Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 44: "And He brought me back the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, and it was closed." The Malbim says that here the angel continues taking Yechezkel on his tour of the Beit HaMikdash, bringing him back from the inner courtyard where he had been, and leading him out. From there he takes him by way of the gate of the outer courtyard that faces east. This eastern gate of the outer courtyard, says the Malbim, is the first gate through which he originally entered. Recall that the entire account began when he entered through the eastern gate of the outer courtyard, the gate facing east. Now he arrives at this gate and finds it closed, and he essentially cannot exit through it. There is no need to be alarmed, he is not trapped there, since we know there was also a gate on the south and a gate on the north, there were additional gates. In any case, this gate through which he had entered he sees closed. According to the Malbim we are speaking of the gate of the outer courtyard. We will soon see additional views.
"And Hashem said to me: This gate shall be closed, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it, for Hashem, the God of Israel, has entered through it, and it shall be closed." Hashem informs him: from now on know that this gate will be closed and will never be opened. This means that the eastern gate of the inner courtyard, as we will see later, will be closed on weekdays but will open on Shabbat, that is the gate of the inner courtyard. But in contrast, here we are speaking of the eastern gate of the outer courtyard, and He says: know that it will not open, neither on weekdays nor on Shabbat. This is unique to it, no man shall enter through it. "No man shall enter through it" means that no one may even enter the space of the gate. Whether he wishes to enter from the chambers on the outer side, as we saw at the beginning, or through the hall on the inner side, it will be impossible to enter this gate. The reason is that Hashem, the God of Israel, has entered through it and it shall be closed. Since Hashem, the God of Israel, entered through it, this is a unique place for the entry of Hashem, the God of Israel, therefore this place will be closed. And this hints that in truth the Shechinah will never depart from there again, meaning that after Hashem entered through it, after Hashem already entered, the gate was closed and Hashem is, as it were, sealed within. Hashem, as it were, will not depart from this place, and there the Shechinah will rest forever, meaning the third Beit HaMikdash which will never be destroyed.
The Radak, in contrast, says that according to the plain meaning we are speaking here of the gate of the Heichal. We are not speaking of the gate of the outer courtyard, nor of the gate of the inner courtyard, but further inward, of the gate of the Heichal itself. Only that he says Chazal explain that here we are not speaking of the gate of the Heichal itself, for the gate had two wickets on the right and on the left, and through these wickets one could enter. These wickets were two small gates through which one could enter and effectively pass through the gate. On this He tells you: know that of these two wickets, the northern and the southern, the one on the south no man ever entered. About it Yechezkel states explicitly, and this is what is written in our verse, this gate shall be closed, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it, for Hashem, the God of Israel, has entered through it, and it shall be closed. So in summary we have three explanations. According to the Malbim's interpretation we are speaking of the gate of the outer courtyard, according to the plain meaning we are speaking of the gate of the Heichal, and according to how Chazal learn it we are speaking of the wicket in the gate of the Heichal, namely the southern wicket in the gate of the Heichal, which is the one that will be closed.
"As for the prince, the prince himself shall sit in it to eat bread before Hashem, he shall enter by way of the hall of the gate and shall go out by the same way." "As for the prince," Rashi explains, to the prince I grant permission. Since the prince is important, it is not fitting for him to sit and eat bread with the other Kohanim in the chambers, so he will sit there in the space of this gate to eat bread. On this He says "by way of the hall," meaning he will come by way of the hall of the gate, when he enters the inner courtyard in order to enter this small gate to eat there, he will come by way of the hall of the gate, through the courtyard on the east he will enter the courtyard and there he will sit, and by that same way he will also return, by the same way that he came. And since we will see later, "and when the people of the land come before Hashem on the appointed 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 the gate through which he came," they do not go out through the same gate by which they entered. That is, He commands them to do it as a shortcut (kefandarya), meaning to enter from one place and continue and go out through another gate. This is called kefandarya because it is like "instead of going around the house I cut through the middle," that is kefandarya. There He says the purpose of this was for the appearance before Hashem, and therefore he must see the Beit HaMikdash in its beauty, and therefore we do not want it to seem to him like the courtyards of his own home, as we will see later, for if he goes out through the same gate a second time then it already seems to him like a familiar place, and therefore there they said he should go out through a different gate. But here He tells you regarding the entries throughout all the days of the year, that he should not treat it as a shortcut, since this entry is not like theirs, this entry is not made for the purpose of the appearance before Hashem, as the Torah commands, and not because a person is commanded to come to the Beit HaMikdash. There is a mitzvah of "he shall be seen, he shall see," that one comes to see the beauty of the Beit HaMikdash and to present himself there in the Beit HaMikdash. So in this case that is not the purpose, and therefore He tells you there is no impediment to his entering by way of the hall of the gate and going out by the same way. Here we do not require him to enter through one gate and go out through another, he may enter through the same gate and go out through the same gate.
