THE TEMPLE VISION. Chapter xl.

The Temple vision is first recorded and the opening verses form the introduction.

I. The Introduction to the Temple Vision.

In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south. And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel (verses 1-4).

The time of the vision is first given by the prophet. It was in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem had been smitten, which would make the date 572 B. C. The beginning of the year is mentioned. In the Hebrew a word is employed (Rosh hashanah) which is not used again in the Old Testament. In Exodus xii we read "this month shall be unto you the beginnings of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you." (Abib or Nisan.) Some expositors claim that the beginning of the year in Ezekiel's vision was in the month of Nisan commemorating the Passover. But it may mean the seventh month (September-October) the feast of trumpets from which the Jews reckon the new year, and the first day of the month would be the day of atonement. We incline to the latter view. Both the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement foreshadow the regathering of Israel and the forgiveness of their sins. And when that has come then, and not before, Ezekiel's glory vision will be accomplished in the land. We also read in Lev. xxv:9: "Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout your land." It will be the time of Israel's jubilee when this temple, Ezekiel beheld, will be erected in their land. Once more the hand of the Lord rested upon the prophet. It is the seventh time that this happened to Ezekiel, and not again after this. (See chapters. i:3, iii:14-22, vii:1, xxxiii:22, xxxvii:1, xl:1.) In the visions of God the prophet was brought into the land of Israel, which is conclusive evidence that the vision he is about to receive concerns the people Israel and not, as the spritualizing, allegorical school of interpreters claim, the church. Ezekiel knew nothing whatever of the church and therefore not a line of all his prophecies could intelligently be applied to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He finds himself upon a very high mountain; towards the south he noticed the frame (or building) of a city.[37] The high mountain is, no doubt, the mountain frequently mentioned in the prophetic Word. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isaiah ii:2). "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north the city of the great King" (Ps. xlviii:2). It is the place of His rest (Ps. cxxxii:14), where the King is enthroned (Ps. ii).

Then appeared in the vision the man with the line of flax and the measuring reed. Zachariah beheld such a man with a measuring line in his hand to measure Jerusalem (Zech. ii:13). In Rev. xxi:15 we read of the heavenly Jerusalem, that wonderful city, "and he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof." And then follows the measurement of the city. The one who measured in Revelation was an angel and the measure was that of an angel. We shall make, when we come to the measurement itself, a brief comparison between the measure mentioned by Ezekiel and the measure of the city in Revelation. And the man with the measuring reed stood in the gate. He addressed the prophet once more as "Son of Man." He was to give attention to all. His eyes were to see, his ears to hear, he should set his heart upon all that would be shown unto him and declare it to the house of Israel.

II. The Eastern Gate.

And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth; so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and the height, one reed. Then came he unto the gate which looked toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate which was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad. And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed. He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed. Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward. And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure; and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits. The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side; and the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another; the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door. He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto the post of the court round about the gate. And from the face of the gate of the entrance unto the face of the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits. And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches; and windows were round about inward; and upon each post were palm trees (verses 5-16).

The house mentioned is the whole building of the Temple. A wall was round about the building. A wall is also mentioned in chapter xlii:20 which had a length of five hundred reeds and a breadth of five hundred reeds. The purpose of that wall is stated "to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common." This wall of five hundred is not identical with the wall in the beginning of the vision as mentioned in verse 5. The wall here surrounded the outer court; the wall in chapter xlii:20 surrounds the whole temple area. That is why the separation between the holy and the common is spoken of with that wall. The length of the great wall which enclosed all the Temple area is not given. But the man in the vision measures the breadth and the height, and as the reed is six cubits we have 2x6 (breadth six cubits and height six cubits), which gives us the number 12. So we meet the number 12, the symbol of divine government on the threshold of this vision. How prominent the number 12 is in the description of the heavenly Jerusalem in the last book of the Bible (Rev. xxi) is known to every reader of that book. The wall there has 12 gates and 12 foundations and is 12x12 cubits high, that is 144 cubits. All is perfection in that heavenly Jerusalem. Here in Ezekiel we have the description of the earthly sanctuary which will be in existence during the millennium. While in Revelation the one who measures is an angel with a golden reed, it is a man in Ezekiel and the cubit he uses (the length of the human forearm from the elbow to the tip of the little finger) has a handbreadth added. The eastern gate, the little chambers, the porch, etc.—everything is measured. The lesson is that even to the details everything is here by divine appointment. If the reed mentioned frequently is taken as six cubits we have in the measure the number 12 several times. Every little chamber (guard houses) was one reed long (six cubits) and six cubits broad—twice 6—12. That all this must have a deeper meaning we doubt not; and yet who can at this time give it to us in full? These instructions will be literally followed and carried out in the coming day of Israel's restoration.

In these verses we find the wall and its construction, surrounding the outer court of this future temple described. Three gates were seen by the prophet in this wall—an Eastern gate, a Northern gate (verse 10) and a Southern gate (verse 24). The West side of the wall has no gate. As we learn later the returning glory of the Lord will enter the temple by the Eastern gate. Seven steps lead up to these gates. Seven is the number of divine perfection and accomplishment. These gates must not be thought of as mere openings in the wall; they are gateways forming separate buildings which project into the outer court to a distance of fifty cubits with a breadth of twenty-five cubits. On both sides of these gateways the prophet saw six little chambers, three on each side, and each six cubits square. There has been much speculation as to the possible use of these little chambers and their meaning. The Hebrew word used here is the same as in 1 Kings xiv:28, translated in this passage "guard-chamber." This may be the purpose of these chambers in the gateway building of this first wall. This seems to be confirmed by chapter xliv:11 and 14, which speaks of the Levites having charge of the gates of the house, so that in all probability these guard-chambers will be in charge of the Levites. Let us also notice the prominence of the numbers three and twelve. There are 2x3 guard-chambers in each gateway both in the outer court and also in the inner court. This gives us thirty-six guard-chambers, or 3x12. The number three means symbolically fullness, a divine fullness, and twelve stands for divine sovereignty and government. Three times twelve means, therefore, divine fullness in sovereign power and government. God Himself will be the guardian and protector of this millennial sanctuary of His earthly people.

