Chapter 44 is the continuation of the tour that the angel conducts for Yechezkel in the Third Beit HaMikdash, but here a new phase begins: no longer measurements and physical structures, but the ordinances of the House and its laws - who may enter the Mikdash and who may not, who serves in it and who is disqualified from its service. The chapter opens with the eastern gate that remains closed forever, continues with a rebuke concerning bringing foreigners into the Mikdash, and divides the people into three categories: Israelites who became estranged, Levites who went astray, and Kohanim who served idols.
וַיָּשֶׁב אֹתִי דֶּרֶךְ שַׁעַר הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַחִיצוֹן הַפֹּנֶה קָדִים וְהוּא סָגוּר׃ - Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the Sanctuary that faces eastward, and it was shut.
The Malbim explains: The angel brings Yechezkel back from the inner courtyard, where he had been until now, and leads him out toward the gate of the outer courtyard that faces east - this was the very first gate through which Yechezkel entered at the start of the entire vision, the eastern gate of the outer courtyard. And behold, he finds it shut, unable to exit through it. There was no fear that he was trapped in the Mikdash, for there were other gates to the north and to the south; rather, the very gate through which he had entered was now closed.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי יְהֹוָה הַשַּׁעַר הַזֶּה סָגוּר יִהְיֶה לֹא יִפָּתֵחַ וְאִישׁ לֹא־יָבֹא בוֹ כִּי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא בוֹ וְהָיָה סָגוּר׃ - And Hashem said to me: This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it, for Hashem, the God of Israel, has entered through it; therefore it shall remain shut.
The Holy One, blessed be He, informs him: from now on, know that this gate will remain shut and will never open. This has a unique distinction: the eastern gate of the inner courtyard, as we will see later, is closed on weekdays and opened on Shabbat; but the eastern gate of the outer courtyard shall not be opened either on weekdays or on Shabbat. What is more, "and no man shall enter through it" - not even to enter into the space of the gateway itself, neither from the side of the guardrooms from without, nor through the vestibule from within.
And the reason: "For Hashem, the God of Israel, has entered through it." This is a unique place through which the Shechinah entered, and therefore it must be closed. There is also a wonderful allusion here: the gate was shut after the Shechinah entered inside, as if the Shechinah was sealed inside and will never depart from there again. This is a sign that the Third Beit HaMikdash will never be destroyed.
The Radak, on the other hand, explains that according to the plain meaning (peshat), this refers neither to the gate of the outer courtyard nor to the gate of the inner courtyard, but rather to the gate of the Heichal itself, further within. He adds that Chazal explained that this does not refer to the actual gate of the Heichal, but to the wickets (pishpeshim): two small doorways flanking the gate, one on the right and one on the left, through which one could enter and bypass the main gate. Concerning these, they stated that no man ever entered through the southern wicket, and regarding it Scripture specifies here: "This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened." Thus, we have three explanations: the Malbim - the gate of the outer courtyard; the plain meaning - the gate of the Heichal; and Chazal - the southern wicket of the gate of the Heichal.
אֶת־הַנָּשִׂיא נָשִׂיא הוּא יֵשֶׁב־בּוֹ לֶאֱכׇל־לֶחֶם לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה מִדֶּרֶךְ אוּלָם הַשַּׁעַר יָבוֹא וּמִדַּרְכּוֹ יֵצֵא׃ - As for the prince, being a prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before Hashem; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.
Rashi explains: "As for the prince" - to the prince I grant permission. The prince is the Kohen Gadol, and due to his prominence, it is not fitting for him to sit and eat bread with the other Kohanim in the chambers; rather, he sits within the space of this gateway and eats the sacred meat and sacred bread there. This gate opens for him solely at the time of eating, and throughout the rest of the day it remains closed. "He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate" - through the vestibule of the eastern gate he enters the Azarah and reaches that wicket to eat his bread, "and shall go out by the same way" - and by that exact same route he returns. This is according to the view that only the wicket was closed, while the gate of the Heichal itself was open.
