Chapter Forty-Two

The priestly chambers. 1–12. Their arrangement. 13–14. Their purpose. 15–20. The overall dimensions of the temple.

Ezekiel 42:1. And he brought me toward the outer court, the way toward the north; and he brought me to the chambers which were opposite the vacant space and opposite the building toward the north, Now the prophet was to be shown chambers that enclosed the holy house and its immediate surroundings from contact with everything mundane and unclean, chambers which constitute an intermediate step between the outer and inner court and serve the purpose of protecting the priests and their holy things from any contact with the people. The description of these chambers is full of obscurities, even greater than that of the House; thus in the depiction of the mysterious temple, difficulty and darkness continue to grow. To view these chambers, the prophet is led out (by whom, it is intentionally passed over in silence; see explanation of Ezek 40:17) from the sanctuary or its portico, where he was, into the outer court, because these chambers were turned toward the latter by their doors and portico and because only from it was it possible to view the two buildings described further, which from the inner court would hide each other. But according to the LXX, the prophet is led into the inner court (εσωτεραν, Slavic however “outer”), perhaps the LXX had in mind that part of the court which, lying between the square, strictly, of the inner court (plan 3—f-t’e-e) and the outer court on the sides of the inner gates could not be classed as either the outer or the inner court. Perhaps one of two identical and standing beside each other, incomprehensibly, words “way,” derekh, the first of which moreover with the article (literally “and he brought me to the outer court, by that way, by the way of the north”) and replaced unexpectedly by the LXX with “to the east,” is incomprehensible to us or corrupted as the nearest definition of this laoor. Since these chambers were on two sides of the temple and on each completely identical (verses 11, 12), it was sufficient to inspect one of these two groups. The northern group is chosen, as the northern part in the temple was more important than the southern (as also in Orthodox churches). Therefore the prophet goes “by the northern way,” that is, toward the northern inner gates and through them, and thereby reaches the chambers. The chambers, Heb. lishka (singular should be in collective sense), Gk. εξεδραι, Slavic “barriers,” Vulgate. gazophylacium, see explanation of (Ezek 40:44) and (Ezek 41:5). These chambers were certainly larger than the taim in the gates and the lishkot at the temple building. Their buildings (plan 3: G and G’) were located “opposite the vacant space,” gizra, (Ezek 41:12) (see about) “and opposite the building,” binyan. The latter word in (Ezek 40:5) is called the outer wall of the temple court, but in (Ezek 41:12) the large rear building behind the temple (plan 3: E). Since the latter indication is more apt here and since it adjoined the gizra, it is more natural to understand it here as binyan, as do the LXX, translating it by the same το διοριζον (Slavic “boundary,” in chapter XLI “partition”), as in chapter XLI, and not “vestibule” as in chapter XL. The Hebrew expression: “toward the chambers which are opposite the gizra and which are opposite binyan toward the north” permits, if not demands (Bertholet, Kraetzschmar), accepting two rows of such chambers (plan 3: besides G, G’ and H, H’; then binyan could mean both the outer wall, (Ezek 40:5). The Hebrew text does not indicate the number of chambers here, but the LXX names them 5, while the Alexandrian codex—15; the latter number (15 × 2) would correspond to the number of chambers in the outer court.

Ezekiel 42:2. toward that place which is at the north doors, a hundred cubits in length and fifty cubits in width. As usual, only the length and width of the building of chambers are indicated. But since no single building for the chambers is mentioned, and they could not form one building (which, apparently, is what the end of the preceding verse is meant to convey), this results in such a strangeness in the original designation of the size of the chambers: “and before” (that is, from the facade), Vulgate. in facie, Slavic “opposite the face, length one hundred cubits,” that is, the chambers had. This measure fully corresponded with the length of the temple (Ezek 41.13a), along which the building of chambers stretched (separated from it by the space muna, Ezek 41:10-11). But this correspondence could immediately suggest to the reader the thought that the portico of the chambers was turned toward the temple and gizra; the prophet prevents this thought by a remark compressed to obscurity: “doors (petah, properly opening, exit) of the north,” that is, the doors of the chambers, located along the stated length of their building, open toward the north. LXX: “opposite (κατα) the face (in Vat. and others instead of this just one preposition επι, agreed with the further πηχεις) a hundred cubits length to the north.” Rus. freely: “(he brought me) toward that place (that is, the place of chambers, assuming they did not form one building), which at the northern doors (its own?) has in length 100 cubits.” The width of the building or space occupied by the chambers, if they did not form one building, corresponded to the length of the gates (inner), along the side of which they stretched (Ezek 40:36), namely it was 50 cubits. If the chambers were in 2 buildings, then in this measure (for the sake of round number and for correspondence with the length of the gates) the space between 2 structures is also included (ill. 3: I, I’).

