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44 β[1] **He returned me in the direction of the outer gate of the Sanctuary that faces eastward, and it was closed. **
β[2] **The Lord said to me: This gate shall be closed; it shall not be opened **at all,** and no man shall come through it, for the Lord, God of Israel, has come through it, and **therefore, **it shall **always** be closed.**
β[3] **As for the prince,**** **meaning the king, **the prince shall sit within it, **within the eastern gate,** to eat food before the Lord. **However, he may not enter the gate from the outside as it must remain permanently closed; rather,** he shall come by way of the hall of the gate, and, **similarly, **through it he shall depart. **
β[4] Then** He brought me by way of the north gate **to the area **before the House, and I saw, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord, and I fell upon my face. **
β[5] **The Lord said to me: Son of man, take to heart, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears everything that I am speaking to you with regard to all the statutes of the House of the Lord and all its laws, and you shall take to heart **the** **laws regarding access to **the** **entrance of the House, for all the exits of the Sanctuary. **Take careful note of the instructions with regard to who may enter the gates of the Temple and perform the service therein.
β[6] **You shall say to the defiant **ones,** to the house of Israel: So said the Lord God: Enough for you of all your abominations, house of Israel, **
β[7] **as you have **previously **brought foreigners,**** uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh,**** to be in My Sanctuary, **in order **to profane **and desecrate **My House when you presented My food, **the** **sacrificial **fat and blood, and they, **the foreigners and uncircumcised ones,** breached My covenant with all your abominations. **
β[8] **You did not keep the commission, **the commandments,** of My sacred things, and **instead **you appointed **unworthy **keepers **to be in charge **of** **My commission in My Sanctuary for yourselves. **
β[9] **So said the Lord God: Any foreigner, uncircumcised of heart or uncircumcised of flesh, shall not enter My Sanctuary. **This is not referring to actual foreigners; rather, it is** for any foreigner who is among the children of Israel. **
β[10] **Rather, the Levites, **those priests **who distanced themselves from Me when Israel strayed, **as** **even if they did not physically leave the Temple, they distanced themselves from Me through their deeds and in their hearts, **who strayed from Me **and followed **after their idols, they will bear **the responsibility for **their iniquity. **They will not return to their former posts.
β[11] Instead, **they shall be **servants** in My Sanctuary, serving **ancillary **positions **as gatekeepers** at the gates of the House and serving **in supporting roles in** the House **itself.** **They will perform adjunct services required for the Temple, additional tasks, most of which all Jews are eligible to perform. Furthermore,** they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the feast offering for the people. **The slaughter of offerings may be performed by anyone as it is not part of the sacred service, which is restricted to priests. In the future, this task will be performed by the priests and Levites who had distanced themselves from God, but the actual service of the offering, from the collection of the blood onward, may be performed only by eligible priests. **And they, **those Levites who distanced themselves from God,** shall stand before them, **the people,** to serve them, **by performing those ancillary services in the Temple.
β[12] The wayward priests will be subject to this sanction prohibiting them from performing the actual service **because they served them, **the children of Israel,** before their idols, **as part of their idolatrous rites, **and **thereby **became for the house of Israel an obstacle of iniquity.** Those who have previously served in idolatrous temples cannot serve the Lord in His Temple;** therefore, I have raised My hand against them, **an act signifying an oath β **the utterance of the Lord God β and they shall bear their iniquity. **
β[13] **They shall not approach Me to serve Me**** or approach anything that is sacred to Me, to **handle** the sacred sacraments, and they shall bear their humiliation and **the consequences of **their abominations that they committed. **
β[14] Instead,** I will appoint them keepers **and supervisors** of the commission of the House for all its service and for everything that is performed in it. **
β[15] **But the priests, **who belong to the tribe of** the Levites, **who are the** sons of Tzadok,****who kept the commission of My Sanctuary when the children of Israel strayed from Me, they **alone** shall approach Me to serve Me, and they **alone **shall stand before Me to present to Me **the** fat and blood **of the sacrificial offerings β **the utterance of the Lord God. **
β[16] **They **alone** shall come into My Sanctuary, and they shall **also** approach My table, **the altar (see 41:22), **to serve Me, and they shall keep My commission. **
β[17] The prophet states some laws applying to the priests when they arrive at the Temple to perform the service and when they depart: **It shall be that when they come to the gates of the inner courtyard, **referring to the courtyard where the altar is located, before the Entrance Hall, **linen garments they shall don **exclusively,** and no wool shall be put upon them, when they serve inside the gates of the inner courtyard and inward, **within** **the Sanctuary.** **In addition to the prohibition against wearing wool, they certainly may not wear any other fabrics. These are not mentioned explicitly, as they are less significant than wool and linen.
