Ezekiel 44:7

Eze 44:7 In that ye have brought [into my sanctuary] strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, [even] my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.

Ver. 7. Strangers.] Yourselves are no better; {Amo 9:7} strangers from the covenants; {Eph 2:12} degenerate children, {Isa 1:4} alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you, {Eph 4:18} and through your blind leaders of the blind, priests of your own making, &c.

Uncircumcised in heart.] Erroneous in judgment.

Uncircumcised in flesh.] Enormous in practice.

When ye offer my bread,] i.e., The fat and the blood, as it followeth, which I seem to feed upon as a man doth upon bread.

Because of all your abominations.] Or, Besides all your abominations mentioned. {Eze 44:6}

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_44:7-8

In that ye have brought into My sanctuary strangers.

The relation of the stranger to the service of the temple

What is reprobated is not of course allowing foreigners to present sacrifices to Jehovah, which they might do (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12), but allowing them to officiate in the offering, and in general in the ministry of the sanctuary. This is regarded by the prophet as a profanation of the house, and an infraction of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel. It is the latter from the nature of the case. Israel was the people of the Lord, and His service must be performed by Israel. These heathen were uncircumcised both in flesh and heart; their service was purely mercenary, and without religious reality. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For they had brought idolaters which were of other countries, to teach them their idolatry, Ezek. 23:40.

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

uncircumcised in heart--Israelites circumcised outwardly, but wanting the true circumcision of the heart (Deu 10:16; Act 7:51).

uncircumcised in flesh--not having even the outward badge of the covenant-people.

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

Verse 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.

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

(7) Strangers, uncircumcised in heart.—The heathen living in Israel, or coining to worship at the Temple, were allowed, and even in some cases required, to offer sacrifices (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14; Num_15:26; Num_15:29). This seems also to have been recognised in Solomon’s prayer at the consecration of the Temple (1Ki_8:41-43); but the ground on which the Israelites are here censured for the licence given to strangers is, that they allowed those to draw near in worship who were uncircumcised in heart as well as in flesh, i.e., ungodly men who had no real purpose to worship God.

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

7. into my sanctuary strangers] i.e. foreigners. What is reprobated is not of course allowing foreigners to present sacrifices to Jehovah, which they might do (Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14), but allowing them to officiate in the offering, and in general in the ministry of the sanctuary. It is not ascertainable to what extent these uncircumcised heathen were permitted to fill the subordinate offices about the house, such as those of keepers of the gates and assistants to the priests, but just as the kings employed foreign mercenaries as guards (who were employed even in the temple, 2Ki_11:7), it appears that persons not Israelites and not incorporated in Israel by the necessary rites, were employed in the house. They were probably captives taken in war and the like (Jos_9:27; 1Sa_2:13; Zec_14:21; cf. Ezr_8:20; Ezr_2:58). This is regarded by the prophet as a profanation of the house and an infraction of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel. It is the latter from the nature of the case. Israel was the people of the Lord and his service must be performed by Israel. These heathen were uncircumcised both in flesh and heart, their service was purely mercenary, and without religious reality. For “and they have broken” LXX. reads, and ye have broken, which is more exact.

because of all] Perhaps: in addition to all your abominations.

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.

In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,.... Unregenerate men, who are in a state of alienation and estrangement to divine and spiritual things: strangers to God; to the true knowledge of him in Christ; to the fear and love of God; to the true grace of God in conversion; and to communion with him: strangers to Christ, to his person and offices; to the way of peace, life, and salvation by him; to his righteousness; to faith in him, love of him, and fellowship with him: strangers to the Spirit; to his person, to regeneration and sanctification by him; to the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, love, humility, self-denial, &c.; to the things of the Spirit, which they neither know nor savour; and to the several offices he performs, as a comforter, the Spirit of adoption, an earnest and sealer: strangers to their own hearts, and the plague of them, and sin that dwells in them: strangers to the nature of sin, and the exceeding sinfulness of it; to the deceitfulness of sin, and the consequences of it; to true repentance for it, and to the right way of atonement of it, by the blood of Christ: strangers to the Gospel of Christ, and the truths of it; and to the saints and people of God:

and uncircumcised in heart; who never were pricked in the heart for sin, or felt any pain there on account of it; never had the hardness of their heart removed, or the impurity of it discovered to them; never were filled with shame and loathing because of it; or ever put off the body of sins in a course of conversation; or renounced their own righteousness:

and uncircumcised in flesh; carnal, as they were born; men in the flesh, in a state of nature, mind and savour the things of the flesh, and do the works of it; having never been taught by the grace of God to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to abstain from fleshly ones: or, who put their trust in the flesh, in outward things, in carnal privileges, and external righteousness: these the Lord complains were brought

to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house: either to be members here, and partake of all the ordinances and privileges of the Lord's house; or to officiate here as priests and ministers of the Lord:

when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood; which, under the law, were the Lord's; and here signify the ministry of the word and ordinances, the goodness and fatness of the Lord's house; and especially the ordinance of the Lord's supper, that feast of fat things; in which Christ, the true and living bread of God, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed, is represented to the faith of God's people:

and they have broken my covenant, because of all your abominations: that is, have broken the rule of the divine word and everlasting Gospel by such abominations; by admitting such ministers and members, the one to administer, the other to partake of, Gospel ordinances: this is the true state of the case of most of the reformed churches in our days; it is to be feared that there are multitudes of unregenerate ministers in them; that they are full of carnal professors; and notorious it is that the ordinance of the Lord's supper is prostituted to wicked persons, and to answer ends it never was designed for; which must be an abomination to the Lord.

