Ezekiel 41: Summary and Commentary

Verse 1

41:1-2 The Temple walls were 10½ feet thick, but here the gates could be replaced by a doorway because only the priests would have access to the surrounding inner court. The sanctuary was the most important space in the new Temple, so it is described in the most detail and with the most precise measurements.

Verse 3

41:3-4 The inner room was the Most Holy Place, the only square space within the Temple. It was reached by passing through three openings of decreasing width—access was increasingly restricted as one approached God. The entrance to the entry room was 24½ feet wide (40:48), and the doorway into the sanctuary was 17½ feet wide (41:2), but the entrance to the Most Holy Place was only 10½ feet wide. Ezekiel did not enter the Most Holy Place, but waited outside while the angel went in alone and measured it.

Verse 5

41:5-26 Around the Temple building were ninety side rooms on three levels. To the rear was a large building of unspecified purpose that might have protected the back of the Temple from unauthorized access. No one was permitted to approach God’s presence from behind. The side rooms might have been designed to store priestly clothing and equipment.

Verse 15

41:15-20 The Temple building was all paneled with wood and decorated with palm trees and cherubim. The cherubim were like those described in Ezekiel’s earlier visions of judgment (see 1:5-12; 10:2-14). But where those real-life cherubim had four faces, the carved two-dimensional models are depicted with only two faces—that of a lion, the highest of the wild animals, and a human, the pinnacle of the created order. Cherubim also adorned Solomon’s Temple (1 Kgs 6:32); they were traditional symbols of judgment that complemented the palm trees, traditional symbols of blessing.

Verse 22

41:22 The only piece of furniture was an altar made of wood, the table that stands in the Lord’s presence. This is presumably where the bread of the presence was daily laid out by the priests before the Lord (Exod 25:30). The description of this table as an altar highlights the focus on sacrifice in Ezekiel’s Temple.

Verse 1

We are still attending a prophet that is under the guidance of an angel, and therefore attend with reverence, though we are often at a loss to know both what this is and what it is to us. Observe here, 1. After the prophet had observed the courts he was at length brought to the temple, Eze 41:1. If we diligently attend to the instructions given us in the plainer parts of religion, and profit by them, we shall be led further into an acquaintance with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Those that are willing to dwell in God's courts shall at length be brought into his temple. Ezekiel was himself a priest, but by the iniquity and calamity of the times was cut short of his birthright privilege of ministering in the temple; but God makes up the loss to him by introducing him into this prophetical, evangelical, celestial temple, and employing him to transmit a description of it to the church, in which he was dignified above all the rest of his order. 2. When our Lord Jesus spoke of the destroying of this temple, which his hearers understood of this second temple of Jerusalem, he spoke of the temple of his body (Joh 2:19, Joh 2:21); and with good reason might he speak so ambiguously when Ezekiel's vision had a joint respect to them both together, including also his mystical body the church, which is called the house of God (Ti1 3:15), and all the members of that body, which are living temples, in which the Spirit dwells. 3. The very posts of this temple, the door-posts, were as far one from the other, and consequently the door was as wide, as the whole breadth of the tabernacle of Moses (Eze 41:1), namely, twelve cubits, Exo 26:16, Exo 26:22, Exo 26:25. In comparison with what had been under the law we may say, Wide is the gate which leads into the church, the ceremonial law, that wall of partition which had so much straitened the gate, being taken down. 4. The most holy place was an exact square, twenty cubits each way, Eze 41:4. For the new Jerusalem is exactly square (Rev 21:16), denoting its stability; for we look for a city that cannot be moved. 5. The upper stories were larger than the lower, Eze 41:7. The walls of the temple were six cubits thick at the bottom, five in the middle story, and four in the highest, which gave room to enlarge the chambers the higher they went; but care was taken that the timber might have fast hold (though God builds high, he builds firmly), yet so as not to weaken one part for the strengthening of another; they had hold, but not in the wall of the house. By this spreading gradually, the side-chambers that were on the height of the house (in the uppermost story of all) were six cubits, whereas the lowest were but four; they gained a cubit every story. The higher we build up ourselves in our most holy faith the more should our hearts, those living temples, be enlarged.

