Ezekiel 40:4

This *vision was God’s message to the *Israelites. God did not merely show Ezekiel these things for Ezekiel’s own pleasure. God had an important message and the people needed to know that message.

The east gate of the *temple – Ezekiel 40:5-16

• Ezekiel begins here a list of the measurements of the *temple. This passage is very difficult to read and to understand. But some people have studied this passage very carefully. They have been able to draw plans of what Ezekiel saw. Their plans show that these measurements are correct. All the buildings would fit into the area that Ezekiel described. They would be in the correct positions and the spaces between the buildings would be correct.

v5 I saw a wall that went all round the *temple area. The stick that the man had was 6 long *cubits. But each *cubit was a *cubit plus the width of a hand. The man measured the wall. It was one stick high and one stick wide. v6 Then the man went to the east gate. He went up the steps and he measured the width of the gate. It was one stick wide.

v7 The rooms for the guards were one stick long and one stick wide. The walls, that came out between the rooms for the guards, were 5 *cubits thick. The width of the room next to the entrance that led to the *temple was one stick.

v8 Then the man measured the entrance by the gate. v9 It was 8 *cubits wide. The walls at the side of the doors were two *cubits thick. The entrance of the gate led to the *temple.

v10 On each side of the east gate were three rooms. They were the same size and the walls between them were the same size. v11 The man measured the width of the entrance to the gate. It was 10 *cubits. The width of the gate was 13 *cubits. v12 In front of each room was a wall one *cubit high. The rooms were square and each side was 6 *cubits. v13 Then he measured the gate from the roof of one room to the roof of another room. There was a width of 25 *cubits from wall to wall. v14 He measured the hall beyond the gate. It was 60 *cubits. Round the hall was an open area. v15 He measured the total length from the entrance gate to the entrance of the hall. This was 50 *cubits. v16 The rooms and the walls at the side of the doors had small windows on both sides. The windows were narrower on the side toward the gate. On the walls at the sides of the doors were pictures of palm trees.