THEOSISTheodoret of Cyrus
The Lord revealed to me, as the Prophet states, the eastern gates, which were to remain closed, were commanded to stay that way and dedicated to the Lord, who reigns over all. This is not because the Lord requires entrances, for being the omnipresent and eternal God, He does not need physical doors to enter. If it were His custom to enter through doors, how could He enter a locked gate? Rather, He accommodates our limited understanding by utilizing this imagery, likely offering a glimpse of the virgin womb, through which no one has entered or exited except the Lord Himself.
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At this gate, He instructed the elder, or high priest, to partake of offerings, but when entering and exiting, he was to do so through the vestibule, which he termed Elam. Following these declarations to the Prophet, he witnesses once more the glory of God at the northern gate, being commanded to convey to the people—who may be angry, curious, or obstinate—that they should strive to abandon their former transgressions. This wrongdoing stemmed from their practice of allowing foreigners and the uncircumcised to enter the temple of the Lord. Their major failing was not just the uncircumcision of the flesh; more crucially, their minds remained uncircumcised as well. This indicates that the true essence of circumcision lies in the heart, while the physical act serves merely as a sign and seal of mental purification.
Thus, the Lord of all nations commands that those uncircumcised in spirit and foreign in body must keep their distance from the sacred confines. The Levites who engaged in the people's sinful actions and showed a preference for idolatry were to be removed from their positions and denied access to the temple gates. They did not offer burnt offerings or sin offerings, nor did they approach the sacrificial altar; instead, their misdeeds brought them disgrace. Meanwhile, one lineage of the Sadoks, who upheld their ancestral faith, continued to serve and protect the temple and fulfilled all necessary duties. As the Prophet has foretold, they were not to wear woolen garments, but only linen attire while performing priestly duties; each was to cover his head with a kind of cap and gird his waist with a belt. The general populace, too, was instructed to leave the sacred precincts, change out of their priestly attire, and exit through the gates, for it is unlawful for a non-priest to approach the garments designated for the priestly office.