff of Egypt. The two special qualities of the byssus - white and shining - are characteristic, and on them part of the symbolic meaning depended. Compare Revelation 19:8.

Ezekiel 44:19

They shall not sanctify the people - They shall not touch the people with their holy garments. The word “sanctify” is used because the effect of touching was to separate as holy the persons or things so touched (Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; compare Leviticus 6:18). The priests wore the distinctive dress, only while performing in the temple strictly sacrificial services.

The holy chambers; see Ezekiel 42:1 ff.

Ezekiel 44:22

Restrictions and exceptions intended to mark the holiness of the office of a priest, imposing on him additional (compare the marginal reference) obligations to purity, and communicating it in some degree to his wife. In the Christian Church all the members are “priests” 1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 20:6. Hence, the directions for maintaining the holiness of the “priesthood” in the new order, represent the necessity for holiness in all Christians, and the exclusion of the “uncircumcised in heart and in flesh” is equivalent to the exclusion of “all that defileth” from the New Jerusalem Revelation 21:27.

Ezekiel 44:24

There was in Herod’s Temple a council of priests, whose special duty it was to regulate every thing connected with the sanctuary. They did not ordinarily busy themselves with criminal questions, although they took a leading part in the condemnation of Jesus Mark 15:1.

Ezekiel 44:28

It shall be unto them - The remains of the sacrifices were a chief source of the priests’ support. The burnt-offerings being entirely consumed, the priests had the skins, which yielded a considerable revenue; meat-offerings and drink-offerings belonged entirely to them. sin-offerings and trepass-offerings, except in particular cases, also belonged to the priests and were partaken of in the temple. Of the peace-offerings a portion dedicated to the Lord by waving was left for the priests, and the rest eaten by the officers and their friends, either in the courts of the temple, or at least within Jerusalem. The kitchen-courts (K, Plan II Ezek. Ezekiel 46:21-24), were provided in order to prepare these public meals.

Ezekiel 44:30

Oblation - Offering, margin “heave-offering” (see Ezekiel 45:1; Exodus 25:2; Exodus 29:27; Notes and Pref. to Leviticus).

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 44

Now as we get to chapter 44, we come to a prophecy that is so often misinterpreted. And I must confess to you that I have often misinterpreted this prophecy. And as I read it more carefully and have read it more carefully this time, and this is one of the problems I have with this last portion of Ezekiel, that every time I read it I seem to see something else that I didn't quite understand before and my whole views have to change again.

But he brought me back to the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut ( Ezekiel 44:1 ).

Now, you go over to Jerusalem today and the east gate of the wall of Jerusalem is shut. It has been walled shut. There are big stones, and the gate is shut. And they will often point to this gate and declare to you that this gate being shut is actually the fulfillment of Ezekiel 44 . And that this gate is shut and it's going to be shut until the prince comes to enter through the gate. But if you'll read the whole thing carefully, you'll come to, first of all, the realization that the prince here is not Jesus Christ. For as we move along a little further, the prince has sons who he gives his inheritance to. The prince is mentioned some thirteen times here and he will be a prince, but not as we so often have thought of as Jesus Christ. The gate that is here shut is open for the prince. He uses it as an entry and as an exit, that is the gate towards the east, and it's only for his entrance into the court. Those others who come in come from the gates to the north and the south. But it is not the gate that is called today the Golden Gate on the east wall of the ancient wall of Jerusalem.

Now, the reason why that gate is closed and walled up is someone misinterpreted this prophecy a long time ago. Of the prince or the Messiah coming in through the east gate and they thought that they would hinder His coming by sealing up that gate towards the east. But as I read this more carefully, I find that this is the gate to the sanctuary. It will be in this new temple and it is the gate into the sanctuary itself, and thus cannot be that gate towards the east that you find blocked over there. And I suggest that you read this again more carefully. Now, I found this a great disappointment, because I love to point out that gate to the people and read to them this prophecy out of Ezekiel, and show to them how, "Look, it's sealed, it's shut, and it's going to remain that way until the Messiah the Prince enters in."

But the prince here is not referred to as the Messiah, nor is he referred to as David. Now in other places we do have the Prince David and the reference there and the prince definitely there is Jesus Christ. But this prince is never referred to as David here in the forty-fourth chapter onward. And it speaks much about the prince, and as I say it speaks of his sons to whom he gives an inheritance and his servants. And that pretty much precludes Jesus Christ as the prince.

