Eze 40:18 | KingComments | STEP | After measuring the east gate and all that is with it and in it, the Man brings Ezekiel into the outer court ( ). The phrase “then he brought me” occurs seven times ( ). This outer court is entered after passing through the entire gate from the first porch, along the guardrooms and the second porch. The outer court is the area that surrounds the actual temple building. As we see in , the temple building has its own much smaller court, the inner court, to which the three inner gates give access. When Ezekiel stands in the outer court, he sees thirty chambers. The chambers lie on a pavement that surrounds the court. This pavement is next to the three gates and is as wide as the gates are long ( ), that is, fifty cubits ( ). It is further noted that this is “the lower pavement”, because the inner court, which is higher, also has a pavement. It is not mentioned, how these chambers are allocated over the pavement. It is obvious that they are equally allocated over the whole pavement on the three sides with the three gates. There will be ten chambers on the south side, ten on the east side and ten on the north side, thirty in total. As a further allocation, we can imagine that there will be five chambers to the left and five to the right of each of the three gates. Nor is there any mention of the purpose of these chambers. It can be assumed that sacrificial meals were held there by the people or that they were used as repositories of revenue for the temple. In the temple rebuilt by Zerubbabel after the return from exile, such a chamber was given to an enemy of God’s people. Nehemiah is outraged by this and throws that enemy out ( ). The Man also takes the measure of the outer court ( ). In doing so, he starts from the “lower gate”, that is the outer gate, which is lower than the inner gate. He calculates from the gate side that is directly adjacent to the outer court to the outer side of the inner court. Its width is exactly a hundred cubits. The same is true of the east gate and the north gate ( ).

‏ Ezekiel 40:18

Pavement and Thirty Chambers

After measuring the east gate and all that is with it and in it, the Man brings Ezekiel into the outer court (Eze 40:17). The phrase “then he brought me” occurs seven times (Eze 40:17 ; Eze 40:28 ; Eze 40:32 ; Eze 40:35 ; Eze 41:1 ; Eze 44:4 ; Eze 46:19). This outer court is entered after passing through the entire gate from the first porch, along the guardrooms and the second porch. The outer court is the area that surrounds the actual temple building. As we see in Eze 40:28-47, the temple building has its own much smaller court, the inner court, to which the three inner gates give access.

When Ezekiel stands in the outer court, he sees thirty chambers. The chambers lie on a pavement that surrounds the court. This pavement is next to the three gates and is as wide as the gates are long (Eze 40:18), that is, fifty cubits (Eze 40:15). It is further noted that this is “the lower pavement”, because the inner court, which is higher, also has a pavement.

It is not mentioned, how these chambers are allocated over the pavement. It is obvious that they are equally allocated over the whole pavement on the three sides with the three gates. There will be ten chambers on the south side, ten on the east side and ten on the north side, thirty in total. As a further allocation, we can imagine that there will be five chambers to the left and five to the right of each of the three gates.

Nor is there any mention of the purpose of these chambers. It can be assumed that sacrificial meals were held there by the people or that they were used as repositories of revenue for the temple. In the temple rebuilt by Zerubbabel after the return from exile, such a chamber was given to an enemy of God’s people. Nehemiah is outraged by this and throws that enemy out (Neh 13:4-9).

The Man also takes the measure of the outer court (Eze 40:19). In doing so, he starts from the “lower gate”, that is the outer gate, which is lower than the inner gate. He calculates from the gate side that is directly adjacent to the outer court to the outer side of the inner court. Its width is exactly a hundred cubits. The same is true of the east gate and the north gate (Eze 40:23).