The east gate of the sanctuary shall be always shut. The uncircumcised shall not enter into the sanctuary: nor the Levites that have served idols: but the sons of Sadoc shall do the priestly functions, who stood firm in the worst of times.
The East gate of the Sanctuarie shal be alwayes shut. 5. The incircumcised shal not enter into the sanctuarie: 10. nor the Leuites, that haue serued idols but shal do other seruice belonging to sacrifices: 15. and the children of Sadoc shal do the priestlie functions: 17. obseruing the prescribed rites therof.
1And he brought me back to the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looked towards the east: and it was shut.E mi ricondusse verso la porta del santuario esteriore, la quale guardava a levante, ed era chiusa.AND he turned me to the way of the vtter sanctuarie, which looked toward the East: and it was shut.Et convertit me ad viam portæ sanctuarii exterioris, quæ respiciebat ad orientem: et erat clausa. 2And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shutE il Signore mi disse: Questa porta sarà chiusa, e non si aprirà, ed uomo per essa non passerà; perocché il Signore Dio d'Israele è entrato per essa, ed ella sarà chiusaAnd our Lord said to me: This gate shal be shut: it shal not be opened, and man shal not passe through it: Because our Lord the God of Israel is entered in through it, and it shal be shutEt dixit Dominus ad me: Porta hæc clausa erit: non aperietur, et vir non transibit per eam, quoniam Dominus Deus Israël ingressus est per eam: eritque clausa 3For the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord: he shall enter in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.Pel principe. Il principe stesso sederà sopra di essa per mangiare il pane davanti al Signore: egli entrerà per la porta del vestibolo, e per la stessa uscirà.for the prince. The prince himself shal sit in it, to eate bread before our Lord: by the way of the gate of the entrie shal he enter in, & by the way therof he shal go out.principi. Princeps ipse sedebit in ea, ut comedat panem coram Domino: per viam portæ vestibuli ingredietur, et per viam ejus egredietur. 4And he brought me by the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house: and I saw, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell on my face.E mi condusse (per la strada della porta settentrionale) in vista del tempio; e vidi, ed ecco, che la gloria del Signore avea ripiena la casa del Signore, ed io caddi boccone.And he brought me by the way of the North gate in the sight of the house: and I saw, and behold the glorie of our Lord filled the house of our Lord: and I b fel on my face.Et adduxit me per viam portæ aquilonis in conspectu domus: et vidi, et ecce implevit gloria Domini domum Domini: et cecidi in faciem meam. 5And the Lord said to me: Son of man, attend with thy heart and behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, all that I say to thee concerning all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord, and concerning all the laws thereof: and mark well the ways of the temple, with all the goings out of the sanctuary.E il Signore mi disse: Figliuolo dell'uomo, considera in cuor tuo e osserva cogli occhi tuoi, e colle tue orecchie ascolta tutto quello, che io dico a te intorno a tutte le cerimonie della casa del Signore, e intorno a tutte le leggi, che la riguardano; e considera in cuor tuo le costumanze del tempio, e tutto il governo del santuario.And our Lord said to me: Sonne of man c set thy hart, and see with thine eyes, & heare with thine eares al thinges, that I speake to thee concerning al the ceremonies of the house of our Lord and concerning al the lawes therof: and thou shalt set thy hart in the wayes of the temple, by al the goings out of the sanctuarie.Et dixit ad me Dominus: Fili hominis, pone cor tuum, et vide oculis tuis, et auribus tuis audi omnia quæ ego loquor ad te de universis cæremoniis domus Domini, et de cunctis legibus ejus: et pones cor tuum in viis templi per omnes exitus sanctuarii.
6And thou shalt say to the house of Israel that provoketh me: Thus saith the Lord God: Let all your wicked doings suffice you, O house of Israel:E dirai a quella, che a sdegno m'induce alla casa d'Israele: Queste cose dice il Signore Dio: Bastino a voi tutte le vostre scelleratezze, o casa d'Israele;And thou shalt say to the house of Israel that exasperateth me: Thus saith our Lord God: Let al your wicked deedes suffice you ô house of Israel:Et dices ad exasperantem me domum Israël: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Sufficiant vobis omnia scelera vestra, domus Israël: 7In that you have brought in strangers uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, and to defile my house: and you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood: and you have broken my covenant by all your wicked doings.Perocché voi introducete gente straniera incirconcisa di cuore, e incirconcisa di carne a star nel mio santuario, e a contaminar la mia casa, e a me offerite i pani, e il grasso, e il sangue; e rompete il mio patto con tutte le vostre scelleratezze.because you bring in strange children vncircumcised in hart, and vncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuarie, and to pollute my house, & you offer my breades, the fatte, and the bloud: and you dissolue my couenant in al your wicked abominations.eo quod inducitis filios alienos incircumcisos corde, et incircumcisos carne, ut sint in sanctuario meo, et polluant domum meam: et offertis panes meos, adipem et sanguinem, et dissolvitis pactum meum in omnibus sceleribus vestris. 8And you have not kept the ordinances of my sanctuary: but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.E non avete osservate le leggi del mio santuario, e vi siete eletti i custodi delle regole prescritte da me pel mio santuario.And you haue not kept the precepts of my sanctuarie: and you haue set keepers of my obseruances in my sanctuarie to your owne selues.Et non servastis præcepta sanctuarii mei, et posuistis custodes observationum mearum in sanctuario meo vobismetipsis. 9Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, no stranger that is in the midst of the children of Israel.Queste cose dice il Signore Dio: Nissuno straniero incirconciso di cuore, e incirconciso di carne, e nissuno figliuolo straniero, che fa sua dimora tra' figliuoli d'Israele, non entrerà nel mio santuario.Thus saith our Lord God: Euerie stranger vncitcumcised in hart, & vncircumcised in flesh, shal not enter into my sanctuarie, euerie strange child that is in the middes of the children of Israel.Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Omnis alienigena incircumcisus corde, et incircumcisus carne, non ingredietur sanctuarium meum: omnis filius alienus qui est in medio filiorum Israël.
10Moreover the Levites that went away far from me, when the children of Israel went astray, and have wandered from me after their idols, and have borne their iniquity:Ma di più i Leviti, i quali nella deserzione de' figliuoli d'Israele si allontanaron forte da me, e andaron lungi da me dietro a' loro idoli, ed han pagato il fio di loro iniquità,Yea and the Leuites that haue reuolted farre from me in the errour of the children of Israel, & haue erred from me after their idols, and haue borne their iniquitie:Sed et Levitæ qui longe recesserunt a me in errore filiorum Israël, et erraverunt a me post idola sua, et portaverunt iniquitatem suam, 11They shall be officers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers of the gates of the house, and ministers to the house: they shall slay the holocausts, and the victims of the people: and they shall stand in their sight, to minister to them.Saranno nel mio santuario tesorieri, e custodi delle porte della casa, e ministri della casa: eglino scanneranno gli olocausti, e le vittime del popolo, e staranno dinanzi a lui per servirlo;they shal be officers in my sanctuarie, and porters of the gates of the house, and ministers of the house: they shal kil the holocausts, and the victimes of the people: and they shal stand in their sight, to serue them.erunt in sanctuario meo æditui, et janitores portarum domus, et ministri domus: ipsi mactabunt holocausta et victimas populi, et ipsi stabunt in conspectu eorum ut ministrent eis. 12Because they ministered to them before their idols, and were a stumblingblock of iniquity to the house of Israel: therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity:Perocché lo hanno servito davanti agl'idoli loro, e furon d'inciampo d'iniquità alla casa d'Israele: per questo io alzai contro di essi la mano mia, dice il Signore Dio, e pagheranno il fio della loro iniquità:For that they haue serued them in the sight of their idols, and were made to the house of Israel a scandal of iniquitie: therfore haue I lifted vp mine hand vpon them, saith our Lord God, and they shal beare their iniquitie:Pro eo quod ministraverunt illis in conspectu idolorum suorum, et facti sunt domui Israël in offendiculum iniquitatis: idcirco levavi manum meam super eos, ait Dominus Deus, et portabunt iniquitatem suam. 13And they shall not come near to me, to do the office of priest to me, neither shall they come near to any of my holy things that are by the holy of holies: but they shall bear their shame, and their wickednesses which they have committed.E non si appresseranno a me per far funzione di miei sacerdoti, e non si avvicineranno a' miei santuarj presso il Santo de' santi, ma porteranno la lor confusione, e la pena delle scelleraggini da lor commesse.and they shal not approch to me, to doe the function of priesthood vnto me, neither shal they approche to al my sanctuarie by Sancta Sanctorum: but they shal beare their confusion, and their wicked abominations which they haue done.Et non appropinquabunt ad me ut sacerdotio fungantur mihi, neque accedent ad omne sanctuarium meum juxta Sancta sanctorum: sed portabunt confusionem suam, et scelera sua quæ fecerunt.
