Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 41:8
I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers [were] a full reed of six great cubits.
8. I saw also ] An uncommon form; usually it is said, and there appeared, which LXX. probably read here [13] . For “height” (gobah) probably “raised pavement” (gabbah, Gabbatha, Joh 19:13) should be read (cf. footnote) and the house appeared as having a raised pavement round about, lit. there appeared (belonging) to the house &c., cf. ch. Eze 10:8. All that was seen of the platform was the passage of 5 cubits round about the building ( Eze 41:11). “House” includes both the temple proper and the side-chambers. This is supplemented by saying that the foundations of the side-chambers were 6 cubits high of course house and side-chambers were on the same level.
[13] The curious word in LXX. appears a transliteration of this reading with following prep. l attached, (fem. apoc. Impf. niph.); cf. for form and construction ch. Eze 10:8; and for short final vowel the spelling Abimael, Gen 10:28. Therefore a fem. noun should be read as subj. (gabbah).
six great cubits ] as R.V., marg., six cubits to the joint, or angle, i.e. probably to the point where the vertical line of the height of the platform cut the level of the court. The words cannot be a description of the kind of cubit, nor, since the foundations are being described, can there be any reference to the height within of the side-chambers or to the point of junction of one story with another.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
8 11. The raised platform upon which the house and the side-chambers stood
The house and the annexe stood on a platform raised a full reed, or 6 cubits above the level of the inner court ( Eze 41:8). The platform was reached in front of the house by a flight of so steps (Eze 40:49) from the court. The outside wall of the annexe was 5 cubits thick ( Eze 41:9). A space of 5 cubits of the platform remained unoccupied by the buildings ( Eze 41:11), Fig. 2, E. Then came a free space of 20 cubits running round the platform ( Eze 41:10), Fig. 3, H. Finally came other buildings in the inner court, one behind the house on the W. ( Eze 41:15), Fig. 3, K; and others on both sides of it, N. and S. (Eze 42:1 seq.), Fig. 3, GG.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The foundations of the side chambers – Therefore the height of the side-chambers from the floor was six cubits there being three stories, which corresponds sufficiently with the twenty cubits which was the height of the temple. A great cubit is probably an architectural term to denote the line of junction between two stories, which would be that of the ceiling of the lower and the floor of the upper story.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Of the house; of the chambers, or the three stories of them; it is not the temple. The lowest chamber had properly a foundation laid on the earth, but the floor of the middle and highest story must be accounted here a foundation; so from the ground to the ceiling of the first room was six great cubits; from the first beams, joists, and boards to the second; six great cubits; and from the third floor to the roof of the chamber, a like number: to which if we add one cubit for thickness of each of the three roofs or floors, you have twenty-one cubits for height, ten yards and half high.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. foundations . . . six . . .cubitsthe substructure, on which the foundations rested, was afull reed of six cubits.
greatliterally, “tothe extremity” or root, namely, of the hand [HENDERSON].”To the joining,” or point, where the foundation of onechamber ceased and another began [FAIRBAIRN].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I saw also the height of the house round about,…. Not of the temple itself, but of the chambers, and the three stories of them, which went round about it; and particularly the height of the highest storey, which yet is not given: it could not be so high as the temple itself; for then there would have been no room for windows to let in light into it:
the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits; not of the lowest storey of them, for that was but four cubits broad, Eze 41:5, nor of the middlemost, which was five; but of the uppermost, which was six; and these were cubits of the largest size, a hand’s breadth larger than the common cubit, and made one full reed, or three yards and a half; see Eze 40:5, these foundations signify the same as the twelve foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem; and which are no other than the one foundation Christ, ministerially laid by his twelve apostles; and who is the only foundation of his church and people, and is a sure one, Re 21:14.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) I saw also the height of the house.This does not mean the height of the house itself, which is nowhere stated. The words are, literally, I saw for the house a height (i.e., an elevation) round about, and the meaning of this is explained in what follows. The Temple, as has been already said (Eze. 40:49), was entered by a flight of steps leading up to the porch, and was therefore on a higher level than the court. We are now told that the side chambers had a foundation of six cubits. Whether this foundation of the Temple and the side chambers was built of masonry, or, as is more probable, was a sort of basement to contain cisterns and storage rooms, we are not told; but it probably extended, under the name of the place that was left (Eze. 41:9; Eze. 41:11), five cubits beyond the outer wall of the chambers, forming a platform from which they were entered.
Six great cubits.Literally, six cubits to the joint, or to the armpit, for the word has both significations. It is plain that a cubit of a different length, measured to the armpit, cannot be intended, both because no such cubit is known to have been in use at any time, and because Ezekiel in Eze. 40:5 has already fixed the length of the cubit he uses. The sense of joint is therefore to be taken, and this applied architecturally can only mean the point at which one part of the building joins another; here, the point where the superstructure meets the foundation, or, as we should say, six cubits to the water-table.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘I saw also that the house had a raised platform round about. The foundations of the side-chambers were a full reed of six long cubits.’
The side rooms stood on the same platform as the rest of the temple, which was six long cubits above the level of the surrounding courtyard. The six probably represents twice three, expressing double divine completeness.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 41:8 I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers [were] a full reed of six great cubits.
Ver. 8. The foundations. ] Plus rei quam ostentationis habebant, a The good soul rather seeks to be good, than seems to be so.
a Oecolamp.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the height of the house = that the house had an elevation or platform. reed. See App-51.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a full: Eze 40:5, Rev 21:16
Reciprocal: Eze 43:13 – The cubits
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 41:8. The side chambers were built upon a raised platform that was a reed thick. Great is not from a word that means size; it Is one that signifies something as a connection. The thought is that this platform that was supporting the chambers was in addition to the main wall or foundation of the building.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The side rooms stood on the same foundation as the rest of the temple, which was six cubits (10 feet) above the level of the surrounding courtyard.