Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 42:16
He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
16. five hundred reeds ] Rather: cubits. Five hundred reeds, the reed being 6 cubits, would give a measurement of 3000 cubits. No allusion is made to such a space surrounding the house buildings anywhere else. On the contrary in Eze 45:2 the area of the temple buildings is said to be 500 cubits square, and the free place about it 50 cubits. LXX. omits the word “reeds” everywhere in these verses, expressly giving “cubits” in Eze 42:17. In Eze 42:20 (Heb.) allusion is made to the wall, and “reeds” is omitted. That the outer wall of the temple buildings formed a square of 500 cubits appears from measurements given elsewhere. Taking the direction N. to S. we have 50 (outer gate, Eze 40:21) + 100 (gate to gate, Eze 40:23) + 50 (inner gate, Eze 40:36) + 100 (inner court, Eze 40:47) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (outer gate) = 500. Or going from E. to W. the result is the same: 50 (outer gate) + 100 (gate to gate) + 50 (inner gate) + 100 (inner court) + 100 (house, Eze 41:13) + 100 (building behind house, Eze 41:13) = 500.
round about ] The word is wanting in Eze 42:18, and Eze 42:19 reads: he turned about and measured. LXX. reads in the latter way in all the Eze 42:16-18, attaching the word to the beginning of the following verse, no doubt rightly, cf. a similar case 1Sa 14:21. In LXX. also Eze 42:18-19 are transposed, the natural order round the wall being followed.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. – 19. He measured the east – north – south – west side] Each of which was five hundred reeds: and, as the building was square, the area must have been nearly thirteen thousand paces. No wonder this was called a city. See Eze 40:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He, the angel, or Christ in the appearance of a man,
measured the east side, from the two opposite angles of the inside north and south, with the measuring reed, which was of six cubits and one hand or three inches.
Round about; as Eze 42:15. The four square was five hundred reeds, that is, each wall was one hundred and twenty-five reeds, say some, yet this hath its difficulties, though I think it more likely than the conjecture of L. C.; and, for aught I see, the guess of Villalpandus may be admitted, that the whole square was four times measured round about, from the east round, from the north round, &c., as this: the 17th, 18th, and 19th verses repeat it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. five hundred reedstheSeptuagint substitutes “cubits” for “reeds,”to escape the immense compass assigned to the whole, namely, a squareof five hundred rods or three thousand cubits (two feet each; Eze40:5), in all a square of one and one-seventh miles, that is,more than all ancient Jerusalem; also, there is much space thus leftunappropriated. FAIRBAIRNrightly supports English Version, which agrees with theHebrew. The vast extent is another feature marking the idealcharacter of the temple. It symbolizes the great enlargement of thekingdom of God, when Jehovah-Messiah shall reign at Jerusalem, andfrom thence to the ends of the earth (Isa 2:2-4;Jer 3:17; Rom 11:12;Rom 11:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 were
five 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) With the measuring reed.According to Eze. 40:5 the reed was six cubits long; 500 reeds therefore, the measure of each side of the square, was 3,000 cubits, or about 5,000 feet = nearly a mile. Of course such a space, quite as large as was ever enclosed by the walls of ancient Jerusalem, would have been impossible upon the hill of Moriah, and various efforts have been made by some of the commentators to reduce the size; but the use of the reed as the unit of measurement is decisive. The objection to the size is without value, as Keil well says, for the simple reason that in Ezekiel 45, 48 there follow still further statements concerning the separation of the sanctuary from the rest of the land, which are in perfect harmony with this, and show most indisputably that the Temple seen by Ezekiel was not to have its seat in the ancient Jerusalem; nor, it may be added, in any other earthly locality. It is a vision not designed to have a material realisation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 42:16. Reeds Cubits, and so throughout the chapter. The LXX, Capellus, and others.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 42:16 He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
Ver. 16. Five hundred reeds. ] Lo, here the large extent of the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints. See Trapp on “ Eze 40:1
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
side: Heb. wind
the measuring reed: Estimating the reed at 10+ feet, 500 reeds will be nearly equal to a mile; so that from this statement we find the temple, with its outbuildings, was built on a square, nearly an English mile on each side, and four miles in circumference. This not only far exceeds the size of Solomon’s temple, or that after the captivity, which was only 500 cubits, or a furlong, on each side, and exactly half a mile in circuit; but is nearly equal to the whole extent of Jerusalem itself, which, when greatest, was but 33 furlongs in circumference, somewhat less than 4+ miles. This seems clearly to intimate, that the vision cannot be explained of any temple that has hitherto been built, or indeed of any literal temple, but figuratively and mystically of the spiritual temple, the church under the gospel, and its spiritual glory. Eze 40:3, Zec 2:1, Rev 11:1, Rev 11:2
Reciprocal: Eze 45:1 – the length Eze 45:2 – five hundred in length Eze 48:30 – four
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 42:16. Reed is used in a general sense and means that the place was measured with a rod, and according to Moffatt’s version it was about 500 cubits.