Ezekiel 40 Footnotes

This is the last dated prophecy in the book, in the spring of 573 BC. It was not the last message chronologically, as the vision of 29:17-21 is older. Ezekiel was in the twenty-fifth year of exile. In this vision he was taken to Jerusalem, fourteen years after its fall (40:1), and the actual city was still in ruins. The language of this vision suggests Ezekiel believed he was seeing Jerusalem in a Jubilee Year of the latter days, evidence suggesting the advent of the millennial kingdom.

40:31-34,37,39-41 Many of the details of the temple complex the prophet envisioned had typological significance. Each of the gates in the inner court had eight steps instead of seven (vv. 31,34,37). Eight is a messianic number in rabbinic literature, suggesting the Messiah is the only way of access (Ac 4:12). Details such as a washroom for cleansing sacrifices and eight slaughter tables also pointed to the work of the Messiah, the perfect sacrifice (Heb 10:10).