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.

II 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.

13¶ Then said he unto me, The

10. thickness] The word is commonly rendered breadth, but in xli. 9, 12 thickness of a wall (kir, not geder as here). The wall (geder) must be the same as in v. 7. The verse is describing the chamber-building as seen from the outer court. On the east was the wall (geder), along the boundary wall of the separate place and of the building (the temple) lay the chambers. The verse should be rendered, Breadth-wise [was] the wall towards the east, in front of the separate place and of the building [were] the chambers.

11, 12. Translate the two verses thus:And along the front of them-like (lit. as the appearance of) the chambers which were towards the north, as long as they and as broad as they, and [like] all their goings out, and like their fashions, and like their doors, even so were the doors of the chambers which were towards the south; (with) a door at the head of the way, the way of the wall adjoined eastwards as one entereth into them (the chambers). Our Authorized Version needs much correction. In the Hebrew there is a full (though not the fullest) stop after before them. The gender of them shews that they are not the chambers, but the separate place and building. The word rendered way is often used for in the direction of.

And the way before them] here is equivalent to over against the separate place and the building in v. 1.

Vv. 11, 12 assert that on the south side of the separate place was a block of chambers precisely similar to that on the north.

directly before the wall] The Hebrew word

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.

15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house,

for directly occurs only here, but it is connected with a Chaldaic adjective signifying straight, fitted, fitting. Here the form may be adjectival, and, if so, qualify the wall (gedereth, the same as geder), describing it as "the wall adjoined eastwards."

as one entereth into them] At the entrance of these chambers from the temple courts.

13. In Lev. x. 13 it was prescribed that the priests should eat of the sacrifices in the holy place. This was originally before the altar in the inner court-now separate chambers are assigned, and these become the holy place for this purpose. Of the trespass-offering and meat-offering what was not consumed was eaten (Lev. vii. 6, x. 13), but the sinoffering was burnt without the camp (see xliii. 21). Probably the carcase was brought from the altar to the chamber before being carried out.

14. Comp. Lev. xvi. 23.

utter court] outward court.

and shall approach to those things which are for the people] And then when they have changed their garments they shall approach to that which belongs to the people, viz. the

outer court.

15-19. THE PRECINCTS. The temple and its courts having been described the seer comes to the precincts, not now as in Solomon's temple (and as in fact they ever remained) an irregular vacant space round the temple, but an area of exact dimensions 3000 cubits (1500 yards) square. See Plan IV.

15. the inner house] Not the temple, but the temple and its courts, all that lay within the wall on the outside of the house (xl. 5); the gate is the eastern gate of the outer court.

In order to understand this Vision we must be perfectly acquainted with the arrangements of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and of the Temple of Solomon which was an enlargement of it (see Exod. xxv. xxvi, and 1 K. vi., and notes).

The Temple of Ezekiel follows the plan of the Temple of Solomon, but with significant variations.

1. THE TEMPLE ITSELF. See Plan I. The interior was unaltered, consisting of A the Holy Place, 20 cubits broad by 40 long; and B the Holy of Holies, 20 cubits square. These dimensions were held sacred, and remained the same even in the temple of Herod, who, with all his changes, did not venture to interfere with them. They contained the same holy things, and were used in the same manner by the ministering priests. It must however be added that the ark, having been in some way destroyed, in Nebuchadnezzar's siege, was never replaced. In its stead there was within the veil à flat stone on which the High Priest poured the blood on the day of atonement.

Externally there were considerable modifications. The width of the wall C was increased to 6 cubits, its massiveness evidently being intended to mark dignity. The side chambers D, 4 cubits deep, which in Solomon's temple abutted on the northern, southern, and western walls, were now detached from the house altogether, and built against separate walls E, 5 cubits thick, and they opened on a passage or corridor, F. The upper stories of these chamVOL. VI.

bers were reached by winding stairs, xli. 7, separating them from the temple-walls. This increased the external breadth of the building from 40 to 60 cubits. (See note on xli. 11.) There was a porch G, 20 cubits broad by 10 deep, at the eastern end, the Holy of Holies being due west.

THE COURTS. Plan II. The aspect of the courts in the vision differed materially from that of the courts of Solomon's temple. In I K. vi. 36, we have mention of only one court, called the inner court. This corresponded to the court of the tabernacle, and was the enclosure in which the temple stood, and in which the priests offered sacrifices on the brasen altar. It was separated from the precincts in which the people assembled by a low wall or parapet, as the court of the tabernacle was by a fence of curtains. It is doubtful whether in Solomon's time there was any further enclosure. The Great Court (2 Chro. iv. 9) need not have been enclosed. In the course of time buildings were erected on this area, partly for the use of the Levites, partly for other purposes. (See Jer. xxxv.)

