Ezekiel 44:25

Eze 44:25 And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.

Ver. 25. And they shall come at no dead person.] Not defile their consciences with dead works.

They may defile themselves.] So they keep a mean. Something they may yield to nature, nothing to impatience. Mens e luctu eluctetur, the mind surmounts difficulties from grief.

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.

Eze 44:25-26. They shall come at no dead person to defile themselves —

Whosoever touched a dead body became legally unclean, (Num 19:11,) and thereby was disqualified for attending upon God’s worship in the temple, Lev 22:3. Upon which account the priests were forbidden to contract such defilement, unless for their nearest relations, which prohibition is here renewed: see the margin. After he is cleansed they shall reckon unto him seven days — His uncleanness continued seven days, according to the forecited law, Num 19:11; and the priests were to reckon to him seven days more, before he could be admitted into the sanctuary.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They may be at their burial, which was a defiling.

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

Verse 25. And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves] Touching the dead defiles a Hindoo now, as it formerly did a Jew; and they must bathe to become clean again.

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

25–27. Regulations for their necessary contact with the dead. They shall approach the dead bodies only of their nearest relatives, father, mother, son, daughter, brother and unmarried sister. From the defilement caused by this contact they must purify themselves before resuming their service in the inner court. It is curious that no reference is made to the priest’s wife among the relatives with whose dead bodies they may defile themselves. The same omission occurs Lev_21:1-3. In Eze_24:15 it is understood that he would naturally shew tokens of mourning for his wife. The two things, however, are not identical, and Ezek. was not an acting priest. According to Lev_21:11 the high-priest was not to defile himself by going near any dead body whatever. How defilement was contracted is explained Num_19:14.

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.

And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves,.... Shall not come into places where they are, nor touch them, nor attend their funerals, Lev 21:1, that their work might not be interrupted, or they through grief and sorrow be made unfit for it, Mat 8:22, this, in a spiritual sense, may signify, that they should have no conversation or fellowship with men dead in trespasses and sins; and should abstain from all dead works, as all sinful ones are:

but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves; by coming near them, touching them, at least attending their funerals, because of their near relation to them, and that natural sympathy and affection that must be in them: all sorrow and mourning for dead relations is not forbidden saints, nor ministers of the word; provided it is in moderation, and not to excess, and is not for gracious persons, as those without hope; and should as little as possible break in upon the duties of their office, Th1 4:13.

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

Unclean, attending the funeral, which inferior priests alone might do, Leviticus xxi. 10. (Menochius)

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).

They, the priests, who come near to minister before the Lord,

shall come at no dead person; neither touch, nor come into the room, nor attend the funeral of the dead; for this would be a legal and ceremonial defilement, and it is prohibited Lev 21:1. The Jews tell us that he who comes within four cubits of the dead is defiled; and the law, though it determine not at what distance such are defiled, it doth determine that they are unclean till evening by touch or coming near the carcass of any but man, and the defilement by coming near a dead man lasted seven days.

But for father, & c: the priest was indulged in the death of so near relations, as Lev 21:2,3, where they are reckoned up as ill this verse.

They may defile themselves mourn for them, touch them, be at their funerals, and show their natural affections to them.

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

25. The priest might touch no dead person nor enter the room where the dead lay (Num_19:14); for by this he would be ritually defiled and rendered unfit for duty. (Compare Lev_21:1-3; Lev_21:11.) Only for blood relatives was an exception made. Some have supposed the wife was not mentioned because it was self-evident that in such a case defilement “could not be avoided and was therefore tacitly allowed.” The priests were never supposed to be celibates. These restrictions contain a deep spiritual teaching. (See Eze_44:22.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 25-27 Regulations are next given for preserving the priesthood from defilement through coming in contact with the dead, and for removing such defilement in case of its having been contracted. As under the Law, so in the ideal constitution of Ezekiel, the priests should not be at liberty to contract ceremonial impurity through touching a corpse except in the case of near relations. (comp. Lev_21:1-4) That neither in Leviticus nor in Ezekiel is the priest"s wife among the excepted is surprising, and hardly to be explained, with Knobel, on the ground that a wife is not a blood-relation, since according to the Divine conception of marriage husband and wife are one, (Gen_2:24) but either by holding, with Keil, that the wife, who stands nearer her husband than any of the relatives named, was viewed as included under the phrase, "and for his kin that is near unto him", (Lev_21:2) or by supposing it self-evident that such defilement could not be avoided in the case of a wife and was therefore tacitly allowed. Smend, as usual, finds signs of Ezekiel"s priority to the priest-code, first in the circumstance that Ezekiel regarded it as perfectly natural that a priest should sorrow for his wife, (Eze_24:15-18) which showed he had no acquaintance with Le 21; and secondly, in the fact that Lev_21:11 prohibits absolutely to the high priest all contact with a corpse, which, it is argued, betrays a greater strictness than existed in the days of Ezekiel. But as the prohibition in Lev_21:11 applies only to the high priest, who in Ezekiel"s temple has no place, an argument as to which of the books had priority of origin cannot properly be founded on so insecure a Basis. Knobel remarks on Lev_21:1-4 that "among the Greeks, priests and priestesses remained at a distance from funerals (Plato, "De Legg.," 12. p. 947); while among the Romans ought the Flamen dialis to touch no corpse (Gell., 10:15), the augur perform no funeral rites (Tacit., "Ann.," 1:31), and the pontifex accompany no funeral procession (Die Cass., 56:31); not at all should he behold a dead body (Serv., "Ad Aen.," 6:176), and in case he had occasion to pronounce a funeral oration, a curtain should hang between him and the corpse." As to the cleansing of a defiled priest, that should be conducted in accordance with the customary regulations,with (comp. Nu 19) this difference that on the termination of the ordinary rites, which extended over seven days, an additional seven days, according to Havernick and Keil (though Hengstenberg and Plumptre decide for only one heptade), should elapse, at the end of which, on the presentation of a sin offering, he should be restored to service in the inner sanctuary.

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

General Information:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to the house of Israel about the descendants of Zadok who serve as priests.

this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 5:11. AT: "this is what the Lord Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

translationWords

die

clean

holy place

sin offering

Lord Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.