The Prophet's Vision of the Temple

401 In the twenty-fifth year after we had been taken away prisoners, in the first month of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the town was taken, on the very same day, the hand of the Lord was on me, and he took me there. 2 In the visions of God he took me into the land of Israel, and put me down on a very high mountain, on which there was, as it seemed, a building like a town opposite me. 3 He took me there, and I saw a man, looking like brass, with a linen cord in his hand and a measuring rod: and he was stationed in the doorway. 4 And the man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes and give hearing with your ears, and take to heart everything I am going to let you see; for in order that I might let you see them, you have come here: and give an account of all you see to the children of Israel.

5 And there was a wall on the outside of the house all round, and in the man's hand there was a measuring rod six cubits long by a cubit and a hand's measure: so he took the measure of the building from side to side, one rod; and from base to top, one rod. 6 Then he came to the doorway looking to the east, and went up by its steps; and he took the measure of the doorstep, one rod wide. 7 And the watchmen's rooms were one rod long and one rod wide; and the space between the rooms was five cubits; the doorstep of the doorway, by the covered way of the doorway inside, was one rod. 8 And he took the measure of the covered way of the doorway inside, 9 Eight cubits; and its uprights, two cubits; the covered way of the doorway was inside. 10 And the rooms of the doorway on the east were three on this side and three on that; all three were of the same size; and the uprights on this side and on that were of the same size. 11 And he took the measure of the opening of the doorway, ten cubits wide; and the way down the doorway was thirteen cubits; 12 And the space in front of the rooms, a cubit on this side and a cubit on that side; and the rooms six cubits on this side and six cubits on that. 13 And he took the measure of the doorway from the back of one room to the back of the other, twenty-five cubits across, from door to door. 14 And he took the measure of the covered way, twenty cubits; and opening from the covered way of the doorway was the open square round about. 15 And from before the opening of the doorway to before the inner covered way of the doorway was fifty cubits. 16 And the rooms and their uprights had sloping windows inside the doorway all round, and in the same way the covered way had windows all round on the inside: and on every upright there were palm-trees. 17 Then he took me into the outer square, and there were rooms and a stone floor made for the open square all round: there were thirty rooms on the stone floor. 18 And the stone floor was by the side of the doorways, and was as wide as the doorways were long, even the lower floor. 19 Then he took the measure of the square across, from before the lower doorway inside to before the inner doorway outside, one hundred cubits. And he took me in the direction of the north, 20 And there was a doorway to the outer square, looking to the north; and he took the measure of it to see how wide and how long it was. 21 And it had three rooms on this side of it and three on that; its uprights and its covered ways were the same size as those of the first doorway: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 22 And its windows, and the windows of its covered ways, and its palm-trees, were the same as those of the doorway looking to the east; and there were seven steps up to it; and the covered way went inside. 23 And there was a doorway to the inner square opposite the doorway on the north, like the doorway on the east; and he took the measure from doorway to doorway, a hundred cubits. 24 And he took me to the south, and I saw a doorway looking to the south: and he took the measure of its rooms and its uprights and its covered ways by these measures. 25 And there were windows in it and in the covered way all round, like the other windows: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 26 And there were seven steps up to it, and its covered way went inside: and it had palm-trees, one on this side and one on that, on its uprights.

27 And there was a doorway to the inner square looking to the south: he took the measure from doorway to doorway to the south, a hundred cubits. 28 Then he took me to the inner square by the south doorway: and he took the measure of the south doorway by these measures;

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 40:1-28

Chapter Contents

The Vision of the Temple.

Here is a vision, beginning at ch. 40, and continued to the end of the book, ch. 48, which is justly looked upon to be one of the most difficult portions in all the book of God. When we despair to be satisfied as to any difficulty we meet with, let us bless God that our salvation does not depend upon it, but that things necessary are plain enough; and let us wait till God shall reveal even this unto us. This chapter describes two outward courts of the temple. Whether the personage here mentioned was the Son of God, or a created angel, is not clear. But Christ is both our Altar and our Sacrifice, to whom we must look with faith in all approaches to God; and he is Salvation in the midst of the earth, Psalm 74:12, to be looked unto from all quarters.