Ezekiel 42:13
Ver. 13. Then said he unto me,.... The divine Person that measured and described these chambers, and brought the prophet to take a view of them, said to him, as follows:
the north chambers, and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers; these are the two rows of chambers before described, which were southward and northward to each other, though both in the northern part of the outward court; these were for holy persons to dwell in, and for holy things to be done in, as the churches of Christ are; they consist of holy persons, men called with a holy calling, and in them the holy word of God is preached, and holy ordinances administered:
where the priests that approach unto the Lord shall eat the most holy things; which is to be understood not of the ministers of the Gospel, for whom a proper maintenance is to be provided, and who should live of the Gospel they preach; but of all the saints, who are made priests to God by Christ; and who approach unto the Lord by him, in his name and righteousness, and by the faith of him, with true hearts, in a spiritual manner; and which is profitable to themselves, and acceptable to God; for whom spiritual provisions are made in his house: these have most holy things to eat of, the holy word of God, the law part of which is holy, just, and good; and the Gospel part is our most holy faith, which is food for faith, savoury and salutary, milk for babes, and meat for strong men; and which is found and eaten, and digested by them: also our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the most holy, and is the sum and substance of the word and ordinances, and the food of believers, the bread of life, the hidden manna, the Lamb of God, and fatted calf; whose flesh and blood are meat and drink indeed, and are eaten and fed upon by faith.
There shall they lay the most holy things; lay up the word of God in their minds and memories, and remember the love of God, his sufferings and death, and the benefits arising from them, particularly in the ordinance of the supper:
and the meat offering; the "minchah", or bread offering, made of fine flour, typical of Christ, the bread of life:
and the sin, offering, and the trespass offering; both typical of Christ, made sin for his people; and who, by one sacrifice of himself, has made atonement for it, and an end of it; See Gill on "Eze 40:39", these were called the most holy things, and were laid up in the sanctuary for the priests and their families to live upon, Le 6:17:
for the place is holy: the place of these chambers holy, as the temple itself, where these most holy things and holy persons were. Ezekiel 42:14Ver. 14. When the priests enter therein,.... Into the holy place, these holy chambers, and approach unto God, and eat of the most holy things, and minister therein to the Lord:then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter court; denoting, not that the ministers of the word should not concern themselves in secular employments, but give themselves up to the word and prayer, though so to do is right; but the perseverance of the saints in the house and worship of God, in grace and holiness, and in all the duties of religion; these should not relinquish their profession, desert their station and the service of God, and return to the world; but continue as pillars in the temple of God, and go no more out, but abide by the truths and ordinances of the Gospel:but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister, for they are holy; these signify Christ's robe of righteousness and garments of salvation, that fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints; and fitly represented by the linen garments of the priests, in which they ministered in their office, and were like them holy, pure, and spotless; in these only saints appear before God, and present their supplications to him, not for their own, but for Christ's righteousness sake, making mention of that only; and herein they have acceptance with God now, and shall be introduced into his presence hereafter, and behold his face, clothed with these garments, and serve him for ever:and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people; these are the conversation garments of the saints, which are not fit to appear in before God, being attended with imperfection and sin; but very proper to appear in before men, among whom their lights should shine, and their good works be seen, for the adorning of the doctrine of Christ, the recommending of the Christian religion, and the stopping of the mouths of gainsayers: for this respects not the different habits of ministers, when they are in their ministrations, and out of them; though the allusion is to the priests under the law, who wore their priestly garments only in the temple, and while ministering there, and never elsewhere, or when among the common people on civil accounts: so Josephus says {c}, the priests only wore their holy garments when they ministered; at other times they appeared in the habit of private persons; with which agrees what Maimonides {d} says, their garments are not upon them when they are not ministering in the priestly office, but then they are clothed as laymen; or when, as the Targum here has it,"they were mingled with the people.''There were places in the temple where they put on and off their clothes, and where they were laid up. So Adrichomius {e} says, speaking of the temple,"there were rooms, otherwise called treasuries, and priests' apartments, which were houses on the side of it, like towers, long, broad, and high; in which the priests, when they went into the sanctuary, put off their common woollen garments, and put on their holy linen ones; and, when they had performed their holy services, laid them up there again.''And another writer, quoted by Solomon Ben Virga {f}, observes, that"here (that is, the temple) was a house for the priest whose office it was to clothe the rest of the priests at the time of service; and he gave to everyone of them four sorts of garments, as were commanded, and fetched them out of the chests of the wardrobe; and on every chest, which were at the walls of this house, that is, above everyone of them, was the name of the garment, that there might be no mistake nor confusion when they were wanted.''And this agrees with what is said in the Misnah {g}, that there was one that was appointed over the priests' garments, and who might be properly enough called the master of the wardrobe; on which one of the commentators says {h}, his business was"to clothe the priests at the time of service, and to unclothe them after service was done, and to keep the garments of the priesthood in the chambers made for that purpose.''Very wrongly, therefore, is the learned Selden {i} charged by Mr. Shoringham {k}, with a mistake, in denying that the priests wore their holy garments at any other time but when they were at divine service.