Ezekiel 42:3. Opposite the twenty cubits of the inner court and opposite the pavement which was on the outer court, were balconies facing each other on three stories. As though fearing obscurity, which was indeed unavoidable in a verbal description of such a complex architectural whole, the prophet once more, already in another manner, determines the location of the building or space of the priestly chambers in the system of the temple. It (the building or place) was located “opposite (neged) twenty,” of what is not indicated, but by the connection and context of the last word in verse 2 “cubits,” is clearly cubits, and evidently those 20 cubits which according to (Ezek 41:10) the muna, the chief part of the “inner court,” had in width. On the other hand, this building or place was located “opposite the pavement,” that stone pavement (rifzah, plan 3: y), which stretched along the outer wall of the temple platform “on the outer court” (Ezek 40:17-18) and which constituted the best part of that court, corresponded to the muna (or “20 cubits”) of the inner court. Now, when the location of the building or space of the priestly chambers is fully determined, the prophet can proceed to describe their arrangement. (The further thought of the verse is separated from the one expressed in the Heb. text by a large punctuation mark—athnach). The main thing that drew attention with these chambers was the symmetrical arrangement in them of those attics with which we have met more than once in the mysterious temple with (Ezek 40:15) (see about) and which, remaining a puzzle for interpreters, are considered, among other things, as “balconies” (Rus. trans.). These attics were located in shlishim, a notion again unknown (from the root “three”), but very probably understood as the three stories of the building, tiers (see explanation of Ezek 41:16; cf. Gen 6:16); according to Jerome: a symbol of the Trinity in Divinity.—According to the LXX, this verse “the chambers are arranged (that is, like the gates (verim, twenty, read as she’arim, gates) of the court of the inner and like the spaces between columns (περιστυλα see explanation of Ezek 40:17) of the outer court, arranged (εστοιχισμεναι, arranged in rows, that is, chambers), facing (αντιπροσωποι) toward the entrance vestibules, three,” στοαι τρισσαι—and opposite them or their facade, three-sided porticoes.

Ezekiel 42:4. And before the chambers ran a passage of ten cubits width to the inner side; and their doors faced north. Although the chambers, as we shall learn later (verses 4, 8), were placed in 2 separate buildings, the principal among them and the greater number were placed in one building (G, G’) stretching along the muna, so that the other group (H, H’) the prophet for now does not have in mind and occupies himself only with the first.—“Before (lifney, at the face, at the facade) the chambers,” more precisely between one block of chambers and another, “ran a passage (magarak, περιπατος, Slavic “passage,” deambulatio; plan 3: I, I’) of ten cubits width,” that is, as wide as the width of the gates (Ezek 40:11), because everything necessary for the sacrifice had to be conveyed through it from the rear building. By what this passage was marked off from the rest of the court, especially in that part of it which did not terminate in the second block of chambers (on plan 3 marked with a dotted line), is not indicated (perhaps by a paved way, Smend), but instead makes an incomprehensible remark: “and one cubit deep” (literally: to the inner, or to the inner way one cubit), which can be understood either as the passage in places, for instance in the doors of the building, deepened into the building by one more cubit, or as besides this passage there was inside, at the very building, another passage (sidewalk, panel) of 1 cubit, or better to read this remark according to some LXX manuscripts: “and length (orekh, length, close in spelling to derekh, way) of a hundred (meah instead of echad) cubits” (length of the temple). The doors of the chambers, the prophet continues his description, “face north,” not the temple, which one might more expect, which is why it is mentioned, although it follows naturally from the end of verse 1 (“to the north”) about the doors of the second block of chambers nothing is said, by the insignificance of these chambers, but their doors could not face north, because they would not then lead into the “passage,” but were already turned toward it.