Rashi says: "as for the prince," the Kohen Gadol is a prince. And because of his importance, says Rashi, he will be permitted to eat the meat and bread of the holy offerings in that gate which is opened for him at the time of eating. "And by way of the hall of the gate he shall enter," meaning by way of the hall of the eastern gate, from there he enters the courtyard and reaches that wicket in order to eat his bread there. This is according to the view that only the wicket was closed while the gate of the Heichal itself was open, "and he shall go out by the same way," and from there he would also go out, and the rest of the time, as we said, throughout the whole day when the prince is not eating, it would be closed. What I quoted from Rashi's statement is what I found. Now what we have just explained appears in other books, meaning another version in Rashi. Let us explain what the Malbim says. The Malbim says the prince is Melech HaMashiach. Melech HaMashiach, by virtue of his princehood, stands above everyone, at the very head. He shall sit in it to eat bread before Hashem when he eats the shelamim offerings. Note that the Malbim does not adopt the approach Rashi took, that the prince is the Kohen Gadol. No. The prince here refers to Melech HaMashiach. What does Melech HaMashiach sit to eat? And how does he sit to eat inside within? According to the Malbim this is no difficulty at all, since we explained that this place refers to the outer gate facing east, we are speaking of the gate of the outer courtyard, so that in fact there is no problem at all for the king to be there, it is not a place that requires a Kohen specifically in order to reach it. If you ask what he eats, shelamim, the king too eats them. Melech HaMashiach too will eat shelamim, there is no impediment to any person eating shelamim. Therefore the Malbim explains that here we are speaking of sitting to eat bread before Hashem, when they eat the shelamim offerings, he will sit at the threshold of the gate and inward. And with all this the gate will be closed. So how then? He will enter either from the south or from the north, go to the eastern gate, enter under the roofing, for the gates were roofed, under the roofing of the gate from within, the gate is closed, he cannot go out through it. He will enter and reach the place where the gate is closed and there he will eat the shelamim. And from there he will go out through the courtyard to the outside by way of the open gates. The Malbim here has a novel insight, he wants to explain what is written "as for the prince, the prince himself," what is the word "et"? What does "et the prince" mean? You would say "the prince, the prince himself," since he is a prince and has stature, what is the word "et"? The Malbim wants to explain that "et" is from the root "ata." "Ata" means to come. Thus "et the prince" means the coming of the prince, just as we saw regarding those that the chambers were called "ta'im" from the language of "ata," from the language of coming, for through the chambers one would enter within. The gate of the "iton," since through it they would "atei," come, therefore it is called "iton" with an aleph and a tav, from the language of coming. So here too "et the prince" means, as we said, the coming of the prince, the prince himself shall sit in it to eat bread, he will come there and there he will eat the shelamim offerings.
"And He brought me by way of the north gate before the House, and I looked and behold, the glory of Hashem filled the House of Hashem, and I fell on my face." So HaKadosh Baruch Hu takes and leads him by way of the north side. Hashem brought him a second time by way of the north gate before the House, meaning to the Ezrat Yisrael, and then he sees that behold, the glory of Hashem filled the House of Hashem, and he fell on his face. What did this come to teach? The Malbim says: one might have thought that after we saw that the eastern gate was closed, the meaning is that the Shechinah no longer comes there. The gate was closed, so consequently the Shechinah would not enter within. He says: no, know that the gate was closed after the Shechinah was already inside. This means that on the contrary, this comes to teach that the Shechinah will remain inside and will not go out. That is the meaning of the closing of the gate. And behold, the glory of Hashem filled the House of Hashem, and I fell on my face.
"And Hashem said to me: Son of man, set 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 set your heart on the entrance of the House with all the exits of the sanctuary." We saw in chapter 40 that He told him: see with your eyes and hear with your ears and set your heart. There He showed him the form of the third Beit HaMikdash. First one must see with his eyes, then hear with his ears, and then set his heart. Now that He is informing him of the statutes and the laws, He first tells him: set your heart, meaning first contemplate, for we are now speaking of the laws, of the statutes of the House of Hashem, of the way the House will need to be conducted, the way the Kohanim will conduct themselves as we will see later. Therefore He emphasizes first set your heart to understand, and afterward you will perceive with your eyes that it is so, and afterward hear with your ears, meaning then you will accept the matters. Now He tells him "and set your heart." Set your heart on what? The Malbim says: "set your heart" means on the entrance of the House, for the fact that the gate is closed contains a further teaching and lesson, and the message is that the impure will not be able to enter within. As appears in the Mishnah in tractate Tamid, the head of the ma'amad would station the impure ones at the eastern gate. This means telling them: up to here you may come, from here onward you have no entry. Here He essentially comes to show him that the eastern gate will be closed, meaning that the gate will be closed before them forever, that the impure will never be able to enter the Beit HaMikdash. And this is what He tells him: set your heart, from what? From the entrance of this House, from this you will understand "all the exits of the sanctuary." The Malbim explains that "the exits of the sanctuary," if we wish to understand it more precisely, is like "those who are removed from the sanctuary." From this you will understand all those who are removed from the sanctuary, meaning the impure, those who will never come there, those impure people who will not come to the sanctuary at all.
