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Texts -- Ezekiel 40:9-49 (NET)

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40:9 He measured the porch of the gate as 14 feet , and its jambs as 3½ feet ; the porch of the gate faced inward . 40:10 There were three alcoves on each side of the east gate ; the three had the same measurement , and the jambs on either side had the same measurement . 40:11 He measured the width of the entrance of the gateway as 17½ feet , and the length of the gateway as 22¾ feet . 40:12 There was a barrier in front of the alcoves , 1¾ feet on either side ; the alcoves were 10½ feet on either side . 40:13 He measured the gateway from the roof of one alcove to the roof of the other, a width of 43¾ feet from one entrance to the opposite one . 40:14 He measured the porch at 105 feet high; the gateway went all around to the jamb of the courtyard . 40:15 From the front of the entrance gate to the porch of the inner gate was 87½ feet . 40:16 There were closed windows toward the alcoves and toward their jambs within the gate all around , and likewise for the porches . There were windows all around the inside , and on each jamb were decorative palm trees . 40:17 Then he brought me to the outer court . I saw chambers there, and a pavement made for the court all around ; thirty chambers faced the pavement . 40:18 The pavement was beside the gates , corresponding to the length of the gates ; this was the lower pavement . 40:19 Then he measured the width from before the lower gate to the front of the exterior of the inner court as 175 feet on the east and on the north . 40:20 He measured the length and width of the gate of the outer court which faces north . 40:21 Its alcoves , three on each side , and its jambs and porches had the same measurement as the first gate ; 87½ feet long and 43¾ feet wide . 40:22 Its windows , its porches , and its decorative palm trees had the same measurement as the gate which faced east . Seven steps led up to it, and its porch was in front of them. 40:23 Opposite the gate on the north and the east was a gate of the inner court ; he measured the distance from gate to gate at 175 feet . 40:24 Then he led me toward the south . I saw a gate on the south . He measured its jambs and its porches ; they had the same dimensions as the others . 40:25 There were windows all around it and its porches , like the windows of the others ; 87½ feet long and 43¾ feet wide . 40:26 There were seven steps going up to it; its porches were in front of them. It had decorative palm trees on its jambs , one on either side . 40:27 The inner court had a gate toward the south ; he measured it from gate to gate toward the south as 175 feet . 40:28 Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate . He measured the south gate ; it had the same dimensions as the others . 40:29 Its alcoves , its jambs , and its porches had the same dimensions as the others , and there were windows all around it and its porches ; its length was 87½ feet and its width 43¾ feet . 40:30 There were porches all around , 43¾ feet long and 8¾ feet wide . 40:31 Its porches faced the outer court , and decorative palm trees were on its jambs , and its stairway had eight steps . 40:32 Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side . He measured the gate ; it had the same dimensions as the others . 40:33 Its alcoves , its jambs , and its porches had the same dimensions as the others , and there were windows all around it and its porches ; its length was 87½ feet and its width 43¾ feet . 40:34 Its porches faced the outer court , it had decorative palm trees on its jambs , and its stairway had eight steps . 40:35 Then he brought me to the north gate , and he measured it; it had the same dimensions as the others 40:36 its alcoves , its jambs , and its porches . It had windows all around it; its length was 87½ feet and its width 43¾ feet . 40:37 Its jambs faced the outer court , and it had decorative palm trees on its jambs , on either side , and its stairway had eight steps . 40:38 There was a chamber with its door by the porch of the gate ; there they washed the burnt offering . 40:39 In the porch of the gate were two tables on either side on which to slaughter the burnt offering , the sin offering , and the guilt offering . 40:40 On the outside of the porch as one goes up at the entrance of the north gate were two tables , and on the other side of the porch of the gate were two tables . 40:41 Four tables were on each side of the gate , eight tables on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered . 40:42 The four tables for the burnt offering were of carved stone , 32 inches long , 32 inches wide , and 21 inches high . They would put the instruments which they used to slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them. 40:43 There were hooks three inches long , fastened in the house all around , and on the tables was the flesh of the offering . 40:44 On the outside of the inner gate were chambers for the singers of the inner court , one at the side of the north gate facing south , and the other at the side of the south gate facing north . 40:45 He said to me, “This chamber which faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple , 40:46 and the chamber which faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar . These are the descendants of Zadok , from the descendants of Levi , who may approach the Lord to minister to him.” 40:47 He measured the court as a square 175 feet long and 175 feet wide ; the altar was in front of the temple . 40:48 Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured the jambs of the porch as 8¾ feet on either side , and the width of the gate was 24½ feet and the sides were 5¼ feet on each side . 40:49 The length of the porch was 35 feet and the width 19¼ feet ; steps led up to it, and there were pillars beside the jambs on either side .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Light would dawn on Israel, and as a result the Gentiles would seek her out.60:1 God had called Israel to be a light to the nations (43:10), but presently she was darkness (56:9-57:13; 59:1-15a). The Lord had promised that He...
