Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Ezekiel-Chapter 41

Ezek 41.1-26 tells us that Ezekiel’s guide bring him to the Temple building itself and gives him various dimensions regarding the Kodesh Ha Kodeshim (holy of holies) and the Ha Kodesh (holy place or “heichal”).

v 1…Then he (the guide) brought me to the nave (Hebrew “heichal” or holy place) and measured the side pillars, six cubits wide on each side was the width of the tent (“ohel” meaning the Mishkan or Tabernacle).

v 2…And the width of the entrance was ten cubits (the same as Solomon’s Temple), and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side; and he measured its length, forty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits (the length from east to west shows progression, and the breadth north to south was equal to Solomon’s Temple-1 Kings 6.2)

v 3…Then he went inside (to the Kodesh Ha Kodeshim or holy of holies alone, Ezekiel could not enter) and measured each side pillar of the doorway (the partition wall of the Kodesh Ha Kodeshim), two cubits, and the doorway, six cubits high, and the width of the doorway, seven cubits (the exact meaning of these dimensions are unclear and various commentaries have different interpretations).

v 4…And he measured its length, twenty cubits; and the breadth twenty cubits, toward the Temple; and said to me, “This is the Holy of Holies.”

v 5…Then he measured the wall of the house (beginning with the pillars), six cubits; and the width of the side chambers, four cubits, all around about the house on every side (east, west, north sides).

v 6…And the side chambers were in stories, one above another, and thirty (cells) extended to the wall which stood on their inward (indented) side all around, that they might be fastened, and not be fastened into the wall of the Temple itself (not sunk into the masonry; the ceiling of the lowest was the floor of the middle one, and its ceiling was the floor of the highest; the wall was indented one cubit at each level so that the beams could rest on the wall indentation without piercing it-see “Yechezkel” by Mesorah Publications, p. 640 for an illustration of this).

v 7…And the side chambers surrounding the Temple were wider at each successive story because the structure surrounding the Temple went upward by stages on all side of the Temple, therefore the width of the Temple increased as it went higher; and thus one went up from the lowest (story) to the highest (story) by way of the second story.

v 8…And I saw also the house all around the foundations of the side chambers were a full rod of six long cubits.

v 9…The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. But the free space (void space) between the side chambers belonging to the Temple (a space to walk in)

v 10…and the chambers (outer) was twenty cubits in width all around the Temple on everyside (of the Temple on the west, north and south).

v 11…And the doorways of the side chambers toward the free space consisted of one doorway toward the north and another doorway to the south; and the width of the free space was five cubits all around (the gate leading from the entrance hall into the sanctuary had two wickets. The southern one was kept permanently locked-Ezek 44.2. The northern one was used for access into the sanctuary).

v 12…And the building that was in front of the separate area (a place on the western side of the Temple, behind it, where a building stood separate from the sanctuary) 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 was 90 cubits.

v 13…Then he measured the Temple, a hundred cubits long; the separate area with the building and its walls were also a hundred cubits long (the total length from east to west).

v 14…Also the width of the front of the Temple and that of the separate areas along the east side totaled a hundred cubits (making a perfect square).

v 15…And he measured the length of the building along the front of the separate area behind it, with a gallery (cloistered area) on each side, a hundred cubits, the inner Temple (heichal) and the porches of the court.

v 16…The thresholds, the latticed (narrow) windows, and the galleries round about their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground, and from the ground to the windows, but the windows were covered,

v 17…Over the entrance, and to the inner house (holy of holies), and on the outside, and on the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement (uniform size).

v 18…And it (paneling) was carved with cherubim (Hebrew “keruvim”) and palm trees (symbolizing righteousness in God’s house-Psa 92.12-like in the garden of Eden); and a palm tree was between cherub (Hebrew “keruv”) and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces,

v 19…a man’s face (one face of the cherub) toward the palm tree on one side, and a young lion’s face (the other face of the cherub) toward the palm tree on the other side (the palm tree shows righteousness and uprightness, and the young lion shows strength); they were carved on all the house around (in Solomon’s Temple, palms and cherubim were on the walls).

v 20….From the ground to above the entrance (to the holy of holies) cherubim and palm trees were carved, as well as on the wall of the Temple (heichal or holy place).

v 21…The doorposts of the Temple (heichal) were square; as for the front of the sanctuary like the appearance of the other (shows unity).

v 22…The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits (not the dimensions of the altar of incense and it is not covered with gold); its corners (horns), its base, and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord” (there is not a consensus as to what this is exactly. Some believe it is a reference to the altar of incense and its gold plating is not mentioned, and others believe it is just a wooden altar of incense (not advisable to have one of wood). Others believe it may be a wooden table for the bread of the faces. All of these are a stretch. It may be alluding to a simple “table” which expresses man’s adoration in a meal consecrated to God referring to the korbanot (sacrifices) which are offered outside).

v 23…And the Temple (heichal or holy place) and the sanctuary each had a double-door (two-leafed doors).

v 24…And each of the doors had two leaves,, two swinging leaves; two leaves for one door and two leaves for the other.

v 25…Also there were carved on them, on the doors of the Temple cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the front of the porch outside.

v 26…And there were latticed windows (narrow) and palm trees on one side and on the other, on the sides of the porch; thus were the side chambers of the house and the thresholds (on the walls of either side of the gate leading to the entrance hall).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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