Ezekiel 40:48,49

CHAPER 40:48-41:11.

THE TEMPLE ITSELF.

Ezekiel 40:48. And he brought me to the porch of the house, and he measured for the porch five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other; and the breadth of the gate three cubits on the one side, and three cubits on the other.

Ezekiel 40:49. The length of the porch twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and by the steps which they go up to it; and posts beside the pillar-work, one on this side, and another on that. (It is not to be denied that there are some peculiarities in this last verse, which look very like corruptions of the text. Thus the eleven cubits assigned for the breadth of the porch gate, which do not bear any exact proportion to the length, and which also differ from the dimensions given in 1 Kings 4:3, of Solomon's temple, while the length agrees. Some would therefore altogether omit the two, and read ten; and others, with the LXX. (changing עַשְׁתֵּי into שְׁתֵּי), would make the number twelve. Again in the clause about the steps, which certainly reads awkwardly as it stands, many substitute עֵשֶׂר for אֳשׁור, and render: and by ten steps they go up to it. If the present text is retained, we must supply, “And he measured,” or something like it: (he measured) by the steps which they go up to it the course merely being noticed, but not the exact measurement, as the description here is very brief. It seems intended to show that the porch was much the same as in the old temple of Solomon.) 41:

Ezekiel 40:1. And he brought me to the temple, and he measured the pillars (or pillar-work), six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side; the breadth of the tabernacle. (The introducing of the tabernacle has certainly a peculiar appearance in this connection; hence some would regard אֹחֶל as used in an unusual sense for temple, while the greater part suppose a corruption of the text, and render “porch,” or “projection-work.” Häv., however, defends the existing text, and conceives that the prophet, as in the dimensions of the outer porch he had pointed to Solomon's temple, so here in the temple proper he points to the old tabernacle, which being composed in its breadth of eight boards, each one and a half cubit broad, would make in all twelve cubits, as here. This was the breadth externally of the tabernacle, though the interior was only ten cubits. The prophet would thus connect together the two most sacred erections of former times. Such was probably the reason, though the mention of the tabernacle even in such a way looks somewhat artificial.)

Ezekiel 40:2. And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side; and he measured its length (viz. of the holy place) forty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits.

Ezekiel 40:3. And he went inward (toward the most holy place), and measured the post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits.

Ezekiel 40:4. And he measured its length twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits, before the temple; (This expression, “before (or in front of) the temple,” is used on account of the peculiar sacredness of the most holy place, which stood in a sense by itself and into which the prophet did not enter with the angel. Hence he had said, not that the angel brought him in thither, but that the angel went in himself, and measured it; so that the most holy place appeared like a separate apartment in front of the portion of the temple which alone was accessible to him (comp. 1 Kings 6:3, where temple is used in the same restricted sense). The dimensions of the two apartments are precisely those of Solomon's temple, which having been fixed of old by Divine direction, are to be regarded as already finally determined.) and he said to me, This is the holy of holies.

Ezekiel 40:5. And he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of the side-chambers (rib-like structures on the wall the singular again used collectively), four cubits, round about the house on every side.

Ezekiel 40:6. And the side-chambers were three-storeyed (literally, chamber on chamber three), and thirty in succession; and joinings were to the wall of the house for the side-chambers round about; that they might be holden, yet were they not holden in the wall of the house. (The meaning of this rather obscure description, as we learn by turning to 1 Kings 6:6, is that there were rests made in the walls of the temple for supports to the side-chambers; but the temple walls did not thereby become part of this side building, they stood separate from it.)

Ezekiel 40:7. And there was an enlarging and a winding still upwards to the chambers; for the house had a winding stair still upwards round about for the house; therefore there was an enlarging of the house upwards, and so one ascended from the lower to the higher, through the middle.

Ezekiel 40:8. And I saw the house's height round about; the foundations of the chambers were a full rod, six cubits to the joining (or corner). (The אַצִיל here must be regarded as an architectural term, denoting something about the foundations; and as it is used elsewhere in the sense of joints, the natural supposition is that it indicates the point where the foundation of one chamber ceased and another began. Yet, it must be confessed, there is no certainty.)

