Ezekiel 41:21-26

Ezekiel continues to describe the inside of the *temple building. But he only mentions one object that stood in the *temple. This was an *altar, or perhaps it just seemed like one. The *angel said that it was a table.

In the original *temple building, there were three objects in the *holy place. There was a table where the priests placed bread in front of God. There was an *altar where the priests burned special substances to make a sweet smell. And there was a large lamp. Inside the most *holy place, there were other objects (see Hebrews 9:1-5). But Ezekiel just mentions this one object: a table that was like an *altar. Probably there were the other objects, but Ezekiel did not mention them. Ezekiel was a priest. When a priest entered the *holy place, he had a particular duty. He did not serve God at all the different objects. And he did not stay for a long time. He simply carried out his duty, and then he left (Luke 1:9; Luke 1:21).

Ezekiel was not a tourist. He did not stand and stare. This was the *holy place and he was serving God there. So perhaps Ezekiel looked only at the object which the *angel pointed out. That was the right way for a *holy man to behave.

And then, Ezekiel and the *angel left the *temple building.

vision ~ something that God shows to a person but not with the physical sight. Visions are often in the form of dreams.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
holy ~ what God is like. He is completely different from people. He never does anything wrong. The word ‘holy’ also describes something that is separate, for God’s use only. People must never use a holy thing for ordinary purposes.
cubit ~ a length of about half a metre.
sacrifice ~ something that people gave to God. (or, something that people gave to a false god). It could be an animal, or grain, or oil, or wine. The priest burned all or part of the sacrifice on an altar. Sometimes people gave sacrifices in order to thank God. And sometimes people gave sacrifices so that God could forgive sin (Leviticus 4:35).
altar ~ the special table where people burn animals or offer other gifts to God or to false gods.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
glory ~ great honour and beauty.
angel ~ God’s special servants in heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
angel ~ God’s special servants in heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
Messiah ~ The Jews expect a king to come who will save them. That king, called the Messiah, will rule both them and all people.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
altar ~ the special table where people burn animals or offer other gifts to God or to false gods.
cherubim ~ the group of cherubs.
cherub ~ a special angel who was in the most holy place in the temple.
angel ~ God’s special servants in heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
holy ~ what God is like. He is completely different from people. He never does anything wrong. The word ‘holy’ also describes something that is separate, for God’s use only. People must never use a holy thing for ordinary purposes.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
cherub ~ a special angel who was in the most holy place in the temple.
angel ~ God’s special servants in heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
holy ~ what God is like. He is completely different from people. He never does anything wrong. The word ‘holy’ also describes something that is separate, for God’s use only. People must never use a holy thing for ordinary purposes.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means, ‘He is always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.

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Ezekiel: “They shall know that I am God”

The Future *Temple and *Sacrifices

Ezekiel Chapter s 40 to 48

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 41

The *temple building – Ezekiel 41:1-26

The *holy place – Ezekiel 41:1-2

v1 Then the man brought me into the *holy place in the *temple. He measured the columns at the sides. They were each 6 *cubits wide. v2 The entrance was 10 *cubits wide. The walls on each side of the entrance were 5 *cubits wide. The man measured the *holy place. It was 40 *cubits long and 20 *cubits wide.

Verses 1-2 As Ezekiel was a priest, he could enter the *holy place.

The *holy place was a room 35 feet (10.8 metres) wide and 70 feet (21.5 metres) long. The entrance to the room was 17½ feet (5.4 metres) wide. There were walls on each side of the entrance and they were 9 feet (2.8 metres) each. These walls or columns at the side of the door were 10½ feet (3.2 metres) thick.

The most *holy place – Ezekiel 41:3-4

v3 Then the man went inside and he measured the columns by the next door. Each column was two *cubits wide. The entrance was 6 *cubits wide and the walls at the side of the entrance were 7 *cubits wide. v4 Then he measured the room at the end of the *holy place. It was 20 *cubits long and 20 *cubits wide. The man said to me, ‘This is the most *holy place.’

Verses 3-4

As Ezekiel was a priest, he could enter the *holy place. At the end of the *holy place was the door into the most *holy place. This door was 10½ feet (3.2 metres) wide. There were columns each side of the door that were 3½ feet (1.1 metres) thick. The walls with the columns at the sides of the entrance were 12½ feet (3.8 metres) long.

The most *holy place was a room 35 feet (10.8 metres) wide and 35 feet (10.8 metres) long.

The man (who was in fact an *angel) did not take Ezekiel into the most *holy place. Ezekiel was a priest but only the chief priest could go into this room.

The side rooms – Ezekiel 41:5-11

v5 Then the man measured the wall of the *temple. It was 6 *cubits thick. There were side rooms 4 *cubits wide round about the *temple. v6 The side rooms were on three floors, one above another. There were 30 rooms on each floor. The *temple's outer wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below. So, the rooms could rest on the step in the wall but they did not join to the wall. v7 The side rooms round about the *temple were wider on each higher floor. The rooms were widest on the top floor. Stairs went up from the lowest floor to the middle floor. Then stairs went from the middle floor to the highest floor.

v8 I saw that the *temple had a high base. This was also the base of the side rooms. The height of this base was the length of the stick, that is, 6 *cubits. v9 The outer wall of the side rooms was 5 *cubits thick. There was an open area between the side rooms of the *temple and the priests’ rooms. v10 This open area was 20 *cubits wide and it went all round the *temple. v11 The doors of the side rooms opened onto the base. One door was toward the north, and another door was toward the south. The width round the base was 5 *cubits.

