CHAPTER 41 Oct. 15 
Measurements of the Temple Building 
He brought me to the temple and measured the doorposts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the structure. 2The breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits. 3Then he went inside and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits. 4He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple. He said to me, This is the most holy place. 5Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side. 6The side rooms were in three floors, one over another, and thirty on each floor. The outer wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without being anchored into it. 7The walls of the house, when seen from the outside, seemed to have the same thickness all the way to the top. Against the house's outer wall, on the outside of the rooms, two wide stairways were built, so that it was possible to go from the lower story to the middle and the upper stories. 8I saw also that the house had a raised base all around: the foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits. 9The thickness of the wall, which was for the side rooms, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house. 10Between the rooms was a breadth of twenty cubits around the house on every side. 11The doors of the side rooms were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the free space that was left was five cubits all around. 12The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits. 13So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long; 14also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits. 15He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court; 16the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, over against the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered), 17to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure. 18It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and each cherub had two faces; 19so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. Thus was it made through all the house all around: 20from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple. 21As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance of it was as the appearance of the temple. 22The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh. 23The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24The doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves: two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other. 25There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside. 26There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side rooms of the house, and the thresholds.

Commentary

41:5 These rooms around the temple were in Christ’s mind when He spoke of how in God’s house or temple, there are many rooms; and He has prepared one for each of us by His death on the cross (Jn. 14:2). It could be that He understood the temple as a spiritual house, and that the vision of 40-48 was going to be fulfilled in a more abstract, spiritual manner.
41:8 A full reed of six great cubits- see on 45:1.
41:26 There are many links between Solomon’s temple and that described by Ezekiel. The repeated stress on the cherubim / palm tree decor in both the records of Solomon’s temple and also Ezekiel’s encourages the idea that the prophesied temple was to be seen as a re-establishment of Solomon’s (1 Kings 6:29,32,35; 7:36 cp. Ez. 40:16,22,26,31,34,37; 41:18-20, 25,26). There were “thick planks” upon the porch of Solomon’s temple; and the same word is only used elsewhere in describing how this would feature in Ezekiel’s temple too (1 Kings 7:6 cp. Ez. 41:25,26). Even the “windows of narrow lights” (1 Kings 6:4) were to be replicated (Ez. 40:16; 41:16,26). Solomon’s system of “chambers” was likewise copied (1 Kings 6:5,8,16 cp. Ez. 41:5-11 same Hebrew word). The glory of Yahweh was to fill Ezekiel’s temple as it had done Solomon’s (Ez. 43:5 cp. 1 Kings 8:10). Both temples were to be ready for operation on “the eighth day” after their consecration (Ez. 43:27 cp. 1 Kings 8:66). Ezekiel’s temple was to be of a similar size to that of Solomon’s; see on 45:1.