The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 375

"strangers " nbo,·c referre,l to, as keejlff'B Ver. 9.-Tke ordinance for the people. No of Jebovah's charge in his sanotuary for stranger (or, alien), unoiroumoised in heart, themselves, t'..r. to plee.se themselves, irre- nor unoircumoised in flesh, shall enter into spcctiYc altogether of J ebovah's enactments. my sa.n.otuary. The publication of this From this it bas been argued, by Well- edict marked a clear adve.noe upon preced- hausen, Smend, Driver, and others, that the ing legislation. The old Torah conceded " strangers" above mentioned had been not right of access to a foreigner, though un- onlr allowed access to the outer court e.s ciroumoised, on oert&in conditions (ver. 7); spe.ctators or as worshippers wbile the this new Torah would accord suoh right of priest.s were offering sacrifice, but admitted e.ccess to a foreigner on no conditions. to the inner court as assistants to the priests Even should he be oiroumoised in the flesh, in their altar duties, that tbis, the employ- unless be posseBSed also that which the ment of these heathen hierodules, had been bodily mark symllolized, viz. ciroumcision the special wickedness of which Israel had of heart, he must remain without. Does been guilty, and that henceforward these not this look as if Ezekiel were posterior to " forei"n ruinisters" were to be thrust out the priest-code, rnther than 'llioe versa, as from their offices, and their places supplied Wellhausen con tends? by the about-to-be-degraderl. Levites. It is, Vers. 10-14.-The ordinance for the however, doubtlul if the phrase, keepers of Le'llites. Acoording to the so-called priest- my charge in the sanctuary, can be made to code, the Levites were Levi's descendants, signify more than !,as already been ex- who were chosen by Jehovah for service in presse,l by the clause, "to be in my sanc- the tabernacle (Numb. iii. 6-13; xvi. 9), tuary ... wben ye offer my bread" (ver. to minister to the priests when these sacri- 7), by which, as Klicfoth and Keil ex- ficed in the tabernacle (Numb. viii. 19 ; plain, Israel had practically made these xviii. 6), and in partioular to keep the strangers "keepers of J ehovah's charge," charge of the tabernaole, i.e. of the house i.e. observers of the rites of worship pre- and all its vessels (Numb. i. 53), as dis- scribed by him, though observers in their tinguished from the charge of the sanc- way, not in his; if more can be extracted tuary and of the altar, which pertained to from the words, then the most they can be Aaron and his sons alone as priests (Numb. legitimately made to affirm (as there is no xviii. 2-6, 23). The Deuteronomic code, mention of the inner court) is that these says Wellhausen (' Geschichte Israels,' pp. "strangers," in addition to obtaining 121, etc.), was unacquainted with any such access to the outer court to witness the distinction between Levites and priests, sacrifices, or perhaps offer such for tllem- who, it is alleged, composed one homogene- selves, had been more or less frequently ous body, the tribe of Levi, whose members employed in performing subordinate offices wero equally empowered to officiate at the towards the Levites, wllo were the proper altar (Dent. x. 8), tile lower duties of the priests' assistants, like the Gibeonites, tabernacle having been performed by the w horn J oshu:i. (ix. 27) made" hewers of wood aforesaid" strangers,'' and the subordination nnd drawers of water for the congregation of Levites to priests having first been sug- and for the altar of the Lord unto this day," gested by Ezekiel (comp. Smend, 'Der am! like the N ethinim, whorn, according to Prophet Ezekiel,' p. 361, "Der unterschied Ezra (viii 20), David and the princes bad zwischen P1·iestern und Leviten ist liier im given for the service of the Levites (see Emtehn begriffen "), and first formally Delitzsch, Luthardt's 'Zeitschrift fiir kirch• carried out after the exile. Tllis theory, liclie Wisseaschaft,' 1880, p. 283). (On however, cannot be admitted as made out the phrase, "to keep the charge of Je- in face of (I) Deut. xviii., which (ver. 1) hovah," as signifying to follow his direc- recognizes "tile priests" and " the Levites" tions or comply with his prescriptions, see e.s constituting "the whole tribe of Levi," Numb. ix. 23.) "In the sanctuary" ex- and (vers. 3, 6) distinguishes between "the plains that the prescriptions alluded to priest" and " the Levite ; " (2) 2 Sam. were those pertaining to the sanctuary or xv. 24, which e.ssocintes with Zadok the to the worship of Jehovah. priest, the Levites as carriers of the ark: (3) 1 Kings viii. 4, in whioh the same Vers. 9-16.-Accordingly, that no such distinction between the two bodies is recog- abuses might creep in to desecrate the nized; (4) 1 and 2 Chron., passim, which temple of the future, a new Torah was attest the existence of priests and Levites promulgated concerning the persons who as separate temple ofllcie.ls in pre-exilio should Lave a right to participate in its times; and (5) Ezra i. 5, 62 ; iii. 8, 10 ; vi. 20, which show that the distinction, services. If tile "prince" is omitted, the e.lleged to have been first made by reason probably was that a special section is Ezekiel, wes well known to the first com• ~ubsequently devoted to him (eh, xlvi. 1-8). pany of exiles who returned under Zerub- OB. XLIV. 1-3LJ THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 889