in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.” The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
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Ezekiel 44:7-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of Yahweh’s house, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary. You shall tell the rebellious, even the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You house of Israel, let that be enough of all your abominations, in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.” The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
Parallel Translations
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in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.”
The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
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In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
Show all 3 translations
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in that ye have brought in aliens, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, even My house, when ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken My covenant, to add unto all your abominations.
And ye have not kept the charge of My holy things; but ye have set keepers of My charge in My sanctuary to please yourselves.
Thus saith the Lord GOD: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, even any alien that is among the children of Israel.
Cross-references (52)
- Leviticus 22:25 (v7) You must not offer any of these as the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner, because their corruption is in them. There is a…
- Jeremiah 9:26 (v7) Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all…
- Joel 3:17 (v9) “So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass…
- Jeremiah 4:4 (v7) Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go…
- Zechariah 14:21 (v9) Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook…
Show all 52 cross-references
- Genesis 17:14 (v7) The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my…
- Leviticus 26:41 (v7) I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they…
- Ezekiel 44:7 (v9) in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my…
- Ezekiel 44:9 (v7) The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners…
- Deuteronomy 10:16 (v7) Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
- Malachi 1:12-14 (v7) “But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’ You say also, ‘Behold,…
- Mark 16:16 (v9) He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
- John 3:3-5 (v9) Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a…
- Acts 7:51 (v7) “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Acts 21:28 (v7) crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Moreover,…
- Exodus 12:48 (v7) When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then…
- Leviticus 3:13-17 (v7) He shall lay his hand on its head, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood around on the…
- Leviticus 17:11 (v7) For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that…
- Leviticus 21:6 (v7) They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of…
- Leviticus 21:8 (v7) Therefore you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- Leviticus 21:17 (v7) “Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.
- Leviticus 21:21 (v7) No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Since he has a…
- Leviticus 22:2-33 (v8) “Tell Aaron and his sons to separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, which they make holy to me, and that they…
- Leviticus 26:15 (v7) and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my…
- Numbers 18:3-5 (v8) They shall keep your commands and the duty of the whole Tent; only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the…
- Numbers 18:7 (v8) You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You shall serve. I give…
- Deuteronomy 30:6 (v7) Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your…
- Deuteronomy 31:16 (v7) Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods…
- Deuteronomy 31:20 (v7) For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled…
- 1 Chronicles 23:32 (v8) and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers,…
- Ezra 8:24-30 (v8) Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them, and weighed to them…
- Psalms 50:16 (v9) But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
- Psalms 93:5 (v9) Your statutes stand firm. Holiness adorns your house, Yahweh, forever more.
- Isaiah 24:5 (v7) The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the…
- Isaiah 56:6-7 (v7) Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh to serve him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the…
- Jeremiah 11:10 (v7) They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them.…
- Jeremiah 31:32 (v7) not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of…
- Ezekiel 7:20 (v7) As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things…
- Ezekiel 22:26 (v7) Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common,…
- Ezekiel 40:45-46 (v8) He said to me, “This room, which faces toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house. The room which faces…
- Ezekiel 43:7-8 (v7) He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of…
- Ezekiel 44:14 (v8) Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that will be done therein.
- Ezekiel 44:16 (v8) “They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.
- Malachi 1:7 (v7) You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
- John 6:52-58 (v7) The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus therefore said to them, “Most…
- Acts 7:53 (v8) You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”
- Romans 2:28-29 (v7) For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly,…
- Colossians 2:11-13 (v7) In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the…
- 1 Timothy 6:13 (v8) I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,
- 2 Timothy 4:1 (v8) I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom:
- Titus 1:5-9 (v9) I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I…
- Hebrews 8:9 (v7) not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7–8 For they had brought idolaters which were of other…
For they had brought idolaters which were of other countries, to teach them their idolatry, Ezek. 23:40.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Eze 44:7 In that ye have brought [into my…
Eze 44:7 In that ye have brought [into my sanctuary] strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, [even] my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
Ver. 7. Strangers.] Yourselves are no better; {Amo 9:7} strangers from the covenants; {Eph 2:12} degenerate children, {Isa 1:4} alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you, {Eph 4:18} and through your blind leaders of the blind, priests of your own making, &c.
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Uncircumcised in heart.] Erroneous in judgment.
Uncircumcised in flesh.] Enormous in practice.
