Chapter 43 marks a turning point in Yechezkel's prophecy of the Temple. Until now, he was accompanied by an angel holding a measuring rod, who measured the House, its exits, and its entrances alongside him. From here on, Yechezkel is granted a revelation of the Glory of Hashem Himself returning to dwell in the future Temple. The chapter opens with a description of the Glory arriving through the eastern gate, continues with the three visions of the Chariot seen by the prophet, and proceeds to depict the future sanctity of the site: why the city will be distanced from the Temple, and what is meant by "and I will dwell among them forever."
וַיּוֹלִכֵנִי אֶל־הַשָּׁעַר שַׁעַר אֲשֶׁר פֹּנֶה דֶּרֶךְ הַקָּדִים׃ - "And he led me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east."
At the end of the previous chapter, the prophet was on the western side. Here, the angel leads him to "the gate" with the definite article, meaning the known gate: the gate through which he first entered. After all, the entire tour of the Temple began from the gate facing east. Now he is taken once again, starting from that very same side.
וְהִנֵּה כְּבוֹד אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא מִדֶּרֶךְ הַקָּדִים וְקוֹלוֹ כְּקוֹל מַיִם רַבִּים וְהָאָרֶץ הֵאִירָה מִכְּבֹדוֹ׃ - "And behold, the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone from His Glory."
The Malbim notes: until now, the revelation was through an angel - "the man" who led him and measured alongside him, the man of God. Here, by contrast, Yechezkel sees the revelation of Hashem in His Glory, not an angel, but the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself.
The Malbim has already taught us on several occasions that when the name "Elohim" is used, it refers to general providence over nature, whereas "the God of Israel" refers to the special providence over the Jewish people. Here, Scripture conveys the unique bond of the Holy One, blessed be He, with us - that He leads us with guidance that transcends nature, a miraculous providence. For this refers to the Third Temple and the future era: when the Holy One, blessed be He, returns His Shechinah to us, it will be the providence of "the Glory of the God of Israel" - the Glory of Hashem in a miraculous, supernatural order.
The Malbim cites the Abarbanel, who explains "from the way of the east": the eastern side, the side of antiquity (kedem), bears testimony to Hashem's strength and power through the diurnal celestial rotation, by which the celestial sphere moves the entire host of the heavens from east to west. In essence, the Abarbanel explains that the east expresses Hashem's governance of His world, as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The Abarbanel adds that this is contrary to their intrinsic motion, which is from west to east; their own natural inclination moves one way, while the Holy One, blessed be He, moves them in the other.
Our Sages teach: Were it not for the sound of the sun's sphere, the tumultuous sound of Rome would be heard. That is, were it not for the sound of the sun's sphere sawing through the atmosphere of the world, the tumult of the great city would be heard from afar. Today it is also known scientifically, as Rabbi Zamir brings in his work, that the sun resonates through the atmosphere generating sound, and this sound prevents terrestrial sounds from traveling far. The Gemara notes that at night sound carries far - a person calls out and is heard at great distances - while during the day it does not. People tend to think the reason is daytime ambient noise, but one can stand in a completely quiet place and see that sound still does not carry as far as it does at night. At night, the sound of the sun's sphere is not sawing, whereas by day it vibrates through the airspace and restricts sound propagation.
By way of homiletical interpretation (derash), one can explain: "the tumultuous sound of the city" (kol hemonah shel ir) is the voice of the multitude (hamon) who deny the existence of the Creator. The sound of the sun's sphere silences them. One who observes the celestial bodies and the sun's sphere sees within them the reality of the Creator, and this silences those who deny the Creator and the creation of the world in six days. "Lift your eyes on high and see: who created these?" - one who contemplates the heavenly bodies hears the sound of the sun's sphere and recognizes Hashem's providence within it.
"And His voice was like the sound of many waters" - when the glory of the God of Israel is revealed through His providence over us, His providence will be revealed to the entire world. Like the sound of many waters heard from afar (anyone who has visited Niagara Falls can attest to this), so will this become known. The Malbim explains: this recognition will come both through the hearing of the ear - "like the sound of many waters," for all of existence proclaims the might of Hashem on high, the entirety of creation proving that there is a God and that the world did not come into being on its own - and through the seeing of the eye, "and the earth shone with His glory," since through the revelation of the Shechinah and the glory of Hashem resting over the prophets, the earth shines with the glory of Hashem.
