Ezekiel Chapter 44 verse 10 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 10-14. - The ordinance for the Levites. According to the so-called priest-code, the Levites were Levi's descendants, who were chosen by Jehovah for service in the tabernacle (Numbers 3:6-13; Numbers 16:9), to minister to the priests when these sacrificed in the tabernacle (Numbers 8:19; Numbers 18:6), and in particular to keep the charge of the tabernacle, i.e. of the house and all its vessels (Numbers 1:53), as distinguished from the charge of the sanctuary and of the altar, which pertained to Aaron and his sons alone as priests (Numbers 18:2-6, 23). The Deuteronomic code, says Wellhausen ('Geschichte Israels,' pp. 121, etc.), was unacquainted with any such distinction between Levites and priests, who, it is alleged, composed one homogeneous body, the tribe of Levi, whose members were equally empowered to officiate at the altar (Deuteronomy 10:8), the lower duties of the tabernacle having been performed by the aforesaid strangers, and the subordination of Levites to priests having first been suggested by Ezekiel (comp. Smend, 'Der Prophet Ezekiel,' p. 361, "Der unterschied zwischen Priestern und Leviten ist hier im Enstehn begriffen"), and first formally carried out alter the exile. This theory, however, cannot be admitted as made out in face of (1) Deuteronomy 18, which (ver. 1) recognizes "the priests" and" the Levites" as constituting "the whole tribe of Levi," and (ver. 3, 6) distinguishes between "the priest" and "the Levite;" (2) 2 Samuel 15:24, which associates with Zadok the priest, the Levites as carriers of the ark; (3) 1 Kings 8:4, in which the same distinction between the two bodies is recognized; . . .

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(10) And the Levites that are gone away.--The connection between this and the preceding verse is made clearer by translating the first words, "Yea, even;" not only the uncircumcised in heart among the heathen are to be excluded from the sanctuary, but even the Levites who had apostatised are to bear their guilt. Levites is here used (see Ezekiel 44:13), as often, emphatically of the Levitical priests. At the great schism of the northern kingdom these had remained true to the worship of Jehovah (2Chronicles 11:13); but in the subsequent general religious declension many of them, as has appeared from Ezekiel 8, had fallen into idolatry. Such priests are to be allowed, like the priests under the law who had any physical blemish (Leviticus 21:17-23), to minister in the more menial offices of the priesthood, but not to approach the altar (Ezekiel 44:11-14).