(11) Shall be of one measure.--The Ephah is first mentioned in Exodus 16:36, and appears to be a word of Egyptian origin; it was used for dry measure. The Bath is not met with before 1 Kings 7:26, and was the largest of the liquid measures in use. The statement that these were of the same capacity, and each equal to the tenth part of the Homer, is important in the comparison of the Hebrew dry and liquid measures, but it is exceedingly difficult to determine their absolute value. If we calculate on the estimates of Josephus, the Homer was 86, 696 English gallons; if on those of the Rabbinists, 42, 286. Modern estimates differ nearly as much. The Homer, which was ten Ephahs, is to be carefully distinguished from the Omer, which was the tenth part of an Ephah. The two words are quite different in Hebrew.
Verse 11. - The ephah (a word of Egyptian origin) and the bath shall be of one measure. That is, each was to be the tenth part of an homer (see Leviticus 27:16; Numbers 11:32), or cot (כֹר, κόρος, 1 Kings 4:22; Luke 16:7), which appears to have contained about seventy-five gallons, or thirty-two pecks. The homer (or, cheroot) is to be distinguished from the omer of Exodus 16:36, which was the tenth part of an ephah.
45:1-25 In the period here foretold, the worship and the ministers of God will be provided for; the princes will rule with justice, as holding their power under Christ; the people will live in peace, ease, and godliness. These things seem to be represented in language taken from the customs of the times in which the prophet wrote. Christ is our Passover that is sacrificed for us: we celebrate the memorial of that sacrifice, and feast upon it, triumphing in our deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery of sin, and our preservation from the destroying sword of Divine justice, in the Lord's supper, which is our passover feast; as the whole Christian life is, and must be, the feast of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure,.... The one held as much of dry things as the other of liquor; which, according to Bishop Cumberland, were seven wine gallons, four pints, and a little more:
that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer; this "homer" must be carefully distinguished from another measure, called "omer", written without an "h", which was but the tenth part of an "ephah", Exodus 16:36,
the measure thereof shall be after the homer: "as the homer was", so should the ephah and bath be, just the tenth part of it.
that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth part of an homer; this "homer" must be carefully distinguished from another measure, called "omer", written without an "h", which was but the tenth part of an "ephah", Exodus 16:36,
the measure thereof shall be after the homer: "as the homer was", so should the ephah and bath be, just the tenth part of it.