Major Prophets · Chapter 41 of 48

Ezekiel 41

The guide leads Ezekiel into the temple itself, measuring the outer sanctuary and then the inner room he names the most holy place. He measures the walls, the side chambers ranged in three tiers around the house, and the surrounding structures. The interior is carved throughout with cherubim and palm trees, each cherub with two faces. A wooden altar stands before the LORD, called the table that is before him.

What happens in Ezekiel 41

The shining guide brings Ezekiel to the temple proper and measures its posts and the wide doorway leading into the holy place, forty cubits long and twenty broad. Going further inward, he measures the door of the innermost room and its twenty cubit square, then declares, This is the most holy place. He measures the thick wall and the side chambers, built in three stories, thirty in a row, resting on ledges so their beams do not pierce the sanctuary wall.

The structure widens as it rises. Ezekiel then describes the ornamentation: from floor to above the doors the walls are carved with alternating cherubim and palm trees, each cherub having two faces, a man's face and a young lion's face turned toward the palms. A wooden altar three cubits high stands before the LORD, which the guide calls the table that is before him.

Ezekiel 41 in context

This chapter belongs to the great temple vision of chapters forty through forty-eight, given to exiles about 573 BC. Where chapter forty measured the gates and courts, chapter forty-one moves to the heart of the house, the holy place and the most holy place. The carved cherubim and palm trees recall both Eden, guarded by cherubim, and Solomon's temple, which bore the same imagery.

The vision presents a sanctuary of layered holiness, drawing the worshiper's attention inward toward the innermost room where God's presence dwells.

Main themes of Ezekiel 41

Ezekiel 41 (KJV)

1Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. 2And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits. 3Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. 4So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. 5After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. 6And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house. 7And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst. 8I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. 9The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within. 10And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. 11And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about. 12Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits. 13So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long; 14Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits. 15And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court; 16The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered; 17To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure. 18And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces; 19So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about. 20From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple. 21The posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other. 22The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD. 23And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door. 25And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without. 26And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks.

Verses to carry from Ezekiel 41

“So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place.”Ezekiel 41:4

“And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces;”Ezekiel 41:18

“The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD.”Ezekiel 41:22

Reflection

The layered design pulls the eye inward, past every court, toward the room where God dwells. It is a picture of holy longing, the desire to come near the center of all things. In Christ the veil is torn, and the way once guarded is open. Do not linger in the outer courts of a distant faith; draw near through him.

A prayer from Ezekiel 41