14And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.E farolli portinaj della casa, e ministri di essa in tutto quello, che vi si farà.And I wil make them porters of the house, in al the ministerie therof, and in al thinges that shal be done therin.Et dabo eos janitores domus in omni ministerio ejus, et in universis quæ fient in ea. 15But the priests, and Levites, the sons of Sadoc, who kept the ceremonies of my sanctuary, when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me, to minister to me: and they shall stand before me, to offer me the fat, and the blood, saith the Lord God.Ma que' sacerdoti, e i Leviti, figliuoli di Sadoc, i quali hanno osservate le cerimonie del mio santuario, quando i figliuoli d'Israele si dilungaron da me, questi si accosteranno a me per servire a me, e staranno alla mia presenza per offerire a me il grasso, e il sangue, dice il Signore Dio.But the priests, & Leuits, the sonnes of Sadoc, which kept the ceremonies of my sanctuarie, when the children of Israel erred from me, they shal approach to me, to minister vnto me: & they shal stand in my sight, to offer me the fatte, and the bloud, saith our Lord God.Sacerdotes autem et Levitæ, filii Sadoc, qui custodierunt cæremonias sanctuarii mei, cum errarent filii Israël a me, ipsi accedent ad me ut ministrent mihi: et stabunt in conspectu meo, ut offerant mihi adipem et sanguinem, ait Dominus Deus. 16They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and to keep my ceremonies.Essi entreranno nel mio santuario, ed essi si accosteranno alla mia mensa per servire a me, ed essere custodi di mie cerimonie.They shal enter into my sanctuarie, and they shal approch to my table, to minister vnto me, and to keepe my ceremonies.Ipsi ingredientur sanctuarium meum, et ipsi accedent ad mensam meam, ut ministrent mihi, et custodiant cæremonias meas. 17And when they shall enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments: neither shall any woollen come upon them, when they minister in the gates of the inner court and within.E quando entreranno nelle porte dell'atrio interiore, si vestiranno di abiti di lino, né entrerà loro indosso cosa alcuna di lana quando servono alle porte dell'atrio interiore, e dentro di esso.And when they shal enter into the gates of the inner court, they shal be clothed with linnen garments: neither shal anie wollen thing come vpon them, when they minister in the gates of the inner court & within.Cumque ingredientur portas atrii interioris, vestibus lineis induentur: nec ascendet super eos quidquam laneum, quando ministrant in portis atrii interioris et intrinsecus.
18They shall have linen mitres on their heads, and linen breeches on their loins, and they shall not be girded with any thing that causeth sweat.Avranno alle loro teste le mitre di lino, e a' loro fianchi le brache di lino, e non si cingeranno in guisa da muovere il sudore.There shal be linnen mitres on their heades, and there shal be linnen breeches on their loynes, and they shal not be girded in swette.Vittæ lineæ erunt in capitibus eorum, et feminalia linea erunt in lumbis eorum, et non accingentur in sudore. 19And when they shall go forth to the outward court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them up in the store chamber of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments: and they shall not sanctify the people with their vestments.E quando usciranno nell'atrio esteriore, dove sta il popolo, si spoglieranno delle vesti, che usano nelle loro funzioni, e le riporranno nella camera del santuario, e si vestiranno di altre vesti, per non santificare il popolo col contatto di quelle loro vesti.And when they shal goe out to the vtter court vnto the people, they shal put of from them their vestiments, wherin they had ministered, and shal lay them vp in the vesterie of the sanctuarie, & they shal cloth themselues with other garments: & they shal not sanctifie the people in their vestures.Cumque egredientur atrium exterius ad populum, exuent se vestimentis suis in quibus ministraverant, et reponent ea in gazophylacio sanctuarii: et vestient se vestimentis aliis, et non sanctificabunt populum in vestibus suis. 20Neither shall they shave their heads, nor wear long hair: but they shall only poll their heads.Ei non si raderanno la testa, e non nudriranno la chioma, ma accorceranno i capelli, tagliandoli.And they shal not shaue their head, nor nourish their heare: but powling they shal powle their heades.Caput autem suum non radent, neque comam nutrient: sed tondentes attondent capita sua. 21And no priest shall drink wine when he is to go into the inner court.E nissun sacerdote berà vino, quando dee entrare nell'atrio interiore.And no priest shal drinke wine when he is to enter into the inner court.Et vinum non bibet omnis sacerdos, quando ingressurus est atrium interius. 22Neither shall they take to wife a widow, nor one that is divorced, but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel: but they may take a widow also, that is, the widow of a priest.Ei non isposerà una vedova, né una ripudiata, ma una vergine della stirpe d'Israele; ed anche una vedova, che sia stata moglie di un sacerdote.And widow, and her that is diuorced they shal not take for wiues, but virgins of the seede of the house of Israel: but a widow also, which hath bene the widow of a priest, they shal take.Et viduam et repudiatam non accipient uxores, sed virgines de semine domus Israël: sed et viduam quæ fuerit vidua a sacerdote, accipient.
23And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and profane, and shew them how to discern between clean and unclean.E insegneranno al mio popolo a discernere tral santo, e il profano, tral mondo, e l'immondo.And they shal teach my people what is betwen a holie thing and polluted, and betwen cleane and vncleane they shal shew to them.Et populum meum docebunt quid sit inter sanctum et pollutum, et inter mundum et immundum ostendent eis. 24And when there shall be a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and shall judge: they shall keep my laws, and my ordinances in all my solemnities, and sanctify my sabbaths.E ove accadano liti, sederanno ne' miei tribunali, e giudicheranno: osserveranno le mie leggi, e i miei precetti in tutte le loro solennità, e santificheranno i miei sabati.And when there shal be a controuersie, they shal stand in my iudgements, & shal iudge: my lawes, & my preceptes in al my solemnities shal they keepe, and my sabbathes they shal sanctifie.Et cum fuerit controversia, stabunt in judiciis meis, et judicabunt: leges meas et præcepta mea in omnibus solemnitatibus meis custodient, et sabbata mea sanctificabunt. 25And they shall come near no dead person, lest they be defiled, only their father and mother, and son and daughter, and brother and sister, that hath not had another husband: for whom they may become unclean.E non si accosteranno ad uomo morto, affine di non restarne contaminati, eccetto il padre, e la madre, e il figliuolo, e la figlia, il fratello, e la sorella, che non abbia avuto secondo marito: e per questi contrarranno immondezza.And to a dead man they shal not enter in, lest they be polluted, but to father and mother, & sonne and daughter, and brother and sister, which hath not had an other husband: in which they shal be contaminated.Et ad mortuum hominem non ingredientur, ne polluantur, nisi ad patrem et matrem, et filium et filiam, et fratrem, et sororem quæ alterum virum non habuerit: in quibus contaminabuntur. 26And after one is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.E dopo, ch'ei si sarà purificato, si conteranno per lui sette giorni.And after that he is clensed, seuen daies shal be numbred to him.Et postquam fuerit emundatus, septem dies numerabuntur ei. 27And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, to the inner court, to minister unto me in the sanctuary, he shall offer for his sin, saith the Lord God.E il giorno, nel quale egli entrerà nel santuario, nell'atrio interiore per servirmi nel santuario, farà obblazione pel suo peccato, dice il Signore Dio.And in the day of his entering into the sanctuarie to the inner court to minister vnto me in the sanctuarie, he shal offer for his sinne, sayth our Lord God.Et in die introitus sui in sanctuarium ad atrium interius, ut ministret mihi in sanctuario, offeret pro peccato suo, ait Dominus Deus.
28And they shall have no inheritance, I am their inheritance: neither shall you give them any possession in Israel, for I am their possession.Ed ei non avranno eredità: loro eredità son' io, e non darete loro porzione alcuna in Israele, perchè la loro porzione son' io.And there shal not be inheritance to them, I am their inheritance: and possession you shal not geue them in Israel, for I am their possession.Non erit autem eis hæreditas: ego hæreditas eorum. Et possessionem non dabitis eis in Israël: ego enim possessio eorum. 29They shall eat the victim both for sin and for trespass: and every vowed thing in Israel shall be theirs.La vittima pel peccato, e per il delitto eglino la mangeranno, e tutte le offerte fatte da Israele per voto saranno loro.The victime both for sinne and for offence they shal eate: and euerie vowed thing in Israel shal be theirs.Victimam et pro peccato et pro delicto ipsi comedent, et omne votum in Israël ipsorum erit. 30And the firstfruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations of all things that are offered, shall be the priest’s: and you shall give the firstfruits of your meats to the priest, that he may return a blessing upon thy house.E de' sacerdoti saranno le primizie di tutti i primogeniti, e le libagioni tutte di tutto quel, che e offerto: e al sacerdote darete le primizie de' vostri cibi, affinchè egli alle case vostre renda benedizione.And the first fruits of al the first borne, & al the libaments of al thinges that are offered, shal be the priests: & the first fruits of your meates you shal geue to the priest, that he may lay vp a blessing for thy house.Et primitiva omnium primogenitorum, et omnia libamenta ex omnibus quæ offeruntur, sacerdotum erunt: et primitiva ciborum vestrorum dabitis sacerdoti, ut reponat benedictionem domui tuæ. 31The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself or caught by a beast, whether it be fowl or cattle.I sacerdoti non mangeranno né di uccellame, né di bestia, che sia morta da se, o sia stata uccisa da altra bestia.Al carren, and thing taken by a beast of birdes, and of cattel the priests shal not eate.Omne morticinum, et captum a bestia, de avibus et de pecoribus, non comedent sacerdotes.
44:2
St. Jerome
Opened. No man perfectly understands the Scriptures but the Son of God, Matthew 11:27. (St. Jerome)
Worthington
This also insinuates, that Mary ever remained a pure virgin. (St. Augustine, etc.) (Worthington)
Shut, even for the prince. Some (Haydock) kings of Juda claimed the privilege of entering by it at any time, and passed through a part of the court assigned to the priests, 2 Paralipomenon 6:12., and 4 Kings 16:18. This shall be no longer tolerated. The gate might be opened in the week days if the prince wished to offer sacrifice, but not else, except on the sabbaths, Ezechiel 46:1, 12.
