Ezekiel 46:19

After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) At the side of the gate.—The concluding verses of the chapter are occupied with the arrangements for cooking the sacrificial food of the priests and the people. The latter could partake only of the peace offerings, but the priests, in addition to their portion of these, were required to consume the flesh of the sin and trespass offerings, and the greater part of the “meat offerings.” The prophet is first shown the rooms for the priests’ cooking. He was taken along the walk (Plan II., K) mentioned in Ezekiel 42:4, which led from the steps of the gate of the inner court to the priests’ chambers. There he saw “a place on the two sides westward,” i.e., two places, one at the west of each building of priests’ chambers. Nothing is said of their size, and they may be assumed to have had the same dimensions (40 cubits by 30—Ezekiel 46:22) as those of the people’s kitchens. They are marked F on Plan II.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 46:19-20. He brought me through the entry — A private passage, Ezekiel 42:9, which led to the priests’ chambers, which were on the north side of the inner court, and are described Ezekiel 40:44; Ezekiel 40:46. There was a place on the two sides westward — Or, on their sides westward; that is, there was an enclosure on the west side of these chambers. This is the place where the priest shall boil the trespass- offering — The flesh of the sacrifices, which were to be eaten, was to be boiled, except the flesh of the passover. Where they shall bake the meat- offering — According to the directions given Leviticus 2:4-7. That they bear them not into the outer court, to sanctify the people — The flesh of those sacrifices, and the remainder of the meat-offering, were accounted most holy; and consequently, according to the law, were supposed to convey some kind of holiness to those that touched them: see note on Ezekiel 44:19.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

46:1-24 The ordinances of worship for the prince and for the people, are here described, and the gifts the prince may bestow on his sons and servants. Our Lord has directed us to do many duties, but he has also left many things to our choice, that those who delight in his commandments may abound therein to his glory, without entangling their own consciences, or prescribing rules unfit for others; but we must never omit our daily worship, nor neglect to apply the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to our souls, for pardon, peace, and salvation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The careful provision here made to keep separate the offerings of priests and people was to prevent collision, just as the enactments Ezekiel 46:16-18 were intended to secure their respective rights to prince and people.

Ezekiel 46:19

At the side of the gate - The entrance to the inner court at the same side as the northern gate Ezekiel 42:9.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set at the corners of the outer court, for cooking the flesh of the peace offerings, of which the people partook along with the priests. All this implies that no longer are the common and unclean to be confounded with the sacred and divine, but that in even the least things, as eating and drinking, the glory of God is to be the aim (1Co 10:31).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

We left the prophet, Ezekiel 44:4, at the north gate, and on the inside of it; now we find him going through a private way by the side of that gate to the holy chambers appointed for the priests.

The holy chambers: see Ezekiel 40:45,46 42:13,14.

On the two sides westward; rather, on their sides westward, that is, on the west side of these chambers which looked toward the north. The Seventy read it thus, Behold, there was a place enclosed.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate,.... The north gate of the inner court, where the prophet was last, Ezekiel 44:4, through an entry, by the side of that, he was brought by the man his guide:

into the holy chambers of the priests; see Ezekiel 42:13,

and, behold, there was a place in the two sides westward; or, "on their sides westward" (p); on the west side of the chambers; the Targum is at the west end of them: the use of this place follows,

(p) "in lateribus ejus vel eorum, in extremo", Starckius.

Geneva Study Bible

After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. through the entry] the entrance way, viz. that mentioned Ezekiel 42:9. Since Ezekiel 44:4 the prophet had been before the house. The holy chambers are those described, Ezekiel 42:1-14.

a place on the two sides] a place in the Innermost part westward; i.e. at the western extremity of the court. In Fig. 3 the kitchens, LL, should probably be extended back to the wall.

to sanctify the people] Cf. Ezekiel 44:19.

