Of the east gate, and of the Levites that went astray. have broken my covenant be- 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. 4 Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face. 5 And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary. 6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, 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 9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel. 10 And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. 12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity. 13 And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. LECTURE 1353. Outward ordinances and inward piety. The gate, by which the glory of the Lord had been seen to enter his sanctuary, was not to be used as one of the entrances of the temple, except on certain particular occasions afterwards mentioned. The prince however was to "enter by the way of the porch of that gate," and to "go out by the way of the same." And in it" he was to sit, "to eat bread before the Lord." An honourable distinction for those who should hereafter rule over God's people Israel. A significant intimation to Christian princes, that as God upholds their thrones by his authority, so ought they to glorify Him by bringing all their glory into his temple and there laying it down before his footstool. This they might do by humbling themselves in his sight, and in the presence of their fellow creatures, as sinners no less in need than their subjects of the common salvation, and also by rendering all their power and authority subservient to the cause of Christ their Saviour. On looking into the temple from the north gate, the prophet beheld the glory of the Lord filling the house, and heard a voice charging him to mark with attention all that he saw and heard, and giving him fresh injunctions to be faithfully imparted to the rebellious children of Israel. In this solemn address God begins with charging them to renounce all their past abominations, whereby they had polluted his house. He then repeats the commandments of the Law, forbidding those who were uncircumcised to enter the sanctuary, commandments which the Jews had grossly transgressed. And in this prohibition He joins the "uncircumcised in heart," a remarkable expression, with the "uncircumcised in flesh." And as for the Levites who had estranged themselves from God, in the schism of the ten tribes, and in the sin of Jeroboam, God forbids their descendants to do the office of a priest, though He allows them still to minister in subordinate situations. Here we see outward ordinances held in due honour, and yet not deemed sufficient to dispense with inward piety, alike in the people, and in the priests. The uncircumcised in heart have no more business in the sanctuary of the Lord than the uncircumcised in the flesh. Where then shall we rank those Christians in God's church, whose baptism has no influence on their lives? The offending Levites were still to do temple service, but never to officiate as priests. Who then can dispute the value of an outward calling to the ministry? But what minister, however duly ordained outwardly, must not tremble to exercise his holy office, if conscious that he has gone astray from God, and that he is following after idols in his heart? The ordinances of the priesthood. 15 But the priests the Levites, had a priest before. the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: 16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. 23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 17 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. 19 And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments. 20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. 21 Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. 22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that 24 And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. 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. 26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. 27 And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD. 28 And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. 29 They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. 31 The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast. LECTURE 1354. The functions of the Christian ministry marked by simplicity. The Levitical priesthood was hereditary by lineal descent. And when the children of those who had gone astray were excluded from the sacred office, the sons of Zadok, who had then been faithful to their trust, were appointed to enjoy its honours and privileges. The inheritance of the Christian ministry is otherwise transmitted from generation to generation. The apostles bequeathed it unto those who were their sons in the faith; with full instructions to ordain others after them in like manner, to be selected not for their nearness of kin, but for their consanguinity in the qualifications proper to the office, and above all in grace and godliness. A sacred deposit, a charge of most deep responsibility, a stewardship most difficult to administer, an inheritance most precious to bequeath! May they who are entrusted therewith be gifted with wisdom and fidelity, in the choice of fit persons for the ministry! May they who are called to a work so full of gain and glory, ever count it their chief gain to win souls, their chief glory to glorify their Saviour! The laws here given to the Jewish priesthood are the same, with slight variations, as those which occur in the book of Leviticus. They afford fresh proof of high probability that this whole series of prophecy refers, at least in the first instance, to the prospects and duties of the Jewish church after the Babylonish captivity, and before the coming of Christ in the flesh. For at no other period can these things have ever yet been literally fulfilled. And it is in the highest degree improbable, that in any future state of the church, Jewish or Christian, any such ordinances will find a literal fulfilment. They form a striking contrast with the rules laid down for Christian ministers, in the instructions which our Lord gave to his apostles, and in the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus. In the functions of the ministry, as before observed of directions for our worship, next after devotion to the work, simplicity is one of the most striking characteristics of the Christian system. A few great principles are laid down for the guidance of those who are ordained to teach and rule in the church, and to officiate in all acts of public worship. They have the word of God for the sole and sufficient source of truth infallible. By this they are to teach, even as they have by this been taught. By this they are to rule, and to submit to those who bear rule over them. They are to shew themselves a pattern of that which they enjoin. They are to be prudent, but courageous; meek, but urgent, yea, importunate, in pleading their heavenly Master's cause and forwarding his work. Let them do thus, and lo, the Lord "will be unto them for an inheritance." His people, they who are such of a truth, will provide for all their earthly wants. And God, teaching them contentment here with such things as they have, will Himself be unto them, both here and hereafter, their "exceeding great reward." Gen. 15. 1. Land allotted to God's service, to the city, and to the prince. 1 Moreover, when ye shall thousand of breadth, shall also divide by lot the land for inhe- the Levites, the ministers of ritance, ye shall offer an oblation the house, have for themselves, unto the LORD, an holy portion for a possession for twenty of the land the length shall be chambers. the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about. 2 Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof. 3 And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand and in it shall be the sanctuary and the most holy place. 4 The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister unto the LORD and it shall be a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary. : 5 And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten 6 And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel. 7 And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward and the length shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border. 8 In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. LECTURE 1355. The wisdom of providing for God's service first of all. According to the view which has been taken of these chapters, they record a vision, which was both shewn to the Jews, whilst yet in captivity, to comfort their hearts with the prospect of good things yet awaiting them, and also left on record to direct them as to what they ought to do, when they should be reestablished in Judea. That many of these directions were never complied with, and that these visions were therefore only partially fulfilled during the period in question, must be ascribed to the want of faith and obedience in the Jews. And this certainly gives us reason for supposing, that the visions may be further applicable, in a figurative sense, to the present and future states of the Christian dispensation. Nor is this uncommon in the writings of the prophets, to |