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Beit HaMikdash

מראות אלהים

Ezekiel's measured vision

In exile in Babylon, Ezekiel is led through a future House by a guide with a measuring reed. Walk it with him.

Follow the measuring line

Fourteen stations, in the order of the vision.

The wall and the reedNorth up, east right. Dashed: positions or heights not stated in the text.

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The guide

And He brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.
Ezekiel 40:3, JPS 1917

Ezekiel is set on a very high mountain and met by a figure like bronze, holding a line of flax and a measuring reed. Everything that follows is measured.

Chambers and kitchens

Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.

Ezekiel describes chambers for the priests on the north and south, and kitchens in the corners of the outer court where offerings were cooked. The Mishnah cites these corner courts when describing Ezrat Nashim.

The division of the land

Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.

The last chapters redivide the land among the tribes, with a sacred portion for the Sanctuary, the priests and the Levites, and the city whose name will be ‘The LORD is there’.

Where commentators differ

Open question: The sources disagree or are silent. The site does not choose an answer.

Rashi says plainly of one term that he does not know what it means. Rambam says the future Temple is not described clearly or completely. Commentators such as Malbim and the Tosafot Yom Tov attempted full reconstructions and reached different results.

Why the measurements?

Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.

Ezekiel is told to show the House to Israel so that they would be ashamed of their iniquities and keep its forms and laws. The measurements are a moral summons as much as a plan.

What is known?Confidence, from primary text to unknown

Established in primary text

  • The lengths and widths of gates, courts and house; the return of the Glory; the river.

Classical interpretation

  • How Ezekiel relates to the Second Temple and to the Mishnah.

Historically supported

Nothing on this page at this level.

Reconstructed

  • Heights, the position of gatehouses and every dashed line on the plan.

Unknown

  • The unit of the 500 measure, and how the vision will be fulfilled.