Module Religion Writing

Boisson 3

Jordan Boisson

The Hebrew Prophets

Prof. Matthew Goff

Fall 2021

A New Torah for the Temple

The specific aspects of the new temple include gates that resemble defensive walls of a city with several entries depicted as rooms that people can pass through to access the city. According to this structure, the people and the city are not the priority for protection, but rather, the temple and the holiness of Yahweh are given more precedence for protection from the profane world (Peterson 145). The gates are closed when the deity gets inside as opposed to permitting access to the city. "The entrance was ten cubits wide, and the projecting walls on each side of it were five cubits wide. He also measured the main hall; it was forty cubits long and twenty cubits wide." (Ezekiel 41: 2, ESV). This indicates the measurements that were specific to the new temple. What strikes as the oddest and interesting is that, in the renewed temple, the people who initially needed protection from God are now the actual threat to the new temple. This is because the new temple and the holiness of Yahweh are given utmost protection against the profane world.

The significance of the prophet having a vision of the strange temple while in exile may imply the end-time prophesy. The Bible says, "Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy when my sanctuary is among them forever." (Ezekiel 37:28, ESV). This supports the argument of the end-time prophesy as Ezekiel is redirected to the structure of the new temple that marks the third temple, as illustrated in other prophecies. The fact that the holiness of Yahweh is to be protected also supports the idea of end-time prophecy. This may also indicate that the exiles of Isreal are returning to the promised land, which is more protected than Jerusalem was. The open gates may indicate the entry for the exiled Israelites and close when they are safe in the promised land.

Work Cited

Petersen, D. L. (2002). The prophetic literature: An introduction. Westminster John Knox Press.

Coogan, Michael D. (2020), ed., The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version