Ezekiel 42:5. The upper chambers were smaller because the balconies took away space from them more than from the lower and middle chambers. The architecture of the chambers, that is, their building, represents a contrast to the architecture of the side chambers of the temple: those were widened upward (Ezek 41:7), these were narrowed; “the upper chambers are narrower (ketzurot, Isa 28:20, Vulgate. humiliora), because the balconies (attics, evidently protruding on the outer side; Vulgate. quae ex illis eminebant) took space from them (yokmu—ate into) compared to (me, comparative particle) the lower and middle chambers of this building” (binyan here already the building of chambers, which consequently was as little like a bayt, house, as the outer wall of the temple and the rear building, called by this word in Ezek 40:5). The LXX give a text of the verse strongly deviating from the Hebrew: “and the passages above, in like manner (the second story of chambers, correspondingly to the lower ones with the περιστυλα had—περιπατοι, a corridor around them), as (οτι, namely) the balcony (εξειχετο, protruded) from it, from the lower perystyle (the lower περιστυλον portico served as the base for the upper), and an interval (διαστημα—a simple passage without a colonnade?), thus a portico and interval and thus vestibules (στοαι δυο—so there were two porticoes?).

Ezekiel 42:6. They were arranged in three stories; they had no supporting pillars like those of the courts; this made them set back from the ground level as you went up. After the details in the building of the priestly chambers, the prophet gives a concluding general picture of the exterior appearance of the building. It was a three-story structure (meshulashot—of 3 parts, not shlishim as in verse 3; LXX: three-fold) and from the chambers in the court (outer where there were 30 chambers according to (Ezek 40:17) or inner with its 2 only chambers according to (Ezek 40:44) these chambers differed by the absence in them of pillars, about which, however, nothing was said in the description of those chambers; perhaps these “pillars” formed special porticoes at those chambers as in Herod’s temple and, undoubtedly, Solomon’s; in the present building these porticoes were probably replaced by attics, perhaps balcony-like protrusions. That is why (al-ken) the present building was narrowed (ne’etzal from atzal, to separate,—was arranged in steps) from the lower story to the middle, generally from its base (megaarets) upward (LXX: protruded, see explanation of verse 5). Such a construction of the building was convenient in that it less obstructed the temple from the outer court, which besides stood on an artificial elevation (Ezek 41:8).

Ezekiel 42:7. And the outer wall opposite the chambers, extending along the outer court in front of the chambers, was fifty cubits long; The description of the block of priestly chambers would be incomplete if the prophet did not say what relationship this block had to the outer court, that is,—if the prophet did not describe the northern half of that space the southern half of which was occupied, as now described by him (the right, northern block of priestly chambers). From the side of the outer court (Rus. trans. “from,” Heb. derekh, “way,” “in the direction of the outer court”) the facade of the chambers (el pnei halashachot) served (leummat, Vulgate. secundum; Rus. “opposite”) as the “outer wall” (literally wall which is outside), that is, the part of the wall of the inner court which in the prophet, however, is only presupposed (postulated from the existence of the inner gates, but is not indicated anywhere directly). This facade of the building (plan 3: H, H’) was fifty cubits long. Why not 100 cubits, when the main block (G, G’) of the priestly chambers was a hundred cubits long (verse 2), the following verse explains. LXX: “and light outside, as (ον τροπον) the barriers of the outer court looking opposite to the barriers that are to the north, length of 50 cubits,” that is, the chambers are lit by windows from the same side as opposite to them, that is, the described northern chambers, the chambers of the outer court (plan 3: z, z, z) and the length of this light side of the building—50 cubits.

Ezekiel 42:8. For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while the area facing the temple was a hundred cubits long. The second “outer” (verse 7) block of priestly chambers (H, H’) was therefore only 50, not 100 cubits long, because besides it at (le, Rus. not accurately “on”) the outer court, namely along the first block of chambers (G, G’) there were still chambers a hundred cubits long (t’p, t’’p’), apparently intended for less sacred purposes and objects. These 50 cubits and 50 cubits length of the “outer” block fully corresponded to the length of the 1st block of chambers and the length of the space before the temple (muna), that is, 100 cubits. LXX more clearly and fully: “for the length of the barriers facing the outer court was fifty cubits, and those are opposite to them (the “barriers of the outer court” in verse 7), while (the length of these chambers and the “light” of verse 7) is a hundred cubits.”

Ezekiel 42:9. And below these chambers the way in from the east side, as one enters them from the outer court. Because the priestly chambers were located in the inner court, which was considerably elevated above the outer one, the way to them from this latter court, which was obviously the main way into them (t, t’), was “below,” that is, required climbing by a staircase and was turned, like the entire temple, toward the east. This way must have led directly to the outer, smaller block of chambers (H, H’) and was located at the eastern end of it (t, t’). LXX do not read “below.”

