Ezekiel 46:3

Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Worship at the door.—The people, in so far as they might be present on the Sabbaths and new moons, are not to worship in the same place with the prince; but in the outer court, at the entrance of the east gate to the inner court.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

46:1-24 The ordinances of worship for the prince and for the people, are here described, and the gifts the prince may bestow on his sons and servants. Our Lord has directed us to do many duties, but he has also left many things to our choice, that those who delight in his commandments may abound therein to his glory, without entangling their own consciences, or prescribing rules unfit for others; but we must never omit our daily worship, nor neglect to apply the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to our souls, for pardon, peace, and salvation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

At the door of this gate - In Herod's Temple the place for worshipping "before the Lord" was the court of Israel, west of the court of Women, separated from the inner court by a low parapet. In Ezekiel's the worshippers were admitted into the inner court itself. The upper pavement (E. Plan II) on either side of the eastern gate provided room for such worshippers.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. The prince is to go through the east gate without (open on the Sabbath only, to mark its peculiar sanctity) to the entrance of the gate of the inner court; he is to go no further, but "stand by the post" (compare 1Ki 8:14, 22, Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the congregation; also 2Ki 11:14; 23:3, "by a pillar": the customary place), the court within belonging exclusively to the priests. There, as representative of the people, in a peculiarly near relation to God, he is to present his offerings to Jehovah, while at a greater distance, the people are to stand worshipping at the outer gate of the same entrance. The offerings on Sabbaths are larger than those of the Mosaic law, to imply that the worship of God is to be conducted by the prince and people in a more munificent spirit of self-sacrificing liberality than formerly.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Likewise, Heb. And, i.e. as the prince had done, bringing, standing, worshipping at the threshold of the gate, and departing when the sacrifice was finished, so must the people when they brought their sacrifices; but one manner, one gate, one sacrifice; but one Saviour.

Before the Lord; with due sense of God’s holy and glorious presence.

In the sabbaths; both weekly and other holy days, which are called sabbaths on good ground.

The new moons; which were solemn feasts to the Jews in their generation; but these days privileged them only to come thus near who brought their particular offerings, for I suppose the people might not approach at pleasure to see the stated morning and evening oblation sacrificed, this would crowd the gate; but at this time they kept in their own court.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord,.... Publicly, and in a spiritual manner; attending the ministration of the word and ordinances with constancy and fervency; praying to God, praising his name, and hearing his word with attention; and performing all the duties of religious worship. The allusion is to the people of Israel meeting at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, Exodus 29:42, "in the sabbaths, and in the new moons"; at their stated weekly and monthly meetings; see Isaiah 66:23.

Geneva Study Bible

Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Likewise (or, and) to the people of the land should be accorded permission to worship at this inner gate, only not like the prince, in its porch, but at its door, yet on the same occasions as he, in the sabbaths and in the new moons. Kliefoth, who takes "this gate" to signify the outer gate, through which, according to his interpretation of ver. 2 (see above), the prince should pass so as to reach the inner east gate, conceives the import of the present verse to be that, while the prince should be permitted on the sabbaths and new moons to pass through the eastern gate, the people "should remain standing in front of the outer east gate, and, looking through it and the opened inner east gate, should pray before Jehovah." This, however, is unnatural, even on the hypothesis that the prince should pass through the outer east gate, and the view of Keil is greatly preferable, that "this gate" was the inner east gate, and that the people should reach it (even if the prince did not) by entering the outer court through the north gate or the south. Ezekiel 46:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Sacrifices for the Sabbath and New Moon

As, according to Ezekiel 45:17, it devolved upon the prince to provide and bring the sacrifices for himself and the house of Israel; after the appointment of the sacrifices to be offered at the yearly feasts (Ezekiel 45:18-25), and before the regulation of the sacrifices for the Sabbath and new moon (Ezekiel 46:4-7), directions are given as to the conduct of the prince at the offering of these sacrifices (Ezekiel 46:1-3). For although the slaughtering and preparation of the sacrifices for the altar devolved upon the priests, the prince was to be present at the offering of the sacrifices to be provided by him, whereas the people were under no obligation to appear before the Lord in the temple except at the yearly feasts.

