Revelation 21:17

Revelation 21:17. The wall is next measured, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of an angel. It is hardly possible to think that we have here the height of the wall. So insignificant would it be when compared with the height of the city that the combination would be unnatural and grotesque. St. John, too, could then hardly have called the wall ‘great and high' (Revelation 21:12). The supposition, moreover, that the wall is kept low in order that the glorious light of the city may stream out over it, is inconsistent with the general imagery (comp. also on Revelation 21:18). The wall is a part of the city as strictly as the foundations are, and is itself, like them, radiant with the light which shines forth from the city as a whole. It seems better, therefore, to think here of the breadth of the wall. Its length and height had been measured, and its thickness is now added to complete the description of its strength. The last clause of the verse has occasioned considerable difficulty. The meaning seems to be, that a human standard of measurement was used; and it was well to note this. The New Jerusalem is not framed according to angelic ideas or for angelic purposes. It is to be the dwelling-place of men; and even, therefore, when an angel measures it, he measures it ‘according to the measure of a man.'