Ezekiel 42:1

1 Then the man led me out of the Temple courtyard by way of the north gateway. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a group of rooms against the north wall of the inner courtyard.

Ezekiel 42:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 42:1

Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward
the north
After the dimensions of the gates and courts of this building had been shown, and that of itself, the holy and most holy place, with the ornaments thereof; the prophet is brought by his guide into the outward court, which encompassed the building to the north part of it; probably he came out of the north gate of the house into it. So the Targum renders it,

``by the way of the gate which is open to the way of the north:''

and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate
place;
or holy of holies; see ( Ezekiel 41:12 ) , over against or before this, to the north of it, were a chamber or chambers; the singular being put for the plural; whither the prophet was brought to take a view of, being a new and distinct building from all others he had seen before; unto one of them, or to the place of them, as Jarchi, where they stood: there were two rows of them opposite to each other, and a walk between them; they are afterwards called the north and south chambers, ( Ezekiel 42:13 ) : and which was before the building toward the north;
this chamber or chambers were over against or before the whole fabric, to the north of it. The Jews here confess their ignorance, there being nothing in the first or second temple answerable to these. Lipman ^F19 expressly says these chambers were not in the second temple; perhaps they may design the Protestant reformed churches in the northern parts of the world; the religion of Protestants is by the Papists called the northern heresy: and if our northern churches are here pointed at and described, it is a great honour that is done them, to have a particular apartment allotted them in this wonderful building; compare ( Psalms 48:2 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Tzurath Beth Hamikdash, sect. 71.

Ezekiel 42:1 In-Context

1 Then the man led me out of the Temple courtyard by way of the north gateway. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a group of rooms against the north wall of the inner courtyard.

2 This structure, whose entrance opened toward the north, was 175 feet long and 87 feet wide.

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.