Ezekiel 41, The Perfect Temple (Part Two)

Ezekiel continues his description of the temple. Surprisingly, there is no mention of the veil that should separate the holy place from the most holy place, nor is there a mention of the ark of the covenant which was to be in the most holy place. No mention is made, either, of the golden lampstand or altar of incense in the holy place. This is not your normal temple.

1 Next he brought me into the great hall and measured the jambs; on each side the width of the jamb was 10½ feet. 2 The width of the entrance was 17½ feet, and the side walls of the entrance were 8¾ feet wide on each side. He also measured the length of the great hall, 70 feet, and the width, 35 feet. 3 He went inside the next room and measured the jambs at the entrance; they were 3½ feet wide. The entrance was 10½ feet wide, and the width of the entrance’s side walls on each side was 12¼ feet. 4 He then measured the length of the room adjacent to the great hall, 35 feet, and the width, 35 feet. And he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

“Ezekiel is brought … to the outer sanctuary (41:1) or what is generally referred to as the Holy Place. As a priest, he was allowed to enter this area, but only the guiding angel went into the inner sanctuary (41:3) or what is generally referred to as the Most Holy Place (41:4). Only the high priest was allowed to enter it, and that only once a year (Lev 16). Whereas the Holy Place was forty cubits long (20 yards/18 metres) and twenty cubits wide (10 yards/9 metres) (41:2), the Most Holy Place was twenty cubits square (41:4). As Ezekiel has moved deeper into the temple complex, the entrances have become progressively narrower – from fourteen cubits (7 yards/6.5 metres) for the portico (40:48) to ten cubits (5 yards/4.5 metres) for the outer sanctuary (41:1) to six cubits (3 yards/2.7 metres) for the inner sanctuary (41:3). This narrowing of the entrances is also symbolic of increasing holiness.” (Africa Bible Commentary)

Outside the Temple
5 Then he measured the wall of the temple; it was 10½ feet thick. The width of the side rooms all around the temple was 7 feet. 6 The side rooms were arranged one above another in three stories of thirty rooms each. There were ledges on the wall of the temple all around to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be in the temple wall itself. 7 The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive story, for the structure surrounding the temple went up by stages. This was the reason for the temple’s broadness as it rose. And so, one would go up from the lowest story to the highest by means of the middle one.

8 I saw that the temple had a raised platform surrounding it; this foundation for the side rooms was 10½ feet high. 9 The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was 8¾ feet. The free space between the side rooms of the temple 10 and the outer chambers was 35 feet wide all around the temple. 11 The side rooms opened into the free space, one entrance toward the north and another to the south. The area of free space was 8¾ feet wide all around.

“Side rooms had been built around the temple on three levels, one above another, thirty on each level, to give a total of ninety rooms (41:6). The three levels were connected by a stairway that went up from the lowest floor to the top floor through the middle floor (41:7). Although the side rooms surrounded the temple on three sides, there was no direct access to them from the temple. There were entrances to the side rooms from the open area, one on the north and another on the south (41:11). We are not exactly told what these rooms were used for, but they may have been ‘store-rooms for temple equipment and furnishings, and for the tithes and offerings that were paid to the temple servants (see Mal 3:10)’” (Africa Bible Commentary)

12 Now the building that faced the temple yard toward the west was 122½ feet wide. The wall of the building was 8¾ feet thick on all sides, and the building’s length was 157½ feet.

13 Then the man measured the temple; it was 175 feet long. In addition, the temple yard and the building, including its walls, were 175 feet long. 14 The width of the front of the temple along with the temple yard to the east was 175 feet. 15 Next he measured the length of the building facing the temple yard to the west, with its galleries on each side; it was 175 feet.

Interior Wooden Structures
The interior of the great hall and the porticoes of the court— 16 the thresholds, the beveled windows, and the balconies all around with their three levels opposite the threshold—were overlaid with wood on all sides. They were paneled from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), 17 reaching to the top of the entrance, and as far as the inner temple and on the outside. On every wall all around, on the inside and outside, was a pattern 18 carved with cherubim and palm trees. There was a palm tree between each pair of cherubim. Each cherub had two faces: 19 a human face turned toward the palm tree on one side, and a lion’s face turned toward it on the other. They were carved throughout the temple on all sides. 20 Cherubim and palm trees were carved from the ground to the top of the entrance and on the wall of the great hall.

21 The doorposts of the great hall were square, and the front of the sanctuary had the same appearance. 22 The altar was made of wood, 5¼ feet high and 3½ feet long. It had corners, and its length and sides were of wood. The man told me, “This is the table that stands before the Lord.”

23 The great hall and the sanctuary each had a double door, 24 and each of the doors had two swinging panels. There were two panels for one door and two for the other. 25 Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the doors of the great hall like those carved on the walls. There was a wooden canopy outside, in front of the portico. 26 There were beveled windows and palm trees on both sides, on the side walls of the portico, the side rooms of the temple, and the canopies. (Ezekiel 41, CSB)

“Another building, 90 by 70 cubits (45 by 35 yards/41 by 32 metres) stood facing the temple courtyard on the west side (41:12). The temple and its courtyard, including the walls, was 100 cubits square (50 yards/45 metres) (41:13-15a). The temple area and the portico facing the court, as well as the threshold were all covered with wood. This wood covered the floor, the wall up to the windows, and the windows (41:15b-16). At regular intervals, the inner and outer sanctuaries were decorated with carved cherubim and palm trees (41:17-18a). Ezekiel tells us that each cherub had two faces, the face of a man toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were carved all around the whole temple (41:18b-20). Both the outer and the inner sanctuary had rectangular doorframes as well as double doors, with cherubim and palm trees carved on them (41:21-25).

The description of the doors is interrupted by the description of a wooden altar that Ezekiel’s angel guide tells him is the table that is before the Lord (41:22). The twelve loaves of bread placed on this table every Sabbath (Exod 25:23-30; Lev 24:5-9) were both an offering to God and also a reminder that God is the one who provides all that is needed to sustain life. We do not know why this is the only item of furniture in the temple that Ezekiel mentions. The carvings on the sidewalls of the portico represented only palm trees (41:26), with none of the cherubim that decorated the temple proper.” (Africa Bible Commentary)