The description of B. C. 574. B. C. 574. A. M. 3430. high: whereupon also they laid the || charge of the altar: these are the A. M. 3430. instruments wherewith they slew the sons of Zadok among the sons of burnt-offering and the sacrifice. Levi, which come near to the LORD to minister unto him. 43 And within were 12 hooks, a hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering. 44 ¶ And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect to ward the north. 45 And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the 13 charge of the house. t 46 And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north, is for the priests, "the keepers of the 12 Or, end irons, or, the two hearth-stones. - 1 Chron. vi. 31. Lev. viii. 35; Num. iii. 27, 28, 32, 38; xviii. 5; 1 Chron. vi. 49; ix. 23; 2 Chron. xiii. 11; Psa. cxxxiv. 1. Verse 43. 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 flesh of the offering; upon the marble tables the priests laid the flesh of the slain beasts, which they cut in pieces, and fitted for the altar: see Lev. i. 6. Verses 44-47. 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 to the north. And he said, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests-The word chamber may stand for chambers in the plural, (as side-chamber doth, chap. xli. 5-9,) and signify a row of buildings on the north side of the inner court, distinct from the chambers of the singers, verse 44, and designed for the use of the priests, who were in constant attendance, according to their courses, upon the service of the temple: see the margin. The keepers of the charge of the house-They took care of the holy vessels, and kept constant watch and ward about the temple. The word priests may include Levites under it, as Levites || || 47 So he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that was before the house. 48 And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. 49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side. elsewhere comprehends priests. And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north, &c.-Another row of chambers on the south side of the inner court, is for the descendants of Aaron, whose office it is to attend upon the service of the altar, and keep the fire burning thereon perpetually. These are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi-The family of Zadok is only taken notice of in this vision; it may be for this reason, because they kept close to the worship of God, when the priests of Ithamar's line forsook it, and fell into idolatry. The altar that was before the house-Or rather, The altar was before the house; that is, stood in the inner court, just before the porch that opened into the temple. The altar was not now measured, the measure of it being described afterward. Verses 48, 49. 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 verse 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 doors, of three cubits wide, opening each way, formed the entrance; these, with five on each side, called the posts of the porch, amount to sixteen cubits; and the other four may be supposed to have been the distance from these posts to the outside of the walls of the temple."--Scott. CHAPTER XLI. in this chapter we have, (1,) The dimensions of the temple itself, 1-13. (2,) An account of another building, 14, 15. (3,) The manner of the building of the house, 16, 17. (4,) The ornaments of the house, 18-20. (5,) The altar of incense and the table, 21, 22. (6,) The doors between the temple and the oracle, 23–26. The description of A. M. 3430. EZEKIEL. AFTERWARD he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. 2 And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits and the breadth twenty cubits. 3 Then went he inward, and measured the posts of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. 4 So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. the new temple. B. C. 574. 5 After, he measured the wall of the A. M. 3430. house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side-chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. 6 And the side-chambers were three, 2 one b over another, and 3 thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side-chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house. twenty cubits-It was an exact cube, of the same dimensions in length, breadth, and height: see 1 Kings vi. 20; before the temple-Or rather, as the words should be rendered, according to the temple; that is, the breadth of it. Verses 5, 6. He measured the wall of the house six cubits-Three yards thick was this wall, from the ground to the first story of the side-chambers. And the breadth of every side-chamber four cubits NOTES ON CHAPTER XLI. Verses 1, 2. Afterward he brought me to the temple-"After having described the courts and the porch, the prophet enters into the temple, properly so called, whereof he gives the dimensions and description." And he measured the posts-By the posts are meant the door-cases on each side of the entrance. These were six cubits thick on the north and south sides; which was the breadth of the taber-|| nacle-These walls, in their thickness, took up as much space as the whole breadth of Moses's tabernacle, as appears from Exod. xxvi. 16, 22, 23; where the west side of the tabernacle consists of eight boards, each a cubit and a half broad. The breadth of the door was ten cubits, &c.