Ezekiel 41:5

Outside the Temple

5 Next he measured the wall of the temple to be six cubits thick, and the width of each side room around the temple was four cubits. ^[a]

Ezekiel 41:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 41:5

After he measured the wall of the house six cubits
Or a reed, three yards and a half thick: this was the wall of the holy of holies, or which divided that from the holy place, and was not in the second temple; or rather the wall of the temple, the whole house or building, both of the holy place, and of the most holy, which were contiguous: such a strong wall is the Lord to his church, and especially will be in the latter day, when salvation will be for walls and bulwarks against all enemies, and to preserve from all hurt and danger, ( Isaiah 26:1 ) ( 60:18 ) ( Zechariah 2:5 ) , the New Jerusalem also will have a wall great and high, and made of a precious stone, ( Revelation 21:12 Revelation 21:18 ) : and the breadth of every side chamber four cubits round about the house
on every side;
or, "of every rib" ^F25; as ribs are to the body, so were these side chambers or buildings to the fabric, as Ben Melech observes, who interprets them of beams: adjoining to the above wall were chambers all around the holy place and the most holy on each side, north and south; for there could be none on the east, that being the entrance into the holy, and so into the most holy place; and the floor of these chambers were four cubits, or two yards and a foot broad; that is, those of the lower storey: these were for the priests, where they lodged, and laid up and ate their most holy things, and put their garments in which they ministered; see ( Ezekiel 42:13 Ezekiel 42:14 ) , and design, as the chambers everywhere do, particular congregated churches; where such as are made priests to God by Christ have a place, and communion with God in holy things; and appear in the righteousness of Christ, and in the beauties of holiness.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (eluh) "costae", Piscator, Cocceius, Starckius.

Ezekiel 41:5 In-Context

3 And he went into the inner sanctuary and measured the side pillars at the entrance to be two cubits wide. The entrance was six cubits wide, and the walls on each side were seven cubits wide.

4 Then he measured the room adjacent to the inner sanctuary to be twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place. ”

5 Next he measured the wall of the temple to be six cubits thick, and the width of each side room around the temple was four cubits.

6 The side rooms were arranged one above another in three levels of thirty rooms each. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side rooms, so that the supports would not be fastened into the wall of the temple itself.

7 The side rooms surrounding the temple widened at each successive level, because the structure surrounding the temple ascended by stages corresponding to the narrowing of the temple wall as it rose upward. And so a stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest, through the middle one.

Footnotes

• [a]. 4 (long) cubits is approximately 7 feet or 2.1 meters.