Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 41:3
Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits.
3, 4. The most holy place, Fig. 2, C
3. The wall was 2 cubits thick, Fig. 2, ef.
breadth of the door, seven cubits ] The actual door or entrance Fig. 2, ee, ff, was 6 cubits (preceding clause); the present statement, therefore, refers to the walls on either side of the entrance (N. to S.). LXX. read or rightly interpreted: and the entrance six cubits; and the side pieces of the entrance seven cubits on one side and seven cubits on the other. Fig. 2, fk. That is 6 + 7 + 7 = 20, breadth of the house as before ( Eze 41:4). It is to be observed that while Ez., being a priest, enters the holy place along with the guide he refrains from entering the most holy place, which the angel alone enters.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Went he inward – Toward the holy of holies. It is not said, he brought me in, but he went in, because the holy of holies was not to be entered even by a priest like Ezekiel, but only by the high priest once a year. So the angel enters and announces: the measurements.
The post of the door – On either side of the entrance was a pillar, the two together making up two cubits. The first measurement of the door was from post to post, six cubits; and the second measurement, the breadth of the door, was the breadth of the actual doors which shut off the holy of holies Eze 41:23, and which may have been so, hung that each of the posts projected half a cubit beyond the hinge of the door (which opened inwards), so as to secure the complete closure of the holy of holies.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 41:3
And the door, six cubits.
A wide way to God
The porch, at which was an ascent to the temple, had a gate belonging to it. This gate was six cubits. Now, some may object, and say, Since the way to God by these doors was so wide, why doth Christ say the way and gate is narrow? Answer. The straitness, the narrowness, must not be understood of the gate simply, but because of that cumber that some men carry with them, that pretend to be going to heaven. Six cubits! What is sixteen cubits to him who would enter in here with all the world on his back? (John Bunyan.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Inward; from the porch through the body of the temple, to the partition between the body of the temple and the holy of holies, or the oracle.
The post; either the thickness of that partition wall, or of the pilasters, which stood one on one side and the other on the other side of the door.
The door, or entrance out of the temple into the oracle. This door was
six cubits high, say some, but, more likely, it was six cubits broad, and an upright bar or post on which the leaves did meet, and which was of one cubits breadth, make out the seven cubits mentioned in the last words of this verse.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. inwardtowards the mostholy place.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then went he inward,…. Through the temple or holy place he had measured, to the holy of holies:
and measured the post of the door two cubits; this was the door into the most holy place; there was one in Solomon’s temple; but in the second temple there was none; but two rails instead of it, which were rent at the death of Christ; and two cubits was the thickness of the post, on which this door was shut:
and the door six cubits, and the breadth of the door seven cubits; this door was a two leaved one; each leaf consisted of three cubits broad, and the post in the middle on which they shut one cubit broad, which made seven: though some think that the side walls of the door are meant, as in Eze 41:2, which were each seven cubits; and the breadth of the door, six cubits, made twenty cubits; which was the breadth of the most holy place, as answering to the breadth of the holy place, as in the next verse.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) Went he inward.There is here a noticeable change in the usual expression; in all other cases the angel had brought the prophet to the places to be measured, but as he is here entering the Holy of Holies, into which, under the law, Ezekiel might not enter, the angel goes in alone. The prophetic vision was not yet sufficiently clear to speak of the way into the true Holy of Holies as at length opened to all (Heb. 9:8; Heb. 9:12; Heb. 10:19).
The door, six cubits.Door is here used for doorway, the clear space between the posts. The breadth of the door itself is immediately said to be seven cubits, the door overlapping the posts in a shoulder half a cubit on each side.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Then he went inward and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits, and the entrance six cubits, and the breadth of the entrance seven cubits. And he measured its length, twenty cubits, and its breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple. And he said to me, “This is the most holy place”.’
