Ezekiel Chapter 44 verse 7 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 7. - The special sin chargeable against Israel in the past had been the introduction into the sanctuary, while the priests were engaged in sacrifice, of strangers - aliens (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 (1 Kings 12:31; 2 Chronicles 11:15), may, in the confluence of idolatries that took place in Jerusalem during the reigns of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:3, 4, 10-15; 2 Chronicles 28:2-4, 23-25) and Manasseh (2 Kings 21:2-7, 11, 15; 2 Chronicles 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 (Leviticus 17:8, 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 (Exodus 12:48, 49). Nevertheless, it was open to them, on giving a certain measure of obedience to the Law (Exodus 12:19; Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 17:10, 12; Leviticus 18:26; Leviticus 20:2; Leviticus 24:16, 22), to enter the sanctuary and present all sorts of offerings to Jehovah (Leviticus 17:8; Numbers 15:14, 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."

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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 (Leviticus 17:10; Leviticus 17:12; Numbers 15:14; Numbers 15:26; Numbers 15:29). This seems also to have been recognised in Solomon's prayer at the consecration of the Temple (1Kings 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. . . .