"And you shall say to the rebellious, to the House of Israel: Thus said Hashem Elokim, enough of all your abominations, House of Israel." "And you shall say to the rebellious, to the House of Israel." The House of Israel themselves are the rebellious house. "Rebellious" means those who rebel. So you shall say to the House of Israel who rebel against the word of Hashem. "Thus said Hashem Elokim, enough of all your abominations, House of Israel." He will rebuke them here for the fact that they allow foreigners to perform service in the Beit HaMikdash. The very fact that you grant permission to enter the sanctuary is already a great sin. To also allow him to perform service there is adding sin upon transgression. He says "enough of all your abominations," this is more than all your abominations, that is, it is not enough that you committed the abominations you have committed until now, but you are adding sin upon transgression, you allow foreign people to enter the sanctuary and even perform service there. The Radak explains that He says this to the exiles and is essentially rebuking them for what they have done until now. A further explanation from the Radak is that this also applies to those who are now here in the Land and continue in their ways.
Now the verse details their abominations. "When you bring in foreigners, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to profane it, My House, when you offer My bread, fat and blood, and they broke My covenant in addition to all your abominations." You bring in foreigners uncircumcised of heart. What are foreigners uncircumcised of heart? This does not necessarily mean gentiles, but Jews who are considered foreign, who are considered strangers to the place of the sanctuary. He is not a Kohen, he is forbidden to enter the place of the Ezrat Kohanim. So he is considered a foreigner. And he is uncircumcised of heart, the Malbim says, that they estranged themselves from their Father in Heaven in that they are uncircumcised of heart, that their heart is uncircumcised and sealed, they serve idolatry. You bring in such people whose hearts estranged themselves from their God and who served idolatry. And not only that, they are also uncircumcised of flesh. This means they were also not circumcised. Chazal say that we are speaking here of those whose brothers died on account of circumcision, so they are actually legitimately uncircumcised, the law being that they are not circumcised. But in any case he is uncircumcised. And if he is uncircumcised then he is forbidden to be in the sanctuary of Hashem as we will soon explain. So He says this, the Malbim says, this is a great sin in that you bring them into the Beit HaMikdash at all in order to profane My House, even without their performing service. All the more so that you add sin upon transgression in that you offer through these foreigners uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, "when you offer My bread, fat and blood." It is not enough to profane My House by being in My sanctuary, the very fact that he comes to the Beit HaMikdash is already a profanation, you also allow him, when you offer My bread, fat and blood, you also let him offer fat and blood on the altar of Hashem. "And they broke My covenant," He says they have still not repented, they still break My covenant. And this you add to all the abominations you already had beforehand. This is what He says "in addition to all your abominations," this is an addition to all the abominations you have committed until now. Here the Radak illuminates what Chazal say, that we do not find in the Torah of Moshe that one uncircumcised of flesh is disqualified from service. It is not written that a Kohen whose brothers died on account of circumcision and who is uncircumcised of flesh is disqualified from serving. The Radak says: this was a tradition in the Oral Torah. This was received in the Oral Torah, even though it is not written explicitly, and thus Chazal say: 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, meaning from our verses. The Gemara transmitted it to him, and Yechezkel came and supported it with a verse. This means it was received by tradition, and Yechezkel wrote it as a verse. And now these matters received the authority of Scripture, "to profane My House," that one who is uncircumcised profanes the Beit HaMikdash. But in truth in the holy Torah this is not written, rather they had it by tradition and Yechezkel put the matter into writing.
"And you did not keep the charge of My holy things, but you set them as keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for you." He says: you were commanded to guard the sanctuary and the holy place so that no uncircumcised or impure one would touch it or enter, and not only did you fail to keep the charge of My holy things, you also add transgression in that you bring the foreigners to be keepers of the charge in My sanctuary, they, as it were, will be your keepers. What does "in My sanctuary for you" mean? It means keepers on your behalf. Instead of your performing the work required of you, not only did you neglect the role and not perform it, you even brought a disqualified and blemished one to perform that work. And as we said, here He rebukes them for adding transgressions upon their sins.
