EZK 44

Ezekiel 44:14

WEB

Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service and for all that will be done therein.

BSB

Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of all the work for the temple and everything to be done in it.

KJV

But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

Matthew Henry

Verses 10–16

Ezekiel 44:10–16

The Master of the house, being about to set up house again, takes account of his servants the priests, and sees who are fit to be turned out of their places and who to be kept in, and takes a course with them accordingly.

I. Those who have been treacherous are degraded and put lower those Levites - or priests who were carried down the stream of the apostasy of Israel formerly, who went astray from God after their idols (Eze 44:10), who had complied with the idolatrous kings of Israel or Judah, who ministered to them before their idols (Eze 44:12), bowed with them in the house of Rimmon, or set up altars for them, as Urijah did for Ahaz, and so caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, led them to sin and hardened them in sin; for, if the priests go astray, many will follow their pernicious ways. Perhaps in Babylon some of the Jewish priests had complied with the idolaters of the place, to the great scandal of their religion. Now these priests who had thus prevaricated were justly put under the mark of God's displeasure; or, if they were dead (as it is probable that they were, if the crime were committed before the captivity), the iniquity was visited upon their children. Or perhaps it was the whole family of Abiathar that had been guilty of this trespass, which was now called to account for it. And, 1. They are sentenced to be deprived, in part, of their office, and from the dignity of priests are put down into the condition or ordinary Levites. God has lifted up his hand against them, has said it, and sworn it, that they shall bear their iniquity (Eze 44:12); assuredly they shall suffer for it, shall suffer disgrace for it; they shall bear their shame (Eze 44:13), for though they have (we charitably hope) repented of it, yet they shall not come near to do the office of a priest, that is, those parts of the office that were peculiar to them, they shall not come near to any of the holy things within the sanctuary, Eze 44:13. Note, those who have robbed God of his honour will justly be deprived of their honour. And it is really a great punishment to be forbidden to come near to God; and justly might those who have once gone away from him be rejected as unworthy ever to come near to him and put at an everlasting distance. 2. Yet there is a mixture of mercy in this sentence. God deals not in severity, as he might have done, with those who had dealt treacherously with him, but mitigates the sentence, Eze 44:11, Eze 44:14. They are deprived but in part, ab officio - of their office, and, it should seem, not at all beneficio - of their emoluments. They shall help to slay the sacrifice, which the Levites were permitted to do, and which in this temple was done, not at the altar, but at the tables, Eze 40:29. They shall be porters at the gates of the house, and they shall be keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof. Note, Those who may not be fit to be employed in one kind of service may yet be fit to be employed in another; and even those who have offended may yet be made use of, and not quite thrown aside, much less thrown away.

II. Those who have been faithful are honoured and established, Eze 44:15, Eze 44:16. These are remarkably distinguished from the other: "But the sons of Zadok, who kept their integrity in a time of general apostasy, who went not astray when others did, they shall come near to me, shall come near to my table." Note, God will put marks of honour upon those who give proofs of their fidelity and constancy to him in shaking trying times, and will employ those in his service who have kept close to his service when others deserted it and drew back. And it ought to be reckoned a true and great reward of stability in duty to be established in it. If we keep close to God, God will keep us close to him.

Cross-references: Ezek 44:10 · Ezek 44:12 · Ezek 44:13 · Ezek 44:11 · Ezek 44:14 · Ezek 40:29 · Ezek 44:15 · Ezek 44:16

Hebrew interlinear

בּֽוֹboprep + suffix · pronominal · 3rd · masc · sing

H5414

נָתַןnâthan/naw-than'/

v — give, put, make

Derivation: a primitive root;

to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)

KJV: add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, × avenge, × be (healed), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, × doubtless, × without fail, fasten, frame, × get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), × have, × indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), lie, lift up, make, O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, × pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up), sing, slander, strike, (sub-) mit, suffer, × surely, × take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, weep, willingly, withdraw, would (to) God, yield.

נָתַן

vb — give

נָתַן 2007 vb. give, put, set

Qal 1917

1. give

2. Put, set

3. Make, constitute

Niph. 82

1. be given

2. Be put, set

Hoph.

1.

a. be given, bestowed

b. = be given to one for wife

2. be put upon

H853

אֵתʼêth/ayth/

prt — self, even, namely

Derivation: apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity;

properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)

KJV: [as such unrepresented in English].

אֵת

mark of the accusative

אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite

H8104

שָׁמַרshâmar/shaw-mar'/

v — hedge, guard, protect, attend to

Derivation: a primitive root;

properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.

KJV: beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).

שָׁמַר

vb — keep

שָׁמַר 465 vb. keep, watch, preserve

Qal 425

1.

a. keep, have charge of

b. keep, guard, captives

c. hence, watch for, wait for

d. watch, observe

2.

a. keep, retain, of storing up (food)

b. keep within bounds, restrain

3.

a. observe, celebrate

b. keep sabbath

c. of other obligations

d. observe = follow dictates of (prudence, justice, kindness, wisdom)

4. sts. י׳ subj.

