Ezekiel 44:10-16
44:10 a when Israel strayed away from me to worship idols: The people had a long history of failing to follow God’s plan for worship, including the specific sin of employing foreigners as temple guards (44:8 b).Summary for Ezek 44:12-14: 44:12-14 c The Levites had encouraged ... Israel to fall into deep sin by abandoning the Lord and worshiping idols. One of the consequences of that sin was that they could no longer enter the inner court of the Temple like the priests. However, by God’s grace, they would still have a significant ministry in serving the people and slaughtering their sacrifices.
• The people as a whole were placed at a greater distance from God because of their idolatry. Prior to the Exile they would have slaughtered their own sacrifices (see Lev 1:5 d, 11 e); now they must hand them over to the Levites to be slaughtered on their behalf.
Summary for Ezek 44:15-16: 44:15-16 f In contrast to the Levites and the people who abandoned the Lord for idols, the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok remained faithful to the Lord. Zadok was the high priest of Solomon’s day. His family’s reward was renewed access to the inner courtyard, where they were to perform the crucial sacrificial rituals nearer to the presence of God. A repeated theme in these chapters is that those who were faithful in the past would be rewarded with closer access to God and greater privilege in his presence, while those who were unfaithful would be kept at a greater distance.
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