"Thus said Hashem Elokim: No foreigner uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh shall enter My sanctuary, any foreigner who is among the Children of Israel." "Any foreigner," the Malbim explains here, there will be a distinction in the future to come, whether we speak of a foreigner, which we explained means a Jew whose deeds estranged him from his Father in Heaven, whether we speak of Leviim, or whether we speak of Kohanim. In simple terms there are three categories here. There are Children of Israel whose deeds estranged them, there are Leviim, there are Kohanim, and now He will divide them according to their divisions. He first speaks of the foreigner uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, about whom He says he shall not enter My sanctuary. He shall not come to the sanctuary at all, he will not have permission to enter within at all. And here He speaks of a foreigner, note, "who is among the Children of Israel." He is not speaking of a foreigner among the Kohanim and Leviim. He speaks of a foreigner who is among the Children of Israel. Kohanim and Leviim whose deeds estranged them from their Father in Heaven, who served idolatry, that we will see shortly. But one who is a foreigner from among the Children of Israel, meaning whose deeds estranged him and who is uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, will not come to the Beit HaMikdash at all.
"But the Leviim who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who strayed from Me after their idols, and they shall bear their iniquity." Who then will come to the sanctuary? "The Leviim who went far from Me." This means the Leviim who went far from Me when the people of Israel erred and went and served idolatry, and they too, the Leviim, went like them and served idolatry, they will indeed be able to come to the sanctuary, but they will have a different punishment. "And they shall be in My sanctuary as ministers, having charge 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." These Leviim will have a different punishment, as we said, they will be ministers having charge at the gates of the House. This means ministering to the orders given to them by those appointed over the gates. Those appointed over the gates will be in charge of them and will give them instructions in what to minister. And now He says what type of service they will have. First of all, to be close and truly minister in the sanctuary in the service, no such service will be theirs. Rather they will only minister to the orders of those appointed over the gates of the House. What does this mean? They will not even be appointed over the gates of the House. The role of the Leviim was as singers and gatekeepers. These are the ones who erred with Israel from Me, these Leviim whose deeds estranged them from their Father in Heaven, those who served idolatry, they will not even be gatekeepers, but they will perform actions that ordinarily would be permitted to be done by a Yisrael. For example, the Gemara says that slaughter is valid when performed by a non-Kohen. The Leviim will be able to slaughter. What a Yisrael may do, that you, the Levi who became blemished through idolatry, may do. "They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people," for slaughter is permitted even by a non-Kohen, so this we will indeed allow the Leviim. And they will stand before the people to minister to them in the matters needed for bringing the offering, meaning the slaughter, the flaying, the dissection, all these matters were done even by non-Kohanim. So these Leviim who betrayed Hashem and served idolatry, these simple tasks they will perform, but they will not return to their charge to be gatekeepers and singers, since as we said they served idolatry, they were disqualified. "Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the House of Israel, therefore I have raised My hand against them, says Hashem Elokim, and they shall bear their iniquity." Measure for measure, since they ministered to them before their idols, you Leviim were idol worshipers and ministered to the people before their idols, you were priests to idolatry, and through this the people of Israel were led to serve idolatry, and therefore they shall bear their iniquity according to their sin and now will not merit to serve in the Beit HaMikdash.
"And they shall not approach Me to serve Me as Kohanim, nor to approach any of My holy things, to the Holy of Holies, and they shall bear their shame and their abominations that they committed." "And they shall not approach Me to serve Me as Kohanim." Now the Malbim says He moves to speak of the third category. We spoke of Israel, we spoke of Leviim, now He will speak of the Kohanim. The Kohanim too who served idolatry, they too shall not approach Me to serve Me as Kohanim, to perform the services of the priesthood, and here He says "and they shall bear their shame" for the abominations that they committed. What will their shame be? Their shame will be that they will be in the Beit HaMikdash yet not be fit for the service. That is, if he were not in the Beit HaMikdash then it would be tolerable, it would not be evident, it would not be known that he is under "punishment." But the moment he is in the Beit HaMikdash yet is prevented from serving, in this it will be evident that they are bearing their iniquity and their abominations for what they did in serving idolatry, and in this they receive their punishment. "And I will make them keepers of the charge of the House, for all its service and for all that is done in it." They will be in the Ezrat Kohanim as we said and they will be disqualified from the service. They will not keep the charge of the altar, but what will they keep? They will keep the charge of the House. "The charge of the House" means the things needed for the House, such as washing the floor, such as preparing the vessels, all these things, what are called the simpler tasks, the tasks that do not require Kohanim and important people, those tasks they will perform. And we already saw earlier in chapter 40, verse 45, that they had a chamber where they would stand on the ground and play music together with the Leviim who stand on the platform. And this is what He says "and for all that is done in it," including also the music they would play while standing on the ground, not standing on the platform, which also shows their diminished status.