When Ezekiel received the message recorded in Ezekiel 40 it had been 13 years since Ezekiel’s last message (Ezekiel 33:21-39:29). Like the previous vision received in 586 BC this new message in April of 573 BC (Ezekiel 40) speaks of a future restoration of Israel. In this vision of 573 BC, 13 years after Jerusalem had fallen, Ezekiel is taken to an unidentified mountain with an unidentified city on its southern slope. It becomes apparent that this mountain is Mount Moriah in a future state with the restored city of Jerusalem setting on its south side.

Meeting Ezekiel at this future site is an angelic figure with a measuring rod 10 feet and 6 inches long. The angel also holds a linen cord which will be used like a tape measure. (A regular cubit was about 18 inches long and a handbreadth was about 3 inches. The “long cubit” that was in use in Ezekiel’s time was 21 inches which was 1 cubit plus 1 handbreadth, or 18 inches + 3 inches.)

Ezekiel is shown a large, magnificent temple that will someday be constructed and then used by the people of Israel when they are ultimately restored to the land of Israel. The angel with the appearance of bronze commands Ezekiel to:

• Look carefully
• Listen closely
• Pay attention to everything (which includes details such as the measurements and location of rooms)
• Tell the people of Israel everything he learns

This tour and the recording of these details will continue from chapter 40 up until 42:20. At that point in Ezekiel’s narrative the Glory of God returns to Israel and enters this temple in Ezekiel 43:1-9.

“The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to ‘inject’ His kind of life and thought, His Zoe, into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live ma. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.”
– C. S. Lewis in
“Mere Christianity”
(read it here)

Newborn babies in the ancient Near East were rubbed with salt. This practice is mentioned in Ezekiel 16:4.
It was practiced for hygienic purposes with the intention
of cleaning and strengthening the baby’s skin. Some scholars say the salt indicated that the child would grow up to be honest. The practice of running the infant with salt is still practiced by those who claim that it makes the baby strong.
(more here)