Ezekiel 43:13

43:1-27 After Ezekiel had surveyed the temple of God, he had a vision of the glory of God. When Christ crucified, and the things freely given to us of God, through Him, are shown to us by the Holy Ghost, they make us ashamed for our sins. This frame of mind prepares us for fuller discoveries of the mysteries of redeeming love; and the whole of the Scriptures should be opened and applied, that men may see their sins, and repent of them. We are not now to offer any atoning sacrifices, for by one offering Christ has perfected for ever those that are sanctified, Heb 10:14; but the sprinkling of his blood is needful in all our approaches to God the Father. Our best services can be accepted only as sprinkled with the blood which cleanses from all sin.

Ezekiel 43:13-17 . These are the measures of the altar — The Jews, after their return out of captivity, had an altar long before they had a temple, Ezra 3:3 ; but the altar here spoken of is an altar in the temple, the mystical temple emblematical of the gospel church; and this altar is mystical too, for Christ is our altar. The bottom shall be a cubit, &c. — To render the dimensions here specified of the altar more intelligible to an English reader, it may be best to observe, that it was about six yards square at the top, and seven at the bottom. It was four yards and a half high; it had a lower bench, or shelf, here called a settle, a yard from the ground, on which some of the priests stood to minister, and another, two yards above that, on which others of them stood; and those were each of them half a yard broad, and had ledges on either side, that they might stand firm upon them. The sacrifices were killed at the table spoken of Ezekiel 40:39 ; what was to be burned on the altar was given up to those on the lower bench, and handed by them to those on the higher, and they laid it on the altar. Thus in the service of God we must be assistant to one another.

(13) A cubit and an hand breadth.— The measurement of the altar begins with the statement that the cubit used was of the same length as before (see Ezekiel 40:5 ). The description that follows ( Ezekiel 43:13-17 ) will be made clearer by a simple diagram, with references to the parts described. The size of the base of the altar, it will be seen, was 16 cubits square, and its entire height was either 11 or 12 cubits. The altar in Solomon’s Temple was of brass, 20 cubits square, and 10 cubits high ( 2Chronicles 4:1 ), while that in the Tabernacle (of shittim-wood overlaid with brass) had been 5 cubits square, and 3 cubits high ( Exodus 27:1 ). That in Herod’s Temple is said to have been 32 cubits square, and 10 cubits high, and was of hewn stone. The dimensions of Ezekiel’s altar seem to have been selected for the symmetry of the numbers in the several parts. In height it exceeded any of the others. (a)Base or “bottom,” 1 cubit high, and 1 broad. This was 16 cubits square. (bb′)“The border thereof,” a span or ½ cubit. It is uncertain whether this projected, forming a moulding as at b, and in this case was under c, and so increased the height of the altar; or whether it was as at b′, a ledge around 100. In Ezekiel 43:13 “higher place” should be base.

The word means, primarily, arched, then a back, and then a support. (c)The “lower settle,” 2 cubits high, and 1 broad. (d)The “greater (or higher) settle,” 4 cubits high. (e)The “altar” (Harel)—literally, the mountain of God—4 cubits high, and 12 cubits square. (f)The “altar” (Ariel)—literally, the lion of God—the hearth of the same size, but the height not given, but probably not more than ½ cubit. (gg) The “horns.” The whole height was eleven cubits or more, according to whether the height of f is included in that of e, and whether b passed under c, or was merely a ledge. Ezekiel 43:18-27 make careful provision for the consecration of the altar just described. This is to be compared with Exodus 40 and Leviticus 8, although in that case the consecration of the altar and of the priests were joined together, while here that of the altar alone is described.

Verses 13-27. - The temple-altar described (vers. 13-17), and the ritual for its consecration explained (vers. 18-27). Verse 13. - The measures of the altar . The altar is הַמִּזְבֵּחַ , that formerly mentioned as standing in the inner court, immediately in front of the" house" ( Ezekiel 40:47 ), the altar of burnt offering, and not the altar of incense in the holy place ( Ezekiel 41:22 ). Its dimensions, then omitted, are now reported in connection with its consecration, which also is narrated as a pendant to that of the "house," because of the intimate connection between the two - the consecration of the altar being practically equivalent to the consecration of the house, and the consecration of the house finding approximate expression in the consecration of the altar. As in the other portions of the temple, so in this, the measurements are given after the cubits , i.e. by or in cubits, the length of each cubit being noted at "a cubit and an hand-breadth," as in Ezekiel 40:5 . They are likewise taken first from the foundation upwards (vers. 13-15), and then from the top downwards (vers. 16, 17). The first portion measured is the bottom ; literally, the bosom (Hebrew, חֵיק , "that which embraces," from הוּק "to embrace;" LXX., κόλπωμα : Vulgate, sinus ); but what exactly that signified is debated among interpreters.

