If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.
11 June. Ezekiel chapters 38-41
Chapters 38-39 are totally unexpected after what came before, and seem out of place here. Just as Ezekiel has started describing God’s favour to the Israelites and promising them peace and security, here comes a prophecy of a future invasion by “Gog” against their unprotected towns and villages. The Israelites would win, however, and God’s punishment would be on Gog. So, unexpectedly, we are back to an older understanding of God pitting one country against another and judging whole peoples rather than individuals.
At the beginning of Chapter 40 Ezekiel is transported in the Spirit to Jerusalem for a second time (the first such experience, described in chapters 8-11, was to reveal the future destruction of the city). As I explained then [1 June], such experience of physical transportation from one place to another as a part of extreme spiritual experience is not unique in religious writings. From here to chapter 45, Ezekiel is given a vision of a future temple. Chapters 40-41 are concerned with the overall dimensions of the walls, gates and the buildings within the courtyard.
Although the basic concept of outer and inner courts, nave and “most holy place” are familiar both from Solomon’s earlier temple and in later Christian church plans, the description of this structure is not that of the temple that was actually built in the following generations under Nehemiah. Depending on which websites you look at (Jewish or Christian) and on your understanding (if any) of the “Millennium” referred to by some Christians, it might have been a vision for how that temple should have been built, or for an actual physical temple that will, someday, be built, or it may be an allegory of some kind. The latter view is taken by this website which does include a helpful 3-D illustration of Ezekiel’s vision.