וּכְמַרְאֵה הַמַּרְאֶה אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתִי כַּמַּרְאֶה אֲשֶׁר־רָאִיתִי בְּבֹאִי לְשַׁחֵת אֶת־הָעִיר וּמַרְאוֹת כַּמַּרְאֶה אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתִי אֶל־נְהַר־כְּבָר וָאֶפֹּל אֶל־פָּנָי׃ - And the appearance of the vision that I saw was like the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city, and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the Chebar River; and I fell upon my face.
This is an almost singular pasuk in Tanach, in which the same root appears in eight different forms: kemareh, hamareh, asher ra'iti, kamareh, asher ra'iti, u-mar'ot, kamareh, asher ra'iti. Eight times an expression of seeing appears here. And the Malbim, in his characteristic way, explains what Yechezkel came to describe.
We have already explained earlier that Yechezkel saw the vision of the Merkavah in three kinds of visions, corresponding to three modes of Divine guidance. The first vision: the Merkavah as it appeared when the Holy One, Blessed is He, came to destroy the city, descending in wrath to destroy Jerusalem. The second vision: the Merkavah he saw for the first time by the Chebar River, where he saw the Merkavah going forth to accompany the exiles to the four corners of the earth, expressing compassion, lovingkindness, and grace - "I am with him in distress." Even so, the Malbim emphasizes, throughout the days of exile Divine providence is not directly administered by Hashem Himself, but through the heavenly ministers. Therefore, one who dwells outside the Land is like one who has no God, and only of the Land of Israel is it said, "a land upon which the eyes of Hashem your God are always, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." Outside the Land, Divine direction is channeled, as it were, through the guardian angel of that nation, and through it the Holy One, Blessed is He, guides Israel. The third vision: the vision of the Merkavah concerning the building of the future Beit HaMikdash, the Third Temple, in which the prophet sees Hashem's leadership when He returns His Shechinah to Zion and guides Israel through a supernatural, miraculous, and wondrous order of providence.
Now, when he comes a second time to the eastern gate, Yechezkel sees these three alternating visions together: the vision of the One coming to destroy the city, the vision of accompanying the exiles, and the vision of the Third Temple.
The Malbim explains that the Holy One, Blessed is He, informed him that after the Second Temple would be built, it was destined to be destroyed. We have already explained this several times, and Rav Dessler also discussed this: the Second Temple was not intended to be the ultimate, permanent House. Indeed, even before the Second Temple was built, Israel received the prophecy regarding the Third Temple, the ultimate House of the future. The Second Temple, as the Malbim explained, was a trial period to test them and see if they would prove worthy. If at the end of four hundred and twenty years they had been upright and worthy, the Beit HaMikdash would have descended built of fire, it would have become the Third Temple, and the Redemption would have arrived. But because they were not worthy and failed during the trial period, they went down into an exile of some two thousand years whose end we have yet to see. To be sure, we know that the end is near - "the world will exist for six thousand years" - and we are already approaching the finish line. In any case, however, we entered another exile because we did not properly prepare ourselves during the Second Temple era.
And because it was known in advance that the Second Temple was temporary, many did not ascend to the Land, as we have explained in the past. Only fifty thousand ascended from the entire exile, a tiny minority of the nation as a whole. People often think that only the Jews of Yemen did not ascend, but that is not so. As for those who did not ascend, many of them knew that the Temple was destined to be destroyed, and they said: Why should we go up only to experience another destruction and another exile? For that reason, they did not make the ascent.
