Ezekiel · chapter 42 of 48
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Ezekiel 42 describes the holy chambers beside the inner court, where the priests eat the most holy offerings and leave their garments before approaching the people. Then the guide measures the temple's outer enclosure, a square five hundred reeds on each side, with a wall that separates the holy from the common.
After walking through the gates, the courts and the interior of the temple, Ezekiel 42 pauses at the service buildings and the perimeter. Though it seems technical, it teaches why the temple needs boundaries and preparation rooms: those who serve a holy God must take care how they approach him and how they return to the people.
The man leads Ezekiel out, into the outer court toward the north, and brings him to the chambers opposite the open space of the temple and opposite the building on the north. They are three stories high, with galleries, and their doors face north. A passage runs in front of them. The upper chambers are narrower because the galleries take away space from them, and they have no pillars like those of the courts, so their plan is different. There is an outer wall parallel to the chambers.
The guide explains the use of the north and south chambers: they are holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings, and where they will lay the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering, for the place is holy. When the priests enter, they will not go out of the holy place into the outer court without leaving there the garments in which they minister, for they are holy. They will put on other clothes before approaching the area meant for the people.
When he finishes measuring the interior of the temple, the guide brings him out by the east gate and measures the enclosure all around: with the measuring reed he measures the east side, the north, the south and the west, and each is five hundred reeds. The wall around the enclosure is meant to separate the holy from the common.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The chambers are holy, and there the priests who approach the Lord eat the most holy offerings. Serving a holy God includes caring for the places and times of fellowship with him.
The priests leave in that place the garments in which they minister, because they are holy, and put on other clothes before approaching the people. The change of clothes shows the distance between serving in the holy place and living in everyday life, and it protects both.
Ezekiel is brought out by the east gate and the guide measures the enclosure with the measuring reed. Measuring the whole gives the sense of a complete and orderly space that God himself designed.
The wall is five hundred reeds on each side and serves to separate the holy from the common. In the temple of the vision, holiness is not an abstract concept: it has a place, a boundary and a function.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Three stories, with galleries. — Ezekiel 42:3-5
Answer: The most holy offerings. — Ezekiel 42:13
Answer: The garments in which they minister, because they are holy. — Ezekiel 42:14
Answer: The gate that faces east. — Ezekiel 42:15
Answer: Five hundred reeds. — Ezekiel 42:16-19
Answer: To separate the holy from the common. — Ezekiel 42:20
The idea of changing clothes before returning to the people reminds us that someone who serves God cannot be the same everywhere. In a class or small group you can talk about how we move from prayer and worship into daily life without leaving behind what we received, and without turning religious service into a distance from people.
The wall that separates the holy from the common also raises an honest question: what boundaries do we set to protect what is sacred in our lives, such as time with God, family or a day of rest?
Ezekiel 42 closes the description of the temple enclosure with a wall that separates the holy from the common. In chapter 43 the glory of the Lord returns from the east and fills the temple.
They are the portions of certain offerings, such as the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering, assigned to the priests and eaten only by them in a holy place. The law of Moses treats them with special care. In the vision, the chambers serve that purpose.
It shows that God's holiness calls for care, and that worship has place and order. For Christians, the letter to the Hebrews teaches that Christ is the high priest who gives us access to God, and 1 Peter calls believers a holy priesthood. The chapter can be read as an invitation to reverence and to a life set apart for God.