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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 41:22 - 41:22
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The Altar of Burnt-Offering in the holy place (see Plate III n). “The abrupt style of writing is still continued.” The altar wood for the altar was of wood three cubits high; its length, i.e., the expanse of the wall from one corner to the other, was two cubits; the breadth (thickness), which is not expressly mentioned, was the same, because the square form is presupposed from the shape of this altar in the tabernacle and Solomon's temple. Under the term מִקְצֹעֹותָיו, its corner-pieces, the horns projecting at the corners, or the horn-shaped points, are probably included, as the simple mention of the corners appears superfluous, and the horns, which were symbolically significant features in the altar, would certainly not have been wanting. There is something strange in the occurrence of וְאָרְכוּ before and along with קִירֹות, as the length is already included in the walls, and it would not be appropriately said of the length that it was of wood. אָרְכוּ is therefore certainly a copyist's error for אַדְנוּ, ἡ βάσις αὐτοῦ (lxx), its stand or pedestal. The angel describes this altar as the “table which stands before Jehovah” - in perfect harmony with the epithet already applied to the sacrifices in the Pentateuch, the “bread (לֶחֶם) of God,” though not “because the altar table was intended to combine the old table of shewbread and the altar of incense” (Böttcher). The table of shewbread is not mentioned any more than the candlestick and other portions of the temple furniture. - The altar of burnt-offering stood before Jehovah, i.e., before the entrance into the holy of holies. This leads in Eze 41:23. to the notice of the doors of the sanctuary, the character of which is also described as simply openings (פֶּתַח), since the doorway had been mentioned before. delet דֶּלֶת signifies a moveable door, and the plural דְּלָתֹות, doors, whether they consist of one leaf or two, i.e., whether they are single or folding doors. Here the דְּלָתֹות in Eze 41:23 and Eze 41:24 (לדלתות) are folding doors; on the other hand, the first דְּלָתֹות in Eze 41:24 and דֶּלֶת ibid. are used for the wings of the door, and מוּסַבֹּות for the swinging portions (leaves) of the separate wings. The meaning is this: the holy place (הֵיכָל) and the holy of holies (הַקֹּדֶשׁ) had two folding doors (i.e., each of these rooms had one). These doors had two wings, and each of these wings, in the one door and in the other, had two reversible door-leaves, so that when going in and out there was no necessity to throw open on every occasion the whole of the wing, which was at least three or four cubits broad. There is no foundation for the objection raised by Kliefoth to the interpretation of לְהֵיכָל וְלקַֹּדֶשׁ as signifying the holy place and the holy of holies; since he cannot deny that the two words are so used, הֵיכָל in 1Ki 6:5, 1Ki 6:17, 1Ki 6:31, 1Ki 6:33, and קֹדֶשׁ in Lev 16:2-3, etc. And the artificial explanation, “to the temple space, and indeed to the holy place,” not only passes without notice the agreement between our verses and 1Ki 6:31-34, but gains nothing further than a side door, which does violence to the dignity of the sanctuary, a passage from the side chambers into the holy place, with which Böttcher has presented Solomon's temple. - These doors were ornamented, like the walls, with figures of cherubim and palms. - Other remarks are added in vv. 25b and 26 concerning the porch in front of the holy place. The first is, that on the front of the porch outside there was עָב אֵץ. The only other passage in which the word עָב occurs in a similar connection is 1Ki 7:6, where it refers to wood-work in front of the Ulam of Solomon's porch of pillars; and it cannot be determined whether it signifies threshold, or moulding, or threshold-mouldings. On the shoulders, i.e., on the right and left side walls of the front porch, there were closed windows and figures of palms. The cherubim were omitted here. - The last words of Eze 41:26 are very obscure. וְצַלְעֹות הַבַּ may be taken in connection with the preceding clause, “and on the side-rooms of the temple,” as there is no necessity to repeat the preposition in the case of closely continuous clauses (vid., Ewald, §351a); and the side-rooms not only must have had windows, but might also be ornamented with figures of palms. But if the words be taken in this sense, the עֻבִּים must also signify something which presented, like the walls of the porch and of the side chambers, a considerable extent of surface capable of receiving a similar decoration; although nothing definite has hitherto been ascertained with regard to the meaning of the word, and our rendering “beams” makes no pretension to correctness.