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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 43:13 - 43:13
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Description and Consecration of the Altar of Burnt-Offering
Description of the Altar
Eze 43:13. And these are the measures of the altar in cubits: The cubit a cubit and a handbreadth; a ground-framework of a cubit (in height), and a cubit in breadth, and its moulding on its border round about a span. This is the base of the altar. Eze 43:14. And from the ground-framework of earth to the lower enclosure, two cubits (in height), and a cubit in breadth; and from the small enclosure to the greater enclosure, four cubits (in height), and one cubit in breadth. Eze 43:15. And the mount of God, four cubits; and from the heart of God upwards, the four horns. Eze 43:16. And the hearth of God, twelve cubits in length by twelve cubits in breadth; squared on its four sides. Eze 43:17. And the enclosure, fourteen cubits in length by fourteen cubits in breadth on its four sides; and the moulding round about it, half a cubit; and the ground-framework of it, a cubit round about: and its steps faced the east. - To the heading, “these are the measures of the altar in (according to) cubits,” there is once more appended, as in Eze 40:5, in connection with the measuring of the temple, the length of the cubit measure. The description commences with the foundation of the altar, and, proceeding upwards, gives the height and breadth of the several gradations of the walls of the altar, up to the horns at the four corners (Eze 43:13-15). It then passes from above downwards, to supply the length and breadth or the circumference of the different stages (Eze 43:16 and Eze 43:17). As the first, or lowest part, the חֵיק is mentioned, literally, the bosom or lap; then by transference, the hollow formed by the sides of a chariot (1Ki 22:35); here the lower hollow or base of the altar (p), formed by a border of a definite height, to merely “a frame running round, a stand in which the altar stood” (Hitzig), nor merely “the hollow filled with earth” (Kliefoth), but both together. This ground-framework (p) was a cubit (sc., high) and a cubit broad. That הָאַמָּה is to be taken as referring to the height, is evident from the statement of the breadth which follows. חֵיק הָאַמָּה is not to be altered into חֵיקָהּ אַמָּה, as Ewald proposes, nor is הָאַמָּה to be changed into באמּה (Hitzig); but Hävernick's explanation is to be adopted: “and a bosom (was there) the cubit,” i.e., of the height of the cubit just described. רֹחַב, breadth, is the extent to which the bosom projected beyond the next enclosure (q) on every side, and formed a support, the circumference of which was a cubit more than the lower cube of the altar on every side. This is shown by the measurements in Eze 43:16 and Eze 43:17. The חֵיק had a גְּבוּל on its שָׂפָה of a span (half a cubit) in height (o). שָׂפָה, lip, is the rim (1Ki 7:26; Gen 22:17); and גְּבוּל, the bordering on the rim, is a moulding. The feminine suffixes attached to גְּבוּלָהּ and שְׂפָתָהּ refer to חֵיק, which is of the masculine gender, no doubt, when used in its literal sense of bosom or lap, but is construed as a feminine in the tropical sense of an inanimate object. The ground-framework, with its moulding, formed the גַּב of the altar. גַּב, the arched, then a hump or back, signifies here the support of the altar. Upon this support the altar rose in a cubical enclosure or frame, which diminished in circumference by ledges or steps. The enclosure resting upon the support, and therefore the lowest enclosure (q), is mentioned in Eze 43:14; and the one which followed (r) in Eze 43:14.