β[18] ** linen headdresses shall be on their heads, and linen trousers shall be on their waists; they shall not gird themselves where one perspires. **The priests may not tie their belts and their breeches in a place where they sweat a great deal. The part of the trousers that is fitted against the body may not be near the legs, the way people wear belts today; rather, it should be in the area of the waist, roughly parallel to the elbows.
β[19] **When** **they emerge to the outer courtyard, to the outer courtyard, **the outermost courtyard, **to the people, they shall remove their **priestly **vestments in which they serve and place them in the sacred chambers, and they shall don other garments. **The priestly vestments are to be worn solely for the sacred service. They are not personal garments to be worn outside the Temple. It should be noted, however, that the Talmud discusses cases where certain priests were permitted to and did wear the priestly vestments outside the Temple. It is unclear whether these were special, temporary dispensations issued due to exigent circumstances or if there were other specific justifications that permitted wearing the priestly vestments in those cases. **And **the reason for this prohibition is so that** they shall not sanctify the people with, **by means of,** their vestments.**** **
β[20] **Their heads they shall not shave, **unlike the priests of Egypt, who were entirely shaven, **and they shall not grow long hair. **Their hair must not be unkempt, growing in all directions; rather, it must be cut neatly. **They shall trim**** **the hair of** their heads. **
β[21] **No priest shall drink wine when they come to the inner courtyard. **It is prohibited for any priest who has consumed wine to enter the inner courtyard, meaning the area between the Entrance Hall and the altar.
β[22] The prophet proceeds to enumerate certain laws pertaining to the sanctity of the priests in terms of marriage: **A widow and a divorcΓ©e they shall not take as** **wives for themselves;**** rather, they shall marry virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. **
β[23] The prophet describes the communal role of the priests: **They shall teach My people that which is between the sacred and the profane, and that which is between the impure and the pure they shall inform them. **
β[24] **Concerning a quarrel, they shall stand in judgment; according to My ordinances they shall adjudicate it. **In addition to their functions in the Temple, the priests will also serve as the teachers and judges of the people. Although this was not an official appointment, throughout the generations priests always comprised a high percentage of teachers and arbiters of *halakha*. **They shall observe My laws and My statutes in all My appointed times, **by sacrificing the festival offerings in the Temple and by facilitating observance of the festivals everywhere, **and My Sabbaths they shall sanctify. **
β[25] The prophet turns to the laws of ritual impurity and purity. **He shall not come near the corpse of a person to become impure,** as it is prohibited for priests to become impure with impurity imparted by a corpse. This *halakha* applies **except for a father, for a mother, for a son, for a daughter, for a brother, or for a sister who had not been with a man; **if these relatives die, **they, **the priests,** shall become impure, **as stated in the Torah.
β[26] **After his purification **from the impurity contracted from contact with a corpse, **seven days they shall count for him, **in accordance with the purification ritual specified in the Torah.
β[27] **On the day of his coming to the Sanctuary, to the inner courtyard, to serve in the Sanctuary, he shall present his sin offering** β **the utterance of the Lord God. **The Sages interpret this as referring to a priest who enters the Temple to perform the sacred service for the first time. On this occasion, he is obligated to bring a special meal offering as is written in the Torah. This inauguration meal offering purifies the priest and renders him fit to perform the service.
β[28] The prophet discusses the gifts of the priesthood and monetary matters: **It, **the priesthood,** shall be for them as an inheritance; I am their inheritance. **The service that the priests, the sons of Tzadok, perform for Me in My Temple is their inheritance,** and **they have no other. **You shall not give them a portion** of land** in Israel; I am their portion. **
β[29] **They shall eat the meal offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering **brought by the children of Israel,** and everything proscribed in Israel, **a specific category of consecrated items, **shall be theirs.**
β[30] **The first of all first fruits of everything, **the first produce that sprouts every year from certain species,** and every gift of everything, from all your gifts, **meaning the portions set aside from fruits and the various offerings,** shall be for the priests, and the first of your kneading basket, **referring to the *Δ₯alla* that must be separated from the dough, **you shall **also **give to the priest to rest a blessing upon your house. **One who gives these required portions to a priest not only fulfills a Torah obligation, he also brings a blessing to his home.
β[31] The section concludes with a surprising prohibition. **Any carcass or mauled animal,**** of the birds or of the animals, the priests shall not eat. **Although the prohibitions against eating carcasses that are not ritually slaughtered and animals with defects that would cause them to die within twelve months are stated in the Torah with regard to all Jews, Ezekiel reiterates these commandments in the case of priests, either due to the concern that they are liable to become ritually impure or due to their special sanctity.
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
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License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center