Ezekiel 44:2

Eze 44:2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

Ver. 2. This gate shall be shut.] Is, and shall be, save only to Messiah the Prince, and to whomsoever he, as having the keys of David, shall open it. "This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter" {Psa 118:20} - sc., By that "new and living way," which Christ, their forerunner, {Heb 6:20} hath prepared and paved for them with his own blood. {Heb 10:20} See Heb 7:8-9; Heb 7:11-12; Heb 7:24; Heb 9:11-12.

And no man shall enter in it.] No mere man, [no man] unless it be Emmanuel. See Joh 3:13.

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.

44:2 The outer east gate must remain perpetually closed because the Lord had now returned to his Temple and would never again leave it. He had also sanctified this gate by going through it, and no one else was ever to use it.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, from the common people, but not from the Priests, nor the Prince, read Ezek. 46:8,9.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 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. See Clarke on Eze 48:35.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) Hath entered in by it.—See Eze_43:1-2. The thought is, that the gate which had been sanctified by such a manifestation of the Divine presence, should not afterwards be used for the ordinary purposes of the entrance of the people.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then said the Lord unto me, this gate shall be shut,.... In time to come, as Jarchi interprets it, in the latter day; it was shut, and it should continue to be shut:

it shall not be opened; any more; though it has been, yet hereafter no more:

and no man shall enter in by it, into the house of the Lord,

because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it; the same with the glory of the God of Israel, Eze 43:2,

therefore it shall be shut; no one being to enter after him. Various are the sentiments of expositors concerning this gate. Some of the ancients have interpreted it of the Virgin Mary, by whom Christ came into this world in human nature, being born of her, a virgin, who had never known man, and as is thought never did after the birth of Christ; nor were any afterwards born of her; no man might come into the world by her, by that self-same way the incarnate God did, and for that reason. This sense is approved of, not only by Papists, but by many Protestant writers. Others understand it of the Scriptures, the word of God, which as it is a sealed book to men learned and unlearned, so a gate shut up; it cannot be opened by a mere natural man, or be understood by the light of nature; none can open it but the Lion of the tribe of Judah; who gives the spiritual knowledge of it to whom he pleases, the perfect knowledge of which is reserved to a future state; and there are some things in it which will be always shut, and ever secrets; as the modus of the subsistence of the three Persons in the Godhead; the generation of the Son, the procession of the Spirit, and the union of the two natures in Christ; see Isa 29:11, others think that the gate of heaven, or the way to eternal glory and happiness, is meant; which was shut by the sin of man, and could never be opened again by any mere man; but Christ by his blood has opened the way into it; and has entered into it, not as a private, but public person, representing all his people; and none but those that belong to him, that are members of him, shall enter there; as none but Christ personal, so none but Christ mystical: but I am rather of opinion, since this whole fabric, as we have seen, is an emblem of the church of Christ on earth in the latter day, the way into that is designed here; and its being shut signifies, that, as the church is a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, and is only for the use of Christ, and should be a chaste virgin to him, he should have all her heart, affection, and faith; so it should not be pervious unto others; no natural or unregenerate man should enter into it; and when the Lord shall have taken up his residence in the church in the latter day, in a more spiritual and glorious manner than ever, there shall no more come into her the uncircumcised and the unclean, Isa 52:1, and especially in the New Jerusalem state nothing shall enter that defiles, or makes an abomination, or a lie, Rev 21:27 none but those that are Christ's, that are true members of his, and one with him; and this sense agrees with what follows in this chapter, and receives light and confirmation thereby; in which the Lord complains of the Israel and church of God in these its present declining times, that unregenerate persons were admitted into the sanctuary of the Lord, to communicate with the saints, and officiate there, Eze 44:7 and commends such who are faithful ministers and members, who are established therein, Eze 44:15.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Lord hath entered in - See Eze 43:2.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Opened. No man perfectly understands the Scriptures but the Son of God, Matthew xi. 27. (St. Jerome) --- This also insinuates, that Mary ever remained a pure virgin. (St. Augustine, &c.) (Worthington) --- Shut, even for the prince. Some (Haydock) kings of Juda claimed the privilege of entering by it at any time, and passed through a part of the court assigned to the priests, 2 Paralipomenon vi. 12., and 4 Kings xvi. 18. This shall be no longer tolerated. The gate might be opened in the week days if the prince wished to offer sacrifice, but not else, except on the sabbaths, chap. xlvi. 1, 12. --- Lord, in peace offerings and religious feasts. --- Porch. Each had two doors, chap. xlvi. 2. (Calmet)

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).

