(6) Three, one over another, and thirty in order.--Literally, three (and that) thirty times--i.e., there were three storeys of chambers one above the other, and this was repeated thirty times, giving thirty chambers in each storey, or ninety in all. These chambers were exactly like those surrounding Solomon's Temple, except that they were one cubit narrower, and the description of them is made clearer by a comparison with 1 Kings 6:5-10. The Greek version says that there was a space between these chambers and the wall of the house, and several interpreters have followed this explanation; but this is quite inconsistent with the language of the original, and would involve an inner wall for the chambers, of which there is no mention, and for which no space is allowed.
Entered into the wall . . . butthey had not hold.--More exactly, they came upon the wall. The "house" cannot without violence be understood of anything but the Temple itself. The construction was the same as in Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 6:6), the wall receding with each storey of the chambers, thus leaving a ledge on which the beams should rest, "that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house."
Nothing is said of the distribution of these chambers, but, as will be seen by the plan, a uniform size requires that they should be placed twelve on each side, and six at the end of the Temple.
Verse 6. - The side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; literally, side chamber over side chamber, three and thirty times; which means that they were ranged in three stories of thirty each; in this, again, agreeing, as to number and position, with the chambers in Solomon's temple (see Josephus, 'Ant.,' 8:03. 2). It is not needful to alter the text, as Bottcher, Hitzig, Havernick, and Ewald propose to do, in order to make it read, with the LXX., "chamber against chamber, thirty and (this) three times," on the ground that אֵל and not עַל is the preposition, because in Ezekiel אֵל often stands for עַל (Ezekiel 18:6; Ezekiel 31:12; Ezekiel 40:2). How the chambers were arranged along the three sides is not stated; but most likely there were twelve threes on each of the longer sides, the north and the south, and six threes on the shorter or western side. Like the chambers in Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:6). those in Ezekiel's were not fastened to "the wall of the house," i.e. of the temple proper; the only question is whether they were built against the temple wall, as Kliefoth, Keil, Smend, and Schroder suppose, or, as Ewald and Dr. Currey seem to think, against another wall, five cubits thick (ver. 9), which ran parallel to the temple wall, and which, having been built expressly for the support of the side chambers, might properly enough be said to be "of the house," i.e. belonging to it. In the former case the chambers would doubtless be fastened to the temple wall by means of "ledges," "holds," "rebates," as in the temple of Solomon: in the latter case, as Ewald translates, there would be "a light passage between the wall of the house and the side chambers around."
41:1-26 After the prophet had observed the courts, he was brought to the temple. If we attend to instructions in the plainer parts of religion, and profit by them, we shall be led further into an acquaintance with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order,.... There were three stories of them, and thirty in every storey, in all ninety; there were such chambers round about Solomon's temple, and so many stories of them, though their number is not expressed, 1 Kings 6:5, but Josephus (z) says they were thirty, and one above another, three stories of them, as here. Some think twelve were on the north side, twelve on the south, and six on the west; or fifteen on the north, and fifteen on the south. The Misnic doctors (a) say there were thirty eight in the second temple, fifteen on the north side, fifteen on the south, and eight on the west. The Targum is,
"the chambers were chamber over chamber thirty three, eleven in a row;''
and so some (b) understand it, that they were in all but thirty three, eleven in the first storey, as many in the second, and the same number in the third; and place them four in the north, four in the south, and three in the west, so Starckius; but the first account seems best. This denotes the number of churches in Gospel times, especially in the latter day; when there will be large conversions, and room enough for all the converts: and as there are many mansions in heaven for all the saints; so there will be room enough in the New Jerusalem, the more perfect state of the church on earth, to hold the whole palm bearing company, whose number no man can number; and all the nations of them that are saved, who will walk in the light of it, Revelation 7:9,
and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house; the beams of the floors of those side chambers rested indeed upon the wall of the house which was built for them; but were not inserted into it, or laid in it, as we see in some buildings; but there were projections or buttresses in the wall, or what are called narrowed rests, 1 Kings 6:6 or rebatements of the breadth of a cubit, on which they were laid and rested; and so it was in the upper stories, as in the lowermost; there being an abatement of a cubit in the thickness of the wall in each storey, as in the following verse. This shows the firmness of this spiritual building resting upon such a wall and such buttresses as God himself is to it; See Gill on Ezekiel 41:5.
(z) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.((a) Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 3.((b) Lipman. Tzurath Beth Hamikdash, sect. 69. fol. 10. 1.
Entered into the wall . . . but they had not hold.--More exactly, they came upon the wall. The "house" cannot without violence be understood of anything but the Temple itself. The construction was the same as in Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 6:6), the wall receding with each storey of the chambers, thus leaving a ledge on which the beams should rest, "that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house."
Nothing is said of the distribution of these chambers, but, as will be seen by the plan, a uniform size requires that they should be placed twelve on each side, and six at the end of the Temple.
"the chambers were chamber over chamber thirty three, eleven in a row;''
and so some (b) understand it, that they were in all but thirty three, eleven in the first storey, as many in the second, and the same number in the third; and place them four in the north, four in the south, and three in the west, so Starckius; but the first account seems best. This denotes the number of churches in Gospel times, especially in the latter day; when there will be large conversions, and room enough for all the converts: and as there are many mansions in heaven for all the saints; so there will be room enough in the New Jerusalem, the more perfect state of the church on earth, to hold the whole palm bearing company, whose number no man can number; and all the nations of them that are saved, who will walk in the light of it, Revelation 7:9,
and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house; the beams of the floors of those side chambers rested indeed upon the wall of the house which was built for them; but were not inserted into it, or laid in it, as we see in some buildings; but there were projections or buttresses in the wall, or what are called narrowed rests, 1 Kings 6:6 or rebatements of the breadth of a cubit, on which they were laid and rested; and so it was in the upper stories, as in the lowermost; there being an abatement of a cubit in the thickness of the wall in each storey, as in the following verse. This shows the firmness of this spiritual building resting upon such a wall and such buttresses as God himself is to it; See Gill on Ezekiel 41:5.
(z) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.((a) Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 3.((b) Lipman. Tzurath Beth Hamikdash, sect. 69. fol. 10. 1.