Post by alon on May 11, 2016 10:14:45 GMT -8
Haftara for Par’shah Emor, Ezekiel 44:15-31
This is a summary of important points of Elohim’s instructions for the role of priests. In earlier verses of this chapter, HaShem emphasizes that this is “My” Temple and everything in it, including the things done there and the manner of worship, and it was to be respected as such. Yechezk’el is prophesying in this chapter concerning the restoration of the Temple. One of the reasons it had been destroyed was the apostacy of the priesthood and their common use of the Temple. Verses 4 and five are representative of the strong tone being used to address Yechezk’el, and thus the priests and the people here:
Ezekiel 44:4-5 (ESV) Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary.
We today who trust HaShem have been returned to the status Yisro’el was always meant to have:
Exodus 19:6 (ESV) and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
As representatives of the YHVH El Elyon- The Lord, the Most High God, we should take these instructions to heart ourselves.
Ezekiel 44:15-16 (ESV) “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.
Only the Zadokite line shall now serve as priests. This is in accordance with prophecy given in 1 Sam 2:30-36.
Ezekiel 44:17-19 (ESV) When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments.
Ezekiel 42:14 (ESV) When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”
This is all part of separating the holy from the profane, or common. Service in the Temple was kadosh, and must remain so.
Ezekiel 44:20 (ESV) They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads.
Leviticus 21:5 (ESV) They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.
These were pagan practices which the priests of the Lord were prohibited from doing.
Ezekiel 44: (ESV) No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
Leviticus 10:9 (ESV) “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
This could be read they shouldn’t drink within the inner court. However I would suspect this proscription would apply to the time before a priest was to perform his duties before the Lord. I can’t see drunkenness being permissible when serving HaShem.
H935 בּוא bô' verb BDB Definition:
1) to go in, enter, come, go, come in
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to enter, come in
1a2) to come
1a2a) to come with
1a2b) to come upon, fall or light upon, attack (enemy)
1a2c) to come to pass
1a3) to attain to
1a4) to be enumerated
1a5) to go
1b) (Hiphil)
1b1) to lead in
1b2) to carry in
1b3) to bring in, cause to come in, gather, cause to come, bring near, bring against, bring upon
1b4) to bring to pass
1c) (Hophal)
1c1) to be brought, brought in
1c2) to be introduced, be put
So contextually this well could be better translated as “No priest shall drink wine ‘whenever he is going into or within’ the inner court. But that is my interpretation only.
Ezekiel 44:22 (ESV) They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.
Leviticus 21:7 (ESV) They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
The personal life of the priest is also to be kadosh, starting with his marriage.
Ezekiel 44:23 (ESV) They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
Leviticus 10:10-11 (ESV) You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”
It is the duty of the priests to teach God’s people how to distinguish between the holy and the profane (common). To do this, as well as to stand holy before Elohim when they ministered to Him, they themselves had to practice this separation.
Ezekiel 44:24 (ESV) In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.
They are to act as judges, giving righteous judgements according to the precepts given by God in
.
Deuteronomy 17:8-9 (ESV) “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.
They are to teach the people to keep the moedim, including Shabbat (Lev 23, Num 28-29, Deu 16).
Ezekiel 44:25-27 (ESV) They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.
Leviticus 21:1-3 (ESV) And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean).
Since they are holy, set apart, the priests are to avoid contact with death and mourning except in the case of their closest relatives.
Ezekiel 44:28-30 (ESV) “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a blessing may rest on your house.
Numbers 18:8 (ESV) Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due.
The priests had no inheritance, so their only provision was the offerings at the Temple, and the first fruits of field and hearth.
Ezekiel 44:31 (ESV) The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.
Leviticus 22:8 (ESV) He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’
Only meat that has been slaughtered properly can be eaten by the priests so that again they remain kadosh. Note the emphatic statement “I am the Lord” at the end of Leviticus 22:8.