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

Flesh. People of this description were not to enter the temple, which is here called the sanctuary, even though they adored God. In some cases pagans were admitted into any part, except the most holy. Epiphanes (Calmet) and Pompey forced their passage thither, to the great sorrow of the Jews. (Josephus, Jewish Wars i. 5.) See Ecclesiasticus lii., and Acts xxi. 28. --- During the plundering of the city, the Chaldeans did the like; (Lamentations i. 10.; Haydock) and while idols were set up, all rules were neglected. --- Doings. You observe the exterior, and not the spirit of religion.

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).

Ye have brought; either by abusing your power you have licensed, or by conniving you have permitted, to come into my holy courts.

Strangers; foreigners and heathen, who had their idols in the very courts of the temple, and there worshipped their idols, as Eze 8:5,10,14,16.

Uncircumcised in heart; the worst of them, profane and impious.

Uncircumcised in flesh: no uncircumcised one should come into the court of the people, but you have brought them into the very sanctuary at the times of public worship, and when you have been offering my bread, &c. Some think that the profane carelessness of the Jewish rulers was such, that they suffered uncircumcised ones to be priests among them, and to approach to God’s altar. This was done in Solomon’s degenerate days, and in the days of Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon.

My bread; either the meat-offering, or first-fruits of corn and dough, and the show-bread.

The fat, which was taken off the sacrifices and burnt.

The blood, how let out, received into vessels, sprinkled and poured out, the priests and rulers of my house, through a sinful familiarity with heathens, have given them courage to ask, and you have not zeal and courage enough to refuse them, but you have satisfied their forbidden curiosity, and showed them all these things; or, as was said, have advanced some to be priests in my house, and suffered others to be priests of idols, standing and worshipped in my courts.

They, the whole nation of the Jews, the people of the land,

have broken my covenant; turned idolaters, mixed with heathens, forsaken me and my law, taking example from your practices, or complying with your superstitious and idolatrous inventions.

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

7, 8. Strangers, uncircumcised in heath and uncircumcised in flesh — These “aliens” (R.V.) were not excluded from entering the temple and offering sacrifices to Jehovah in their own behalf (Lev_17:8; Lev_17:10; Lev_17:12; Num_15:14; Num_15:29), but foreigners (probably slaves or captives in war), who had no sympathy whatever with the Israelitish religion, ought not to be permitted to take official positions in Jehovah’s house, as had sometimes been done (Jos_9:27; 1Sa_2:13; Zec_14:21; Ezr_2:58, Hebrews). Service with the lip or the hand only is an abomination to God. Even otherwise menial services become sacred when done for Jehovah, and it is an insult to him when such services are put upon ignorant and impure foreigners who have no heart loyalty to the lord of the house. (Compare W.R. Smith, Old Testament in the Jewish Church, pp. 260-266.) It was practically breaking covenant with Jehovah to set them as keepers of my charge in my sanctuary (Eze_44:8).

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

The special sin chargeable against Israel in the past had been the introduction into the sanctuary, while the priests were engaged in sacrifice, of strangersaliens (Revised Version); literally, sons of a stranger uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, in express contravention of Jehovah"s covenant. Ewald, Havernick, Hengstenberg, Schroder, and Currey restrict the designation "strangers" to unfaithful and unauthorized priests, who, as in the days of Israel"s apostasy, notoriously under Jeroboam (1Ki_12:31; 2Ch_11:15) may, in the confluence of idolatries that took place in Jerusalem during the reigns of (2Ki_16:3, 2Ki_16:4, 2Ki_16:10-15; 2Ch_28:2-4, 2Ch_28:23-25) and Manasseh. (2Ki_21:2-7, 2Ki_21:11, 2Ki_21:15; 2Ch_33:2-7) have been admitted to participate in the temple services; but Kliefoth, Delitzsch, Keil, Smend, and Plumptre, with better judgment, recognize in the "strangers" foreigners who had not incorporated themselves with Israel by submitting to circumcision, but, though dwelling in the midst of Israel, were still uncircumcised heathen in both heart and flesh. With regard to these foreigners, the Law of Moses (Lev_17:8, Lev_17:10) enacted that, by accepting circumcision, they might become members of the Israelitish commonwealth, but that without this they could not be permitted to partake of the Passover, the highest symbol of national and religious unity. (Exo_12:48, Exo_12:49) Nevertheless, it was open to them, on giving a certain measure of obedience to the Law (Exo_12:19 Exo_20:10; Lev_17:10, 12 18:26 20:2 24:16, 22) to enter the sanctuary and present all sorts of offerings to Jehovah. (Lev_17:8; Num_15:14, Num_15:29) Hence Israel"s offence had not been the admission of such "sons of the stranger" into the sanctuary, but the admission of them without insisting on the above specified conditions, in other words, the admission of such as not only lacked the bodily mark of circumcision which would not have excluded them but were destitute as well of the first elements of Hebrew piety, i.e. were as uncircumcised in heart as they were in the flesh. The sanctioning of such within the temple courts, while Jehovah"s bread, the fat and the blood, was being offered, i.e. while sacrificial worship was being performed, was not simply a desecration of the "house," but was an express violation of the covenant Jehovah had made with Israel with reference to these very "sons of the stranger."

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

Bread - Either the meal-offering or first-fruits of corn and dough, and the shew-bread. They - The whole nation of the Jews.

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

aliens [lit. sons of an alien.] [Sons of] one whose deeds have become alienated from his Father in Heaven; this is an apostate who worships idols. They are the ones “of uncircumcised heart.”

and of uncircumcised flesh [a] priest whose brothers died because of circumcision.

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.