Ezekiel 42
Final measurements of the Temple
Back to the outer courtyard
1The guide took me out of the Temple’s restricted inner courtyard. We went to the large outer courtyard and to some rooms built along the north wall. 2This building was 175 feet[1] long and 87 ½ feet wide.3There was a 35-foot-long courtyard outside the building—a complex of rooms three stories high. This was near the Temple’s inner courtyard. There was also a walking path nearby that led around the outer courtyard. [2] 4This sidewalk was on the north side of the rooms. It was 17 ½ feet wide and 175 feet long.
5Upper rooms in the building were smaller than the first-floor rooms because of the stairs. They took up space. 6These rooms don’t have support columns like the bigger buildings. Instead, each level was inset a bit, and smaller than the level below it.
7Outside the building there was a wall between it and the courtyard. The wall was 87 ½ feet long. 8The building with rooms that faced the Temple was 175 feet long. 9People could walk from the courtyard to the building through a path at the east side of the wall.
10There was another set of rooms just like this on the opposite side of the Temple, along the southern wall. 11This building had a walking path like the other—same width and length. Same placement of doors and entryways. 12The doorway into these rooms was at the eastern end of the wall in front of the building.
Where priests eat holy food
13These twin buildings are where priests gather to eat food that people bring to the Temple as offerings. [3] These offerings included the grain offerings, purification offerings, [4] and guilt offerings. [5] The offerings were holy and so was the meal.14When priests finish eating, they have to take off their sacred work clothes and put on their street clothes. [6]
Measuring the Temple complex wall
15After measuring the facilities inside the Temple complex, the guide walked me outside, through the eastern gate. We measured the wall around the complex.16He took his measuring cord and walked it along the eastern wall, which he measured at 185 feet long. 17He measured the north wall. It was the same length, 185 feet. 18Same for the south wall. 19Same for the west wall.
20So, the Temple complex was a square, surrounded by 185 feet of walls on every side. [7] The wall marked the boundary between the promised land and the holy land, between secular and sacred. [8]
Footnotes
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Cubits In/ft Cm/m 1 21″ 53 cm 2 3′6″ 107 cm 3 5′3″ 160 cm 4 7′0″ 2.13 m 5 8′9″ 2.67 m 6 10′6″ 3.20 m 7 12′3″ 3.73 m 8 14′0″ 4.27 m 9 15′9″ 4.80 m 10 17′6″ 5.33 m 20 35′0″ 10.67 m 30 52′6″ 16.00 m 40 70′0″ 21.34 m 50 87′6″ 26.67 m 60 105′0″ 32.00 m 70 122′6″ 37.34 m 80 140′0″ 42.67 m 90 157′6″ 48.00 m 100 175′0″ 53.34 m
Verses 3-6 are up for grabs—hard to interpret. That’s why Bibles differ a bit or a lot.
The only salary priests got came from the offerings people brought into the Temple: meat, wine, and grain offerings. What was not burned in the fire became their salary.
Purification rituals usually included one or more of these: washing clothes, ritual bath (different than a bubble bath with rubber ducks), a time of waiting—often until sunset, ritual sprinkling like in an infant baptism, fasting from food and not engaging in sex. Guidelines: Exodus 19:10-15; Leviticus 16:28; Numbers 8:5-19. A woman remains ritually unclean during her menstrual period, “for at least seven days” (Leviticus 15:19).
In older lingo, the guilt offering was called the trespass offering, as in, “Forgive us our trespasses” or sins. In fact, scholars can’t seem to figure out what the difference is between a “sin offering” and a “guilt offering.” One guess is that guilt offerings are more serious and often involve making restitution. Leviticus 5:14-7:7 talks about when a person needs to make a guilt offering. Leviticus 7:1-10 talks about how to make the sacrifice at the Temple.
This was not the only time priests had to change clothes after performing a sacred act (Leviticus 6:10-11; 16:23-24; Exodus 28:43). The idea seemed to be that the clothes had come into contact with holiness, or in some Old Testament situations, they became ritually unclean. Washing the clothes protected citizens from coming into contact with something not intended for them.
This plot of land was 34,225 square feet (3,178 square meters). That’s about half the size of an American football field and a little less than an acre, 43,560 square feet (4,046 square meters).
Another way of putting it: “between the ordinary and the sacred,” or “the common and the holy.” The idea is that some things are distinctly different, unique, and reserved for an attitude of reverence and devotion to God. The day of worship reflects that idea. Every day can be a good day, but for Christians, Sunday is holy. For Jews, it’s Sabbath, beginning at sundown on Fridays.
Discussion Questions
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