And why specifically here is it permitted to exit through the same gate one entered? For we will see later: "And when the people of the land come before Hashem on the festivals, he who enters by way of the north gate shall go out by way of the south gate, and he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate; he shall not return by way of the gate through which he came" - one does not exit through the same gate through which he entered, but rather goes straight through, akin to a kapendarya. ("Kapendarya" means a shortcut, as in the Talmudic phrase "ad-makifna adrei" - instead of going around the perimeter, I will cut across the middle.) The reason there is that coming on the festivals is for the purpose of re'iyat panim (appearing before Hashem), fulfilling the mitzvah of "yeira'eh yeira'eh" - to come see the beauty of the Beit HaMikdash and appear before Hashem there; if one were to exit through the same gate a second time, the place would seem familiar to him, like the courtyard of his own home. But here, regarding entries throughout the rest of the year that are not for the purpose of re'iyat panim, there is no impediment: "He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way."
The Malbim does not follow Rashi's approach that the "prince" is the Kohen Gadol; rather, he explains that the prince is the King Mashiach, who by virtue of his royal standing is head and shoulders above everyone else. According to his approach, there is no difficulty here whatsoever: this refers to the gate of the outer courtyard, which is not an area that strictly requires a kohen; and what will he eat there? Peace offerings (shelamim), which any person is permitted to eat. How will he enter if the gate is shut? He will enter through the southern or northern gate, proceed to the eastern gate, and step beneath the roofed structure of the gate from within - for the gateways were roofed chambers - until he reaches the point where the gate is shut. There, at the threshold of the gate and inward, he will eat the shelamim offerings, and from there he will exit back into the courtyard and go outside through the open gates.
With this, the Malbim introduces an original explanation of the word "et": what is the meaning of "et hanasi nasi hu"? Rather, "et" here is from the root "ata" - to come - and the meaning is: the coming of the prince. Just as we saw that the chambers were called ta'im from the word "ata", meaning to enter, because they were used to enter inward, and similarly "sha'ar ha-iton" (the entrance gate) - through which people would come (ati) - so too here: the coming of the prince - he is a prince, he will enter there and eat the shelamim offerings there.
וַיְבִיאֵנִי דֶּרֶךְ־שַׁעַר הַצָּפוֹן אֶל־פְּנֵי הַבַּיִת וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה מָלֵא כְבוֹד־יְהֹוָה אֶת־בֵּית יְהֹוָה וָאֶפֹּל אֶל־פָּנָי׃ - Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the House; and I looked, and behold, the glory of Hashem filled the House of Hashem, and I fell upon my face.
He is led once again through the north gate to the front of the House, that is, to the Courtyard of the Israelites, and there he sees that the glory of Hashem fills the House of Hashem and falls upon his face. And what does the verse come to teach through this? The Malbim explains: one might mistakenly think that the shut eastern gate signified that the Shechinah would no longer enter there - the gate was shut, and consequently there would be no entrance for the Shechinah. Therefore, he is immediately shown that the House is full of the glory of Hashem: on the contrary, the gate was shut after the Shechinah was already inside, and its closure teaches that the Shechinah will remain inside and never depart outside.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי יְהֹוָה בֶּן־אָדָם שִׂים לִבְּךָ וּרְאֵה בְעֵינֶיךָ וּבְאׇזְנֶיךָ שְּׁמָע אֵת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מְדַבֵּר אֹתָךְ לְכׇל־חֻקּוֹת בֵּית־יְהֹוָה וּלְכׇל־תּוֹרֹתָו וְשַׂמְתָּ לִבְּךָ לִמְבוֹא הַבַּיִת בְּכֹל מוֹצָאֵי הַמִּקְדָּשׁ׃ - And Hashem said to me: Son of man, apply your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I speak with you concerning all the statutes of the House of Hashem and all its laws; and apply your heart to the entrance of the House, with all the exits of the Sanctuary.