Lord, in peace offerings and religious feasts.
Calmet
Porch. Each had two doors, Ezechiel 46:2. (Calmet)
44:4
Worthington
Face. This astonishment and attention (ver. 5.) intimate the mysteries of the Church, prefigured by the Jewish rites. (Worthington)
44:5
Ways, or "the going in," and all that concerns the temple and sacrifices.
44:7
Flesh. People of this description were not to enter the temple, which is here called the sanctuary, even though they adored God. In some cases pagans were admitted into any part, except the most holy. Epiphanes (Calmet) and Pompey forced their passage thither, to the great sorrow of the Jews. (Josephus, Jewish Wars 1:5.) See Ecclesiasticus lii., and Acts 21:28.
During the plundering of the city, the Chaldeans did the like; (Lamentations 1:10.; Haydock) and while idols were set up, all rules were neglected.
Doings. You observe the exterior, and not the spirit of religion.
44:8
Calmet
Yourselves, out of ambition, contrary to the regulations of David. (Calmet)
44:10
Calmet
Levites, or priests, (Haydock) who were seduced by Jeroboam, or offered victims on the high places, 4 Kings 23:9. Such lost their privileges and were condemned to serve in the meanest offices. It seems the race of Ithamar was alone guilty, and the threat against his house was now put in execution, 1 Kings 2:39., and 3:14., and Leviticus 21:17., and 2 Esdras 7:64. (Calmet)
44:11
Slay. Levites might do this, but the priests poured the blood round the altar, ver. 15. They could not well slay all the victims.
44:15
Haydock
And Levites, of the higher order. (Haydock)
No simple Levites were of this family. It enjoyed the high priesthood form the time of Solomon.
44:17
Court; that is to do duty.
Calmet
Linen. Wool might have been taken from a dead sheep, which would render the person unclean. (Calmet)
44:18
Haydock
Sweat, or so as to make them perspire. Septuagint, "girded violently." (Haydock)
Braun
They must have liberty to move, (St. Jerome) and have the girdle about their breast. (Braun.)
44:19
Challoner
Sanctify, by exposing them to the danger of touching the sacred vestments, which none were to touch but they that were sanctified. (Challoner)
Worthington
Sanctify here means to defile, Exodus 30:29., (Calmet) and 29:37. Holy things must be done in holy places. (Worthington)
Calmet
Divine religion has different clothing for the ministry, from what is used in common life. (St. Jerome) (Exodus 28:40.) (Calmet)
44:20
Juvenal vi
Shave, like the priests of Isis. (Juvenal vi.)
44:21
Josephus
Wine. Leviticus 10:9. The priests on duty abstain from wine. (Josephus, Jewish Wars 6:15.)
44:22
44:25
Menochius
Unclean, attending the funeral, which inferior priests alone might do, Leviticus 21:10. (Menochius)
44:27
Menochius
Day, after the seven first, (Calmet) though this would be a new regulation. (Menochius)
44:28
Calmet
No. This is omitted in Hebrew, Septuagint, etc. God was their portion. (Calmet)
Haydock
They had no land but what lay near their cities. (Haydock)
44:19
Shall not sanctify the people with their vestments.... By exposing them to the danger of touching the sacred vestments, which none were to touch but they that were sanctified.
44:2
S. Ierom expoundeth this of the hardnes of scripture, which no man vnderstāndeth fully but the sonne of God. Mat. 11. v. 27. Likevvise of of our B. Ladie a perpetual virgin, also after the birth of Christ. The same doth. S. Augustin, ser. 6. & 18 d• temp. S Amb. cp. 81. S. Chrys. ho. de •• Bapt.
44:7
b This astonishment, and reuerence of the prophet. c and the great attention which he is admonished to haue, import the great mysteries of Christ and his Church, and not only the temple & rites of the old law which vvere but figures of the new.
44:19
Holy thinges are ordinarily to be done in holie places; and therfore sacred vestures (by touching vvherof men vvere sanctified. Exo. 29. v. 37.) must not be vsed out of the temple.
44:21
Concordance Leuit. 10. v. 9.
44:28
Concordance Deut. 18.
44:2
St Methodius † AD 311 Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple 1
… Thou art the circumscription, so to speak, of Him who cannot be circumscribed; the root of the most beautiful flower; the mother of the Creator; the nurse of the Nourisher; the circumference of Him who embraces all things; the upholder of Him who upholds all things by His word; the gate through which God appears in the flesh;
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 9
… For he saith, “The gate which looks towards the East shall be closed, and shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, because the Lord God of Israel shall pass through it, and it shall be closed.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 48.21
… of cords being those of the sins by which we were beforetime bound, the thorns those which choked the seed the goodman of the house had sown. She is the east gate, spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel,
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Ps. lviii. 3 . Sinners are estranged from the womb; that is, either, as St. Paul says ( Rom. v. 14 ), they sin “after the similitude of Adam”; or, “when Christ, as the firstborn, opened the virgin’s womb” ( Exod. xiii. 2 ). The heretics refused to acknowledge the mystery, which was prefigured by the Eastern door of the Temple (
John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 7.25
… “See the miracle of the mother of the Lord: A Virgin conceived, a Virgin brought forth. She was a Virgin when she conceived, a Virgin when with child, a Virgin after the birth. As is said in Ezekiel: “And the gate was shut and not opened, because the Lord passed through it.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 7.26
… He waits ten months in the womb to be born: and He, in whose hand the world is held, is contained in a narrow manger.” Again in his commentary on Isaiah: “For the Lord of hosts, who is the King of glory, Himself descended into the Virgin’s womb, and entered in and went forth from the East Gate which is ever shut.”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.14
… Assuredly she who played the part of the Creator’s servant and mother is in all strictness and truth in reality God’s Mother and Lady and Queen over all created things. But just as He who was conceived kept her who conceived still virgin, in like manner also He who was born preserved her virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her closed
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 118
… And Nathan likewise, speaking to David about Him, thus continued: ‘I will be His Father, and He shall be my Son; and my mercy shall I not take away from Him, as I did from them that went before Him; and I will establish Him in my house, and in His kingdom for ever.’ And Ezekiel says, ‘There shall be no other prince in the house but He.’
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St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.10
… in us,” inasmuch as they have believed, have been perfected, and can say, “the Lord is my portion.” If, however, there are not many mansions, how is it taught in the Old Testament correspondingly with the New, that the chief priest has one rank, the priests another, the Levites another, the door-keepers another, the sacristans another? How is it that in the
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 2
… but among us in its own Sees, and in those of the throne delivered to it by God, it is renounced. There the Truth says, “They reject me, that they may sacrifice to me; nor do they offer the holy oblations of the children of Israel, nor do they approach to offer the holy of holies, but they shall receive their ignominy in the error wherein they have erred.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
… “And ye say the way of the Lord is not equal, when your ways are not equal.” It is Pharisaic pride to attribute to the injustice of the Creator sins which are due to our own will, and to slander His righteousness. The sons of Zadok, the priests of the spiritual temple, that is the Church,
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 20
… mss. “carry up”) the whole sacrifice. But what is “reasonable ( λογικὴ ) service?” It means spiritual ministry, conversation according to Christ. As then he that ministereth in the house of God, and officiateth, of whatever sort he may be, then collects himself ( συστέλλεται
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 2.7
… It is necessary, then, that the solicitude expended on those who are put under us should be kept within a certain measure. Hence it is well said to Ezekiel, The priests shall not shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long, but polling let them poll their heads (
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 7.4
… But it should be most carefully seen to, that this same care pass not due measure, and that, when lawfully admitted into the heart, it be not allowed to become excessive. Whence it is rightly said through Ezekiel , Let not the priests shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; but polling let them poll their heads (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 10
… For even the Jews were allowed to contract second marriages, and even to have two wives at one time. For “marriage is honorable,” ( Heb. xiii. 4 .) Some however say, that this is said that he should be the husband of one wife.