Verse 12

Here is, 1. An account of a building that was before the separate place (that is, before the temple), at the end towards the west (Eze 41:12), which is here measured, and compared (Eze 41:13) with the measure of the house, and appears to be of equal dimensions with it. This stood in a court by itself, which is measured (Eze 41:15) and its galleries, or chambers belonging to it, its posts and windows, and the ornaments of them, Eze 41:15-17. But what use was to be made of this other building we are not told; perhaps, in this vision, it signified the setting up of a church among the Gentiles not inferior to the Jewish temple, but of quite another nature, and which should soon supersede it. 2. A description of the ornaments of the temple, and the other building. The walls on the inside from top to bottom were adorned with cherubim and palm-trees, placed alternately, as in Solomon's temple, Kg1 6:29. Each cherub is here said to have two faces, the face of a man towards the palm tree on one side and the face of a young lion towards the palm-tree on the other side, Eze 41:19. These seem to represent the angels, who have more than the wisdom of a man and the courage of a lion; and in both they have an eye to the palms of victory and triumph which are set before them, and which they are sure of in all their conflicts with the powers of darkness. And in the assemblies of the saints angels are in a special manner present, Co1 11:10. 3. A description of the posts of the doors both of the temple and of the sanctuary; they were squared (Eze 41:21), not round like pillars; and the appearance of the one was as the appearance of the other. In the tabernacle, and in Solomon's temple, the door of the sanctuary, or most holy, was narrower than that of the temple, but here it was fully as broad; for in gospel-times the way into the holiest of all is made more manifest than it was under the Old Testament (Heb 9:8) and therefore the door is wider. These doors are described, Eze 41:23, Eze 41:24. The temple and the sanctuary had each of them its door, and they were two-leaved, folding doors. 4. We have here the description of the altar of incense, here said to be an altar of wood, Eze 41:22. No mention is made of its being over-laid with gold; but surely it was intended to be so, else it would not bear the fire with which the incense was to be burned, unless we will suppose that it served only to put the censers upon. Or else it intimates that the incense to be offered in the gospel-temple shall be purely spiritual, and the fire spiritual, which will not consume an altar of wood. Therefore this altar is called a table. This is the table that is before the Lord. Here, as before, we find the altar turned into a table; for, the great sacrifice being now offered, that which we have to do is to feast upon the sacrifice at the Lord's table. 5. Here is the adorning of the doors and windows with palm-trees, that they might be of a piece with the walls of the house, Eze 41:25, Eze 41:26. Thus the living temples are adorned, not with gold, or silver, or costly array, but with the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible.

Verse 2

length thereof—namely, of the holy place [FAIRBAIRN].

Verse 3

inward—towards the most holy place.

Verse 4

thereof—of the holy of holies.

before the temple—that is, before, or in front of the most holy place (so "temple" is used in Kg1 6:3). The angel went in and measured it, while Ezekiel stood in front, in the only part of the temple accessible to him. The dimensions of the two apartments are the same as in Solomon's temple, since being fixed originally by God, they are regarded as finally determined.

Verse 5

side chamber—the singular used collectively for the plural. These chambers were appendages attached to the outside of the temple, on the west, north, and south; for on the east side, the principal entrance, there were no chambers. The narrowness of the chambers was in order that the beams could be supported without needing pillars.

Verse 6

might . . . hold, but . . . not hold in . . . wall of the house— Kg1 6:6 tells us there were rests made in the walls of the temple for supports to the side chambers; but the temple walls did not thereby become part of this side building; they stood separate from it. "They entered," namely, the beams of the chambers, which were three-storied and thirty in consecutive order, entered into the wall, that is, were made to lean on rests projecting from the wall.

Verse 7

the breadth . . . so increased from the lowest . . . to the highest—that is, the breadth of the interior space above was greater than that below.

Verse 8

foundations . . . six . . . cubits—the substructure, on which the foundations rested, was a full reed of six cubits.

great—literally, "to the extremity" or root, namely, of the hand [HENDERSON]. "To the joining," or point, where the foundation of one chamber ceased and another began [FAIRBAIRN].

Verse 9

that which was left—There was an unoccupied place within chambers that belonged to the house. The buildings in this unoccupied place, west of the temple, and so much resembling it in size, imply that no place was to be left which was to be held, as of old, not sacred. Manasseh (Kg2 23:11) had abused these "suburbs of the temple" to keeping horses sacred to the sun. All excuse for such abominations was henceforth to be taken away, the Lord claiming every space, and filling up this also with sacred erections [FAIRBAIRN].

Verse 10

the chambers—that is, of the priests in the court: between these and the side chambers was the wideness, &c. While long details are given as to the chambers, &c., no mention is made of the ark of the covenant. FAIRBAIRN thus interprets this: In future there was to be a perfect conformity to the divine idea, such as there had not been before. The dwellings of His people should all become true sanctuaries of piety. Jehovah Himself, in the full display of the divine Shekinah, shall come in the room of the ark of the covenant (Jer 3:16-17). The interior of the temple stands empty, waiting for His entrance to fill it with His glory (Eze 43:1-12). It is the same temple, but the courts of it have become different to accommodate a more numerous people. The entire compass of the temple mount has become a holy of holies (Eze 43:12).

Verse 12

Sum of the measures of the temple, and of the buildings behind and on the side of it.

Verse 15

galleries—terrace buildings. On the west or back of the temple, there was a separate place occupied by buildings of the same external dimensions as the temple, that is, one hundred cubits square in the entire compass [FAIRBAIRN].

Verse 16

covered—being the highest windows they were "covered" from the view below. Or else "covered with lattice-work."

Verse 17

by measure—Measurements were taken [FAIRBAIRN].

Verse 21

appearance of the one as the appearance of the other—The appearance of the sanctuary or holy of holies was similar to that of the temple. They differed only in magnitude.

Verse 22

table . . . before the Lord—the altar of incense (Eze 44:16). At it, not at the table of showbread, the priests daily ministered. It stood in front of the veil, and is therefore said to be "before the Lord." It is called a table, as being that at which the Lord will take delight in His people, as at a feast. Hence its dimensions are larger than that of old—three cubits high, two broad, instead of two and one.

Verse 25

thick planks—a thick-plank work at the threshold.

Next: Ezekiel Chapter 42