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Ezekiel 42

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The Northern Chambers Described 1–12

1
Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was before the building toward the north. ​
2
Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.
3
Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the utter court, was gallery against gallery in three stories. ​
4
And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors toward the north.
5
Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.
6
For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the building was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground. ​
7
And the wall that was without over against the chambers, toward the utter court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits.
8
For the length of the chambers that were in the utter court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were an hundred cubits.
9
And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the utter court.
10
The chambers were in the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, over against the separate place, and over against the building.
11
And the way before them was like the appearance of the chambers which were toward the north, as long as they, and as broad as they: and all their goings out were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.
12
And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door in the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them.

Purpose of the Holy Chambers 13–14

13
Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy. ​
14
When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people. ​

Measurement of the Outer Boundary 15–20

15
Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. ​
16
He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. ​
17
He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
18
He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.
19
He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
20
He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 42

Verse 1

the separate place — Gizrah, a plot cut off, the walled area behind the temple house on the west (41:12–15), with the ‘building’ that fronts it. Apart from Lam 4:7 the word occurs only in these chapters (41:12–15; 42:1, 10, 13). Ezekiel is brought out from the inner house into ‘the utter court’ to see the chambers beside it.

Verse 3

gallery against gallery in three stories — Attiq, a gallery or terrace, a word found only here and in 41:15–16 and 42:5. The chambers stood between the twenty cubits of the inner court and the pavement of the outer, which is the pavement of 40:17–18, and were built in three stories like the side chambers of the house (41:6).

Verse 6

had not pillars — The courts had pillars, but these three stories did not. For that reason each upper floor is drawn back from the one beneath: ‘the upper chambers were shorter’ (v.5), ‘straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost’. The three-storey form is the one used for the side chambers beside the temple house (41:6).

Verse 13

holy chambers — Rooms where ‘the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things’. The meat offering, sin offering and trespass offering are the shares the law gives to the priests alone: ‘it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy’ (Lev 7:6; cf. Lev 10:17). The same chambers are named again in 44:19.

Verse 14

lay their garments wherein they minister — The priests leave their ministering garments in the holy chambers and ‘put on other garments’ before going to the people; 44:19 gives the reason, ‘they shall not sanctify the people with their garments’. The same rule was kept on the day of atonement, when Aaron ‘shall put off the linen garments… and shall leave them there’ (Lev 16:23).

Verse 15

the gate whose prospect is toward the east — With the inner house finished, the measuring turns to the outer wall, beginning at the east gate. It is the gate to which Ezekiel is brought in 43:1, ‘the gate that looketh toward the east’, and the one by which the glory of the God of Israel comes in at 43:2–4.

Verse 16

five hundred reeds — The reed is the measure of 40:5, ‘six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth’, so each side is 500 reeds. The east side is measured first, then the north (v.17), south (v.18) and west (v.19), each at 500 reeds. John is given ‘a reed like unto a rod’ to measure God’s temple in Rev 11:1.

Verse 20

to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place — Badal, to separate, and chol, the common as against the holy. These are the words of the priests’ duty to ‘put difference between holy and unholy’ (Lev 10:10), which 22:26 says they failed to do and 44:23 commands again. The wall makes the difference visible round the whole of the 500 by 500 reeds.