November 22, 2020: Day 92 – Ezekiel 40

The most tragic of all the losses of the people of Israel was not the lives of loved ones that could never be reclaimed, was not the land which had been promised to them since the time of Abraham, was not the wealth of material and livestock which would never be able to be replaced, but was the loss of the temple which meant that the presence of God would be limited  in a way that it had never been limited before.  Even while the Israelites were wandering in the desert at least they had the tabernacle where the presence of the Lord could be realized.  Here, in exile, and with the temple destroyed, the presence of the Lord was sketchy at best.

This chapter describes Ezekiel measuring out what would be the new reconstructed temple after the old one was destroyed.  It is fashioned after the temple that Solomon built which you can find in I Kings 6 and II Chronicles 3 both of which we have seen and described in all of its glory.  This chapter can be seen as a bit of a slow chapter with details that we wonder if we really need.  But remember, for the people of Israel these details breathed life into the people who desperately needed to hear good news that the presence of the Lord would be restored.  I am sure that there are times in our life when we desperately need a sign that the presence of the Lord would be restored in our lives, even if He has never been gone from us.  We sometimes just need to have that sign to provide us with a bit of hope.