Ezekiel 40:42

_AND IN THE PORCH OF THE GATE WERE TWO TABLES ON THIS SIDE, AND TWO TABLES ON THAT SIDE, TO SLAY THEREON THE BURNT OFFERING AND THE SIN OFFERING AND THE TRESPASS OFFERING._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Omit “the” and “were.” These “four tables” are not the same as those mentioned before. The eight tables (T) were for slaying and preparing the victims, and were probably of wood, these (S) were of “hewn stone.” There may be in the number twelve a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel....

EXPOSITION The magnificent temple-vision, as it is usually styled, a description of which forms the closing section of this book (Ezekiel 40-48.), was the last extended" word" communicated to the prophet, and was given him in the five and twentieth year of the Captivity, _i.e. _about B.C. 575. Two years later he received a brief revelation concerning Egypt, which, in compiling his volume, he incorporated with the other prophecies relating to the same subject (Ezekiel 29:17). Of the present oracle as a whole the significance will be best understood when its several parts have been examined in detail. Meanwhile it may suffice to note that it manifestly connects itself with the promise in Ezekiel 37:27,...

AND THE FOUR TABLES WERE OF HEWN STONE,.... These are either the same tables as before, the four that were on one side, and the four that were on the other; they were all made of hewn stone: in the second temple they were made of marble; so it is said in the Misnah q, "the marble tables were between the pillars;'' and they were made of marble, as the commentators r say, because that cools the flesh, and preserves it from corruption: they were both decent and durable; and may denote the continuance of the ordinance of the Lord's supper till his second coming; and which is a decent and becoming ordinance, as well as perpetual: or these were other four tables, as Cocceius thinks; and which he places without the porch, near the cell or chamber, where the burnt offering was washed, Ezekiel 40:38, and these are said to be for that, as follows, for the bu

Chapter s 40-48. The final nine Chapter s of this book form the climax of the great prophecies of Ezekiel; they belong to the most difficult in the entire prophetic Word. Once more the hand of the Lord rests upon the seer and in the visions of God he is brought into the land of Israel. In the very beginning of this grand finale we learn therefore that the visions concern the land of Israel. Let us remember, that after the fall of Jerusalem had been announced to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 33:21), his prophetic utterances and visions concern the future when Israel is to be regathered and restored to the land. The previous two Chapter s dealt with the last invasion of the land of Israel and the complete overthrow of Gog and its hordes. The vision contained in this last section follows after Israel's final deliverance. So much is clear as to the time when the prophecies of these eight Chapter s will b...

By the (eastern?) gate (and possibly also the northern and southern) of this inner court was a chamber in which the burnt offering was washed. There were also tables on which the animals were slain and other tables on which the instruments of slaughter were placed. At the south there was a chamber for the Levitical priests who had the general charge of the Temple, and at the north another for the Zadokite priests who had more particularly charge of the altar which stood in the middle of the inner court and in front of the entrance to the Temple proper. (In Ezekiel 40:44 for chambers for the singers read, with LXX, two chambers.)...

HEWN STONE. The other eight (Ezekiel 40:41) were probably of wood....

Sacrificial appointments connected with the inner gate. The verses are in some respects obscure. The text of LXX. differs in some points, but is hardly consistent with itself. The arrangements for slaughtering spoken of are of course connected with the inner gateway, but points not clear are: (1) which gateway, the N. or the E.? And (2) the position of the tables, Ezekiel 40:40; were they situated in the inner court at the long sides of the gateway, or in the outer court in front of the gateway, on either side of the steps leading up to it?...

C. The Inner Court and Its Gateways 40:28-47 TRANSLATION (28) Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures; (29) and the lodges thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and the arches thereof round about; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. (30) And there were arches round about, twenty-five cubits long and five cubits broad. (31) And the arches thereof were toward the outer court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the ascent to it had eight steps. (32) And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures; (33) and the lodges thereof and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about; it...

40:42 tables (b-7) Some read 'four tables for the burnt-offering,' the Hebrew for 'ascent' and 'burnt-offering' being similar....