When ye offer my bread,] i.e., The fat and the blood, as it followeth, which I seem to feed upon as a man doth upon bread.
Because of all your abominations.] Or, Besides all your abominations mentioned. {Eze 44:6}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Ye have brought; either by abusing your power you…
Ye have brought; either by abusing your power you have licensed, or by conniving you have permitted, to come into my holy courts.
Strangers; foreigners and heathen, who had their idols in the very courts of the temple, and there worshipped their idols, as Eze 8:5,10,14,16.
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Uncircumcised in heart; the worst of them, profane and impious.
Uncircumcised in flesh: no uncircumcised one should come into the court of the people, but you have brought them into the very sanctuary at the times of public worship, and when you have been offering my bread, &c. Some think that the profane carelessness of the Jewish rulers was such, that they suffered uncircumcised ones to be priests among them, and to approach to God’s altar. This was done in Solomon’s degenerate days, and in the days of Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon.
My bread; either the meat-offering, or first-fruits of corn and dough, and the show-bread.
The fat, which was taken off the sacrifices and burnt.
The blood, how let out, received into vessels, sprinkled and poured out, the priests and rulers of my house, through a sinful familiarity with heathens, have given them courage to ask, and you have not zeal and courage enough to refuse them, but you have satisfied their forbidden curiosity, and showed them all these things; or, as was said, have advanced some to be priests in my house, and suffered others to be priests of idols, standing and worshipped in my courts.
They, the whole nation of the Jews, the people of the land,
have broken my covenant; turned idolaters, mixed with heathens, forsaken me and my law, taking example from your practices, or complying with your superstitious and idolatrous inventions.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–9 In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,....…
In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,.... Unregenerate men, who are in a state of alienation and estrangement to divine and spiritual things: strangers to God; to the true knowledge of him in Christ; to the fear and love of God; to the true grace of God in conversion; and to communion with him: strangers to Christ, to his person and offices; to the way of peace, life, and salvation by him; to his righteousness; to faith in him, love of him, and fellowship with him: strangers to the Spirit; to his person, to regeneration and sanctification by him; to the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, love, humility, self-denial, &c.; to the things of the Spirit, which they neither know nor savour; and to the several offices he performs, as a comforter, the Spirit of adoption, an earnest and sealer: strangers to their own hearts, and the plague of them, and sin that dwells in them: strangers to the nature of sin, and the exceeding sinfulness of it; to the deceitfulness of sin, and the consequences of it; to true repentance for it, and to the right way of atonement of it, by the blood of Christ: strangers to the Gospel of Christ, and the truths of it; and to the saints and people of God:
and uncircumcised in heart; who never were pricked in the heart for sin, or felt any pain there on account of it; never had the hardness of their heart removed, or the impurity of it discovered to them; never were filled with shame and loathing because of it; or ever put off the body of sins in a course of conversation; or renounced their own righteousness:
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and uncircumcised in flesh; carnal, as they were born; men in the flesh, in a state of nature, mind and savour the things of the flesh, and do the works of it; having never been taught by the grace of God to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to abstain from fleshly ones: or, who put their trust in the flesh, in outward things, in carnal privileges, and external righteousness: these the Lord complains were brought
to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house: either to be members here, and partake of all the ordinances and privileges of the Lord's house; or to officiate here as priests and ministers of the Lord:
when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood; which, under the law, were the Lord's; and here signify the ministry of the word and ordinances, the goodness and fatness of the Lord's house; and especially the ordinance of the Lord's supper, that feast of fat things; in which Christ, the true and living bread of God, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed, is represented to the faith of God's people:
and they have broken my covenant, because of all your abominations: that is, have broken the rule of the divine word and everlasting Gospel by such abominations; by admitting such ministers and members, the one to administer, the other to partake of, Gospel ordinances: this is the true state of the case of most of the reformed churches in our days; it is to be feared that there are multitudes of unregenerate ministers in them; that they are full of carnal professors; and notorious it is that the ordinance of the Lord's supper is prostituted to wicked persons, and to answer ends it never was designed for; which must be an abomination to the Lord.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7–8 Bread - Either the meal-offering or first-fruits of corn…
Bread - Either the meal-offering or first-fruits of corn and dough, and the shew-bread. They - The whole nation of the Jews.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v7 Verse 7. The fat and the blood] These never…
Verse 7. The fat and the blood] These never went into common use; they were wholly offered to God. The blood was poured out; the fat consumed.
