The Makers and Teachers of Judaism - Charles Foster Kent

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brought me in an inspired vision to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a city-like building toward the south. Thither he brought me, and there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a flaxen line and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and give heed to all that I shall show thee; for, in order that thou shouldst be shown it wert thou brought hither; declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 40:5] There was a wall encircling a temple, and in the man's hand a measuring reed six cubits long, each cubit being equal to about twenty-one inches. And he measured the thickness of the building one reed (about ten and one-half feet); and the height one reed.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 40:6–12] Then he came to the east gateway and went up its steps and measured the threshold of the gate one reed wide. And each guard-room was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the guard-rooms were spaces of five cubits; and the threshold of the gate at the vestibule of the gate on the inner side was one reed. Then he measured the vestibule of the gate, eight cubits, and its jambs, two cubits; and the vestibule of the gate was on the inner side. And the guard-rooms of the east gate were three on each side; and all three were of the same dimensions; and the posts were on both sides. And he measured the breadth of the entrance to the gateway, ten cubits; and the width of the gate, thirteen cubits; and there was a sill one cubit wide, before the guard-rooms on each side; and the guard-rooms, six cubits on both sides.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 40:13, 15] And he measured the gate from the outer wall of the one guard-room to the outer wall of the other, twenty-five cubits wide [about forty-four feet]; door opposite door. And from the front of the gateway at the entrance to the front of the inner vestibule of the gate were fifty cubits.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 40:17, 19] Then he brought me to the outer court, and there were chambers and a pavement made round about the court; thirty chambers were upon the pavement. And he measured its breadth from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court without, one hundred cubits on the east and on the north.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 40:20, 21b, 24b] And the north gateway of the outer court, he measured its length and breadth. And its measurements were the same as those of the east gateway. The dimensions of the gateway on the south were also the same as the others.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 40:44–47] He brought me outside the gate and into the inner court, and there were two chambers on the inner court, one by the north gate, facing the south, and the other by the south gate, facing the north. And he said to me, This chamber which faces the south is for the priests who have charge of the temple; and the chamber which faces the north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; they are the sons of Zadok, those of the sons of Levi who may be near to Jehovah to serve him. And he measured the court, a hundred cubits wide, and a hundred cubits broad—a perfect square. The altar was in front of the temple.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 41:1,2] Then he brought me into the hall of the temple and measured the jambs, six cubits on each side. And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side; and he measured its length, forty cubits; and its width, twenty cubits.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 41:3, 4] Then he went into the inner room and measured the jambs of its entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the side-walls of the entrance, seven cubits on each side. And he measured its length, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, before the hall of the temple. And he said to me, This is the most holy place.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 41:5–8a] Then he measured the thickness of the wall of the temple, six cubits; and the width of the side-chambers, four cubits, round about the temple on every side. And the side-chambers were in three stories, one above another, and thirty in each story; and there were abatements all around the walls of the temple that the side-chambers might be fastened to them and not to the walls of the temple. And the side-chambers became wider as they went up higher and higher, for the temple grew narrower higher up; and there was an ascent from the lowest story to the highest through the middle story. And I saw also that the temple had a raised platform round about.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 43:1–5] Then he brought me to the east gate. And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the east; and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with his glory. And the vision which I saw was like that which I saw when he came to destroy the city; and the visions were like that which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. Then the glory of Jehovah came into the temple through the east gate. And the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the temple.

      [Sidenote: Ezek. 43:6–9] Then I heard One speaking to me from the temple, as he stood by me. And he said to me, O man, this is the place of my throne, and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites forever. And the house of Israel, they and their kings, shall no more defile my holy name with their idolatry and with the corpses of their kings by placing their thresholds by my threshold, and their door-posts by my door-post, with only a wall between me and them, thus defiling my holy name by the abominations which they have committed; therefore I have destroyed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their idolatry, and the corpses of their kings far from me, that I may dwell in the midst of them forever.

      [Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 44:9–14] Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, 'No foreigner, consecrated neither in heart nor flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the Israelites, shall enter my sanctuary. But those Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, shall bear their guilt. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and ministering in the temple; they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them and minister to them. Since they were wont to minister to them before their idols and were a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore I have taken a solemn oath against them,' is the oracle of the Lord Jehovah, 'and they shall bear their guilt. And they shall not approach me to act as priests to me, so as to come near any of my sacred things, or to those which are most sacred; but they shall bear their shame and the punishment for the abominations which they have committed; I will make them responsible for the care of the temple, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.

      [Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 44:15–16] But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who took charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me fat and blood,' is the oracle of the Lord Jehovah. 'They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach near to my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.

      [Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 44:23–24] And they shall teach my people the difference between the sacred and the common, and instruct them how to discern between the clean and the unclean. And in a controversy they shall act as judges, judging it according to my ordinances. And they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall maintain the sanctity of my sabbaths.'

      [Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 45:2–5] When ye allot the land as inheritance, ye shall offer as a special gift to Jehovah, a sacred portion of the land, five thousand cubits long, and twenty thousand cubits wide; it shall be sacred throughout its entire extent. And out of this area shalt thou measure off a space twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, and on it shall the most holy sanctuary stand. It is a holy portion of the land; it shall belong to the priests who are the ministers in the sanctuary, who draw near to minister to Jehovah; and it shall be a place for their houses, and an open space for the sanctuary. Out of this a square of five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with an open space fifty cubits wide around it. And a space twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the temple; it shall be their possession for cities in which to dwell.

      [Sidenote: Cor. Ezek. 45:6–8] And as the possession of the city, ye shall assign a space five thousand cubits wide, and twenty-five thousand long, beside the sacred reservation; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel. And the prince shall have the space on both sides of the sacred reservation and the possession

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