This is the deeper meaning of the visions: the vision seen "when I came to destroy the city" came to tell him that what you see regarding the Second Temple is temporary and will not endure forever. Afterwards, he is shown that Israel will be exiled and scattered to the four corners of the earth, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, will go out with them and accompany them - and this is the second vision of the Merkavah. It is precisely for this reason that by the Chebar River, outside the Land, where prophecy normally does not occur, there was a Divine revelation: to show him that the Holy One, Blessed is He, is there too, "I am with him in distress." Afterward, Hashem shows him how they will return to the Third Temple, and this is the third vision of the Merkavah concerning the building of the Beit HaMikdash.
The Malbim recalls what we saw above, that the interior of the Sanctuary appeared to him like the mirrors of the women who assembled: as if he saw in the Sanctuary a kind of vision, like a person looking into a looking glass. An aspaklaria means a mirror (a "spiegel"), meaning he sees by way of a mirror, upon which are engraved all the visions that he beholds.
The Malbim adds that the revelation of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the "small sanctuary" - the Beit HaMikdash - resembles the revelation of Hashem's Chariot (Merkavah) and His providence in the "great sanctuary", which is the universe, created in the likeness of His glory. And Hashem's Chariot in the macrocosm resembles Hashem's Chariot residing within the microcosm, which is man, created in His image and likeness. We have spoken several times of these three parallel vertices: the world, man, and the Mikdash. The Mikdash is structured in the form of man, and man in the form of the Mikdash, and both are in the pattern of the universe, with many parallels between them that numerous sefarim discuss at length.
The meaning of this is clear: in the world, we observe physical reality, yet we all know that it is entirely guided by Hashem's providence, and every movement and action within it occurs according to His will. Likewise in man, an onlooker sees merely a collection of molecules, but we know that his movement and very existence are made possible solely by the power of the neshamah, an actual portion of God from Above, which moves and animates him in all his deeds. The same is true of the Beit HaMikdash: it is not just a stone building. The moment it was reduced to mere stone, Nebuchadnezzar came, Titus came, and destroyed it in an instant. When did that happen? The moment its spirituality departed. Just as a human being, the moment spirituality leaves him, becomes a corpse, and is considered alive only when spirituality resides within him - so too with the Beit HaMikdash.
The Malbim explains: The Mikdash that Yechezkel saw built on the mountain served as the mirror and looking glass through which the two great forms appeared to him: the macrocosm and the microcosm. Yechezkel gazes into the mirror of the Beit HaMikdash, and through it sees, as in a reflection, both the macrocosm (the universe) and the microcosm (man). Thus, by gazing upon the Mikdash, he perceives all three realms as one: man, the Mikdash itself, and the entire cosmos. Just as a person looks in a mirror and sees the image of his face, so one who looks into the mirror of the Mikdash grasps and acquires an understanding of the form of the Chariot dwelling in the macrocosm, and of Hashem's Chariot dwelling within the human soul.
Now the verse elaborates: "And the appearance of the vision that I saw" - this refers to the third Chariot he beheld in prophetic vision, like the vision he saw among the host of visions, before the Sanctuary, where he saw the Chariot through which Divinity reveals itself in immense and tremendous power. "Like the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city" - the Chariot that came to destroy the city, an allusion to the destruction of the Second Temple. "And visions" - other visions depicting the wanderings and tribulations that Israel would endure in exile, as Hashem showed him by the Kevar River.
The Malbim adds: In the vision of the first Chariot, he perceived divine governance through the Chayot, the sacred Chayot and the angelic realm, as we explained at length at the opening of Sefer Yechezkel. In the second vision, he saw divine governance through the Seraphim and the realm of the Throne. In the third vision, he saw the future, the divine governance in the realm of Atzilut. These levels ascend progressively: the Chayot and angels correspond to the lower realm, the Seraphim and the Throne correspond to the worlds of Beriah and Yetzirah, and the third vision already reaches Atzilut, the highest realm. Thus, Hashem showed him all the ways of His providence across all the worlds - Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah - from below to above, ascending from the lower visions up to the level of Atzilut.
"And I fell upon my face" - because he saw that after the Second Temple would be built, it would once again be destroyed, he fell upon his face. Falling upon one's face expresses deep sorrow, grief over the suffering and ruin of Israel.
