Clarke's Commentary In this chapter the prophet gives us a circumstantial account of the measures, parts, chambers, and ornaments of the temple, vv. 1-26.
Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. To the temple - He had first described the courts and the porch. See chap. 40.
And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits. The breadth of the door - This was the door, or gate, of the sanctuary, (see gates 3, in the plan), and this doorway was filled up with folding gates. The measurements are exactly the same as those of Solomon's temple. See 1 Kings 6:2, 1 Kings 6:17.
Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits.
So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. The length thereof, twenty cubits - This is the measurement of the sanctuary, or holy of holies. See G in the plan. This also was the exact measurement of Solomon's temple, see 1 Kings 6:20. This, and the other resemblances here, sufficiently prove that Ezekiel's temple and that of Solomon were on the same plan; and that the latter temple was intended to be an exact resemblance of the former.
After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side.
And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house. The side chambers were three - We find by Joseph. Antiq. 8:3, 2, that round Solomon's temple were chambers three stories high, each story consisting of thirty chambers. It is supposed that twelve were placed to the north of the temple, twelve to the south, and six to the east.Entered into the wall - The beams were admitted into the outer wall, but they rested on projections of the inner wall.
And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst. An enlarging, and a winding about - Perhaps a winding staircase that-widened upward as the inner wall decreased in thickness; this wall being six cubits thick; as high as the first story, five from the floor of the second story to that of the third, and four from the floor to the ceiling of the third story: and thus there was a rest of one cubit in breadth to support the stories. - Newcome.
I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.
The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within. The thickness of the wall - See LLL in the plan.The place of the side chambers - A walk, or gallery of communication along the chambers, five cubits broad, Ezekiel 41:11.
And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side.
And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about. And the doors - See the plan, aa. bb.
Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits. The length thereof ninety cubits - The temple, with the buildings which surrounded it, was eighty-one cubits long; add ten cubits for the vestibule, or five for the breadth of the separate place, and five for its wall; in all, ninety cubits. See the plan, LHIL. By the separate place I suppose the temple itself is meant.
So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long; So he measured the house - The temple, taken from the wall which encompassed it from the western side to the vestibule, was one hundred and one cubits; five for the separate place, nine for the wall and the chambers attached to the temple, sixty for the sanctuary and the holy place, ten for the vestibule, and twelve for the two great walls on the west and east of the temple; in all, one hundred and one cubits, See the plan, GHI.
Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits. The breadth of the face of the house - That is, the front. See the plan, FRR.
And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court;
The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered;
To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure.
And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces; A palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub - That is, the palm trees and the cherubs were alternated; and each cherub had two faces, one of a lion and the other of a man; one of which was turned to the palm tree on the right, the other to the palm tree on the left.
So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about.
From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple. From the ground unto above the door - The temple was thirty cubits high, 1 Kings 6:2, the gate was fourteen cubits, chap. Ezekiel 40:48. The palm trees and the cherubim were the same height as the gate or door. The windows were above the door.
The posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other.
The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD. The altar of wood - This was the altar of incense, and was covered with plates of gold.
And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.
And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without. There were thick planks - The wood, or planks, were thick and strong; for the cherubim and palm trees were carved in relief out of their substance, and unless they had been of considerable thickness, this could not have been done.
And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks. Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831]. Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Bible Hub |
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