Notice ‘he went inward’. No longer ‘he brought me’ (Eze 40:28; Eze 40:32; Eze 40:35; Eze 40:48; Eze 41:1). For Ezekiel could not enter the most holy place. That could only be entered by man once a year, and only by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement after specific and detailed preparation (Lev 16:2; Lev 16:15-16; Heb 9:7). The entrance is now only six cubits wide. Entry is even more restricted, indicating the increased holiness of the inner room.
And it is foursquare, twenty cubits by twenty cubits, the ultimate in perfection. The seven cubits measures from each side of the door to the wall, thus with the six cubit door making twenty cubits. The two sevens, representing divine perfection, explain why the door is six cubits, but there may also be the indication that this Isaiah 2 x 3 cubits, indicating double completeness (as the previous door was 2 x 5 cubits, indicating covenant related). The emphasis is on the perfection and extreme holiness of this inner room. Even the heavenly visitor has to say in awe, ‘this is the most holy place’. It was the place to which the glory of Yahweh would return.
And so we have at last reached the holiest of all. We have ascended increasing levels of steps three times, seven, eight and ten, (twenty five in all, which is significant – the covenant number squared), and we have come through narrower and narrower doors, three times, to enter this holiest of all. We now but await the return of Yahweh to His land.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 41:3. Then went he inward, &c, There is scarcely any understanding this without the LXX. It is a description of the partition-wall and door between the Holy and the Holy of Holies, which, according to the LXX, was twenty cubits long, that is to say, the of the door (which must mean the thickness of the ports, or ends of the wall, to which the door was hung) two cubits; and the door six cubits (broad), and the shoulders, or sides of the door (that is to say, the spaces of wall on each side of the door,) were seven cubits on one side, and seven cubits on the other. Now these fourteen, with the six of the breadth of the door, do make twenty, which was the breadth of the house. See Wall’s Critical Notes on the place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 41:3 Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits.
Ver. 3. Then went he inward. ] Toward the Holy of holies.
And the door.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
two cubits: This was the thickness of the partition wall between the sanctuary – Eze 41:2 and holy of holies – Eze 41:4, the breadth of the wall on each side of the gate being seven cubits, and the entrance into the holy place six cubits in width. Eze 41:3
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 41:3. The measurements of this verse are what he found on the inside part of the entrance structure.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 41:3-4. Then went he inward From the outward sanctuary he went forward toward the holy of holies, and measured the thickness of the partition wall to be two cubits, the entrance itself six cubits, and breadth of the wall, on each side of the door, seven cubits: see Eze 40:48; where the breadth of the gate is taken in the same sense. The breadth of the wall, thus computed, making up fourteen cubits, and being added to the breadth of the entrance itself, makes up twenty cubits; the breadth of the inner sanctuary, as it is set down in the next verse. So he measured the length thereof Of the holy of holies twenty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits It was an exact cube, of the same dimensions in length, breadth, and height: see 1Ki 6:20; before the temple Or rather, as the words should be rendered, according to the temple; that is, the breadth of it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
In his vision Ezekiel’s guide then went into the most holy place and measured the doorway leading into it from the holy place. This doorway was two cubits (3 feet 4 inches) deep and six cubits (10 feet) wide. The projecting wall on either side of this entrance, which also formed part of the wall of the holy place and the most holy place, projected inward seven cubits (11 feet 8 inches) from the side walls of the main temple structure. The most holy place was 20 cubits (33 feet 4 inches) square.
The effect of the progressively narrower doorways, from 14 cubits (23 feet 4 inches, Eze 40:48) to 10 cubits (16 feet 8 inches, Eze 41:2) to six cubits (10 feet, Eze 41:3), focused the worshipper’s eyes on the most holy place, the center of worship, and communicated increasing restriction, controlled access.
Ezekiel’s guide seldom spoke to him, but when he did he always said something important. Here he identified the most holy place (Eze 41:4; cf. Eze 41:22; Eze 40:4; Eze 40:45; Eze 42:13; Eze 43:18; Eze 46:20; Eze 46:24; Eze 47:8). Evidently Ezekiel, who was a priest, did not enter the most holy place in this vision.