44:15-16 The Levites from Zadok's branch of the priestly family, however, would have special privileges since Zadok and his sons had served the Lord faithfully in the past (cf. 40:46; 1 Sam. 2:35; 2 Sam. 8:17; 15:24-29; 1 Kings 2:26-35; 1 Chron. 6:7-8). They would be able to approach the Lord Himself and minister to Him by presenting the sacrifices of the people to Him. They had permission to enter the temple proper, to place sacrifices on the "table"(the altar, 40:46, and or the table in the holy place, 41:22), and to fulfill what God commanded concerning His worship.
"In every age the sovereign and gracious God has a remnant of those who cleave to Him in spite of adverse circumstances and the mounting pressures of the majority to conform. The Zadokite priests kept themselves from the idolatry of the nation, even though the other priests complied to the idolatrous desires of the disobedient people. For this faithfulness the reward from the Lord will be access to His presence, the privilege of ministering in any and all phases of priestly duty."555
44:17-18 The Zadokite priests would need to wear linen, not wool, garments when they served the Lord in the temple sanctuary and the inner gates and court (cf. Exod. 28:42; Lev. 16:4; Rev. 19:8). This included linen turbans and underwear. No fabric that caused them to sweat would be acceptable because perspiration would make them wet, and dry skin stays cleaner than sweaty skin. Wool may have been an unacceptable material too because it is a product of animals, whereas linen comes from plants.556
44:19-20 When the priests went into the outer court they would first have to change their clothes in the rooms designated for that purpose (42:1-14) so they would not transmit what was holy to what was common (cf. Lev. 6:11). Contact with holy things consecrated those things and brought them under the restrictions governing holy things (cf. Exod. 29:37; 30:29; Lev. 6:27; Hag. 2:12). They were also to keep their hair trimmed, not let it grow long or shave it all off. Long hair signified mourning, and pagan, idolatrous priests used to shave all their hair off as a sign of mourning (cf. Lev. 10:6; 21:5-6, 10).
44:21-22 Moreover the priests were not to drink wine before they came into the inner court (cf. Lev. 10:9), nor were they to marry a widow or a divorced woman. They could only marry virgin Israelite women or the widows of former priests. Under the Mosaic system these marrying restrictions bound only the high priest (cf. Lev. 21:7, 14), but under the millennial system they will apply to all Zadokite priests.
44:23 Part of the priests' job would be to teach the people the difference between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean. The people would learn this difference as they observed the distinctions prescribed here and as the priests explained them to them (cf. 22:26; Lev. 10:10-11; 11:47; Deut. 33:10).
"The priests were by their lives to be examples of separateness; their ritual holiness was intended to promote ethical holiness among the people they were called to serve.557
44:24 The Zadokite priests were also to serve as judges for the people and to make decisions in harmony with the Lord's laws (cf. Deut. 17:9; 19:17; 21:5).558They themselves would have to keep His laws and His rules concerning the appointed feasts, and they would have to observe the Sabbath Day. While observance of the Sabbath Day is not part of the New Covenant law of Christ, God will reinstitute it during the kingdom dispensation.559
44:25-27 The Zadokite priests would not be able to have any contact with a dead corpse except in the case of their own immediate families (cf. Lev. 21:1-3). People will die during the Millennium (cf. Isa. 65:20), but no one will die in the eternal state (Rev. 21:4). After his initial cleansing from the defilement caused by contact with a corpse, the priest would have to wait seven days before resuming his priestly duties (cf. Num. 19:11-19). On his first day of service after his cleansing, he would have to go into the inner court and offer a sin offering for himself.
44:28-29 These priests would receive no other inheritance in the land but the privilege of serving the Lord in the special ways that He permitted. The Lord would designate a portion of the land in which they would live (45:4; 48:10-11), but this was not their inheritance. The perquisites of this inheritance would include the privilege of eating parts of the best grains and animals that the people brought to the Lord as sacrifices (cf. Deut. 25:4; 1 Cor. 9:9-12; 1 Tim. 5:18). Everything that the people would bring as offerings to the Lord would go to them. These were "devoted"(Heb. herem) things, things given that the offerer could not redeem (buy back; cf. Lev. 27:21, 28; Num. 18:14).
44:30-31 They would also receive the best parts of the firstfruits of every kind that the people brought to the Lord. The Lord would bless the people who were careful to provide the priests with their firstfruits (cf. Mal. 3:8-12; 2 Cor. 9:10-11). Priests were not to eat any animals that died a natural death or had been slain in a way other than as a sacrifice to the Lord (cf. Lev. 17:5; 22:8; Deut. 14:21). These animals might be inferior and might carry communicable diseases.
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