Ezekiel 44: Whole Chapter Commentary

 


1: Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east and it was shut 2: And he YHWH is saying to me

 This gate shall be shut It shall not be opened and no one ua-ish shall enter in by it because YHWH ELOHIM alei of Israel has entered in by it therefore it shall be shut

Notes: Ezekiel 44:2 is an instance where the masculine word iysh is not used exclusively of the male sex and correctly translates as no one rather than no man.

YHWH ELOHIM of Israel will pass through the east gate of the millennial temple when the resurrected man, Christ Jesus (God who became flesh and dwelt among us) returns and enters through that gate.

3: It is for THE PRINCE. THE PRINCE, he shall sit in it to eat of—to eat of—bread to faces Godhead of YHWH he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate and shall go out by the way of the same

Notes: BB / RR Three of the most well-known titles of the Most High God, including YHWH Jehovah, are PLURAL; that’s why he has faces. This refers to the Godhead. The Rabbis understood THE PRINCE as referring to Messiah. They also understood that when Messiah came, he would be YHWH ELOHIM in the flesh. The One who Inhabits Eternity Isaiah 57:15 is the same as the ruler who will come out of Bethlehem Micah 5:2 whose goings forth are from before time aforetime and days of eon eternity. Jesus is YHWH ELOHIM.

Jesus is the one who inhabits eternity, God incarnate, the resurrected human, Messiah, THE PRINCE of Peace. Ezekiel 44:2-3 says that YHWH ELOHIM, THE PRINCE, shall enter the east gate and leave by it.

Messiah THE PRINCE is YHWH ELOHIM John 1:1, Colossians 2:9. Messiah shall sit in the Gate to eat bread to the faces of the triune God, who is YHWH ELOHIM, our ADONAI All three of these titles are plural.

Sitting in the Gate was what ancient rulers/elders did to hear the people and pass judgments. Will the Judge of All the Earth also hold the Judgment of the Nations at the East Gate? Is this the place where every knee shall bow to Israel as head nation Deuteronomy 28:13 / Isaiah 2:2-3, 60:12-14  and to Yahshua/ Iēsous and confess that he is YHWH ELOHIM—ADONAI—to the glory of God the Father? Isaiah 45:23/Romans 14:11 / Philippians 2:9-11

Alternatively: If the prince in Ezekiel 45:7 is the same person as THE PRINCE in Ezekiel 44:3, then he cannot be Messiah, as the prince in Ezekiel 46:17 has sons.

4: Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house and I looked and behold the glory of YHWH filled the house of YHWH and I am falling to faces of me

Notes: 'Âdâm humanity is created in the triune image of ELOHIYM The Godhead / Genesis chapter one. 'Âdâm humanity is body soul and spirit. Every mortal is a triune being, made in the image of a triune God. Therefore, it is entirely correct for the word faces, when used of only one person to be plural, as in Ezekiel 44:4, when used of the man Ezekiel.

5: And YHWH said unto me Son of mortals 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 YHWH and all the laws thereof and mark well the entering in of the house with every going forth of the sanctuary 6: And you shall say to the rebellious even to the house of Israel Thus saith the ADONAI YHWH O ye house of Israel let it suffice you of all your abominations 7: In that you have brought into my sanctuary strangers uncircumcised in heart Psalm 51 and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuary to pollute it even my house when you offer my bread the fat and the blood and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations 8: And you have not kept the charge of my holies qadoshi [holy things?] but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves 9: Thus says ADONAI YHWH No stranger uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my sanctuary of any stranger that is among the children of Israel 10: And the Levites :15 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 servants in my sanctuary having charge at the gates of the house and serving to the house they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people and they shall stand before them to serve them 12: Because they served them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into depravity Because of this have I lifted up mine hand against them saith ADONAI YHWH and they shall bear their iniquity 13: And they sons of Aaron 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 holy place of the HOLY ONES Godhead Cooke Jocelyn Andersen: The Six Purposes of Daniel's 70 Weeks: Purpose 6

but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed 14: But I will make them Sons on Aaron :15 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 serve me and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood declares ADONAI YHWH  Malachi 3:3 16: They shall enter into my sanctuary and they shall come near to my table to serve me and they shall keep my charge 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 serve 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 anything that causeth sweat 19: 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 served 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 Num 6 they shall only trim their heads

Comment: Shaving heads and growing hair long are holy things reserved for taking the Nazarite Vow (Numbers 6:5). Sampson was a life-long Nazarite. That's why he lost his strength after cutting his hair. It broke the vow. It is likely that Samuel and John the baptizer were Nazarites as well. It is probable that Anna the prophetess took the vow of the Nazarite before entering life-long service in the temple. She was respected in the beginning as a Nazarite and later as a prophetess.

21: Neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court

Comment: Wine is not forbidden to believers, only that they not over-indulge and that they not imbibe while doing the work of the ministry.


22: Neither shall they
The priests take for their wives a widow nor her that is driven out but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel or a widow that had a priest before

Comment: This instruction is for the sons of Zadok only. It is perfectly Ok for any other man to marry a widow or one who has been divorced. In Israel, every woman who was put away (driven out) was not divorced and free to marry. Husbands often by-passed the expense of the divorce settlement by driving out one wife and taking another without freeing the rejected wife. Moses, because of the hardness of these men’s hearts, allowed for divorce Mark 10:2-9. But Moses did not allow putting away a wife without divorcing her (and divorce in Israel included a divorce settlement). Wives, who were driven out without divorce settlements, were forced to live as though they were divorced but with no support from their treacherous husbands Malachi 2:15-16. If the wife who was driven out married another, she and her new “spouse” would, in the eyes of God, be guilty of adultery Luke 16:18. But wives who were divorced were free to marry.


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

Comment: Some denominations forbid women to cut their hair, but, according to Ezekiel, it is not a sin for women to cut their hair. It is just the opposite. It is a sin for anyone not to refrain from cutting or trimming their hair.  Aside from taking a Nazarite vow, it is sinful (in not recognizing that which is holy) to grow hair long without ever trimming it. Additionally, the Nazarite vow was for both women and men (Numbers 6:2). 

Women taking a Nazarite vow are required to shave their heads at the beginning and end of each vow, just as men are. Both men and women are forbidden to cut their hair during the vow. But, also, both men and women are forbidden to apply the holy practice (of not cutting hair) in a common way—forbidden to apply the holy practice of growing hair without cutting or trimming as a common every-day practice. 

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 sons of Zadok 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 serve in the sanctuary he shall offer his sin offering declares ADONAI YHWH 28: And it shall be unto them for an inheritance I am their inheritance and ye shall give them no possession in [millennial] 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 sons of Zadok 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 anything that is dead of itself or torn whether it be fowl or beast

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