Ezekiel 40:9. The thickness of the wall, which belonged to the chambers outside, was five cubits; and there was an unoccupied place (literally, what remained free) within chambers that belonged to the house.

Ezekiel 40:10. And between the apartments (i.e., of the priests in the court, between these and the side-chambers) was the width of twenty cubits round about the house on every side.

Ezekiel 40:11. And the entrance to the chambers was toward the unoccupied place; one entrance toward the north, and one entrance toward the south: and the breadth of the unoccupied place was five cubits round about.

THERE is considerable minuteness in the description of these side-chambers, as compared, at least, with the original description in 1 Kings 6, where the whole that is said of them is comprised in two verses. And yet with the advantage of the greater minuteness here, it would be impossible to construct an architectural plan without taking a good deal for granted that has no place in the prophet's delineation. One can easily understand how there might be a winding stair within, leading up through the several storeys, but how should this have been accompanied with an enlarging or widening of the house itself? What is meant by the foundations being a full rod of six cubits, some underground buildings on which they rested, or the ground itself on which they were raised? (Both have their advocates.) What was the object of the unoccupied place of five cubits? and how did it differ from the space of twenty cubits lying between the side-chambers and the halls of the priests? Very different answers might be and have been given to these questions, and the greatest liberties taken with the text to lighten the difficulties connected with the account. But we deem it needless to enter into these, or to attempt fixing what the prophet himself has left vague and obscure. He never intended that a structure should be reared precisely according to the plan and measurements he furnishes; otherwise he would have been still more minute in his delineations. He has given enough, however, for his great object, which was chiefly to show that in the Divine purpose respecting the future there was to be a full and everyway complete reconstruction of the house of God if not in the outward and material sense, yet in the higher things, which that represented and symbolized; and with the effect of securing a far purer and more elevated condition for the covenant-people. It is this last point which throughout he seeks to render prominent by the nature of his descriptions. Hence, in marked contrast to the earlier delineations respecting the tabernacle and Solomon's temple, he passes rapidly over the things that more immediately respected God, and dwells upon those which bore on the state and condition of the people. The temple itself, in its two important divisions, is hastily sketched, and nothing scarcely said of its sacred furniture, not even the slightest notice taken of the ark of the covenant, the heart and centre of the whole in former times; while the most lengthened details are given of all that concerned the chambers of the priests, and the courts which were to be frequented by the worshippers. The prophet would thus teach that there was to be in the future a conformity to the Divine idea, where there had been but little before; that while Jehovah should remain the same in all his essential attributes and manifestations as formerly, he should be otherwise known and glorified by his people; their dwellings should all become true sanctuaries, and their services fragrant with the odour of living piety. In the excellent words of Hävernick, “Jehovah will dwell among a new people; and accordingly he must do so in a new manner, though one still analogous to the old. The most essential and indispensable condition of this new indwelling of Jehovah among his people is the due elevation of the Divine community; hence the importance and high significance attached by the prophet to the otherwise much inferior and outward parts of the temple buildings. The description now advances to the preparation of the proper centre of those external forms. No longer, as in the old sanctuary, will Jehovah manifest himself in an imperfect manner, but in the full spendour of his glory, as at chap. Ezekiel 43:1-12. The interior of the temple there stands empty, waiting for the entrance of the Lord, that he may come and fill it with his glory. It is the same temple, but the courts of it have become different, in order to accommodate a far more numerous people; and all the provisions and arrangements here bespeak the sincerity and the zeal with which they now seek and serve the Lord. The entire compass of the temple-mount has become a holy of holies (Ezekiel 42:12); consequently every thing now rises to a higher, to its true dignity and importance. On this account the ark of the covenant had no place in this temple; the full display of the Divine Shechinah has come into its room. And so Ezekiel treads very closely in the footsteps of his predecessor Jeremiah who, under the dark foreboding of the near loss of the sacred ark, consoles the people with the glorious promise, that what might seem in a natural point of view to be an irreparable loss, was going to be compensated by an unparalleled manifestation of the immediate glory of Jehovah: l In those days they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord, and it shall not come to mind; neither shall it be missed; and another shall not be made. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord (Jeremiah 3:16-17). This thought is merely carried out by Ezekiel after his own manner.”