10<\/strong>. And the Levites<\/em> ] But the Levites which went away far from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity<\/strong>, 11 and shall be ministers<\/strong> &c. The clause “they shall be ministers” explains how these Levites shall bear their iniquity they shall be degraded from the priestly office and reduced to the place of subordinate servants. To “bear iniquity” is to bear the penalty of it, ch. Eze 4:4<\/span>. On “idols,” ch. Eze 6:4<\/span>.<\/p>\n which went astray<\/em> ] Most naturally refers to Israel, cf. Eze 44:15<\/em><\/span>; though it might refer to the Levites, cf. Eze 48:11<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 10<\/span>. And the Levites that are gone away far from me<\/B><\/I>] This refers to the schism of Jeroboam, who, when he set up a new worship, got as many of the priests and Levites to join him in his idolatry as he could. These, on the return from the captivity, should not be permitted to perform the functions of priests<\/I> in the new temple; but they might be continued as keepers of all the<\/I> charge of the house<\/I>-be treasurers, guards of the temple, porters, c. see Eze 44:11-15<\/span>. The whole of these passages refer to the period of time when the second temple was built.<\/P> <\/p>\n The Levites; <\/B>priests intended here, and indeed the sons or posterity of them are here intended; for this apostacy among them was elder than the eldest of them all. <\/P> Far from me:<\/B> idolaters go far from God, for they depart as an adulterous wife from her husband; their hearts and affections are far from God, they fall to heathenish idolatry. <\/P> When Israel went astray:<\/B> it may be worth our while to inquire what time, or near what time, this was. I doubt Baal-peor, Num 25<\/span>, or from Solomons time, when there was somewhat of this sin among the priests. But of Rehoboams time it is said, 2Ch 12:1<\/span>, all Israel forsook the law of the Lord<\/I>. And in Ahazs time, when the altar at Damascus so pleased him and the high priest Uriah, that presently an altar like that is made and set up between Gods house and altar; and orders, or, in our language, injunctions, from the king to the high priest, and from him to the inferior priests and Levites, who obey, 2Ki 16:16<\/span>; and Manasseh carried the apostacy higher. Now account from any of these; from the last of them to the first return out of captivity is one hundred and fourteen years, to which we must add the twenty-five years which each priest must be ere they enter the priests office, it will amount to one hundred and thirty-nine years, and to these add forty-four ere this temple was repaired, it will be one hundred and eighty-three years too great an age for any of the priests to be of; therefore, as I said, the priests that are now degraded are the children of those apostate priests who were (as Zec 1:5<\/span>,6<\/span>, said of the fathers) dead. <\/P> They shall bear their iniquity; <\/B>shall bear the punishment of this their apostacy, be debased to meanest services, subjected to others, and be deprived for ever ministering at the altar. So 2Ki 23:8<\/span>,9<\/span>; and so God executed his threat against Elis house, 1Sa 2:13<\/span>. <\/P> <\/p>\n 10, 11. Levites . . . shall . . .bear<\/B>namely, the punishment of <\/P> their iniquity . . . Yet theyshall be ministers<\/B>So Mark, a Levite,<\/I> nephew of Barnabas(Ac 4:36<\/span>), was punished by Paulfor losing an opportunity of bearing the cross of Christ, and yet wasafterwards admitted into his friendship again, and showed his zeal(Act 13:13<\/span>; Act 15:37<\/span>;Col 4:10<\/span>; 2Ti 4:11<\/span>).One may be a believer, and that too in a distinguished place, and yetlose some special honorbe acknowledged as pious, yet be excludedfrom some dignity [BENGEL].<\/P> charge at the gates<\/B>Betterto be “a doorkeeper in the house of God, than to dwell in thetents of wickedness” (Ps84:10<\/span>). Though standing as a mere doorkeeper, it is in the house<\/I>of God, which hath foundations: whereas he who dwells<\/I> with thewicked, dwells in but shifting tents.<\/I><\/P><\/p>\n And the Levites that are gone away far from me<\/strong>,…. These Levites were priests, as appears from Eze 44:13<\/span>, who professed themselves Gospel preachers, ministers of the reformed churches; but departed from the reformation principles; erred from the faith; and either mixed it with the doctrines of men, or wholly dropped, concealed, or dissembled it; departed from the word of God, as the rule of faith and practice; and set up their own reason as their guide in matters of religion; were gone off from the pure worship of God and his ordinances, and entirely neglected the discipline of his house:<\/p>\n when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols<\/strong>; though there may be an allusion to some apostasy of literal Israel, under the Old Testament, and from whence language may be borrowed to express this; either to the