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1. And he turned me (the measurer and architect, namely the Angel, of whom chapter XL, 3) to the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, that is, of the court. For the inner sanctuary was the temple itself, namely the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Others understand by the outer sanctuary the Holy Place, by the inner the Holy of Holies. Thus R. David and Maldonatus. But it is objected that the prince, as a layman, could not enter the Holy Place, indeed not even the court of the priests. And it was closed, after the glory of God had entered through it. For this glory was seen to enter through it opened to the Prophet, chapter XLIII, 2. 2. It shall be closed (to the people, says Maldonatus; for the priests, who bore the person of God, entered through it. Whence he adds the reason for the closure): because the Lord God of Israel entered through it. The Arabic translates: This gate shall be closed, and shall not be opened, and no one shall enter through it; except the Lord God of Israel enters through it, and shall go out from it. Closed by its bolt. And it shall be the dwelling of the governor (duke), and he shall sit (shall sit) in it himself at all times before the Lord. And it shall be closed to the prince, that is, for the use of the prince, namely not that he enter through it, but that he sit in it. For this is what he adds:
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3. The Prince himself shall sit (that is, shall stand, shall be present: for the Jews stood while praying and sacrificing. Moreover, it is known that sitting among the Hebrews signifies to dwell, to remain, to be present, whether one sits, stands, or reclines) in it (as if to say, the Prince about to offer sacrifice shall stand at the threshold of this gate, and there shall eat of his peace offerings, yet shall not enter, nor pass through it, as some think; because the Lord entered through it; but) by the way of the gate of the vestibule (that is, by the common gate of the laity, together with them) shall he enter and go out. For the Prince, since he was as it were the vicar of God in temporal matters, had this privilege, that he might approach near to the court of the priests, and at the threshold of this gate, which was opened for his sake, might look upon the sacrifices from without, and there eat of them: yet it was not lawful for him, as a layman, to pass through the gate itself, and by it into the court of the priests, much less to enter into the Holy Place. That this is the meaning, and that this was the use of this gate of the prince, is expressly and fully declared in chapter XLVI, 1, 2, 3, 12 and following, where of this gate it is said: "It shall be shut six days, in which work is done; but on the sabbath day it shall be opened. And the prince shall enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate from without, and shall stand in the threshold of the gate, and the priests shall make his holocaust and his peace offerings, and he shall adore upon the threshold of the gate, and shall go out: and the gate shall not be shut till the evening." And verse 12: "And when the Prince shall offer a voluntary holocaust, or voluntary peace offerings to the Lord, the gate that looketh toward the east shall be opened to him, and he shall offer his holocaust and his peace offerings, as he is wont to do on the sabbath day: and he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he is gone out." Allegorically, and rather, this gate shut is the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whom sat the Prince, that is, Christ the Lord, when in her sacred womb as in a bridal chamber and temple of his own, conceived of her most pure blood, he dwelt for nine months, because the Lord God of Israel entered through her, namely God the Father espousing and marrying her to himself: God the Holy Spirit overshadowing and making her fruitful: God the Son assuming flesh in her. For "she is the same mother, daughter, spouse of God;" namely she herself is the daughter of God the Father, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the mother of the Son, namely Christ. Thus all the Fathers and Christian interpreters, of whom many hold this to be the literal sense. Certainly it is the primary sense, and most intended by the Holy Spirit. Thus the Greek Scholiast briefly and subtly: "Christ alone," he says, "opened this gate supernaturally not yet open, and kept it shut naturally." See the words at Exodus XIII, 2. St. Augustine, sermon 2 On the Nativity: "The gate," he says, "is shut, the seal of modesty, the unviolated integrity of flesh: for she was not violated by childbirth, who was rather sanctified by conception." And St. Bernard, homily 2 on Missus est: "God," he says, "was befitting such a nativity, in which he should be born only of a virgin: such a childbirth was fitting for the Virgin, that she should bear none but God." And St. Cyril of Jerusalem, catechesis 12: "It was fitting indeed," he says, "that the most pure teacher of purity should come forth from pure chambers." Thus also St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, book On the Institution of Virgins, chapter VIII, explain it: "The gate," he says, "is closed virginity, and a garden enclosed is virginity, and a fountain sealed is virginity." So also Epiphanius, sermon On the Praises of the Virgin, Cyprian or rather Rufinus in the exposition of the Creed, Chrysostom, homily On John the Baptist, volume III, and others throughout. Hence it is added: "And it shall be shut to the prince," when the prince shall pass through it; it shall be and remain shut. Pagninus translates: And it shall be shut of the prince, as if to say, The prince has many gates, but this one is called by excellence the gate perpetually shut, and therefore the gate of the prince, who passed through it shut. Whence the Septuagint translates: And it shall be shut, because this leader shall sit in it. From these things it is clear that it is of faith that the Blessed Virgin was and remained always a virgin; because it is said here that even to the Prince himself, namely Christ, it shall be shut, and in no way is it to be opened in his conception and birth by the opening of the seal of the virginal enclosure, and therefore it shall be called the gate of the prince, as Pagninus translates. Wherefore here three heresies are refuted. First, that of Ebion and Cerinthus, who according to Irenaeus, lib. I, cap. XXV, impiously taught that the Blessed Virgin conceived by Joseph. Second, that of Jovinian, who asserted that the Blessed Virgin was corrupted in childbirth: St. Augustine is witness, lib. De Hæres. Third, that of others, who, while they acknowledged her to be a virgin before and during the childbirth of Christ, nevertheless said that after the birth she conceived several sons from Joseph, who for this reason are called in the Gospel the brethren of the Lord. The asserter of this error was Helvidius, against whom St. Jerome wrote an entire book with great learning. Indeed, Zwingli also proves from this place the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mary, as Canisius testifies, lib. II Marial. cap. VI. Wherefore this gate is here called closed three times, to signify that the Mother of God was a virgin before childbirth, in childbirth, and after childbirth, as Galatinus says, lib. VII De Arcan. fidei, cap. XIV. Hell is emptied, the ruins of the heavenly Jerusalem are restored, etc. To this heap of mercy let all our misery resort with all solicitude. The same, hom. 4 super Missus est: From thy mouth (O Virgin) hangs the consolation of the wretched, the redemption of captives, the liberation of the damned, and finally the salvation of all the sons of Adam, of thy whole race. The same, serm. 2 in die Pentec.: To her (the Blessed Virgin) as to the middle, as to the threshing floor of God, as to the cause of things, as to the business of ages, do look upon her both those who dwell in the heavens and those in hell, and those who went before us, and we who are, and those who shall follow, and the born of the born, and those who shall be born from them. Those who are in heaven, that they may be repaired: those in hell, that they may be snatched away: those who went before, that the faithful Prophets may be found: those who follow, that they may be glorified. And all generations call thee blessed, Mother of God, Lady of the world, Queen of heaven. In thee the Angels found joy, the just found grace, sinners found pardon forever. With good reason do the eyes of all creation look upon thee: because in thee, and through thee, and from thee the benign hand of the Almighty recreated whatever it created. For as he himself says, serm. 3 super Missus est, in the Blessed Mary dwelt the fullness of the divinity bodily, namely θεάνθρωπος, as St. Dionysius says, from which theandric, that is, divine-human, actions, by which he reconciled men to God, flowed forth. The same, serm. 3 inter parvos: Hail, Mary, full of grace. Well full, because pleasing to God, and to Angels, and to men: to men through fruitfulness, to Angels through virginity, to God through humility. The same, serm. De B. Maria: Eve was a thorn, which both pricked her husband unto death, and fixed the sting of her sin in her posterity: Mary a rose. Eve a thorn, wounding; Mary a rose, soothing the affections of all. Eve a thorn fixing death in all; Mary a rose rendering a saving lot to all. The same, serm. 3 in Salve, regina: Let there be, he says, a firmament, and let it divide the waters from the waters. More firm than all firmaments art thou, O Lady, who didst contain and conceive him whom the heavens of heavens could not contain: thou didst bear him and didst not fail: thou didst bring him forth, nourish him, educate him. Thou in the midst of the waters didst divide the waters from the waters; namely the affections of eternal things from the affections of temporal things. God placed in this firmament the sun and the moon, and Christ and the Church; and the stars, many prerogatives of graces. Symbolically, Origen here hom. 14 and from him St. Jerome, by the closed gate understand Holy Scripture, which was closed until the prince, that is Christ, opened it, of whom it is said in the Apocalypse V, 5: Behold the lion of the tribe of Juda hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. For as St. Jerome says: Before the Saviour assumed a human body, and humbled himself taking the form of a servant, the law was closed, and the Prophets, and all knowledge of the Scriptures. But after he hung upon the cross, immediately the veil of the temple was rent, and all things were opened, and the veil being taken away we say: But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Anagogically, the closed gate was the closed gate of heaven until Christ, which Christ opened with the key of his cross: for which reason St. Stephen, suffering martyrdom, said, Acts VII: Behold, I see the heavens opened. And St. Peter, Acts X, saw heaven opened, and from it descending a certain vessel like a great linen sheet.
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4. By the way of the north gate. (Because the east gate was closed, as he said in verse 2; hence by the north gate which was open, the Angel led Ezekiel) in the sight of the house. That is, as the Hebrew has it, in the sight of the temple, so that he might see the glory of the Lord which filled it: whence seeing it, on account of the brightness with reflected lights, and on account of the reverence and amazement at such majesty, he fell to the ground. The Prophet fell upon his face, says St. Jerome, lest while he desires to see more than human frailty can behold, he should also lose the very light of his eyes.
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5. And thou shalt set thy heart in the ways of the temple through all the exits of the sanctuary. In Hebrew: And thou shalt set thy heart to the entrance of the house, and to all the entrances of the sanctuary, that is, contemplate all those entering and going out from the temple, consider all things that are done in the temple, observe the whole administration of the temple. Thus Vatablus. Otherwise Maldonatus, that is to say, Thou shalt carefully observe all the entrances and exits of the temple, so that thou mayest teach the Jews in what manner the people, the princes, the priests ought to enter and go out, as he hints a little later, and will declare more fully in chapter XLVI.
