NOTES for Eze 44:1-31

The gate will be shut after the Lord enters the Temple through it. It will not be shut so that He cannot go out again: He cannot be held by such naive devices. The prohibition against entering through the same gate as the Lord emphasizes the immeasurable difference between His ways and human ways. Yet although we are unable to walk His ways, we can follow Him.

The first thought that comes to mind after reading the Lord's words forbidding the son of a foreigner to enter the sanctuary is that He is speaking of foreigners. We then recall the measures Ezra would take after returning to Jerusalem to separate people according to their origin. But should the meaning of these words be reduced only to such a “factual” reading? Do we not all become like the “son of a foreigner” intruding into the sanctuary whenever we refuse to notice our sins and, proud of our own piety, stand up to pray?

The command to teach the people to distinguish the sacred from the profane may seem so elementary and natural that it is surprising to see it singled out. Yet this simple instruction conceals an important difference between the biblical view of priests and the pagan perception of altar servants as a priestly caste raised above the people and fundamentally different from the “profane.” Although the Lord's priests are likewise set apart from among the people for a special ministry, they remain part of the people and inseparable from them. Moses did not give different laws to the laity and the clergy: the one Law of Moses, including both rules of conduct and the order of worship, was given to the whole people. The priests' duty is therefore to share with the people what has been entrusted to them, rather than conceal “sacred knowledge,” as pagans and occultists do.

Since the time of Moses, the Levites—that is, members of the tribe of Levi—had been entrusted with everything connected with the Tabernacle and worship. This reflected both the understanding, traditional in clan and tribal societies, of hereditary occupations that often became the exclusive prerogative of a particular clan, and the authority of Moses and Aaron as the people's spiritual leaders. The Levites' exclusive right to everything connected in one way or another with the Tabernacle, and later with the Temple, goes back to that time.

At the same time, the Levites were entitled to no material support other than what they could receive from the altar: a specified share of each sacrifice was due to them, and they were expected to live on it. They also had special settlements where members of their tribe owned houses, but they never had hereditary tribal allotments like those held by the other Hebrew tribes: the law did not entitle them to such property.

On the one hand, this implied a certain strictly occupational division, since worship and everything associated with it were also regarded as a profession, an occupation that was to feed those who devoted their lives to it. On the other hand, the purpose was to protect those who devoted their lives to serving God from the inevitable consequences of owning substantial property, especially land, which demands close attention and constant care.

A person who had dedicated themselves to God and the altar was to be free of such concerns. They could own a house and household possessions, but a large allotment of land would inevitably require a degree of attention and involvement in the life of ‘this world’ that would harm their life's chief work.

And Ezekiel, speaking on God's behalf, simply confirms the rightness of this approach: God wants the whole person; He wants their heart, soul and body for Himself. Of course, He does not wish to deprive His servants of what they need to live, but He opposes this world's absorbing most of their strength and time. For, as we know, a person's heart is where their treasures are.