Ezekiel 41:15

And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place,.... Which was ninety cubits, as appears from Ezekiel 41:12, when measured by itself: which was behind it; that is, behind

Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.

The building, possibly that of ,13, or else the buildings of this court next to the temple, or else the west buildings behind the oracle, or the buildings of the utter court, of which in ,3,7,8. The separate place: see . Which was behind it; the buildings that were behind on the west side of that supposed range, of buildings, or else behind the temple. Galleries; either chambers, or porches, or balconies, places supported by pilasters, made for beauty and delight. With the inner temple; according to the measures of the temple, and its appendant buildings.

Ezekiel 41:15 And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which [was] behind it, and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court;Ver. 15. An hundred cubits.] See on Ezekiel 41:13. With the inner temple and the porches thereof.] Summa et infima iuxta curat, nihil aspernatur. Oecolamp.

(15) And he measured.—The rest of the chapter consists of an enumeration of various details, for the most part not before mentioned, and this is introduced by a summary of the measurements already made. This clause is therefore to be understood as equivalent to “So he measured,” or, “And he had measured.” The dimensions of each of the principal parts is then repeated: the building to the west of the Temple, the Temple itself, and the porches of the court. The only new point introduced is “the galleries thereof.” It seems certain that this must refer to the building beyond “the separate place;” but the word for galleries occurs only here and in Ezekiel 41:16, and Ezekiel 42:3; Ezekiel 42:5, and its derivation is quite unknown. The translation, galleries, is probably correct; and as there was a space of 10 cubits on each side of the building in question, there may very well have been galleries covering and protecting its entrances, although they are not located with sufficient definiteness to be drawn on the plan.

15. The “length” here is reckoned from N. to S. which was behind it] Rather: behind which it was. The building, while lying “over against” the “separate place,” was behind it, i.e. to the W. of it. If this construction be not adopted the meaning is, which (building) was behind it (the separate place)—an independent clause. The length of the building as it lay along the “separate place” N. to S. was 100 cubits, i.e. 90 (interior, Ezekiel 41:12) + 5 + 5 (side walls, Ezekiel 41:12) = 100, Fig. 3, rs. The term rendered “galleries” is of uncertain meaning. It occurs only Ezekiel 41:15-16 and Ezekiel 42:3; Ezekiel 42:5. If the reading be right here it can mean nothing else but walls, or something equivalent to walls and occupying the same space, according to Ezekiel 41:12. Syriac uses a term by which it also renders the “walls” of the altar, Ezekiel 41:22.—The verse should end at the word cubits. 15 b seq. Description of the inside of the house, with its ornamentation The details of measurement were exhausted in Ezekiel 41:15 a. The prophet proceeds now to describe the interior of the house in two particular points: (1) the woodwork with which the house in its walls, &c., was covered, 15b–16 a; and (2) the ornamentation of this woodwork, 16 b seq. The text is in some disorder, and the unknown term rendered “galleries” causes perplexity, though two general statements are plainly made, viz. that the whole interior of the house was covered with wood, and that this woodwork from floor to roof was ornamented in the holy place and in the holiest with cherubs and palms (in the porch perhaps with palms only). With no more changes than are absolutely necessary Ezekiel 41:15 b–16 a might read: “and the temple (i.e. holy place), and the inner house (holiest), and the porch of the court (more probably, and its outer porch), 16 and the thresholds, and the closed windows and the galleries round about the three of them, opposite the threshold (i.e. towards the interior) were veneered with wood (or, were polished wood) round about.” This would state generally that the whole interior was wainscotted. But the jump from “thresholds” (A.V. door-posts) to “closed windows” in Ezekiel 41:16 is unnatural. It is probable that “thresholds” should be read with LXX. cieled (or, wainscotted). It is certainly probable that the roofing is described; the word read by LXX. (saphan) is always used of the roof-work in the description of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:7., unless Ezekiel 7:7 be an exception, a clause wanting in LXX.); and LXX. understood it so here (Ezekiel 41:20). Further the mention of the closed windows, which must have been toward the roof, in immediate connexion, is in favour of the roof-work. What the “galleries” were is obscure. LXX. either did not read the word or rendered it “narrow openings” (slit windows). A.V. “on their three stories” should be to the three of them (the holy place, holiest and porch, Ezekiel 41:15).

The description of certain details is introduced by a summary statement of what had been already done.

15. Over against — R.V., “before the separate place which was at the back thereof,” etc. 1.