Ezekiel 40:42 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 40:42
And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, of a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, and one cubit high: whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
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 40:39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offer…
Exodus 20:25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 40:39–end
In these verses we have an account,
I. Of the tables that were in the porch of the gates of the inner court. We find no description of the altars of burnt-offerings in the midst of that court till Eze 43:13. But, because the one altar under the law was to be exchanged for a multitude of tables under the gospel, here is early notice taken of the tables, at our entrance into the inner court; for till we come to partake of the table of the Lord we are but professors at large; our admission to that is our entrance into the inner court. But in this gospel-temple we meet with no altar till after the glory of the Lord has taken possession of it, for Christ is our altar, that sanctifies every gift.…
chambers . . . entries--literally, "a chamber and its door."
by the posts--that is, at or close by the posts or columns.
where they washed the burnt offering--This does not apply to all the gates but only to the north gate. For Lev 1:11 directs the sacrifices to be killed north of the altar; and Eze 8:5 calls the north gate, "the gate of the altar." And Eze 40:40 particularly mentions the north gate.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 40:41
Four tables - These were in the porch of the north gate, in the court of the priests: on them they slew, flayed, and cut up the victims. See dddd in the plan.
John Gill on Ezekiel 40:42
And the four tables were of hewn stone,.... These are either the same tables as before, the four that were on one side, and the four that were on the other; they were all made of hewn stone: in the second temple they were made of marble; so it is said in the Misnah (q),
"the marble tables were between the pillars;''
and they were made of marble, as the commentators (r) say, because that cools the flesh, and preserves it from corruption: they were both decent and durable; and may denote the continuance of the ordinance of the Lord's supper till his second coming; and which is a decent and becoming ordinance, as well as perpetual: or these were other four tables, as Cocceius thinks; and whic…
The Church Fathers
And in height one cubit. The height of the tables is one cubit. For what is the height of the saints, if not faith in invisible things? For through faith what is not seen is believed, and therefore through this the mind of the righteous is led to height, so that it may despise all visible things on earth and follow in heaven those invisible things which it hears. But the height of the tables has one cubit, because there is unity of faith in the heart of all the saints. That God is one Trinity both the fathers of the Old Testament and the preachers of the New Testament have professed. Therefore the height of the tables has nothing more than one cubit, nothing less, because the faith of all the fathers agrees with itself in great unity. But those who, already advancing to the patience of hope through the highest virtues, have one and a half cubits, and are measured by one and a half cubits in the breadth of charity, but grow to one cubit in the height of faith—these are great and worthy of being venerated with the highest admiration. Therefore they ought to receive the souls of the little ones in the bosom of their way of life, and offer them in the sight of the Lord as a kind of holocaust and sacrifice.
In width one and a half cubits. The tables also have a width of one and a half cubits, because the hearts of the saints, expanded in the breadth of charity, have a cubit according to the neighbor whom they love and see. For they can perfectly love those whom they are able to know perfectly in some measure. But Almighty God they love from the depths of their being, they follow from the depths of their being, yet they cannot love Him as much as they ought, because they are not yet able to see Him whom they love; and the measure of love is less where the measure of knowledge is still less. Therefore they have one cubit and a half, because what is much less is already complete in their soul, that is, charity toward their neighbor; but what is much greater in them, that is, the love of God whom they do not see, is not yet complete. Concerning this love, which begins here so that it may be perfected by the vision of the Lord in the eternal homeland, Isaiah rightly speaks, saying: "The Lord lives, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem." Now it is more to be a furnace than a fire, because a fire can also be small, but in a furnace a vaster flame is kindled. Zion indeed means contemplation, while Jerusalem is called the vision of peace. We contemplate our peace here in the meantime, so that we may fully see it there afterward. From the love of the Lord, therefore, there is a fire in Zion, a furnace in Jerusalem, because here we burn to some degree with the flames of His love, where we contemplate something of Him; but there we shall fully burn, where we shall fully see Him whom we love.
The Cells and Arrangements for the Sacrificial Worship by and in the Inner Court
Eze 40:38. And a cell with its door was by the pillars at the gates; there they had to wash the burnt-offering. Eze 40:39. And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables on that, to slay thereon the burnt-offering, the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering. Eze 40:40. And at the shoulder outside, to one going up to the opening of the gate toward the north, stood two tables; and at the other shoulder, by the porch of the gate, two tables. Eze 40:41. Four tables on this side and four tables on that side, at the shoulder of the gate; eight tables on which they were to slaughter. Eze 40:4…
The sacrificial animals were slaughtered and prepared in rooms beside the gateways into the inner courtyard. This detail highlights the primary function of this new Temple as a place of sacrifice. The animals had to be washed and cut into pieces before they could be offered on the altar. • This new Temple in Ezekiel’s vision was radically focused on sacrifices that atoned for sin. By contrast, the Temple in Jerusalem was both a center for sacrifice and a house for prayer (see 1 Kgs 8:27-30, 52-53; Isa 56:6-8; Matt 21:13).
Rashi on Ezekiel 40:42
upon them they would lay the implements Upon them they lay the knives and the basins in which the blood is received to be ready for [use by] those who slaughter the holiest sacrifices [Kodshei Kodoshim] in the north.
But four tables for the holocaust were built from squared stones. For whom do we understand by squared stones in this place, if not any holy ones whose life has known how to stand firmly in prosperity and adversity? For a squared stone stands equally on whichever side it has been turned. Therefore whoever is not lifted up in prosperity, is not broken in adversity, is not drawn by persuasions to evil, is not called back from good work by reproaches, is a squared stone. And he has stability as if from every side, because he does not have a fall in any change. Certainly when the prophet recognized that the Jewish people were perishing from the faith, and foresaw holy apostles rising in the Church, through whom many from the gentiles were strengthened in the fortitude of faith and life, he spoke in great consolation, saying: "The stones have fallen, but we shall build with squared stones." For seeing apostles, martyrs, and teachers rising in the holy Church, he grieved less at the fall of stones, that is, at the perdition of the Jews, because he beheld the building of almighty God, that is, the holy Church being built from squared stones. Therefore four tables are constructed from squared stones, because faith and life, patience and kindness have been given from the life of the saints as an example to following peoples, so that now the vestibule may have tables, that is, the people may hold the virtues of life, in which they may kindle the sacrifice of prayer to almighty God on the altar of their heart. For whatever good the faithful peoples of the holy Church have done or do, they have received this as an example from the life of their preachers. For whence would this vestibule have tables, unless it had found squared stones? So that we may briefly bring forward one example from the squared stones, do you wish, dearest brothers, to see faith? "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Do you wish to know life? "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world." Do you wish to hear patience? "Even unto this hour we both hunger and are struck with fists, and are without stable dwelling, and we labor working with our own hands; we are cursed and we bless, we suffer persecution and we endure; we are blasphemed and we entreat." Do you wish to know kindness? "But I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls." And lest perhaps we believe that he…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
