That gate – The eastern gate of the inner court. See Eze 46:2.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Shall enter into the gate of the court next the temple to offer his sacrifice.

Go in by the way of the porch; go to the threshold, the inward threshold of the east gate, that opens into the court of the temple.

Go forth by the way thereof; none of the people might do so, only the prince and the priests might go out the same way they came in.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate,…. [See comments on Eze 46:2];

and he shall go forth by the way thereof; the same way he came in, he shall go out; not so the people; and, to introduce the manner of their going in and out, this is repeated concerning the prince.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

On the Opening of the Temple for the People, and for the Voluntary Offerings of the Prince. – Eze 46:8. And when the prince cometh, he shall go in by the way to the porch of the gate, and by its way shall he go out. Eze 46:9. And when the people of the land come before Jehovah on the feast days, he who enters through the north gate to worship shall go out through the south gate; and he who enters through the south gate shall go out through the north gate: they shall not return through the gate through which they entered, but go out straight forward. Eze 46:10. And the prince shall enter in the midst of them, when they enter; and when they go out, they shall go out (together). Eze 46:11. And at the feast days and holy days the meat-offering shall be an ephah for the bullock, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs what his hand may give, and of oil a hin for the ephah. Eze 46:12. And when the prince prepares a voluntary burnt-offering or voluntary peace-offerings to Jehovah, they shall open the gate that looks to the east, and he shall prepare his burnt-offerings and his peace-offering as he does on the Sabbath day; and when he has gone out they shall shut the gate after his going out. – The coming of the people to worship before Jehovah has been already mentioned in Eze 46:3, but only causally, with reference to the position which they were to take behind the prince in case any individuals should come on the Sabbaths or new moons, on which they were not bound to appear. At the high festivals, on the other hand, every one was to come (Deu 16:16); and for this there follow the necessary directions in Eze 46:9 and Eze 46:10, to prevent crowding and confusion. For the purpose of linking these directions to what comes before, the rule already laid down in Eze 46:2 concerning the entrance and exit of the prince is repeated in Eze 46:8. is supposed by the commentators to refer to the high festivals of the first and seventh months (Eze 45:21 and Eze 45:25); but does not apply to the same feasts as those which are called in Eze 46:11, as we may see from the combination of and . is the term applied to the greater annual feasts, as distinguished from the Sabbaths, new moons, and the day of atonement. The , on the contrary, are all the times and days sanctified to the Lord, including even the Sabbath (see the comm. on Lev 23:2). It is in this sense that is used here in Eze 46:9, and not , because what is laid down concerning the entrance and exit of the people, when visiting the temple, is not merely intended to apply to the high festivals, on which the people were bound to appear before Jehovah, but also to such feast days as the Sabbaths and new moons, whenever individuals from among the people were desirous of their own free-will to worship before the Lord. The latter cases were not to be excluded, although, as Eze 46:10 clearly shows, the great feasts were principally kept in mind. For the entrance and exit of the prince in the midst of the people (Eze 46:10) apply to the great yearly feasts alone. The Chetib yeetsee’uw in Eze 46:9 is to be preferred to the easier Keri , and is not merely the more difficult reading, but the more correct reading also, as two kinds of people are mentioned, – those who entered by the north gate and those who entered by the south. Both are to go out walking straight forward; and neither of them is to turn in the court for the purpose of going out by the gate through which he entered. Even in Eze 46:10 is not to be altered, as Hitzig supposes, but to be taken as referring to the prince and the people. – In Eze 46:11, the instructions given in Eze 45:24; Eze 46:5, Eze 46:7, concerning the quantities composing the meat-offering for the different feasts, are repeated here as rules applicable to all festal times. has been correctly explained as follows: “at the feasts, and generally at all regular (more correctly, established) seasons,” cf. Eze 45:17. Only the daily sacrifices are excepted from this rule, other regulations being laid down for them in Eze 46:14. – Eze 46:12. The freewill-offerings could be presented on any week-day. And the rules laid down in Eze 46:1 and Eze 46:2 for the Sabbath-offerings of the prince are extended to cases of this kind, with one modification, namely, that the east gate, which had been opened for the occasion, should be closed again as soon as the sacrificial ceremony was over, and not left open till the evening, as on the Sabbath and new moon. is a substantive: the freewill-offering, which could be either a burnt-offering or a peace-offering.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

4. The entrance and exit of worshipers (46:810)

TRANSLATION

(8) And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof. (9) But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the appointed feasts, he that enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate; and he that enters by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth straight before him. (10) Arid the prince, when they go in, shall go in the midst of them; and when they go forth, they shall go forth together.