19–24. The kitchens for the priests (Ezekiel 46:19-20), and people (Ezekiel 46:21-24)

The kitchens for cooking the sin and trespass offering and baking the meal-offering, the holy things to be consumed by the priests (Ezekiel 44:29), were situated in the inner court at the furthest part of the court westward, to the west of the holy cells (Ezekiel 42:1-14), and on both sides of the erection called the “building” (Ezekiel 41:12-13) which lay behind the house, Fig. 3, L. The inner court on the west reached back to the boundary wall of the outer court, which on that side was the wall of the inner court, and in the two corners, N. and S., the priests’ kitchens were placed. The prophet is brought to those on the N. side; those on the S. were similar.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 19-24. - The sacrificial kitchens for the priests and for the people. This passage has been transferred by Ewald to Ezekiel 42, and inserted after ver. 14; but the Exposition will show it must have originally stood where it is. Verse 19. - After (or, and) he - i.e. the measuring man, who had hitherto acted as the prophet's conductor - brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate. This was the inner north gate, from which the prophet had been conducted to the front of the house in order to receive the sacrificial Torah (Ezekiel 44:4), and to which, when this was finished, he had been seemingly led back. From this gate, then, he was taken by his guide along the entry or passage (Ezekiel 42:9), which ran towards and extended in front of the holy chambers of (or, for) the priests, which looked toward the north, and which had already been described (Ezekiel 42:1-14). Arrived at the western corner of the chambers, he perceived a place on the two sides - or, on the hinder part (Revised Version) - westward. The translation in the Authorized Version was obviously suggested by the dual form יַדְכָּתַיִם, which properly signifies "on both sides" but when applied to the tabernacle (Exodus 26:23) or temple (1 Kings 6:16), always describes the back part or rear. That a similar "place" existed on the south side is more than probable; though Smend thinks there was not a "place" on the south. The LXX. omits the words after "place," and supplies κεχωρισμένος, "separated." Keil finds in the description here given of the passage towards the holy chambers a proof that this section could not have steed originally after Ezekiel 42:14, as in that ease no such description would have been needed. Nor would the language in Ezekiel 47:1, "and he brought me back," have been required or appropriate had the prophet not in the mean while changed his place, which he does to visit the holy chambers. Ezekiel 46:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Sacrificial Kitchens for the Priests and for the People

Ezekiel 46:19. And he brought me up the entrance by the shoulder of the gate to the holy cells for the priests, which looked to the north; and behold there was a place on the outermost side toward the west. Ezekiel 46:20. And he said to me, This is the place where the priests boil the trespass-offering and the sin-offering, where they bake the meat-offering that they may not need to carry it out into the outer court, to sanctify the people. Ezekiel 46:21. And he led me out into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was again a court. Ezekiel 46:22. In the four corners of the court were closed courts of forty cubits in length and thirty cubits in breadth; all four corner spaces had one measure. Ezekiel 46:23. And a row of stands was round about therein in all four, and boiling hearths were under the rows made round about. Ezekiel 46:24. And he said to me, These are the kitchen-house, where the servants of the house boil the slain-offering of the people. - In the list and description of the subordinate buildings of the temple, the sacrificial kitchens are passed over; and they are therefore referred to here again in a supplementary manner. Ewald has shifted Ezekiel 46:19-24, and placed them after Ezekiel 42:14, which would certainly have been the most suitable place for mentioning the sacrificial kitchens for the priests. But it is evident that they stood here originally, and not there; not only from the fact that in Ezekiel 46:19 the passage to the holy cells (Ezekiel 42:1.) is circumstantially described, which would have been unnecessary if the description of the kitchens had originally followed immediately after Ezekiel 42:14, as Ezekiel was then standing by the cells; but also, and still more clearly, from the words that serve as an introduction to what follows, "he led me back to the door of the house" (Ezekiel 47:1), which are unintelligible unless he had changed his standing-place between Ezekiel 46:18 and Ezekiel 47:1, as is related in Ezekiel 46:19 and Ezekiel 46:21, since Ezekiel had received the sacrificial thorah (Ezekiel 44:5-46:18) in front of the house (Ezekiel 44:4). If Ezekiel 46:19-24 had originally stood elsewhere, so that Ezekiel 47:1 was immediately connected with Ezekiel 46:18, the transition-formula in Ezekiel 47:1 would necessarily have read very differently. - But with this section the right of the preceding one, Ezekiel 46:16-18, which Ewald has arbitrarily interpolated in Ezekiel 45 between Ezekiel 45:8 and Ezekiel 45:9, to hold its present place in the chapter before us as an appendix, is fully vindicated. - The holy cells (Ezekiel 46:19) are those of the northern cell-building (Ezekiel 42:1-10) described in Ezekiel 42:1-14 (see Plate I L). בּמּבוא is the approach or way mentioned in Ezekiel 42:9, which led from the northern inner gate to these cells (see Plate I l); not the place to which Ezekiel was brought (Kliefoth), but the passage along which he was led. The spot to which he was conducted follows in אל (the article before the construct state, as in Ezekiel 43:21, etc.). אל הכּהנים is appended to this in the form of an apposition; and here לשׁכות is to be repeated in thought: to those for the priests. 'הפּנות צ belongs to הלשׁכות. There, i.e., by the cells, was a space set apart at the outermost (hindermost) sides toward the west (Plate I M), for the boiling of the flesh of the trespass-offering and sin-offering, and the baking of the minchah, - that is to say, of those portions of the sacrifices which the priests were to eat in their official capacity (see the comm. on Ezekiel 42:13). For the motive assigned in Ezekiel 46:20 for the provision of special kitchens for this object, see the exposition of Ezekiel 44:19.