—The entrance itself being ten cubits broad, and the wall on each side five cubits, makes the breadth of the house to be just twenty cubits, as it is expressed in the latter part of the verse, which was the same in Solomon's temple, 1 Kings vi. 2. And the length forty cubits-Namely, the length of the first sanctuary, or holy place, as distinct from the holy of holies, which was twenty cubits in length, verse 4, and made the whole structure sixty cubits long; wherein it agreed with Solo---At five cubits height from the ground, the wall mon's temple. Verses 3, 4. Then went he inward-From the outward sanctuary he went forward toward the holy of holies, and measured the thickness of the partition wall to be two cubits, the entrance itself six cubits, and breadth of the wall, on each side of the door, seven cubits: see chap. xl. 48; where the breadth of the gate is taken in the same sense. The breadth of the wall, thus computed, making up fourteen cubits, and being added to the breadth of the entrance itself, makes up twenty cubits; the breadth of the inner sanctuary, as it is set down in the next verse. So he measured the length thereof-Of|| the holy of holies twenty cubits, and the breadth Of the lowest floor; for there were three stories of these, and they differed in their breadth, as the wall of the temple, on which they rested, abated of its thickness; for the middle chambers were broader than the lowest by a cubit, and the highest as much broader than the middle. The side-chambers were three, one over another-They were three stories high; and thirty in order-As in Solomon's temple, according to Josephus's description, Antiq., lib. viii. cap. 3, sec. 2, where it appears, that round Solomon's temple were chambers three stories high, each story consisting of thirty chambers. It is supposed that twelve were placed to the north, twelve to the south, and six to the east. And they entered into the wall which supported these outward chambers, abated of its thickness one cubit, in consequence of which there was a rest, or a ledge, of one cubit's breadth, on which the ends of each story were fastened: see 1 Kings vi. 10. But they had not hold in the wall of the house-They were not fastened into the main wall of the house, but rested on the outside of the wall where it became more narrow. Verses 7, 8. And there was an enlarging-Namely, of the side-chambers; so much of breadth added to the chambers as was taken from the thickness of the wall: see the preceding note; and a winding about still upward--Winding stairs, which enlarged as the rooms did, went up between each two cham The description of B. C. 574. B. C. 574. A. M. 3430. about: the foundations of the side-ing was five cubits thick round about, A. M. 3430. chambers were da full reed of six and the length thereof ninety cubits. great cubits. 13 So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, a hundred 9 The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side-cubits long; chambers that were within. 14 Also the breadth of the face of the house, 10 And between the chambers was the wide-and of the separate place toward the east, a ness of twenty cubits round about the house on hundred cubits. every side. 11 And the doors of the side-chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about. 12 Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the build d Chap. xl. 5.- -6 Or, several walks, or, walks with pillars. 15 And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, a hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court; 16 The door-posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, ceiled bers were toward the place that was left-Or, toward the void space. The doors of the lower rooms opened into this void space before the chambers. Verses 12-14. Now the building, &c.--This seems to be another building not before mentioned, but now measured by itself. So he measured the house--The whole temple, oracle, sanctuary, and porch, with the walls, which were in length a hundred cubits from east to west, which may be thus computed: The thickness of the wall of the east porch The thickness of the west wall The side-chambers at the west end The outer wall of those chambers Cubits. 5 11 6 40 2 20 6 5 5 bers from the bottom to the top; and there were two doors at the top of each pair of stairs, one door opening into one chamber, and the other into the opposite one. For the winding about, &c.-The stairs, as they rose in height, enlarged themselves too; round about the house--On all sides of the house, where these chambers were. Therefore the breadth was still upward--It became broader by one cubit in every upper chamber. I saw also the height of the house-Of the chambers which rose to three stories high. The foundations, &c., were a full reed of six great cubits--The lowest chamber had properly a foundation laid on the earth, but the floor of the middle and the highest story must be accounted here a foundation; so from the ground to the ceiling of the first room were six great cubits; from the first to the second, six great cubits; and from the third floor to the roof of the chamber, a like number; to which if we add one cubit for the thickness of each of the three floors, you have twenty-one cubits, or ten yards and a half for height. Verses 9-11. The thickness of the wall, &c.