Then the The glory of the Lord is represented as returning to the temple, 1-6; where God promises to fix his residence, if the people repent and forsake those sins which caused him to depart from them, 7-12. measures of the altar, and the ordinances relating to it, are set down, 13–27. A. M. 3430. B. C. 574. Olymp. LI. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, R. Roman., 5. a that looketh toward the east: AFTERWARD he brought me | house by the way of the gate e 2 b And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east and his voice was like a noise of many wa-filled the house. ters and the earth shined with his glory. 3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. f. 4 And the glory of the LORD came into the Chap. x. 19; xliv. 1; xlvi. 1. bChap. xi. 23. C Chap. i. Chap. x. 4; Rev. xviii. 1. e Chap. i. 4, 28; ' viii. 4.—f Or, when I came to prophesy that the city should be destroyed; see chap. ix. 1, 5.- So Jer. i. 10. Chap. i. 3; in. 23. 24; Rev. i. 15; xiv. 2; xix. 1, 6.7 NOTES ON CHAP. XLIII. Verse 2. The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east] This was the chariot of cherubim, wheels, &c., which he saw at the river Chebar. And this glory, coming from the east, is going to enter into the eastern gate of the temple, and thence to shine out upon the whole earth. Is there not a mystery here? All knowledge, all religion, and all arts and sciences, have travelled, according to the course of the sun, FROM EAST TO WEST! From that quarter the Divine glory at first came; and thence the rays of Divine light continue to diffuse themselves over the face of the earth, From thence came the Bible, and through that the new covenant. From thence came the prophets, the apostles, and the first missionaries, that brought the knowledge of God to Europe, to the isles of the sea, and to the west first, and afterwards to these northern regions. 1 6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and m the man stood by me. 7. And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, P where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their iSee chap. x. 19; xliv. 2.- - Chap. iii. 12, 14; viii. 3. | Kings vii. 10, 11; chap. xliv. 4. Chap. xl. 3. Psa. xcix. 1.01 Chron. xxviii. 2; Psa. xcix. 5.-P Exod. xxix. 45; Psa. lxviii. 16; cxxxii. 14; Joel iii. 17; John i. 14; 2 Cor. vi. 16.- - Chap. xxxix. 7. unsearchable riches of Christ! What spiritual temples have been raised, beautified, and filled with the glory of God! And this light is shining and burning more and more unto the perfect day, when the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of God! Verse 7. Son of man, the place of my throne] The throne refers to his majesty; the soles of his feet, to his condescension in dwelling among men. Where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel] The tabernacle and temple were types of the incarnation of Jesus Christ: "Destroy THIS TEMPLE, and after three days I will raise it up ;-but this he spake of the temple of his body;" John ii. 19, 21. And in THAT TEMPLE "dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Into this immaculate humanity did the glory of the Supreme God enter; and thus, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." And this Jesus is Immanuel, GOD with us. In him Verse 5. The spirit took me up] And, to follow we find united the ineffable majesty of God, with the this thought for a moment, how many men has this abjectness of man. He humbled himself in human heavenly Spirit taken up; filled them with his own in-nature, not only to bear the form of a servant, but to fluence, and sent them to every country, and nation, and tongue, and people, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God, and to preach among the Gentiles the suffer death upon the cross as a malefactor slave! But by these means he has purchased eternal redemption for us; and the spiritual Israel, who find redemption Solemn exhortation A. M. 3430. B. C. 574. Olymp. LI. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, S t r CHAP. XLIII. to the people. A. M. 3430. Anno Servii Tullii, R. Roman., 5. whoredom, nor by the carcasses may keep the whole form thereof, of their kings in their high places. and all the ordinances thereof, and Olymp. LI. 3. 8 In their setting of their do them. R. Roman., 5. threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed wherefore I have consumed them in mine : anger. 9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcasses of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. W 10 Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the I pattern.. 11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they Lev. xxvi. 30; Jer. xvi. 18.- s See 2 Kings xvi. 14; xxi. 4, 5, 7; chap. viii. 3; xxiii. 39; xliv. 7.-Or, for there was but a wall between me and them.- Ver. 7. Ver. 7. Chap. xl. 4. in his blood, shall be raised up wherever his holy name shall be proclaimed; and shall not, like the old apostate Israel, defile that great name by idolatry or a life of wickedness, but they shall show forth the virtues of Him who has called them from darkness into his marvellous light. Verse 8. In their setting of their threshold] They had even gone so far as to set up their idol altars by those of Jehovah; so that their abominable idols were found in the very house of God! therefore, "he consumed them in his anger." 