Yechezkal, Perakim 43-48
1) Perek Summaries
Perek 43: HaShem speaks to Yechezkal from ‘within the Beis Hamikdash,’ telling him that HaShem’s Presence will not leave this area and future spiritual prosperity and devotion are enumerated. Yechezkal is told to tell the people about the dimensions of the Beis Hamikdash to inspire them, and HaShem describes the procedure for the altar’s future inauguration.
Perek 44: The prince’s gate which is solely for the prince. (There’s a dispute whether this means the Kohen Gadol, the King, or the Moshiach). The good guys and the bad guys; those loyal to HaShem are to draw near to Him. Laws of the Kohannim (see dvar Torah below).
Perek 45: A new division of the land in future times. Inauguration offerings.
Perek 46: Public service at the gate on Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh. The prince’s offerings and portion.
Perek 47: Water exiting the Temple and flowing to an area with vegetation and vitality. Portion of the tribes.
Perek 48: The names of the tribes, land laws vis-à-vis Kohannim and Leviim, the gates of the city.
2) Dvar Torah; How/Why are the measurements of the mikdash supposed to inspire us?
In perek 43, HaShem tells Yechezkal to relate the measurements/dimensions of the future Beis Hamikdash to the people, and this should inspire them to repentance. How so; why should the mention of such dimensions have such an effect?
Perhaps we can answer this via a vital question on perek 44. Towards the end of that perek, HaShem lays out the laws of the Kohannim. The only problem is that they do not match the laws of Kohannim given in Sefer Vayikra?!? The Redak offers an approach here. He says that these laws in sefer Yechezkal (perek 44) will not override the Torah laws in Cumash Vayikra, but will merely add to them. This means that the laws in perek 44 are more stringent, so will go over and beyond those of Vayikra. So why this newfound stringency? For in the future Beis Hamikdash era, we will be ready for such a stringent approach. What this means is that in the times of the third Mikdash, we will have been raised up a spiritual notch (or two) and so we will be able to apply ourselves to more stringent laws. Similar to this is that which Rav Elchonon Wasserman cites that in the times of Moshiach we will act in accordance with the view of Beis Shamai as opposed to Beis Hilll. Why? Because Beis Shamai epitomised a midas-hadin-based stricter approach, and we will be spiritually worthy for that in the era of the Moshiach. We may now return to our original question.
Why should the dimensions of the future Mikdash have inspired us? Because receiving the dimensions is a way of conveying that we are ready for the Mikdash. It is a way of telling us ‘be prepared to be raised up a spiritual level whereby you can live with new stringent approaches.’ And if we are to be raised to such a level, it must be that we have the potential for reaching such a level. It is this message which is supposed to inspire us to repentance.
