_In the five and twentieth year of our captivity_ Of the captivity of
those that were carried away with Jehoiachin, eleven years before
Jerusalem was taken. _In the beginning of the year_ In the month
_Nisan; in the tenth day of the month_ The day that the paschal lamb
was to be taken up in order to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, there was a man_ The same no doubt that appeared to the
prophet, Ezekiel 1:20, (where see the note,) _whose name is the
Branch, and who builds the temple of the Lord, Zechariah 6:12_; _whose
appearance was like the appearance of brass_ Bright and sparkling,
Revelation 1:15. _With a line of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then came he unto the gate_, &c. After having passed the court of the
Gentiles, he came to the eastern gate, or the court of Israel. For the
temple being placed toward the west part of the holy mountain, as the
holy of holies was at the west end of the temple, this was the first
gate that led to it... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits_, &c. This was a
portico beyond the little chambers which looked into the first court.
It was eight cubits wide, and the two side-posts were two cubits
thick, which made up the ten cubits mentioned Ezekiel 40:11. _And the
little chambers of the g... [ Continue Reading ]
_He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber_, &c.
Measuring the arch of the gate from north to south, it was in breadth
twenty-five cubits, which is thus computed: the breadth of the gate
ten cubits, the breadth of both the side walls thirteen cubits, and
two cubits for the space... [ Continue Reading ]
_And from the face of the gate_, &c. The whole length of the porch,
from the outward front unto the inner side, which looked into the
first court, was fifty cubits. _There were narrow windows to the
little chambers_, &c. Every one of these little chambers (Eze 40:7)
had a narrow window to it, toward... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then brought he me into the outward court_ There were two courts
belonging to Solomon's temple; the outward for the people, the inward
for the priests. It is probable that Solomon built only the inner
court: see 1 Kings 6:36, compared with chap. 1 Kings 8:64: and that
the outer court was built afte... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then he measured the breadth, &c., a hundred cubits eastward and
northward_ He measured the whole space of ground between the west
front of the lower gate, (namely, the gate at the east end of the
outer court,) and the east front of the upper gate, which led into the
inner court, and found it a hun... [ Continue Reading ]
_The gate of the inner court was over against the gate toward the
north_, &c. The words may be translated more intelligibly thus: _And
the gate of the inner court was proportionable_, or answerable, _to
the gate that was toward the north and toward the east._ The
expression is elliptical, like that... [ Continue Reading ]
_After that he brought me to the south_, &c. The prophet having shown,
by way of parenthesis, in the 23d verse, the exact correspondence
between the gates of both courts, proceeds in these three verses to
describe the south gate of the outer court, by the same dimensions he
had before given of the e... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there was a gate in the inner court toward the south_ The south
gate in the inner court was exactly parallel to the south gate in the
outer court: see Ezekiel 40:23. _And he brought me to the inner court
by the south gate_ Those who maintain that the outer court enclosed
the inner on the east,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the chambers were by the gates where they washed the
burnt-offerings_ The chambers, mentioned Ezekiel 40:36, were near the
entrance of the north gate, where they washed the legs and entrails of
the burnt-offerings; and marble tables were placed there for that
purpose. According to this expositi... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the porch of the gate were two tables_, &c. Those expositors who,
by the word _gates_, in Ezekiel 40:38, understand both the north and
south gates, render the sense of these two verses perspicuously thus:
_In the porch of_ one _gate_ (namely, that on the south) _were two
tables on this side, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Within were hooks, a hand broad, fastened round about_ Within the
gate, or entrance, on the north side of the inner court, were iron
hooks, for the hanging up the beasts that were to be sacrificed, in
order to the flaying off their skins. _And upon the tables was the
flesh_, &c. Or, _they laid the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And without the inner gate_, &c. Houbigant, following the LXX.,
translates this verse thus: _And he brought me to the inner gate,
where there were two chambers in the inner court; one at the northern
side of the gate which looked to the south; the other at the southern
side of the gate which looked... [ Continue Reading ]
_And measured each post of the porch_ By the _posts_ are meant the
side-posts, or columns, on each side of the door of entrance: see
Ezekiel 40:9; these were measured to be five cubits thick, both on the
north and south sides. _And the breadth of the gate was three cubits
on this side_, &c. “Two doo... [ Continue Reading ]