Ezekiel 41:1

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 inner courts, and their gates, and what were in them; but now he is come to the house itself, called a temple; by which not only particular Gospel churches are called, 1 Corinthians 3:16 , but the Gospel church state in general, Zechariah 6:12 , and especially as in the latter day; so the Philadelphian church state, which represents the spiritual reign of Christ, or the glory of the latter day, is called the temple of my God, Revelation 3:12 , which will be a holy temple to the Lord where he will dwell in a gracious manner, and be worshipped in spirit and in truth; and here his glory will be seen; it will be built up of precious and costly stones, even living and lively ones; a spiritual house to offer up the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise: and, as in the material temple or holy place stood the candlestick and table of shewbread; here the light of the Gospel will burn clearly; and Christ the bread of life be held forth in the ordinance of the supper; where, as at a table, saints shall have intimate fellowship with him: and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side these were the posts of the door of the temple, and stood on each side of it, on the north and south; and this was the thickness, six cubits or a reed each, three yards and a half; this was the fronti

Ezekiel 41:1-2 . Afterward he brought me to the temple — “After having described the courts and the porch, the prophet enters into the temple, properly so called, whereof he gives the dimensions and description.” And he measured the posts — By the posts are meant the door-cases on each side of the entrance. These were six cubits thick on the north and south sides; which was the breadth of the tabernacle — These walls, in their thickness, took up as much space as the whole breadth of Moses’s tabernacle, as appears from Exodus 26:16 ; Exodus 26:22-23 ; where the west side of the tabernacle consists of eight boards, each a cubit and a half broad. The breadth of the door was ten cubits, &c. — The entrance itself being ten cubits broad, and the wall on each side five cubits, makes the breadth of the house to be just twenty cubits, as it is expressed in the latter part of the verse, which was the same in Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings 6:2 . And the length forty cubits — Namely, the length of the first sanctuary, or holy place, as distinct from the holy of holies, which was twenty cubits in length, Ezekiel 41:4 , and made the whole structure sixty cubits long; wherein it agreed with Solomon’s temple.

XLI. This chapter gives the measurements and describes the ornaments of the Temple itself and its various appurtenances. (1) Six cubits broad.—These posts, as in other cases, are the parts of the wall at the sides of the entrance. There is an apparent discrepancy between this and the following verse, where “the sides of the door” are said to be “five cubits,” and the latter agrees with the whole width of the house (5 + 10 + 5 = 20.) It is necessary, therefore, to understand the measurement of this verse as taken the other way—as we should say, the side walls of the doors were of the same thickness with the other walls—viz., six cubits. The words which was are not in the original, and tend to give a false impression. Tabernacle or tent is the name by which the sanctuary was known before the erection of the Temple.

Verse 1. - The temple. הַהֵיכָל frequently applied to the whole building ( 2 Kings 24:13 ; 2 Chronicles 3:17 ; Jeremiah 1 :28; Haggai 2:15 ; Zechariah 6:14, 15 ), is here used of the nave of the temple, the holy place, as distinguished from the holy of holies (comp. 1 Kings 6:5, 17 ; 1 Kings 7:50 ). Schroder alone of commentators holds by the extended meaning. The measuring began from the east wall of the holy place. The posts ( אֵילִים ), as in Ezekiel 40:9 , the corner pillars on each side of the entrance, measured six cubits broad, whereas those of the porch measured only five ( Ezekiel 40:48 ). The phrase, The breadth of the tabernacle ; or, the tent ( הָאהֶל ), has occasioned difficulty. Hitzig, Ewald, and Smend propose to substitute for הַאֹהָל the word הָאָיִל ("post"), which might in itself be unobjectionable, only no such device is required to render the clause intelligible. It is sufficient to understand the phrase as signifying that the measurements noted had a special relation to the entire breadth of the temple, here styled "tabernacle," or "tent," to indicate the covered portion of the edifice, which, in this respect, and in respect of its being the place of meeting between Jehovah and Israel, resembled the ancient sanctuary of the wilderness. Ezekiel 41:1

Ezekiel 41:1-2. Measurement of the “temple,” the holy place, Fig. 2, B 1 . The “posts” or jambs of the entrance wall were 6 cubits thick, Fig. 2, cd . breadth of the tabernacle ] Heb. tent . The word does not occur in the prophet except in the compounds Oholah and Oholibah. Read: other side: the breadth of the posts.

The Temple - Properly the holy place (a), as distinguished from the porch (G) and the holy of holies (B) 1 Kings 6:17 ; 1 Kings 7:50 . The posts - The outer wall of the temple was six cubits thick Ezekiel 41:5. The eastern posts of this wall forming part of the front of the temple were ornamented with pillars, six cubits on each side. He measured the breadth - This breadth was twenty cubits Ezekiel 41:2. Omit "which was." "tabernacle" is here the interior (the covered portion) of the temple.

CHAPTER 41 Eze 41:1-26. The Chambers and Ornaments of the Temple. 1. tabernacle—As in the measurement of the outer porch he had pointed to Solomon's temple, so here in the edifice itself, he points to the old tabernacle, which being eight boards in breadth (each one and a half cubits broad) would make in all twelve cubits, as here. On the interior it was only ten cubits.The measures, parts, chambers, and ornaments of the temple. After the measuring of the courts, &c., now the prophet is brought to see the temple itself measured. The posts; the thickness of the walls (called posts here, as also Ezekiel 40:48) on the north side and on the south side of the gate. Six cubits broad; one whole reed in thickness. These walls in their thickness took up as much space as the whole breadth of Moses’s tabernacle, Exodus 26:22-25, where eight boards, each one cubit and half broad, make just the breadth of the tabernacle, twelve cubits. No text from Poole on this verse.