Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 44:2
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.
The Lord hath entered in – See Eze 43:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. This gate shall be shut] It was not to be opened on ordinary occasions, nor at all on the week days: but only on the Sabbaths and the new moons. See the account of the gates (4) in the explanation of the plan. See Clarke on Eze 48:35.
This verse has been adduced by the Roman Catholics to prove the perpetual virginity of the mother of our Lord; and it may be allowed to be as much to the purpose as any other that has been brought to prove this very precarious point, on which no stress should ever be laid by any man. Mary was a virgin when she brought forth Jesus.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Likely the prophet was somewhat surprised, and wondered that the door should be shut; and while he museth on it the Lord speaks to him out of the temple, and informs him, and satisfieth him.
Shall not be opened, i.e. shall not ordinarily stand open, but be shut till occasion requires it should sometimes be opened.
No man; none of the common ordinary sort of people, or none but the prince, Gods vicegerent, and the ministering priests.
The God of Israel hath entered in: what was the glory of the God of Israel, Eze 43:2, is here
the Lord, the God of Israel, that glory was the visible sign of his presence. His glory is himself, and where that entered he entered, i.e. gave evidence of a more than ordinary presence there.
It shall be shut; either kept shut with bars, or, by a prohibition, be as if it were shut, that none should enter thereby.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. shut . . . not be opened(Job 12:14; Isa 22:22;Rev 3:7). “Shut” to thepeople (Exo 19:21; Exo 19:22),but open to “the prince” (Eze44:3), he holding the place of God in political concerns, as thepriests do in spiritual. As a mark of respect to an Eastern monarch,the gate by which he enters is thenceforth shut to all other persons(compare Ex 19:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said the Lord unto me, this gate shall be shut,…. In time to come, as Jarchi interprets it, in the latter day; it was shut, and it should continue to be shut:
it shall not be opened; any more; though it has been, yet hereafter no more:
and no man shall enter in by it, into the house of the Lord,
because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it; the same with the glory of the God of Israel, Eze 43:2:
therefore it shall be shut; no one being to enter after him. Various are the sentiments of expositors concerning this gate. Some of the ancients have interpreted it of the Virgin Mary, by whom Christ came into this world in human nature, being born of her, a virgin, who had never known man, and as is thought never did after the birth of Christ; nor were any afterwards born of her; no man might come into the world by her, by that self-same way the incarnate God did, and for that reason. This sense is approved of, not only by Papists, but by many Protestant writers. Others understand it of the Scriptures, the word of God, which as it is a sealed book to men learned and unlearned, so a gate shut up; it cannot be opened by a mere natural man, or be understood by the light of nature; none can open it but the Lion of the tribe of Judah; who gives the spiritual knowledge of it to whom he pleases, the perfect knowledge of which is reserved to a future state; and there are some things in it which will be always shut, and ever secrets; as the modus of the subsistence of the three Persons in the Godhead; the generation of the Son, the procession of the Spirit, and the union of the two natures in Christ; see Isa 29:11, others think that the gate of heaven, or the way to eternal glory and happiness, is meant; which was shut by the sin of man, and could never be opened again by any mere man; but Christ by his blood has opened the way into it; and has entered into it, not as a private, but public person, representing all his people; and none but those that belong to him, that are members of him, shall enter there; as none but Christ personal, so none but Christ mystical: but I am rather of opinion, since this whole fabric, as we have seen, is an emblem of the church of Christ on earth in the latter day, the way into that is designed here; and its being shut signifies, that, as the church is a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, and is only for the use of Christ, and should be a chaste virgin to him, he should have all her heart, affection, and faith; so it should not be pervious unto others; no natural or unregenerate man should enter into it; and when the Lord shall have taken up his residence in the church in the latter day, in a more spiritual and glorious manner than ever, there shall no more come into her the uncircumcised and the unclean,
Isa 52:1, and especially in the New Jerusalem state nothing shall enter that defiles, or makes an abomination, or a lie, Re 21:27 none but those that are Christ’s, that are true members of his, and one with him; and this sense agrees with what follows in this chapter, and receives light and confirmation thereby; in which the Lord complains of the Israel and church of God in these its present declining times, that unregenerate persons were admitted into the sanctuary of the Lord, to communicate with the saints, and officiate there, Eze 44:7 and commends such who are faithful ministers and members, who are established therein, Eze 44:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) Hath entered in by it.See Eze. 43:1-2. The thought is, that the gate which had been sanctified by such a manifestation of the Divine presence, should not afterwards be used for the ordinary purposes of the entrance of the people.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 44:2. Therefore it all be shut This is very ill pointed, and improperly separated from the third verse. It should be read thus, Therefore it shall be shut for the prince. Eze 44:3. The same prince shall fit in it, &c. See chap. Eze 46:1-3 and Houbigant. The kings of Judah had a distinguished place in the temple; a kind of tribunal, placed opposite the eastern gate. See ch. Eze 46:12. 2Ch 6:12-13.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 44:2 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.
Ver. 2. This gate shall be shut. ] Is, and shall be, save only to Messiah the Prince, and to whomsoever he, as having the keys of David, shall open it. “This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter” Psa 118:20 – sc., By that “new and living way,” which Christ, their forerunner, Heb 6:20 hath prepared and paved for them with his own blood. Heb 10:20 See Heb 7:8-9 ; Heb 7:11-12 ; Heb 7:24 ; Heb 9:11-12 .
And no man shall enter in it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
man. Hebrew ‘ish. App-14. Therefore the prince of Eze 44:3 is more than man: either the risen David, or the Messiah Himself’.
the God of Israel. See note on Isa 29:23,
God. Hebrew. Elohim, App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
because: Eze 43:2-4, Exo 24:10, Isa 6:1-5
Reciprocal: 2Ki 11:5 – the watch 1Ch 9:18 – the king’s 2Ch 23:5 – the king’s house Eze 43:4 – came Eze 46:1 – shall be shut Eze 47:2 – northward
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 44:2. Eze 43:4 gives us the reason the east gate was shut; and it is so stated here. The Lord is the One whose right it is to use that gate, and it was to be closed t.o the people in general,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
44:2 Then said the LORD to me; This gate shall be {a} 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.
(a) Meaning, from the common people, but not from the priests nor the prince, read Eze 46:8-9 .