Ezekiel 40:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 40:22
And their windows, and their arches, and their palm trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh toward the east; and they went up unto it by seven steps; and the arches thereof were before them.
a pillar-space (or colonnade) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
before
לִפְנֵיהֶֽםlif.nei.Hem
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 40:31 And the arches thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps.
Ezekiel 40:37 And the posts thereof were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going…
Ezekiel 40:6 Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, which was…
Ezekiel 40:16 And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches: and window…
Ezekiel 40:49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and the…
Ezekiel 40:26 And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them: and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on…
Ezekiel 40:34 And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the go…
1 Kings 6:29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 40:5-26
The measuring-reed which was in the hand of the surveyor-general was mentioned before, Eze 40:3. Here we are told (Eze 40:5) what was the exact length of it, which must be observed, because the house was measured by it. It was six cubits long, reckoning, not by the common cubit, but the cubit of the sanctuary, the sacred cubit, by which it was fit that this holy house should be measured, and that was a hand-breadth (that it, four inches) longer than the common cubit: the common cubit was eighteen inches, this twenty-two, see Eze 43:13. Yet some of the critics contend that this measuring-reed was but six common cubits in length, and one handbreadth added to the whole. The former seems more pr…
The different approaches corresponded in plan. In the case of these two other gates, however, no mention is made of a building with thirty chambers such as was found on the east side. Only one was needed, and it was assigned to the east as being the sacred quarter, and that most conveniently situated for the officiating priests.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 40:21
And the little chambers thereof were three, etc. - See the plan.
Arches - Porch. The arch was not known at this period.
John Gill on Ezekiel 40:22
And their windows, and their arches, and their palm trees, were after the measure of the gate that looked towards the east,.... Ezekiel 40:14, signifying that the light of the churches, their privileges, and flourishing condition, will be alike everywhere, as in one part of the world, so in another; see Isaiah 52:8,
and they went up unto it by seven steps; or stairs, Ezekiel 40:6, the number of them is not there mentioned as here, but the same in both; See Gill on Ezekiel 40:6,
and the arches thereof were before them; the steps; or "within" them, as the Septuagint; the steps led to the arches of the gate, or to the porch of it, which were more inward.
The Church Fathers
"And its windows, and its vestibule, and its carvings were according to the measure of the gate which looked toward the East; and its ascent was of seven steps, and the vestibule before it." All these things have already been discussed more extensively above, and therefore the discourse should not be delayed with a lengthy exposition. However, this must be especially noted: that the gate toward the North is said to have all the same things that the gate toward the East has, namely the windows of contemplation, the vestibule of humility, and the carving of good works. For all who have persevered in innocence because they were born to God in their conversion have the gate toward the East, because the entrance to the heavenly kingdom lies open to them from the light they received. And all who, having later fallen into sins, were weighed down by the coldness of their torpor, but who, when they return through penance, grow warm again toward love of the heavenly homeland, have the gate toward the North, because for them also, after the coldness of their sin, the entrance to the heavenly kingdom lies open through mercy. Therefore the gate toward the North is said to have the same things that the gate toward the East has, because converted sinners are enriched with virtues just as those are rich who avoided falling into sin. Hence also by the voice of the Psalmist it is said through the Lord: "I ate ashes like bread," because He receives the penitent just as He does the righteous. For it is written concerning sinners: "They would have done penance long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Therefore ashes are eaten like bread when a sinner is recalled through penance to the grace of his Creator just like an innocent person. Therefore the gate toward the North has windows, has a vestibule, has carvings, because when a sinner is led back to life after his faults, he often receives the light of contemplation, and from the very memory of his iniquity he gains the grace of great humility and also the efficacy of good works, so that everything that is commanded to be done appears as if carved in his life. "Its ascent was of seven steps, and a vestibule was before it." The gate is ascended by seven steps, because through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit the entrance to heavenly life is opened to us. Isaiah, enumerating this sevenfold grace in our very Head, or in His body,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Arch — An architectural term found only in Ezek. 40:16, 21, 22, 26, 29. There is no absolute proof that the Israelites employed arches in their buildings. The arch was employed in the building of the…
Window · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 40:20-27
The North Gate and the South Gate of the Outer Court (1 Plate I A)
The description of these two gate-buildings is very brief, only the principal portions being mentioned, coupled with the remark that they resembled those of the east gate. The following is the description of the north gate. - Eze 40:20. And the gate, whose direction was toward the north, touching the outer court, he measured its length and its breadth, Eze 40:21. And its guard-rooms, three on this side and three on that, and its pillars and its wall-projections. It was according to the measure of the first gate, fifty cubits its length, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. Eze 40:22. And its windows and its wall-projection…
The steps that led up to each gate heightened the sense of their inaccessibility. The inner, more sacred areas of the Temple were significantly higher in elevation than the outer parts, which provided another dimension of separation.
Rashi on Ezekiel 40:22
and its hall was beyond them The hall of the gate was beyond the steps; before he would enter the hall, he would ascend the steps.