וּכְבוֹד יְהֹוָה בָּא אֶל־הַבָּיִת דֶּרֶךְ שַׁעַר אֲשֶׁר פָּנָיו דֶּרֶךְ הַקָּדִים׃ - And the glory of Hashem entered the House by way of the gate facing east.
He sees the glory of Hashem coming into the Third Temple through the eastern gate. As the Malbim explains on Yeshayahu 43, the glory of Hashem will first be revealed over the Ten Tribes who were exiled to the east, as it is written: "So shall they fear the name of Hashem from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun." Hashem's glory will come from the east with those exiled to the east, whereas in the west, His renown will initially be heard only from afar. Therefore, the prophet first envisions the glory of Hashem coming from the direction of the east, toward them, toward the Ten Tribes.
וַתִּשָּׂאֵנִי רוּחַ וַתְּבִאֵנִי אֶל־הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִי וְהִנֵּה מָלֵא כְבוֹד־יְהֹוָה הַבָּיִת׃ - And a spirit lifted me and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of Hashem filled the House.
"A spirit" here refers to the spirit of prophecy, which lifts him and brings him into the inner court, and he sees the glory of Hashem filling the House.
וָאֶשְׁמַע מִדַּבֵּר אֵלַי מֵהַבָּיִת וְאִישׁ הָיָה עֹמֵד אֶצְלִי׃ - "And I heard One speaking to me from the House, and a man was standing beside me."
Until now, he received the prophetic flow through the angel holding the measuring rod, who walked with him and measured the House, its exits, and its entrances. From here onward, he hears the voice of Hashem Himself. "And I heard One speaking to me from the House" - the Malbim explains that this was like with Moshe Rabbeinu, where the voice of Hashem would speak to him from between the cherubim. "And a man was standing beside me" - this refers to the angel he had seen earlier. The angel did not enter the Holy of Holies, the place of the Divine Glory from which the voice emerged; rather, he stood beside him, near him. Even he did not have permission to enter into the place from which the voice of God emanated, so that both of them received the Divine speech equally.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי בֶּן־אָדָם אֶת־מְקוֹם כִּסְאִי וְאֶת־מְקוֹם כַּפּוֹת רַגְלַי אֲשֶׁר אֶשְׁכׇּן־שָׁם בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל לְעוֹלָם וְלֹא יְטַמְּאוּ עוֹד בֵּית־יִשְׂרָאֵל שֵׁם קׇדְשִׁי הֵמָּה וּמַלְכֵיהֶם בִּזְנוּתָם וּבְפִגְרֵי מַלְכֵיהֶם בָּמוֹתָם׃ - "And He 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 among the Children of Israel forever; and the House of Israel shall no longer defile My holy Name, they and their kings, by their straying and by the corpses of their kings in their deaths."
The Malbim explains: in the future, as we will see in chapter 48, Jerusalem will be forty-five mil distant from the Beit HaMikdash - close to forty-five kilometers - and in all this expanse there will be no residential area for the rest of the nation. Jerusalem itself will expand greatly, while the surrounding area of the Mikdash will be the dwelling place of the Kohanim and Levi'im. This corresponds entirely to how it was in the wilderness: in the center were the Mishkan and the Aron, surrounding it were the Kohanim and Levi'im, and around them were the banners of the tribes, three tribes on each side. Such will be the reality in the future Jerusalem: around the Mikdash will be the Kohanim and Levi'im, who are sanctified for the service of Hashem, while the nation will be far off at a great distance.
Why will reality change? The Malbim explains: in the past, neither in the First Temple nor in the Second Temple, was there such a reality, because then the primary dwelling of the Shechinah was in Heaven - "The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool." As it were, the foundation of His dwelling, blessed be He, was in Heaven, while the earth was merely a footstool. That is to say, Hashem governed the earth according to nature, according to the celestial order, the heavenly bodies, stars, and constellations, steering that governance as He willed - yet the governance remained natural.
