(The previous post covered the conclusion of the third part of the Book of Ezekiel which focused on events during the Tribulation and some immediate judgments of Babylon. The previous post also began covering the fourth type of prophecies: Christ's Millennial Reign and the Millennial temple. Chapters 41-43 continued the picture of the restored temple during the Millennium.)
Ezekiel 41
(This chapter described the chambers/rooms and ornaments of the temple.)
1 And he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.
(God showed Ezekiel the sanctuary of the temple in a vision. The walls on either side of the doorway were about 10 1/2 feet thick.)
2 And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits.
(The doorway was 17 1/2 feet wide, and the walls on each side of it were 8 3/4 feet long. The sanctuary itself was 70 feet long and 35 feet wide.)
3 Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits.
(The walls on either side of the inner room were 3 1/2 feet thick.)
4 And he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place.
(The inner room of the temple was 35 feet long and 35 feet wide. God told Ezekiel that this was The Most Holy Place.)
5 Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side-chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side.
(The wall of the temple was 10 1/2 feet thick. The side-chambers (rooms) were 7 feet wide.)
6 And the side-chambers were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side-chambers round about, that they might have hold therein, and not have hold in the wall of the house.
7 And the side-chambers were broader as they encompassed the house higher and higher; for the encompassing of the house went higher and higher round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house continued upward; and so one went up from the lowest chamber to the highest by the middle chamber.
8 I saw also that the house had a raised basement round about: the foundations of the side-chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.
(The temple was built on a raised basement (terrace) that was 10 1/2 feet high.)
9 The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chambers, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side-chambers that belonged to the house.
(The outer wall of the temple's side rooms was 8 3/4 feet thick.)
10 And between the chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits round about the house on every side.
11 And the doors of the side-chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about.
12 And the building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.
(A building that was separate from the temple measured 122 1/2 feet wide and 157 1/2 feet long, and its walls were 8 3/4 feet thick.)
13 So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, a hundred cubits long;
(The temple measured 175 feet long. The courtyard around the building, including its walls, was an additional 175 feet in length.)
14 also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, a hundred cubits.
(The inner courtyard was also 175 feet wide.)
15 And he measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at the back thereof, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, a hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court;
(The building that was the "separate place" was also 175 feet wide. The rest of this chapter was specific to the temple entrances.)
16 the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the threshold, ceiled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),
17 to the space above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure.
18 And it was made with cherubim and palm-trees; and a palm-tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces;
19 so that there was the face of a man toward the palm-tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm-tree on the other side. thus was it made through all the house round about:
20 from the ground unto above the door were cherubim and palm-trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.
21 As for the temple, the door-posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance thereof was as the appearance of the temple.
22 The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before Jehovah.
(The table that was before the Jehovah was the "altar of incense": Exodus 30:1.)
23 And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24 And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves: two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other.
25 And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm-trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there was a threshold of wood upon the face of the porch without.
26 And there were closed windows and palm-trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side-chambers of the house, and the thresholds.
(Remember, the measurements presented in this commentary are estimates based on a cubit equaling about a foot and a half.)
Ezekiel 42
(Verses 1-8: the north outer court.)
1 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north.
2 Before the length of a hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.
(Ezekiel was shown a group of rooms against the north wall of the inner court. This structure, whose entrance opened toward the north, was 175 feet long and 87 1/2 feet wide.)
3 Over against the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.
4 And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.
5 Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.
6 For they were in three stories, and they had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the uppermost was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground.
7 And the wall that was without by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits.
(There was an outer wall that separated the rooms from the outer court that measured 87 1/2 feet long.)
8 For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were a hundred cubits.
(Verses 9-12: the east entrance of the outer court.)
9 And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the outer court.
10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were chambers.
11 And the way before them was like the appearance of the way of the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their egresses were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.
12 And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them.
(Verses 13-14: the chambers (rooms) of the priests.)
13 Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests that are near unto Jehovah shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy.
14 When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertaineth to the people.
(Verses 15-20: the outer court again which was over one mile square.)
15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about.
(Ezekiel was told to measure the entire perimeter.)
16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
17 He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.
18 He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
(Each side of the perimeter was 875 feet long.)
20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.
(Notice, this separate building was huge and was used for purposes that were not holy.)
