17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments round their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. 21 No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgements. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. 26 After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.
28 “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a blessing may rest on your house. 31 The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.
The operative phrase in this passage is found in 23, 'and they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane …'. Ezekiel indicates in 18 that to wear woollen garments in the sanctuary would tend to make the wearers sweat, whereas linen garments would keep them much more cool. This may be purely a hygienic matter, though even on that level one can see its force, namely that there should be nothing unseemly in the sight of God. But there may be, as is pointed out in the Gilcomston Bible Notes, a deeper meaning, namely that in the spiritual sense 'human sweat' in Christian service is neither pleasing nor profitable to the Lord, i.e. there is such a thing as the works of the flesh in Christian service, and that it is possible to 'work oneself into a sweat' in spiritual work, with all of it being done in the energy of the flesh, and therefore not pleasing to God. In evangelism, for example, it is very easy to whip up an atmosphere, and put emotional pressure on people, in a way that is fleshly and carnal; but God says, 'No, no, it must be linen garments. Play it cool, literally and spiritually'. Is there a message here for us today?