The Glory Returns by the East Gate
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. 2 Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 3 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 Yahweh’s glory came into the house by the way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5 The Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, Yahweh’s glory filled the house. 6 I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and a man stood by me. 7 He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; 8 in their setting of their threshold by my threshold and their door post beside my door post. There was a wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings far from me. Then I will dwell among them forever. 10 “You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. 11 If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, its fashion, its exits, its entrances, its structure, all its ordinances, all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them. 12 “This is the law of the house. On the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
The glory comes back into the house by the gate it left through, and the first thing said about the plan is that it is meant to produce shame.
The chapter opens at the east gate, and the direction is not incidental. The glory had gone out from the threshold to the east gate, and from there to the mountain east of the city Ezekiel 10:19 Ezekiel 11:23. Now the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, along the same line, in reverse.
The description is short and the text stops to make an identification. The voice is like the sound of many waters. The earth shines with the glory. And then: It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw... when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar. Three sightings are joined into one — the canal in exile, the departure from the doomed city, and this. The book insists that they are the same, and the prophet's response is the one from chapter 1: I fell on my face.
Then the glory enters by the east gate, the Spirit takes him into the inner court, and the house is filled. What is said from inside it is the sentence the whole book has been moving toward: Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The wheels of chapter 1 established that the throne was mobile. Here it stops.
The conditions are stated immediately and they concern proximity. The kings had set their threshold by God's threshold and their doorpost beside his, with only a wall between, and had defiled his holy name by what they did in that space. The problem named is not distance but a nearness taken carelessly. And the sequel is stated as a fresh offer: Now let them put away their prostitution... Then I will dwell among them forever.
The last three verses give the vision its own stated purpose, and they should govern every reading of chapters 40 to 48. Show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. Then a condition follows — if they are ashamed of all that they have done — and only then is the full plan to be written out in their sight, so that they may keep the whole form of it. The measurements were never given as an end in themselves. They are shown to a people so that the gap between the plan and their record becomes visible, and the shame is the intended first result.
settled What this mark means