The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 355

Ver. 14.-The next·measurements which emblems of those points in the altar iq are taken from the bottom upon the ground, which appears "its signiflce.nce as a place i.e. from the P'D, "base," or ground frame- of the revelation of Divine might and work above described, to the lower settle, strength, of Divine salvation and blessing" i.e. to the top of the undermost of the (' Biblische Archaologie,' § 20). two " terraces," or enclosures,"' or " plat- Vera. 16, 17.-The measurements that forms," of which the e.lte.r oonsisted, e.re two now begin concern the breadth of the altar, cubits of height with one cubit of breadth; aud proceed from above downwards. First tile measurements which follow, from the the e.ltar, or, hearth of God (Hebrew, ariel) lesser settle, i.e. the undermost, to the was twelveoubits long and twelve broad, i.e. greater settle, i.e. the uppermost, e.re four was square in the tour squares (or, Bides) oubita of height with one oubit of breadth. thereof, or a perfect sque.re (comp. Exod. xxvii. l; Rev. xxi. 16). Next the settle, Ver. 15.-Noteworthy is the word e.lt&r, or, enclosure (Hebrew, il;tJlU'J) of ver. H, which in this verse renders two distinct was fourteen. cubits long, • and fourteen Hebrew terms, i,!!'.liJ e.nd S~•~. which broad in the four squares (or, sides) thereof; Gesenius, Hitzig, Ewe.Id, Smend, e.nd others, tho fourteen being made up of the twelve after the LXX. ( .-l, up,~;1.), identify as cubits of the altar-hearth's side with one synonymous, and translate by "hee.rth." cubit of ledge from the settle all round. But the first can only signify " the mount of The only question is to which" settle," the God," while the latter may mean either" lion upper or the under, reference is made. Some of God" or "hearth of God." Kliefuth, expositors, identifying the greater Azo.rah deriving the latter from .i;ttt, "to consume," with the Harel, i.e. the '' upper settle," with and ':,:11, "a ram," prefers e..s its import "the mount of God" or the be.se of the hearth, makethealte.r height only seven cubits "ram-devourer;" Hengstenberg, resolving from the ground to the hearth. The general into S:~ "a ra.ru," and '~, "a lion," pro- belief, however, is that they cannot be so poses as its equivalent'' ram-lion," i.e. "the identified. .Among interpreters who dis- lion that consumes the rams for God "-a ren- tinguish them, Kliefoth, with whom Smend dering closely allied to that of Kliefoth. In agrees, holds the "settle " in this verse to ony ce.se, the terms allude to pe.rta of the be the harel, or "mount of God,'' which ex- altar: the second, Ariel (equivalent to the tended (Smend says with a Itek, or'' gutter") hen.rth on which God's fire bums), according one cubit on each side beyond the ariel, or to Keil, Kliefoth, and the best expositors, "hearth of God,'' so that the "mount of meaning the flat surface or the altar; and God,'' on which the" hearth of God•• rested, the first, Harel (conveying the ideas of was fourteen cubits square, Then, assum- elevation and sanctity), the base on which ing a similar extension of one cubit at each it rested. The height of this base was four stage-in the greater aze.re.h, the lesser cubits, while from the hearth projected four ezarah. e.nd the hek, or ground bottom-he horns, o.s in the altars of Uie l\losaic taber- finds the surface of the greater azo.re.h to be nacle (Exod. xxvii 2; xxxviii. 2; Lev. sixteen, of the lesser azo.re.h eighteen, and iv. 7, 18; viii. 15) and Bolomonio temple of the ground bottom twenty oubits square. (Ps. cxviii 27). If the length of these be Keil, with whom Schroder and Ourrey ai;ree, set down, as K.liefoth sngge■ts,at three cubits, objects to this as involving too mucn of then the whole height of the altar will be arbitrary assumption, and takes the" settle " in cubits.----one for the ground bottom, two for of this verse to mean the lower azarah ; so the lower settle, four for the upper, four for the.t no additional measurements are re- the bases of the hearlh, with three for the quired beyond those given in the text. If horns, eque.l to fourteen in all; or, omitting the square surface of the greater aze.rah the horns, of which the length is not given, be considered as having been the so.me as and the altar base, which is distinguished that of the harel, so that their sides were from the altar, ten cubits in all for the continuous, then, as the "ground bottom" altar proper. .As to the symbolic import of extended one cubit on each side beyond the the " horns," Kurtz, after Hofmann and lower azarah, the altar at its base was a Kliefoth, finds this in the idea of elevation, square of sixteen cubits. Compo.ring now foe "horns," as the highest point in the these measurements with those of the altar ll.ltar, bringing the blood put upon them of burnt offering in the tabernacle and the nearer to God than the sides did the blood temple, one finds that the former wns only P.prinkled on them (see 'Sacrificial Worship five cubits square and three cubits high llftheOld Testament,'§ 13);· Keil,after Bahr, (Exoci. xxvii. 1), while the latter we.e twenty in t~e notions of strength, beauty, and cubits broad, but only ten cubits high (2 bl~ssmg, the horns of an animal being the Chron. iv. 1), which awakes the suspiciou p4:ants in which its power, grace, aod fuloe~s that the different views above noted ho.ve ()( life are concentrated., an~therefore fitting been iaeensibly influenced by I\ desire on oB, nm. 1-27.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 869