{c} De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 5. sect. 7. {d} Cele Hamikdash, c. 10. sect. 4. {e} Theatrum Terrae Sanct. Jerusalem, No. 92. p. 161. {f} Shebet Judah, fol. 43. 2. Ed. Gentii, p. 464. {g} Shekalim, c. 5. sect. 1. {h} Bartenora in ib. {i} De Success. in Pontif. Heb. l. 2. c. 7. Vid. ib. de Synedriis, l. 3. c. 11. sect. 6. & Braunium, de Vestitu Sacerdot. Hebr. l. 2. c. 25. {k} Ad Codicem Joma, c. 7. sect. 1. p. 78, 79. Ezekiel 42:15Ver. 15. Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house,.... The holy place, and the holy of holies, with all the courts and chambers belonging to them; even the whole building within the compass of the outermost wall, and all that pertained unto it; the chambers last mentioned, as well as the rest, the dimensions of, which are given in this and the two preceding chapters:he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east: not to the east gate of the outward wall, but to the east gate which led into the outward court; the gate he was first brought unto, and which was first measured, Eze 40:6: and measured it round about; not the east gate, nor the outward wall that went all round the house; though this was measured, and its dimensions given, last of all; nor the house itself, which had been measured already; or the figure of it, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; but all that space that was between this building and the wall that surrounded it; the area or compass of ground on which the building stood. Ezekiel 42:16Ver. 16. He measured the east side,.... He began with that, being at the east gate: the building was foursquare, and so was the wall about it, and had each four equilateral sides, which were separately measured; here the east side, from the two angles of it, the north and south points:with the measuring reed; which consisted of six cubits, and which cubits were larger than the common sort by a hand's breadth; so that a measuring reed measured three yards and a half: and the whole measure of the east side werefive hundred reeds: which make one thousand seven hundred and fifty yards:with the measuring reed round about; not round about the building, since only one side, as yet, was measured; but round about that side, or from angle to angle, or from one side to the other: having finished one side, he went to another, until he had measured all round; but did not go four times round it, only once. Ezekiel 42:17Ver. 17. He measured the north side, five hundred reeds,.... From the two angles of that side, east and west; and it was of the same dimension as the east side, just five hundred reeds, or one thousand seven hundred and fifty yards:with a measuring reed round about; he measured with the same reed, from point to point; and having measured this side, he went to another. Ezekiel 42:18Ver. 18. He measured the south side, five hundred reeds,.... From the two angles of that side, east and west; and it amounted to just the same number of reeds, even five hundred reeds, or one thousand seven hundred and fifty yards:with the measuring reed; the same as before; here, and in the next verse, the phrase "round about" is not used, but is to be understood; and having been repeated, there was no need of mentioning it again. Ezekiel 42:19Ver. 19. He turned about to the west side,.... And took the dimensions of that, from angle to angle, the south and north points of it:and measured five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed; and it was exactly of the same measure with the other three sides. Ezekiel 42:20Ver. 20. He measured it by the four sides,.... Which were equilateral, parallel to each other, each measuring five hundred reeds; which in all made up two thousand reeds, or seven thousand yards: this shows that no material building can be designed; never was an edifice of such dimensions; this seems rather to describe a city than a temple; and denotes the largeness of the Gospel church state in the latter day, when the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in:it had a wall round about: the same with that in Eze 40:5:five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad; it was foursquare, as the building was, and exactly answered to that in its dimensions. The Jews say {l} the mountain of the house was five hundred cubits by five hundred; that is, a perfect square of five hundred cubits on every side, two thousand cubits in the whole compass about. Josephus {m} says the whole circuit was half a mile, every side containing the length of a two hundred and twenty yards. Now, says Doctor Lightfoot {n}, if any will take up the full circuit of the wall that encompassed the holy ground, according to our English measure, it will amount to half a mile and about one hundred and sixty six yards; and whosoever will likewise measure the square of Ezekiel, Eze 42:20, will find it six times as large as this, Eze 40:5, the whole amounting to three miles and a half, and about one hundred and forty yards, a compass incomparably larger than Mount Moriah divers times over; and by this very thing is showed that that is spiritually and mystically to be understood; wherefore these measures no doubt did, as Mr. Lee {o} observes, signify the great fulness of the Gentiles, and that compass of the church in Gospel days should be marvellously extended. The use of it was,to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place: the church and the world; the world is profane, and lies in wickedness, and the men of it ought not to be admitted into the church of God, and partake of holy things in it; a difference must be made between the precious and the vile; and greater care will be taken in the latter day of the admission of members into Gospel churches, Isa 52:1,See Gill on "Eze 40:5".{l} Misn. Middot, c. 2. sect. 1. {m} Antiqu. l. 15. c. 11. sect. 3. Ed. Hudson. {n} Prospect of the Temple, c. 2. p. 1051. {o} Temple of Solomon portrayed, &c. p. 241.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.