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6. To the provoking, to the rebellious, and provoking me by their rebellion. See what is said in chapter II, 3, 6 and 7. Let all your wickedness suffice you (that is to say, Let it suffice you hitherto to have acted wickedly) in that you have brought the uncircumcised, the unfaithful and the wicked into my temple: cease from these wickednesses: henceforth do not bring them in, and profane my temple. Thus the Hebrew. Otherwise Maldonatus, that is to say, Let it suffice you that you yourselves by your idolatry and slaughters pollute my temple, even though you do not introduce foreigners and profane men who would contaminate it. But because eo quod here does not signify although, but cause or manner of wickednesses. Whence in Hebrew it is, in introducing you foreigners. For foreigners were barred from the temple, that is, from the court of Israel. Uncircumcised in heart (that is, wicked) and uncircumcised in flesh, that is, gentiles, unfaithful and idolaters. For at that time almost only the circumcised, that is, Jews and proselytes, were faithful and true worshippers of God; the uncircumcised were gentiles and unfaithful. Tropologically St. Jerome says: "We circumcise the heart, he says, with the knife of God, and the foreskin is taken away from our heart, when base thoughts do not at all go out from our heart, nor is it said of us: The heart of this people is grown gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. Therefore let the flesh likewise be circumcised, so that we do not at all do earthly works, which we are compelled to do for the necessity of the body, to take food and drink and sleep and to use garments: which we then circumcise, if we do not do all things for delights and for luxury and for idleness, but for the necessity of nature and the sustenance of this body. He who drinks wine for the sake of his stomach and frequent infirmities, and hates drunkenness, circumcises his flesh, etc. And thus circumcised let us enter the Sanctuary of God. Let Bishops and priests hear this, and every order of the Church, so that they do not bring in strange sons uncircumcised in heart and flesh, lest they pollute his house." And you offer to me bread, fat and blood. "You offer," namely through the foreigners already mentioned. Thus Vatablus, who thinks that here the Jews are rebuked in that, when they themselves had turned aside to idols, they would bring Gentile priests into the temple, who would sacrifice to idols according to their rite. More simply Maldonatus explains it, that is to say, You offer to me bread and victims which you have received from foreigners; for this was forbidden in Leviticus XXII, 25, where it is said: "Of the hand of a stranger you shall not offer bread to your God, and whatever else he shall wish to give, because all things are corrupted and defiled." The virginity of the Blessed Mary, as testified by Canisius, book II of Mariology, chapter VI. Wherefore this gate is said to be closed three times here, to signify that the Mother of God would be a virgin before childbirth, in childbirth, and after childbirth, says Galatinus, book VII On the Mysteries of Faith, chapter XIV. Tropologically, this gate of the temple, that is, of heaven, signifies all grace and all gifts from heaven from God through the Blessed Virgin, as through a gate, descending to us. For this gate is not only a gate, but also the throne of the glory of God, namely the throne of true Solomon, from which all good is derived to us. She herself is the ark of the covenant, she herself is a shield to all who hope in her, she herself is the star of the sea, she herself our lady, advocate, mediatrix, she herself the city of strength, she herself the city of refuge, she herself the mercy seat of the Most High. "She herself the Virgin of virgins, Holy of holies, light of the blind, glory of the just, pardon of sinners, finder of grace, mediatrix of salvation, restorer of ages, reverenced by Angels, desired by nations, foreknown by Prophets and Patriarchs, chosen from all, preferred before all," says St. Bernard, epistle 74. She herself the ship of the merchant bringing bread from afar, she herself the mother of mercy, she herself the great sign in heaven, she herself the prodigy and miracle of ages. For "she is the mother of him whose God is father," says St. Bernard, sermon 3 on Missus est: "For she bore God, and conceived of God." The same, sermon 3 on Salve Regina: "Because of her, he says, the whole world was made, and she is full of the grace of God, and through her man was redeemed, the Word of God was made flesh, God humble and man exalted." Again this gate signifies to men that they must enter and ascend from earth to heaven through the Blessed Virgin, as through a gate. Wherefore she herself is called the ladder of Jacob, the gate of heaven, the gate of paradise, the mother of salvation, the lady of the Angels, the queen of the world, the daughter of the Most Holy Trinity, the spouse, the mother; namely the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son, the spouse of the Holy Ghost. Hence the doctors teach everywhere that the most efficacious means to secure for oneself eternal happiness is, if anyone devotes himself to the worship of the Blessed Virgin, and asks to be directed by her in the right paths into the way and harbour of salvation. For she is the glory of Jerusalem, she is the woman clothed with the sun, having upon her head a crown of twelve stars. She is the mother, as of Christ, so of all Christians, namely of the Church both militant and triumphant. Many examples of all these things throughout the ages have been collected by moderns, both those who have written concerning the Blessed Virgin and those who have written catechisms. Finally St. Bernard, sermon 4 on the Assumption: "Let thy mercy be silent, says he, O blessed Virgin, if there is anyone who, having invoked thee in his necessities, remembers that thou hast failed him." And soon after: "Who therefore can investigate the length and breadth, the height and depth of thy mercy, O blessed one? For its length reaches unto the last day, coming to the aid of all who invoke thee. Its breadth fills the whole world, so that thy mercy also fills all the earth. Thus also its height has found the restoration of the heavenly city, and its depth has obtained redemption for those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. For through thee heaven is filled."\n\nFinally the Blessed Virgin is called the Eastern gate, because, as St. Ambrose explains, in the book On the Institution of Virgins, chapter VII, she bore Christ, who is the sun of justice, and whose name is the Orient, Zacharias III, 8. All these things St. Augustine has embraced briefly and elegantly, sermon 14 on the Nativity of the Lord: "What, says he, is the gate in the house of the Lord closed, except that Mary shall always be inviolate? And what is: No man passes through it, except that Joseph knew her not? And what is it that God alone enters and goes out through it, except that the Holy Ghost impregnated her? And what is it that it shall be closed for ever, except that Mary was virgin before childbirth, virgin in childbirth, virgin after childbirth? Let Mary therefore say: I am made the gate of heaven, I am made the door of the Son of God. I am made a closed door to him, who after his resurrection entered through closed doors, who being born from my womb, left me his mother inviolate. He filled my womb with divinity, and did not empty my womb of chastity: neither was I found without shame in conception, nor was I found with pain in childbirth."\n\nThe symbol of the Eastern gate always closed denotes that both conceptions of the Virgin were undefiled and immaculate, namely both the active, by which she conceived and bore Christ, whose name is the Orient, Zacharias III, and the passive, by which she herself was conceived and born as it were the dawn rising, and the mother of the rising sun. Wherefore wisely and carefully D. John of Avila, the Apostolic preacher of our age in Spain, and from him Our Father Ribadeneira in the Lives of the Saints, treating of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin on the 8th of December, from frequent and certain experience hand down that a singular and efficacious remedy against the temptations of the flesh for preserving chastity is, if one tempted invokes the Blessed Virgin, and seeks help from her through her immaculate conception and angelic purity, by which she was conceived, and by which likewise as a virgin she conceived the Son of God; and recites some hymns or prayers in honour of both conceptions. Indeed it is certain that many Saints have obtained through the Blessed Virgin the gift of virginity or chastity. For she is the burning bush unconsumed, Exodus chapter III, 2, which as from herself, so from Moses and others faithful to her, repels the flames of concupiscence. She is a fountain sealed to herself and to others, and a well of living waters, which quench the heat of the flesh, Canticles IV. She is the lily among thorns, she is the sanctuary of God, she is the altar of incense, she is the enclosed garden, she is the mirror without spot, she is the rod of Moses, she is the fleece of Gideon, she is the tower of ivory, she is fair as the moon, elect as the sun, she is terrible to demons as an army set in array. For with these titles the Blessed Virgin is greeted by the Fathers and invoked by the Church in the Litanies.
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8. You have set keepers of my observances (in Hebrew משמרתי mismarti, that is, of my custody) in my sanctuary (namely in the temple) for yourselves, that is, according to your own judgment, not according to my will. For you have set keepers of the temple, who admit into it the uncircumcised, whom I did not will and forbade. Otherwise Vatablus, as if to say: You have appointed priests of the Gentiles, who should keep your temple and offer in it sanctifications, that is, holy victims, for you.
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10. But also the Levites, who have gone far away from me in the error of the children of Israel (that is to say, those Levites who together with the Israelites worshipped idols, and from this fell into other crimes) and they bore their iniquity. And it signifies therefore, that is to say, For this reason they bore the punishment of their iniquity, namely the Babylonian captivity. Otherwise Vatablus; for he translates it in the future tense: They shall pay the penalty of their iniquity, which is intended for them in verses 11 and 13, namely that they be rejected to the rank of laymen, and be doorkeepers and janitors of the temple. God distinguishes here two kinds of Levites, says St. Jerome, namely one of those who followed idols with the people. For in the time of Manasseh, Ahaz, and other impious and idolatrous kings, the people likewise were idolaters; and from among the Levites many, lest they fall from their rank, courting the favor of the king and people, served idols, and ministered to them in sacrifice according to their rank. But others, steadfast in faith and their office, stood firm, preferring to lose their rank and the favor of kings and people rather than wound their conscience. These are called here the sons of Zadok: for Zadok was a true and faithful priest of God; and his descendants, who followed the virtue of their father, are called his sons both by descent and by imitation, passing over the intervening generations. Therefore God sanctions and confirms to these the priestly ministry, but punishes the former by excluding them from the priesthood, and casting them down to the most vile offices of doorkeepers and slaughterers for slaying victims. This is what he adds: 11. They shall be in my sanctuary doorkeepers, that is to say, says St. Jerome, those who were accustomed to offer the holocaust and victims and every sacrifice in place of the priestly office, shall be reduced to the lowest rank, and shall be janitors of the house in perpetual ignominy, so that they may be seen by all the people entering and leaving, how far they have fallen from such sublime dignity to such a lowest rank. Thus the Church once received Bishops and presbyters fallen into Arianism or another heresy to penance indeed, but deprived them of priestly office, and often reduced them to lay communion: but afterwards, as the number of the fallen increased, it restored many to their former rank of priesthood. Which St. Jerome laments, saying: "How do they assume for themselves the priestly and pontifical dignity, and dare to offer victims to God, once worshippers of idols? But, as the most ardent poet testifies, whatever is sinned by many is much, the multitude of sinners has made pardon more obtainable for the impious, so that those who were reduced to laymen ought to have bewailed their former sacrilegious crimes, now recline in the pontifical seat, and belch forth to us the nauseas of simulated faith, indeed the open shortcuts of concealed faith. Let them therefore hear salvation late, and observe the precepts of almighty God: Every stranger uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall not enter my Sanctuary, even if he be a son, even if joined by kinship."
