Ezekiel 41:12

12 And the building that was joined to the place separated, and turned to the way beholding to the sea, (was) of the breadth of seventy cubits; soothly the wall of the building (was) of five cubits of breadth by compass, and the length thereof of ninety cubits. (And the building that was at the far end of the open space, and turned toward the west, was seventy cubits in breadth; the wall of the building was five cubits in breadth all around, and its length was ninety cubits.)

Ezekiel 41:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 41:12

Now the building that was before the separate place
The "separate place" is the holy of holies, which was separated by a vail under the second temple, and by a wall as in this, and the first from the holy place: "before or over against" which was a building, as it is rendered, ( Ezekiel 41:15 ) , a new building, not before taken notice of: and it was situated at the end toward the west:
or "sea" ^F5, the Mediterranean sea, which lay west to the land of Canaan. The meaning is, that this building was to the west of the temple, at which end stood the holy of holies, and this near to that: what building is here meant is not easy to say, there being nothing in the first or second temple which answered to it: it seems to be a new building; and what the mystical sense of it is cannot be easily guessed at. Cocceius thinks, that as the holy of holies signifies the heavenly or more perfect state of the church on earth, this, being over against it, or behind it, as in ( Ezekiel 41:15 ) , may design heaven itself, the happiness and glory of the saints treasured up and reserved there: it was seventy cubits broad;
Jerom seems to have the same mystical sense in view; since he observes, that after labours and perils, and the floods and shipwrecks of this world for seventy years, we come to enjoy the eternal rest: and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about;
which may answer to the vast gulf fixed between the godly in heaven, and the wicked in hell; so that there is no going the one to the other, ( Luke 16:26 ) : and the length thereof ninety cubits;
there are no outgoings to this building, as Hafenrefferus ^F6, a German divine, observes; so that those that are brought into it shall ever remain in it, which is the case of the saints in heaven.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Myh) "ad mare, Piscator; obversa mari", Cocceius, Starckius.
F6 Apud Starckius in loc.

Ezekiel 41:12 In-Context

10 And betwixt (the) chambers I saw the breadth of twenty cubits in the compass of the house (of the Lord) on each side; (And there was an open space, the breadth of twenty cubits, all around the Temple on every side.)

11 and I saw the door(s) of the side to prayer; one door to the way of the north, and one door to the way of the south; and I saw the breadth of (the) place to prayer, of five cubits in compass. (And the doors into the side chambers opened toward the unused place; one door faced north, and one door faced south; and the breadth of the unused place was five cubits all around.)

12 And the building that was joined to the place separated, and turned to the way beholding to the sea, (was) of the breadth of seventy cubits; soothly the wall of the building (was) of five cubits of breadth by compass, and the length thereof of ninety cubits. (And the building that was at the far end of the open space, and turned toward the west, was seventy cubits in breadth; the wall of the building was five cubits in breadth all around, and its length was ninety cubits.)

13 And he meted the length of the house (of the Lord), of an hundred cubits; and that (place) that was separated, (and) the building, and the walls thereof, (were) of the length of an hundred cubits. (And he measured the length of the Temple, a hundred cubits; and the length of the open space, and the building, and its walls, was also a hundred cubits.)

14 Forsooth the breadth of the street before the face of the house (of the Lord), and of that (place) that was separated against the east, was of an hundred cubits. (And the breadth of the street before the front of the Temple, and of the open space facing east, was also a hundred cubits.)