Ezekiel 41:4

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Before the temple.—Temple is here, as in Ezekiel 41:1, used of the Holy Place, and before, or west of this, was the Holy of Holies, an exact cube, of the same size as in Solomon’s Temple. The thickness of the dividing wall between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies is nowhere mentioned, nor is it taken into account in the measurements. It was merely a division, either a vail, or perhaps a screen of wood, and occupied little room.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

41:1-26 After the prophet had observed the courts, he was brought to the temple. If we attend to instructions in the plainer parts of religion, and profit by them, we shall be led further into an acquaintance with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Temple - here is the holy place as distinguished from the most holy, "the Oracle," which is "before" the holy place, inwards.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. thereof—of the holy of holies.

before the temple—that is, before, or in front of the most holy place (so "temple" is used in 1Ki 6:3). The angel went in and measured it, while Ezekiel stood in front, in the only part of the temple accessible to him. The dimensions of the two apartments are the same as in Solomon's temple, since being fixed originally by God, they are regarded as finally determined.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The length thereof; of the oracle, or holy of holies. It was an exact square, as was Solomon’s, 1 Kings 6:20.

Before the temple; parallel with the breadth of the temple.

He said unto me; the prophet was commanded to hear, and now he shows us his attention.

This is the most holy place, as having the tokens of God’s more especial presence, in that the mercy-seat and propitiatory were there, so called Numbers 7:89; it was called also the oracle, 1 Kings 6:16, and

the inner house, Ezekiel 41:15,17.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So he measured the length thereof twenty cubits,.... That is, of the most holy place, from east to west; which was the measure of it in Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 6:20,

and the breadth twenty cubits before the temple: that is answerable or according to the breadth of the temple or holy place; which was also twenty cubits in breadth: this stood at the west end of it, and was equal in breadth to it; see 1 Kings 6:2,

and he said unto me, this is the most holy place; the divine Person in human form said to the prophet, take notice of this building; this answers to the most holy place in the temple. This was an emblem of the most holy and perfect state of the church on earth; it represents the New Jerusalem church state, that holy city, and into which nothing shall enter that defiles; and, as in the most holy place, the divine Shechaniah or majesty of God dwelt; so here will dwell in person the God-man and Mediator, the head of the church, our Lord Jesus; whose tabernacle will now be with men, in this perfect state, raised from the dead, and he will dwell among them: and as this most holy place in its dimensions is a foursquare, so is the holy city described; denoting its stability and perfection; see Revelation 21:2.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. The most holy place was a square of 20 cubits.

before the temple] in front of. The “temple” is the holy place, 1 Kings 6:3; 1 Kings 6:5.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - The holy of holies was an exact square of twenty cubits, as in the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:20), and to the measuring-man, who had turned himself round, lay along the whole breadth of the temple or holy place. Ezekiel 41:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Inner Space of the Temple (see Plate III B and C)