But as we read it, "He brought me back to the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary and it looks toward the east; and it was shut."

Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it is not to 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 ( Ezekiel 44:2 ).

The glory of the Lord entered in by the east gate and for that reason it was to be shut.

But 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 the gate, and he shall go out by the way of the same. And then he brought me to 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 on my face ( Ezekiel 44:3-4 ).

So coming around to this gate to the north as Ezekiel looked in, even as the glory of the Lord filled the temple of Solomon, so the glory of the Lord filled the temple area, and Ezekiel falls upon his face.

And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say concerning all of the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all of the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary ( Ezekiel 44:5 ).

So he's told now by the Lord to make a careful account of this, mark it well.

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, In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, who were uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh ( Ezekiel 44:6-7 ),

Paul the apostle speaks about circumcision of the heart. And many times people who go through a ritual that has a symbolism soon begin to trust in the ritual, but there is no reality. And thus it is a meaningless ritual. The ritual of circumcision was actually to speak of a people who were not living after the flesh but living after the spirit. The cutting off of the flesh, and so it was the denial of the flesh life to live the life of the spirit. But the rite itself did not guarantee that. Many people who had gone through the rite of circumcision were still living after the flesh. And so the whole ritual was totally negated by the fact that they were living after the flesh.

Now the ritual of baptism is to signify that your old man was crucified and you're living the new life after Jesus Christ. The old man after the flesh is dead; he's buried in the waters of baptism and now you have a whole new life in the spirit. But the ritual is totally meaningless if after the baptism you are still living after the flesh, the old life of the flesh and after the nature of the old man. And I don't care how many ways or times you've been baptized; it's only a ritual and it becomes a meaningless ritual unless there is the reality that has been carried through in your life. And so the important thing is not if you've experienced the ritual, but have you experienced the reality of which the ritual is a symbol.

And so he speaks here of the uncircumcision of the heart and Paul picks that up in the book of Romans showing to the Jews that the rite of circumcision was totally negated by the fact that they were still living after the flesh, for God wants the circumcision of the heart, not of the flesh. And it's the circumcision of the heart that counts. That is, what has gone on within your heart is what really matters to God, not what you've done in outward rituals. And this is where people today who are trusting in rituals are in great danger. Because it could be just a meaningless thing that you have gone through. And the church has many rituals that become totally meaningless unless there is the corresponding reality in your life. The ritual means nothing apart from the reality that has happened in your life.

So you say, "Well, I take communion." So. "I've been baptized." So. Those are marvelous rituals. They are very meaningful rituals if the truth has been actualized in your own experience. But there are many people that are just trusting in the fact that they have taken the communion so my sins are washed. Or I've been baptized so I'm a new creature. But there's got to be a corresponding reality in our lives.

And so God is speaking against these that have come in before Him uncircumcised in their hearts and in their flesh. And so in this future temple there will be nothing allowed in that defiles or that is defiled.

Now there's an interesting thing to me as we get down to verse Ezekiel 44:17 .

It shall come to pass, that [that is when the priests] enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within ( Ezekiel 44:17 ).

So once they come into that inner court, the area where the priests came to minister to the Lord the offering and the sacrifices and so forth, there was to be only linen garments worn, no wool.

They shall have on linen bonnets upon their heads, linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causes sweat ( Ezekiel 44:18 ).

Now that to me is extremely interesting. God really doesn't want you to sweat when you're serving Him. But perspiration is quite often a sign of the lack of inspiration. And when you don't have inspiration quite often you need perspiration to get through. Now, Jesus said, "My yoke is easy; My burden is light" ( Matthew 11:30 ). One thing God never wants is that man complaining of his service or what he has given to God. That is why the New Testament teaches us that you are to determine in your own heart what you're to give. No one should be pressuring you, pushing you, exciting you to give. But every man should determine in his own heart that which he is going to give to the Lord and then he should give to God with a joyful heart or with a hilarious spirit. For God loves a hilarious giver. God wants you to be hilarious over everything you've given to Him. He never wants you to be begrudging or griping about what you've given. God doesn't want any service that requires sweat.

