Ezekiel

Ezekiel 41

26 verses · Major Prophets · Old Testament

1He brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side, and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent. 2The width of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.

3Then he went inward and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits. 4He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the temple. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

5Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side. 6The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported, and not penetrate the wall of the house. 7The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.

8I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits. 9The thickness of the wall, which was for the side rooms, on the outside, was five cubits. That which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house. 10Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side. 11The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.

12The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.

13So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long; 14also the width of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.

15He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits from the inner temple, and the porches of the court 16the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, opposite the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered), 17to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure. 18It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces; 19so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made like this through all the house all around. 20Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.

21As for the temple, the door posts were squared. As for the face of the sanctuary, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple. 22The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its length, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before Yahweh.” 23The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24The doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves: two for the one door, and two leaves for the other. 25There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside. 26There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch. This is how the side rooms of the house and the thresholds were arranged.


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What others are saying

5 commentators · 63 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17142

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–11

We are still attending a prophet that is under the guidance of an angel, and therefore attend with reverence, though we are often at a loss to know both what this is and what it is to us. Observe here, 1. After the prophet had observed the courts he was at…

v. 12–26

Here is, 1. An account of a building that was before the separate place (that is, before the temple), at the end towards the west (Eze 41:12), which is here measured, and compared (Eze 41:13) with the measure of the house, and appears to be of equal…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176326

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Afterward he brought me to the temple,.... Having measured the porch into it, its posts, and gate. This is the body of the building, which was the "frame" of a city first shown, the principal fabric; for hitherto he had been only measuring the outward and…

v. 2

And the breadth of the door was ten cubits,.... The temple door: great care is taken to observe and give the dimensions of the doors and gates of various places; to put us in mind of Christ the door and gate into the church, and into fellowship with God: this…

v. 3

Then went he inward,.... Through the temple or holy place he had measured, to the holy of holies: and measured the post of the door two cubits; this was the door into the most holy place; there was one in Solomon's temple; but in the second temple there was…

Adam ClarkeMethodist / Wesleyan-Arminian · 1810–182614

The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.

Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.

v. 1

To the temple - He had first described the courts and the porch. See chap. 40.

v. 2–3

The breadth of the door - This was the door, or gate, of the sanctuary, (see gates 3, in the plan), and this doorway was filled up with folding gates. The measurements are exactly the same as those of Solomon's temple. See Kg1 6:2, Kg1 6:17.

v. 4–5

The length thereof, twenty cubits - This is the measurement of the sanctuary, or holy of holies. See G in the plan. This also was the exact measurement of Solomon's temple, see Kg1 6:20. This, and the other resemblances here, sufficiently prove that Ezekiel's…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18755

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–4

The Inner Space of the Temple (see Plate III B and C) Eze 41:1. And he led me into the temple, and measured the pillars, six cubits breadth on this side and six cubits breadth on that side, with regard to the breadth of the tent. Eze 41:2. And the breadth of…

v. 5–11

The Wall and the Side-Building Eze 41:5. And he measured the wall of the house six cubits, and the breadth of the side storey four cubits round the house round about. Eze 41:6. And of the side-rooms there were room upon room three, and that thirty times, and…

v. 12–14

The Separate Place, and the External Dimensions of the Temple Eze 41:12. And the building at the front of the separate place was seventy cubits broad on the side turned toward the west, and the wall of the building five cubits broad round about, and its…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187116

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

length thereof--namely, of the holy place [FAIRBAIRN].

v. 3

inward--towards the most holy place.

v. 4

thereof--of the holy of holies. before the temple--that is, before, or in front of the most holy place (so "temple" is used in Kg1 6:3). The angel went in and measured it, while Ezekiel stood in front, in the only part of the temple accessible to him. The…

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