Ezekiel 43
(This chapter, although still concerned with the temple, transitioned to describing the temple during Ezekiel's time, not the Millennial temple. God's Glory returned…)
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east.
2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory.
(God physically brought Ezekiel to the temple that existed during Ezekiel's time. The Glory of God came from the east, the way from where the Glory departed (Ezekiel 11:22-23). God's Voice was like a noise of many waters and the earth shined with His Glory.)
3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
(Ezekiel told the reader that these visions were like the vision he received by the river Chebar, when God physically transported Ezekiel to the existing temple. This was a separate experience for Ezekiel than receiving visions of the Millennial temple.)
4 And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5 And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house.
(The Spirit took Ezekiel up again.)
6 And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me.
7 And he said unto me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places;
8 in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post, and there was but the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
(God returned to the current temple and was telling Ezekiel that if the Israelites put away their fornications, He would "dwell in the midst of them for ever." God was leaving it up to the Israelites whether this Covenant would end.)
10 Thou, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the egresses thereof, and the entrances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
12 This is the law of the house: upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
(God gave commandments to help Israel avoid the ending of this Covenant.)
(Verses 13-17: measurements of the altar.)
13 And these are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about a span; and this shall be the base of the altar.
14 And from the bottom upon the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.
15 And the upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns.
16 And the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve broad, square in the four sides thereof.
(The top of the altar was square measuring 21 feet by 21 feet.)
17 And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad in the four sides thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit round about; and the steps thereof shall look toward the east.
(Verses 18-27: God's ordinances for the altar.)
(Verses 18-22: the sin offering.)
18 And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt-offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
19 Thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that are of the seed of Zadok, who are near unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord Jehovah, a young bullock for a sin-offering.
20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse it and make atonement for it.
21 Thou shalt also take the bullock of the sin-offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.
22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.
(Verses 23-24: the burnt offerings.)
23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.
24 And thou shalt bring them near before Jehovah, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah.
(Verses 25-26: the cleansing of the altar and consecration of the priests.)
25 Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin-offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.
26 Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it.
(Verse 27: the continual offerings.)
27 And when they have accomplished the days, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt-offerings upon the altar, and your peace-offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
(God explained how to consecrate the current temple in order to continue their Covenant with God.)
Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.
2 And Jehovah said unto me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.
(The outer gate of the current sanctuary was closed and no man shall enter it.)
3 As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before Jehovah; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
(The outer sanctuary was for the prince, not Christ but a civil ruler under Messiah who represented Christ, such as a Chief Priest.)
4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah: and I fell upon my face.
(The Glory of the Lord filled the house and Ezekiel fell on his face.)
5 And Jehovah said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of Jehovah, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every egress of the sanctuary.
6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,
7 in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add unto all your abominations.
8 And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things; but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
9 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners that are among the children of Israel.
(No strangers were to enter into God's sanctuary.)
10 But the Levites that went far from me, when Israel went astray, that went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and became a stumblingblock of iniquity unto the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord Jehovah, and they shall bear their iniquity.
(The Levites would bear their iniquity of ministering to their idols. God was Just.)
13 And they shall not come near unto me, to execute the office of priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, unto the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.
(The Levites would not go near God to be a priest…)
14 Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
(…but they would be keepers of God's house. The Levites would no longer minister to God but to God’s house.)
15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me; and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah:
(The sons of Zadok, who kept charge of God's sanctuary during the captivity, would stand before God and minister to Him.)
16 they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
17 And it shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
18 They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat.
19 And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, that they sanctify not the people with their garments.
20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.
21 Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.
22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.
23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
(The priests would teach the people the difference between the holy and the common/profane.)
24 And in a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to mine ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.
25 And they shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.
26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.
27 And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord Jehovah.
(This chapter ended by covering the Levites' inheritance.)
28 And they shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and ye shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.
29 They shall eat the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.
30 And the first of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every oblation of everything, of all your oblations, shall be for the priest: ye shall also give unto the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house.
31 The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast.
(This chapter showed that God discontinued the Levites' occupation of ministering to Him. The Levites would minister to God's house. The sons of Zadok would minister to God because they remained true to David during the division of the kingdom: 2 Chronicles 11:13.)
(This post covered prophecies focused on the restored temple during the Millennium and that God discontinued the Levites' occupation of ministering to Him.)
Day 256
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