Ezekiel 42:5

5 Each of the two upper levels of rooms was narrower than the one beneath it because the upper levels had to allow space for walkways in front of them.

Ezekiel 42:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 42:5

Now the upper chambers were shorter
The chambers were in three stories, as in the following verse, one above another; the middlemost were shorter than the lowermost, and the upper shorter than either; just the reverse of the chambers in ( Ezekiel 41:7 ) , they were not so high from the floor to the ceiling, nor so broad from side to side. The reason follows: for the galleries were higher than these;
or, "ate out of these" ^F23, "than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building"; the meaning is, that the galleries or balconies in the middlemost and upper chambers were taken, out of them, and so made them lesser than the lower ones, and the upper ones lesser than either; or the posts or pillars, as the word may be rendered, see ( Ezekiel 42:3 ) , which supported the chambers, took more out of the uppermost than the others, and so made them shorter. This may signify the diversity of gifts and grace, of light and knowledge, and of liberty and comfort, in the churches; and that, as those that are uppermost have most light, they are usually the least, and fewest members in them; who are the few names in Sardis, ( Revelation 3:4 ) , and are generally more straitened, afflicted, reproached, and persecuted.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (hnhm wlkwy) Keri, (wlkay) "comedebant ex ipsis", Mariana; "demordebant ab illis", Cocceius, Starckius.

Ezekiel 42:5 In-Context

3 One block of rooms overlooked the 35-foot width of the inner courtyard. Another block of rooms looked out onto the pavement of the outer courtyard. The two blocks were built three levels high and stood across from each other.

4 Between the two blocks of rooms ran a walkway 17 feet wide. It extended the entire 175 feet of the complex, and all the doors faced north.

5 Each of the two upper levels of rooms was narrower than the one beneath it because the upper levels had to allow space for walkways in front of them.

6 Since there were three levels and they did not have supporting columns as in the courtyards, each of the upper levels was set back from the level beneath it.

7 There was an outer wall that separated the rooms from the outer courtyard; it was 87 feet long.