This can be compared to an analogy: one can seat a person in a vehicle and steer him in a way that he does not drive himself, or one can seat him on a carpet and transport him. Seating him on a carpet and transporting him is an open miracle. Seating him in a vehicle and steering him still looks as though there are wheels and an engine, as if it moves on its own. Today, we are like passengers in a vehicle. In the future, the governance will be supernatural, like on a flying carpet, "and He soared on the wings of the wind" - a spiritual reality rather than a material one. Today, the governance is more physical, and therefore "The heavens are My throne" - that is the place of His throne - "and the earth is My footstool," guiding the world through natural order.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: In the future to come, reality will change. The earth will no longer be merely a footstool, as it is written, "and He did not remember His footstool on the day of His wrath," or "and His hem filled the Sanctuary," which indicates our era, where only Hashem's "hem" is here and the Holy One, blessed be He, is, as it were, Above. In the future, the Throne will be below, in the Mikdash. Hashem will dwell in the Beit HaMikdash with a permanent Presence, and there will no longer be the rule of celestial order and nature - summer and winter, autumn and spring - but everything will be directly under Hashem's governance. And this is what is stated, "The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you, but Hashem shall be an everlasting light for you." And why? Because "Hashem of Hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem." Not the sun for daylight, nor the moon, which represent natural governance, but Hashem Himself dwelling in the Beit HaMikdash.
And this is the meaning of "the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet": not that the heavens are My throne, but Jerusalem itself will be the place of My throne, and I will dwell there permanently, "among the Children of Israel." The Throne too will be below - not that the Holy One, blessed be He, is above with His feet here, but truly in the midst of the Children of Israel. And the essence of the Shechinah will be none other than within the Children of Israel, "and I will dwell among them," which is the goal and the purpose - that the Shechinah of Hashem illuminate our souls. Therefore it is said "forever," for this House will never be destroyed again, unlike the First Temple and the Second Temple.
Because of this, it will be necessary to distance the city from the Mikdash: in proportion to the greatness of the sanctity and the permanence of the Shechinah in that place, so must be the distancing of the people so that they do not defile the place with their impurity. In the time of Shlomo and in the Second Temple era, when the earth was merely a footstool, it was possible for them to live in the city adjacent to the Beit HaMikdash. But when Hashem Himself dwells there, only the Kohanim and Levi'im, who are more sanctified, will be able to surround it, while the rest of the nation will be distanced forty-five mil from the site of the Mikdash.
The reason is stated explicitly in the verse: "And the House of Israel shall no longer defile My holy Name, they and their kings, by their straying and by the corpses of their kings in their deaths." Until now, they defiled the place because they lived in the city adjacent to the Mikdash and compromised its sanctity. How did they defile it? "They" - through their straying, following after idolatry. And the kings - "in their deaths" (bamotam). This can also be interpreted from the word bamot (high places), that they built high places there. In one explanation, the Malbim explains that they used to bury the kings inside the city, and upon their death they were buried there. Thus they defiled the place, for the resting place of the Shechinah is not a place where graves ought to be, and about this it says that they would defile it "with the corpses of their kings."
And why does it call them "corpses"? The Malbim explains: they are called corpses even during their lifetime. Just as the body becomes a corpse when the soul departs from it, so too a person who possesses only an animalistic soul without the portion of God from above, his spiritual dimension - he is a corpse. As Chazal said: "The wicked, even in their lifetime, are called dead." He is a walking corpse, considered as one from whom the Divine soul has departed, and he is dead in comparison to an enlightened person who possesses a spiritual soul.
בְּתִתָּם סִפָּם אֶת־סִפִּי וּמְזוּזָתָם אֵצֶל מְזוּזָתִי וְהַקִּיר בֵּינִי וּבֵינֵיהֶם וְטִמְּאוּ אֶת־שֵׁם קׇדְשִׁי בְּתוֹעֲבוֹתָם אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ וָאֲכַל אֹתָם בְּאַפִּי׃ - "In their setting their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost beside My doorpost, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy Name with their abominations that they committed, and I consumed them in My anger."
