Bible Commentaries

The next section described the service of the new Temple. It commenced with the command that the eastern gate, through which Jehovah entered, must be kept closed, and that no man should be allowed to pass through it. The only exception to this rule was that the prince should eat his bread in the gate of Jehovah's entrance.

Again the prophet beheld the glory of the Lord, and was solemnly charged to pay special attention to the ordinances of the house of the Lord and the laws thereof, which were about to be given to him. These ordinances provided, first, that under no circumstances should aliens or the uncircumcised in the heart or flesh serve in the sanctuary of Jehovah. This had been the sin of the past, and must not be repeated.

The Levites who had gone astray in the olden days, and who had been punished on account of their iniquity, while being excluded from the office of the priest, were, nevertheless, to be restored to the charge of the house and all its service. The sons of Zadok who had remained faithful to the charge of the sanctuary in the days of Israel's unfaithfulness and apostasy were appointed to stand as priests before Jehovah in the new Temple. They were instructed about the garments they were to wear in the exercise of their office, their duties of teaching the people to distinguish between holy and common, their purification after necessary defilement by contact with the dead, and, finally, that they were to have no inheritance among the people, finding all they needed in Jehovah and His service.