  • 31:38-39 In the future, Jerusalem would undergo rebuilding for the Lord. It would be built larger than it had been before its destruction by the Babylonians. The tower of Hananel was at the northeast corner of the city (Neh. ...
  • Ezekiel ministered to the Jews in exile. He probably wrote this book for the benefit of the exiles and the other Jewish communities of his day and beyond his day. In some of his visions (e.g. chs. 8 and 11) the Lord carried t...
  • There are two major structural peculiarities that set Ezekiel off as distinctive.First, the book is a collection of prophecies arranged in almost consistent chronological order. No other prophetical book is as consistently ch...
  • Ezekiel contains a combination of several types of literature. These include proverbs, visions, parables, symbolic acts, allegories, rhetorical questions, dreams, drama, funeral dirges, history, and apocalyptic revelations."T...
  • Ezekiel began prophesying when he was 30 years old, and he had gone into captivity five years before that. Thus Ezekiel was familiar with Jeremiah's preaching and ministry. Ezekiel shows quite a bit of similarity to Jeremiah ...
  • I. Ezekiel's calling and commission chs. 1-3A. The vision of God's glory ch. 11. The setting of the vision 1:1-32. The vision proper 1:4-28B. The Lord's charge to Ezekiel chs. 2-31. The recipients of Ezekiel's ministry 2:1-52...
  • 20:39 For now the Israelites to whom Ezekiel spoke could continue to practice idolatry, not with the Lord's blessing of course, but in the future they would listen to and obey the Lord. Then they would make His name common no...
  • 24:25-26 Evidently Ezekiel was not to deliver any more prophetic messages to his fellow exiles after he made the explanation in verses 20-24 until he received word of the destruction of the temple and the capture of the remai...
  • It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). I...
  • "This last major division of the book focuses on the restoration of Israel's blessing. Israel would be judged for her sin (chaps. 1-24) as would the surrounding nations (chaps. 25-32). But Israel will not remain under judgmen...
  • Since this message is undated, it may have come to Ezekiel about the same time as the previous two in chapter 32, namely, in the last month of 585 B.C. If so, Ezekiel received it about two months after God gave him the six me...
  • "The themes of regathering as sheep and of covenant merge in Ezekiel 34:25-31. The Lord promises to make a covenant of peace with His regathered sheep."44434:25 The Lord also promised to make a covenant of peace (i.e., result...
  • This well-known apocalyptic vision of the valley of dry bones pictures the manner in which Yahweh would restore His people.473This may be the best known section of the Book of Ezekiel."Few other passages have suffered more fr...
  • 37:15-17 The Lord also commanded Ezekiel to take two sticks (cf. Zech. 11:7-14). He was to write on one of them "For Judah and for the sons of Israel, Judah's companions."He was to write on the other stick "For Joseph and for...
  • This is the sixth and last message that Ezekiel received from the Lord the night before the refugees reached the exiles with the message that Jerusalem had fallen (cf. 33:21-22). It too deals with God's plans for Israel in th...
  • The Book of Ezekiel begins with a vision of God's glory (ch. 1), records the departure of God's glory (chs. 8-11), and ends with another vision of God's glory (chs. 40-48). This is the longest vision outside the Book of Revel...
  • The amount of detail devoted to the descriptions of the gate complexes, both outer and inner, emphasizes that access into the temple will be strictly controlled.40:6 Ezekiel's guide next measured the gate of the city that fac...
  • 40:17-19 The passageway in the eastern gate complex led into a courtyard. This was the outer court that contained an inner court within it. Around the perimeter of this outer court were 30 rooms. It is not clear if they were ...
  • 40:28-31 Ezekiel discovered that the south inner gate complex was the same as the outer gate complexes. All the vestibules of the three gate complexes totaled 25 cubits across and each of them was five cubits deep (rather tha...
