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Texts -- Ezekiel 41:1-21 (NET)

Context
The Inner Temple
41:1 Then he brought me to the outer sanctuary , and measured the jambs ; the jambs were 10½ feet wide on each side . 41:2 The width of the entrance was 17½ feet , and the sides of the entrance were 8¾ feet on each side . He measured the length of the outer sanctuary as 70 feet , and its width as 35 feet . 41:3 Then he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the jambs of the entrance as 3½ feet , the entrance as 10½ feet , and the width of the entrance as 12¼ feet 41:4 Then he measured its length as 35 feet , and its width as 35 feet , before the outer sanctuary . He said to me, “This is the most holy place.” 41:5 Then he measured the wall of the temple as 10½ feet , and the width of the side chambers as 7 feet , all around the temple . 41:6 The side chambers were in three stories , one above the other, thirty in each story. There were offsets in the wall all around to serve as supports for the side chambers , so that the supports were not in the wall of the temple . 41:7 The side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story ; for the structure surrounding the temple went up story by story all around the temple . For this reason the width of the temple increased as it went up , and one went up from the lowest story to the highest by the way of the middle story . 41:8 I saw that the temple had a raised platform all around ; the foundations of the side chambers were a full measuring stick of 10½ feet high . 41:9 The width of the outer wall of the side chambers was 8¾ feet , and the open area between the side chambers of the temple 41:10 and the chambers of the court was 35 feet in width all around the temple on every side . 41:11 There were entrances from the side chambers toward the open area, one entrance toward the north , and another entrance toward the south ; the width of the open area was 8¾ feet all around . 41:12 The building that was facing the temple courtyard at the west side was 122½ feet wide ; the wall of the building was 8¾ feet all around , and its length 157½ feet . 41:13 Then he measured the temple as 175 feet long , the courtyard of the temple and the building and its walls as 175 feet long , 41:14 and also the width of the front of the temple and the courtyard on the east as 175 feet . 41:15 Then he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard at the rear of the temple, with its galleries on either side as 175 feet . The interior of the outer sanctuary and the porch of the court , 41:16 as well as the thresholds , narrow windows and galleries all around on three sides facing the threshold were paneled with wood all around , from the ground up to the windows (now the windows were covered ), 41:17 to the space above the entrance , to the inner room , and on the outside , and on all the walls in the inner room and outside , by measurement . 41:18 It was made with cherubim and decorative palm trees , with a palm tree between each cherub . Each cherub had two faces : 41:19 a human face toward the palm tree on one side and a lion’s face toward the palm tree on the other side . They were carved on the whole temple all around ; 41:20 from the ground to the area above the entrance , cherubim and decorative palm trees were carved on the wall of the outer sanctuary . 41:21 The doorposts of the outer sanctuary were square . In front of the sanctuary one doorpost looked just like the other.

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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...
  • 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...
  • 41:5-6 The wall enclosing the vestibule, holy place, and most holy place was six cubits thick. Rooms five cubits deep surrounded this wall on all sides except the east. There were three stories of these rooms, 30 rooms on eac...
  • 41:13-14 Ezekiel's guide next measured the outside walls of the main temple structure. It was 100 cubits (166 feet) from front to back. The distance from the back of the main temple structure to the back of the building behin...
  • 41:16-20 The whole interior of the temple structure, including the side rooms, was paneled with wood.526The wood was carved with alternating cherubs and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces, the face of a man and the face of...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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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