Ezekiel 42:16

He measured the east side,.... He began with that, being at the east gate: the building was foursquare, and so was the wall about it, and had each four equilateral sides, which were separately

He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. He measured the east side ... five hundred reeds.

He, the angel, or Christ in the appearance of a man, measured the east side, from the two opposite angles of the inside north and south, with the measuring reed, which was of six cubits and one hand or three inches. Round about; as . The four square was five hundred reeds, that is, each wall was one hundred and twenty-five reeds, say some, yet this hath its difficulties, though I think it more likely than the conjecture of L. C.; and, for aught I see, the guess of Villalpandus may be admitted, that the whole square was four times measured round about, from the east round, from the north round, &c., as this: the 17th, 18th, and 19th verses repeat it.

Ezekiel 42:16 He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.Ver. 16. Five hundred reeds.] Lo, here the large extent of the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints.

(16) With the measuring reed.—According to Ezekiel 40:5 the reed was six cubits long; 500 reeds therefore, the measure of each side of the square, was 3,000 cubits, or about 5,000 feet = nearly a mile. Of course such a space, quite as large as was ever enclosed by the walls of ancient Jerusalem, would have been impossible upon the hill of Moriah, and various efforts have been made by some of the commentators to reduce the size; but the use of the reed as the unit of measurement is decisive. The objection to the size is without value, as Keil well says, “for the simple reason that in Ezekiel 45, 48 there follow still further statements concerning the separation of the sanctuary from the rest of the land, which are in perfect harmony with this, and show most indisputably that the Temple seen by Ezekiel was not to have its seat in the ancient Jerusalem;” nor, it may be added, in any other earthly locality. It is a vision not designed to have a material realisation.

Verse 16. - 19. He measured the east - north - south - west side] Each of which was five hundred reeds: and, as the building was square, the area must have been nearly thirteen thousand paces. No wonder this was called a city. See Ezekiel 40:2.

16. five hundred reeds] Rather: cubits. Five hundred reeds, the reed being 6 cubits, would give a measurement of 3000 cubits. No allusion is made to such a space surrounding the house buildings anywhere else. On the contrary in Ezekiel 45:2 the area of the temple buildings is said to be 500 cubits square, and the free place about it 50 cubits. LXX. omits the word “reeds” everywhere in these verses, expressly giving “cubits” in Ezekiel 42:17. In Ezekiel 42:20 (Heb.) allusion is made to the wall, and “reeds” is omitted. That the outer wall of the temple buildings formed a square of 500 cubits appears from measurements given elsewhere. Taking the direction N. to S. we have 50 (outer gate, Ezekiel 40:21) + 100 (gate to gate, Ezekiel 40:23) + 50 (inner gate, Ezekiel 40:36) + 100 (inner court, Ezekiel 40:47) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (outer gate) = 500. Or going from E. to W. the result is the same: 50 (outer gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (inner court) + 100 (house, Ezekiel 41:13) + 100 (building behind house, Ezekiel 41:13) = 500. round about] The word is wanting in Ezekiel 42:18, and Ezekiel 42:19 reads: he turned about and measured. LXX. reads in the latter way in all the Ezekiel 42:16-18, attaching the word to the beginning of the following verse, no doubt rightly, cf. a similar case 1 Samuel 14:21. In LXX. also Ezekiel 42:18-19 are transposed, the natural order round the wall being followed.

15-20. If the present Hebrew text is to be followed, we have here a measurement of an outer wall, encompassing the temple quadrangle, three thousand sacred cubits (three thousand five hundred common cubits) long on every side.