Ezekiel, Chapter 43, verses 1-7
1 The returning of the glory of God into the Temple, 7 The sin of Israel hindered God's presenceMatthew, Chapter 23, verses 1-12
1 Christ admonisheth the people to follow the good doctrine, not the evil examples of the scribes and Pharisees, 5 His disciples must beware of their ambition23
23:1 Then - Leaving all converse with his adversaries, whom he now left to the hardness of their hearts.
23:2 The scribes sit in the chair of Moses - That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are their appointed teachers.
23:3 All things therefore - Which they read out of the law, and enforce therefrom.
23:4 Luk 11:46.
23:5 Their phylacteries - The Jews, understanding those words literally, It shall he as a token upon thy hand, and as frontlets between thine eyes, Exo 13:16.And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, Deu 6:8;used to wear little scrolls of paper or parchment, bound on their wrist and foreheads, on which several texts of Scripture were writ. These they supposed, as a kind of charm, would preserve them from danger. And hence they seem to have been called phylacteries, or preservatives. The fringes of their garments - Which God had enjoined them towear, to remind them of doing all the commandments, Num 15:38.These, as well as their phylacteries, the Pharisees affected to wear broader and larger than other men. Mar 12:38.
23:8 The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required,
- To believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason;
- To obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority.
23:9 See note ... Mat 23:8.
23:10 See note ... Mat 23:8.
23:11 Mat 20:26.
23:12 Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and he that shall humble himself shall he exalted - It is observable that no one sentence of our Lord's is so often repeated as this: it occurs, with scarce any variation, at least ten times in the evangelists. Luk 14:11; Luk 18:14.
43 In this chapter and the next, the temple - service is described, but under the type of the Old Testament service. The glory of God first fills the temple, Eze 43:1-6.
A promise of God's continuing with his people, if they obey him, Eze 43:7-12.
A description of the altar of burnt offerings, Eze 43:13-17.
Directions for the consecration of that altar, Eze 43:18-27.
43:2 Came - When the glory departed, it went eastward, and now it returns, it comes from the east. And his voice - Though by the voice of God, thunder is sometimes meant, yet here it was an articulate voice.
43:3 And it - This glory of the God of Israel. To destroy - To declare, that their sins would ruin their city, chap.Eze 9:3-4. I fell - Overwhelmed, and as it were swallowed up.
43:4 Came - The sins of Israel caused the glory of the Lord to go out of his house, now the repentance of Israel is blest with the return of this glory.
43:6 The man - Christ. Stood - To encourage, and strengthen him.
43:7 He - The glorious God of Israel. My throne - The throne of his grace is in his temple; in the dispensations of grace, God manifests himself a king. My feet - Speaking after the manner of men, and expressing his abode and rest, in his temple, as the type, in his church, as the antitype. In their high places - Perhaps some kings were buried in the temples of their idols, near the idols they worshipped.