Gesenius thinks of "the hollowed part for the fire;" Hitzig, of "a frame running round, a stand in which the altar stood;" Kliefoth, of "a deepening on the wooden ring in which the whole altar stands;" Keil, of" a lower hollow or base of the altar, formed by a border of a definite height;" Smend, of "the channel or gutter of the altar base, which should receive the sacrificial blood;" Havernick, Currey, and Plumptre, of "a base upon which the altar stood." If Smend's feasible notion be not adopted, then probably that of Hitzig, Kliefoth, or Keil most nearly expresses the conception of the Hebrew term. The altar was surrounded by an enclosure in which it seemed to be set, or out of which to rise; the dimensions of this "stand" or "enclosure" being a cubit in height, and a cubit in breadth, with a border on its edge round about a span or half a cubit high. This, the stand just described, should be the higher place ; literally, the back ; hence the support, base (Revised Version), or elevation, ὕψος (LXX.) of the altar. Ezekiel 43:13

13 . The basement of the altar 13 . bottom shall be a cubit ] lit. its bottom a cubit, i.e. in depth or height, and so in breadth. The bottom, lit. bosom , appears to be the basement in which the altar proper was set; it was a cubit high and extended a cubit in breadth beyond the first block or stage of the altar proper. The idea that the “bosom” means a drain or gutter running round the foot of the altar to carry away the blood seems without any support. This basement extended a cubit all round beyond the lowest stage of the altar proper, and on the outer edge of this space of a cubit there was a border of a span, probably, in height. This border may have been a moulding, or possibly a very low parapet or close screen, running round the outer edge of the ledge of one cubit. Either would suggest the idea of a bosom in which the altar proper was placed. higher place of the altar ] the elevation. The word is that rendered “eminent place” Ezekiel 16:24 ; Ezekiel 16:31 ; Ezekiel 16:39 (see notes), and refers to the basement on which the altar proper stood. Cf. Ezekiel 41:8 . LXX. divides the letters differently, reading: this is the height of the altar , and attaching the clause to the following verse. This appears to be unnecessary. 13–17 . The altar of burnt-offering in the inner court The altar was a large structure, built of stone, and rose in terraces, contracting by means of two inlets towards the top.

It consisted: (1) of a basement, with a border or moulding on the top or edge of it. (2) Two cubits above this basement or socket, in which the altar proper stood, was the first inlet, a cubit broad, so that there ran a ledge of a cubit round about the altar on its four sides ( Ezekiel 43:13-14 ). (3) Four cubits above this first inlet came the second inlet or contraction, also a cubit broad, so as to form in like manner a ledge of a cubit round about the altar ( Ezekiel 43:14 ). (4) Then four cubits upwards from this ledge was the altar area or platform proper, the “hearth of God,” having horns rising up at the four corners ( Ezekiel 43:15 ). The area of this altar-hearth was a square of is cubits ( Ezekiel 43:16 ). At the higher inlet the area was 14 cubits square ( Ezekiel 43:17 ). Probably, therefore, at the lower inlet the area was 16 cubits square and the basement 18 cubits. Thus the structure had the appearance of four square blocks, each narrower in area than the one below it, and each thus appearing set into the one under it as into a socket. Such structures built in stages were common in the architecture of the East; see examples in Rawlin. Phenicia , p. 166 seq .

The altar of sacrifice which stood in the inner court, not the altar of incense described Ezekiel 41:22 . In the temple of the vision the dimensions differ from those of the tabernacle Exodus 27:1 , and of Solomon's Temple 2 Chronicles 4:1 , with a view to introduce definite propositions and symbolic numbers. See Plan L. The bottom - The base (I) of the altar so called, because it forms with its "border" (K) a kind of socket to receive the "lower settle" (L). It was to be "a cubit" in depth. The "breadth" is the breadth of that portion of the base which was not covered by the "lower settle." The higher place - the base, literally back; the base is called the back because the altar rested upon it.

Of the altar of burnt-offerings; for the altar of incense was within the temple, and is called the golden altar, but this in this verse is the brazen altar, and stood in the court of the house. The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; the great or sacred cubit, three inches longer than the common cubit. The bottom, the ledge or settle, or as a little bench fastened to the altar on all sides at the bottom, shall be a cubit in height. The breadth, from the edge of this settle or bench on the outside, to the edge where it joined the body of the altar, a cubit; and this breadth, twenty-one inches, broad enough for the priests to walk on round the altar, as they had occasion. The border, a ledge going round on all the squares, on the outer edge of this settle, a span high, about nine inches, which was to prevent the priests. that they slipped not down in walking on this settle. This shall be the higher place of the altar: this seems somewhat harshly translated; the French hath it, this shall be the back of the altar; as the back bears burdens, so this should bear the weight of the whole altar; this the basis or bottom, as called before, which was one cubit in each square broader than the next square frame or settle.