Israelites joining themselves to Baalpeor in the fields of Moab, in the time of Phinehas, who was zealous and faithful to the Lord, from whom Zadok descended after mentioned: or to the defection in the times of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, when all Israel forsook the word of the Lord: or to the times of Ahaz, when Uriah the priest made an altar like to that at Damascus by the king’s order; and which idolatrous practices increased in the times of Manasseh; when, no doubt, many of the priests and Levites, either through fear of kings, or on account of gain, and for the sake of their livelihood, departed from the Lord and his worship: but the reference is to a defection in the times of the New Testament, and in the latter days of those times; not to the falling away of the church of Rome, and its departure from the faith and order of the Gospel, predicted 2Th 2:3<\/span>, though, no doubt, some truly godly ministers have been carried away with the errors of that church, and afterwards restored, as these Levites: but the case here referred to is the declension in the reformed churches; their formality; their great imperfection in the service of God; their departure from the doctrine of faith they once heard and received, which they are called upon to repent of; their defiling themselves with superstition and will worship, and going after the idols of their own hearts, corrupt reason, the doctrines and inventions of men, and carnal rites and ceremonies; see Re 3:1<\/span>:<\/p>\n they shall even bear their iniquity<\/strong>; that is, the Levites, priests, or ministers; they shall bear the shame and disgrace, when they come to see their errors, and the punishment and chastisement of their sin, of which hereafter.<\/p>\n Idolatrous Priests Degraded.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 574.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 10 And the Levites 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 ministers in my sanctuary, having<\/I> charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. 12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD<\/B>, and they shall bear their iniquity. 13 And they 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 most holy place:<\/I> but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 14 But I will make them 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 minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD<\/B>: 16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.<\/P> The Master of the house, being about to set up house again, takes account of his servants the priests, and sees who are fit to be turned out of their places and who to be kept in, and takes a course with them accordingly.<\/P> I. Those who have been treacherous are degraded and put lower those Levites–or priests who were carried down the stream of the apostasy of Israel formerly, who went astray from God after their idols<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 10<\/span>), who had complied with the idolatrous kings of Israel or Judah, who ministered to them before their idols<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>), bowed with them in the house of Rimmon, or set up altars for them, as Urijah did for Ahaz, and so caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity,<\/I> led them to sin and hardened them in sin; for, if the priests go astray, many will follow their pernicious ways.<\/I> Perhaps in Babylon some of the Jewish priests had complied with the idolaters of the place, to the great scandal of their religion. Now these priests who had thus prevaricated were justly put under the mark of God’s displeasure; or, if they were dead (as it is probable that they were, if the crime were committed before the captivity), the iniquity was visited upon their children. Or perhaps it was the whole family of Abiathar that had been guilty of this trespass, which was now called to account for it. And, 1. They are sentenced to be deprived, in part, of their office, and from the dignity of priests are put down into the condition or ordinary Levites. God has lifted up his hand against them,<\/I> has said it, and sworn it, that they shall bear their iniquity<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>); assuredly they shall suffer for it, shall suffer disgrace for it; they shall bear their shame<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 13<\/span>), for though they have (we charitably hope) repented of it, yet they shall not come near to do the office of a priest,<\/I> that is, those parts of the office that were peculiar to them, they shall not come near to any of the holy things<\/I> within the sanctuary, v.<\/I><\/span> 13<\/span>. Note, those who have robbed God of his honour will justly be deprived of their honour. And it is really a great punishment to be forbidden to come near to God; and justly might those who have once gone away from him be rejected as unworthy ever to come near to him and put at an everlasting distance. 