The erection of such chambers led to the formation of courts, and thus we read of the two courts in Manasseh's time (2 K. xxiii, 12), of the Middle Court (2 K.xx. 4), and of the New Court (2 Chro. xx. 5). In Ezek. viii.—x. we have intimations of what the courts were in his day, for he is there referring to the temple as then standing, not to the temple of a future vision, and we find an Inner Court with a gate

M

to the east (viii. 16), and one to the north (viii. 5), and probably an Outer Court with a gate to the north (viii. 7, comp. ix. 2). But it does not follow that these courts were reduced to regularity and order. In the outer courts were gathered the idolatries of the later kings (2 K. xxi. 5, xxiii. 7, 11, 12; 2 Chro, xxviii. 24; xxxiii. 5); and on this account in the vision the precincts, a vast area nearly a mile square, are surrounded by a wall and separated from the city. In the midst of this area were two courts, the outer for the adoring people, the inner for the temple and the sacrificing priests. This court of the people differed much from the corresponding court in Herod's temple-the Court of Israel and the Court of the Women. In the latter case the court (or courts) lay entirely to the east of the inner court, and did not enclose it; and there is no mention in the vision of the arrangement by which a strip was separated at the west as the Court of Israel, as the special place of worship for those who came before the Lord. We are not to suppose that the outer court of Ezekiel's vision anticipates the outermost court of Herod's temple, the Court of the Gentiles, which indeed lay outside of the Chel, or terrace, the boundary of the temple courts proper. It quite suited the temporising policy of the Idumean Herod to make provision for the Gentiles; but Ezekiel's vision does not contemplate the presence of any but worshippers of the true God. The very precincts were sanctified to exclude all that was common or profane.

It was a marked feature of the courts in the vision that they rose on successive platforms, the outer court being raised seven steps above the precincts, the inner court eight steps above the outer, and the temple itself ten steps above the court of sacrifice. This arrangement of courts rising in successive terraces was adopted in Herod's temple.

THE INNER COURT A, B, Plan II.

This court was, as in Solomon's temple, composed of two equal squares (the sides being 100 cubits each). On the western square A was the temple itself; the eastern B was the court of sacrifice. The division of these two squares was marked in the vision by an ascent of ten steps, and by the widening of the east front of the temple. In Herod's temple the division was completed by the addition of wings to the temple front. The whole front of the temple and its chambers being 60 cubits, left a vacant space H (Plan I.) of 20 cubits on either side. The court of sacrifice B was 100 cubits square, but the addition of gate-buildings D made it necessary for the sake of room to move back the wall or parapet separating the inner from the outer court 50 cubits, which 50 cubits were occupied by a pavement E, extending up to the sides of the gate-build

ings, and forming a kind of border to the court (but not reckoned as part of the inner court proper), like the lower pavement in the outer court (xl. 17), so called, probably in distinction to this, the upper pavement. This pavement had a special use, see on xlv. 3. It must be noted that Keil and others imagine that the gate-buildings of the inner court projected into the outer court, and were reversed, so that the porches of these inner gateways faced the porches of the outer gateways, and the other face of the gate-buildings was in a line with the wall bounding the inner court. But the position of the tables for slaughter (xl. 39) and for instruments of sacrifice (xl. 42) is inconsistent with this view. For it seems quite inconceivable that acts connected with the sacrifices should have been generally performed in the outer court, especially when we are told that these acts were done in the inner court of the temple of Solomon. That the inner gate-buildings stood in a precisely similar position to the outer, resembling them in all respects, is confirmed by the measurement taken from the forepart of the gate to the forepart of the inner court, not, as we might expect if Keil's explanation were correct, to the forefront of the inner gate. On the upper pavement in the inner court were two chambers for singers and ministering priests N, and on either side of the porch of the northern gate four tables for slaying and preparing the victims (T), and in front of the porch four stone tables (s) for the flesh of the offering and the instruments of sacrifice.

In the midst of the court, as in Solomon's temple, stood the Brasen Altar of sacrifice, particularly described in ch. xliii. 13, 17, where see note.

THE OUTER COURT O, Plan II.

three sides, the eastern, southern, and northern. The space which was at the west of the temple court was a separate place F 100 cubits square, communicating with the temple court. In this separate place was a building extending its whole length, 70 cubits wide, exclusive of walls which were five cubits thick, leaving a passage of 10 cubits on either side. This court was surrounded by a wall 6 cubits thick; the whole area inclosed, including the thickness of the walls, was a square whose side was 500 cubits. In the middle of the eastern, northern and southern walls were gatebuildings G, each exactly opposite to a similar gate-building in the eastern, northern, and southern walls of the inner court. The outward face of these gate-buildings (50 cubits in length) corresponded with the face of the wall, so that they projected into the court 44 cubits. On either side of these gates was the lower pavement H, on which stood 30 chambers I, probably five on either side of each gate. In the four corners of the outer court

This court enclosed the inner court on