11 If they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and the fashion of it, and the exits of it, and the entrances of it, and all the forms of it, and all the ordinances of it, and all the forms of it, and all the laws of it; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all the ordinances of it, and do them.
In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the same day, the hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me there. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south. He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you; for, to the intent that I may show them to you, are you brought here: declare all that you see to the house of Israel. Behold, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a handbreadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. Then came he to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up the steps of it: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad. Every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and [the space] between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts of it, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house. The lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. He measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; and a border before the lodges, one cubit [on this side], and a border, one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. He measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits; door against door. He made also posts, sixty cubits; and the court [reached] to the posts, round about the gate. [From] the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. There were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches; and windows were round about inward; and on [each] post were palm trees. Then brought he me into the outer court; and, behold, there were chambers and a pavement, made for the court round about: thirty chambers were on the pavement. The pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, [both] on the east and on the north. The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured the length of it and the breadth of it. The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts of it and the arches of it were after the measure of the first gate: the length of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. The windows of it, and the arches of it, and the palm trees of it, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and the arches of it were before them. There was a gate to the inner court over against the [other] gate, [both] on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits. He led me toward the south; and, behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts of it and the arches of it according to these measures. There were windows in it and in the arches of it round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. There were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches of it were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on the posts of it. There was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits. Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures; and the lodges of it, and the posts of it, and the arches of it, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches of it round about; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. There were arches round about, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad. The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on the posts of it: and the ascent to it had eight steps. He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures; and the lodges of it, and the posts of it, and the arches of it, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches of it round about; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on the posts of it, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps. He brought me to the north gate: and he measured [it] according to these measures; the lodges of it, the posts of it, and the arches of it: and there were windows therein round about; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. The posts of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on the posts of it, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps. A chamber with the door of it was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt offering. In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to kill thereon the burnt offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering. On the [one] side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables. Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed [the sacrifices]. There were four tables for the burnt offering, of hewn stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
Yahweh said to me, Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of the house of Yahweh, and all the laws of it; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary. You shall tell the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: you house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 43
Commentary on Ezekiel 43 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 43
Eze 43:1-27. Jehovah's Return to the Temple.
Everything was now ready for His reception. As the Shekinah glory was the peculiar distinction of the old temple, so it was to be in the new in a degree as much more transcendent as the proportions of the new exceeded those of the old. The fact that the Shekinah glory was not in the second temple proves that it cannot be that temple which is meant in the prophecy.
2. the way of the east—the way whereby the glory had departed (Eze 11:22, 23), and rested on Mount Olivet (compare Zec 14:4).
his voice … like … many waters—So English Version rightly, as in Eze 1:24, "voice of the Almighty"; Re 1:15; 14:2, prove this. Not as Fairbairn translates, "its noise."
earth his glory—(Re 18:1).
3. when I came to destroy the city—that is, to pronounce God's word for its destruction. So completely did the prophets identify themselves with Him in whose name they spake.
6. the man—who had been measuring the buildings (Eze 40:3).
7. the place—that is, "behold the place of My throne"—the place on which your thoughts have so much dwelt (Isa 2:1-3; Jer 3:17; Zec 14:16-20; Mal 3:1). God from the first claimed to be their King politically as well as religiously: and He had resisted their wish to have a human king, as implying a rejection of Him as the proper Head of the state. Even when He yielded to their wish, it was with a protest against their king ruling except as His vicegerent. When Messiah shall reign at Jerusalem, He shall then first realize the original idea of the theocracy, with its at once divine and human king reigning in righteousness over a people all righteous (Eze 43:12; Isa 52:1; 54:13; 60:21).
9. carcasses of their kings—It is supposed that some of their idolatrous kings were buried within the bounds of Solomon's temple [Henderson]. Rather, "the carcasses of their idols," here called "kings," as having had lordship over them in past times (Isa 26:13); but henceforth Jehovah, alone their rightful lord, shall be their king, and the idols that had been their "king" would appear but as "carcasses." Hence these defunct kings are associated with the "high places" in Eze 43:7 [Fairbairn]. Le 26:30 and Jer 16:18, confirm this. Manasseh had built altars in the courts of the temple to the host of heaven (2Ki 21:5; 23:6).
I will dwell in the midst … for ever—(Re 21:3).
10. show the house … that they may be ashamed of their iniquities—When the spirituality of the Christian scheme is shown to men by the Holy Ghost, it makes them "ashamed of their iniquities."
12. whole … most holy—This superlative, which had been used exclusively of the holy of holies (Ex 26:34), was now to characterize the entire building. This all-pervading sanctity was to be "the law of the (whole) house," as distinguished from the Levitical law, which confined the peculiar sanctity to a single apartment of it.
13-27. As to the altar of burnt offering, which was the appointed means of access to God.
15. altar—Hebrew, Harel, that is, "mount of God"; denoting the high security to be imparted by it to the restored Israel. It was a high place, but a high place of God, not of idols.
from the altar—literally, "the lion of God," Ariel (in Isa 29:1, "Ariel" is applied to Jerusalem). Menochius supposes that on it four animals were carved; the lion perhaps was the uppermost, whence the horns were made to issue. Gesenius regards the two words as expressing the "hearth" or fireplace of the altar.
16. square in the four squares—square on the four sides of its squares [Fairbairn].
17. settle—ledge [Fairbairn].
stairs—rather, "the ascent," as "steps" up to God's altar were forbidden in Ex 20:26.
18-27. The sacrifices here are not mere commemorative, but propitiatory ones. The expressions, "blood" (Eze 43:18), and "for a sin offering" (Eze 43:19, 21, 22), prove this. In the literal sense they can only apply to the second temple. Under the Christian dispensation they would directly oppose the doctrine taught in Heb 10:1-18, namely, that Christ has by one offering for ever atoned for sin. However, it is possible that they might exist with a retrospective reference to Christ's sufferings, as the Levitical sacrifices had a prospective reference to them; not propitiatory in themselves, but memorials to keep up the remembrance of His propitiatory sufferings, which form the foundation of His kingdom, lest they should be lost sight of in the glory of that kingdom [De Burgh]. The particularity of the directions make it unlikely that they are to be understood in a merely vague spiritual sense.
20. cleanse—literally, "make expiation for."
21. burn it … without the sanctuary—(Heb 13:11).
26. Seven days—referring to the original directions of Moses for seven days' purification services of the altar (Ex 29:37).
consecrate themselves—literally, "fill their hands," namely, with offerings; referring to the mode of consecrating a priest (Ex 29:24, 35).
27. I will accept you—(Eze 20:40, 41; Ro 12:1; 1Pe 2:5).