44:1–3 One of the most obvious features of Ezekiel’s vision is the absence of an earthly king, whose role is taken over by a nasiʾ (“prince”), a title harking back to the tribal chieftains of the wilderness period (Num. 1:16, 44; etc.). Whereas those tribal leaders operated as a council, sharing the decision-making power, Ezekiel’s nasiʾ is a single figure—like a king in many ways, but more restricted in his authority and power.298 This is clearly a word of judgment upon the Davidic rulers of the prophet’s own day, which comes as no surprise after the repeated condemnations of the rulers in Ezekiel 17–19 and elsewhere. Even in chapters 40–48, whenever “prince” occurs in the plural (e.g., 45:8–9) it is a negative reference to the rulers of the past. Yet the nasiʾ is clearly a positive figure in Ezekiel’s plan for the future, just as he was in 34:24; 37:25. There he was depicted as the new Davidic leader whom the Lord would raise up.

This combination of restriction and privilege is evident in the first mention of the prince in chapters 40–48. He is not permitted access to the inner court, which is restricted to the priests. Nor will anyone use the great outer east gate to the sanctuary, through which the Lord had returned to take up his residence in the temple (44:1; cf. 43:1–5). That gate will remain shut forever. But the prince alone will be allowed to enter the east gatehouse, which now forms a three-sided room, where he may sit and “eat bread before the Lord” (44:3), reminiscent of the privilege granted the seventy elders of Israel at Sinai (Ex. 24:11). The prince is to access the room from the vestibule in the outer court, presumably after entering through the north or south gate, so that the sanctity of the east gate itself may remain undefiled. He cannot simply use the temple as an extension of his own house, as previous kings had done, but he is still granted unique access to a private room in the central east-west spine of the new temple, an especially holy location.299

44:4–5 Ezekiel has been standing in the outer court facing the (now closed) outer east gate. Even he has no right to pass through that sacred space, so he detours by way of the north gate to go to the front of the temple complex, where he is once again confronted with the central fact of this vision: the glory of the Lord is now filling his house (Ezek. 44:4). That this is a reversal of the earlier abandonment is underlined by the repetition of the full title “house of the Lord” (Hb. bet yhwh, vv. 4, 5; ESV “temple of the Lord”). This full title occurs elsewhere in Ezekiel only in chapters 8–11 (bet yhwh; 8:14, 16; 10:19; 11:1; hekal yhwh; 8:16 [x2]); what was once the Lord’s house has again been claimed by him as his residence, now for all time. The repetition of the Lord’s appearance is followed by a repetition of the prophet’s response: once again he falls on his face before the Lord (44:4).

Verse 5 reiterates the purpose of the temple vision from 43:10–11. This is not an abstract blueprint for a future building; it is a vision with a message for the hearers of his own day. The most important aspect of the temple vision is “the entrances” and “exits” (44:5), an importance underlined earlier by the thick wall and massive gatehouses; in other words, the focus of this section is on who does and does not have access to sacred space in the future. The concern in this section (recounting “all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws”; v. 5) still regards those who have access, but now the same point will be made through describing legislation for the temple (chs. 44–46) rather than the building itself (chs. 40–43).

44:6–14 The first set of statutes concerns those who should control access to the sacred space of the temple. In the past, uncircumcised foreigners had been permitted access to the sanctuary during the offering of the sacrifices, a breach that is described as having “broken my covenant” (v. 7). These were not foreigners who had converted out of a desire to worship Israel’s God; they were uncircumcised in heart as well as in flesh (vv. 7, 9).300 Their access constituted a failure to “keep charge of my holy things” (v. 8), that is, to administer proper access to the sacred spaces and contents of the sanctuary (cf. Lev. 8:35; 2 Kings 11:5).301 This may refer to the preexilic practice of employing the king’s foreign bodyguards to provide temple security (2 Kings 11:14–19; cf. 2 Sam. 20:23).

These uncircumcised foreigners were not the right people to guard the sacred things, however, as that was the proper task of the Levites, who were to serve at the gates of the temple as “armed guards” (Hb. pequddot, ESV “having oversight”; Ezek. 44:11; cf. 2 Kings 11:18; Ezek. 9:1). Thus it had been ordered by God for the wilderness tabernacle (Num. 3:32), and thus it would be in the future as well. The Levites had been caught up in the idolatry of the people, going astray with Israel (Ezek. 44:10), which meant they could not approach any of the holy things or offer sacrifices in the way the priests could (v. 13). Sin has consequences, and the Levites must “bear their shame” (v. 13; cf. 32:24–25). Yet grace is nonetheless extended to them in the midst of judgment: they will be reappointed to their old duties of guarding the entrances of the temple and performing its many tasks (44:14).302 In fact, their service of the Lord will even be extended: now they must slaughter all the burnt offerings and sacrifices on behalf of the people (v. 11), something the people had previously been permitted to do for themselves.303

44:15–22 The Levitical priests, however—here identified as Zadokites—are affirmed to have been broadly faithful during the time of general apostasy immediately prior to the exile (v. 16).304 The righteousness of the Zadokites is not perfection but greater obedience than their contemporaries: they “kept the charge of my sanctuary” (cf. the description of Abraham as having “kept my charge” in Gen. 26:5). In consequence they are rewarded with the privilege of access into the temple in order to offer the sacrifices at the altar of burnt offering and, uniquely, to enter into the inner courtyard to minister in the Lord’s presence (Ezek. 44:15–16). Sin leads to restricted access in order to prevent defilement of the holy space, but righteousness is rewarded with greater access into God’s presence. However, even the Zadokites have strict limits on their access: there is no provision for a high priest to enter the Most Holy Place on an annual Day of Atonement, such as there was in Leviticus 16.

