The Measurement of the East Gate.
‘Then he went into the gateway which looked towards the east, and went up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad, and the other threshold, one reed broad. And the side-rooms (or ‘guard chambers') were one reed long and one reed broad. And the space between the side-rooms was five cubits. And the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate towards the house was one reed.'
The East Gate was the main approach to the temple and was thus seen as very important (compare Ezekiel 10:19; Ezekiel 11:1 and see Ezekiel 43:4; Ezekiel 44:2). It consisted of an inner and outer gate with an oblong passageway in between, at each end of which was a vestibule and with guard rooms up the sides, the whole being fifty cubits long and twenty five cubits wide.
The temple complex as a whole would be oriented east to west, (thus the importance of the east gate), and consisted of an outer court approached through the gate, and then, within that outer court, surrounded by it on three sides (north, south and east), an inner court leading into the sanctuary itself, which sanctuary was surrounded on three sides (north, south and west) by a small temple yard (a ‘separate place') within the inner court area. The whole edifice was built on a platform raising it above the surrounding area, with the inner court also on a further platform rising above the outer court, and the sanctuary still higher.
Steps (probably seven - compare Ezekiel 40:22; Ezekiel 40:26) led up from outside the temple to the outer threshold of the gateway (which itself led to the outer court), which again was one reed broad. And passing through the initial gateway there were three side-rooms or guard chambers on each side of the open ‘corridor' within the gateway, a corridor which led up to the threshold of the porch (or vestibule) at the far end, which was again one reed broad. The purpose of the measurements was to demonstrate the continual perfect symmetry of the whole.
‘Five cubits.' Five and its multiples were a regular measure in the tabernacle and were indicative of the covenant relationship. Five is the number of covenant. It is thus prominent in this heavenly temple.
(There were five fingers to the hand with which covenants were confirmed, five commandments on each tablet of stone in the giving of the covenant, five books of the Law, and of the Psalms, five loaves in the covenant feeding of the five thousand of Israel, multiples of five were in common use in the tabernacle, and so on).
This gate, the east gate, along with the north and south gates, granted the only access to the temple precincts. Between the three they thus ensured that there was a ‘complete' and sufficient way in to the dwelling-place of God provided for His people, as the fact of ‘three' gates indicated. (Three was the number of completeness throughout the ancient Near East, often divine, as seven was the number of divine perfection).
But its construction also brings home that it was an access that was closely guarded (thus the guard chambers), giving ‘complete' security (threefold on each side) and excluding the profane. Let no one dare to enter who was unfit. The raising of the temple on a platform, which explains the need for the steps, indicated that it was other-worldly, raised above the outside world, (compare Isaiah 2:2-3), in the world but not of it. It was not of this world.
So God was indicating to His people by this that they could once more approach Him with confidence if they were pure, and that a way was provided for them which none other could use unless they entered the covenant, for nothing profane could approach Him.
The construction of the gateway is very similar in design to a Solomonic gateway discovered at Megiddo, and has affinities with Syrian and Palestinian temples such as that at Carchemish. When God was designing for His people He did so in terms of their current environment, as He had done previously with the tabernacle and the sacrificial system.