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…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 44:8
keepers . . . for yourselves--such as you yourselves thought fit, not such as I approve of. Or else, "Ye have not yourselves kept the charge of My holy things, but have set others as keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for yourselves" [MAURER].
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 44:7
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.
John Gill on Ezekiel 44:8
And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things,.... That is, have not kept and retained the holy doctrines of the Gospel; nor observed the holy ordinances of it, as they were first delivered:
but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves; meaning either, that such as were in public office did not attend to it; but were idol shepherds, and left the flock, their care and charge, to others, to surrogates and curates, to do their work for them; while they indulged themselves in sloth and idleness: or that the members and hearers set up preachers for themselves, according to their lusts, agreeable to their own carnal sentiments, without any regard to the will and glory…
