02.05. Chapter Five

Chapter Five The Measurements and Structure

It is by combining the statements in 1 Kings 6:1-38. (2 Chronicles 3:1-17 and Ezekiel 40:41., etc.), that we ascertain the dimensions and details of the Temple and its courts; some particulars being given in one place, some in another; but, wherever the measurements are repeated in the different books, they perfectly coincide, or differ only in a manner which helps to ascertain the truth. In general the internal measurements are given rather than the external. The measure generally employed is that of the cubit or forearm, respecting the exact length of which there is diversity of opinion. According to some eighteen inches, to others twenty-one, while others make it 21.888 inches, or nearly one foot ten, and some even twenty-five inches. It will be generally sufficient, in order to form an idea of the various dimensions, to adopt some easy measurement, say one foot ten, or two feet. The cubit of Ezekiel is one-sixth larger, being a cubit and a handbreadth (Ezekiel 40:5), the handbreadth being reckoned as one-sixth of the ordinary cubit.

Ezekiel’s reed of six great cubits is therefore equal to seven ordinary cubits. But when the scale is larger, the number of cubits where the measurements coincide is the same seven being the Scriptural number for completeness or perfection, it is interesting to observe that the measurements of the Temple of Ezekiel, or the millennial Temple, are thus brought up to the scale of perfectness. The Measurements of the Holy and Most Holy Place The length (of the house) by cubits, after the first measure (that is, as I understand it, after the ordinary cubit), was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits (1 Kings 5:2; 1 Kings 5:17; 2 Chronicles 3:3). This is internal measurement, and inclusive both of the Holy and Most Holy places. This is distinctly stated in Ezekiel 41:2; Ezekiel 41:4. “He measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits” (Ezekiel 41:2), that is, of the Holy Place. “So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the Temple: and he said unto me ‘This is the most holy’ [holy of the holies]. “

“The height thereof thirty cubits” (1 Kings 6:2), the internal height of the wall of the Holy Place, while the height of the Oracle, or Most Holy Place, was twenty cubits (1 Kings 6:20). The Porch The Porch before the house in internal measurement was twenty cubits in length, ten cubits in breadth, twenty cubits in height (1 Kings 6:3.) It is well to remember that in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness the Holy Place was twenty cubits long by ten cubits broad, but ten cubits internal Height. In 2 Chronicles 3:4 the Porch is described as a hundred and twenty cubits High, but this is acknowledged to be a mistake arising from a transposition of letters; the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint reads “twenty cubits. “In Ezekiel 40:49 the breadth is from the door of the Holy Place one cubit deeper, eleven cubits. The Windows

“Windows of narrow lights “[broad within, narrow without] (see 1 Kings 6:4, margin).. These appear to be for the Holy Place; whilst in Ezekiel 41:26 we read, “And there were narrow windows and palm trees [artificial palms] on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side-chambers of the house. “These were the windows of the porch and of the side- chambers on either side. The Floors, Chambers, And Galleries

“And against the walls of the house he built chambers [floors or stories] round about “[on either side] (1 Kings 6:5). The Hebrew word sahbib rendered “round about “is to be interpreted according to the connection. Sometimes it means “on either side, “as in Exodus 7:24, where it first occurs; and sometimes “round about. “These floors were formed of rafters of cedar, in three storeys, on which the side chambers and galleries were, and they extended the whole length of the house.

“And he made chambers [side-chambers] round about: the nethermost chamber [floor or storey] was five cubits broad. “The word is floor, but it is true both of the floors and chambers. Compare Ezekiel 41:7. “The middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed-rests [narrowings or rebatements] round about [on either side], that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house” (1 Kings 6:6; 1 Kings 6:10). This is further explained in Ezekiel 41:5-8. The wall of the house, at the foundation of the side-chambers, was six cubits; the thickness of the wall for the LOWER side-chamber was five cubits (Ezekiel 41:9); as the side-chambers of the second and third storeys enlarged one cubit each, the wall decreased in proportion. The side-chambers were in three storeys, fifteen on either side in each storey, making ninety in all, four cubits broad each (Ezekiel 41:5), five cubits high (1 Kings 6:10). They seem hinted at in 1 Chronicles 28:11. David gave to Solomon the pattern of the treasuries, probably the side-chambers on the first floor; and of the upper chambers, or the second and third storeys; and of the inner parlours, or the innermost side-chambers toward the west.

It appears there was but one door of entrance from the galleries, on each side of the Temple, so that the passage was from one to another into the innermost (1 Kings 6:8; Ezekiel 41:11). And from the whole building being said to be seventy cubits broad (Ezekiel 41:12), these galleries appear to have extended ten cubits on either side; for the width of the house was fifty cubits. I might suggest that the chambers reached by ascending stairs were for the use of the priests and Levites, who day and night served in the Temple, watch by watch, that they might wait on God continually. The Typical Import

We read in 2 Corinthians 12:2 of the third heaven, implying a first and second; so the threefold division of the Temple, the Porch, the Holy Place, and the Holiest of all, may be figures of these three heavens; while the side-chambers in three storeys, becoming larger as they ascend, and leading one into another from east to west, and still ascending higher and higher, is strikingly suggestive of thoughts of enlargement and progress in heavenly glory, of higher heights, of fuller conformity to God and fellowship with Him. Not only do these chambers ascend higher and grow larger, but there is a progress from east to west, from one chambers to another, until the innermost chamber is reached, the nearest to “the Holiest of all, “the nearest to the manifested glory of God. Thus shall the saints have increasing capacity to enjoy and serve God in the countless ages of eternity to come. Their progress also from the sun-rising towards the Holiest of all is suggestive of thoughts of that eternal day, having a morning without clouds, a sacred, high, eternal noon, “without an evening or night, still—

“Nearer, our God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee. “ The variety and number bring forcibly to our remembrance the words of Jesus to His disciples, “In My Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). The galleries in front of the side-chambers, on their three stories, afford a wider range, an increasingly higher and more extensive prospect. We can scarcely imagine that a million ages spent in the presence and service of God will leave us the same at the end as we were at the beginning. Surely we shall rise higher and higher, and yet higher in our enjoyment, our acquaintance, and communion with God in that eternal day. As we rise in our apprehension of God, our capacities for knowing Him will proportionately expand. What heart can conceive, what tongue can tell, what God and the Lamb have in reserve for the redeemed in glory in the ages to come, which stretch onward before us in ever-widening and brightening anticipation! There to be nearer and yet nearer, to worship, admire, adore. No standing still, but an ever-growing aquaintance with God, and an ever-increasing capacity for the enjoyment of, and communion with, Him whom we adore.

—Our Daily Homily