Because of all your abominations.] Several MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's read their abominations, referring to the strangers mentioned before.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v9 Eze 44:9-14. No stranger shall enter into my sanctuary…
Eze 44:9-14. No stranger shall enter into my sanctuary — To offer any sacrifice or oblation there, (see Eze 44:7,) nor be suffered to go beyond the precincts appointed for proselytes. The Levites that are gone far from me, &c. — Many of the Levites departed from God’s service, and fell into idolatry; first in the general apostacy of the ten tribes, and afterward under Ahaz, and other wicked kings of Judah: see 2Ki 23:9. These, God here says, should bear the punishment due to their iniquity, and be degraded from attending upon the higher offices belonging to the priesthood, and thrust down to lower services: see Eze 44:13. Many of the priests and Levites, who had been employed in the service of the first temple, lived to see the second, as appears from Ezr 3:12. But the descendants of former idolatrous priests and Levites may be here meant; or, the ordinances here prescribed were intended to be standing rules, which were to be always observed whenever such a case as that here specified should happen. Yet they shall be ministers, &c., having charge at the gates — Performing the office of porters, or other inferior offices belonging to the Levites. They shall slay the burnt-offering, &c. — Shall kill and flay the beasts appointed for the sacrifices. And they shall stand before them, &c. — They shall be servants to the people, in performing the most servile offices belonging to the temple. Because they ministered unto them before their idols, &c. — They led the people into idolatry, by giving them a bad example. Therefore have I lifted up my hand against them — I have solemnly sworn that I will punish them for this their sin. They shall not come near me, &c. — They shall not offer any sacrifice at my altar, or come into the temple to perform any part of the priestly office there. So Josiah discharged the priests that had been guilty of idolatry from attending upon the service of the altar, 2Ki 23:9.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7–8 Flesh. People of this description were not to enter…
Flesh. People of this description were not to enter the temple, which is here called the sanctuary, even though they adored God. In some cases pagans were admitted into any part, except the most holy. Epiphanes (Calmet) and Pompey forced their passage thither, to the great sorrow of the Jews. (Josephus, Jewish Wars i. 5.) See Ecclesiasticus lii., and Acts xxi. 28. --- During the plundering of the city, the Chaldeans did the like; (Lamentations i. 10.; Haydock) and while idols were set up, all rules were neglected. --- Doings. You observe the exterior, and not the spirit of religion.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7–8 uncircumcised in heart--Israelites circumcised outwardly, but wanting the true…
uncircumcised in heart--Israelites circumcised outwardly, but wanting the true circumcision of the heart (Deu 10:16; Act 7:51).
uncircumcised in flesh--not having even the outward badge of the covenant-people.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 7, 8. Strangers, uncircumcised in heath and uncircumcised in…
7, 8. Strangers, uncircumcised in heath and uncircumcised in flesh — These “aliens” (R.V.) were not excluded from entering the temple and offering sacrifices to Jehovah in their own behalf (Lev_17:8; Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14; Num_15:29), but foreigners (probably slaves or captives in war), who had no sympathy whatever with the Israelitish religion, ought not to be permitted to take official positions in Jehovah’s house, as had sometimes been done (Jos_9:27; 1Sa_2:13; Zec_14:21; Ezr_2:58, Hebrews). Service with the lip or the hand only is an abomination to God. Even otherwise menial services become sacred when done for Jehovah, and it is an insult to him when such services are put upon ignorant and impure foreigners who have no heart loyalty to the lord of the house. (Compare W.R. Smith, Old Testament in the Jewish Church, pp. 260-266.) It was practically breaking covenant with Jehovah to set them as keepers of my charge in my sanctuary (Eze_44:8).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–9 7. into my sanctuary strangers] i.e. foreigners. What is…
7. into my sanctuary strangers] i.e. foreigners. What is reprobated is not of course allowing foreigners to present sacrifices to Jehovah, which they might do (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14), but allowing them to officiate in the offering, and in general in the ministry of the sanctuary. It is not ascertainable to what extent these uncircumcised heathen were permitted to fill the subordinate offices about the house, such as those of keepers of the gates and assistants to the priests, but just as the kings employed foreign mercenaries as guards (who were employed even in the temple, 2Ki_11:7), it appears that persons not Israelites and not incorporated in Israel by the necessary rites, were employed in the house. They were probably captives taken in war and the like (Jos_9:27; 1Sa_2:13; Zec_14:21; cf. Ezr_8:20; Ezr_2:58). This is regarded by the prophet as a profanation of the house and an infraction of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel. It is the latter from the nature of the case. Israel was the people of the Lord and his service must be performed by Israel. These heathen were uncircumcised both in flesh and heart, their service was purely mercenary, and without religious reality. For “and they have broken” LXX. reads, and ye have broken, which is more exact.
