Ezekiel 41:7

7 The higher side-rooms surrounding the house were wider than the lower ones, as were the passageways next to the side-rooms on each floor; thus the width of the side-rooms plus that of the passageways increased as one went up from floor to floor. The ascent from the lowest floor to the highest was [by a ramp] through the middle floor.

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 [On his way out,] he measured the thickness of the wall of the house at ten-and-a-half feet [at ground level], and the width of all the side-rooms surrounding the house, seven feet [at ground level].

6 There were three floors of side-rooms, thirty on each floor; and the wall around the house was terraced, so that the side-rooms rested on the terraces and were not supported on [the vertical parts of] the wall.

7 The higher side-rooms surrounding the house were wider than the lower ones, as were the passageways next to the side-rooms on each floor; thus the width of the side-rooms plus that of the passageways increased as one went up from floor to floor. The ascent from the lowest floor to the highest was [by a ramp] through the middle floor.

8 I saw that the house had a raised pavement all around it which extended outward a full rod of ten-and-a-half feet from where the foundations of the side-rooms joined it.

9 The outer wall of the side-rooms was eight-and-three-quarters feet thick [at ground level], likewise the empty space left [between] the structure containing the side-rooms [and the house itself also measured eight-and-three quarters feet wide].