36 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			1.7 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Markdown
		
	
	
	
	
	
		
		
			
		
	
	
			36 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			1.7 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Markdown
		
	
	
	
	
	
|  | +++ | |||
|  | title = "Ezekiel 40:1–27" | |||
|  | date = "2023-07-02" | |||
|  | +++ | |||
|  | 
 | |||
|  | ### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel40.1-27)
 | |||
|  | 
 | |||
|  | Long after Jerusalem was destroyed, Ezekiel receives a vision of a restored | |||
|  | city with the temple built on Mount Zion as it was before. In the vision, he is | |||
|  | taken on a grand tour by an angelic guide. This guide has a cord and a reed, | |||
|  | surveyor's tools to measure the temple. The angel instructs Ezekiel to pay | |||
|  | attention to all he sees and hears during this vision, to meditate on them, and | |||
|  | to tell them to the house of Israel. | |||
|  | 
 | |||
|  | Why would Israel need to hear about this? If they wanted to recreate Solomon's | |||
|  | temple, they have the bill of materials and something like blueprints in 1 | |||
|  | Kings. But at this time they were still exiled in Babylon, and it would be | |||
|  | another 50-ish years before Cyrus would let them return and rebuild the city. | |||
|  | Hearing how large and well-appointed the temple would some day be would give | |||
|  | them hope for the future and a trust in the Lord to see it through. | |||
|  | 
 | |||
|  | At six long cubits long, the angel's measuring reed is very close to ten modern | |||
|  | feet long. He measures the platform on which the temple complex sits, | |||
|  | containing the outer court, the inner court, and the temple proper. The | |||
|  | stairways up the platform and the vestibule of the gateway are measured, along | |||
|  | with three guard rooms on either side of the vestibule. The court and its | |||
|  | decorations are described, and the north and south gates identical to the east | |||
|  | gate. Palm tree decorations, like the pomegranates on Solomon's temple before, | |||
|  | evoke images of natural beauty. They remind the worshippers of the Garden of | |||
|  | Eden where God first lived with Man. | |||
|  | 
 | |||
|  | * * * | |||
|  | 
 | |||
|  | Your love of beauty brings us delight, and we are grateful you share it with | |||
|  | us. |