the word they shall not be: and they shall stand before
them to minister unto them; either before the priests,
whose servants they shall be, or before the people;
signifying that those that sin publicly shall be rebuked
before all.
Ver. l2. Because they ministered unto them before their
idols, &c.] Had officiated for them in the priest's
office, their idols being in the courts of the Lord at the
same time; or preached unto them false doctrines, such
as are not agreeable to the word of God; and led them
into superstition and will-worship, and confirmed
them therein: and caused the house of Israel to fall into
.iniquity; or, were for a stum. bling-block of iniquity h;
unto them the means of their stumbling and falling;
by their ministrations, teaching them unsound doc-
trine; and by their practices and example, leading
them into a way of false worship, and dissolutehess of
life and conversation; who ought to have been ex-
amples to them in word and conversation, in faith and
purity: therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them,
saith the Lord; to smite and afflict them, and chastise
them for the same; or, upon them, or concerning them {i};
and so it may be expressive of an oath, of which lifting
up the hand is a sign; wherefore, that what the Lord
had said of them might be believed and expected, he
swears to it: and they shall bear their iniquity; which
is repeated for the confirmation and certainty of it; see
vet. 10. what is meant by it follows.
Ver. 13. And they shall not come near unto me, to do
the office of spriest unto me, &c.] To bring the sacrifice
to the altar, and offer it there; to sprinkle the blood,
or burn the fat, or the incense; to intercede for the
people, or bless them; see Hos. iv. 6: nor to come near
to any of my holy things in the most holy place; to do
any business, either in the holy or in the most holy
place; to offer holy things, or eat of them. The sense
is, that these degraded ministers, who had sinned so
greatly, and had fallen so fou!iy, though restored by
repentance; yet should not preach the word, nor ad-
minister any ordinance: but they shall bear their shame,
and their abominations which they have committed; that
is, the shame of their abominations, of their abomina-
ble principles and practices, which they have held and
maintained; being publicly disgraced aml degraded,
and so notoriously distinguished.
Ver. 14. But I will make them keepers of the charge
of the house, &c.3 To be watchmen or porters in it;
to open and shut the doors of it; to sweep and keep it
clean; to repair and mend it, and to do suchdike
works, as it follows: for all the service thereof, and for
all that shall be done therein; in a servile way; but not
as priests or ministers of the word.
Vet. 15. But the priests the Levites, the sons of
Zadok;&c.] The priests who were of the tribe of Levi,
whom the Lord chose and separated, to minister to
him, and so had a lawful call to this office, and were
regularly invested with it; and design true and lawful,
as well as faithful, ministers of the word; these are
called the sons of Zadok, who descended from Eleazar
the son of Aaron in the line of Phinehas, to whom the
Lord promised the everlasting priesthood, and who
was put into this office by Solomon in the room of
Abiathar, 1 Kings if. 35. his name signifies .righteous,
and was a type ot' Christ; who, as a divine Person, is
essentially righteous; as man, truly and perfectly so;
and, as Mediator, God's righteous servant; and who,
by his obedience and sufferings, is the author of
righteousness to his people; who are his spiritual seed
and offspring; children given him of his father; who
have his sonship and adoption through him, and are
born of him, his spirit, and grace; and these are
made righteous by him, through .his righteousness im-
puted to them, and may be rightly called sons of
Zadok: and this agrees with all the saints; and who,
under the Gospel dispensation, are all priests, and offer
up themselves, souls and bodies, and their spiritual
sacrifices of prayer and praise, unto God by Christ;
though all have not a right to preach the word, and
administer ordinances, as ministers lawfully called
have, and who seem to be more particularly designed
here; and such as are regenerated persons, and justi-
fied by Christ's righteousness, and preach the doctrine
of free justification by it, are the only fit persons for
such an office: that kept the charge of my sanctuary,
when the children of Israel went astray from me; that
kept and held fast the pure doctrines of the Gospel,
committed as a sacred depositurn to them, without mix-
ture, and without wavering, with courage and valour;
though a greater number were on the other side, and
though they were reproached and persecuted for it;
and who taught the people to keep the ordinances of
the Gospel as they were first delivered, in faith and
love, and without sinister ends, and so administered
them themselves; and such faithful ministers and
members of churches, especially in a time of great
declension and general defection, God takes notice of,
and has promised them great and good things; see
Rev. iS. 7, 10, 11, 13, 17, 226, 27, 28. and iii. 5, 10,
11, 12, 21, 22. Matt. xxv. 21: they shall come near to
me to minister unto me; in holy things to his people,
which is called ministering unto him; as to pray to him
for them; |o preach to them in his name, and admini-
ster ordinances: all the saints indeed are priests, and
may draw nigh to God through Christ; men are at a
distance from him, through sin; there is no coming
near to him but by Christ; and this coming near is
not local, but spiritual, and includes all acts of worship,
particularly prayer; and is a great fayour and blessing:
and they shall stand before me, to offer unto me theist
and the blood,. saith the Lord God; which, under the
law, were both the Lord's; the one was bnrnt, and
the other sprinkled, on divers things, and in divers
places:-here it may respect the administration of
the ordinance of the Lord's supper, that feast of fat
things, and which may lie eminently called .the goodness
and fathess of the house of God;and in which the
blood of Christ is represented as shed for the remission
of sins, and as spiritual-drink indeed to believers; and
the sacrifice of Ch fist is commemorated, the feast being
kept in remembrance of that.

{h} \^Nwe lwvkml\^ in offendiculum iniquitatis, Pagninus, Montanus;
offendiculo ad iniquitatem, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; offendiculo
pravitatis, Starckius.
{i} \^Mhyle\^ super eos, Pagninus, Montanus; super ipsos, Starckius;
super ipsis, Cocceius.