NOTES for Eze 41:1-42:20
The temple described by the prophet both resembles the former temple and differs from it. The description of the temple is as concrete as the description of the city, and even more detailed; gradually we begin to understand that the concrete details of the interior are filled with symbolic meanings whose significance is difficult to grasp at first. But if we continue to contemplate the temple's arrangement, even without knowing how to read the symbolism of its numerous details, we will begin to approach an understanding of the hidden meaning of the plan of both the city and the temple's structure.
If the city becomes the center of life for the renewed people who have restored the Covenant with the Creator, the temple will become the center of the city, so that city and temple will be inseparably united. The differences in detail between the structures of the old and new temples testify that the character of the faithful's prayerful communion with God will be somewhat different from before. Yet it will not be entirely different: the new and deeper spiritual experience will remain interconnected with the previous one.