Ezekiel 41:16

over against the door the threshold. It looks as if some words had fallen out of the text here. LXX. reads: and the house and the adjoining parts were wainscotted with wood round about(and the floor). The present Heb. text, even if read, and over against the threshold was a wainscotting of wood, is too short to give the necessary sense "over against the threshold" would be rather obscure as an expression for the whole interior of the house. The words "over against the threshold" can hardly be regarded as a definition of the locality of the "galleries," as if these were borders or gangs (dado) going round the foot of the walls (Sm.).

Ezekiel 41:16 b seq. The ornamentation of the interior. Here also there is some obscurity: and from the floor unto the windows(and the windows were covered), 17 and unto above the door, and unto the inner house and without, and on all the walls round about in the inner(house) and the outer[were measures and], 18 there were made cherubs and palm-trees, so that, &c. The words in parenthesis "and the windows," &c., may not be original. The phrase "and without" hardly refers to the porch, rather to the outer house or holy place; because it does not appear that cherubs were carved on the wall of the porch. The word "measures" is wanting in LXX. If genuine the term "measures" might possibly imply that the wall was panelled into compartments, and that in each of these was carved a cherub and palm. The term is used once of garments (Psalms 133:2) from the meaning to spread out or cover, but could hardly be used of a casing or wainscotting of wood. Boettcher suggested "carvings," a sense which would add nothing to the general meaning. Ezekiel 41:20 is rather in favour of the omission of the word.

Ezekiel 41:18. Only the two chief faces of the cherub were represented, that of a man and of a lion.