duction brings them within the bounds of verisimilitude; and no effort in that direction is required. ‘The idea is alone to be thought of.”
17. Cubits (nySv). The word originally means that part of the arm between the hand and the elbow-joint, the forearm. Hence a cubit or ell, a measure of the distance from the joint of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, 4.@., about a foot and a half. The precise length, however, is disputed. Cub is from the Latin cubitus the elbow, on which one reclines (cu- bat). Some take the one hundred and forty-four cubits as rep- resenting the height of the wall; others the thickness. If the height, then they must be interpreted as equal to the twelve- thousand furlongs, since the length and the breadth and the height of the city are equal (ver. 16). It is to be noted, how- ever, that there is a distinction between the measure of the city and the measure of the wall. “The most inconsiderable wall ” remarks Diisterdieck, “is sufficient to exclude all that is im- pure.”
The measure of a man, that is, of the angel. “It is to be the dwelling-place of men; and even, therefore, when an angel measures it, he measures it according to the measure of a man ” (Milligan).
18. The building (évSdunous). Only here in the New Testa- ment. From év in and Sapdw to build. Lit., that which is built in. Hence the building of the wall is the material built into the wall; of which the wall was composed.
Glass (id). Only here and ver. 21. For the kindred ad- jective ddAwos of glass, see on ch. iv. 6.
19. All manner of precious stones. Compare Isa. liv. 11, 12; 1 Chron. xxix. 2.
Sapphire (cdm¢ecpos). Compare Isa. liv. 11; Ezek. i. 26. Probably dapis lazuli. Our sapphire is supposed to be repre- sented by the jacinth in ver. 20. Pliny describes the cdmdexpos