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