Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Ezekiel
Chapter 41: This Is the Most Holy Place
The guide leads Ezekiel from the courts into the temple building itself and measures its two great rooms: the holy place, and then the innermost chamber, a perfect twenty-cubit square, of which he says simply, 'This is the most holy place.' Around the sanctuary run graded side chambers, and over every wall and door, from floor to ceiling, are carved cherubim and palm trees, guardian holiness and Edenic life woven through the whole house. At the center stands a wooden altar the guide calls 'the table that is before the LORD.' Every detail declares the same thing: God is preparing a dwelling that is holy at its heart, guarded, beautiful, and open to fellowship, the place where He will meet with His people.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Ezekiel chapter 41, the measuring of the temple sanctuary. For each section you will find the KJV text, key word studies, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. As with the whole vision (chapters 40-48), we keep the text before us, note what matters, and draw out the meaning rather than dwell on every cubit. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Holy and Most Holy
Two rooms: the holy place, and the innermost most holy place.
Winding Still Upward
Graded side rooms rising around the house on every side.
Cherubim and Palm Trees
Guardian holiness and Edenic life covering every wall and door.
Before the LORD
A wooden altar called "the table that is before the LORD."
This Is the Most Holy Place (Ezekiel 41:1-11)
The guide measures the temple's holy place and the innermost most holy place, and the graded side chambers that rise around the house, the sacred heart of God's dwelling, set apart at the center of everything.
Then Went He Inward
"Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits. Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house. And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst. I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within. And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about."
Word Study
"the most holy place," qodesh haqodashim (קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים). Literally "holy of holies," the innermost room, a perfect twenty-cubit square, the dwelling of God's presence. Under the old covenant "into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood" (Hebrews 9:7). It is the most guarded, most sacred spot in the whole design, and everything else, courts, gates, chambers, is arranged around it. Notably it is a perfect cube, like the holy of holies in Solomon's temple, and like the New Jerusalem whose "length and the breadth and the height of it are equal" (Revelation 21:16), the whole city become a most holy place.
"which was the breadth of the tabernacle." The guide ties this vision-temple back to "the tabernacle," the wilderness tent Moses built. From the tabernacle, to Solomon's temple, to this vision, to the true temple in Christ, God's dwelling with man is one continuous purpose, unfolding in stages. The details change; the aim never does: God among His people.
Explanation
The guide brings Ezekiel "to the temple", the sanctuary building, and measures its main hall, "forty cubits" long. Then he goes "inward" to the innermost room, measures it a perfect "twenty cubits" square, and says the weightiest words of the chapter: "This is the most holy place." This is the heart of the whole vision, the room where God's presence dwells, set apart at the very center.
Around the sanctuary run "side chambers", three stories of them, "thirty in order," their design "winding about still upward" so the house widens as it rises. These rooms rested on the structure but "had not hold in the wall of the house" itself, they leaned on it without piercing the sacred wall. The picture is of a holy core, untouched and inviolable, surrounded by ordered, supporting rooms. Everything is arranged to protect and to serve the most holy place at the center.
Gospel Focus
"This is the most holy place." Under the old covenant that room was sealed off behind a veil, entered by one man, once a year, never without blood, a standing declaration that "the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest" (Hebrews 9:8). Then Jesus died, and "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matthew 27:51). The most holy place was thrown open. Now the gospel says the unthinkable: ordinary believers have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil" (Hebrews 10:19-20). The room that once excluded all but the high priest is now the believer's home of prayer. And the perfect cube of the most holy place points ahead to the day when the whole city of God is a holy of holies, "the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal", and God dwells with His people with no veil at all. The center of everything is the presence of God, and Christ has opened the way in.
The Table That Is Before the LORD (Ezekiel 41:12-26)
The guide measures the surrounding building and describes the temple's adornment, cherubim and palm trees carved over every wall and door, with a wooden altar he calls "the table that is before the LORD," and the sanctuary's double doors.
A Palm Tree Between a Cherub and a Cherub
"Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits. So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long; Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits. And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court; The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered; To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure. And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces; So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about. From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple. The posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other. The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD. And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors. And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door. And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without. And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks."
Word Study
"cherubims and palm trees," keruvim (כְּרוּבִים). Carved over every wall and door "through all the house round about." Cherubim are the guardians of God's holiness, first seen at Eden's gate, where God placed "Cherubims, and a flaming sword... to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24). Palm trees speak of life and flourishing. Together, "a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub," they weave the whole story of redemption into the walls: the holiness that once barred sinners from the tree of life, and the life of Eden restored where God again dwells with man. Each cherub shows "the face of a man" and "the face of a young lion," echoing the living creatures of chapters 1 and 10.
"the table that is before the LORD," shulchan (שֻׁלְחָן). The guide calls the wooden altar "the table that is before the LORD." A table speaks of fellowship, of eating in someone's presence. In the tabernacle it was the table of showbread, the bread of the Presence, a standing sign of communion between God and His people. "Thou preparest a table before me" (Psalm 23:5); and in Christ we share "the Lord's table" (1 Corinthians 10:21). At the heart of God's house is not only holiness but hospitality, a table where He welcomes His people to fellowship.
