1 And he took me out into the inner square in the direction of the north: and he took me into the rooms which were opposite the separate place and opposite the building to the north.
2 On the north side it was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide,
3 Opposite the space of twenty cubits which was part of the inner square, and opposite the stone floor of the outer square. There were covered ways facing one another on the third floor.
4 And in front of the rooms was a walk, ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long; and their doors were facing north.
5 And the higher rooms were shorter: for the covered ways took up more space from these than from the lower and middle rooms.
6 For they were on three floors, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the outer square; so the highest was narrower than the lowest and middle floors from the earth level.
7 And the wall which went outside by the side of the rooms, in the direction of the outer square in front of the rooms, was fifty cubits long.
8 For the rooms in the outer square were fifty cubits long: and in front of the Temple was a space of a hundred cubits.
9 And under these rooms was the way in from the east side, as one goes into them from the outer square at the head of the outer wall.
10 (And he took me) to the south, and in front of the separate place and in front of the building there were rooms.
11 And there was a walk in front of them like that by the rooms on the north; they were equally long and wide; and the ways out of them were the same in design and had the same sort of doors.
12 And under the rooms on the south was a door at the head of the outer wall in the direction of the east as one goes in.
13 And he said to me, The north rooms and the south rooms in front of the separate place are the holy rooms, where the priests who come near the Lord take the most holy things for their food: there the most holy things are placed, with the meal offering and the sin-offering and the offering for error; for the place is holy.
14 When the priests go in, they may not go out of the holy place into the outer square, and there they are to put the robes in which they do the work of the Lord's house, for they are holy: and they have to put on other clothing before they come near that which has to do with the people.
15 And when he had come to the end of measuring the inner house, he took me out to the doorway looking to the east, and took its measure all round.
16 He went round and took the measure of it on the east side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round.
17 And he went round and took the measure of it on the north side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round.
18 And he went round and took the measure of it on the south side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round.
19 And he went round and took the measure of it on the west side with the measuring rod, five hundred, measured with the rod all round.
20 He took its measure on the four sides: and it had a wall all round, five hundred long and five hundred wide, separating what was holy from what was common.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 42
Commentary on Ezekiel 42 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 42
Eze 42:1-20. Chambers of the Priests: Measurements of the Temple.
2. Before the length of an hundred cubits—that is, before "the separate place," which was that length (Eze 41:13). He had before spoken of chambers for the officiating priests on the north and south gates of the inner court (Eze 40:44-46). He now returns to take a more exact view of them.
5. shorter—that is, the building became narrower as it rose in height. The chambers were many: so "in My Father's house are many mansions" (Joh 14:2); and besides these there was much "room" still left (compare Lu 14:22). The chambers, though private, were near the temple. Prayer in our chambers is to prepare us for public devotions, and to help us in improving them.
16. five hundred reeds—the Septuagint substitutes "cubits" for "reeds," to escape the immense compass assigned to the whole, namely, a square of five hundred rods or three thousand cubits (two feet each; Eze 40:5), in all a square of one and one-seventh miles, that is, more than all ancient Jerusalem; also, there is much space thus left unappropriated. Fairbairn rightly supports English Version, which agrees with the Hebrew. The vast extent is another feature marking the ideal character of the temple. It symbolizes the great enlargement of the kingdom of God, when Jehovah-Messiah shall reign at Jerusalem, and from thence to the ends of the earth (Isa 2:2-4; Jer 3:17; Ro 11:12, 15).
20. wall … separation between … sanctuary and … profane—No longer shall the wall of partition be to separate the Jew and the Gentile (Eph 2:14), but to separate the sacred from the profane. The lowness of it renders it unfit for the purpose of defense (the object of the wall, Re 21:12). But its square form (as in the city, Re 21:16) is the emblem of the kingdom that cannot be shaken (Heb 12:28), resting on prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone.