Ezekiel 40:1-4

Ezekiel 40-48. The Temple.

Ezekiel 40:1. It is worthy of note that the sketch starts with the old familiar phrases the hand of Yahweh was upon me and in the visions of God (cf. Ezekiel 1:1). These phrases point to an ecstatic experience. It is highly improbable, though we need not say inconceivable, that the details of the sketch were flashed upon his inward eye in a trance. Doubtless for years his mind had been dwelling long and lovingly upon it; but there is nothing improbable in assuming that, in some sublime ecstasy, the vision rose before him as a whole, with all its parts compactly built together. It came to him on New Year's Day, when his heart would readily fill with hope and with thoughts of new beginnings. He seemed to be transported to the hill on which Jerusalem stood, only it seemed of far more than its natural height, and on it was the structure of the Temple, which itself looked like a city. He was accompanied by a supernatural guide, prepared to take the measurements of the building, and the prophet was instructed to declare to his people what he saw.