Ezekiel 41:7

7 And so the Temple walls, when seen from the outside, seemed to have the same thickness all the way to the top. Against the Temple's outer wall, on the outside of the rooms, two wide stairways were built, so that it was possible to go from the lower story to the middle and the upper stories.

Ezekiel 41:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 41:7

And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to
the side chambers
These chambers, as they rose up in stories one above another, were larger and larger; those in the middlemost storey were larger than those in the lower storey by a cubit; so much being taken out of the thickness of the wall, to make the rests or rebatements for the beams of the floor to rest upon, by which so much was gained in breadth for the chambers; and those in the upper storey, for the same reason, were a cubit broader than those in the middle, and two cubits broader than the lowermost; the floor of the first and lower storey was four cubits broad, ( Ezekiel 41:5 ) the floor of the second five cubits; and the floor of the third or uppermost six cubits. The wall of the temple at the bottom was six cubits thick, ( Ezekiel 41:5 ) , at the middlemost storey five cubits; and at the uppermost four: and all this may denote the enlargement of the church of Christ, as it comes nearer the heavenly state; the present state of the church may be signified by the lower storey, where the chambers are narrowest; the state of the church in the latter day glory, or spiritual reign of Christ, by the middlemost, when it will be enlarged; its converts being very numerous, ( Isaiah 49:19 Isaiah 49:20 ) ( Isaiah 60:4 Isaiah 60:5 ) and the New Jerusalem church state by the uppermost storey; which city or state will be very large, and next to heaven, or the ultimate glory; see ( Revelation 21:16 ) . The "winding" that went upwards to the side chambers were winding stairs, which went up from one storey to another, higher and higher; see ( 1 Kings 6:8 ) . The Misnic doctors say ^F3, that in the second temple these winding stairs went from one side of the temple to the other, from the north east to the northwest; by which they went up to the roofs of these chambers and to the upper room over the sanctuary. These may signify the various afflictions and tribulations, trials and exercises, in which the Lord leads his people, and by which the churches of Christ pass from one state to another: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the
house:
not on the outside, but within; properly round about the chambers, which are here called the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward;
became broader and broader, as it rose up higher and higher: and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst;
from being only four cubits broad in the lowest storey, it became five cubits in the middlemost, and from thence six cubits in the highest.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5.

Ezekiel 41:7 In-Context

5 The man measured the thickness of the inner wall of the Temple building, and it was 10 feet. Against this wall, all around the Temple, was a series of small rooms 7 feet wide.

6 These rooms were in three stories, with thirty rooms on each floor. The Temple's outer wall on each floor was thinner than on the floor below, so that the rooms could rest on the wall without being anchored into it.

7 And so the Temple walls, when seen from the outside, seemed to have the same thickness all the way to the top. Against the Temple's outer wall, on the outside of the rooms, two wide stairways were built, so that it was possible to go from the lower story to the middle and the upper stories.

8 The outside wall of these rooms was 8 feet thick; there was one door into the rooms on the north side of the Temple, and one into those on the south side. I saw that there was a terrace 8 feet wide around the Temple; it was 10 feet above the ground and it was level with the foundation of the rooms by the Temple walls. Between the terrace and the buildings used by the priests there was an open space 34 feet across, along the sides of the Temple.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Verse 7 in Hebrew is unclear.]