Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

On the Opening of the Temple for the People, and for the Voluntary Offerings of the Prince. - Eze 46:8. And when the prince cometh, he shall go in by the way to the porch of the gate, and by its way shall he go out. Eze 46:9. And when the people of the land come before Jehovah on the feast days, he who enters through the north gate to worship shall go out through the south gate; and he who enters through the south gate shall go out through the north gate: they shall not return through the gate through which they entered, but go out straight forward. Eze 46:10. And the prince shall enter in the midst of them, when they enter; and when they go out, they shall go out (together). Eze 46:11. And at the feast days and holy days the meat-offering shall be an ephah for the bullock, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs what his hand may give, and of oil a hin for the ephah. Eze 46:12. And when the prince prepares a voluntary burnt-offering or voluntary peace-offerings to Jehovah, they shall open the gate that looks to the east, and he shall prepare his burnt-offerings and his peace-offering as he does on the Sabbath day; and when he has gone out they shall shut the gate after his going out. - The coming of the people to worship before Jehovah has been already mentioned in Eze 46:3, but only causally, with reference to the position which they were to take behind the prince in case any individuals should come on the Sabbaths or new moons, on which they were not bound to appear. At the high festivals, on the other hand, every one was to come (Deu 16:16); and for this there follow the necessary directions in Eze 46:9 and Eze 46:10, to prevent crowding and confusion. For the purpose of linking these directions to what comes before, the rule already laid down in Eze 46:2 concerning the entrance and exit of the prince is repeated in Eze 46:8. מועדים is supposed by the commentators to refer to the high festivals of the first and seventh months (Eze 45:21 and Eze 45:25); but מועדים does not apply to the same feasts as those which are called הגּים in Eze 46:11, as we may see from the combination of הגּים and מועדים. הגּים is the term applied to the greater annual feasts, as distinguished from the Sabbaths, new moons, and the day of atonement. The מועדים, on the contrary, are all the times and days sanctified to the Lord, including even the Sabbath (see the comm. on Lev 23:2). It is in this sense that מועדים is used here in Eze 46:9, and not הגּים, because what is laid down concerning the entrance and exit of the people, when visiting the temple, is not merely intended to apply to the high festivals, on which the people were bound to appear before Jehovah, but also to such feast days as the Sabbaths and new moons, whenever individuals from among the people were desirous of their own free-will to worship before the Lord. The latter cases were not to be excluded, although, as Eze 46:10 clearly shows, the great feasts were principally kept in mind. For the entrance and exit of the prince in the midst of the people (Eze 46:10) apply to the great yearly feasts alone. The Chetib yeetsee'uw יצאוּ in Eze 46:9 is to be preferred to the easier Keri יצא, and is not merely the more difficult reading, but the more correct reading also, as two kinds of people are mentioned, - those who entered by the north gate and those who entered by the south. Both are to go out walking straight forward; and neither of them is to turn in the court for the purpose of going out by the gate through which he entered. Even in Eze 46:10 יצאוּ is not to be altered, as Hitzig supposes, but to be taken as referring to the prince and the people. - In Eze 46:11, the instructions given in Eze 45:24; Eze 46:5, Eze 46:7, concerning the quantities composing the meat-offering for the different feasts, are repeated here as rules applicable to all festal times. בּהגּים וּבמועדים has been correctly explained as follows: "at the feasts, and generally at all regular (more correctly, established) seasons," cf. Eze 45:17. Only the daily sacrifices are excepted from this rule, other regulations being laid down for them in Eze 46:14. - Eze 46:12. The freewill-offerings could be presented on any week-day. And the rules laid down in Eze 46:1 and Eze 46:2 for the Sabbath-offerings of the prince are extended to cases of this kind, with one modification, namely, that the east gate, which had been opened for the occasion, should be closed again as soon as the sacrificial ceremony was over, and not left open till the evening, as on the Sabbath and new moon. נדבה is a substantive: the freewill-offering, which could be either a burnt-offering or a peace-offering.