Ezekiel 44:3

Eze 44:3 [It is] for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of [that] gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

Ver. 3. It is for the prince.] For "Messiah the Prince"; so Christ is called in Dan 9:25; or for the chief priest, who, as he had a singular privilege herein above other priests, so hath Christ, the high priest of the Church Christian, singular privileges above all his brethren.

He shall sit in it to eat bread.] He shall sit at the right hand of the majesty on high, and enjoy heaven’s happiness, which is oft compared to a feast, as Mat 8:11; Mat 22:1-2 Isa 53:11. He shall ascend up into heaven, and therehence come again to judge the quick and the dead. {Act 1:11 Heb 9:28} Some by "prince" here understand the ruler of the people, {see Eze 46:1-2} who is peculiarly licensed to enter in at the east gate, and there to sit, and eat and drink his part of the peace offering. Compare Exo 24:11. It is not meant of Peter the apostle, to be sure, much less of the Pope, his pretended successor, as some of his parasites would have it.

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 44:3. It is for the prince — The words, It is, are not in the Hebrew, which is only, For the prince; and therefore the meaning seems to be, that this gate should, in general, be shut for, or to the prince, as well as to private persons; even he should not have the liberty of entering in at it, except at certain seasons. Dr. Waterland translates the clause thus: As to the prince, since he is prince, he shall sit, &c. The kings of Judah had a distinguished place in the temple; a kind of tribunal placed opposite the eastern gate: see Eze 46:12; 2Ch 6:12-13. By the prince here is probably meant the chief governor of the Jews after the captivity, such as were Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, for Sheshbazzar, or Zerubbabel, is called the prince of Judah, Ezr 1:8. The prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord — To eat part of the peace-offerings which were provided at his charge: see chap, Eze 46:2. Bread stands for all sorts of entertainments, and particularly for a religious feast made of the remainder of a sacrifice: see the margin.

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

44:3 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.

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

the prince--not King Messiah, as He never would offer a burnt offering for Himself, as the prince is to do (Eze 46:4). The prince must mean the civil ruler under Messiah. His connection with the east gate (by which the Lord had returned to His temple) implies, that, as ruling under God, he is to stand in a place of peculiar nearness to God. He represents Messiah, who entered heaven, the true sanctuary, by a way that none other could, namely, by His own holiness; all others must enter as sinners by faith in His blood, through grace.

eat bread before the Lord--a custom connected with sacrifices (Gen 31:54; Exo 18:12; Exo 24:11; Co1 10:18).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(3) The prince.—The Rabbis understood this to refer to the Messiah, and unquestionably the same person must be meant as by David in Eze_34:23-24; Eze_37:24. This gives another and a conclusive reason for regarding the sacrificial worship of Ezekiel 46 as symbolical.

To eat bread before the Lord.—This is the common scriptural expression for partaking of the sacrifices (see Gen_31:54; Exo_18:12), and there is no reason for restricting it to the shew-bread and other unbloody offerings. The eating of the latter was an exclusively priestly prerogative, and the “prince” of Ezekiel, though greatly distinguished, is not in any way endued with priestly functions. He is to partake of his sacrificial meals within this highly-honoured gate, while the people eat in the outer court. There has been much discussion as to whether the prince was to go in and out by this gateway, or only, having entered by one of the others, to eat in this. The language here seems sufficiently plain, and if there could be any doubt, it would be removed by Eze_46:1-2; Eze_46:8; Eze_46:10; Eze_46:12. It appears there that the prince is always to enter and leave by this gate except “in the solemn feasts;” then he is to enter in the midst of the people, by either the north or the south gate, and go out by the opposite one.

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

3. The only exception is in favour of the prince. He shall eat bread in this gate, i.e. partake of the sacrificial meal there. Though not expressly stated it is implied that the meal shall be partaken of in the porch of the gate, which looked into the outer court. The statements in ch. 46 make it probable that even the prince did not enter through the E. gate from the outside, but passed into the outer court through some other gate, and entered the porch from the court.

Eze_44:4-9. The former practice of employing uncircumcised foreigners to minister and to keep the charge of the house shall absolutely cease.

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.

It is for the prince: the prince shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord,.... Or, "as for the prince, the prince shall sit in it" (e); in the gate which is shut to others: not the high priest, as Jarchi, though he might have a particular seat in the temple, as Eli had in the tabernacle, Sa1 1:9, where he might eat the bread and flesh of holy things: nor the political prince, the king of Israel, though he might have a place in the temple peculiar to himself; see Ch2 6:12, Ch2 24:31, and the Jews say only the kings of the house of David were allowed to sit in the sanctuary: but the King Messiah, as Kimchi and Ben Melech rightly interpret it, is here meant; who before, in this prophecy, is called David a Prince, Eze 34:24, he who is the Prince of peace; Michael the great Prince; the Prince of life, and the Prince of the kings of the earth; the Messiah the Prince. Such who interpret the gate of the gate of heaven understand this of Christ's sitting down there at his Father's right hand, on the same throne with him, having done his work, and being at ease, and in honour; and of his enjoyment of glory there, as the heavenly glory is sometimes signified by a feast, by sitting down at a table, and eating bread in the kingdom of God, Mat 8:11, and so it may intend his being in the presence of God with the utmost delight and joy; having that glory he had with him before the world was, and all power in heaven and in earth; dispensing gifts and grace to men, and receiving honour and glory from them, and seeing the travail of his soul with satisfaction: but why may it not be understood, more consistent with the scope of the vision, of his sitting in his church, at his table there with his saints, eating with them, and they with him, in his word and ordinances before the Lord? see Sol 1:12,

he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same; which some explain of Christ's ascension to heaven, and descent from thence in the same way; he went up to heaven in the eastern part of the world, from the mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem; and in like manner shall he descend, and his feet shall stand on that mount, Act 1:11, but it may be interpreted of his going in and out of his church at his will and pleasure; and affording his gracious presence and fellowship with himself in his house and ordinances,

(e) "veruntamen ad principem quod attinet, princeps ipse inquam", &c. Piscator; "quantum ad principem"; "princeps sedebit in ea", Noldius, Ebr. Part. Concord. p. 120.

