Bible Commentaries

The Sanctuary Proper and its Side Building

v. 1. Afterward He brought me to the Temple, literally, "to the palace," the inner edifice, "of the Temple," and measured the posts, evidently immense half pillars, six cubits broad on the one side and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle, or, "the width of the tent was that. " This reference indicates that the Old Testament sanctuaries, from the time of the first Tabernacle, were only types of the one great spiritual Temple of the Lord, of His holy Christian Church.

v. 2. And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides, literally, "the shoulders," of the door were five cubits on the one side and five cubits on the other side, as measured on the inside of the building. And He measured the length thereof, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, the inside dimensions thus being the same as those of Solomon's Temple. Cf 1Ki 6:2-17.

v. 3. Then went He inward and measured the posts of the door, the wall-pillar of the entrance, two cubits, this evidently being the width of these pillars; and the door, six cubits, in height; and the breadth of the door, with its two leaves, seven cubits.

v. 4. So He measured the length thereof, inside dimensions, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the Temple, in front, where the Temple appeared as a whole, as the palace of holiness. And He said unto me, This is the Most Holy Place, the dimensions again being the same as those of Solomon's Temple. Cf 1Ki 6:20.

v. 5. After, that is, afterwards, He measured the wall of the house, beginning with the pillars, six cubits, and the breadth of every side chamber, of the side building of the Temple, four cubits, round about the house on every side, on the east, north, and west sides.

v. 6. And the side-chambers were three, an addition to the Temple in three stories, one over another and thirty in order, in each row or story, ninety all told; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side-chambers round about, so that their joists rested upon the wall of the Sanctuary proper, that they might have hold, resting upon this solid wall, but they had not hold in the wall of the house, they were not sunk into the masonry.

v. 7. And there was an enlarging and a winding about still upward to the side chambers, literally, "And it became broader and was surrounded ever upward with reference to the side-chambers," for with every succeeding story the width of the Temple wall was reduced; for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house, the depth of the cells increasing with each succeeding story; therefore the breadth of the house was still upward and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst. We here supply from 1Ki 6:8 the winding stair, for which room was made by increasing the breadth of the side-building upwards, the stairway being on the interior.

v. 8. I saw also the height of the house round about, the substructure, on which the foundations rested; the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.

v. 9. The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chamber without, as high as the first story of this side-building, was five cubits; and that which was left was the place of the side-chambers that were within, or, "and five cubits the space that was left with regard to the house of the side-chambers," which was annexed to the house, apparently an open space between the building proper and the addition.

v. 10. And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side, between the Temple-building and the cells along the wall of the inner court.

v. 11. And the doors of the side-chambers were toward the place that was left, facing the open space, one door toward the north and another door toward the south; and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about, on the north, east, and west sides. The entire arrangement was intended to facilitate the proper worship of the Lord.

A Further Description of tile Temple

v. 12. Now, the building that was before the separate place, literally, "the off-place," apparently a building where the refuse and offal of the Temple-worship were deposited, at the end, toward the west, was seventy cubits broad; and the wall was seventy cubits broad, for at the great festival seasons the amount of waste material was very great; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, or of the same thickness as the wall farther toward the front, and the length thereof ninety cubits.

v. 13. So He measured the house, an hundred cubits long, that is, the entire Temple edifice, and the separate place and the building, with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long, so that there was a passage of ten cubits each on both the north and the south sides of the Temple-building;

v. 14. also the breadth of the face of the house and of the separate place toward the east, another place for refuse, an hundred cubits.

v. 15. And He measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof, evidently cloistered walks, on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with the inner temple and the porches of the court, the pediments projecting into the court;

v. 16. the door-posts and the narrow windows and the galleries round about on their three stories, rather, "round about on all three,"—over against the door, ceiled with wood round about, literally, "over against the threshold a boarding of wood round and round," and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered,

v. 17. to that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure, all the dimensions were carefully worked out and observed in the building.

v. 18. And it was made with cherubim and palm-trees, these Serving as ornaments, in the various parts of the structure, so that a palm-tree was between a cherub and a cherub, in artistic alternation; and every cherub had two faces,

v. 19. so that the face of a man, the one face of a cherub, was toward the palm-tree on the one side and the face of a young lion, the other face of a cherub, toward the palm-tree on the other side; it was made through all the house round about, from the floor to the roof, wherever the open wall was visible.

v. 20. From the ground unto above the door were cherubim and palm-trees made and on the wall of the Temple.

v. 21. The posts of the Temple were squared, in agreement with Egyptian architecture, and the face of the Sanctuary, so that the door-posts with the threshold formed a square; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other, in the signature of the coming universality. "

v. 22. The altar of wood, the altar of incense in the Holy Place, was three cubits high and the length thereof two cubits, the plate of the altar being a square of this dimension; and the corners thereof, or, "and it had corners," namely, the horns, or projections, which characterized the Jewish altars, and the length thereof and the walls thereof were of wood. And He said unto me, This is the table that is before the Lord, the altar of the presence of Jehovah, immediately before the Ark of the Covenant which was just beyond the veil.

v. 23. And the Temple and the sanctuary had two doors.

v. 24. And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves, so that each leaf had two parts which could lie opened and shut, two leaves for the one door and two leaves for the other door.

v. 25. And there were made on them, on the doors of the Temple, cherubim and palm-trees like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks, or "a wooden pediment," upon the face of the porch without.

v. 26. And there were narrow windows, closed and latticed, and palm-trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side-chambers of the house, and thick planks, heavy projecting portions of wood, probably like the open gables of old houses. Even insignificant details are not omitted in order to make the description of the Temple as complete as possible.