Ezekiel 41
41
The Holy Place
1The shining man brought me to the Holy Place # 41:1 The temple proper was divided into three sections: (1) a portico or porch, (2) an outer sanctuary known as the Holy Place, and (3) an inner sanctuary known as the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place. and measured its doorframes; each was six cubits # 41:1 About 10.5 feet (3.2 meters). Also vv. 3, 5, 8. wide. # 41:1 There are two Hebrew words at the end of v. 1 whose meaning is difficult to understand. Most translations omit them. The words are “width of the tent [tabernacle].” 2The width of the entrance was ten cubits, # 41:2 About 17.5 feet (5.3 meters). and the sides of the entrance were five cubits # 41:2 About 8.75 feet (2.65 meters). Also vv. 9–10, 11, 12. on each side, its length was forty cubits, # 41:2 About 70 feet (21.3 meters). and its width twenty cubits. # 41:2 About 35 feet (10.6 meters). Also vv. 4, 9–10.
The Holy of Holies
3Then he went inside the innermost chamber # 41:3 The fact that this “shining man” went into the Holy of Holies where only the high priest was allowed to enter is more than a hint of his identity. The shining man is a pre-incarnate manifestation of our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ (see Heb. 6:20). and measured the doorframes at the entrance as two cubits, then the entrance as six cubits, and the width of the entrance as seven cubits. # 41:3 About 12.25 feet (3.73 meters). 4He measured its length and width as twenty cubits, at the end of the outer sanctuary. Then he said to me, “This is the Holy of Holies.”
Side Room of the Temple
5He then measured the wall of the temple as six cubits thick. There were side rooms all around the temple that were each four cubits # 41:5 About 7 feet (2.12 meters). wide. 6And there were three levels of the side rooms, # 41:6 There were three stories of side chambers for the priests. Noah’s ark likewise had three stories (see Gen. 6:14–16). See also the three pilgrim festivals in Deut. 16:16 and the mention of three dimensions of spiritual maturity in Prov. 22:20–21; Matt. 13:23; 1 John 2:12–14 (see especially the footnote on 2:14). with thirty rooms on each floor. All around the wall of the temple were ledges # 41:6 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. that served as supports for the side rooms so that they did not have to be attached to the temple wall for support. 7The rooms were right up to the temple walls. The width of the side rooms increased, floor by floor, because the width of the temple increased as it got higher, from the lowest level through the middle level to the top level. # 41:7 Some translations and commentaries see in the Hebrew of this verse a winding staircase. Indeed, Solomon’s Temple had steps leading up to the upper levels of the side rooms (see 1 Kings 6:8); however, reasonable sense can be made of the Hebrew without including a stairway.
8Then I looked down and saw that the temple stood on a raised platform that surrounded it. The platform was a full measuring reed high (six cubits) and provided a foundation for the side rooms. 9-10The outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits thick. On the raised platform there was a terrace all around the side rooms of the temple. It was twenty cubits between the edge of the platform and the rooms for the priests. 11And the doors of the side rooms faced an open area, one door toward the north and one door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits wide all around.
The Building on the West Side
12The building on the west side of the courtyard was seventy cubits # 41:12 About 122.5 feet (37.3 meters). wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits. # 41:12 About 157.5 feet (48 meters). Apart from the dimensions, we know nothing more about this building and its possible use.
The Size of the Entire Temple
13Then the shining man measured the length of the temple as one hundred cubits. # 41:13 About 175 feet (53 meters). Also vv. 14, 15. The length of the courtyard plus the building and its walls was also one hundred cubits. 14The width of the courtyard on the east, including the front of the temple, was likewise one hundred cubits. 15Then he measured the length of the building west of the courtyard, including its balconies on either side, which was also one hundred cubits.
Additional Details of the Temple Building
The entire inside of the Holy Place, # 41:15 See v. 1. the porches of the courtyard, 16the thresholds, the windows, and the galleries # 41:16 Or “ledges” or “balconies.” on three sides that faced the threshold were paneled with wood all around, from the floor up to the windows. And the windows were screened with latticework. 17On the door to the inner part of the temple and on all the walls all around, both inside and outside, # 41:17 The Hebrew text adds an untranslatable word that may be a technical carpentry term referring to a construction technique or pattern. 18were carved alternating cherubim and palm trees. # 41:18 See 1 Kings 6:29. Each of the cherubim had two faces, 19a human face that gazed toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a young lion turned toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved throughout the temple everywhere. 20The Holy Place had the same pattern of cherubim and palm trees carved on the wall from the floor to the space above the doors. 21The columns of the doorway to the Holy Place were square, and the columns at the entrance to the Holy of Holies were similar.
The Wooden Altar
22A wooden altar was there, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits wide. # 41:22 Or “three cubits high and two cubits long.” The Hebrew text only gives the altar’s height and length, omitting its width. The Septuagint includes its width, which most translations have also done. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. # 41:22 It is remarkable that silver and gold, which were prominent in Solomon’s Temple and the tabernacle of Moses, are not even mentioned in Ezekiel 40–48. Neither is there any mention of the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat, or a high priest. Ezekiel’s vision of the new temple omits many items from the temple because, in the ultimate heavenly dwelling place of God, there is no longer any need for a physical symbol of God’s residence (viz., the ark of the covenant), nor the symbolic throne of God (viz., the mercy seat). And the role of the high priest has been consummated in the person of Jesus Christ, our eternal High Priest—the Lamb of God. The shining man said to me, “This is the table that always stands in the presence of Yahweh.” # 41:22 Most scholars believe this was the altar of incense within the Holy Place.
The Doors in the Temple
23The Holy Place and the Holy of Holies had double doors. 24Each of the doors had two hinged leaves that swung open in the middle. 25On the doors of the Holy Place were carved cherubim and palm trees just like those carved on the walls. There was a wooden roof # 41:25 Or “canopy.” The Hebrew is uncertain. Whatever this covering or roof was, it no doubt served both as a barrier to prevent people from looking into the temple and as a shelter from the rain, sun, and wind for the priests as they entered the temple for their service. over the outside of the doorway to the Holy Place. 26And there were niches # 41:26 Or “recessed windows.” See Ezek. 40:16. with palm trees on either side in the front walls of the temple porch. And the side rooms of the temple also had canopies.
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Ezekiel 41: TPT
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