Mention is made also of a porch in connection with each gateway. This porch of the gate is inward, and it must be thought of in the form of a hall. Such a porch-hall is mentioned in the architecture of Solomon's temple (1 Kings vi:3; 2 Chron. iii:4; see also Joel ii:17). These vestibule halls are the termination of the gateway leading into the outer court itself. The porch-hall of the significant Eastern gate is reserved for the Prince. He enters by way of the porch of that gate and goes out the same way (chapter xliv:3). And there is a door for each gate, for we read that the East gate was to be shut (xliv:1-2). The door at the termination of the gateway is mentioned in verse 11. The width of the doorway is ten cubits and the height of the door itself thirteen cubits—10x3. The number ten signifies responsibility, and three, as already stated, is symbolical of divine fullness. Then posts were seen by the prophet. Each gateway had two posts and each post is two cubits thick and sixty cubits high (verses 9, 14). Critics have declared that the given dimension of sixty cubits is impossible. We do not know why this should be declared impossible. Some critics have said that the man could not have measured these sixty cubits; but the word measure is not used at all. The windows of the little chambers will be closed windows. Upon the posts were palm trees. These palm trees were ornamental and artificial (xl:18). That palms are prominent in this millennial temple, crowning first of all the high posts, which towered above all, so that the palms were seen, is not without significance. Palms are the symbols of victory. Branches of palm trees were also used during the celebration of the feast of tabernacles, which dispensationally foreshadows the millennial age of blessing and glory. And that is why palms are lifted high above everything on the gateway pillars of the wall surrounding the outer court. The time of blessing, victory, peace and glory has come.

We follow the prophet now into the inner court. This court is smaller, exactly one hundred cubits square (verse 47). In the center of this four square court stands the great altar, eighteen cubits square and twelve cubits high (chap. xliii:13-17). West of this great altar is a higher terrace upon which the temple itself stands. The approach to this inner court is also through three gates corresponding to the three gates in the wall surrounding the outer court. We must notice, however, that there are eight steps in connection with the gateways leading into this inner court, while the gateways leading into the outer court had only seven steps. The number eight is symbolical of the new covenant and the new creation.[38] This great place of worship, by these eight steps, which lead to the interior, has the mark of the new age, the age when all things are made new. These gateways have also the little chambers like in the gateways of the outer court. The prophet in his vision entered by the South gate; then he came next to the East gate (verse 32), and finally to the North gate (verse 35); and these three gateways had their arches, posts and palm trees upon the posts. All is symmetrical. These three gateways are seen in line with the gateways of the outer court, but the porches were not towards the inside, but at the other end next to the outer court. In measurement and everything else they correspond to the gateways leading into the outer court.

The description of the great altar which stands in the middle of the inner court is given later; we shall follow it when we come to the text. The sacrifices are to be brought in this inner court and therefore we find next the sacrificial tables mentioned on which the burnt offering, the sin offering and the trespass offering will be slain. Two tables were in the porch of the gate on this side and two on the other side. Then at the steps of the gate on both sides were two tables, four tables on the one side and four on the other. In all there are eight tables whereupon to slay sacrifices. Besides these, there are four smaller tables of hewn stone, especially for the burnt offering, whereupon they also lay the instruments used in slaying the sacrifices. This gives 3x4 tables—twelve which are grouped on both sides of the steps, along the sides of the gateway and in the porch. On these tables the sacrifices are slain, washed and otherwise prepared and the smaller tables are for the instruments. Are these twelve tables only at one gate or at all the gates? There is reason to believe that each of the gateways leading to the inner courts is furnished with these sacrificial tables. If this is correct we have again the significant numbers and combination 3x12, corresponding to the guard-chambers at the three gateways, which also are 3x12.

Besides the chambers and the entries to the gates where they washed the sacrifices (verse 38) there are without the inner gate chambers at each gate for the singers and the priests (verses 44-46) who are the keepers of the house. These chambers were evidently detached from the gateways and yet near by. No measurement of these chambers is given. The inner court itself was a hundred cubits square; in the outer was the great altar.

V. The Vestibule of the Temple.

And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

These closing verses of this chapter introduce us to the temple building. The prophet is brought in vision to the porch of the house. The vestibule in which the prophet finds himself is twenty cubits long and eleven cubits broad.[39] The number ten is here seen again two by ten. The number of the steps leading up to the vestibule of the temple are not given. Besides the posts of the vestibule there are two pillars also, one on each side of the entrance gate, which remind us of the two pillars "Jachin and Boaz" in Solomon's temple (1 Kings vii:21, 45). Many of these details are obscure, their deeper and symbolical meaning hidden. It would be an easy matter to make all kinds of spiritual applications. As to such applications one has well said, "We need a vigilant watch lest we pervert the holy Word of God; and I trust myself to be reticent rather than thus offend." The construction the measurements and arrangement tell out divine perfection. When at last this great millennial temple is erected in Israel's land, it will be a glorious witness for the Lord and as the central place of earthly worship worthy of that coming age of peace and glory.