Ezekiel 42:10. On the south side also, opposite the courtyard and the building, there were chambers. The symmetrical arrangement of the temple leads one to expect that on the southern part of the inner court there will be such priestly chambers as on the northern. About them the prophet now speaks briefly (until now he has observed only the northern chambers). “On (that same) width,” so strangely the prophet begins the determination of the location of these chambers, clearly meaning by width the measurement of the court from north to south, as less important than from east to west (the expression corresponds to our “at that same geographical latitude”) “of the boundary of the court toward the east (that is, also turned with their main entrance toward the east, as the preceding chambers), unless here it is necessary to read with the LXX instead of kadim, east, the similar in form darom, south—before (elfnei) gizra (Rus. “vacant space,” see explanation of verse 1 and Ezek 41:12) and before the building (benyan see explanation of verse 1) (also) were chambers (lesachot see explanation of verse 1). LXX at the beginning of the verse see a continuation of the speech of the preceding verse about the entrance to the northern priestly chambers: “by (κατα) the light existing at the beginning of the passage” (του εν αρχη περιπατου), that is, the entrance to the chambers from the outer court (see end of the preceding verse) led into the light, the span of the first corridor of chambers (t); and then, according to the LXX, the description of the southern chambers begins: “and to the south (perhaps geder, wall, read as negev, south) on the face of the south (that is, and with the facade to the south) and (also, similarly to the northern chambers) opposite the other (gizra) and opposite the partition (binyan, see explanation of verse 1) and (also) barriers.”

Ezekiel 42:11. And the passages facing them had the same dimensions as the passages of the northern chambers, and the same length and width, with the same exits and arrangements and doors. The southern chambers were similar (literally “as the vision of chambers”) to the northern ones in all the particulars of their plan: in the passage between them (here derekh, way, instead of maglak, passage, of verse 4), in length, in width, in all (consequently there were many) exits (motzaheim not indicated in the first chambers, as self-evident and probably by the insignificance of them, why they are not named as doors) in arrangement (mishpeteheim—ordinances, purpose? Slavic “rotations,” επιτροφas, application? LXX add “and by their lighting” illumination, verse 7), by doors, that is, the principal, entrance ones, about which now in the following verse more in detail.

Ezekiel 42:12. The southern chambers had doors like the northern ones, and there was an entrance to them in front of the way that ran parallel to the wall going east. The doors to the priestly chambers, the prophet repeats, were the same in the southern chambers as in the northern ones (understood). “For an entrance to them (that is, the chambers; Heb. bevoan at the very end of the verse), a door at the beginning of the way” (literally “at the beginning of the way”), which went (in the Heb. expressed by the repetition of the word “way”) straight along the wall toward the east,” literally “at the face of the wall hagginah toward the east”; hagginah according to Talmudic hanun, fitting, is given the meaning “properly,” “exactly.” As we saw in verse 9, the main way to the priestly chambers (t and t’) was precisely in the wall of the inner court, in that part of its rectangle which stretched from west to east; consequently, the way to this entrance from the main way to the temple ran along this wall. Thus, the second half of the verse speaks in other expressions and more precisely with respect to the southern chambers of the same as verse 9 with respect to the northern ones. LXX, omitting the first Heb. word of the verse (“like doors”) consider the further words “of the barriers toward the south” as an explanation of the pronoun “them” of the preceding verse, and the second half of the verse have in the following changed form “by the doors from the beginning of the passage,” that is, the doors to the southern chambers are arranged according to those doors to the northern chambers, which are at the beginning of the corridor between them. “Like the light of the interval of a measuring reed,” ως επι φως διαστηματοσ καλαμου; “light,” as we saw in verse 7, in the LXX a synonym of the facade of the outer block of chambers; while the last two words—a construct absolute: the door (properly entrance, petah) to the chambers was arranged so that (ως) up to (επι) the facade of the block there remained still an interval of 1 reed or 6 cubits, so the length of the entrance porch was 6 cubits,—a supplement like the Masoretic text, but of a different kind, to the prior data about the chambers (communicated in the description of the northern group of them). “And to the east, their entrance,” that is, through it (οι αυτων) the entrance to the chambers, this only entrance to the chambers from the eastern, main side of the temple (from the western side as we saw, the chambers could communicate through a passage with the rear building of the temple). Jerome: “at the beginning of that way, that is, the eastern, which is open to those who enter is a door, and by which we would not be able to enter if it had not been open by Him who said: ‘I am the door’ and holds the key of David, and this door is to the vestibule, separated by the virtues of the saints.”