In addition to these, kitchens were required for the preparation of the sacrificial meals, which were connected with the offering of the shelamim, and were held by those who presented them. These sacrificial kitchens for the people are treated of in Ezekiel 46:20-24. They were situated in the four corners of the outer court (Plate I N). To show them to the prophet, the angel leads him into the outer court. The holy cells (Ezekiel 46:19) and the sacrificial kitchens for the priests (Ezekiel 46:20) were also situated by the outside wall of the inner court; and for this reason Ezekiel had already been led out of the inner court, where he had received the sacrificial thorah, through the northern gate of the court by the way which led to the holy cells, that he might be shown the sacrificial kitchens. When, therefore, it is stated in Ezekiel 46:21 that "he led me out into the outer court," יוציאני can only be explained on the supposition that the space from the surrounding wall of the inner court to the way which led from the gate porch of that court to the holy cells, and to the passage which continued this way in front of the cells (Plate I l and m), was regarded as an appurtenance of the inner court. In every one of the four corners of the outer court there was a (small) courtyard in the court. The repetition of 'חצר בּמקצע הח has a distributive force. The small courtyards in the four corners of the court were קטרות, i.e., not "uncovered," as this would be unmeaning, since all courts or courtyards were uncovered; nor "contracted" (Bttcher), for קטר has no such meaning; nor "fumum exhalantia," as the Talmudists suppose; nor "bridged over" (Hitzig), which there is also nothing in the language to sustain; but in all probability atria clausa, i.e., muris cincta et janius clausa (Ges. Thes.), from קטר; in Aram. ligavit; in Ethiop. clausit, obseravit januam. The word מהקצעות is marked with puncta extraordinaria by the Masoretes as a suspicious word, and is also omitted in the Septuagint and Vulgate. Bttcher and Hitzig have therefore expunged it as a gloss. But even Hitzig admits that this does not explain how it found its way into the text. The word is a Hophal participle of קצע, in the sense of cornered off, cut off into corners, and is in apposition to the suffix to לארבּעתּם, - literally, one measure wax to all four, the spaces or courtyards cut off in the corners. For this appositional use of the participle, compare 1 Kings 14:6. There is also a difference of opinion as to the meaning of the word טוּר, which only occurs here and in Exodus 28:17. and Ezekiel 39:10, where it signifies "row," and not "enclosure" (Kliefoth). טירות, which follows, is evidently merely the feminine plural, from טוּר, as טירה is also derived from טוּר, in the sense of "to encircle" (see the comm. on Psalm 69:26). Consequently טוּר does not mean a covering or boundary wall, but a row or shelf of brickwork which had several separate shelves, under which the cooking hearths were placed. מבשּׁלות, not kitchens, but cooking hearths; strictly speaking a partic. Piel, things which cause to boil. - בּית המּבשּׁלים - .liob ot e, kitchen house. משׁרתּי הבּית, the temple servants, as distinguished from the servants of Jehovah (Ezekiel 44:15-16), are the Levites (Ezekiel 44:11-12). עשׂוּי is construed as in Ezekiel 40:17 and Ezekiel 41:18-19.