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12. For the reason that they ministered to them, because they served the people in idolatry, therefore they, even when the people were recalled from idolatry, remained bound in perpetual servitude, says Maldonatus. For this reason I have lifted up my hand (that is, with uplifted hand I have sworn) against them and (that is, because, or that) they shall bear their iniquity, through this punishment of ignominy, namely of their irregularity already mentioned.
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16. And they shall keep my ceremonies. In Hebrew it is, and they shall keep my keeping, that is, they shall perform in all things the office of the priest: for to them belongs the custody of the temple and of sacred things. Thus Vatablus. 17. And when they shall enter the gates of the inner court, that is, the court of the priests. Others understand the Holy of Holies, as if it were here commanded that the high priest, about to expiate it on the day of expiation, should clothe himself in a linen tunic, as God commanded in Leviticus XVI, 2 and following. But the Holy of Holies is not called a court. In linen garments. For a linen tunic was the garment of the common priests, by the law of Exodus cap. XXIX, 8. Here it is mystically signified that we ought to handle the holy Sacraments of God with a clean conscience, says St. Jerome. in his triumph, and Luke XVI, 19, concerning the rich miser clothed in fine linen. In this same garment, moreover, as it is a symbol of holiness and religion, all these things have the best signification. For nothing is more honorable, nothing more excellent and glorious than the principal spirit, by which God confirms his friends. There are no delights which can in any way equal the delights of true holiness; no riches which can be compared with his riches. Thus Alcazar in the Apocalypse I, 13, note 11. Otherwise I have recounted the causes of priestly linen garment in Exodus XXVIII, 39. Nor shall anything woolen come upon them. Linen differs from wool in that the latter is the proper garment of brute animals; linen, however, is the marrow of a noble plant, which is preserved hidden by human industry. Whence Apuleius in his Apology: Wool, he says, is the excrement of the laziest body, taken from cattle, and from that time the profane garment of Orpheus and Pythagoras, as you know. And so woolen garment seems to indicate idleness and sloth: and in linen at least much greater diligence is signified. Secondly, the fineness and subtlety of linen is wonderful; which Pliny greatly considered in that breastplate which was shown in the temple of Minerva on the island of the Rhodians, whose individual threads consisted of 365 threads. Jerome also, on that passage of Ezekiel XVI: "I girded thee about with fine linen," says that the finest threads of fine linen are woven in the vestment of the high priest. This is especially apt to denote that this mystical garment of true holiness is to be woven not with coarse thread (as they say) but with fine and subtle thread. Thirdly, linen brings great utility to men; the whole world, says Pliny, it carries back and forth. By which words he weighs the great advantages which follow from linen for navigation; for sails, which ships are accustomed to use, are generally made of linen. Whence linen itself is the principal instrument, by whose aid and assistance the greatest ships laden with so many and such great burdens commit themselves to the sea, and sail to the most remote shores. From a small seed linen is born, like slender and humble oats, so that by it great riches and most useful merchandise are conveyed from one province to another. Which wonderfully represents how useful to the whole world of Christ's faithful is the holiness of the just, which, by the second breath of the divine Spirit, carries heavenly riches and merchandise altogether divine even to barbarous nations and peoples most widely separated. There is also great utility of linen in that from it tents are made and sails also in courts or other open places accustomed to be stretched, which keep off the heat of the sun. Not otherwise is the holiness of the just a shelter to the commonwealth from heat, and spiritually overshadows the forum of human life, so that men may live in health. Fourthly, there was great splendor and price of the finest linen, that is, of fine linen. For Achaean fine linen was sold at the weight of gold, so that an ounce of fine linen was worth a hundred silver coins, or according to the new value of money, one hundred ten; and a pound consisting of twelve ounces would be worth one thousand two hundred silver coins; or (by the new reckoning) 1320, at which price silk is usually sold for thirty pounds. Indeed Pausanias adds that Judean fine linen was superior to Achaean. If therefore we consider the great splendor of it with great price, and its great delights, we easily understand that fine linen aptly serves to denote riches, glory and delights: for it was a thing very proper to princes. See Genesis XLI, 42, concerning the fine linen robe of Joseph. And within, in the Holy Place, burning incense, lighting lamps, and placing the shewbread.
44:18
18. And they shall not be girded in sweat, that is, in the place of sweat, as if to say, in the middle part of the body they shall gird themselves, but not at the breast or at the armpits, in which places sweat easily forms. Thus the Chaldean, the Hebrews, Maldonatus and others. Secondly and rather: "They shall not be girded in sweat," that is, so tightly that they sweat. Thus Vatablus. For the Septuagint translates: They shall not be girded violently, as if to say, Let them not gird themselves violently and tightly like those bound; lest in the sacred and Levitical ministries they become unfit, and unable to hold and strike the victims, and also unable to run about, says St. Jerome.
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19. And when they go forth to the people, etc., they shall clothe themselves in other garments (profane and common), and they shall not sanctify the people in their garments, that is, lest they sanctify the people, "who has not prepared himself for sanctification, so as to be a Nazarite of the Lord," says St. Jerome; for profane things became sacred from contact with sacred things, according to the law of Exodus XXX, 29. Thus Vatable and Maldonatus. God forbids sacred things to be profaned and applied to profane uses, lest the majesty of sacred things be cheapened and become common to the whole multitude.
44:20
20. They shall not shave their heads, nor shall they let their hair grow long, but they shall only trim their heads. Hortensius Landus wrongly twists these things against the tonsure of monks, in his book On the Persecution of Barbarians. Concerning which note: The priests of the Jews were forbidden to shave, Leviticus XXI, 5; not because it was in itself evil, but because it was less becoming, and lest they appear similar to the priests of the gentiles, in whose vicinity they dwelt, who sacrificed to idols with their entire heads shaved, as is evident from the epistle of Jeremiah, Baruch VI, 30. That this in itself was not evil is clear because Ezekiel, who was a priest, is commanded by God to shave, chapter V, 1; and in Numbers VI, a Nazarite upon completion of the time of his vow is commanded to shave. Hence also Paul was shaved, Acts XXI, 24. Therefore the priests of the Jews were forbidden to shave only on account of the vicinity of idolaters. Which was perhaps the reason why in the time of Optatus of Milevis, St. Jerome and Ambrose, Christian priests were not shaved, but only trimmed. For even in their time there were priests of Isis and Serapis, who shaved their heads, as St. Jerome here and St. Ambrose, epistle 36, testify. But after that reason ceased, there is nothing absurd in those who shave their heads to signify something sacred. Thus Bellarmine, book II On Monks, chapter XI. Morally, St. Gregory, part II of the Pastoral, chapter VII, at the end: "Because," he says, "all who preside ought indeed to have external cares, yet ought not to be excessively occupied with them, priests are rightly forbidden both to shave their heads and to let their hair grow long, so that they neither completely cut away the thoughts of the flesh from the life of their subjects, nor again allow them to grow excessively. Whence it is well said: Let them trim their heads, so that namely they provide for temporal care and solicitude as much as is necessary, and yet let them be cut back more quickly, lest they grow immoderately."
44:24
24. They shall stand in my judgments, they shall insist upon my laws and precepts, so that by their direction they may judge and settle disputes.