In chapter 40, the order was: "See with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and apply your heart" - there he was shown the physical structure of the House, so first he sees with his eyes, then hears with his ears, and finally applies his heart. But here, where he is being informed of the statutes and the laws - the protocol of the House and the conduct of the kohanim - the order is reversed: first "apply your heart", that you may contemplate and understand, then see tangibly with your eyes that it is indeed so, and then hear with your ears, meaning accept the teachings.
And the conclusion of the verse: "and apply your heart to the entrance of the House" - the Malbim explains that the closing of the gate carries an additional directive and lesson: that the ritually impure will not be able to enter inside. For we learned in Tractate Tamid that the head of the Ma'amad would station the ritually impure at the eastern gate - meaning: up to here you may come, but beyond this point you have no entrance. Now he is shown that the eastern gate will be shut, signifying that the gate will remain shut before them forever, so that the impure will never enter the Sanctuary. And this is the meaning of "with all the exits of the Sanctuary" (be-khol motza'ei ha-mikdash) - like "mutza'ei ha-mikdash", those who are expelled from the Sanctuary, the impure who must not enter there at all.
וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל־מֶרִי אֶל־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה רַב־לָכֶם מִכׇּל־תּוֹעֲבוֹתֵיכֶם בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And you shall say to the rebellious, to the House of Israel: Thus said the Lord Hashem: Enough of all your abominations, O House of Israel!
"To the rebellious, to the House of Israel" - the House of Israel themselves are the house of rebellion, for they rebel against the word of Hashem. Here he rebukes them for allowing foreigners to perform service in the Beit HaMikdash. "Enough of all your abominations" - this is grave and far greater than all your abominations: it was not enough with the abominations you committed until now, but you add sin upon transgression. The mere act of granting permission for such a person to enter the Sanctuary is a grave iniquity, and allowing him to perform the service there as well is sin upon transgression. Radak explains that these words are addressed to the exiles, to rebuke them for what they had done up to that point; and according to an additional explanation, also to those remaining in the Land who continued in their ways.
בַּהֲבִיאֲכֶם בְּנֵי־נֵכָר עַרְלֵי־לֵב וְעַרְלֵי בָשָׂר לִהְיוֹת בְּמִקְדָּשִׁי לְחַלְּלוֹ אֶת־בֵּיתִי בְּהַקְרִיבְכֶם אֶת־לַחְמִי חֵלֶב וָדָם וַיָּפֵרוּ אֶת־בְּרִיתִי אֶל כׇּל־תּוֹעֲבוֹתֵיכֶם׃ - In that you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, My house, when you offer My bread, the fat and the blood; and they broke My covenant, in addition to all your abominations.
Now the verse details their abominations. "Foreigners" (literally, "children of an alien") does not necessarily mean Gentiles, but even Jews who are considered estranged and foreign to the realm of the Beit HaMikdash: anyone who is not a Kohen and is forbidden to enter the Courtyard of the Kohanim is deemed an alien there. "Uncircumcised of heart" - the Malbim explains that they alienated themselves from their Father in Heaven, having an uncircumcised, hardened heart, and were idolaters. "And uncircumcised of flesh" - who were not even circumcised; and Chazal explain that this refers to those whose brothers died as a result of circumcision, where the halachah dictates that they are not circumcised, meaning their uncircumcision was legitimate - yet nonetheless, such a person is uncircumcised, and an uncircumcised person is disqualified from the Temple service.
The Malbim notes: It is already a grave sin simply that you bring them into the House "to profane it, My house," even without them performing any service at all - the very entry into the sanctuary is a desecration. All the more so do you add sin upon transgression, "when you offer My bread, the fat and the blood" - in that you even allow them to offer fat and blood upon the altar of Hashem. "And they broke My covenant" - they still have not repented, continuing to violate My covenant. And all of this is "in addition to all your abominations" - an addition to all the abominations you committed previously.
