Ezekiel 40:1

1 In the five and twentieth year of our passing over, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in this same day the hand of the Lord was made on me, and he brought me thither (In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, or of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, on this same day the hand of the Lord was made upon me, and he brought me there)

Ezekiel 40:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 40:1

In the five and twentieth year of our captivity
That is, from Jeconiah's captivity, from whence this prophet begins his dates: he calls it our captivity, because he himself was then carried captive; and this was twenty years after his first vision; see ( Ezekiel 1:1 Ezekiel 1:2 ) : in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month;
the Jews had two beginnings of their year, the one on civil accounts, which was in the autumnal equinox, in the month Tisri, which answers to part of our September; and if this is meant here, the tenth day of it was the day of atonement, in which the Jews were to afflict their souls; but on this day the prophet has a view of the Gospel church, which receives the atonement by the sacrifice of Christ: the other beginning of the year, which was on ecclesiastic accounts, was in the vernal equinox, the month Nisan, which answers to part of our March; and the tenth day of it was the day that the passover lamb was separated from the flock, and kept up till the fourteenth; the time between Christ's public entry into Jerusalem, and his being sacrificed as the passover for us. Some interpreters go one way, some the other: it is not easy to determine which is meant; though I think more probably the latter, since church affairs are chiefly here represented. This, according to the Talmudists {n}, was the year of the jubilee: Bishop Usher ^F15 places it in the year of the world 3430 A.M., and before Christ 574; and makes the day to be the thirtieth of April, and the third day of the week (Tuesday); and, as to the year, Mr. Whiston ^F16 agrees with, him: in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten;
taken, broken up, and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; its walls demolished; its houses burnt, and inhabitants put to the sword, or carried captive. This was in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, to which add the fourteen years from hence and they make twenty five, as reckoned from Jeconiah's captivity: in the self-same day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me
hither;
that is, on the tenth day of the month, of the new year, begin when it will. The Spirit of the Lord, which is sometimes called the finger of God, and the power of God, this fell upon him, or was laid on him, and impressed his mind and soul; and he in a visionary way, as appears by what follows, was brought into, the land of Israel, and to Jerusalem, according as things were represented to his mind; though, as to his body, he was still in the land of Chaldea. The Targum interprets "the hand of the Lord" the spirit of prophecy; see ( Ezekiel 1:3 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F14 T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 12. 1.
F15 Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3430.
F16 Chronological Tables, cent. 10.

Ezekiel 40:1 In-Context

1 In the five and twentieth year of our passing over, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in this same day the hand of the Lord was made on me, and he brought me thither (In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, or of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, on this same day the hand of the Lord was made upon me, and he brought me there)

2 in the revelations of God. And he brought me into the land of Israel, and he let me down on a full high hill, on which was as the building of a city going to the south; (in a vision from God. And he brought me into the land of Israel, and he let me down on a very high hill, on which were like the buildings of a city going towards the south/on which were like the buildings of a city in front of me;)

3 and he led me in thither. And lo! a man, whose likeness was as the likeness of brass, and a cord of flax was in his hand, and a reed of measure in his hand; forsooth he stood in the gate. (and he led me in there. And lo! a man, whose form was like bronze, and a cord of flax was in his hand, and a measuring reed, or a measuring rod, was in his hand; and he stood by the gate.)

4 And the same man spake to me, (saying,) Thou, son of man, see with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart on all things which I shall show to thee, for thou art brought hither that those be showed to thee (for thou hast been brought there so that they could be shown to thee); tell thou all things which thou seest to the house of Israel.

5 And lo! a wall withoutforth, in the compass of the house (of the Lord) on each side; and in the hand of the man was a reed of measure of six cubits and a span, that is, an handbreadth; and he meted the breadth of the building with one reed, and the highness by one reed. (And lo! a wall outside, all around the House of the Lord, or the Temple, on every side; and in the man's hand was a measuring rod of six cubits, reckoning by the long cubit, that is, a cubit and a hand's breadth; and he measured the breadth of the wall, one rod, and its height, one rod.)