2. Yet there is a mixture of mercy in this sentence. God deals not in severity, as he might have done, with those who had dealt treacherously with him, but mitigates the sentence, Eze 44:11<\/span>; Eze 44:14<\/span>. They are deprived but in part, ab officio–of their office,<\/I> and, it should seem, not at all beneficio–of their emoluments.<\/I> They shall help to slay the sacrifice,<\/I> which the Levites were permitted to do, and which in this temple was done, not at the altar, but at the tables,<\/I> ch.<\/span> xl. 29<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. They shall be porters at the gates of the house,<\/I> and they shall be keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof.<\/I> Note, Those who may not be fit to be employed in one kind of service may yet be fit to be employed in another; and even those who have offended may yet be made use of, and not quite thrown aside, much less thrown away.<\/P> II. Those who have been faithful are honoured and established, Eze 44:15<\/span>; Eze 44:16<\/span>. These are remarkably distinguished from the other: “But the sons of Zadok,<\/I> who kept their integrity in a time of general apostasy, who went not astray<\/I> when others did, they shall come near to me, shall come near to my table.<\/I>” Note, God will put marks of honour upon those who give proofs of their fidelity and constancy to him in shaking trying times, and will employ those in his service who have kept close to his service when others deserted it and drew back. And it ought to be reckoned a true and great reward of stability in duty to be established in it. If we keep close to God, God will keep us close to him.<\/P> <\/p>\n (10) And the Levites that are gone away.<\/strong>The connection between this and the preceding verse is made clearer by translating the first words, Yea, even; not only the uncircumcised in heart among the heathen are to be excluded from the sanctuary, but even the Levites who had apostatised are to bear their guilt. Levites<\/em> is here used (see Eze. 44:13<\/span>), as often, emphatically of the Levitical priests. At the great schism of the northern kingdom these had remained true to the worship of Jehovah (2Ch. 11:13<\/span>); but in the subsequent general religious declension many of them, as has appeared from Ezekiel 8<\/span>, had fallen into idolatry. Such priests are to be allowed, like the priests under the law who had any physical blemish (Lev. 21:17-23<\/span>), to minister in the more menial offices of the priesthood, but not to approach the altar (Eze. 44:11-14<\/span>).<\/p>\n The Non-Zadokite Priests Are to Be Excluded From the Inner Sanctuary Because of Their Previous Participation In Idolatry ( Eze 44:10-14<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n “But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will 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 will slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them. It is because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumblingblock of iniquity to the house of Israel, that I have therefore lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord Yahweh, “And they will bear their iniquity. And they will not come near to me to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things which are most holy. But they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. Yet I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all its service, and for all that will be done in it.”<\/p>\n This was taking the Levites back to their original purpose. During the period of the Judges Levites had begun to act as priests, and in the period of the monarchy this had continued. Now they were to revert back to their original status because they had proved unworthy of their advancing claims.<\/p>\n But the term Levites is used here in its widest sense, and includes the Levitical priests other than the sons of Zadok. Apart from the sons of Zadok they had all been willing to cooperate in the idolatry rife in the temple and in the high places (2Ki 23:4-9<\/span>). Thus they had to bear their punishment, and that was that they should not minister in the sanctuary itself. They would have responsibility for guardianship of the temple, having oversight at the gates, they would perform temple duties, they would assist the people with the slaying of their offerings and sacrifices, and would be there to minister to them and assist them. But they would have no access to the holy place, nor be able to present the fat and the blood to Yahweh, or to partake of the bread of the Presence. They were banned from His nearer presence.<\/p>\n Their offence is repeated twice for emphasis. They had cooperated in the leading astray of the people, and in the course of it they had misused the holy place, and they would therefore be barred from it. But He did not wholly cast them off. They would still be allowed the privilege of temple service, and still have access to the altar, even though they were excluded from inner sanctuary service.