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

The prince - Foretold under the name of David Eze 34:24. The rabbis understood this to be the Messiah.

To eat bread - See Lev 2:3; Lev 24:9; according to the old Law these feasts belonged only to the priests; none of the rest of the congregation, not even the king, might partake of them. The new system gives to the “prince” a privilege which he did not before possess; the prince, as the representative of the Messiah, standing in a higher position than the kings of old. “To eat bread” may also include participation in the animals sacrificed, portions of which were reserved for those of the people who offered them.

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

For the prince; for the king, say some; if so, then the door shut was the door, not of the temple, but of the east gate of the priests’ court. The high priest, and the second priest, say others, and indeed this is most likely.

He shall sit: the king might sit before the Lord, others might not, and the priests stood ministering, as Heb 10:11. Perhaps the high priest might have some privilege to sit, when others might not.

To eat bread: if understood of the king, it was his eating of the sacrifice, that part of it which was allowed to the offerer. If this prince be the high priest, this bread was the show-bread, which it seems he might sit and eat in or near the porch of the gate, whereas other priests were bound to eat in the common refectory, as appears, Eze 42:13.

He shall enter; he may, it is his privilege; or he shall, that is, it is his duty to enter at this, and to come out at it, that the people may know which way to look, when they would see their high priest enter to make atonement: which may be mystical, and include our looking to the great High Priest.

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

It is for the prince conveys an erroneous impression, as if the edict, excluding all from passing through the east outer gate, did not apply to the prince; but even for him the gate was not to serve as a mode of entrance into the temple, or, if so, only on exceptional occasions, (see on Eze_46:2) but merely as a place to sit in. The Revised Version accurately renders the words, As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince, etc. That the "prince" here alluded to (ayciGh) could not have been the Prince David, i.e. the Messiah already spoken of, (Eze_34:23, 24 37:24) but must have denoted the civic authorities of the new community of Israel, "the civil head of the theocracy," Havernick infers Eze_45:8, Eze_45:9, where the coming "prince" is contrasted with Israel"s previous rulers who oppressed their subjects, from the absence of some such characteristic predicate as "shepherd" or "king," which would, he thinks, have been attached to the word "prince" had it been intended to designate Messiah, from the prince"s offering for himself a sin offering, (Eze_45:22) from the allusion to his sons, (Eze_46:16) and from what is recorded about his behavior in worship; (Eze_46:2) but none of these statements concerning the "prince" forbids his identification with Messiah, unless on the supposition that it was already understood Messiah should be a Divine-human Personage. This, however, had not then been so distinctly revealed as to be widely and accurately known. Hence it seems enough to say that while the "prince" would have his highest antitype in the Messiah, he would also have, though in a lower and lesser degree, an antitype in every righteous ruler (if ever there should be such) who might subsequently preside over Israel. (see on Eze_37:25) The phrase, to eat bread before the Lord, while referring in the first instance to those sacrificial meals which, under the Law, commonly accompanied unbloody offerings, as the meat offerings, (Lev_2:3) the showbread, (Lev_24:9) and the unleavened leaves of the Passover (Exo_12:18 Lev_23:6 Num_28:17; Deu_16:3) and could only be partaken of by the priests, in the second instance signified to partake of sacrificial meals in general, even of such as consisted of the portions of flesh which were eaten in connection with ordinary bloody offerings. (Gen_31:54; Exo_18:12) If, after Kliefoth, the former be adopted as the import of the phrase here, then the thought will be that in the new cultus the prince should enjoy a privilege which under the old was not possessed even by the king; if, after Keil, the second view be preferred, the sense will amount to this, that under the regulations of the future the prince should have the favor accorded him "of holding his sacrificial meals in the gate," whereas the people should only be permitted to hold theirs "in the court," or "in the vicinity of the sacrificial kitchens." The way of the porch is mentioned as the ingress and egress for the prince; which implies that he should obtain access to the outer court by either the north or the south gate, since the outer door of the east gate was shut. This renders it probable that Ezekiel was himself standing on the outside of the east gate (see on ver. 1).

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

He - The king might sit before the Lord, others might not. Bread - That part of the sacrifice, which was allowed to the offerer.

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

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 [before God]. He must therefore be well seen [i.e., throughout the entire Court]. It was necessary to specify here concerning visits during the rest of the year that he should not make it a shortcut because this visit is not for the sake of appearing, as is that of the Pilgrimage Festivals. This matter is corroborated many more times in this account.

The prince The High Priest is a prince, and because of his importance he will be permitted to eat the meat and bread of hallowed status in that gate, which is opened for him at the time of his eating.

by way of the hall of the gate he shall come By way of the hall of the Eastern Gate he shall enter the Court and come up to that wicket to eat his bread therein.

and by the same way he shall leave For this is not fit for a shortcut, as are the rest of the gates. Throughout the day, when not during the time of the prince’s eating, it shall be closed.

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.