Verses 5-11 The walls of the *temple building were 10½ feet (3.2 metres) thick. Outside these walls, there were 90 small rooms. Each of these rooms was 7 feet (2.2 metres) wide. They were on three floors. There were 30 on each floor. There were 12 rooms on each side and 6 rooms at the end of the *temple building. These rooms had an outer wall 9 feet (2.8 metres) thick. The base of the *temple and of the side rooms was 10½ feet (3.2 metres) high.

The entrances to these rooms were from the inner area. There were entrances on the north and south sides of the *temple. There were stairs to the upper floors. There were rooms for the priests in the outer area. Between the side rooms and the priests' rooms, there was a space of 35 feet (10.8 metres).

This arrangement of rooms was similar to that in Solomon’s *temple (1 Kings 6:8-10).

Measurements of the *temple areas – Ezekiel 41:12-15a

(Note: verse 15a means the first half of verse 15.)

v12 The building in front of the *temple area on the west side was 70 *cubits wide. Its walls were 5 *cubits thick and it was 90 *cubits long.

v13 Then the man measured the *temple and it was 100 *cubits long. The inner area of the *temple, with the building and its walls, was in all 100 *cubits long. v14 The open area of the *temple on the east was 100 *cubits wide. This included the front of the *temple.

v15a He measured the building on the west side in front of the open area. With its walls on either side, it was 100 *cubits long.

Verse 12 Beyond the *temple to the west, there was a building. It was 122½ feet (37.7 metres) wide and 157½ feet (48.5 metres) long. The walls of this building were 9 feet (2.8 metres) thick. We do not know the purpose for this building.

Verses 13-15a The *temple building was 175 feet (53.8 metres) long. The inner area of the *temple was also 175 feet (53.8 metres) long. The inner area and the *temple building were 175 feet (53.8 metres) wide. The building, with its walls, beyond the *temple was also 175 feet (53.8 metres) long.

Inside the *temple – Ezekiel 41:15b-26

(Note: verse 15b means the second half of verse 15.)

v15b He then turned to the *holy place, the most *holy place and the entrance hall by the open area. v16 Wood covered the walls of these three rooms. All three rooms had windows in the walls. By the door, the *temple had wood on the walls. The wood covered all the walls from the floor to the windows. (There were covers over the windows.) v17 There were wood covers that covered the space above the doors. Wood covered both the inside and the outside of the *holy place. On all the walls of the *holy place and the most *holy place were patterns in the wood. v18 The patterns were of *cherubim and palm trees. There was a palm tree between *cherub and *cherub. Each *cherub had two faces. v19 One was the face of a man, which looked at the palm tree on one side. The other face was of a lion. This face looked at the palm tree on the other side. This pattern was all round the *temple. v20 On the wall and above the door, there were *cherubim and palm trees.

v21 The entrance for the door to the *holy place was square. So was the entrance to the most *holy place. v22 There was a wooden *altar three *cubits high and two *cubits square. Its corners, its base and its sides were of wood. The man told me about it. ‘This is the table that is in front of the *LORD.’ v23 Both the *holy place and the most *holy place had double doors. v24 Each of the doors had two pieces that would swing open. v25 On the doors of the *holy place, there were patterns of palm trees and *cherubim. These palm trees and *cherubim were like the ones that were on the walls. And there was a wooden roof over the entrance to the *temple. v26 There were windows and patterns of palm trees on both walls at the sides of the entrance. A roof covered the side rooms of the *temple and over the stairs.

Verses 15b-20 The *temple building had three rooms. These rooms were the entrance hall, the *holy place and the most *holy place. Wood covered the walls of all three rooms. There were windows in these rooms. There were covers for the windows.

There were patterns on all the walls. The patterns were of *cherubim and palm trees. Each *cherub had two faces. The faces were those of a man and of a lion.

Verses 21-26 In the *holy place, there was a wooden *altar. It was 5½ feet (1.6 metres) high and 3½ feet (1.1 metres) square. The man (that is, the *angel) called it, ‘the table that is in front of the *LORD’. But we are not sure about its purpose, because there were two similar objects in the original *temple. One of these was the *altar of *incense. Here, the priests would burn *incense to the *Lord. And the other object was a table like this. Each *Sabbath the priests would put 12 new loaves of bread on the table and they would remove the old bread (see Leviticus 24:5-8).

The doors to the *holy place had patterns of *cherubim and palm trees. Over each part of the *temple, there was a wooden roof.

temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
sacrifice ~ The priests killed a special animal and they burned it on an altar. That animal was called a sacrifice. They offered a sacrifice when they asked God to forgive sins. When Jesus died, he was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Animals or people whom God or other people kill for a purpose are also sacrifices (see Ezekiel 39:17). And people also made sacrifices to false gods.
altar ~ the special table where people burn animals or offer other gifts to God or to false gods.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
holy ~ a holy object is special; it is only for religion. God himself and his name are also called ‘holy’. This means that God and his name are perfect, in fact, even more than perfect.
cubit ~ a length of about half a metre.
angel ~ God’s special servants in heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
cherubim ~ the group of cherubs.
cherub ~ a special angel who was in the most holy place in the temple.
angel ~ God’s special servants in heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
cherub ~ a special angel who was in the most holy place in the temple.
angel ~ God’s special servants in heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
altar ~ the special table where people burn animals or offer other gifts to God or to false gods.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
incense ~ something that gives a sweet smell when it burns. The priests burned it when they praised God in the temple.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
Sabbath ~ The Sabbath was the 7th day of the week. God told the Israelites to keep it as a special day.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.