The Radak illuminates an important point here: Nowhere in the Torah of Moshe do we find that someone who is uncircumcised in flesh is forbidden from the service. It is not written in the Torah that a Kohen whose brothers died due to circumcision, who remains uncircumcised in flesh, is disqualified from serving. Rather, explains the Radak, it was an oral tradition passed down through the Oral Torah; though not explicitly written, it was firmly received. As Chazal formulate it: "This matter we did not learn from the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him; we learned it from the Torah of Yechezkel ben Buzi" - from our very verses, "for it was known by tradition, and Yechezkel came and anchored it in Scripture." That is, it had long been accepted among them, and Yechezkel committed it to writing, so that it now acquired scriptural standing - "to profane it, My house," establishing that an uncircumcised person profanes the Beit HaMikdash.
וְלֹא שְׁמַרְתֶּם מִשְׁמֶרֶת קׇדָשָׁי וַתְּשִׂימוּן לְשֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁמַרְתִּי בְּמִקְדָּשִׁי לָכֶם׃ - And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have appointed keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for yourselves.
You were commanded to guard the sanctuary and holy things, ensuring that no uncircumcised or ritually impure person touches them or enters. Yet not only did you fail to keep the charge of My holy things, you compounded the transgression: you brought aliens to serve as the keepers of My charge in My sanctuary. "In My sanctuary for yourselves" - keeping guard on your behalf, instead of performing the required duties yourselves. Not only did you betray your responsibility by neglecting your duties, but you went so far as to bring someone disqualified and blemished to perform that work. And this is the theme throughout this rebuke: reproaching them for heaping rebellion upon their sins.
כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה כׇּל־בֶּן־נֵכָר עֶרֶל לֵב וְעֶרֶל בָּשָׂר לֹא יָבוֹא אֶל־מִקְדָּשִׁי לְכׇל־בֶּן־נֵכָר אֲשֶׁר בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - Thus said the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, of any foreigner who is among the Children of Israel.
The Malbim explains that from here on, a distinction is drawn for the future among three categories: ordinary Israelites whose deeds estranged them from their Father in Heaven, Levi'im, and Kohanim - and each will receive their designated status. First, Scripture speaks of the alien who is uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, regarding whom it is said, "shall not enter My sanctuary" - he may not enter the Temple at all, having no permission even to set foot inside. The verse is precise: "who is among the Children of Israel" - referring to an alienated person from the people of Israel itself, whose deeds have become estranged and who is uncircumcised of heart and flesh; whereas Kohanim and Levi'im whose deeds became estranged and who worshipped idols - their judgment follows immediately.
כִּי אִם־הַלְוִיִּם אֲשֶׁר רָחֲקוּ מֵעָלַי בִּתְעוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר תָּעוּ מֵעָלַי אַחֲרֵי גִּלּוּלֵיהֶם וְנָשְׂאוּ עֲוֺנָם׃ - But the Levites who went far away from Me when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
Who, then, may enter the sanctuary? The Levi'im who distanced themselves from Hashem - those Levites who, when Israel strayed after their idols, also followed suit and engaged in idol worship. They will indeed be permitted to enter the Beit HaMikdash, but their consequence will be of a different nature.
וְהָיוּ בְמִקְדָּשִׁי מְשָׁרְתִים פְּקֻדּוֹת אֶל־שַׁעֲרֵי הַבַּיִת וּמְשָׁרְתִים אֶת־הַבָּיִת הֵמָּה יִשְׁחֲטוּ אֶת־הָעוֹלָה וְאֶת־הַזֶּבַח לָעָם וְהֵמָּה יַעַמְדוּ לִפְנֵיהֶם לְשָׁרְתָם׃ - Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the House and ministering to the House; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.
