Ezekiel 42:6 Komentář

This chapter continues and concludes the describing and measuring of this mystical temple, which it is very hard to understand the particular architecture of, and yet more hard to comprehend the mystical meaning of. Here is, I. A description of the chambers that were about the courts, their situation and structure (Eze 42:1-13), and the uses for which they were designed (Eze 42:13, Eze 42:14). II. A survey of the whole compass of ground which was taken up with the house, and the courts belonging to it (Eze 42:15-20).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 42 In this chapter are a description of some chambers in the northern part of the outward court, Eze 42:1, an account of the use made of them by the priests, Eze 42:13, the measuring of the area, or whole compass of ground, on which the whole building before measured stood, with the wall that surrounded it, Eze 41:15.

For they were in three stories,.... Not only the galleries or posts, but the chambers; they were one over another; there were the lowermost, middlemost, and uppermost; which, as before, may denote the difference in churches, and the different states, conditions, and characters of those that are in them; some being fathers, others young men, and others little children: or their different offices and relations; some being pastors, others deacons, and others private members: or their knowledge of and profession of faith in the doctrine of the Trinity, the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; and their being baptized in the name of the three divine Persons; and their being built on Christ the foundation, a habitation for God through the Spirit: but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts; those which supported the porticos and galleries in the courts of the temple, not pillars so thick and strong as they: so the churches represented by these chambers, though they have Gospel ministers, which are as pillars, and valuable members, which are as such, that shall not go out; yet they have not those external supports from great and rich men, but consist generally of the poor of this world, as churches on a civil establishment have, who are supported by the state: therefore the building was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground; the upper part of it, or the uppermost chambers, were more straitened, and had less room in them, than the middlemost, and the middlemost than the lowest; suggesting, that the more heavenly and spiritual men are, the farther they depart from the men of the world and their conversation, from the sentiments and practices of natural men, the more they are exposed to their scorn and contempt, and are the more afflicted and straitened by them.

«Where the treasuries were lower on the upper levels because the porticoes that protruded from the lower and middle parts of the building supported them. These porticoes were narrow and did not have columns like the columns of the courtyards, so they protruded from the lower and middle parts of the building by fifty cubits.» It follows: And their doors to the north, where the treasuries were in the lower and middle parts: because the porticoes which stood out from the lower and middle parts of the building supported them. For they were narrow, and did not have columns like the columns of the courts: therefore they stood out from the lower and middle parts by fifty cubits from the ground. What is joined: the doors of these, it is understood, (belong to) the exedrae or treasury rooms, about which there was discussion above. The treasuries were on the upper floors, that is, in the lower rooms. The upper rooms were ascended by Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17; 2 Kings 4); and the Lord, with the disciples, celebrated the Passover (Mark 14), and Tabitha, who was raised by the Apostle's faith and the merit of her virtues (Acts 9). These are the upper rooms, about which it is written in the psalm: He waters the mountains from his upper rooms (Psalm 104, 13). For unless a mountain is made, and rises to higher things, it will not be irrigated by the rains of the Lord, which for the diversity of merits are irrigated in the first, second, and third coenaculum. Even the storerooms themselves, that is, the treasuries of the Lord's treasures, are lower in the higher places. (Ephesians 3). However, the higher one is, the more one is humbled with the Apostle, saying: I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. (1 Corinthians 1:9). However, the treasure rooms themselves were located in the lower rooms, because they supported the porticoes that projected from the lower and middle parts of the building. And the reason why the treasure rooms were placed in the lower rooms and were lower was this: because the porticoes, which enjoyed the freedom of the air, supported and projected from the lower and middle parts of the building. In this way, the second floor of the building would be higher than the first floor, and the third floor would be higher than the second, so that as one ascended to higher levels, they would use a higher treasure room, which increased in humility, as the Lord says: 'If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.' (Mark 9:35). For they were not carried by other columns, as we read in the columns of the atrium; but they protruded from the lower and middle parts of the ground by fifty cubits, as a sign of the remission of all debts. These, however, are the sad things of which it is commanded: Describe them in triple form, with counsel and knowledge, so that you may answer with words of truth those things that are proposed to you (Prov. 22:20-21). Therefore, the lower and outer parts need columns, but the higher and inner parts do not need the support of columns, that is, of external help.

This chapter gives us a description of the priests' chambers and their use, with the dimensions of the holy mount on which the temple stood, vv. 1-20.

CHAMBERS OF THE PRIESTS: MEASUREMENTS OF THE TEMPLE. (Eze. 42:1-20) 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.