In researching this section of the Book of Ezekiel, I have found it described as one of the most hotly debated and troublesome passages of scripture!
Ezekiel's temple vision is a conundrum primarily for these reasons:
1. It is described in very specific, concrete details that sound very much like a physical (not symbolic) structure. It reads as almost a blueprint like other Old Testament descriptions of the Tabernacle and Temple.
2. No past physical temple (Solomon's, Zerubbabel's, or Herod's) meets the specifications of Ezekiel's vision. Some scholars thus conclude it to be an as-yet-unfulfilled prophecy of a future temple.
3. Such a "future Temple" is described by Ezekiel as consisting of animal sacrifices and Old Testament rituals conducted by an Aaronic priesthood. Much of the New Testament describes the New Covenant replacing such regulations. On what basis would they be re-instituted?
4. It has been suggested that Ezekiel may be describing the spiritual temple of the Church or the lives of individual Christians as envisioned by New Testament writers. But, if so, why the highly detailed and precise measurements and physical descriptions? It is hard to correlate these statements with any spiritual analog.
In the chapter analysis of this section of Ezekiel, I will consider various theories that have been put forward to explain just what Ezekiel was seeing and what it meant (and still means!)
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