Ezekiel 40:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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 one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad.
a reed (as erect) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
broad
רֹֽחַבRo.chav
H7341
width (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
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 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the al…
Ezekiel 43:1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:
1 Kings 6:8 The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of…
1 Chronicles 9:18 Who hitherto waited in the king’s gate eastward: they were porters in the companies of the children of Levi.
1 Chronicles 9:24 In four quarters were the porters, toward the east, west, north, and south.
Nehemiah 3:29 After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the…
Psalms 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wicked…
Jeremiah 19:2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell th…
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 stairs--seven in number (Eze 40:26).
threshold--the sill [FAIRBAIRN].
other threshold--FAIRBAIRN considers there is but one threshold, and translates, "even the one threshold, one rod broad." But there is another threshold mentioned in Eze 40:7. The two thresholds here seem to be the upper and the lower.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 40:6
Went up the stairs thereof - As the temple was built upon an eminence, there must have been steps on the outside, opposite to each door, to ascend by. And it appears there were steps to go up from one court to another, see Eze 40:22, Eze 40:26, Eze 40:34, Eze 40:37; and also from the court of the priests to the sanctuary, Eze 40:49. See MMMMM in the plan.
John Gill on Ezekiel 40:6
Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east,.... Or, "whose face is the way to the east" (r); to the east of the house or temple; not to the eastern gate of the wall about the house; but to the eastern gate of the outward court; see Ezekiel 40:20, for the man came from the wall he had measured unto this gate; which, with the other gates after mentioned, spiritually design Christ himself, who is the way, door, and gate, John 14:6 and this eastern gate more especially, where the prince sat, Ezekiel 44:3, and which led into the outward court; and over against which was another that led into the inner court, and so straight on to the holy of holies, at the west end of the house. Chr…
The Church Fathers
The Apostle Paul, desiring the Ephesians to understand more sacred things, prays that they may be filled with the wisdom and love of the Lord, so that rooted and founded, they may be able to know and comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and the profound riches of Him. And he speaks to them: Therefore, you are by no means strangers but fellow citizens of the saints and domestics of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure grows together to form a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you also are built together to be a dwelling place of God in the Holy Spirit. Peter the Apostle also speaks in almost the same words, because of the same spirit, in his Epistle: For if you have believed that the Lord is good, approaching him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen, and honorable before God, and be yourselves built up as living stones into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. From this it is clear that the Lord and Savior, who is the true architect, tests the stones that can be placed in the foundations of the temple, both in the middle and in the higher places, and whether they are of a less solid strength in the wall and whether they can be placed outside the temple in the circuit of the enclosure.
And measured the threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad. And he measured the threshold of the gate with one reed in width, that is, one threshold with one reed in width. Why, after "the threshold of the gate" was said, is "one threshold" immediately added, unless because it openly indicates that another threshold is mentioned still further below? Moreover, the gate rises from the threshold so that it may be a gate. If therefore the Lord is the gate, who is the threshold of this gate except those ancient fathers, from whose lineage the Lord deigned to become incarnate? As is said through Paul: "Whose are the fathers, from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things God blessed forever." But it should be noted in this statement of Paul that gods and other men have been called such, as is said to Moses: "I will make you a god to Pharaoh." And through the Psalmist it is said: "I said, you are gods." And again: "God stood in the assembly of gods." But it is one thing to be called God nominally, another to be called God by nature. And although Moses was made a god to Pharaoh, he is called a god within all things, not God over all things. But he who was incarnate within the Virgin's womb is called God over all things. And so the threshold of the gate are the ancient fathers, from whom he was born who opened for us the entrance to the heavenly kingdom. Moreover, the threshold of the gate is measured by one reed, because those ancient fathers themselves, who were able to proclaim our Redeemer both by prophesying and by living well, had as it were six cubits in the perfection of work and a palm in the beginning of contemplation. For since both perfect work and begun contemplation rendered their life sublime in the unity of faith, the measure of the threshold was in one reed.
Dictionary and topics
Weights And Measures — A. WEIGHTS.—The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either…
Reed · Used as a measuring — Used as a measuring
Sciences · Surveying — Surveying
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).
The Buildings of the East Gate
(See Plate II 1). - Eze 40:6. And he went to the gate, the direction of which was toward the east, and ascended the steps thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate one rod broad, namely, the first threshold one rod broad, Eze 40:7. And the guard-room one rod long and one rod broad, and between the guard-rooms five cubits, and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate from the temple hither one rod. Eze 40:8. And he measured the porch of the gate from the temple hither one rod. Eze 40:9. And he measured the porch of the gate eight cubits, and its pillars two cubits; and the porch of the gate was from the temple hither. Eze 40:10. And of the guard-…
The exact architectural details of the Temple are difficult to translate, but the overall impression of these gates was unmistakable. They were fortress-like constructions, designed to keep out unauthorized intruders. The eastern gateway is described first since it was the most important. It lay on the sacred east–west axis of the Temple along which the entire construction was oriented, and it was the gate through which the glory of the Lord would finally return (43:1-5).
40:5 a wall completely surrounding the Temple area: Walls regulate and define space, marking an “inside” and an “outside.” This wall was substantial; its function was to separate the “profane” area outside the Temple from…
And he came to the gate that faced eastward he entered the enclosure and came to the eastern gate of the Women’s Court, which is called “the Outside Court” throughout this entire account, since it is in front of the Israelites’ Court.
and he ascended its steps For the incline of the mountain ascends gradually from the lower “hel” (an expanse and steps) up to the Women’s Court, twelve steps, in accordance with the Mishnah that we learned (Middoth 2:3): On its inner side, [i.e., on the inner side of the fence] was the “hel” of ten cubits’ [width], and twelve steps were there, etc.
the post of the gate This is the doorpost of the gate.
one rod the width six cubits. It overlay the entire thic…
Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east. The man is described as having a measuring reed in his hand. He came to the gate that looked toward the way of the East. Who else is signified by the name of this gate, except our Lord and Redeemer himself, who was made for us the door of the heavenly kingdom? As he himself says: No one comes to the Father, except through me. But since we have said that the same man clothed in linen held the figure of the Lord, we must ask by what reasoning it is fitting that the same Lord can be designated both by the man and by the gate, when the man comes to the gate? Does he come to himself? Or is it so, because in the Gospel he himself testifies, saying: He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold of the sheep, but climbs up another way, that one is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And a little later he says: I am the door. And again he adds: I am the good shepherd. If therefore the shepherd enters by the door, and he himself is the door, he the shepherd, he without doubt enters through himself. Behold, while we desire to unravel the meaning of Ezekiel, we also bind a question from the Gospel. We must therefore ask how he both enters and enters through himself. For our Lord and Redeemer, with the holy Church which he redeemed, is one substance according to the flesh, as Paul attests who says: I fill up what is lacking of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the Church. Of this head the body is the Church, and of this body the head is Christ. Concerning its head the body, that is the holy Church, exults, when it says through the Psalmist: But now he has exalted my head above my enemies. For because she herself is also to be exalted at some time, she now rejoices that her head is exalted above her enemies in heaven. Therefore when all the elect arrive at life, because his members enter through him to him, he enters through himself to himself. For he himself is in his members who enters, he himself is the head to which the entering members arrive. The prophet Ezekiel suggests this in many ways, who says that the man came to the gate, and shows what that same gate is, saying: Which looked toward the way of the East. For he himself is the way for us, who said: I am the way, the truth and the life. He is also the Eastern way, of whom it…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
