Ezekiel 43:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 43:13
And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.
an altar · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
cubits
בָּֽאַמּ֔וֹתba.'a.Mot
H520
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
cubit
אַמָּ֥ה'a.Mah
H520
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
cubit
אַמָּ֖ה'a.Mah
H520
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
breadth
וָטֹ֑פַחva.To.fach
H2948
a spread of the hand · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
bottom
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
Exodus 27:1-8 And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof…
2 Chronicles 4:1 Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height there…
Ezekiel 40:5 And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an han…
Ezekiel 41:8 I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 43:13–end
This relates to the altar in this mystical temple, and that is mystical too; for Christ is our altar. The Jews, after their return out of captivity, had an altar long before they had a temple, Ezr 3:3. But this was an altar in the temple. Now here we have,
I. The measures of the altar, Eze 43:13. It was six yards square at the top and seven yards square at the bottom; it was four yards and a half high; it had a lower bench or shelf, here called a settle, a yard from the ground, on which some of the priests stood to minister, and another two yards above that, on which others of them stood, and these were each of them half a yard broad, and had ledges on either side, that they might stand firm…
As to the altar of burnt offering, which was the appointed means of access to God.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 43:13
The cubit is a cubit and a hand breadth - It is the same cubit by which all the previous admeasurements were made, and was a hand breadth or four inches longer than the Babylonian cubit.
John Gill on Ezekiel 43:13
And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits,.... Of the altar of burnt offering, which though measured before, the dimensions were not given till now; see Ezekiel 40:47, this altar was a type of Christ, Hebrews 13:10 with respect to his deity, which is greater than the sacrifice of his human nature, the support of it, which sanctified it, and gave virtue and efficacy to it, and rendered it acceptable to God, Matthew 23:19 and the measures of it are said to be after the cubits used in the measuring of places and things belonging to this house, described; and what these were appears by what follows:
the cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; not the common cubit, but what was larg…
(Vers. 13 seqq.) These are the measurements of the altar: in the true cubit, which is a cubit and a handbreadth (or παλαιστὴν) in his bosom, the cubit was in length, and its width was measured from its lip to the surrounding palm of one hand. This was also the trench of the altar. From the bosom of the earth to the outermost base, it was two cubits in height, and the width of one cubit. And from the smaller base to the larger base, it was four cubits, and the width of one cubit. But the altar itself was four cubits high, and from the altar up to the horns there were four horns. And the altar was twelve cubits long, twelve cubits wide, a square with equal sides. And there was a ledge fourteen cubits long, fourteen cubits wide on its four corners, and a crown around it half a cubit high, and a rim one cubit wide around it. Its steps were turned towards the East. LXX: And this is the measure of the altar in perfect cubits and παλαιστῆς, the height of which is a cubit all around and the width of a cubit, and the lip of it around the edge is one palm. And this is the height of the altar from the bottom of the base to its great propitiatory, which was beneath two cubits, and the width of a cubit. And from the smaller propitiatory to the larger propitiatory are four cubits: and the width of a cubit and the ariel are four cubits: and from the ariel to the upper horns are cubits. But the altar had twelve cubits in length, and twelve cubits in width, with four corners. And the mercy seat had fourteen cubits in width, with four parts. And its ledge went around it by the measure of a half cubit, and its circuit by a cubit. And its steps faced toward the east. It is written: Who can discover the depths and wisdom? (Ecclesiastes 1:2). And: O depth of wisdom and knowledge of God (Rom. XI, 33): 'Whose deep depth, and who shall find it?' It is much if we desire to compare the temple of Solomon to this temple, and all its parts and tabernacles. But because this is very difficult, for the time being let us compare the altar that was shown to Ezekiel, the altar that we read about in Exodus, in a small part (Exod. XXXVIII). There an altar is described, five cubits in length and five cubits in width, that is, square, and three cubits in height: but here, departing from the senses by five, it tends towards union, in which the perfect cubit, or truest, is placed, to which is…
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
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…
Altar · See — See
Cubit · A measure of distance — A measure of distance
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).
וְחֵ֨יק
ve.Cheik
H2436
the bosom (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
cubit
הָאַמָּ֜הha.'a.Mah
H520
properly · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
breadth
רֹ֗חַבRo.chav
H7341
width (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
cubit
וְאַמָּהve.'a.mah-
H520
properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
border
וּגְבוּלָ֨הּu.ge.vu.Lah
H1366
properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
edge
שְׂפָתָ֤הּse.fa.Tah
H8193
the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
about
סָבִיב֙sa.Viv
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
the spread of the fingers · noun, common feminine singular construct
place
גַּ֥בgav
H1354
the back (as rounded) · noun, common masculine singular construct
altar
הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַha.miz.Be.ach
H4196
an altar · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 43:13-17
Description and Consecration of the Altar of Burnt-Offering
Description of the Altar
Eze 43:13. And these are the measures of the altar in cubits: The cubit a cubit and a handbreadth; a ground-framework of a cubit (in height), and a cubit in breadth, and its moulding on its border round about a span. This is the base of the altar. Eze 43:14. And from the ground-framework of earth to the lower enclosure, two cubits (in height), and a cubit in breadth; and from the small enclosure to the greater enclosure, four cubits (in height), and one cubit in breadth. Eze 43:15. And the mount of God, four cubits; and from the heart of God upwards, the four horns. Eze 43:16. And the hearth of God, twelve c…
The holiness of the Temple area would be maintained by keeping sinners out and by the sacrificial system. The importance of this aspect of Temple life is made clear by the detailed description of the altar of the inner court, which was located at the center of the entire Temple complex. The altar shown to Ezekiel was almost three times as long and wide as the altar in front of the Tabernacle (see Exod 27:1-8).
Rashi on Ezekiel 43:13
And these are the measurements of the altar as he explains further (verse 17): “fourteen [cubits in] length by fourteen [cubits in] breadth.”
in cubits; the cubit, one cubit and a handbreadth with a cubit of six [handbreadths], which is a cubit and a handbreadth, [judging] by a cubit of five [handbreadths].
but the base one [ordinary] cubit but its base is measured with an ordinary cubit, which equals five [handbreadths]. The word חֵיק is related to חֵקוּי, permanence, it refers to the one cubit. The cubit is the ordinary cubit, not a cubit and a handbreadth, which is the cubit of six [handbreadths]. So too did we learn in Menahoth (97b) that the base, the circuit, and the horns are measur…