because of all] Perhaps: in addition to all your abominations.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–9 (7) Strangers, uncircumcised in heart.—The heathen living in Israel,…
(7) Strangers, uncircumcised in heart.—The heathen living in Israel, or coining to worship at the Temple, were allowed, and even in some cases required, to offer sacrifices (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14; Num_15:26; Num_15:29). This seems also to have been recognised in Solomon’s prayer at the consecration of the Temple (1Ki_8:41-43); but the ground on which the Israelites are here censured for the licence given to strangers is, that they allowed those to draw near in worship who were uncircumcised in heart as well as in flesh, i.e., ungodly men who had no real purpose to worship God.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7–9 The special sin chargeable against Israel in the past…
The special sin chargeable against Israel in the past had been the introduction into the sanctuary, while the priests were engaged in sacrifice, of strangersaliens (Revised Version); literally, sons of a stranger uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, in express contravention of Jehovah"s covenant. Ewald, Havernick, Hengstenberg, Schroder, and Currey restrict the designation "strangers" to unfaithful and unauthorized priests, who, as in the days of Israel"s apostasy, notoriously under Jeroboam (1Ki_12:31; 2Ch_11:15) may, in the confluence of idolatries that took place in Jerusalem during the reigns of (2Ki_16:3, 2Ki_16:4, 2Ki_16:10-15; 2Ch_28:2-4, 2Ch_28:23-25) and Manasseh. (2Ki_21:2-7, 2Ki_21:11, 2Ki_21:15; 2Ch_33:2-7) have been admitted to participate in the temple services; but Kliefoth, Delitzsch, Keil, Smend, and Plumptre, with better judgment, recognize in the "strangers" foreigners who had not incorporated themselves with Israel by submitting to circumcision, but, though dwelling in the midst of Israel, were still uncircumcised heathen in both heart and flesh. With regard to these foreigners, the Law of Moses (Lev_17:8, Lev_17:10) enacted that, by accepting circumcision, they might become members of the Israelitish commonwealth, but that without this they could not be permitted to partake of the Passover, the highest symbol of national and religious unity. (Exo_12:48, Exo_12:49) Nevertheless, it was open to them, on giving a certain measure of obedience to the Law (Exo_12:19 Exo_20:10; Lev_17:10, 12 18:26 20:2 24:16, 22) to enter the sanctuary and present all sorts of offerings to Jehovah. (Lev_17:8; Num_15:14, Num_15:29) Hence Israel"s offence had not been the admission of such "sons of the stranger" into the sanctuary, but the admission of them without insisting on the above specified conditions, in other words, the admission of such as not only lacked the bodily mark of circumcision which would not have excluded them but were destitute as well of the first elements of Hebrew piety, i.e. were as uncircumcised in heart as they were in the flesh. The sanctioning of such within the temple courts, while Jehovah"s bread, the fat and the blood, was being offered, i.e. while sacrificial worship was being performed, was not simply a desecration of the "house," but was an express violation of the covenant Jehovah had made with Israel with reference to these very "sons of the stranger."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 In that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers.
Eze_44:7-8
In that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers.
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The relation of the stranger to the service of the temple
What is reprobated is not of course allowing foreigners to present sacrifices to Jehovah, which they might do (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12), but allowing them to officiate in the offering, and in general in the ministry of the sanctuary. This is regarded by the prophet as a profanation of the house, and an infraction of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel. It is the latter from the nature of the case. Israel was the people of the Lord, and His service must be performed by Israel. These heathen were uncircumcised both in flesh and heart; their service was purely mercenary, and without religious reality. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to the house of Israel.
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translationWords
holy place
alien
Israel
circumcise
heart
flesh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v9 44:9 No foreigners: This was not a blanket prohibition…
44:9 No foreigners: This was not a blanket prohibition against non-Israelite access to the sanctuary. It only affected those who had not been circumcised and have not surrendered themselves to the Lord. Genuine converts could be part of the new Israel (see 47:22-23).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.