40:3 And he brought me there, and, behold, [there was] a {b} man, whose appearance [was] like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.
(b) Which was an angel in the form of a man, that came to measure out this building.
40:3 A man - The same no doubt that appeared to the prophet, chap.1:26, whose name is the branch, and who builds the temple, Zech 6:12,13, whose colour was like burnished brass; Rev 1:15, which speaks glory and strength. A line - A plumb - line, a mason's line to discover the rectitude of the building, or its defects. In the gate - In the north gate, next toward the east.
40:1-49 The Vision of the Temple. - Here is a vision, beginning at ch. 40, and continued to the end of the book, ch. 48, which is justly looked upon to be one of the most difficult portions in all the book of God. When we despair to be satisfied as to any difficulty we meet with, let us bless God that our salvation does not depend upon it, but that things necessary are plain enough; and let us wait till God shall reveal even this unto us. This chapter describes two outward courts of the temple. Whether the personage here mentioned was the Son of God, or a created angel, is not clear. But Christ is both our Altar and our Sacrifice, to whom we must look with faith in all approaches to God; and he is Salvation in the midst of the earth, Ps 74:12, to be looked unto from all quarters.