Ezekiel 42:13. And he said to me, “The northern and southern chambers opposite the open space are holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings; there they shall put the most holy offerings, the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, for the place is holy. The description of the priestly chambers (and with them of the entire temple) is finished, and now it is necessary to speak of their purpose. Both the northern and (in the Heb. no conjunction) the southern chambers, which are before the face of gizra (Rus. “vacant space” see explanation of Ezek 41:12: “opposite the face of the intervals,” διαστηματων, calling it thus, apparently, the same gizra because it appeared as an empty space between the temple and the chambers; plural, as there were two gizras), of this holiest place of the court, for that very reason “are holy chambers,” and their purpose must be sacred. This purpose is twofold: a) in them the priests, not all however, but only “those who approach God” (see explanation of Ezek 40:46), that is, “the sons of Zadok,” as the LXX added explanatorily here, consume “the holy of holies,” as the LXX accurately render the Hebrew expression, the greatest holy things, Rus. “the most holy offerings”; b) they are so called repeatedly in the Pentateuch, for instance, (Lev 2:3) and in Ezekiel (Ezek 44:1); but the Vulgate: “who approach God in the holy of holies,” that is, through the immediate proximity to the holy of holies in the sanctuary. But since these holy things can be consumed only in baked or boiled form, and the baking and boiling of them is done in a less sacred place of the temple (Ezek 46:19), in the present chambers they, these holy things, besides being consumed, are also laid (Heb. yanihu), that is, stored for preparation for their consumption. The course of the description suggests (Kraetzschmar) that they are consumed in the main block of chambers, adjoining the gizra and the more sacred one, and are stored in the less sacred one, adjoining the outer court, in which the priests, apparently, remove their liturgical vestments before going out to the people according to verse 14. What is “the greatest holy thing,” “the holy of holies,” which because of their holiness can be consumed only in a specially holy place of the temple, the prophet after precise and generally known indications on this subject in the Pentateuch could not say, but he nonetheless gives a brief enumeration of these holy things: this (ve, “and” before this enumeration, consequently, has an explanatory sense, that is) the “grain offering,” mincha, Slavic “offering,” Vulgate oblationem (Lev 2:1) and others), the “sin offering,” chattath, “that which is for sins” (Lev 4:3) and the “guilt offering,” asham, “that which is for transgression” (Lev 5:19). The remnants of these offerings consumed by the priests were regarded as so sacred both in Moses’ law that only male offspring of the priests—future priests (Num 18:10) were allowed to eat them. In the prophet Ezekiel the holiness of them is heightened, or, at any rate, is clearly depicted, through the fact that for eating them the holiest place of the temple is set aside. Compare (Num 18:9). From such holy purpose the present chambers, as it were, gain additional holiness; hence the addition: “this (ki, “because”) place is holy.” “The greatest holiness must be eaten by sacred persons in a sacred place” (Bertholet).

Ezekiel 42:14. When the priests enter, they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court without laying aside the garments in which they ministered, for these are holy; they shall put on other garments and then approach the part of the people. The second purpose of the sacred chambers is to serve for the changing of vestments of the priests. In them they are to remove the sacred vestments in which they served before going out to the court among the people, so that, as (Ezek 44:19) adds, “they touch the people with their sacred vestments” (and become defiled by any chance defilement in the people); in these same chambers, undoubtedly, though not mentioned here, the priests also vested themselves in the liturgical vestments, which according to (Ezek 44:17) was done at the “gates of the inner court.” Thus carefully are the priests protected not only from approaching defilement and sin, but from everything worldly, however innocently and purely it may be. Thus the idea of Divinity is protected from admixture with anything created, as it is protected in Christianity, and partially also in post-exilic Judaism.—“When the priests enter,” according to the Hebrew the concise bevoan, upon their entrance.—“And then approach those of the people,” literally “and then draw near to that which is of the people.” The priests, only after removing their liturgical vestments, can come into contact with the people and with all the belongings of the latter—with the place where it stands, with the objects brought by it, and so forth. LXX: “let no one enter there except the priests, and let them not go out from the holy (directly, bypassing the priestly chambers to the outer court), so that they may always be holy, those who minister (προσαγοντες can mean both “who approach,” that is, to God, corresponding to Heb. karav, to approach), and let no one (outsiders) touch (their) vestments in which they serve, because they are holy, but let them put on other vestments, when they touch people.”