Dan C
Resources: JPS Study TNK, Brown Driver Briggs, W Wiersbe, my father and others.
This is a summary of important points of Elohim’s instructions for the role of priests. In earlier verses of this chapter, HaShem emphasizes that this is “My” Temple and everything in it, including the things done there and the manner of worship, and it was to be respected as such. Yechezk’el is prophesying in this chapter concerning the restoration of the Temple. One of the reasons it had been destroyed was the apostacy of the priesthood and their common use of the Temple. Verses 4 and five are representative of the strong tone being used to address Yechezk’el, and thus the priests and the people here:
Ezekiel 44:4-5 (ESV) Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary.
We today who trust HaShem have been returned to the status Yisro’el was always meant to have:
Exodus 19:6 (ESV) and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
As representatives of the YHVH El Elyon- The Lord, the Most High God, we should take these instructions to heart ourselves.
Ezekiel 44:15-16 (ESV) “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.
Only the Zadokite line shall now serve as priests. This is in accordance with prophecy given in 1 Sam 2:30-36.
Ezekiel 44:17-19 (ESV) When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments.
Ezekiel 42:14 (ESV) When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”
This is all part of separating the holy from the profane, or common. Service in the Temple was kadosh, and must remain so.
Ezekiel 44:20 (ESV) They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads.
Leviticus 21:5 (ESV) They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.
These were pagan practices which the priests of the Lord were prohibited from doing.
Ezekiel 44: (ESV) No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
Leviticus 10:9 (ESV) “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
This could be read they shouldn’t drink within the inner court. However I would suspect this proscription would apply to the time before a priest was to perform his duties before the Lord. I can’t see drunkenness being permissible when serving HaShem.
H935 בּוא bô' verb BDB Definition:
1) to go in, enter, come, go, come in
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to enter, come in
1a2) to come
1a2a) to come with
1a2b) to come upon, fall or light upon, attack (enemy)
1a2c) to come to pass
1a3) to attain to
1a4) to be enumerated
1a5) to go
1b) (Hiphil)
1b1) to lead in
1b2) to carry in
1b3) to bring in, cause to come in, gather, cause to come, bring near, bring against, bring upon
1b4) to bring to pass
1c) (Hophal)
1c1) to be brought, brought in
1c2) to be introduced, be put
So contextually this well could be better translated as “No priest shall drink wine ‘whenever he is going into or within’ the inner court. But that is my interpretation only.
Ezekiel 44:22 (ESV) They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.
Leviticus 21:7 (ESV) They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
The personal life of the priest is also to be kadosh, starting with his marriage.
Ezekiel 44:23 (ESV) They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
Leviticus 10:10-11 (ESV) You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”
It is the duty of the priests to teach God’s people how to distinguish between the holy and the profane (common). To do this, as well as to stand holy before Elohim when they ministered to Him, they themselves had to practice this separation.
Ezekiel 44:24 (ESV) In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.
They are to act as judges, giving righteous judgements according to the precepts given by God in
.Deuteronomy 17:8-9 (ESV) “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.
They are to teach the people to keep the moedim, including Shabbat (Lev 23, Num 28-29, Deu 16).
Ezekiel 44:25-27 (ESV) They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.
Leviticus 21:1-3 (ESV) And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean).
Since they are holy, set apart, the priests are to avoid contact with death and mourning except in the case of their closest relatives.
Ezekiel 44:28-30 (ESV) “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a blessing may rest on your house.
Numbers 18:8 (ESV) Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due.
The priests had no inheritance, so their only provision was the offerings at the Temple, and the first fruits of field and hearth.
Ezekiel 44:31 (ESV) The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.
Leviticus 22:8 (ESV) He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’
Only meat that has been slaughtered properly can be eaten by the priests so that again they remain kadosh. Note the emphatic statement “I am the Lord” at the end of Leviticus 22:8.
Dan C
Resources: JPS Study TNK, Brown Driver Briggs, W Wiersbe, my father and others.
