Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 40:28 - 40:49
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Inner Court with its Gates, Cells, and Sacrificial Tables
v. 28. And He brought me to the inner court by the south gate, that is, through this gate, so that they were now within the holy court; and He measured the south gate according to these measures, those used for the other parts of the building,
v. 29. and the little chambers thereof, the guard-rooms, and the posts thereof and the arches thereof, according to these measures; and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about; it was fifty cubits long and five and twenty cubits broad.
v. 30. And the arches round about, the pediments, or galleries, were five and twenty cubits long and five cubits broad.
v. 31. And the arches thereof were toward the utter court, the wall projections extending into the outer court, and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof, as ornaments sculptured in relief, and the going up to it had eight steps, for the inner court rose higher above the outer court than the latter did above the exterior.
v. 32. And He brought me, as they continued their walk throughout the complex of Temple-buildings, into the inner court toward the east; and He measured the gate according to these measures, those employed in the other parts of the building.
v. 33. And the little chambers thereof and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were according to these measures; and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about; it was fifty cubits long and five and twenty cubits broad, the same dimensions as the other approaches.
v. 34. And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof on this side and on that side; and the going up to it had eight steps, the symmetry of the entire structure thus being shown once more.
v. 35. And He brought me to the north gate and measured it according to these measures:
v. 36. the little chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, and the windows to it round about; the length was fifty cubits and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
v. 37. And the posts thereof, the pillars bearing the special pediments, were toward the utter court; and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof on this side and on that side; and the going up to it had eight steps.
v. 38. And the chambers and the entries thereof were by the posts of the gates, literally, "And a cell with its entry was at either pillar at the gates," or at pillars at the gates, for the cell seems to have had a door leading to each of the three interior gates, where they washed the burnt offering, a rite which, in the old Temple, had been performed in the Priests' Court only.
v. 39. And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that side to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering, that is, to cut up the carcasses of the slain animals according to the rules observed by the priests from olden times.
v. 40. And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, on the outside of the Temple-hall, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, against the wall of the left side, were two tables.
v. 41. Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate, on either side of the approach to the inner hail; eight tables whereupon they slew their sacrifices, cutting them up according to the prescribed formulas. These tables were evidently of wood, as the next sentence indicates.
v. 42. And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, rather, "and four tables at the ascent," the stairway, "of hewn stone," of a cubit and an half long and a cubit and an half broad and one cubit high, apparently lower than the wooden tables, whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice, the knives and cleavers which they used for dividing the carcasses.
v. 43. And within were hooks, double staples or forked hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about, for the purpose of suspending the slain animals; and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering, placed upon them for the purpose indicated.
v. 44. And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, these two cells being immediately at the entrance of the court, which was at the side of the north gate, and their prospect was toward the south, that is, the one faced in that direction; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north, so that the two faced each other.
v. 45. And He said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house, that is, in charge of the Temple-buildings, superintendents of the entire Temple area. "That the singers are here so prominent is explained by the fact that in the state of exaltation of the community of God more ample material will be given them for new songs, so that in the worship of the new Temple the singing must play a chief part. " (Hengstenberg. )
v. 46. And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar, the superintendents of the sacrificial part of the Temple-worship; these are the Sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, for in this line the priesthood was to continue, 1Ki_2:35, which come near to the Lord to minister unto Him, and the priests were also active in the liturgical part of the Temple-worship.
v. 47. So He measured the court, an hundred cubits long and an hundred cubits broad, four-square, and the altar, namely, that of burnt offering, that was before the house, out before the entrance of the Holy Place.
v. 48. And He brought me to the porch of the house, the large portico which was before the Sanctuary proper, and measured each post, or pillar, 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.
v. 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, ten in number; and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side and another on that side, like the towers Jachin and Boaz in the Temple of Solomon. Cf 1 Kings 7. The effort of some commentators to find exact parallels and to draw minute pictures of the new Temple according to this description are bound to be futile. It is evident throughout that an ideal structure is here pictured, one whose exact dimensions may he expounded only with a per-feet understanding of the essence of the Church.