CHAPTER 40 Oct. 14 
The New Temple Area Described
In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, on that very day, the hand of Yahweh was on me and He brought me there. 2In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south. 3He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. 4The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you; for you are brought here with the intent that I may show these things to you: declare all that you see to the people of Israel. 5 See, a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a handbreadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. 6Then he came to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad. 7Every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and the space between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. 8He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. 9Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house. 10The lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side and three on that side; these three were of the same measure: and the posts had the same measure on this side and on that side. 11He measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; 12and a border before the lodges of one cubit on this side, and a border of one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. 13He measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits; door against door. 14He made also posts, sixty cubits; and the court reached to the posts, around the gate. 15From the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. 16There were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate all around, and likewise to the arches; and windows were around inward; and on each post were palm trees. 
The Outer Court of the Temple
17Then brought he me into the outer court; and behold, there were rooms and a pavement, made for the court all around: thirty rooms were on the pavement. 18The pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. 19Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north. 
The Gate Which Is toward the North
20The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured its length and its breadth. 21The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. 22The windows of it, and its arches, and the palm trees of it, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them. 23There was a gate to the inner court over against the other gate, both on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits.
The Gate Which Is toward the South
 24He led me toward the south; and behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measures. 25There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. 26There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts. 27There was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.
The Inner Court Gates
 28Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures; 29and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. 30There were arches all around, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad. 31The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps. 32He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures; 33and its lodges, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in its arches all around; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. 34The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps. 35He brought me to the north gate: and he measured it according to these measures; 36its lodges, its posts, and its arches: and there were windows therein all around; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. 37The posts of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.
The Sacrifice Preparation Rooms
38A room with its door was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt offering. 39In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to kill thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering. 40On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables. 41Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed the sacrifices. 42There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice. 43The hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened within all around: and on the tables was the flesh of the offering. 
The Priests’ Rooms
44Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north. 45He said to me, This room, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house; 46and the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to Him. 47He measured the court, one hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar was before the house.
 The Temple Porch and Details
48Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. 49The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; even by the steps by which they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

Commentary

40:1 The return of the exiles from Babylon could have led to the re-establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth, replete with a Messiah figure and a temple according to the pattern showed to Ezekiel in Ez. 40 - 48. Parts of many of the prophets looked forward to this time, as did the restoration prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah 40-66. All of these could have had their fulfilment in the return under Ezra, but this was disabled by the poor response to the call to return. Under Nehemiah and then even in Malachi’s time, these Kingdom prophecies could have had their fulfilment, but time and again Judah failed to live up to the necessary preconditions. In all this lies abundant exhortation for us; so much could happen but doesn’t, because of our failure to live out and fulfil prophecy... instead, like Judah, we tend to assume that the time for fulfilment will inexorably arrive some day, regardless of our effort. The details of the temple are to the micro detail. They were commands rather than predictions, for Judah to fulfil. Ezekiel 40-48 was intended as an architectural record of the 'old' temple upon which a new one was to be reconstructed.
40:29 Nehemiah did his very best to bring the potential Kingdom of God about by urging the people to repentance and conformity to God’s will, such was his perception of what was going on; that the coming of God’s Kingdom was being limited by the apathy of his own people. No fewer than 24 times in Ez. 40-48 are we told that the temple was to be built by ‘measure’ (e.g. 40:3,5,10,21,22,24,28,29); and the same word occurs frequently in describing how Nehemiah gave various groups of Jews their own ‘measure’ in the work of rebuilding Jerusalem (Neh. 3:11,19,20,22,24,27). See on 48:31.
40:46 It could have been possible for the Messianic Kingdom to have been established at the time of the restoration, and these temple prophecies would fit perfectly into this context. Thus Ezekiel emphasised that the sons of Zadok were to organize priestly work in the temple (see too 43:19; 44:15; 48:11); Ezra, the leader of the initial restoration, was one of the sons of Zadok (Ezra 7:2). He was in a position to fulfil those prophecies, although the bulk of his brethren seem to have precluded this. Ezra was enabled to beautify the temple (Ezra 7:27), the very same Hebrew word used in Is. 60:7,9,13 about how God would “glorify” His temple with merchandise from throughout the Babylonian empire- all of which was willingly offered by Cyrus and Darius. Ez. 40-48 stress the “gates” dozens of times; and Nehemiah’s account likewise stresses many times the attention he paid to setting up the “gates”, as if he saw his work as fulfilling Ezekiel’s words. :42 speaks of the vessels to be used in the temple with the same Hebrew word used for the temple vessels which were brought out of Babylon back to Judah, in fulfilment of several of Isaiah’s ‘Kingdom’ passages (Ezra 1:6-11; 8:25-33 cp. Is. 52:11; 66:20).
The keepers of the charge- Judah were to keep the charges of God relating to His house. Nehemiah, seeking for Israel’s obedience to Ezekiel’s vision, tried to get them to “keep the charges” (s.w. Neh. 7:3; 12:9,45; 13:20). But soon, Judah complained that there was no benefit to them from having kept the charges (Mal. 3:14 s.w.). Partial obedience discouraged them from any further effort, because the fullness of blessing can only come from a way of life conformed to God’s Kingdom vision and life. This is why people get disillusioned with religion and lose even the true faith- because they seek for immediate benefit as a result of keeping a few highly specific aspects of God’s law, rather than willingly devoting their way of life to the realisation of His vision.