God doesn't want any complaining over what has been given to Him. Therefore, if you cannot give to God hilariously you would be better off not giving at all. Especially if you find yourself complaining or griping about what you have given to God. What an insult to God that I would go around complaining or griping about what I gave.

That is why we are extremely careful here never to try to excite people to give to God or even to encourage people to give to God. In fact, you notice you who were at the third service I think it was this morning when Mark was making the announcements after he said, "The ushers will now come to ta..receive the offering." I've told the young men, "Now look, we don't take offerings from people. We receive offerings." We'll be glad to receive what you want to give to God, but we're not going to take anything from you. We don't want to take anything from you. If you want to give to God we'll receive it, but it's completely up to you what God has laid upon your heart. There'll never be any pressures for pledges or anything else, because that is something between you and God. And when you give it to God, you should be giving it hilariously, happily, joyfully unto the Lord, and that the Lord accepts and will bless you for it. But He doesn't want you going out of here saying, "Ohhh, I don't know what I'm going to do. I've given so much to God. Ohhh." God just can't stand that, and He doesn't want that kind of giving. Nor does He want pressured service, where I'm under a pressure; I'm sweating as I'm serving God. So it's very significant to me that they are to wear only linen. They are not to wear anything that would cause sweat.

Now when they go out to the people then they change their garments. And the garments that they ministered in, they lay them there in the holy chambers.

Now neither are they to shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. Neither shall any priest drink wine, when he enters into the inner court ( Ezekiel 44:20-21 ).

Again, God does not want service under any false stimulant. We remember when the tabernacle was first erected there in the wilderness and the fire of God came and kindled the coals on the altar and the sacrifice was consumed. An exciting moment because here was spontaneous combustion. They had set the sacrifice upon the altar, they were ready to institute the whole thing when fire came from God and the altar was kindled. An exciting moment because the glory of God ascended upon the tabernacle. And all of the people fell on their faces when they saw this and it was a glorious, exciting moment. God manifested His presence in the midst of the people. And the two sons of Aaron grabbed their little censors and they put incense in them and they went to offer incense before the Lord, but they lit their censors with fire that God called strange fire. And the fire came out from the altar and the two sons of Aaron were killed, were consumed by the fire that came from the altar. And then the Lord in instructing Moses said, "Tell Aaron and his sons that they are not to drink wine when they come or before they come to offer before the Lord the sacrifice or when the come before the Lord to serve." Not to be drinking wine. Because God does not want service out of any kind of a false stimulant. God wants your mind to be totally clear. I know what I'm doing. I'm not being falsely stimulated as I am serving God.

I know that God has forgiven me, but I am guilty of having stimulated people to serve God with false stimulants. I used to offer to the children bicycles if they would bring so many to Sunday school. The one who brings the most will get a free trip to Disneyland. And I used to offer all kinds of incentives to get the kids to hustle their friends into Sunday school. And these incentives that I was offering to the children were actually false stimulants and I was guilty of offering these kind of false incentives for serving God. The only incentive that God wants you to serve Him with is the incentive of a heart of love. Paul said, "For the love of Christ constrains me." And the only real service that God will accept from you is that service that comes from a heart of love. That's the only stimulant any of us should ever need. We sing the chorus, "I will serve You because I love You," and that's what it's all about. That's the stimulant for serving God. God doesn't want you to serve Him under any other stimulant. He doesn't want you to serve Him in order that you might please the pastor or please the committee chairman, or please the board or whatever. He wants you to serve him only because you love Him. And that is why we have steered so totally away from any kind of contests or anything else that would create a false stimulant for people to serve God. That's why we never ask people to serve God.

So many times people come up and they say, "We've been coming to Calvary for a long time and we used to be involved in church and we love teaching Sunday school. How do you get to... how do you become a Sunday school teacher here?" And we say, "Well, you just found out. You have to ask." No one's going to come asking you putting a Sunday school book in your hand and saying, "Would you please teach our second graders in the third service?" If you want to serve the Lord there are plenty of opportunities for you to serve Him, but no one's going to be pressuring you or pushing you to do it. God's got to do that work in your heart and you're going to serve Him out of your love for Him. And that way we don't have to be kickin' everybody week by week to keep them going. We don't have to be pushing.

