Ezekiel 42

Eze 42:1-20.

CHAMBERS OF THE

PRIESTS:

MEASUREMENTS OF THE

TEMPLE.

2. Before the length of an hundred cubits--that is, before "the

separate place," which was that length

(Eze 41:13).

He had before spoken of chambers for the officiating priests on the

north and south gates of the inner court

(Eze 40:44-46).

He now returns to take a more exact view of them.

5. shorter--that is, the building became narrower as it rose in

height. The chambers were many: so "in My Father's house are many

mansions"

(Joh 14:2);

and besides these there was much "room" still left (compare

Lu 14:22).

The chambers, though private, were near the temple. Prayer in our

chambers is to prepare us for public devotions, and to help us in

improving them.

16. five hundred reeds--the Septuagint substitutes

"cubits" for "reeds," to escape the immense compass assigned to the

whole, namely, a square of five hundred rods or three thousand cubits

(two feet each;

Eze 40:5),

in all a square of one and one-seventh miles, that is, more than all

ancient Jerusalem; also, there is much space thus left unappropriated.

FAIRBAIRN rightly supports English Version,

which agrees with the Hebrew. The vast extent is another feature

marking the ideal character of the temple. It symbolizes the great

enlargement of the kingdom of God, when Jehovah-Messiah shall reign at

Jerusalem, and from thence to the ends of the earth

(Isa 2:2-4;

Jer 3:17;

Ro 11:12, 15).

20. wall . . . separation between . . . sanctuary and . . . profane--No

longer shall the wall of partition be to separate the Jew and the

Gentile

(Eph 2:14),

but to separate the sacred from the profane. The lowness of it renders

it unfit for the purpose of defense (the object of the wall,

Re 21:12).

But its square form (as in the city,

Re 21:16)

is the emblem of the kingdom that cannot be shaken

(Heb 12:28),

resting on prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief

corner-stone.