The Malbim explains: Until now, the royal palace stood close to the House of Hashem, and the threshold of their palace was right beside the threshold of the House of Hashem. What is a threshold (*saf*)? As we have already seen in the description of the Temple's measurements, the threshold is the passageway within the thickness of the wall - the entrance itself, at the sides and bottom, as in the verse, "and her hands were upon the threshold." In the language of Chazal, this is called the *askupah* - the area at the bottom, beneath the lintel, to which the door is hinged. A threshold can be very broad; we saw that its width could extend to twelve cubits, six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side, with the door hinged right in the middle.
To mount a door, one needs doorposts (*mezuzot*). Wherever the term *mezuzot* appears here, it refers to the wooden posts in the middle of the threshold upon which the doors are hung - what we might call doorframes today. In Chazal's terminology, the right and left uprights are called the *mezuzah*, while the *mashkof* refers to the upper horizontal beam - so named because it looks down (*shokef*) from above, or because the door knocks (*nokef*) against it. The scroll we affix to a doorway is called a *mezuzah* because it is affixed to the *mezuzat hapetach*, the doorpost of the entrance.
Thus, "In their setting their threshold by My threshold": they built the threshold of their palace entrance directly adjacent to the threshold of the entrance to the House of Hashem, so that, as it were, only the wall of the Temple separated Me from them. Through this, "they defiled My holy Name with their abominations that they committed," for those abominations were carried out right at the doorstep of the Beit HaMikdash.
In the future, in keeping with the elevated sanctity of the site, even a slight degree of impurity that does not defile non-sacred items (*chullin*) will transmit defilement in a sacred place. We find an illustration of this principle in the laws of ritual impurity: There is an *Avi Avot HaTumah* (the primary source of impurity), which is a human corpse. There is an *Av HaTumah*, such as a carcass (*neveilah*), a creeping creature (*sheretz*), or seminal emission. An object that touches an *Av HaTumah* becomes a *Rishon LeTumah* (first degree of impurity); whatever touches a *rishon* becomes a *sheni* (second degree); whatever touches a *sheni* becomes a *shelishi* (third degree); and whatever touches a *shelishi* becomes a *revi'i* (fourth degree). How far does this progression extend? With *chullin*, it reaches only up to a *sheni*; ordinary non-sacred food cannot contract impurity beyond the second degree. *Terumah*, however, possesses a higher level of sanctity: if a *sheni* touches *terumah*, it defiles it, whereas if it touched *chullin*, it would have no effect at all. That defiled *terumah* becomes a *shelishi*, but if it touches another item, it cannot render it a *revi'i*, because there is no fourth degree in *terumah*. Yet if it touches consecrated meat (*kodesh*), such as a sacrificial offering, a fourth degree does exist, because the sanctity of *kodesh* is higher than that of *terumah*. Impurity does not extend beyond a fourth degree even in *kodesh*, with the sole exception of the *Parah Adumah* (Red Heifer), where there is no limit - a fifth, a sixth, and however many stages follow will continue to transmit impurity, due to the unique stringency governing the Red Heifer. Those who wish may find these specific definitions in the lessons on Tractate Parah.
What do we learn from this? That something which no longer constitutes an impurity in the mundane realm does transmit defilement in *terumah*. And what no longer transmits defilement in *terumah* does transmit it in *kodesh*. Thus, there are distinct levels: the exact same item does not defile here, yet defiles in a place of higher sanctity. This is precisely what the verse conveys: when the Holy One, blessed be He, dwells within the Beit HaMikdash, what was once permissible - living in the immediate vicinity of the Temple - will no longer be possible. In proportion to the greatness of the sanctity, what did not defile in the past will indeed defile then. Therefore, the city itself will be situated forty-five *mil* away from the site of the Mikdash.
Consider what happened when they lived too close and committed abominations there: "They defiled My holy Name with their abominations that they committed, and I consumed them in My anger" - matters reached such an extreme that I destroyed them in My wrath. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: non-priests, who are not Kohanim or Levi'im, must be kept far from the site of the Mikdash, and those dwelling around it must be exclusively the Kohanim and Levi'im, just as it was in the wilderness, where "the stranger who draws near shall be put to death." That same degree of separation must now be established.
