Ezekiel 44:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 44:4
Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
way
דֶּֽרֶךְde.rekh-
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct
north
הַצָּפוֹן֮ha.tza.fOn
H6828
properly · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
gate
שַׁ֣עַרSha.'ar
H8179
an opening · noun, common masculine singular construct
before
פְּנֵ֣יpe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
house
הַבַּיִת֒ha.ba.Yit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
looked
וָאֵ֕רֶאva.'E.re'
H7200
to see · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular
glory
כְבוֹדkhe.Vod-
H3519
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
filled
מָלֵ֥אma.Le'
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
fell
וָאֶפֹּ֖לva.'e.Pol
H5307
to fall · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular
face
פָּנָֽיpa.Nai
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 1:28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appe…
Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Ezekiel 3:23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar…
Ezekiel 40:20 And the gate of the outward court that looked toward the north, he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof.
Ezekiel 43:3-5 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: a…
Isaiah 6:3-4 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Ezekiel 40:40 And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of t…
Haggai 2:7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 44:4-9
This is much to the same purport with what we had in the beginning of ch. 43. As the prophet must look again upon what he had before seen, so he must be told again what he had before heard. Here, as before, he sees the house filled with the glory of the Lord, which strikes an awe upon him, so that he falls prostrate at the sight, the humblest posture of adoration and the expression of a holy awe: I fell upon my face, Eze 44:4. Note, The more we see of the glory of God the more low we shall lie in our own eyes. Now here,
I. God charges the prophet to take a very particular notice of all he saw, and all that was said to him (Eze 44:5): "Behold with thy eyes what is shown thee, particularly the…
Directions as to the priests. Their acts of desecration are attributed to "the house of Israel" (Eze 44:6-7), as the sins of the priesthood and of the people acted and reacted on one another; "like people, like priest" (Jer 5:31; Hos 4:9).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 44:2
This gate shall be shut - It was not to be opened on ordinary occasions, nor at all on the week days: but only on the Sabbaths and the new moons. See the account of the gates (4) in the explanation of the plan.
This verse has been adduced by the Roman Catholics to prove the perpetual virginity of the mother of our Lord; and it may be allowed to be as much to the purpose as any other that has been brought to prove this very precarious point, on which no stress should ever be laid by any man. Mary was a virgin when she brought forth Jesus.
John Gill on Ezekiel 44:4
Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house,.... The north gate of the inward court, whither he was brought from the east gate, which was shut: this, and what follow, may have some respect to the churches in these our northern parts of the world, in their now declining circumstances, which are aptly represented in some following verses; but will hereafter be filled with the glory of the Lord, as follows:
and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; as he had seen at the eastern gate, Ezekiel 43:2,
and I fell upon my face; as he had done before, under a sense of the greatness and glory of the divine Majesty, and of his own vileness and unw…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 4 and following) And he brought me through the way of the north gate in the sight of the house, and I saw, and behold, the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord, and I fell on my face. And the Lord said to me, Son of man, set your heart and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I speak to you concerning all the statutes of the house of the Lord, and concerning all its laws, and set your heart upon the entrance of the temple and on all the exits of the sanctuary. The man who is the leader of the prophet, and who knows everything in the temple by showing, after he showed the closed gate that must never be opened, and yet opened to him who had entered through closed doors. He leads the prophet to the way of the North gate, which is also in the sight of the house, undoubtedly signifying the temple. And when the prophet saw the fullness of the house of the Lord's glory, namely the same house that he saw from the opposite side in the North area, he immediately fell on his face, unable to bear the majesty of the Lord's glory. Because he had been brought low by his humility, the Lord says to him, not as a man but as the Lord: Son of man, set your heart, and so on. In the completion of the tabernacle and the building of the temple constructed by Solomon, the glory of the Lord appeared, which was later destroyed by comparison to the glory of the Gospel, as the Apostle says: For that which was glorified has not been glorified in this respect, because of the excellent glory. For if that which is destroyed is by glory, much more that which remains is in glory (2 Corinthians 3:10). And we must beware lest we think the destruction of the previous glory is an abolition; but we must think thus, that after what is perfect has come, that which was in part will be destroyed: just as if you compare the rays of the sun to a lamp, or the light of a lamp to a small lantern. Therefore, it is also said about John the Baptist: He was a shining lamp in the house (John 5:35). However, when the sun of justice came, the light of the lamp was hidden, as the prophet himself and John the Baptist said: He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). The prophet fell on his face, lest, desiring to see more than human frailty can behold, he should lose even the light of his eyes. Hence the Lord calls him more familiarly "son of man," and commands him to…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Church · HOUSE OF THE LOR — HOUSE OF THE LOR
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The Position of Foreigners, Levites, and Priests in Relation to the Temple and the Temple Service. - The further precepts concerning the approach to the sanctuary, and the worship to be presented there, are introduced with a fresh exhortation to observe with exactness all the statutes and laws, in order that the desecration of the sanctuary which had formerly taken place might not be repeated, and are delivered to the prophet at the north gate in front of the manifestation of the glory of God (Eze 44:4-8). - Eze 44:4. And he brought me by the way of the north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah, and I fell down upon my fac…
Though the prince had the significant privilege of being the only one allowed to feast in the Lord’s presence inside the east outer gateway, he was restricted to entering and leaving the portico from the outer court. He was not to enter from outside the Temple complex by going through the gate, as the Lord had; the earthly ruler is a man, not God, and he must submit to God. The prince must also never forget that the Temple is God’s palace, not his own private chapel.
Rashi on Ezekiel 44:3
The prince [I permit]; he is a prince, etc. The prince I give permission. He is a prince, and is esteemed, and it is not fitting for him to sit and eat with the rest of the priests in the chambers.
he shall sit therein in its space.
by way of the hall of the gate he shall come When he enters the Inner Court in order to enter this small gate to eat therein, he shall enter by way of the hall of the Court’s eastern gate and leave the same way. Now since it states below (46:9), concerning: “But when the people of the land come before the Lord on the Festivals, he who enters by way of, etc.” Scripture commanded making the Court a shortcut since that entry was [made] for the sake of appearing [b…
