looketh toward the east: the eastern gate, and was the
same he had been at before, and therefore is said to be
brought back the way of it; see oh. xliii. 1: and it was
shut; when he was there before, it was open; for he
saw the glory of the Lord enter into the house by the
way of it; but now it was shut, and for that reason,
because he had entered into it; signifying, among
other things, that he would never return, or remove
from thence any more. The Misnic doctors d interpret
this of one of the little doors to the great gate of the
temple, that had two little doors, one in the north, the
other in the south; that which was in the south no
man ever entered in by, and this they say is understood
here; but it is not a little door, but a gate here spoken
of, and that the eastern one; of which more in the fol-
lowing verses.
Ver. 2. Then said the Lord unto me, this gate shah
be shut, &c.] In time to come, as Jarchi interprets it,
in the latter day; it was shut, and it should continue
to be shut: it shall not be opened; any more; though
it has been, yet hereafter no more: and no man shall
enter in by it, into the house of the Lord, because the
Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it; the same
with the glory of the God of Israel, ch. xliii. S, 4, 5:
therefore it shall be shut; no one being to enter after
him. Various are the sentiments of expositors con-
cerning this gate. Some of the ancients have inter-
preted it of.the Virgin Mary, by whom Christ came
into this world in human nature, being born of her, a
virgin, who had never known man, and as is thought
never did after the birth of Christ; nor were any after-
wards born of her; no man might come into the world
by her, by that serf-same way the incarnate God did,
and for that reason. This sense is approved of, not only
by Papists, but by many Protestant writers. Others
understand it of the Scriptures, the word of God, which
as it is a sealed book to men learned and unlearned,
so a gate shut up; it cannot be opened by a mere na-
tural man, or be understood by the light of nature;
none can open it but the Lion of the tribe of Judah;
who gives the spiritual knowledge of it to whom he
pleases, the perfect knowledge of which is reserved
to a future state; and there are some things in it which
will be always shut, and ever secrets; as the modus
of the subsistence of the three Persons in the Godhead;
the generation of the Son, the procession of the Spirit,
andtheunionofthetwonatures in Christ; see Isa. xxxix,
11, I2. Rev. v. 1--5. John iii. 13. others think that the
gate of heaven, or the way to eternal glory and hap-
piness, is meant; which was shut by the sin of man,
and could never be opened again by any mere man;
but Christ by his blood has opened the way into it;
and has entered into it, not as a private, but public
person, representing all his people; and none but those
that belong to him, that are members of him, shall
enter there; as none but Christ personal, so none but
Christ mystical: but I am rather of opinion, since this
whole fabric, as we have seen, is an emblem of the
church of Christ on earth in the latter day, the way
into that is designed here; and its being shut signifies,
that, as the church is a garden enclosed, a spring shut
up, and is only for the use of Christ, and should be
chaste virgin to him, he should have all her heart, af-
fection, and faith; so it should not be pervious unto
others; no natural or unregenerate man should enter
into it; and when the Lord shall have taken up his
residence in the church in the latter day, in a more
spiritual and glorious manner than ever, there shall no
more come into her the uncircumc:,sed and the un-
clean, Isa. lii. 1. and especially in the New-Jerusalem
state nothing shall enter that defiles, or makes an
abomination, or a lie, Rev. xxi. 27. none but those
that are Christ's, that are true members of his, and one
with him; and this sense agrees with what follows in
this chapter, and receives light and confirmation
thereby; in which the Lord complains of the Israel
and church of God in these its present declining times,
that unregenerate persons were admitted into the sanc-
tuary of the Lord, to communicate with the saints,
and officiate there, ver. 7, 8, 9. and commends such
who are faithful ministers and members, who are esta-
blished therein, ver. 1.5, 16.
Ver. & It is for the prince: the prince shall sit in it
to eat bread before the Lord, &c.] Or, as for the prince,
the prince shall sit in it{e}; in the gate which is shut to
others: not the high-priest, as Jarchi, though he might
have a particular seat in the temple, as Eli had in the
tabernacle, 1 Sam. i. 9. where he might eat the bread
and flesh of holy things: nor the political prince, the
king of Israel, though he might have a place in the
temple peculiar to himself; see 2 Chron. vi. I2, 13. and
xxiii. 13. and xxxiv. 31. and the Jews say only the
kings of the house of David were allowed to sit in the
sanctuary: but the King Messiah, as Kimchi and Ben
Melech rightly interpret it, is here meant; who before,
in this prophecy, is called David a Prince, ch. xxxiv.
24. and xxxvii. 25. he who is the Prince of peace;
Michael the great Prince; the Prince of life, and the
Prince of the kings of the earth; the Messiah the
Prince. Such who interpret the gate of the gate of
heaven understand this of Christ's sitting down there
at his father's right hand,on the same throne with him,
having done his work, and being at ease, and in ho-
nour; and of his enjoyment of glory there, as the
heavenly glory is sometimes signified by a feast, by
sitting down at a table, and eating bread in the king-
dom of God, Matt. viii. I1. Luke xiv. 15. and xxii.
and so it may intend his being in the presence of God
with the utmost delight and joy; having that glory he
had with him before the world was, and all power in
heaven and in earth; dispensing gifts and grace to
men, and receiving honour and glory from them, and
seeing the travail of his soul with satisfaction: but
why may it not be understood, more consistent with
the scope of the vision, of his sitting in his church, at
his table there with his saints, eating with them, and
they with him, in his word and ordinances before the
Lord ? see Cant. i, I2. and iv. 16. and v. 1. Rev. iii.
he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and
sha11 go out by the way of the same; which some ex-
plain of Christ's ascension to heaven, and descent from
thence in the. same way; he went up to heaven in the

{d} Misna Middot, c. 4. sect. 2.
{e} \^wb bvy awh ayvn ayvnh ta\^ veruntamen ad principem quod at-
tinet, princeps ipse inquam, &c. Piscator; quantum ad principem;
princeps sedebit in ea, Noldius, Ebr. Part. Concord. p. 120.