44:25
25. Which hath not had another husband (which hath not married a second time) in which things they shall be defiled, that is to say, It shall be lawful for the priest to approach the funeral of his father for the sake of duty and piety, that he may bury him, and in this case it shall be lawful for him to defile himself lawfully, or to incur upon himself a legal irregularity, which is contracted on account of funerals: for this ought to yield to paternal piety. But to the Pontiff it was not lawful to follow any funeral, not even that of his father; see what is said Leviticus XXI, 11. God wished by this sanction to turn away the minds of priests from human affection, by which men love those joined by blood and relations, and therefore mourn and bewail them at their death: namely, He wished priests to be free from this affection, so that they might transfer their whole mind from relations and perishable things to God and divine matters, and so that they might continually think upon resurrection and eternity, and teach others their faith and hope both by word and deed. For this reason therefore the pontiff could neither mourn for father nor mother: "For the law demands, says Philo, in lib. II De Monarchia, in that man a nature more excellent than men; namely, one who is familiar with God before others, as it were in some confine of divine and human nature, so that by this mediator God may be propitious to men." These are the priests of the Old Testament, bound by marriages, children and family: what now shall the priests and Bishops of the New Testament do, whom God wished to be celibate and unencumbered, so that they might transfer their mind from earthly cares to heavenly things, and fix it wholly in God and eternal goods? Wherefore St. Basil wisely admonishes in Const. monast. cap. XXIII: "Knowing therefore the intolerable harm of this affection toward relations, let us flee their care, as a diabolical weapon armed against us." But behold, says the wise doctor, Satan envying these things lays snares from the side, while he substitutes relations for sons, and suggests that they ought to be cared for, and indeed gradually to be advanced to the highest degrees of wealth and dignity; that the family ought to be exalted and perpetuated in them; that the name ought to be preserved and celebrated among posterity in them. Thus indeed: When the maker of things deprived the clergy of seed, To Satan's will succeeded the crowd of nephews. This is the fraud, this is the snare of the devil, this is the rock of scandal, upon which not a few otherwise good men strike, so that they allow themselves to be overcome and bound by this affection for relations, and accumulate for them wealth and status with unceasing care and study without end, even from the goods of the Church, with grave peril to their own souls and salvation and that of their relations. For this cupidity grows, creeps and increases like hidden fire, the more it is indulged, and finally becomes insatiable, and breaks out into a monstrous conflagration. Thus priests, who ought to have been heavenly, become earthly, and the highest become the lowest: thus those who ought to despise all human things with lofty mind, and be superior to them, and teach others the same, turned toward them fall away, and depress their sublime mind to these lowest things. O minds bent toward the earth, and empty of heavenly things! How far do these degenerate from the virtue of Christ and the ancient fathers! I do not speak of those who help poor relations, or advance those who are more worthy or more suitable to themselves and the Church: for if this be done moderately, it is consonant with piety, charity and prudence, as St. Thomas teaches, II II part. Quest. CLXXXV, art. VII, ad 2. I speak of those who follow nothing but affection, and therefore advance the unworthy, or enrich the worthy immoderately. Christ the Lord, about to die, commended His only and most beloved mother, and she being poor, not to Joseph of Arimathea, a noble and rich man; but to John, likewise poor. Christ gave to His relations, James and John, not wealth and delights, but the cup of His passion to drink. For when their mother interceded for them, and said: "Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom; Jesus answering said: You know not what you ask: can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They say to him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink, but to sit on my right or left hand is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father," Matthew XX. St. Peter, called by Christ, put off and laid aside all carnal affection toward his wife and his daughter Petronilla, and preferred them to be holy rather than wealthy: hence when his wife was led to martyrdom, he did nothing else, said nothing else, than: "Hark thou, remember the Lord," as Clement of Alexandria relates, lib. VII Stromat. St. Paul thus ordains concerning ecclesiastics, II Tim. II, 4: "No one serving God entangles himself with worldly affairs, that he may please him to whom he hath proved himself." The same, in his first epistle to Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, cap. VI, 6, reproves ecclesiastics who think that gain is godliness: "For, he says, great gain is godliness with sufficiency," in Greek αὐταρκία, that is, being content in mind with one's own and few things. "For we brought nothing into this world, no doubt that neither can we carry anything out. But having food and wherewith to be covered, with these let us be content." St. Cyprian, taken from marriage to the Episcopate of Carthage, so far from enriching or advancing his wife and children, that he distributed his goods to the poor, and entirely renounced care of his wife and children, committing her to the presbyter Cæcilius, leaving them a dowry which would suffice only for the necessities of life, as Pontius the deacon relates in his Life. Hear also and follow the example of the great Augustine, of whom Possidius thus writes in the Life of him, final cap.: "Nor did he treat his own relatives, whether in the religious state or outside it, in his life and death after the manner of the common people. To whom, while he still lived, if it was necessary, what he also distributed to others, not that they might have riches, but that they might either not, or less, be in want." St. Hilarius, Bishop of Poitiers, his only daughter named Abram, whom he had taken in marriage before his Episcopate, aspiring to marriage, so far did he not advance, that on the contrary by sweet exhortation he bent her to offer her virginity to God, and to undertake a religious life. Thus his Life has it. I have recounted more things in Num. XXVII, at the end. Most excellently St. Gregory, lib. VII Moral. cap. XIV, when he had spoken of certain ones who overcome and trample upon the world and worldly things, adds concerning them: "But yet still bound by the bond of carnal kinship, while they serve inordinately to the love of relationship, they often return through affection of kinships to those things which they had already subdued even with their own contempt: and while they love their carnal relatives more than is necessary, drawn outwardly from the parent of the heart they are divided. In what net therefore do these walk, whom already begun perfection of life had loosed from the present world, but inordinate love of earthly kinship binds? For hence truth says, Luke XXI: If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Wherefore rightly St. Jerome to Heliodorus: "This ram, he says," of piety toward parents and relatives, "by which faith is shaken, must be beaten back by the wall of the Gospel: My mother and my brethren are these, who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. If they believe in Christ, let them favor me for his name's sake fighting: if they believe not, let the dead bury their dead." And Climacus, grad. 3: "It is better, he says, to sadden parents, than to sadden the Lord Jesus: for he created and saved us, they often lost their own by loving them. The love of God, and his holy desire, extinguishes in the soul the carnal love of parents: but he who thinks that both can be shut up in one heart, deceives himself. Let not the tears of thine own move thee, lest thou thyself prepare eternal tears for thyself." Wherefore God himself, Deuteronomy XXXIII, 11, praising through Moses the Levites of the Old Testament, because they had slain parents and kinsmen going into error and idolatry, and therefore blessing them, says: "Who said to his father and to his mother: I know you not; and to his brethren: I know you not, and they have not known their children; these have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant; thy judgments, O Jacob! and thy law, O Israel! They shall put incense in thy wrath, and a whole burnt offering on thy altar. Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands." Much more should the Levites of the New Testament think that saying of Christ applies to them: "I came not to send peace, but the sword; for I came to set a man at variance against his father," etc., Matthew X, 34; for with the sword, that is, with vehement blow and effort, it is necessary that one tear asunder and rend this affection toward parents and kinsmen, so fixed in nature. Again, let them think that saying of God to Abraham applies to them: "Go forth out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land which I shall show thee," Genesis XII, 1. And that: "Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech." For here he is introduced (even if he had one) in Scripture, "as it were without father, without mother, without genealogy," as the Apostle says, Hebrews VII, 3, to indicate that priests ought to forget their parents, as if they were heavenly and had fallen from heaven. For thus, freed from this sticky glue of kinship, they will fix all their cares on the common advantages of the Church, as they are obliged to do. In a later age, many Roman Pontiffs gave an outstanding and to be celebrated in all ages example in this matter, to pass over innumerable others of lower rank and note. Benedict XII, Pontiff in the year of the Lord 1334, promoted none of his relatives to any office of the Church, saying that "the Pontiff has no relatives," for he is as it were higher than Melchisedech above the earth and men. For this reason he was held in such great veneration by all and was so dear that when he died after the seventh year, his funeral was celebrated with the most abundant tears of all. Equal to him was Benedict XI, in the year of the Lord 1303, who, when his poor mother came to him for the sake of congratulation and therefore clothed in more refined dress, refused to acknowledge her, saying: "That is not my mother; for my mother is poor and does not have the means to purchase such precious garments." Struck by these words and suffused with shame, she departed; but shortly after, clothed in her own and humble garments, she returned, and then the Pontiff, rising from his seat, said: "This is my mother, not that former one," and between these words he embraced her affectionately. Equal to these was Nicholas IV, in the year of the Lord 1288, who was so affected toward his relatives that he said he owed them nothing more than the least good man. Thus Platina, Baronius, and others in the Lives of these same men. On the other hand, it has been a reproach to holy men that they were too much devoted to their relatives; indeed, these same men considered it a divine punishment, and late recognized and condemned their error. A memorable example exists in St. Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg, who in the year of the Lord 971, resigning his bishopric to Adalbert his nephew, although conspicuous in wisdom and virtues, dying and snatched to God's judgment, received through a vision that he was to be consigned to purgatorial pains for this reason. Hear the author of his Life, chapter XXVI: "On a certain day, as if awakening from a heavy sleep, he said to those sitting by him: Alas, alas, that I ever saw my nephew Adalbert: because because I consented to him according to his desire, the heavenly ones do not wish to receive me unpunished into their fellowship." Wherefore Udalric after death underwent purgatory, and his nephew Adalbert in the following year was extinguished by sudden death. Cardinal Baronius, recounting these things, rightly adds this epiphonema: "The most powerful weapon of the devil is love of relatives, with which he even assails the Saints, because, according to the Apostle, no one hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." Indeed, frequently nephews to their uncles who are Prelates, indulging them too much, are the origin and cause of many troubles, lawsuits, wars, and not rarely of infamy, melancholy, diseases and present death, would that not also eternal: of which matter we have seen many sad examples in this age, and those illustrious. Awake, Ecclesiastics, be vigilant, Prelates: sons of heroes, your nephews are a harm to you. "Ye sons of men, why do you love vanity, and seek after lying? What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world for his nephews, yet suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?" says eternal Truth and supreme Wisdom. Do therefore in life what you will wish to have done in the hour of death, in the day of judgment (in which brother shall not redeem, nor shall nephew redeem?) on the horizon, I say, of eternity. O sweetest Jesus! give us this wisdom, order charity in our heart, that we love parents and kinsmen only according to thee, through thee, in thee and for thy sake; so that while we love them, we may love them in thee, and thee in them, as thy holy law commands, we may love them.
