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Ezekiel41

Ezekiel 41 meticulously details the measurements and architectural features of the visionary temple's inner structure. The prophet is guided through the temple, where the dimensions of the holy place and the most holy place are precisely recorded. Surrounding the main edifice are three stories of side chambers, and the interior is adorned with carvings of cherubims and palm trees, along with a wooden altar.

Dimensions of the Temple Building

1
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 tent. ​
2
The 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.
3
Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits.
4
He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy place. ​

Structure of the Side Chambers

5
Then 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. ​
6
The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported, and not penetrate the wall of the house. ​
7
The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the breadth of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.
8
I 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. ​
9
The 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.
10
Between the rooms was a breadth of twenty cubits around the house on every side.
11
The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.

The Western Building and Overall Length

12
The 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. ​
13
So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;
14
also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.
15
He 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; ​

Interior Decoration and Furnishings

16
the 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), ​
17
to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.
18
It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces; ​
19
so 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. It was made like this through all the house all around: ​
20
from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.
21
As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple.
22
The 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 the LORD. ​
23
The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24
The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other.
25
There 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.
26
There 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.

Study Notes for Ezekiel 41

Verse 1

The vision now moves inside the Temple (Hekal) proper. The detailed measurements emphasize the reality and precision of God’s plan, though the structure remains purely visionary.

Verse 4

The dimensions of the inner chamber (20 cubits square) match the dimensions of the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies) in Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6:20), signifying continuity in the dwelling place of God.

Verse 5

These side chambers (Hebrew: *tzela'ot*) were rooms built around the exterior of the Temple walls, used by the priests for storage, changing clothes, or lodging (cf. Ezek. 42:13).

Verse 6

The chambers were built into the wall structure by resting on ledges or offsets, ensuring that the inner sacred wall of the Temple proper was not pierced or violated by the support beams.

Verse 8

The use of a 'full reed of six great cubits' (meaning six cubits plus a handbreadth, cf. Ezek. 40:5) stresses the monumental and precise nature of the measurements being recorded.

Verse 12

This describes a large, separate structure to the west, situated in the 'separate place' (*gizarah*). Its purpose is unstated, but it likely served as a utility, storage, or treasury building for the sanctuary complex.

Verse 15

This verse summarizes the overall length of the inner complex, confirming that the entire area from the front of the Temple to the back of the western building measured 100 cubits.

Verse 16

The description shifts from pure dimensions to internal features, noting the narrow windows and the extensive use of wood paneling, characteristic of ancient sacred architecture.

Verse 18

The walls were decorated with alternating cherubim and palm trees. This motif, echoing the decoration of Solomon’s Temple, symbolizes the presence of divine guardians and the paradisiacal purity of God’s dwelling.

Verse 19

The cherubim here are described with two faces (man and lion), a variation on the four-faced cherubim seen in Ezekiel’s initial vision (Ezek. 1:10), showing symbolic flexibility in representing divine beings.

Verse 22

The wooden structure described is identified by the guide as 'the table that is before the LORD,' likely the Table of Showbread (cf. Exod. 25:23), emphasizing communion and covenant sustenance within the inner sanctuary.

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