12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. 13 And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits; The cubit is a cubit and a hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span and this shall be the higher place of the altar.. 14 And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit. 15 So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. 16 And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof. 17 And the settle, shall be fourteen cubits x Or, sum, or number.y Chap. xl. 2.8. Heb. bosom. mountain of God. xxix. 1. Chap. xl. 5; xli. bHeb. lip. Heb. Harel, that is, the Heb. Ariel, that is, the lion of God; Isa. vertheless, let them measure the pattern, let them see the rule by which they should have walked, and let them measure themselves by this standard, and walk accordingly. Verse 11. And if they be ashamed] If, in a spirit of true repentance, they acknowledge their past transgressions, and purpose in his help never more to offend their God, then teach them every thing that concerns my worship, and their profiting by it. Verse 12. This is the law of the house] From the top of the mountain on which it stands, to the bottom, Verse 9. Now let them put away their whoredom] all round about, all shall be holy; no buildings shall Their idolatry. And the carcasses of their kings] It appears that God was displeased with their bringing their kings so near his temple. David was buried in the city of David, which was on Mount Zion, near to the temple; and so were almost all the kings of Judah; but God requires that the place of his temple and its vicinity shall be kept unpolluted; and when they put away all kinds of defilement, then will he dwell among them. Verse 10. Show the house to the house of Israel] Show them this holy house where the holy God dwells, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Their name, their profession, their temple, their religious services, all bound them to a holy life; all within them, all without them, should have been holiness unto the Lord. But alas! they have been bound by no ties, and they have sinned against all their obligations; ne be erected in any part, nor place nor spot be appropriated to a common use; all shall be considered as being most holy. Verse 13. The cubit is a cubit and a hand breadth] It is the same cubit by which all the previous admeasurements were made, and was a hand breadth or four inches longer than the Babylonian cubit. Verse 15. So the altar] of God." 66 haharel, “ the mount And from the altar] umihaariel, “and from the lion of God." Perhaps the first was a name given to the altar when elevated to the honour of God, and on which the victims were offered to him; and the second, the lion of God, may mean the hearth, which might have been thus called, because it devoured and consumed the burnt-offerings, as a lion does his prey. See on Isa. xxix. 1. Verse 17. And the settle] The ledge on which the How the temple was A. M. 3430. Olymp. LI. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, EZEKIEL. long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the R. Roman., 5. 20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it. 21 Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin-offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary. See Exod. xx. 26. Lev. i. 5. Chap. xliv. 15. Exod. xxix. 10, 12; Lev. viii. 14, 15; chap. xlv. 18, 19. Exod. xxix. 14. Heb. xiii. 11. Lev. ii. 13. Exod. to be hallowed. A. M. 3430. Olymp. Ll. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, R. Roman., 5. 22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock 23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and à ram out of the flock without blemish. 24 And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt-offering unto the LORD. 25 Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin-offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. 26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves. Add a cubit on each side for the lower ledge, ver. 14, former part 2 Add a cubit on each side for the base, ver. 13, 2 priests walked round the altar, see ver. 14. By these settles or ledges the altar was narrowed towards the top. "The ascent shall look toward the east ;" this ascent was an inclined plane. But these settles, or more properly ledges, as Bp. Newcome translates, may be thus computed. The altar itself was ten feet high and twenty broad; the same as that of Solomon, 21, xxxviii. 1, was smaller than this, because it was to Chron. iv. 1. 