“Then Yahweh
Brought me back
To the outer gate
Of the sanctuary,
That faced east.
It was shut.
Yahweh said to me.
‘This gate shall
Remain shut.
It shall not be opened.
No one shall enter
By it.
Yahweh,
The God of Israel,
Has entered
By it.
Therefore,
It shall remain shut.
Only the prince,
Because he is a prince,
May sit in it
To eat food
Before Yahweh.
He shall enter
By way
Of the vestibule
Of the gate.
He shall go out
By the same way.’”
Yahweh brought Ezekiel back to the closed outer eastern gate. He told Ezekiel that this gate was to remain closed and never opened, because Yahweh, the God of Israel, had come through that gate. Thus, no one else was going to be allowed to use this eastern gate. The only exception was that of a prince, who, being a prince, could sit and eat food in the vestibule of that gate. However, he was not to enter or leave through that gate, because that was Yahweh’s special gate.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 