I went back to Lubbock, Texas and pastored... or not pastored, I ministered for a week or so in a southern Baptist church in Lubbock. And the pastor back there said something I thought was extremely interesting. He said, "We decided to let every program die a natural death." He said, "We decided to take off the artificial systems and let everything die that couldn't survive on its own. We weren't going to keep things going with artificial support systems." He said, "We've been doing that for too many years." And they just allowed all of the programs in the church to die that just didn't carry with their own momentum. I thought that was extremely wise. Pretty much we do the same thing here. We do not have any artificial life support systems by which we're keeping any programs alive. And we're very blunt and plain about it. If God wants something to go it'll go. He's able to make it go and we're not going to try and push it when God's trying to kill it. Let it die a natural death with dignity and don't keep the thing going with these artificial supports.

So the priests were not to drink any wine when they entered into the inner court. And their wives,

They were not to take a wife who was a widow, nor her who had been divorced: but they shall take maidens [or virgins] from the house of Israel, or a widow whose husband was a priest. And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane ( Ezekiel 44:22-23 ),

This is something that we were talking about this morning, how important it is for us to discern between what is holy and what is profane. And that's the ministry of the priests. They were to cause them, the people, to discern these things.

In any controversies they would stand in judgment; and judge according to my judgments: they shall keep my laws and statutes in all my assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths ( Ezekiel 44:24 ).

And it goes on to give the laws and all respecting the priests there in the Kingdom Age.

They shall not receive any inheritance; for the LORD is their inheritance ( Ezekiel 44:28 ):

Much as the priests were at the time of Joshua when they came into the land. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Zadokite priests 44:15-31

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

When the priests went into the outer court they would first have to change their clothes in the rooms designated for that purpose (Ezekiel 42:1-14) so they would not transmit what was holy to what was common (cf. Leviticus 6:11). Contact with holy things consecrated those things and brought them under the restrictions governing holy things (cf. Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; Leviticus 6:27; Haggai 2:12). They were also to keep their hair trimmed, not let it grow long or shave it all off. Long hair signified mourning, and pagan, idolatrous priests used to shave all their hair off as a sign of mourning (cf. Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:5-6; Leviticus 21:10).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Neither shall they shave their heads,.... As the priests and worshippers of Isis and Serapis did, as Jerom on the text observes; and as the Romish priests now do, from whom the Lord's faithful ministers must be distinguished:

nor suffer their locks to grow long; as the Nazarites, that a distinction might be preserved between those who were and were not such; or rather, after the manner of women, their locks hanging down, and flowing about their shoulders, as a token of levity, wantonness, effeminacy, pride, and vanity; see 1 Corinthians 11:14:

they shall only poll their heads; observe a medium between both; neither shave their heads close, nor let their hair grow long, but keep it in an even moderate length; for which reason godly men of the last age among us were called "round heads".

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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,Ezekiel 44:17; Ezekiel 44:18. 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, Ezekiel 44:19; Ezekiel 44:19, as before, Ezekiel 42:14; Ezekiel 42:14. 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, Ezekiel 42:14; Ezekiel 42:14), 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 (Ezekiel 44:20; Ezekiel 44:20): 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 (1 Corinthians 11:14); 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, Ezekiel 44:21; Ezekiel 44:21. It is not for kings to drink wine, more than will do them good, much less for priests. See Leviticus 10:9; Proverbs 31:4; Proverbs 31:5.

      IV. Concerning their marriages, Ezekiel 44:22; Ezekiel 44:22. 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 (Ezekiel 44:23; Ezekiel 44:23): 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 (Deuteronomy 17:8; Deuteronomy 17:9); and in controversy they shall stand in judgment,Ezekiel 44:24; Ezekiel 44:24. 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, Leviticus 21:1; Leviticus 21:11. A priest shall not come near any dead body (for they must be purified from dead works) except of his next relations, Ezekiel 44:25; Ezekiel 44:25. 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, Ezekiel 44:26; Ezekiel 44:27. 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 (Ezekiel 44:28; Ezekiel 44:28): "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 (Ezekiel 48:10; Ezekiel 48:10), 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, Ezekiel 44:20; Ezekiel 44:20. 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 Leviticus 27:1-34. (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, 1 Corinthians 16:2. 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,Ezekiel 44:31; Ezekiel 44:31. 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 (Ezekiel 44:30; Ezekiel 44:30), 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, Proverbs 3:33. 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.