The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 354

reloin the clo.use CLS genuine, and regard it between the two-the consecration of the ae CLn illustrntion of Ezekiel's hobit of altar being practically equivalent to the crowding words together for the sake of consecration of the house, and t.he conse- emphasis-and all the laws thereof, by which cration of the house finding approximate were probo.bly signified " the instructions expression in the consecro.tion of the altar. contained in these sto.tutee for sanctification Ail in the other portions of the temple, so in of life" (Keil). In addition to rehearsing this, the measurements are given after the tbe above in the hearing of the people, the oubits, i.e. by or in cubits, the length of ea.eh rrophet was directed to write them in their cubit being not~d at "a cubit and an hand- sight, if it be not open to understand the breadth," as in eh. xl. 5. They are likewise "writing" as explanatory of the way in taken first from the foundation upwards (vers. which the "showing" was to be made. 13-15), and then from the top downwarcl8 Ver. 12.-This is the law of the house. (vers. 16, 17). The first portion measnrecl In this instance " the house" must not be is the bottom; literally, the bosom (Hebrew, restricted to the temple proper, consisting p•r.i, "that which embraces," from p1;i, "to of the holy place o.nd the holy of holies, embrace;" LXX., K6l\1rwµ.a: Vnlgate, ,inus); bnt extended to the whole free space en- but what exactly that signified is debater! compBSsing the outer court, the quadmngulo.r among interpreters. Gesenins thinks of Bree. of three thousand cubits square (eh. "the hollowed part for the fire;" Hitzig, of xiii. 16-20) ; o.nd concerning this house "a frame running round, a stand in which as so defined, the fundamental torah, Ia.w, the altar stood;" Kliefoth, of •• a deepening or regulation, ~ declared to he that of its complete sanctity. Ewold CLnd Smend, as TUE ALTAB. usual, unite with the LXX. in connecting "upon the top of the mountain" with F a, " house;" but expositors generally agree ' that the clause belongs to the words that follow, Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about; B o.nd that the prophet's thought ie that the entire territory upon the mountain summit included within the above specified border, and not merely the inner sanctuary, or even D that with its chambers and courts, was to be regarded as most holy, or os a holy of holies, i.e. was to be consecrated as the innermost adytum of the tabernacle and temple hod been, by the indwelling of I C I Jehovah. Smend notes that "This i..i the I A law" is the customary underwriting and superscription of the laws of the priest- A, base; B, border ; c, lower Bettle ; D, upper code (see Lev. vi. 9, 14; vii. I, 87; xi. 46; settle; E, 11 mount of God" (bare!); :r, 11 hearth of God" (arlel); 11, u, horna of altar, xii. 7; xiii. 59; xiv. 54; xv. 32); but it need not result from this thnt the priest- on the wooden ring in which the whole altnr code borrowed this expression from Ezekiel, stands;" Keil, of" a lower hollow or bnse or who employs it only in this verse. The the Bltor, formed by a border of CL definite more ro.tional hypothesis is that Ezekiel, height;" Smend, of "the channel or gutter himself CL priest, me.de use of this formula ot the o.ltar base, which ijhould receive the becCLuse acquainted with it as already exist- sacrifloinl blood;" H~vemick, Currey, and ing in the so-called priest-code. Plumptre, of "a base upon which the o.Ito.r Vers. 13-27.-The temple-al ta.r described stood." If Smend's feasible notion be not (vers. 13-17), ancl the ritual for its conse- CLdopted, then probably that of Hitzig, Klie- oro.tion explo.ined (vera. 18-27). foth, or Keil mo~t neo.rly expresses the con- ception of the Hebrew term. The altar was Ver. 13.-The measures of the altar. The surrounded by an enolosnre in whioh it altar is l];;!ro,;:t, that formerly montioned o.s seemed to be set, or out of whioh to rise; standing in the inner court, immediately in the dimensions of this " stand " or " en- front of the" house" (eh. x!. 47), the altar of closure" being a cubit in height, and a burnt offering, and not the altar of incense cubit in breadth, with a border on its edge in the holy place (oh. xii. 22). Its dimen- round about n spon or half a cubit high. sions, then omitted, a.re now reported in This, the stand just described, should be connection with its consecration, which also the higher plaoe ; literally, the back; henoe is na.rmted as a pendant to that of the the support, hose (Revised Version), or ele• "house," because of t)le i~tim~te connection vation, ~os (LXX.) of the altar. 368 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [on. XLIII, 1--27,