-This is supposed to be meant of an outward wall Verses 15-17. And he measured the length, &c. enclosing the side-chambers. And that which was -Noldius translates this sentence more clearly thus: left--Or, the space which was left, as Bishop New- And he measured the length of the building which come translates it, judging it to be intended of a was before the separate place, [and] that which was space allowed for a walk, or gallery of communica- behind it, or opposite to it; by which he understands tion, before the chambers, which space was five the north and south porch, the east and west sides cubits broad, verse 11. And between the chambers having been measured before, verses 12, 14. And was the wideness of twenty cubits-A word being the galleries thereof on one side, &c., a hundred cuhere used for chambers different from that which bits, with [or and] the inner temple, and the porches occurs before, it is supposed that another row of thereof--As the temple, and the area wherein it buildings, parallel with the side-chambers, but at stood, made a square of a hundred cubits; so the twenty yards' distance from them, is intended, and courts and buildings thereto belonging were of the that there was a passage of twenty cubits between same dimensions. By the galleries are meant the these buildings. The description, however, is very side-chambers, described verses 6, 7. Within the obscure, and the interpretations of commentators, inner temple--Called the inner house, verse 17, of course, different. The doors of the side-cham- || chap. xlii. 15, to distinguish it from the courts and Also the breadth of the face of the house--The front of the temple eastward was a hundred cubits. The description of B. C. 574. 8 B. C. 574. A. M. 3430. with wood round about, and from || cherubims and palm-trees made, and A. M. 3430. the ground up to the windows, and on the wall of the temple. the windows were covered; 9 17 To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without by measure. 18 And it was made with cherubims and palm-trees, so that a palm-tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces; 19 So that the face of a man was toward the palm-tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm-tree on the other side it was made through all the house round about. 21 The 10 posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other. 22h The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD. 23 And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24 And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, 20 From the ground unto above the door were and two leaves for the other door. buildings which were about it. The door-posts and the narrow windows, &c.-He measured also the thickness of the walls on each side of the porch, and the thickness of the door-cases at the entrance into the temple; as also the narrow windows belonging to the three stories of chambers, which were placed on the outside of the temple. From the ground up to the windows--He measured from the ground up to the windows which were placed above the sidechambers. And the windows were covered—With || lattices or curtains, or both. To that above the door ---It seems this verse is connected with the preceding, and signifies that the windows were made in exact proportion, both over the porch, and through every part of the temple and the buildings adjoining to it. Verses 18-20. And it was made with cherubims and with palm-trees-On the inside of the house the walls were adorned with carved work of cherubim and palm-trees, as Solomon's temple was, 1 Kings vi. 29. The cherubs and palm-trees were placed alternately; and according to the different ways of counting them, you might reckon a palm-tree placed between two cherubs, or a cherubim placed between two palm-trees. So the face of a man was toward a palm-tree, &c.—The cherubim had four faces, or appearances, but only two of these appeared plainly in this carved work; the two other faces, namely, that of an ox and an eagle, being supposed to be hid in the plain or surface of the wall. From the ground unto above the door-Up to the windows, as it is expressed verse 16, or up to the ceiling, as the LXX. explain it. Verses 21, 22. The posts of the temple were squared, &c.-The lintels, or door-posts, both of the temple and inner sanctuary, were not arched, but square, with a flat beam, or upper lintel, laid upon the top of the side-posts: compare the margin of 1 Kings vi. 33. The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits--The LXX. i Chapter xliv. 16; Mal. i. 7, 12.————* Exod. xxx. 8. 