5. keep, reserve, weeks of harvest

Niph. 36

1. be on one's guard

2. keep oneself, refrain, abstain

3. be kept, guarded

Pi. those paying regard to false vanities

Hithp. I kept myself from

H4931

מִשְׁמֶרֶתmishmereth/mish-mer'-reth/

n-f — watch, custody, sentry, post, preservation, safe, observance, duty, a usage, party

Derivation: feminine of 4929;

watch, i.e. the act (custody), or (concretely) the sentry, the post; objectively preservation, or (concretely) safe; figuratively observance, i.e. (abstractly) duty or (objectively) a usage or party

KJV: charge, keep, or to be kept, office, ordinace, safeguard, ward, watch.

מִשְׁמֶ֫רֶת

n.f — guard

מִשְׁמֶ֫רֶת 78 n.f. guard, watch, also charge, function

H1004

בַּיִתbayith/bah'-yith/

n-m — a house

Derivation: probably from 1129 abbreviated;

a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)

KJV: court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, × great as would contain, hangings, home(born), (winter) house(-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within(-out).

בֵּית

prep — between

בֵּית fem. of בַּיִן, בֵּין prep. between

בַּ֫יִת

n.m — house

בַּ֫יִת 2034 n.m. house

1. house

2. place

3. receptacle

4. of house as containing a family

5. household, family (592 t.)

6. house, including household affairs

7. lit. housewards, hence metaph. inwards

8. מִבַּיִת

a. adv. on the inside

b. prep. within

H3605

כֹּלkôl/kole/

n-m — whole, all, any, every

Derivation: or (Jeremiah 33:8) כּוֹל; from 3634;

properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)

KJV: (in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-) thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).

כֹּל

n.m — the whole

כֹּל once כּוֹל n.m. the whole, all

1. with foll. gen. (as usually) the whole of, to be rendered, however, often in our idiom, to avoid stiffness, any or every

2. Absolutely:

a. without the art., all things, all

b. with the art. הַכֹּל

(a). where the sense is limited by the context to things (or persons) just mentioned

(b). in a wider sense, all, whether of all mankind or of all living things, the universe, or of all the circumstances of life (chiefly late)

H5656

עֲבֹדָהʻăbôdâh/ab-o-daw'/

n-f — work

Derivation: or עֲבוֹדָה; from 5647;

work of any kind

KJV: act, bondage, bondservant, effect, labour, ministering(-try), office, service(-ile, -itude), tillage, use, work, × wrought.

עֲבֹדָה

n.f — labour

עֲבֹדָה, and (Chr) עֲבוֹדָה 146 n.f. labour, service

1. labour, work

2. labour of servant or slave

3. labour, service of captives or subjects

4. service of God

H834

אֲשֶׁרʼăsher/ash-er'/

r — who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

Derivation: a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number);

who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.

KJV: × after, × alike, as (soon as), because, × every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), × if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), × though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(-soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.

אֲשֶׁר

part. of relation — who

אֲשֶׁר part. of relation A sign of relation, bringing the clause introduced by it into relation with an antecedent clause.

בַאֲשֶׁר

adv — in which

בַאֲשֶׁר

a. in (that) which

b. adv. in (the place) where

c. conj. in that, inasmuch as

d. on account of whom?

כַּאֲשֶׁר

conj — according as

כַּאֲשֶׁר conj. according as, as, when

1. according to that which, according as, as

2. with a causal force, in so far as, since

3. with a temporal force, when

מֵאֲשֶׁר

adv — who

מֵאֲשֶׁר

a. from (or than) that which

b. adv. from (the place) where

c. conj. from (the fact) that …, since

H6213

עָשָׂהʻâsâh/aw-saw'/

v — do, make

Derivation: a primitive root;

to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application

KJV: accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, × certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, feast, (fight-) ing man, finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, hinder, hold (a feast), × indeed, be industrious, journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, × sacrifice, serve, set, shew, × sin, spend, × surely, take, × thoroughly, trim, × very, vex, be (warr-) ior, work(-man), yield, use.

עָשָׂה

vb — do

עָשָׂה 2622 vb. do, make

Qal 2524

I.

1. do (1560 t.)

2. deal with

3. oft. in phr. do kindness with

4. abs. act, act with effect

II.

1. make (670 t.)

2. produce, yield

3. prepare, esp. of dressing and cooking food

4. make offering

5. attend to, put in order

6. observe, celebrate, religious festival

7. acquire property of various kinds

8. appoint priests

9. bring about of י׳’s effecting a deliverance

10. use

11. spend, pass, days of life

Niph. 97

1. be done

2.

a. be made, of concr. things

b. be produced from vine

c. be prepared, of food

d. be offered

e. be observed, passover

f. be used

Pu. I was made

עָשָׂה

vb — press

[עָשָׂה] vb. Pi. press, squeeze

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