"Ministers in charge at the gates of the House" - they will serve according to the orders given to them by the officers appointed over the gates; supervisors will be appointed over them and direct them in how to serve. From this we see that not only will they not merit closeness and actual sacred service in the Temple, but they will not even be officers over the gates themselves. After all, the original role of the Levites was as singers and gatekeepers, but these whose deeds estranged them from their Father in Heaven and who worshipped idols - they will not even be gatekeepers. What will they do? Tasks that are ordinarily permitted to a non-kohen (a zar): the Gemara teaches that slaughtering (shechitah) is valid even when done by a zar, and therefore "they shall slaughter the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people." Likewise, they will stand before the people to serve them in matters required for bringing the offering - slaughtering, flaying, and cutting into pieces - all of which may be done even by non-kohanim. They will perform these simple labors, but they will not return to their official charge to serve as gatekeepers and singers, having disqualified themselves through idol worship.
יַעַן אֲשֶׁר יְשָׁרְתוּ אוֹתָם לִפְנֵי גִלּוּלֵיהֶם וְהָיוּ לְבֵית־יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמִכְשׁוֹל עָוֺן עַל־כֵּן נָשָׂאתִי יָדִי עֲלֵיהֶם נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה וְנָשְׂאוּ עֲוֺנָם׃ - Because they served them before their idols and were a stumbling block of iniquity to the House of Israel, therefore I have lifted My hand against them, says the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity.
Measure for measure (middah keneged middah): these Levites were idol worshippers who served the people before their idols, just like pagan priests, and through them the people of Israel stumbled into idol worship. Therefore, they shall bear their iniquity in accordance with their sin, and they will no longer merit serving in the Temple according to their original charge.
וְלֹא־יִגְּשׁוּ אֵלַי לְכַהֵן לִי וְלָגֶשֶׁת עַל־כׇּל־קׇדָשַׁי אֶל־קׇדְשֵׁי הַקֳּדָשִׁים וְנָשְׂאוּ כְּלִמָּתָם וְתוֹעֲבוֹתָם אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ׃ - And they shall not draw near to Me to serve as priests unto Me, nor to draw near to any of My holy things, to the Most Holy; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.
Here, the Malbim explains, Scripture transitions to the third category: having addressed ordinary Israelites and Levites, it now speaks of kohanim. The kohanim who worshipped idols will likewise not draw near to Hashem to minister to Him or perform priestly duties. And what is their "shame"? That they will be present in the Temple yet unfit for service. Had a kohen not been in the Temple at all, it would not be apparent that he is undergoing his punishment; but when he is in the Temple and barred from performing the service - this makes it visibly evident that they are bearing their iniquity and their abominations for the idol worship they committed, and in this they receive their punishment.
וְנָתַתִּי אוֹתָם שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁמֶרֶת הַבָּיִת לְכֹל עֲבֹדָתוֹ וּלְכֹל אֲשֶׁר יֵעָשֶׂה בּוֹ׃ - Yet I will make them keepers of the charge of the House, for all its service, and for all that shall be done in it.
They will be in the Courtyard of the Kohanim (Azarat Kohanim), yet disqualified from service: they will not keep the charge of the Altar, but rather the charge of the House - the tasks necessary for maintaining the Temple, such as washing the floor, preparing the vessels, and the like, menial chores that do not require kohanim and distinguished individuals. We have already seen above in chapter 40, verse 45, that they had a chamber where they would stand on the ground and play music alongside the Levites standing on the platform (duchan). And that is what is meant by "and for all that shall be done in it" - this also includes playing music, for they would play while standing on the floor rather than on the platform, and here too their diminished status was made apparent.
The chapter opens with the eastern gate, permanently closed - shut not because the Shechinah departed, but because the Shechinah entered and will never depart again, a sign that the Third Temple will never be destroyed, and at the same time a sign that the impure will never enter. From there, the prophet turns to a sharp rebuke for having allowed apostate strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to enter the Temple and even offer sacrifices there, adding sin upon transgression on top of all their abominations. Finally, the distinction of laws for the future era: an apostate Jew from Israel will not enter the Temple at all; the Levites who went astray will enter, but will perform only those tasks permissible to a non-kohen, without returning to their roles as gatekeepers and singers; and the kohanim who worshipped idols will stand in the Courtyard without serving, and specifically through this their shame will be on display. Everything is measure for measure, and in each group the level they lost remains clearly evident.