1 Kings vi. 31-35. add, by way of explication, kai to evρog πnxwv ovo, and the breadth thereof two cubits; that it might be foursquare, as Moses's altar of incense was, Exod. xxx.2. The altar here described is a cubit higher, and double the breadth to that of Moses, which is supposed to be agreeable to the dimensions of the altar made by Solomon, who did not exactly observe the proportions prescribed to Moses, in making the cherubim and the other furniture of the temple; God having given a new model to David of all the parts and ornaments of the temple, 1 Chron. xxviii. 12, 19. This altar was made of wood, but overlaid with gold, Exod. xxx. 3, and therefore is called the golden altar. And the corners thereof, &c., were of woodThe corners are the same with the horns, mentioned Exod. xxx. 2, being made out of the four posts which supported each corner of the altar. The surface, or top of it, is called the length, and the sides the walls. This is the table that is before the Lord-The words altar and table are used promiscuously; and this table, or altar, is said to be before the Lord, as being in the place of his peculiar presence: compare Exod. xxx. 8. In the same sense the burnt-offering is said to be made at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, that is, in the place dedicated to his worship, Exod. xxix. 42; and the lamp is said to burn before the Lord, chap. xxvii. 21, though the candlestick stood in the outward sanctuary. Verses 23-25. And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors-Each of them had a double, or folding-door. And the doors had two leaves apieceThe two doors being exceedingly large, that of the outward sanctuary ten cubits broad, and that of the inner six, (see verses 2, 3,) and of a height proportionable; each of them had two leaves, that they might be more easily opened, and each leaf had a wicket in it. And there were made on them, &c., cherubims and palm-trees--Namely, on the doors both of the outward and inward sanctuary. And there were thick planks upon the face of the porch || beyond the wall of the porch. These were laid so without-There was a wainscot work of boards fas- as to make a frieze-work over the entrance of the ened to the end of the great beams, which came out || eastern porch. CHAPTER XLII. This chapter contains, (1,) A description of the chambers all around the inside of the wall of the courts, 1-12. (2,) The uses of them, 13, 14. (3,) A survey of the whole ground on which the temple and its courts were built, 15-20. B. C. 574. B. C. 574. A. M. 3130. THEN he brought me forth into || cubits breadth inward, a way of one A. M. 3430. the outer court, the way toward cubit; and their doors toward the north. the north and he brought me into the cham- 5 Now the upper chambers were shorter: ber that was over against the separate place, for the galleries were higher than these, and which was over before the building toward || 2 than the lower, and than the middlemost of the north. 2 Before the length of a hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits. 3 Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the outer court, was bgallery against gallery in three stories. 4 And before the chambers was a walk of ten a Chap. xli. 12, 15. the building. 6 For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the building was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground. 7 And the wall that was without over against the chambers, toward the outer court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits. Or, and the building consisted of the lower and the middlemost. 2 .———b Chap. xli. 16.——1 Or, did eat of these. NOTES ON CHAPTER XLII. Verses 1-4. Then he brought me forth into the outer court--Outer with respect to the temple itself, or the outer part of the court, which court was that of the priests, as appears from what follows. Into the chamber that was over against the separate || place--Chamber is put for chambers. Before the length, &c., was the north door-This north door faced one of the cloisters, the length of which was a hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty, which was the proportion of all the cloisters. Over against the twenty cubits which were for [or, which belonged to]|| the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for [or, belonged to] the outer court-One side of these buildings looked upon the void space about the temple, which contained twenty cubits, mentioned chap. xli. 10; and the other side was toward the pavement belonging to the outer court, described chap. xl. 17. And before the chamber was a walk of ten cubits—According to our reading of Verses 5-7. Now the upper chambers were shorter, &c.--The two upper stories had balconies standing out of them, the breadth of which was taken out of the rooms themselves, and made them so much the narrower, because the weight of the balconies was not supported by pillars, as the rooms over the cloisters were, but only by the wall. The wall that was without, &c., was fifty cubits-The wall that enclosed these buildings was commensurate with the breadth of one of the cloisters of the outer court, which were fifty cubits broad. These three verses are allowed by the Jewish Rabbis Solomon and Kimchi to be very difficult to be understood. |