Page 253 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XLIV. 247

file 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. And after
the is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.
And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto
he inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall
offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord Jehovah.” (Yer.
25-27.) Death may be but rare and exceptional in
that day, but so much the more reason was there why
the priests should not be under its power in any way.
They are to be content with Jehovah as their inheri­
tance, instead of the carnal portion of an Israelite. But
they are appointed their share out of His offerings,
dedicated things and first-fruits, abstaining from any food
of what had died of itself or been torn. “ And it shall
be unto them for an inheritance: I [am] their inheri­
tance : and ye shall give them no possession in Israel;
I [am] their possession. They shall eat the meat-offer­
ing, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and
every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the
first of all the first-fruits of all [things], and every obla­
tion 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. The priests shall not eat of anything that
is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.”
(Yer. 28-31.) Surely it is not needful to demonstrate
that these regulations are wholly outside Christianity;
yet will they assuredly be in force when the glory of
Jehovah visits and governs the earth. In heaven, or
to the partakers of the heavenly calling, they are quite
inapplicable. They will be lessons beautiful in their