Ezekiel 44:19

“And when they go out into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they will put on other garments, lest they sanctify the people with their garments.”

The linen garments they wore were holy, for they came into contact with holy things. They could not therefore be allowed to come into contact with the mundane. They had to be kept in holy chambers. Nor must they come in contact with the people, or they could do them harm. Here being ‘sanctified' was not something to be desired. It would bring them into an anomalous position, the mundane being made holy (see Exodus 19:21; Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; Leviticus 6:27). Once being ‘made holy' they may well have had to be put to death, or at least be required to serve permanently in the temple, so that God's holiness would not be profaned.

The purpose behind all these distinctions was to bring home to the people the uniqueness and ‘otherness' of God, and as a reminder of their own unworthiness and sinfulness.