Ezekiel · chapter 41 of 48
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Ezekiel 41 walks through the interior of the temple in the vision. His guide measures the nave, or holy place, enters the most holy place alone and measures the side chambers, the building on the west and the wood-paneled interior, with carved cherubim and palm trees. It ends with a wooden altar in front of the holy place and the doors of the sanctuary.
Chapter 40 described the outside of the temple with its gates and courts. Chapter 41 continues the guided tour inward, following the order of approach: first the main hall, then the most holy place. The language is still an architect's, but the decorations of cherubim and palm trees recall the tabernacle, Solomon's temple and the garden of Eden.
The guide leads Ezekiel to the nave, the holy place, and measures the doorposts of its entrance. Then he goes on to the most holy place and measures its entrance and its space, a square of twenty cubits. Ezekiel notes that only the guide enters that inner room, and that he tells him this is the most holy place.
Next he measures the wall of the temple and the side chambers that surround it on three levels, and the space around it, which widens as it rises. The chambers rest against the wall without being set into it. He also describes a building on the west, facing the open space of the temple, and the total measurements of the temple and its adjoining parts, which are one hundred cubits long.
The interior of the nave is paneled with wood, and on the walls are carved cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between each two cherubim, and each cherub has two faces: a man's face toward one palm and a young lion's face toward the other. The same decoration appears on the doors. In front of the holy place is something like a wooden altar, three cubits high, with a table, which the guide calls the table that is before the Lord. The temple and the holy place have doors with two swinging leaves, also adorned with cherubim and palm trees, and a wooden threshold at the vestibule.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The guide measures the most holy place and tells Ezekiel that this is the most holy place. The repetition shows the reverence that surrounds the place where God resides, and that one enters only with a guide.
The walls are carved with cherubim and palm trees, alternating. The decoration recalls the garden of Eden and God's presence, and makes the temple a picture of the place where God and humanity meet again.
In front of the holy place is a wooden altar, which the guide calls the table that is before the Lord. It is a picture of fellowship with God, similar to the table of the bread of the presence in the tabernacle.
The doors of the holy place and the temple carry the same cherubim and palm trees as the walls. The whole building shares one visual language: creation restored and God's nearness.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The doorposts of the entrance to the nave, the holy place. — Ezekiel 41:1
Answer: The guide; Ezekiel stays outside. — Ezekiel 41:3-4
Answer: Twenty cubits, a square. — Ezekiel 41:4
Answer: Cherubim and palm trees, alternating. — Ezekiel 41:18
Answer: Two: the face of a man and the face of a young lion. — Ezekiel 41:18-19
Answer: A wooden altar, called the table that is before the Lord. — Ezekiel 41:21-22
The temple of Ezekiel 41 says something about how we approach God: there is order and reverence. For Christians that approach no longer depends on a building, because the New Testament teaches that through Christ we have free access to the Father. Even so, reverence remains fitting. In a small group you can talk about how to keep reverence without losing closeness in prayer.
The cherubim and palm trees also invite us to remember that God wants to restore his creation. The image of Eden in the temple suggests that God's work points toward a world where his presence fills everything again.
Ezekiel 41 completes the tour of the temple's interior, up to the most holy place and the wooden altar. Chapter 42 moves on to the priests' chambers and the outer measurements of the whole enclosure.
Because under Israel's law only the high priest could enter the most holy place, once a year. Ezekiel is a priest, but in the vision he stays outside and only the guide goes in. This underlines the holiness of the place and that no one can approach without preparation.
Cherubim are beings that accompany God's presence, and in Ezekiel 1 and 10 they appear with four faces. Here, with two faces, the carving combines that of a man and a lion, set between palm trees. The exact meaning is debated, but the image evokes the heavenly court and the garden of Eden in the temple.