Explanation
After measuring the surrounding building and galleries, the guide turns to the temple's adornment, and here the vision grows beautiful. Every wall and door, "from the ground up to the windows," "round about within and without," is carved "with cherubims and palm trees," arranged so that "a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub." Each cherub has two faces, "the face of a man" and "the face of a young lion," turned toward the palms on either side. The whole interior is covered with these figures of guardian holiness and flourishing life.
At the center stands "the altar of wood", which the guide identifies as "the table that is before the LORD." And the sanctuary has "two doors," each with folding leaves, likewise carved with "cherubims and palm trees." The impression is complete: God's house is holy at its core, guarded by cherubim, alive with the palms of Eden, and furnished with a table of fellowship before the LORD. Holiness and welcome meet in the same room.
Gospel Focus
The cherubim and palm trees carved through the whole house tell the gospel on the walls. At the beginning, cherubim with a flaming sword guarded the way to the tree of life, because sin had shut man out of God's presence (Genesis 3:24). Now, in the house where God will dwell with His people, the cherubim stand among palm trees of life, the barred way reopened, Eden restored. This is exactly the end of the Bible's story: through Christ the redeemed "have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14). The flaming sword fell on Christ at the cross, and the way back to life is open. And notice "the table that is before the LORD" at the center. God's house is not only holy; it is hospitable. The One who dwells in the most holy place spreads a table and invites His people to fellowship, "Thou preparest a table before me" (Psalm 23:5). In Christ that table is ours, "the Lord's table" (1 Corinthians 10:21), where we commune with Him who opened the holiest by His blood. Holiness guarded, life restored, fellowship offered, the walls themselves preach Christ.
Chapter 41 in Review
Ezekiel 41 measures the sanctuary itself. The guide leads the prophet into the temple, measures the holy place and then the innermost room, a perfect square, of which he says, "This is the most holy place." Around the sanctuary rise graded side chambers that lean on the holy structure without piercing it, guarding the sacred core. Then the vision turns beautiful: every wall and door is carved "with cherubims and palm trees," "a palm tree between a cherub and a cherub," each cherub bearing the face of a man and of a young lion. At the center stands the wooden altar the guide calls "the table that is before the LORD," and the sanctuary's double doors are carved with the same cherubim and palms.
For the Apostolic reader every detail preaches. The most holy place, once sealed behind a veil and entered by one man once a year, was thrown open when the veil tore at Christ's death, and now believers enter "the holiest by the blood of Jesus." The cherubim and palm trees rehearse the whole story of redemption: the guardian holiness that once barred fallen man from the tree of life, and the life of Eden restored where God dwells with His people again. And "the table that is before the LORD" declares that at the heart of God's house is not only awesome holiness but a welcome to fellowship, the table that is ours in Christ. God is preparing a dwelling that is holy, guarded, alive, and hospitable, and Christ has opened the way in.
- The most holy place is the center of everything; God's presence is the heart of His house (41:4; Hebrews 9:7).
- Its perfect cube points to the New Jerusalem, where the whole city becomes a holy of holies (41:4; Revelation 21:16).
- The veil is torn; believers now enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus (41:4; Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 10:19-20).
- Cherubim and palm trees weave together guarded holiness and restored Edenic life (41:18; Genesis 3:24; Revelation 22:14).
- God's dwelling continues one purpose from the tabernacle to Christ to the New Jerusalem (41:1).
- "The table that is before the LORD": at the heart of holiness is a welcome to fellowship (41:22; Psalm 23:5; 1 Corinthians 10:21).
Questions for Reflection
- The most holy place, once closed to all but one, is now open to you in Christ. How often do you actually enter it in prayer?
- The walls joined guarded holiness with the palms of restored life. How do God's holiness and His grace meet in your understanding of Him?
- God set a "table before the LORD" at the center of His house. What does His desire for fellowship, not just reverence, mean to you?
- The flaming sword that barred Eden fell on Christ. How does that shape your gratitude for access to God's presence?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Key terms: qodesh haqodashim ("most holy place," verse 4); keruvim ("cherubims," verse 18); shulchan ("table," verse 22). The most holy place and the old-covenant restriction: Hebrews 9:7-8; the perfect cube compared to the New Jerusalem: Revelation 21:16; the veil torn open in Christ: Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 10:19-20. Cherubim guarding the way to the tree of life: Genesis 3:24; the way reopened in Christ: Revelation 22:14. Palm trees as life and flourishing: Psalm 92:12; 1 Kings 6:29. "The table that is before the LORD" compared to the table of the Lord and God's hospitality: Psalm 23:5; 1 Corinthians 10:21. The continuity of God's dwelling from tabernacle to temple to Christ (John 2:19-21) to the church (1 Corinthians 3:16) to the New Jerusalem. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The sanctuary measured, the holy place and the most holy place: Ezekiel 41:1-11; Hebrews 9:7-8; Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 10:19-20.
- Cherubim and palm trees, and the table before the LORD: Ezekiel 41:12-26; Genesis 3:24; Revelation 22:14; Psalm 23:5; 1 Corinthians 10:21.