Likely the prophet was somewhat surprised, and wondered that the door should be shut; and while he museth on it the Lord speaks to him out of the temple, and informs him, and satisfieth him.

Shall not be opened, i.e. shall not ordinarily stand open, but be shut till occasion requires it should sometimes be opened.

No man; none of the common ordinary sort of people, or none but the prince, God’s vicegerent, and the ministering priests.

The God of Israel hath entered in: what was the glory of the God of Israel, Eze 43:2, is here

the Lord, the God of Israel, that glory was the visible sign of his presence. His glory is himself, and where that entered he entered, i.e. gave evidence of a more than ordinary presence there.

It shall be shut; either kept shut with bars, or, by a prohibition, be as if it were shut, that none should enter thereby.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This gate shall be shut, The prophet must have noted this as an important difference between the new sanctuary and the old (whether temple or tabernacle), in which the east gate stood always open. That the gate of the new temple was to be closed only on the six working days Ewald mistakenly infers from Eze_46:1, where he reads, after the LXX, the outer instead of the inner court. But Eze_46:1 refers to the east gate of the inner court. Of the east gate of the outer court it is declared emphatically that it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it, meaning that it should be closed in perpetuity; and that not, as Abar-banel and Lightfoot have supposed, to express the idea that the glory of Jehovah should no more depart from the temple, but abide in it forever, but to inspire an exalted conception of the sanctity of the "house" and all its belongings, as Jehovah explained, Because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

Vers. 2, 3The shut gate.

The "Golden Gate" at Jerusalem, on the eastern side of the temple area, looking towards the Mount of Olives, is now built up, so that it can only be traced by means of the form of the arches and carved work embedded in a line of wall. Tradition associates this now inaccessible archway with the gate which Ezekiel said should be shut till the Prince passed through it. There is a striking symbolism in Ezekiel"s description of the shut gate.

I THE GATE WAS SHUT.

1. The way to God was closed. Man once had free access to his Father. Sin barred the door and shut him out in the waste.

2. The way to life was closed. Cherubim with flaming swords, stood between Adam and the tree of life. (Gen_3:24) Fallen man cannot recover his spiritual life; he has forfeited eternal life, and it is beyond his power to regain it.

3. The way to happiness was closed. The tree of life stood in Eden, and Eden was shut against fallen man.

4. The way to heaven was closed. The door was shut against the foolish virgins. The bliss of futurity is denied to man in his sin.

II THE HOLINESS OF GOD BARS THE GATE. God had passed through the gate; therefore it was to be closed against man. This suggests a painful thought; where God is man may not be. The same idea was prominent at Horeb, when no man or beast was to come near the mount while God descended upon it. (Heb_12:20) There is a natural feeling of the supreme majesty of God that leads to a thought of utter separateness. No being approaches him in greatness or rank. The Sovereign of all is alone in his awful majesty. Yet we must not associate vulgar ideas of pomp and ceremony with God. He does not need the artificial dignity of separateness. He is necessarily apart from us in sheer greatness. But he desires to be near to his children. The real secret of the separateness is sin. Man cannot come where God is because man is sinful and God is holy.

III THE GATE IS OPENED FOR THE PRINCE. Christ, and Christ alone, realizes the Messianic vision of Hebrew prophecy. He is the Prince par excellence. Christ has a right of access to God by reason of his sinlessness, and by reason of his nature as "the Only Begotten of the Father." He has made a way to God by his intercession and his sacrifice. The door, long barred by sin, is now opened by grace. First our Prince goes through it, and himself realizes communion with God. But he does not keep this as a rare privilege for himself alone. He is the "Firstborn among many brethren," and he opens the door of access to God for all men. He leads all his people to the tree of life, for "he that hath the Son hath life". (1Jn_5:12) He gives true blessedness to his people. He unbars the golden gate of heaven. All who sleep in Jesus will awake in the glorious resurrection-life of which he is the Source and Center who could say, "I am the Resurrection and the Life". (Joh_11:25)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall not be opened - Shall not ordinarily stand open. No man - None of the common people. The Lord - That glory which was the visible sign of his presence.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

shall be closed Our Rabbis interpreted this verse as referring to the southern wicket, for the gate of the Heichal had a wicket, a small entrance. So we learned in Tractate Middoth (4:2): The Great Gate had two wickets, one in the south and one in the north. No one ever entered the one in the south, of which Ezekiel says, “This gate shall be closed.”

comes through it in the future.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.