עַתָּה יְרַחֲקוּ אֶת־זְנוּתָם וּפִגְרֵי מַלְכֵיהֶם מִמֶּנִּי וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְתוֹכָם לְעוֹלָם׃ - "Now let them put away their straying and the corpses of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever."
Now they must distance their straying - meaning their straying after idolatry - and the corpses of their kings whom they used to bury in Jerusalem, and the city will be situated far from the Mikdash. Through this, "and I will dwell in their midst forever."
The Malbim adds: "And I will dwell in their midst" - meaning within man himself. When a person sanctifies himself and is spiritual, he himself becomes a sanctuary for the Divine Presence of His glory; the Shechinah rests within him, and he embodies the aspect of a Beis HaMikdash. However, in our present era, when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to dwell among them in holiness, there is a dividing wall. And what is this dividing wall? It is the physical corpse, the body. Man's material substance is coarse, and this corporeal reality is what separates us from Hashem.
Therefore, in order to forge a connection with the Divine, man must die. If he does not die, he cannot truly connect with his Creator. Only when he dies and separates from the separating matter does the soul return to God Who gave it. Before the sin of Adam HaRishon, man could connect to spirituality even without this, for his physical substance was not coarse, and he did not possess a corporeal and lustful body. As we mentioned previously, the physical reality of Adam HaRishon before the sin was like the reality of our soul, and as for what his soul was - we have no grasp of it at all. It follows that in our current reality, where we are corporeal and possess a material body, this reality prevents us from fully uniting with the Divine.
Based on this, we also explained why, when Adam HaRishon ate from the Tree of Knowledge, Hashem banished him from the Garden of Eden, "lest he put forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever." And we asked: what would be the harm if he lived forever? Rav Chaim of Volozhin asks: could it be, Heaven forbid, that the Holy One, blessed be He, begrudged man living forever? He answers: if he were to live forever, he would never attain rectification. For he would remain imprisoned forever within the body, with no possibility of uniting with the Divine, since the body is a coarse material that separates between us and Hashem. For man to achieve his rectification, the body must decompose and wear away here on earth, and then the soul - which is a part of God from above, a spiritual entity capable of uniting with the Divine - will return to God Who gave it. Death was therefore a necessity, and that is why Chazal said regarding the verse, "And behold, it was very good" - this refers to death. And what is so good about it? Without it, connecting with Him, blessed be He, would be impossible. The only way to unite with Him is for a person to break free from the bonds of the body, which tether him to physicality and serve as a separating curtain between us and Hashem.
According to this, the Malbim explains "In their placing their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost beside My doorpost" as an allegory as well: not only was the threshold of the kings' palace adjoining the threshold of the Beis HaMikdash, but the same applies to man's spiritual realm. Man stands, as it were, at the threshold of the Shechinah, very close to it - yet he is corporeal. There is a partition wall, namely physicality and the body, the coarse matter that divides and separates between us and Hashem, so that, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He, cannot enter within. But when reality becomes more spiritual, then "and I will dwell in their midst forever": the Holy One, blessed be He, will dwell within man, and the separation and barrier of coarse matter will exist no longer.
At the opening of the chapter, Yechezkel returns to the eastern gate and sees the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east - a revelation of Hashem Himself, not through an angel, heralding a supernatural, miraculous providence in the Future to Come. In the verse listing the visions of sight, three Chariots are encompassed: the one that came to destroy the city, teaching that the Second Temple was temporary; the one that accompanied the exiles by the Kevar River to show "I am with him in distress"; and that of the Third Temple - an ascent from the level of the Chayos and angels, through the Seraphim and the Throne, up to the World of Atzilus. The Mikdash is like a looking-glass reflecting both the macrocosm of the world and the microcosm of man. In the Future to Come, heaven will no longer merely be His throne and the earth His footstool; rather, His Throne will be in Jerusalem. Therefore, the city will be distanced from the Mikdash so that its sanctity will not be compromised, just as that which is not defiled in non-sacred matters becomes defiled in the realm of the holy. And the ultimate purpose is "and I will dwell in their midst" - that man himself will become a sanctuary for the Shechinah, once the dividing wall of coarse matter is removed.