Ezekiel 46:1. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The gate of the inner court, which looks toward the east, shall be shut the six working days, and on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. Ezekiel 46:2. And the prince shall come by the way to the porch of the gate from without, and stand at the posts of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, and he shall worship on the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut till the evening. Ezekiel 46:3. And the people of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate on the Sabbaths and on the new moons before Jehovah. Ezekiel 46:4. And the burnt-offering which the prince shall offer to Jehovah shall consist on the Sabbath-day of six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; Ezekiel 46:5. And as a meat-offering, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs as a meat-offering that which his hand may give, and of oil a hin to the ephah (of meal). Ezekiel 46:6. And on the day of the new moon there shall be an bullock, a young ox without blemish, and six lambs and a ram without blemish; Ezekiel 46:7. And he shall put an ephah for the bullock, and an ephah for the ram for the meat-offering, and for the lambs as much as his hand affords, and of oil a hin for the ephah. - Ezekiel 46:1-3 supply and explain the instructions given in Ezekiel 44:1-3 concerning the outer eastern gate. As the east gate of the outer court (Ezekiel 44:1), so also the east gate of the inner court was to remain closed during the six working days, and only to be opened on the Sabbaths and new moons, when it was to remain open till the evening. The prince was to enter this inner east gate, and to stand there and worship upon the threshold while his sacrifice was being prepared and offered. בּוא דּרך אוּלם is to be taken as in Ezekiel 44:3; but מחוּץ, which is appended, is not to be referred to the entrance into the inner court, as the statement would be quite superfluous so far as this is concerned, since any one who was not already in the inner court must enter the gate-building of the inner court from without, or from the outer court. The meaning of מחוּץ is rather that the prince was to enter, or to go to, the gate porch of the inner court through the outer east gate. There he was to stand at the posts of the gate and worship on the threshold of the gate during the sacrificial ceremony; and when this was over he was to go out again, namely, by the same way by which he entered (Ezekiel 44:3). But the people who came to the temple on the Sabbaths and new moons were to worship פּתח, i.e., at the entrance of this gate, outside the threshold of the gate. Kliefoth in wrong in taking פּתח in the sense of through the doorway, as signifying that the people were to remain in front of the outer east gate, and to worship looking at the temple through this gate and through the open gate between. For השּׁער ההוּא roF ., hits gate, can only be the gate of the inner court, which has been already mentioned. There is no force in the consideration which has led Kliefoth to overlook ההוּא, and think of the outer gate, namely, that "it would be unnatural to suppose that the people were to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, whilst the outer east gate remained shut (or perhaps more correctly, was opened for the prince), and so stand in front of the inner court," as it is impossible to see what there is that is unnatural in such a supposition. On the other hand, it is unnatural to assume that the people, who, according to Ezekiel 46:9, were to come through the north and south gates into the outer court at all the מועדים to appear before Jehovah, were not allowed to enter the court upon the Sabbaths and new moons if they should wish to worship before Jehovah upon these days also, but were to stand outside before the gate of the outer court. The difference between the princes and the people, with regard to visiting the temple upon the Sabbaths and new moons, consisted chiefly in this, that the prince could enter by the outer east gate and proceed as far as the posts of the middle gate, and there worship upon the threshold of the gate, whereas the people were only allowed to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, and could only proceed to the front of the middle gate. - Ezekiel 46:4. The burnt-offering for the Sabbath is considerably increased when compared with that appointed in the Mosaic law. The law requires two yearling lambs with the corresponding meat-offering (Numbers 28:9); Ezekiel, six lambs and one ram, and in addition to these a meat-offering for the ram according to the proportion already laid down in Ezekiel 45:24 for the festal sacrifices; and for the lambs, מתּת ידו, a gift, a present of his hand, - that is to say, not a handful of meal, but, according to the formula used in alternation with it in Ezekiel 46:7, as much as his hand can afford. For כּאשׁר , see Leviticus 14:30; Leviticus 25:26. - It is different with the sacrifices of the new moon in Ezekiel 46:6 and Ezekiel 46:7. The law of Moses prescribed two bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs, with the corresponding meat-offering, and a he-goat for a sin-offering (Numbers 28:11-15); the thorah of Ezekiel, on the contrary, omits the sin-offering, and reduces the burnt-offering to one bullock, one ram, and six lambs, together with a meat-offering, according to the proportion already mentioned, which is peculiar to his law. The first תּמימים in Ezekiel 46:6 is a copyist's error for תּמים.