Ezekiel 42:15. When he had finished measuring the inner temple, he led me out by the way of the east gate, and measured its extent all around. “When,” Heb. ve, and, “he had finished,” that is, the Angel: Heb. kolla without a subject, which is why the LXX: “and the measurement was completed”; “the inner temple,” literally “the inner house,” that is, the building of the sanctuary and Holy of Holies with all its adjacent structures to which, consequently, the priestly chambers, measured last, belong. Now, when the entire temple is measured within its walls, the measurement of its external circumference is undertaken. For this the prophet is led out (“led” without a subject, see explanation of Ezek 40:17) from the temple by the eastern gates, by which the prophet was also led into the temple (Ezek 40:17). “And measured its extent all around,” literally “round about, round about”—further 4 measurements. The pronoun is placed not being able to cause any doubt as to its sense, in view of the difficulty of placing here a noun: to say temple (bayt) or court (hetzer) would be not precise, as also wall (binyan), because the size of the whole is given.

Ezekiel 42:16. He measured the east side with the measuring reed, and it was five hundred reeds; Each side (ruah, properly spirit, direction of the wind; see explanation of Ezek 1:12) of the sacred square measured, according to the Masoretic text, 500 reeds, that is, 6 × 500 = 3000 cubits, but according to the LXX (verses 17 and following) 500 cubits. Five hundred cubits as both width and length of the temple are given exactly by all the preceding data taken together. Width: 50 × 4 cubits length of the 4 gates (Ezek 40:21) + 100 × 2 distance between outer and inner gates (Ezek 40:23) + 100 width of the inner court (Ezek 40:47). Length: 50 × 2 length of the gates (Ezek 40:15) + 100 between both gates (Ezek 40:19) + 100 of the inner court (Ezek 40:47) + 100 of the temple (Ezek 41:13) + 100 of the space behind the temple (Ezek 41:13). This casts doubt on the correctness of the Masoretic reading. It could have arisen from the text which the LXX had, through the fact that in this verse it did not have the name of the measure at 500 (“and he measured five hundred with the measuring reed”) or by the similarity of Heb. meoth, (five) hundred, with amoth, cubits. However, the possibility of the correctness of the Masoretic reading is not excluded. Then the 3000-cubit square will be a special sacred place, surrounded by a special wall of verse 20 with the purpose to more sharply separate the temple’s holiness from the approaches of anything worldly. The Talmud (tractate Middoth) counts in Solomon’s temple, undoubtedly on the basis of this text, 500 cubits in the square (Trochon). Herod’s temple, according to Josephus, was one stade, that is, 400 square cubits (Smend, A. Olesnitsky considers the latter date wrongly, either intentionally or unintentionally. Old Chr. 336). At the beginning of the verse the LXX add to the Masoretic text: “and he stood behind the gates, facing east.” The last word of the Heb. text saviv, round about (Rus. “altogether”), indeed as it were not fitting here, as the measurement is made in only one direction. The LXX, reading vesvav “and turned” refer it to the following verse.

Ezekiel 42:17. on the north side he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed; Ezekiel 42:18. on the south side he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. Ezekiel 42:19. He turned toward the west and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. The same difference in the naming of the measure at 500 (reeds and cubits) between the Heb. text and the LXX and, besides, in the Heb. after the north side the south is measured, but in the LXX the west (named in the LXX exactly according to the Heb. “toward the sea”); from the north to the south wall of the temple one could pass only along the west (or the east, already measured); the west could be placed at the end as the lowest (see explanation of Ezek 1:4). Instead of saviv, round about (Rus. “altogether”) in the LXX again “and he turned.”

Ezekiel 42:20. On all four sides he measured its outer wall; it was five hundred reeds long and five hundred reeds wide, to separate the holy place from the common ground. If the square was 500 reeds, as according to the Heb. text, then the “wall” surrounding it was a separate one, compared with the one described in (Ezek 40:5), and stood at a distance of 1250 cubits from it. Then the mysterious temple would occupy such a vast area as to be able to “embrace not only the temple mount, but all the ancient Jerusalem” (Olesnitsky, Old Chr. 335). If, however, as according to the LXX, the square was 500 cubits, then the wall named here was the wall of the outer court, whose height and thickness are measured in (Ezek 40:5). In either case, it is characteristic that according to the prophet, everything outside the temple is unholy, Heb. khol; Vulgate. vulgi locum, but according to the LXX only “what is outside in the arrangement (διαταξει) of the temple” (caused by the structure of the temple). It should be sharply distinguished from the holy. Nothing created should be mixed with Divinity. “All the interest of the prophet is fixed on the temple and without the temple the world is for him a wilderness” (Bertholet); more precisely, not “without the temple,” but without God.