PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CHAPTER S 40-48.* * The reader is left to form his own judgment on the temple seen in vision by Ezekiel, from the various interpretations that I have given in the Preliminary Remarks, the Critical Notes, and the Reflections. "VITRINGA has proved, in two volumes in Dutch, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS UPON ME— The temple here described by Ezekiel is, in all probability, the same which he saw before his captivity, and which had been burned by the Chaldeans fourteen years before this vision. On comparing the books of Kings and Chronicles with this prophet, we shall find the... [ Continue Reading ]
SET ME UPON A VERY HIGH MOUNTAIN— The expression points out mount Moriah, whereon the temple was built. It is here called _a very high mountain,_ because it represents the seat of the Christian church foretold by the prophets, that _it should be established upon the top of the mountains._ We are to... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN, &C.— That is, an angel deputed from God to give him the dimensions of the temple. See chap. Ezekiel 1:7 and Ezekiel 43:6. The Hebrew _cubit_ was equal to about eighteen inches of our measure. The reader will best understand this description, by referring to Calmet's plan of it in his Dictiona... [ Continue Reading ]
SET THINE HEART UPON— _Mark well,_ or _fix thy attention upon,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE CUBIT, AND AN HAND-BREADTH— Each cubit containing a cubit and an hand-breadth, called the great cubit, chap. Ezekiel 41:8 and supposed equal to half a yard. According to Michaelis, the Hebrew measures are: 1. The finger's breadth. 2. Four fingers, or hand-breadth. 3. Ell; the smaller of five... [ Continue Reading ]
STAIRS— _Steps._... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LENGTH OF THE GATE— _The length of the entry of the gate. Ezekiel 40:12. The space_] _The border._... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THREESCORE CUBITS, &C.— _Of twenty cubits_ [LXX], _and at the posts of the courts were gates_ [_or arched passages_] _round about._ The meaning is, that the angel described, or made a delineation of the height of the columns or pillars which were to support the stories or rooms over the arched ga... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PAVEMENT— _And the pavement abutted upon the sides of the gates, over-against the length of the gates of the pavement below._... [ Continue Reading ]
AN HUNDRED CUBITS, &C.— _An hundred cubits eastward._ Ezekiel 40:20. _And he brought me northward; and there was a gate in the outward court, which looked towards the north,_ &c. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
ARCHES— Or _Porch._ So wherever it occurs throughout this chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEIR WINDOWS— _And the windows thereof, and the porch, and the palm-trees thereof:_ and so the last clause, _And the porch thereof suitable thereto._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE GATE, &C.— _And there was a gate to the inner court, over-against this gate of the north, as_ [_in the gates_] _toward the east,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THESE MEASURES— _According to the same measure:_ that is to say, the same which had been used in the eastern court. See Wall's Critical Notes, and Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WITHOUT THE INNER GATE, &C.— _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 to the north._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE THE SONS OF ZADOK— The high priest-hood belonged to the eldest sons of the house of Aaron; so that the office originally appertained to the family of Zadok; though that of Ithamar exercised it for some time; from _Eli,_ who was high-priest in the time of Samuel, to _Abiathar,_ whom Solomon... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WERE PILLARS— Hereby seem to be meant the two great pillars of brass, whereof we have the dimensions and a description in the first book of Kings, chap. Ezekiel 7:15, &c. and 2 Chronicles 3:15. REFLECTIONS.—1st, The date of this prophesy is in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity of Jeconia... [ Continue Reading ]