20 In all be removed from place to place with the tabernacle. Verse 19. The priests—that be of the seed of Zadok} It was this Zadok that was put in the place of Abiathar, by Solomon, 1 Kings ii. 35, in whose family, the priesthood had continued ever since. Verse 25. Seven days shalt thou prepare] These are, in general, ordinances of the Law; and may be seen by consulting the parallel passages. All these directions are given that they might follow them, when they should be put in possession of their own land. For in several cases the prophet enters into particulars, as if he had supposed that the book of the law had perished. Various ordinances and CHAP. XLIV. CHAPTER XLIV. services of the house. The Jews reproved Ordinances respecting the This chapter gives an account of the glory of God having returned to the temple, 1-4. A. M. 3430. Olymp. LI. 3. THEN he brought me back GoD; O ye house of Israel, ‘Iet the way of the gate of the it suffice you of all your abomioutward sanctuary a which look-nations. R. Roman., 5. eth toward the east; and it was shut. g 5 And the LORD said unto me, & Son of man, hmark 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 the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. 6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel,, Thus saith the Lord a Chap. xliii. 1.- -5 Chap. xliii. 4.x. 18. Chap. xlvi. 2, 8.Chap. i. 28.- Chap. xl. 4. C Gen. xxxi. 54; 1 Cor. Chap. iii. 23; xliii. 5. Heb. set thine heart. Ch. Chap. xlv. 9; 1 Pet. iv. 3.- Chap. xliii. 8; ver. 9; Acts xxi. 28.-m Heb. children of a stranger. ii. 5. xxii. 25. NOTES ON CHAP. XLIV. Lev. 'm A. M. 3430. Olymp. LI. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, R. Roman., 5. 7 1In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers," " uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. 8 And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things; but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. S t 9 Thus saith the Lord GoD; 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 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 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 • Lev. xxvi. 41; Deut. x. 16; Acts vii. 51.- - Lev. xxi. 6, 8, 17, 21. Lev. iii. 16; xvii. 11. Lev. xxii. 2, &c. Or, ward, or ordinance; and so ver. 14, 16; chap. xl. 45. Ver. 7. See 2 Kings xxiii. 8, &c.; 2 Chron. xxix. 4, 5; chap. xlviii. 11.1 Chron. xxvi. 1.- w2 Chron. xxix. 34; * Num. xvi. 9. able to give the most minute information to the chil Verse 1. The outward sanctuary] In opposition to dren of Israel. the temple itself, which was the inner sanctuary. . Verse 7. The fat and the blood] These never went into common use; they were wholly offered to God. The blood was poured out; the fat consumed. Because of all your abominations.] Several MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's read their abominations, referring to the strangers mentioned before. Verse 10. And the Levites that are gone away far from me] 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 in the new temple; but they might be continued as keepers of all the charge of the house-be 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. -e y Isa. ix. 16; Mal. ii. 8. Heb. were for a stumbling block of iniquity unto, &c.; chap. xiv. 3, 4.- Psa. cvi. 26.2 Kings xxiii. 9; Num. xviii. 3.- Chap. xxxii. 30; xxxvi. 7. d Num. xviii. 4; 1 Chron. xxiii. 28, 32.- e Chap. xl. 46; xliii. 19.1 Sam. ii. 35. -g Ver. 10. -h Deut. x. 8.- Ver. 7. Chap. xli. 22. Exod. xxviii. 39, 40, 43; xxxix. 27, 28. m Exod. xxviii. 40, 42; xxxix. 28. treasurers, guards of the temple, porters, &c.; see ver. 11-15. The whole of these passages refer to the period of time when the second temple was built.' Verse 16. Come near to my table] To place the shew-bread there, and to burn incense on the golden altar in the holy of holies. Verse 17. No wool shall come upon them] The reason is plain; wool is more apt than linen to contract dirt and breed insects; linen breeds none; besides, this is a vegetable, and the other an animal substance. It was an ancient maxim, that whatever was taken from a dead body was impure in matters of religion, and should not be permitted to enter into the temple. The Egyptian priests always wore linen on their bodies, and shoes of matting or rushes on their 546 priests, Levites, &c. A. M. 3430. B. C. 574. Olymp. LI. 3. Anno Servii Tullii, R. Roman, 5. 19 And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court of 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. t 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... W 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. a 26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. 27 And in the day that he goeth into the n Or, in sweating places.- o Heb. in, or with sweat. Chap. xlii. 14.- -9 Chap. xlvi. 20; see Exod. xxix. 37; xxx. 29; Lev. vi. 27; Matt. xxiii. 17, 19.-Lev. xxi. 5.- Lev. x. 9. Lev. xxi. 7, 13, 14. Heb. thrust forth. Heb. from a priest.- w Lev. x. 10, 11; chap. xxii. 26; Mal. ii. 7. Deut. xvii. 8, &c.; 2 Chron. xix. 8, 10.- - See chap. xxii. 26. z Lev. xxi. 1, &c.- Num. vi. 10; xix. 11, &c. feet. The Mohammedans never write the Koran upon vellum or skin of any kind, as they would consider that as a defilement. Verse 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. Verse 22. Neither shall they take for their wives a widow] This was prohibited to the high priest only, by Moses, Lev. xxi. 13, 14. Verse 25. And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves] Touching the dead defiles a ( 35* ) |