It is now the twenty-fifth year of the exile, about 573 BC, twenty years after Ezekiel began his prophecies. In the final nine chapters of Ezekiel, the prophet-priest describes a new temple created in some future time of eternal prosperity.
This new temple is sometimes called the Third Temple, to distinguish it from the Second Temple (Zerubbabel's Temple) that was built later by Ezra and Nehemiah during the governorship of Zerubbabel when the exiles returnrf to Palestine. That temple was later enhanced by Herod the Great before being destroyed in 70 AD.
I find these final nine chapters to be tough and very confusing. They raise lots of questions. Don Carson speaks on chapters 40-48 here. (He calls his interpretation the "prophetic-apocalyptic" interpretation.) Mackie contrasts these nine chapters with chapters 8-11, which he calls "the nightmare temple." Here we deal with an ideal, eternal temple.
Ezekiel 40:1-4, Carried away to a high mountain
In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city--on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me there. In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. The man said to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. Tell the house of Israel everything you see."
Ezekiel has been speaking on the return of the people to Israel. Here he is carried away to Palestine in a vision and set on a high mountain, looking over a city. A bright and shining individual tells him to pay attention, as he measures the city.
If Ezekiel was thirty when his prophecies began, he is now fifty. Mackie argues that Ezekiel is now set to retire as the retirement age for a priest was fifty (Numbers 8:23-26.) Depending on the choice of calendar, this day is either the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-30) or the beginning of Passover (Leviticus 23:5.) Alexander argues for Passover while Mackie, using a calendar six months off from the one in Leviticus, argues for the Day of Atonement.
Ezekiel 40:5, Wall around the temple
I saw a wall completely surrounding the temple area. The length of the measuring rod in the man's hand was six long cubits, each of which was a cubit and a handbreadth. He measured the wall; it was one measuring rod thick and one rod high.
The city has a temple area and the man in the vision is going to measure it. A cubit was about 18 inches (half of a yard); a long cubit was probably about 21 inches, so the measuring rod was probably about 10 1/2 feet. The wall around the temple is thus 10 1/2 feet thick and 10 1/2 feet tall. (This is the only place in these chapters where a height is measured.)
Ezekiel 40:6-10, The east gate
Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate; it was one rod deep. The alcoves for the guards were one rod long and one rod wide, and the projecting walls between the alcoves were five cubits thick. And the threshold of the gate next to the portico facing the temple was one rod deep.
Then he measured the portico of the gateway; it was eight cubits deep and its jambs were two cubits thick. The portico of the gateway faced the temple. Inside the east gate were three alcoves on each side; the three had the same measurements, and the faces of the projecting walls on each side had the same measurements.
The east gate, the one facing Babylon, is measured.
Ezekiel 40:11-16, Outer court
Then he measured the width of the entrance to the gateway; it was ten cubits and its length was thirteen cubits. In front of each alcove was a wall one cubit high, and the alcoves were six cubits square.
Then he measured the gateway from the top of the rear wall of one alcove to the top of the opposite one; the distance was twenty-five cubits from one parapet opening to the opposite one.
He measured along the faces of the projecting walls all around the inside of the gateway--sixty cubits. The measurement was up to the portico facing the courtyard. The distance from the entrance of the gateway to the far end of its portico was fifty cubits. The alcoves and the projecting walls inside the gateway were surmounted by narrow parapet openings all around, as was the portico; the openings all around faced inward. The faces of the projecting walls were decorated with palm trees.
The sanctuary is being measured. The entrance is fifteen feet in width and its length was about twenty feet. Inside the gateway are walls about 90 feet in length. I suspect that the arrangements of these objects is not clear without knowledge of the original temple.
Ezekiel 40:17-19, Thirty rooms
Then he brought me into the outer court. There I saw some rooms and a pavement that had been constructed all around the court; there were thirty rooms along the pavement. It abutted the sides of the gateways and was as wide as they were long; this was the lower pavement.
Then he measured the distance from the inside of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; it was a hundred cubits on the east side as well as on the north.
Thirty rooms are spaced around the outer court. These distance from the inside of one gateway to the outside of the inner court is about 150 feet. Here, from Alexander's commentary (p. 957) is a drawing of the gate systems of the outer court.
Ezekiel 40:20-23, North gate
Then he measured the length and width of the gate facing north, leading into the outer court. Its alcoves--three on each side--its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as those of the first gateway. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its openings, its portico and its palm tree decorations had the same measurements as those of the gate facing east. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them. There was a gate to the inner court facing the north gate, just as there was on the east. He measured from one gate to the opposite one; it was a hundred cubits.
The north gage is described.
Ezekiel 40:24-27, Palm trees
Then he led me to the south side and I saw a gate facing south. He measured its jambs and its portico, and they had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had narrow openings all around, like the openings of the others. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them; it had palm tree decorations on the faces of the projecting walls on each side. The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured from this gate to the outer gate on the south side; it was a hundred cubits.
The south gate has decorations of palm trees. Palm trees are likely representative of Eden (Mackie.)
Ezekiel 40:28-37, Measuring the gates
Then he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it had the same measurements as the others. Its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. (The porticoes of the gateways around the inner court were twenty-five cubits wide and five cubits deep.) Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated its jambs, and eight steps led up to it.
Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gateway; it had the same measurements as the others. Its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it.
Then he brought me to the north gate and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others, as did its alcoves, its projecting walls and its portico, and it had openings all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. Its portico faced the outer court; palm trees decorated the jambs on either side, and eight steps led up to it.
More is said about the south, east and north gates. Why is there no west gate?
Ezekiel 40:38-43, Tables for sacrifices
A room with a doorway was by the portico in each of the inner gateways, where the burnt offerings were washed. In the portico of the gateway were two tables on each side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings were slaughtered. By the outside wall of the portico of the gateway, near the steps at the entrance to the north gateway were two tables, and on the other side of the steps were two tables. So there were four tables on one side of the gateway and four on the other--eight tables in all--on which the sacrifices were slaughtered. There were also four tables of dressed stone for the burnt offerings, each a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide and a cubit high. On them were placed the utensils for slaughtering the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. And double-pronged hooks, each a handbreadth long, were attached to the wall all around. The tables were for the flesh of the offerings.
Animal sacrifices will continue in this sanctuary. And so the tables for various offerings are described.
Ezekiel 40:44-47, Two rooms
Outside the inner gate, within the inner court, were two rooms, one at the side of the north gate and facing south, and another at the side of the south gate and facing north.
He said to me, "The room facing south is for the priests who have charge of the temple, and the room facing north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who are the only Levites who may draw near to the LORD to minister before him." Then he measured the court: It was square--a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits wide. And the altar was in front of the temple.
There are two rooms, one at the north gate and one at the south gate. These are for various priests.
Ezekiel 40:48-49, The portico
He brought me to the portico of the temple and measured the jambs of the portico; they were five cubits wide on either side. The width of the entrance was fourteen cubits and its projecting walls were three cubits wide on either side. The portico was twenty cubits wide, and twelve cubits from front to back. It was reached by a flight of stairs, and there were pillars on each side of the jambs.
The portico of the temple is thirty feet wide and eighteen feet deep.
We continue the tour of this temple in the next chapter....
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