Enhanced privilege brings enhanced responsibilities. Tighter regulations are required of the priests than of the remainder of the people, precisely because of their closer access to the realm of the sacred. All their garments are to be made of linen, not wool, so that they do not sweat in the Lord’s presence (Ezek. 44:18). Although linen was prescribed for priestly garments in Exodus 28, the specific rationale for that choice was not part of the Mosaic law. Nor was sweat included as a bodily emission that potentially defiled a person in the same way that other bodily emissions did (cf. Deut. 23:9–14). This, therefore, seems to be another way in which Ezekiel’s regulations raise the bar of sanctity required for those who approach the Lord.

Furthermore, the special garments the priests wear before the Lord thus become holy and require special treatment themselves. These garments are required to remain within the locus of the inner court, to be worn only within that holy space (Ezek. 44:19). When the priests return to the outer court, where they will encounter other people, they must change into different garments, presumably in the rooms bordering the inner court (described in 42:13–14). Bringing together holy and profane items in a single location would be like mixing gasoline and fire. It is thus important to maintain strict boundaries.305

The next series of provisions in Ezekiel’s code has its roots in the laws of Leviticus. First, the priests are required to keep their hair neatly trimmed, neither shaving their heads nor letting their hair go unrestrained (Ezek. 44:20).306 In Leviticus 21:10 this regulation applied to the high priest, restraining him from making a public display of his mourning; here the same level of sanctity is required of all the priests. Further, as in Leviticus 10:9, the priests are to refrain from alcohol when on duty (Ezek. 44:21). The rationale in Leviticus is simple: Nadab and Abihu have just been struck dead because of cultic irregularities (Lev. 10:1–3). Even though there is no suggestion that those two were inebriated at the time, it is clear that operating in such a dangerous environment demands maximum clarity of thought, as we would demand of someone flying an airplane or conducting surgery.

What is more, the priests are more restricted than the average Israelite regarding marriage. Since the matter of priestly heredity is of such critical importance, a priest cannot marry someone who has previously been married to a nonpriest, regardless of whether her former husband died or the two were divorced. He may only marry a virgin or the widow of a priest, so that there can be no question that his offspring are of the priestly line.307 This again represents a tighter restriction than in the law of Leviticus 21:7, in which priests are simply barred from marrying prostitutes or defiled or divorced women. In this way there seems to be an across-the-board raising of the standards of holiness throughout Ezekiel’s vision.

44:23–31 From the rules governing priestly behavior that reflect a concern for heightened purity, we turn to the tasks the priests must perform. The first of these is a reiteration of the classic priestly role of teaching the distinctions between holy and common and between unclean and clean (Ezek. 44:23; cf. Lev. 10:10). This is the failure for which the priests were criticized earlier in the book, along with failing to keep the Sabbaths holy (Ezek. 22:26; cf. 44:24). These distinctions are especially important in the visionary temple, in which the lines between these categories are particularly tightly regulated. This topic leads into the priests’ being given a wider judging function in other disputes, something already assigned to them in Deuteronomy 17:8–12 but which may have been taken over by royal officials during the monarchical period.

The priests were also required to maintain their holy status by avoiding unnecessary contact with corpses, except those of people in closest relationship to them (Ezek. 44:25). In this Ezekiel follows almost exactly the prescription of Leviticus 21:1–3, although, since there is no significant role for a high priest in Ezekiel’s vision, there is no need for the tighter regulations that apply to him (Lev. 21:11). But priests are still required to be distinctly more careful than laymen: ordinary people who had contact with a corpse could be cleansed by the ashes of the red cow ceremony in seven days (Num. 19:11–13), but the priests were required to wait an additional seven days after this cleansing before they could return to duty in the inner court (Ezek. 44:26–27).308

Along with special obligations, the priests also had special privileges. Prime among these was the provision of their needs by the Lord himself. Historically, the priests and the Levites had no allotted portion in the Promised Land, aside from priestly and Levitical cities intended to spread their presence among the people as teachers of torah (Josh. 21:1–42). This old model is transformed in the land division described in Ezekiel 48: now the priests and the Levites have the privilege of living adjacent to the sacred portion, the site of the temple.

The priests have no land of their own to cultivate but are intended to be wholly dependent upon the Lord by means of the sacrifices and offerings given by the people (and the nasiʾ; 44:28–30). These include firstfruits and first dough (the first loaf from every batch of flour; cf. Num. 15:20–21), along with the sacred contribution (teruma, “offering”) “from all your offerings” (Ezek. 44:30). This contribution likely refers to the “tithe of the tithe,” which the Levites are instructed to pass on to the priests in Numbers 18:26–29. Historically, dependence upon the peoples’ gifts led to the Levites’ often being classified with the poor, since the people did not always give the requisite offerings (e.g., Deut. 14:29). However, given the promised transformation in the people’s hearts (cf. Ezek. 36:24–28), the Levites and priests will be well supplied. They will no longer need to rely on roadkill for meat (44:31), something that was as ceremonially unclean as it was unpalatable (Lev. 22:8). Those who approach the presence of the Holy One must be holy, as he is holy (Lev. 11:45).