This is a continuation from the previous chapter, with more measuring. In this chapter, we read about the holy chambers in the court and the extent of the holy domain around the temple.
We shouldn’t be frustrated in interpreting the description of the temple that is given here. Because the Hebrew text varies in different places, it is difficult in some places for the translator to bring over into another language the details of the Hebrew text.
We do understand that these instructions were given through Ezekiel in order that the returnees after the Babylonian captivity would have some guidelines concerning the reconstruction of the temple.
These verses are very difficult to interpret because the description of these structures is obscure in the Hebrew text. Ezekiel is now taken by the man, Ezekiel 40:3, to the northward into the outer court and brought him to the rooms opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall on the north side, Ezekiel 42:1.
The building whose door faced north measured about one hundred and seventy-five feet long and eighty-eight feet wide, Ezekiel 42:2. Both in the section measured thirty-five feet from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery faced gallery at the three levels, Ezekiel 42:3.
In front of the rooms was an inner passageway which measured eighteen feet wide and a hundred and seventy-five feet long, Ezekiel 42:4. The Septuagint and Syriac, Hebrew has and one cubit, just under two feet. Their doors were on the north, Ezekiel 42:4.
The upper rooms were narrower, because the galleries on the third story took more room than the galleries on the first and second stories, Ezekiel 42:5. The third story had no pillars and so didn’t rest on the exterior walls that reached down to the ground, but on top of the second-story rooms, Ezekiel 42:6.
There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for eighty-eight feet, Ezekiel 42:7. While the row of rooms on the side next to the outer court was eighty-eight feet long, the row on the side nearest the sanctuary was one hundred and seventy-five feet, Ezekiel 42:8.
The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court, Ezekiel 42:9. On the south side along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall, were rooms with a passageway in front of them, Ezekiel 42:10-11.
These were like the rooms on the north, which measured the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions, about one hundred and seventy-five feet long and eighty-eight feet wide, Ezekiel 42:11 / Ezekiel 42:2.
Similar to the doorways on the north were the doorways of the rooms on the south. There was a doorway at the beginning of the passageway that was parallel to the corresponding wall extending eastward, by which one enters the rooms, Ezekiel 42:12.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘There was a corresponding structure on the south side of the temple proper, the mirror image of the one on the north. The Hebrew text describes this building as on the east, but it must have been on the south, as the Septuagint translators concluded, in view of the complete symmetry of the whole temple complex. It too stood between the outer court and the ‘separate area’ and faced the temple building.’
The man now tells Ezekiel that the north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard are the priests’ rooms. This is where the priests eat the most holy offerings.
This room is where the priests put the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings, for the place is holy, Ezekiel 42:13 / Leviticus 6-7.
Block, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The grain offering (minha) represented a gift or tribute to a deity, consisting of grain or flour. Either the offering could be burned up entirely on an altar or portions of it could be reserved for the priests.’
Once the priests enter the holy place, they are not permitted to enter the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, because their garments are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people, Ezekiel 42:14, which suggests there may have been dressing rooms.
Wright, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The priests must wear special clothes when they are functioning as priests in the temple, Ezekiel 42:14. God and man are separate, and until the time of Christ, only a privileged class could serve in the temple. The clothes spoke of separation to God from the dirt and dust of ordinary life.’
After measuring the inside of the temple area, the man now leads Ezekiel out by the east gate and measured the area all around, Ezekiel 42:15. He measured the east side with the measuring rod and it measured eight hundred and seventy-five feet, Ezekiel 42:16.
He measured the north side by the measuring rod and it also measured eight hundred and seventy-five feet, Ezekiel 42:17. He measured the south side by the measuring rod, and it also measured eight hundred and seventy-five feet, Ezekiel 42:18.
He measured the west side by the measuring rod, and it also measured eight hundred and seventy-five feet, Ezekiel 42:19. He measured the area on all four sides.
It had a wall around it, which also measured eight hundred and seventy-five feet long and eight hundred and seventy-five feet wide, Ezekiel 42:20. The wall around the temple area separated what was holy inside from what was common outside, Ezekiel 42:20.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The holy place was that which was consecrated to the Lord; into which no heathen, nor stranger, nor any in a state of impurity, might enter.’
God knew that the temple had been so completely destroyed that the returnees would not have an idea as to how they should rebuild it. No guidelines or blueprint for building the temple were given for the construction of Solomon’s temple.
It is believed that Solomon built his temple after the model of Canaanite temples that were contemporary with Solomon. The returnees were so repentant concerning their sin of idolatry that they did not want in any way to rebuild the temple in a manner that would resemble or reflect the pattern of any pagan temples.
In order to ease their minds, therefore, God revealed these basic instructions concerning the reconstruction in order that they would be confident that the rebuilding was according to the will of God.
Both Ezra and Nehemiah, who led returns and reconstruction after the Babylonian captivity, could follow the basic instructions given in these contexts in order to reaffirm to the people that the rebuilding was according to the plan and direction of God.