  • 40:38-41 Ezekiel also saw a room outside each of the three inner gate complexes close to its doorway. There priests would rinse animals brought as burnt offerings.519Within each inner gate complex, in the vestibules, there we...
  • 41:1-2 Beyond the vestibule was the nave, the holy place. It had a doorway 6 cubits deep and 10 cubits wide. The projecting wall on either side of this entrance, which also formed part of the wall of the vestibule and the hol...
  • Some scholars view this section as the central one in chapters 40-48.536The altar was at the very center of the whole temple complex, and it was the centerpiece of the system of worship represented in the new temple complex.4...
  • 43:18 The Lord told Ezekiel what to do when the construction of the altar was complete.538The purpose of this altar was to receive the burnt offerings that people would bring to the Lord and to receive the blood of those anim...
  • 44:1-2 Ezekiel's guide next took him back to the east outer gate (cf. 40:6-16). The gate itself, on the east side of the gate complex, was shut and was to remain shut. The Lord told the prophet that this gate was shut because...
  • The emphasis on the holiness of God that has marked this vision continues strong in this pericope and the next. God's holiness will determine who serves as priests and how they serve.44:4 The guide proceeded to take Ezekiel t...
  • 44:15-16 The Levites from Zadok's branch of the priestly family, however, would have special privileges since Zadok and his sons had served the Lord faithfully in the past (cf. 40:46; 1 Sam. 2:35; 2 Sam. 8:17; 15:24-29; 1 Kin...
  • 46:1 The Lord specified that the gate in the inner east gate complex should be open only on sabbath days and on the new moon days (i.e., the first of each month). All other days it was to remain closed. An exception to this r...
  • 46:19-20 The Lord, or Ezekiel's guide, then took him into the structure that housed the priests' rooms that were beside the south inner gate complex that faced north (cf. 40:44, 46). This was evidently one of the two three-st...
  • God promised Abraham that He would give a particular piece of real estate to his descendants (Gen. 12:7). Later He reiterated this promise and became more specific about its boundaries (Gen. 15:7, 18-21; 17:8; Num. 34:1-12). ...
  • Ackroyd, Peter R. Exile and Restoration. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1968.Alexander, Ralph H. Ezekiel. Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1976._____. "Ezekiel."In Isaiah-Ezekiel. Vol. 6 of The Expo...
  • Daniel is a book of prophecy."Among the great prophetic books of Scripture, none provides a more comprehensive and chronological prophetic view of the broad movement of history than the book of Daniel. Of the three prophetic ...
  • 4:1 Reference to "the last days"often points to the eschatological future in the Prophets, and it does here (e.g., Deut. 4:30; Ezek. 38:16; Dan. 2:28; 10:14; Hos. 3:5). This phrase usually refers to the Tribulation and or the...
  • 1:1 Yahweh sent a message to Zerubbabel and Joshua through the prophet Haggai, though it went to all the Israelites too (vv. 2, 4). Zerubbabel was the political governor (overseer) of the Persian province of Judah who had led...
  • The visions ended and Zechariah awoke from his dream-like state. What follows is a symbolic act that took place in Jerusalem at the Lord's command."The position of this actual ceremony after the eight visions is significant. ...
  • 14:16 The remaining former enemies of Israel who would not die would bow to the sovereignty of Yahweh (cf. 8:20-23; Isa. 2:2-4; 45:21-24; 60:4-14; Ezek. 40-48; Phil. 2:10). They would be expected to make annual pilgrimages to...
  • That another oracle is in view is clear from the question and answer format that begins this pericope, as it does the others. Verse 17 contains the question and answer, and the discussion follows in 3:1-6. The Israelites' cha...
  • There was an even more serious dimension to this problem. The Corinthians were sinning against the Lord as well as one another.11:23 What Paul taught here came ultimately from the Lord Jesus Himself. This reminder stresses th...
  • Adams, Jay. Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1980.Andrews, J. N. "May Women Speak in Meeting?"Review and Herald. January 2, 1879. Reprinted in Advent...
  • 11:1 "And"(Gr. kai) ties this chapter closely to the previous one. John's first prophetic assignment after receiving his fresh commission was to provide this information.Again John became an active participant in his vision (...
  • The next scenes in John's visions proved to be of conditions that will exist after the Millennium. He recorded this insight to reveal the final home of believers. There are many allusions to Isaiah 60 and 65 and Ezekiel 40-48...
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