COMMENTS

On the sabbath and new moon the prince was allowed to enter by the porch of the east gateway and leave by the same way (Eze. 46:8). But in the appointed seasons (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles)[537] when the crowds were numerous the worshipers were required to enter the outer court by one of the side gates and leave by the gate on the opposite side. This made for orderly flow of traffic across the inner court (Eze. 46:9). On these occasions the prince would have no special privileges. He was to enter and depart by the gates with the worshipers (Eze. 46:10). Perhaps this served to underscore the fact that all worshipers stand on equal footing before God.

[537] On these festivals every male Israelite was required to appear at the Temple.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

8-10. Even the way by which the prince and people shall enter and depart from the sacrificial gateway has a religious significance the full import of which we cannot now catch. (See note Eze 46:4-7.) To suppose that this regulation was merely to avoid a throng is to go contrary to the analogy of similar regulations in all other ancient rituals. The ordinary text (Eze 46:10) seems to declare that the prince and people should enter and leave the place of sacrifice at the same time which would compel the prince to meet the entire throng as he attempted to leave by the same gate at which he had entered the temple (Eze 46:8). Perhaps the Syriac is correct in reading, as quoted by Davidson, “But the prince in their midst, by the gate at which he came in shall he go out.” The fact of the inner gate being left open after the prince had completed his acts of worship (Eze 46:2) would suggest the probability that other worshipers (“the people”) were to pass by the sacred doorway and look upon the sacrifices after the prince had left the temple. It seems improbable that the prince and the people should have been put upon such an equality as the A.V. would indicate, and especially improbable that the prince should have been compelled by the law to beat against the crowd when he attempted to leave the sacred place (Eze 46:8; Eze 46:10, A.V.).

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“And when the prince enters he will go in by way of the porch of the gate, and he will go out by that way.”

The prince’s right of entry and exit to the east gateway is restricted. His access and exit is by the porch of the gate and that alone. That way he avoids treading in the inner court.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eze 46:8 And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of [that] gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.

Ver. 8. He shall go in by the way of the porch. ] This was the prince’s privilege, that, as likewise the priests, he might go in and go out at the same east gate. It is fit that the word and sword should hold together, and that magistrates and ministers should be singular in holiness.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

he shall go: Eze 46:2, Eze 44:1-3, Col 1:18

Reciprocal: Eze 44:3 – for Eze 46:12 – open him

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Eze 46:8. The Lord was particular about some apparently incidental matters. The prince was told by what gate he should enter and leave the building.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eze 46:8-10. He shall go in by the porch of that gate To go in at the eastern gate was the privilege of the prince and the priests only; the people were to enter in by the north or south gates, as is mentioned in the following verse. He that entereth in by the way of the north gate, shall go out by the way of the south, &c. These words imply the reason why the people were not to come in at the east gate, because, there being no passage or thoroughfare out of the temple westward, if they had entered in at the east gate, they must have returned back the same way they came in, which would have occasioned a vast throng and hinderance, considering the multitude that came to the temple. And perhaps this order was also designed to take away any superstitious distinction between the several gates of the temple, by commanding that every one should go out the opposite way to that by which he came in, whether it were toward the north or south. And the prince in the midst of them The prince shall pay the same attendance upon Gods worship with the people, since all men are equal in the sight of God.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The prince would enter the inner gate complex and leave it using the vestibule, which faced the outer court (cf. Eze 40:31). Undoubtedly the priests will use the tables in the vestibule of this gate complex and the tables in the outer court near it to prepare these offerings (cf. Eze 40:39-43).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)