Sermon - AudioEzekiel 40-41 - Audio
Ezekiel 40-41 - Reading
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Overview of Chapter = Vision of a restored temple [ chapter 40 ]. Ezekiel has sprung a lot of surprises on us up to this point, but nothing could have prepared us for what we find here. For nearly eight chapters, Ezekiel gives us a detailed physical and architectural account of a new temple in Jerusalem. There is no good alternative to going with the flow and picturing in our imagination what is being described. It is a rule of literature that readers need to take seriously what the author takes seriously. But once we have done that, we are left with a serious crux that demands interpretive wisdom. Any thought that God wants Christians to return to OT temple practices must be rejected at once; the book of Hebrews makes it clear that OT temple worship has been permanently terminated by the sacrifice of Christ. The book of Ezekiel has used symbolism throughout, so it is a safe conclusion that the temple is a symbolic entity. What it symbolizes is the presence of God. The NT metaphor of Christians as God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16) is a good interpretive guide. Additionally, the temple here might well be an eschatological reality—a picture of the glorious saints of God in heaven with the Lamb at the center of their worship. Chapter 40 opens this unit by describing the gates and outer places of the temple. -ESVLB-
1 - The date is 10 Tishri, Yom Kippur, 573–572 BCE. Ezekiel’s visions began at the age of thirty in the fifth year of the exile (1:1-3). After twenty years, Ezekiel would be ready to retire from priestly service at the age of fifty (Num. 4:3; 8:23–25). The beginning of the year, not the first day of the year but 10 Tishri or Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement; Lev. 23:26–32; Num. 29:7–11). Yom Kippur is also the day when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and speak the name of God as part of the atonement on behalf of Israel -JSB-
The Outer Court and Its Gates. The tour with accompanying measurements begins at the main east entrance. (A number of the Hb. technical architectural terms are of uncertain meaning, as the ESV footnotes illustrate.) The main units of measurement are given (v. 5): the reed, about 10 feet (3.1 m), which was equal to six long cubits of about 20 inches (50 cm). The outer wall is thus about 10 feet high and 10 feet thick (v. 5; 3.1 m high and 3.1 m thick). The main east gate with its chambers is described (vv. 6–16) in more detail than the other gates, which are built to the same plan. The expanse of the main outer court is taken in (vv. 17–19) before inspection of first the north gate (vv. 20–23), then the south gate (vv. 24–27).
The Inner Court, Gates, and Chambers. Ezekiel’s guide then leads him into the inner court by way of the south gate (v. 28), and the descriptions are more cursory since the design is repeated from the outer gates. The sequence now is south gate (vv. 28–31), east gate (vv. 32–34), and north gate (vv. 35–37). This area is reserved for priestly use, and the furnishings and implements for sacrificial rituals are described in vv. 38–43. The chambers for the use of ministering priests of two classes (see 44:9–31) are found in the north and south gates (40:44–47). They then approach the central structure of the inner court, the temple building itself (vv. 48–49). With 10 steps (v. 49; cf. 22, 31), it has the tallest rise of any set of stairs.
The Temple Interior. The temple structure is now described in detail, including both floor plan and elevations. The nave (v. 1) is the main hall of the temple. Ezekiel is guided into its interior but does not follow his celestial guide into the Most Holy Place (v. 4). This might have been the climax of the tour, but it continues. Verses 5–11 describe the three-story structure built into the temple’s walls. A building is located to the extreme west of the temple complex (v. 12), but no purpose is identified for it. The previous measurements are summarized in vv. 13–15a, while visual descriptions of the temple’s decorations and layout are described in vv. 15b–26. The cherubim, carved on the walls in relief (vv. 18–20), are reminiscent of the cherubim woven into the fabric walls of the tabernacle (Ex. 26:1, 31). The cherubim and palm trees are combined in the decoration of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:29, 32). -ESVSB-
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