an opening · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
gate
שַׁ֕עַרSha.'ar
H8179
an opening · noun, common masculine singular absolute
looketh
פֹּנֶ֖הpo.Neh
H6437
to turn · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
toward
דֶּ֥רֶךְDe.rekh
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct
east
הַקָּדִֽיםha.ka.Dim
H6921
the fore or front part · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 42:15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measure…
Ezekiel 44:1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.
Ezekiel 40:6 Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, which was…
Ezekiel 46:1 Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it…
Ezekiel 10:19 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, an…
Ezekiel 43:4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 43:1-6
After Ezekiel has patiently surveyed the temple of God, the greatest glory of this earth, he is admitted to a higher form, and honoured with a sight of the glories of the upper world; it is said to him, Come up hither. He has seen the temple, and sees it to be very spacious and splendid; but, till the glory of God comes into it, it is but like the dead bodies he had seen in vision (ch. 37), that had no breath till the Spirit of life entered into them. Here therefore he sees the house filled with God's glory.
I. He has a vision of the glory of God (Eze 43:2), the glory of the God of Israel, that God who is in covenant with Israel, and whom they serve and worship. The idols of the heathen have…
Afterward he brought me to the gate,.... The dimensions of this wonderful building being finished, the prophet's divine guide brought him from the wall about it, he had last measured, to the gate he first had him to, after he had observed to him the same wall, Ezekiel 40:5,
even the gate that looketh toward the east; or, as the Targum, which was open to the way of the east. The reason of his being brought hither follows.
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 43:1-12
Entrance of the Glory of the Lord into the New Temple
Eze 43:1. And he led me to the gate, the gate which looked toward the east: Eze 43:2. And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the east, and its sound was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory. Eze 43:3. And the appearance which I saw, was to look at like the appearance which I saw when I came to destroy the city; and (there were) appearances like the appearance which I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell down upon my face. Eze 43:4. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate, the direction of which is toward the east. Eze 43:5. And wind lifted me up and brought me into…
And the earth shone with his majesty. Which properly happened at the coming of Christ; when the sound of the apostles went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world: and it is fulfilled daily in believers, and will be fulfilled completely, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality.
For here is where only the glory of the God of Israel enters; but there it is said that the fullness of the glory of the Lord was in the temple, as Isaiah also writes: I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the house was full of his glory; when we contemplate the revealed face of the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the image of the Creator.
(Chapter 43, verses 1 onwards) \"And he brought me to the gate that faced east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his majesty. And I saw a vision like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city. And the vision that I saw was like the vision that I had seen by the river Chebar. And I fell on my face.\ And the majesty of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. And the spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. And I heard someone speaking to me from the house. And the man standing beside me 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 in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, they and their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places, by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger.' So now they shall put far from themselves their fornication and the ruins of their kings from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever. LXX: And he brought me to the gate, which looked toward the East, and he led me out; and behold the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the East, and the voice of the camp was like the voice of many waters, and the earth shone with the brightness of the glory on every side. And the vision that I saw was like the vision that I saw when I entered to anoint the city. And the vision of the chariot that I saw was like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. And the glory of the Lord entered the house through the way of the gate that faced east. And the spirit took hold of me and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house. And I stood, and behold, a voice from the house speaking to me, and a man stood beside me and said to me: Have you seen, son of man, the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where my name shall dwell in the midst of the house of Israel forever. And they shall no…
The sacred spaces described in the previous chapter were of no value as long as they were empty (cp. 37:7-8). To be effective, the Temple must be occupied by the glory of the God of Israel, which had departed from it in ch 10. Now the glory would return from the same direction in which it had left, the east. Unlike its slow, almost reluctant, departure, its return would be sudden, accompanied by the terrifying roar of rushing waters (see 1:24; Rev 1:15). As always, the prophet fell face down on the ground in response to this glory.
Rashi on Ezekiel 43:1
And he led me He again led me into the Eastern Gate, and I saw the Glory descending to the Court.
