Ezekiel chapter 41
The dimensions of the new temple.
THE DIMENSIONS OF THE NEW TEMPLE
VERSE 1. He brought me to the nave and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent.
NASB translation. Then he brought me to the nave and measured the side pillars; six cubits wide on each side was the width of the side pillar.
he brought me to the nave. In this mystical vision, Ezekiel is ushered into the Inner Temple.
The mystical writers speak of the Inner Court as the place where we encounter God the Father.
and measured. The angel goes into the inner sanctuary and measures it.
There’s a wealth of insight into the LORD God in the design of the Temple. He is reflected in his handiwork, after all.
VERSE 2. The width 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. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.
cubits. A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.
VERSE 3. Then he went inward and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits.
he went inward. As a priest, Ezekiel was allowed into the outer sanctuary. But he was barred from the Most Holy Place.
VERSE 4. He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the nave. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”
VERSE 5. Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.
around the house on every side. The temple is surrounded by three stories of side rooms. There are 30 side rooms on each floor.
These rooms are similar to those in Solomon’s temple. See 1 Kings 6:5-10.
In Solomon’s temple, those rooms were storerooms for temple equipment and storage chambers for the people’s tithes and offerings.
VERSE 6. The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in each story. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported and not penetrate the wall of the house.
VERSE 7. The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.
VERSE 8. I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits.
VERSE 9. The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits. That which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.
VERSE 10. Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side.
VERSE 11. The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.
VERSE 12. The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
The building that was before the separate place. West of the temple is a structure. Its purpose is not explained.
VERSE 13. So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;
one hundred cubits long. The temple is 150 feet long.
Calculation: 100 cubits x 1.5 feet per cubit = 150 feet.
VERSE 14. also the width of the face of the temple, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.
one hundred cubits. The temple is 150 feet wide.
Calculation: 100 cubits x 1.5 feet per cubit = 150 feet.
Knowing the length and the width of the temple, we can now calculate the square footage. It is 22,500 square feet.
Calculation: 150 feet long x 150 feet wide = 22,500 square feet.
That is far bigger than Solomon’s temple, which was pitifully small at 2,700 square feet:
2 Chronicles 3:3. Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house: the length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.
VERSE 15. He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits from the inner temple, and the porches of the court,
VERSE 16. the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, opposite the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),
VERSE 17. to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.
VERSE 18. It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces,
VERSE 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. It was made like this through all the house all around.
VERSE 20. Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.
VERSE 21. The door posts of the nave were squared. As for the face of the nave, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple.
VERSE 22. The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”
VERSE 23. The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
VERSE 24. The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other.
VERSE 25. There were made on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.
VERSE 26. There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch. This is how the side rooms of the temple and the thresholds were arranged.
EZEKIEL
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
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