Ezekiel 40:15

40:1-49 The Vision of the Temple. - Here is a vision, beginning at ch. 40, and continued to the end of the book, ch. 48, which is justly looked upon to be one of the most difficult portions in all the book of God. When we despair to be satisfied as to any difficulty we meet with, let us bless God that our salvation does not depend upon it, but that things necessary are plain enough; and let us wait till God shall reveal even this unto us. This chapter describes two outward courts of the temple. Whether the personage here mentioned was the Son of God, or a created angel, is not clear. But Christ is both our Altar and our Sacrifice, to whom we must look with faith in all approaches to God; and he is Salvation in the midst of the earth, Ps 74:12, to be looked unto from all quarters.

And from the face of the gate of the entrance,.... That is, from the outward gate as you went into the porch, and was to the east, so called from people's passing and repassing (b) in it; so Jarchi takes it to be the eastern gate; the Targum calls it the middle gate: unto the face of the porch of the inner gate; which opened at the other end of the porch, into the outward court, and was to the west: from gate to gate were fifty cubits; as he measured the breadth of the porch before, Ezekiel 40:13, here the length; there were three chambers six cubits long, which made eighteen; and between each chamber were five cubits, which were ten cubits; and the space between the chambers and the gates at each end were six cubits each; Ezekiel 40:8, which make twelve more; and then allow ten cubits for the thickness of both walls of each gate, and there will be fifty cubits, or twenty nine yards and half a foot. (b) Vid. R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 9. 1.

Ezekiel 40:15-16 . And from the face of the gate, &c. — The whole length of the porch, from the outward front unto the inner side, which looked into the first court, was fifty cubits. There were narrow windows to the little chambers, &c. — Every one of these little chambers ( Ezekiel 40:7 ) had a narrow window to it, toward the inside of the gate where the passage was; and so there was over the side-posts or fronts placed at the entrance of every chamber; and likewise to the arches — The word translated arches signifies also a porch, or entrance; and the word being so taken, the sense is, that there was a window over every door. And upon each post were palm-trees — A palm-tree was carved upon the chapiter of each side-post, or front.

Verse 15. - The whole length of the gate, from the outer entrance to the inner exit fifty cubits, was thus composed - 1. An outer threshold - 6 cubits 2. Three guard-chambers, six cubits each -18 cubits 3. Two spaces between the chambers, five cubits each - 10 cubits 4. An inner threshold - 6 cubits 5. A porch before the gate - 8 cubits 6. One post, or pillar - 2 cubits Total - 50 cubits Ezekiel 40:15

15 . Measurement of the whole length of the gate-building, 50 cubits. the face of the gate ] i.e. the outside front. face of the porch of the inner gate ] i.e the front of the porch at the inner end of the gate. Either “inner gate” means inner part of the gate, or “inner” means (lying) towards the inside, as LXX. From the outside front of the gate to the inner front, lying on the court, was 50 cubits. The sense is clear though the text may need slight emendation.

The whole length of the gate-building was thus made up: Thickness of boundary wall 6 cubits Hall of the entrance 5 cubits Three guard-chambers (6 cubits) 18 cubits Spaces between guard-chambers 10 cubits Hall of the porch 5 cubits The porch 6 cubits Total 50 cubits Ezekiel 40:16 The "narrow" (closed and (?)latticed "windows" lit up both the guard-chambers and the hall. On the square base of the "post" stood the shaft in the form of a palm-tree, as we see in ancient buildings in the east.

This verse seems to sum up all the dimensions at length, this gate, its porch, and thickness of its walls; and so sum the cubits, six in the thickness of the outer wall, eighteen in the three chambers, twenty in the spaces between the chambers, and six cubits in the thickness of the inner wall of the porch.

The Buildings of the East Gate (See Plate II 1). - Ezekiel 40:6. And he went to the gate, the direction of which was toward the east, and ascended the steps thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate one rod broad, namely, the first threshold one rod broad, Ezekiel 40:7. And the guard-room one rod long and one rod broad, and between the guard-rooms five cubits, and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate from the temple hither one rod. Ezekiel 40:8. And he measured the porch of the gate from the temple hither one rod. Ezekiel 40:9. And he measured the porch of the gate eight cubits, and its pillars two cubits; and the porch of the gate was from the temple hither. Ezekiel 40:10. And of the guard-rooms of the gate toward the east there were three on this side and three on that side; all three had one measure, and the pillars also one measure on this side and on that. Ezekiel 40:11. And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate ten cubits, the length of the gate thirteen cubits. Ezekiel 40:12. And there was a boundary fence before the guard-rooms of one cubit, and a cubit was the boundary fence on that side, and the guard-rooms were six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side. Ezekiel 40:13. And he measured the gate from the roof of the guard-rooms to the roof of them five and twenty cubits broad, door against door. Ezekiel 40:14. And he fixed the pillars at sixty cubits, and the court round about the gate reached to the pillars. Ezekiel 40:15.

And the front of the entrance gate to the front of the porch of the inner gate was fifty cubits. Ezekiel 40:16. And there were closed windows in the guard-rooms, and in their pillars on the inner side of the gate round about, and so also in the projections of the walls; there were windows round about on the inner side, and palms on the pillars. - ויּבוא אל שׁער is not to be rendered, "he went in at the gate." For although this would be grammatically admissible, it is not in harmony with what follows, according to which the man first of all ascended the steps, and then commenced the measuring of the gate-buildings with the threshold of the gate. The steps (B in the illustration) are not to be thought of as in the surrounding wall, but as being outside in front of them; but in the description which follows they are not included in the length of the gate-buildings. The number of steps is not give here, but they have no doubt been fixed correctly by the lxx at seven, as that is the number given in Ezekiel 40:22 and Ezekiel 40:26 in connection with both the northern and southern gates.