Yechezkel 40:2

2 In the marot Elohim (visions of G-d, Divine visions) He brought me to Eretz Yisroel, and set me upon a very high mountain, on which was a mivneh (structure) resembling an ir to the negev (south).

Yechezkel 40:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 40:2

In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel,
&c.] Or by the spirit of prophecy, as the Targum again; that is, being under the impressions of the Spirit of God, it appeared to him, in a visionary way, as if he was really brought out of Chaldea, and set in the land of Israel; see ( Ezekiel 8:3 ) , as John was carried away in the spirit to see the New Jerusalem, ( Revelation 21:10 ) : and set me upon a very high mountain;
as John also was, that he might have a view of this large city and temple, which were to fill the whole world: thus Christ was taken up to an exceeding high mountain, to be shown the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, ( Matthew 4:8 ) , it is needless to inquire what this mountain was, whether Moriah, on which the temple was formerly built, or any other mountain near Jerusalem, since no material temple is exhibited to be built upon it; nor would such a mountain, especially Zion or Moriah, have been a proper place, if material temple at Jerusalem was here designed, which must have stood upon it; but this is visionary, as well as the city and temple; if it respects anything, it may the strength, the visibility, and exalted state of the church of Christ in the latter day; see ( Isaiah 2:2 ) : by, which was as the flame of a city on the south:
the prophet in the vision, and as to his view of things coming from Babylon, which lay north of Judea, has a prospect of the south of the city and temple; and, first, there appeared to him, to the south of the mountain on which he stood, the plan of a city; or which was as one, for the city is not described till last; the description is of the temple first; and which for its wall, gates, courts, and towers, looked more like a city than a temple; nothing is more common than for the church of Christ to be compared to a city, especially as in the latter day; see ( Psalms 87:3 ) .

Yechezkel 40:2 In-Context

1 0 In the five and twentieth year of our Golus, in the rosh hashanah [of Yovel (Jubilee)], in the tenth day of the month in the fourteenth year [573 B.C.E.] after the fall of the Ir [Yerushalayim] in the selfsame day the Yad Hashem was upon me, and brought me there.

2 In the marot Elohim (visions of G-d, Divine visions) He brought me to Eretz Yisroel, and set me upon a very high mountain, on which was a mivneh (structure) resembling an ir to the negev (south).

3 And He brought me there, and, hinei, there was an ish, whose appearance was like the appearance of nechoshet, with a cord of linen in his yad, and a keneh hamiddah (measuring rod); and he [the angelic being] stood in the sha’ar (i.e., the Eastern Gate; see further 43:1-5; 44:1-3; Hashem’s glory enters and exits here and Moshiach, see 44:3).

4 And the ish said unto me, Ben Adam, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine lev upon all that I shall show thee; for l’ma’an (to the intent, in order that) I might show them unto thee art thou brought here; declare all that thou seest to Bais Yisroel.

5 And, hinei, a chomah (wall) was on the outside of the Bais [Hamikdash] compound and was surrounding it, and in the yad of the ish was a keneh hamiddah of six long cubits, each a cubit and a handbreadth; so he [the angelic being] measured the thickness of the structure [of the chomah], one rod; and the wall’s height, one rod.