Ezekiel 41:1. And he led me into the temple, and measured the pillars, six cubits breadth on this side and six cubits breadth on that side, with regard to the breadth of the tent. Ezekiel 41:2. And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the shoulders of the door, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that: and he measured its length, forty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits. Ezekiel 41:3. And he went within the measured the pillar of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. Ezekiel 41:4. And he measured its length, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, toward the temple; and said to me, This is the holy of holies. - Ezekiel 41:1 and Ezekiel 41:2 give the measurements of the holy place. היכל is used here in the more restricted sense for the nave of the temple, the holy place (B), without the porch and the holy of holies (cf. 1 Kings 6:17). The measuring commences with the front (eastern) wall, in which there was the entrance door. This wall had pillars (e e) of six cubits breadth on either side (on the right hand and the left), and between the pillars a door (d) ten cubits broad, with door-shoulders (e e) of five cubits on this side and that (Ezekiel 41:2). These measurements (6 + 6 + 10 + 5 + 5) yield for the front wall a total breadth of thirty-two cubits. This agrees with the measurements which follow: twenty cubits, the (internal) breadth of the holy place, and six cubits the thickness of the wall (e) on either side (Ezekiel 41:5). The only remaining difficulty is in the very obscure words appended, רחב האהל, in which Ewald and Hitzig propose to alter האהל into האיל otni האהל re, because the lxx have substituted τοῦ αἰλάμ, but without making any improvement, as האיל is still more inexplicable. Kliefoth, after examining the various attempts to explain these words, comes to the conclusion that no other course is left than to take האהל as signifying the inner space of Ezekiel's temple, consisting of the holy place and the holy of holies, which was the same in the entire building as the tabernacle had been, - viz. the tent of God's meeting with His people, and which is designated as אהל to show the substantial identity of this space and the tabernacle. The clause רחב האהל is thus attached to the preceding double מפּה (i.e., to the measurement of the two pillars bounding the holy space), in an elliptical manner, in the following sense: "he measured the breadth of the pillars, on this side and that, which marked off the breadth of the tent, on the outside, that is to say, of the inner space of the holy place which resembled the tabernacle;" so that this clause formed a loose apposition, meaning, "with regard to the breath of the tent." כּתפות הפּתח are the walls on both sides of the door (e e), between the door and the boundary pillars. - The internal length and breadth of the holy place are the same as in the holy place of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:2, 1 Kings 6:17).

Ezekiel 41:3 and Ezekiel 41:4 refer to the holy of holies (c). "He went within." We have וּבא (for ויּבוא) and not ויביאני (Ezekiel 41:1), because the prophet was not allowed to tread the most holy place, and therefore the angel went in alone. פּנימה is defined in Ezekiel 41:4 as the holy of holies. The measurements in Ezekiel 41:3 refer to the partition wall between the holy place and the most holy (g). איל הפּתח, the pillar-work of the door, stands for the pillars on both sides of the door; and the measurement of two cubits no doubt applies to each pillar, denoting, not the thickness, but the breadth which it covered on the wall. There is a difficulty in the double measurement which follows: the door six cubits, and the breadth of the door seven cubits. As the latter is perfectly clear, and also apparently in accordance with the fact, and on measuring a door the height is the only thing which can come into consideration in addition to the breadth, we agree with Kliefoth in taking the six cubits as a statement of the height. The height of six cubits bears a fitting proportion to the breadth of seven cubits, if there were folding-doors; and the seven is significant in the case of the door to the holy of holies, the dwelling of God. The Seventy, however, did not know what to do with this text, and changed רחב הפּתח שׁבע אמּות into τὰς ἐπωμίδας τοῦ θυρώματος πηχῶν ἑπτὰ ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν, in which they have been followed by Bttcher, Hitzig, and others. But it is obvious at once that the Seventy have simply derived these data from the measurements of the front of the holy place (Ezekiel 41:2), and have overlooked the fact, that in the first place, beside the measure of the כּתפות הפּתח, i.e., ἐπωμίδες τοῦ πυλῶνος, the רחב הפּתח, or breadth of the door, is also expressly measured there, whereas here, on the contrary, it is preceded by הפּתח alone, without רחב; and secondly, as the measurement of the אילים given in Ezekiel 41:1 indicates their breadth (from south to north), in the present instance also the measure ascribed to the איל הפּתח can only refer to the breadth of the איל, and not to its thickness (from east to west). But if we explain the first clause of Ezekiel 41:3 in this manner, as both the language and the fact require, the reading of the lxx is proved to be a false correction, by the fact that it yields a breadth of twenty-two or twenty-four cubits (2 + 2 + 6 + 7 + 7), whereas the holy of holies, like the holy place, was only twenty cubits broad. The dimensions of the holy of holies also correspond to the space covered by the holy of holies in Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:20). The expression אל־פּני ההיכל, "toward the holy place," is to be explained by the supposition that the measuring angel, after he had proceeded to the western end of the holy of holies for the purpose of measuring the length, turned round again to measure the breadth, so that this breadth lay "toward the holy place."