<\/p>\n So the Levitical priests among them would lose their major priestly privileges. They would stand before the people to minister to them, but they would not be allowed to stand before Yahweh, nor to minister to Him. Once again we are conscious of Old Testament attitudes. In my view it is inconceivable that this could apply after the cross. Then all priests had sinned and done evil without distinction. There could be no favoured sons of Zadok. Either all would be made acceptable, or none. And the one sacrifice would offer mercy and restitution to all, conveying the privilege of access into His presence, once they had entered the new Israel (Heb 10:19-21<\/span>).<\/p>\n The message behind this is clear. God observes all our actions, and although His judgment may proceed slowly, it proceeds at last. What a man sows, he reaps.<\/p>\n Eze 44:10<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>The Levites that are gone away, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> Many of these desisted from attending upon God’s service, and fell into idolatry, first in the general apostacy of the ten tribes, afterwards under Ahaz and other wicked kings. These should be degraded from attending upon the higher offices belonging to the priesthood; God having particularly threatened to punish the sin of idolatry unto the third and fourth generation; idolatry being, according to the law of the Jews, one of the crimes which was punished with the deprivation of the priesthood. See Lowth and Calmet. Houbigant renders the verse thus, And the Levites also who departed from me, and who drew astray those of the children of Israel who went after their Gods, shall bear their iniquity.<\/em> <\/p>\n Eze 44:10 And the Levites 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.<\/p>\n Ver. 10. And the Levites.<\/strong> ] The apostate priests, that for fear or favour have comported with idolaters: such as were the posterity of Ithamar, those time servers in Ezra; Ezr 2:61<\/span> ; <\/em> Ezr 2:63 those in the books of Maccabees, Demas (if Dorotheus may be believed), Paulus Diaconus, Pendleton, Pflugius and Sidonius, authors of the “Interim” in Germany, &c. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They shall even bear their iniquity,<\/strong> ] i.e., <\/em> Degradation, as a punishment of their iniquity.<\/p>\n the Levites. These are distinguished here from the priests (15-27); see S2 and S1, above and consult note on Eze 43:19; and Deu 17:2. <\/p>\n are gone away = went astray. <\/p>\n idols = dirty idols. <\/p>\n iniquity. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for the punishment due to it. Reif, ‘avah. App-44. <\/p>\n the Levites: Eze 44:15, Eze 22:26, Eze 48:11, 2Ki 23:8, 2Ki 23:9, 2Ch 29:4, 2Ch 29:5, Neh 9:34, Jer 23:11, Zep 3:4, 1Ti 5:22 <\/p>\n bear: Gen 4:13, Lev 19:8, Num 5:31, Psa 38:4, Isa 53:11 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Lev 13:4 – shut up Num 16:9 – separated 1Sa 2:31 – I will cut 1Sa 2:36 – is left 1Ch 9:23 – the oversight Ezr 2:62 – General Eze 14:11 – the house Eze 23:35 – therefore Eze 44:12 – and they shall Zec 5:6 – This is an ephah Mal 2:8 – ye are<\/p>\n Eze 44:10. The Levites were the ones who had been appointed by the Lord for the services about the altar. However, they had corrupted themselves by going after the worship of Idols and hence became abominable to God. Bear their iniquity means they would suffer the consequences of their unrighteous life.<\/p>\n 44:10 And the {d} Levites that have gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.<\/p>\n (d) The Levites who had committed idolatry were put from their dignity and could not be received into the priests office although they had been of the house of Aaron, but must serve in the inferior offices as to watch and to keep the doors, read 2Ki 23:9 .<\/p>\n Most of the Levitical priests, who had been responsible for profaning the temple in the past, would have to bear the punishment for their iniquity. They would be able to minister in the temple by overseeing the gates and serving in the temple precincts in other ways, perhaps as foreigners had done previously. They could also slaughter the sacrificial animals at the inner gate complexes (cf. Eze 40:38-43). Under the Mosaic system of worship, the offerer, rather than the priest, killed the sacrificial victim. However, since the Levitical priests had led in the ritual worship of idols and so caused the other Israelites to stumble in their walk with God, the Lord would judge them by limiting their service in the millennial temple.<\/p>\n And the Levites 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. 10. And the Levites ] But the Levites which went away far from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity, 11 and shall be … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 44:10”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"