Similarities
The Heave Offering
If we compare the plan of the temple to the holy district- the heave offering in Ezekiel 45:1/ Ezekiel 48 we can see that there is a significant similarity. The holy district consists of three parts:
the part of the town (with fields) - a square of 5 000 cubits
in a district of 5 000 x 25 000 cubits.
the part of the Priests- a district of 10 000 x 25 000 cubits
and the part of the Levites- a district of 10 000 x 25 000 cubits
The temple will be located in the district of the priests.
Similar factor 50
Now lets compare the Heave offering to the description of the temple.
The dimension of the Heave offering is a square of 25 000 x 25 000 cubits. The temple is also a square but smaller. It's a square of 500 x 500 cubits. So the factor to calculate is 50.
Also interesting: the temple has the same partition as the heave offering.
For ex. there is a special part for the priests.
If we compare the dimensions of the town (5 000 / 4 500 cubits) to the whole heave offering we can see that it is the same as the dimension of the building on the back of the temple including the dimensions of the walls!
Remember: the factor to calculate is 50.
Calculation example:
Ezekiel 41:12
-
Ezekiel 48:16 17
building with walls
90 cubits
the factor
x 50
town without fields
= 4 500 cubits
building with walls
100 cubits
the factor
x 50
town with fields
= 5 000 cubits
The district of the priests in the heave offering is 25 000 x 10 000. Divided with our factor 50: 500 x 200. In our plan of the temple this is the place of the Temple house with the inner court- the part of the priests.
The main part of the outer court is the region of the Levites with the same dimensions.
The temple has a surrounding area of 500 reeds. If we draw this in our Heave offering we get a square around the temple. In the overlay with the temple we can see the width of 60 cubits (templehouse) and again the factor 50.
As we can see now is the plan of the temple and the plan of the heave- offering are nearly the same.
Please notice the location of the altar and the temple: they are in the absolute center. The temple is the area where expiation takes place- the ariel.
20 lā·šā·ḵō·wṯ
Read the hebrew text and you can find another astonishing detail. There are the same "lə·šā·ḵō·wṯ" in Ezekiel 45 and 40: Ezekiel 45:5 says that the Levites will get twenty “lə·šā·ḵō·wṯ”, “rooms” in the heave offering.
This is exactly the number of the thirty “lə·šā·ḵō·wṯ” “rooms” mentioned in the plan of the temple because 10 of them are in the district of the priests. So there are twenty “lə·šā·ḵō·wṯ” in the part of the Levites (Ezekiel 40:17).
Count the little blue squares in the district of the Levites!