The word עֲזָרָה, which has probably sprung from עָצַר by the softening of צ into ז, signifies enclosure, surrounding, and is mostly used for the outer court of the temple; here it is applied to the altar, and signifies the enclosure or framework of the kernel of the altar, consisting of earth. As the altar rose in steps, a distinction is made between the lower or smaller, and the (upper or) greater עֲזָרָה. The identity of the lower עֲזָרָה and the smaller one (הַקְּטַנָּה) is so evident from the course of the description, that it is universally admitted by modern expositors. The lower one (q) is called the small one, in comparison with the large one which stood above it, from the fact that its height was smaller, as it was only two cubits high, whereas the upper one (r) was four. When, therefore, the measurement of the greater one is given in this way in Eze 43:14: “from the small enclosure to the great enclosure, four cubits,” this statement cannot be understood in any other way than as meaning, that this enclosure or frame had a height of four cubits from the lower to the upper end, - that is to say, in other words, that the lower ledge was four cubits from the upper. Consequently the statement in Eze 43:14, “from the ground-framework of earth to the lower enclosure, two cubits,” can also have no other meaning than that the lower enclosure, from the lower edge by the moulding to the upper edge, at which the second enclosure commenced, was two cubits high. This height is reckoned from the upper edge of the חֵיק, or from the first (lowest) ledge. The height of these three portions taken together, therefore, was (1 + 2 + 4) seven cubits. To this the mount of God (s), which was four cubits (Eze 43:15), has to be added, making in all eleven cubits. In Eze 43:14 חֵיק is followed by הָאָרֶץ: the חֵיק consisting of earth, or filled with earth. But the חֵיק, with its moulding, is designated גַּב, the back or support of the altar, and is thereby distinguished from the altar itself; so that, for the height of the altar, we have only to reckon the two enclosures, with the mount of God, which amount to ten cubits. Upon the basis of the חֵיק, with its moulding, and the two enclosures (עזרה), there rose the true altar, with its hearth, and the horns at the four corners, noticed in Eze 43:15. A distinction is here made between הַרְאֵל, i.e., mount of God, and אֲרִיאֵל; and they are not to be identified, as they have been by many of the commentators, down to Hitzig, after the example of the lxx. אֲרִיאֵל (as the word is to be written according to the Keri) does not mean “lion of God,” but “heart of God” (אֲרִי, from אָרָה, to burn), as in Isa 29:1-2. The hearth of God is the surface of the altar, its fire-hearth (t); whereas הַרְאֵל, mount of God (s), was the basis or foundation of the hearth. This was four cubits high, whereas no height is mentioned in connection with the hearth of God; but it is simply stated that four horns went upward from it, namely, at the four corners. With the horns of the altar, the size and height of which are not given, and which cannot be reckoned at three cubits, the description of all the parts, from the bottom to the top, is given; and all that remains to complete the measurements, is to describe the circumference of the several parts which rose one above another in the form of steps. This follows in Eze 43:16 and Eze 43:17. The hearth of God is twelve cubits long and twelve cubits broad, and is therefore רָבוּעַ, square, of the same length and breadth on its four sides. Going downwards, there follow in Eze 43:17 the length and breadth of the עֲזָרָה, with fourteen cubits, as it was a cubit broader on every side according to Eze 43:14. It is very strange, however, that the length and breadth of only one עֲזָרָה are given here, as there are two of different heights mentioned in Eze 43:14. Many of the commentators have therefore identified the mount of God with the great עֲזָרָה, and attribute only a height of seven cubits to the altar; whereas Kliefoth regards both the עֲזָרָה of Eze 43:17 and the גְּבוּל and חֵיק of Eze 43:15 as different from the parts mentioned by the same name in Eze 43:13 and Eze 43:14, and takes them as referring to an enclosure and a barrier of the mount of God. One is as arbitrary as the other, as the words of the text do not require either of these assumptions. The difficulty, that only one עֲזָרָה is mentioned in Eze 43:17, is easily solved, if we consider that in Eze 43:15 only the height of the mount of God is given, and no breadth is mentioned as in the case of the עֲזָרָה in Eze 43:14. We may see from this that the mount of God had the same breadth or the same circumference as the upper עֲזָרָה (see r and s in the illustration). In that case the length and breadth of all the parts of the altar were given, when, in addition to the length and breadth of the hearth of God (t), those of one עֲזָרָה, and that the lower, were given, as this alone was longer and broader than the hearth of God and the mount of God; whereas the length and breadth of the upper עֲזָרָה were identical with those of the circumference of the mount of God.
The altar, therefore, upon the upper surface, the hearth of God, was a square, of twelve cubits in length and breath. The mount of God and the upper enclosure had the same length and breadth. The lower enclosure, on the other hand, were fourteen cubits long and broad; and the support, finally, without the moulding, was sixteen cubits in length and breadth. The height of the altar was as follows: the support, with the moulding, a cubit and a half; the lower enclosure, two cubits; the upper, four; and the mount of God, with the hearth, also four cubits in height; whereas the altar in Solomon's temple was ten cubits high, and at its lower basis twenty cubits long and broad (2Ch 4:1). - The description closes in Eze 43:17 with an allusion to steps, which the altar of Ezekiel had upon the eastern side; whereas, in the case of the tabernacle, steps were not allowed to be placed by the altar (Exo 20:23). The form פְּנֹות is taken by Kimchi as a noun. Others regard it as an infin. nominasc.; whilst Hitzig proposes to point it as a participle פֹּנֹות.