Chapter 46. Prescriptions Concerning the Earthly Temple. A Final View of the Heavenly Temple.
In these final Chapter s of Ezekiel from 40 onwards we have had two parallel themes, the one was the heavenly temple ‘on top of the mountain' in which Ezekiel was led from one aspect to another by a heavenly visitant as he measured each aspect of the temple, and the other was the earthly sanctuary with regard to which all that was to be done was explained by the specific command of Yahweh. This had to be so, for it was not yet built.
On this basis we are here in these first verses dealing with the earthly sanctuary yet to be built. However in Ezekiel 46:19 we move into the heavenly sanctuary, where once again Ezekiel is led around by his heavenly visitant preparatory to the great vision of the overflowing river. The two sanctuaries are closely connected, for the one is the visible and tangible, but faint, representation of the other, but it is to the other that the hopes are directed.