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26. And after he shall be cleansed (from this legal uncleanness) seven days shall be numbered to him, before it is lawful for him to approach the priestly ministry. Behold a new ordinance in the new temple: for in Leviticus nothing of this sort is prescribed. Thus Vatablus. Otherwise R. Solomon and Maldonatus, as if to say: "After he shall be cleansed," that is separated from the dead, "seven days shall be numbered to him," during which he shall wait, and it shall not be lawful for him to approach the altar.
44:27
27. On the day of his entry (the day he first enters the temple) he shall offer for his sin the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, as the Hebrews hand down, and the law itself prescribes, Levit. VI, 20.
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28. But they shall have no inheritance. Thus it must be read with St. Jerome in the Commentary and in Romans, namely with the negation "not." Therefore some codices wrongly omit it and read affirmatively. For it is certain that priests had no inheritance in Israel: thus the law prescribes, Deut. XVIII, 1; whence he adds: I am their possession, as if to say: The priests shall possess me, not inheritances, but victims, oblations and firstfruits owed to me and to be given by the people. Morally, St. Jerome most excellently instructs Nepotian the cleric, saying: "Therefore the cleric, who serves the Church of Christ, let him first interpret his own name, and by setting forth the definition of the name, let him strive to be what he is called. For if κλῆρος in Greek, and sors in Latin, is called a lot: therefore they are called clerics, either because they are of the lot of the Lord, or because the Lord himself is the lot, that is the portion, of clerics. Whoever therefore is either himself the portion of the Lord, or has the Lord as his portion, ought to show himself such that he both possesses the Lord and is possessed by the Lord. Whoever possesses the Lord, and with the Prophet says: The Lord is my portion, can have nothing outside the Lord. But if he has anything else besides the Lord, the Lord will not deign to be his portion: for example, if gold, if silver, if possessions, if various furnishings, with these portions the Lord will not deign to be his portion. But if I am the portion of the Lord, and the cord of his inheritance, and I do not receive a portion among the other tribes, but as a Levite and priest I live from tithes, and serving the altar I am sustained by the altar's oblation: having food and raiment, I shall be content with these, and naked I shall follow the naked cross. I beseech you therefore, and admonishing again and again I shall warn: do not think the office of the clerical state to be a kind of ancient military service, that is, do not seek the gains of the world in the militia of Christ, do not have more than when you began to be a cleric, and let it be said to you: Clerics shall not profit them. For some are richer monks than they were when secular, and clerics, who possess riches under the poor Christ, which they had not possessed under the rich and deceitful devil: so that the Church sighs over them as rich, whom the world held before as beggars. Let your table know poor men and pilgrims, and with them Christ as a guest. Flee a cleric who is a merchant, and from poor becomes rich, from ignoble becomes glorious, as a kind of plague. It is a disgrace to a priest to pursue his own riches. Born in a poor house, and in a rustic hut, I who could scarcely satisfy my belly roaring with millet and common bread, now disdain fine flour and honey: I know and the kinds and names of fish, I am skilled in which shore the shell was gathered from: I discern provinces by the flavors of birds, and the rarity of foods delights me, and finally even losses themselves delight me."
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29. A victim both for sin. St. Jerome asks why the Prophet here repeats those things which were sanctioned in Leviticus, and he answers: "Namely, so that those things which are in the minds of men, either by the negligence of reading, or by the contempt and forgetfulness of hearing, may be renewed by the living voice, which are not written with pen and ink, but by the spirit and word of God," namely mystically and spiritually. And every vow. In Hebrew כל חרם col cherem, that is as Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion render it, every anathema. See what is said concerning cherem and anathema at Levit. XXVII, 28.
44:30
30. And the firstfruits of all the firstborn. This is a pleonasm: for the same things are firstfruits which are firstborn, as if to say, All firstfruits, whether of animals which produce cattle, or of fruits which the earth brings forth, namely firstfruits of wine, oil, wheat, the priests shall obtain. And the firstfruits of your foods. In Hebrew, of your pastes, that is of breads made from the firstfruits of your grain. For the priests offered firstfruits of bread to the priest at Pentecost. Allegorically, from this place, and from Leviticus and Numbers XVIII, 11 and seq., St. Clement teaches that firstfruits of all things ought to be given to priests and bishops: "The bishop, he says, ought to love as a father, to fear as a king, to honor as a lord, offering in blessing your fruits and the works of your hands: giving, I say, to the priest of God your firstfruits and your tithes, firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, apples, wool, and whatever the Lord God supplies you: and your offering shall be acceptable in a sweet odor to the Lord your God; and the Lord shall bless the works of your hands, and shall multiply the good things of your land; because the blessing rests upon the head of him who gives." Thus he himself in book II of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter XXXIV. That he may cause blessing to rest. In Hebrew: That he may cause blessing to rest, as if to say, You shall give firstfruits to God, that is to God's priest, so that God may bless your house by giving you abundance of the fruits whose firstfruits you have offered to him, and that abundance both continuous and stable: for this is what the word rest signifies.
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31. Every carcass. These things are forbidden to all, even to laypeople, Leviticus V, 2 and seq. But especially to priests: for it is fitting that they be purer and holier than others. Mystically, Lyra at the end of the book: "The priestly race, he says, is described—their habit, manner, way of life and conduct." Concerning the first, etc., it is said that they are sons of Sadoc, which means just: and by this it is signified that the ministers of the Church ought to be by special imitation sons of Christ, who is called by antonomasia the Just, Isaiah XLV: "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds," etc. Whence John the Apostle concerning himself and those like him said in his first epistle, chapter III: "Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be, the sons of God." As to the second, it is said that they have linen garments, by which in the ministers of the Church is signified the purity of mind and body. And he adds: that linen breeches cover the shame of their flesh: by which it is signified that in the ministers of the Church nothing of shame or dissolution ought to appear in word, gesture, or deed. Whence it is said in Exodus XIX: "The priests that come to me, let them be sanctified, lest I strike them." It is also said above concerning the priests, that in other garments they minister in the temple, and in other garments they dwell with the people: which seems to be fulfilled in the priesthood of the new law. As to the third, it is said that priests do not grow their hair long, but cutting it let them cut it. By which is signified the clerical tonsure in the ministers of the new law. As to the fourth indeed, it is said that priests do not eat what is taken by a beast, nor what is dead of itself. By which it is signified that the ministers of the Church ought not to live from rapine or any other unlawful thing. Likewise concerning the priests it is said that they do not drink wine when they are about to enter the temple. By which it is understood that in the ministers of the Church there ought to be sobriety, and especially when they are about to celebrate. For then in them is required not only the fasting of the Church, but also of nature. As to the fifth, it is said that they celebrate the divine Office, and that they teach the people what is clean and unclean, and that in doubtful matters they determine what ought to be held. By which it is signified that in the ministers of the Church there ought to be devotion, to celebrate divine things duly; and knowledge of sacred Scripture, to teach the people what things are lawful and what unlawful, and to determine what in doubtful matters ought to be held. This knowledge, however, is required to be greater according as someone is constituted in a greater rank in the Church. For which reason concerning the ignorant it is said, Hosea IV: "Because thou hast rejected knowledge I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
44:10
Levites (Heb. Lēwī, pl. Lēwījīm; Gr. Lēwījī, pl. -ai)
… fidelity, for which they were driven out by Jeroboam (II Par. 11:13-14; 13:9; I Reg. 12:21); the descendants of certain priests, who on that occasion and in the following decades had accommodated themselves to idolatry, were later degraded to simple Levites (Ez. 44:10-14; ibid. 48:13) — the erring ones are called simply Levites). …
44:15
… latter, superior also in number (1 Chron. 24:1-18), prevailed, particularly from the time of Solomon, who exiled Abiathar and gave the high priesthood to Zadok (1 Kings 2:26 f.). A predominance that became exclusivity after the exile (cf. Ezek. 40:46; 44:15 f.). Among those who returned with Ezra there was a Daniel, a descendant of I. (Ezra 8:2).
… Jud., XVIII, 1, 2) and although the "sons of Zadok" (Σαβδοῦα) are already mentioned in Ez. 40, 46; 44, 15; 48, 11 as priests in the new Temple (cf. Eccli. …
44:23
… their modes, the conditions of purity, the criteria of leprosy, etc.), to those who consulted them; cf. Hag. 2, 11; Mal. 2, 6-9. The depositaries and dispensers of the t. were the priests: Mic. 3, 11; Jer. 2, 8; 18, 18; Zeph. 3, 4; Ez. 7, 26; 22, 16; 44, 23 (cf. Lev. 14, 57); cf. Hab. 1, 2-4 and Lam. 2, 9. Entrusted to the priesthood (cf. II Kings 17, 27-28; II Chron. 15, 3), the t. demanded absolute fidelity to certain principles of …
44:29
… The latter would be works of delirious persons (In Is. 64, 4: PL 24, 646; In Ez. 44, 29-30: PL 25, 443) or dreamers (In Mt. 23, 35: PL 26, 180).
44:30
Hebrew specifies: bikkūrim (Vulg. primitiae), the first ripe fruits of the fields and trees; and rē'ēth bikkūrē ha-'ādhāmāh (= the Akkadian rēlētī), in Greek ἐπικρὴ τῶν πρωτογεννημάτων τῆς γῆς; Ex. 23:19; Ez. 44:30; etc., the best of such fruits.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.