No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
No foot of man shall pass through it ... neither shall it be inhabited forty years - corresponding to the 40 years in which the Israelites, their former bondsmen, wandered in "the wilderness" (cf. note, Ezekiel 29:5). Jerome remarks, the number 40 is one often connected with affliction and judgment. The rains of the flood in 40 days brought destruction on the world. Moses, Elias, and the Saviour fasted 40 days. The interval between Egypt's overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar and the deliverance by Cyrus was about 40 years. The ideal 40 years wilderness-state of social and political degradation, rather than a literal non-passing of man or beast for that term, is mainly intended (so Ezekiel 4:6; Isaiah 19:2; Isaiah 19:11).