Textual Analysis - Ezekiel's Temple

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Textual Analysis Ezekiel's Temple

Because he was not knowledgeable about either the Bible or biblical history, Blumrich made a crucial mistake . . .

The Temple Ezekiel measured has never existed!

Again, Blumrich made a serious mistake in only using 6.2% of Ezekiel's book—a mere 79 verses.

The Bible describes three Temples. Here is the relevant timeline:

Solomon's Temple was built around 960 B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.
Ezekiel began prophesying around 593 B.C., before Solomon's Temple was destroyed. In Ezekiel Chapter 8 Ezekiel is seeing this Temple in a vision. In Ezekiel 8:11 he even recognizes Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan.
The Second Temple was started by Ezra and Nehemiah in 536 B.C. and finished 516 B.C. It was destroyed by the Romans under General Titus in 70 A.D.
 
The Millennial Temple, also known as the Third Temple..

This is the Temple that was measured for Ezekiel in Chapters 40-43 of his book.

There's a little problem . . . It hasn't been built yet! 

Ezekiel 43:10 "Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, 11 and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.

Faithful to its design??? If it already exists, how can they be "faithful to its design"? The speaker was describing a Temple that does not exist yet and was saying in essence, "In the future, when they build this, tell them to be sure they build it exactly this way."

How do we know Ezekiel didn't visit some other temple?

Israel is a relatively small country, only about 200 miles (320 km) long. Modern Israel is about the size of the State of New Jersey. Particularly in modern times, it has been thoroughly explored. If there were any remains of such a massive temple they would have been found.
 
Building such a large temple would have required huge amounts of stone, etc., large groups of workers, and a large support system for the workers, i.e., deliveries of food, building materials, etc., over an extended period of time. This would mean well-traveled roads. Heavy traffic over a relatively narrow area for an extended period of time changes the physical characteristics of the ground. For instance, the dirt becomes more compacted, making it denser. Even though that often cannot be seen from the ground, thermographic imaging equipment can spot it from the Space Shuttle and satellites. A number of ancient Middle Eastern roads and cities have been discovered using that technique.
 
Once it was built, any temple as large as the one Ezekiel visited would have required a large operational staff. Operational staff couldn't just hop on a bus and ride 10 miles (16 km) each way to and from work. They had to live in the immediate area—within 2-3 miles (3-5km). Of course, support staff would need marketplaces where they could buy food, etc. Large families were the norm, so there would need to be enough food supplies, family garden plots, grazing land for family animals, etc., to support the families of the support staff. Any population center that large would have been well-known to the people of the time.