Ezekiel 45:3

Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof. No JFB commentary on these verses....

Verse Ezekiel 45:3. _AND OF THIS MEASURE_] See the plan, A, B, C, D, E. Ezekiel 48:35....

EXPOSITION From the sustenance of the priests (Ezekiel 44:29-26), the new Torah naturally passes in the present chapter to the maintenance of the temple service as a whole, setting forth in the first section of the chapter (Ezekiel 45:1) the portions of land that should be allotted respectively to the sanctuary, _i.e._ for the temple buildings, and the priests' and Levites' houses (Ezekiel 45:1), to the city and its inhabitants, that they might be able to discharge their religious and civil obligations on the one hand to the temple, and on the other hand to the state (Ezekiel 45:6), and to the prince to e

AND OF THIS MEASURE SHALT THOU MEASURE THE LENGTH OF FIVE AND TWENTY THOUSAND, AND THE BREADTH OF TEN THOUSAND,.... Not that the sense is, that of and according to the cubit measure last mentioned, this length and this breadth should be measured; but "after this measure", as Starckius renders it, and as the particle is rendered, Daniel 11:23 and which Sanctius mentions; and Jerom seems to have understood it in this light: and the sense is, that after he had finished the measure of five hundred reeds square, and fifty cubits round, he should proceed to measure the rest of the twenty five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: AND IN IT SHALL BE THE SANCTUARY, AND THE MOST HOLY PLACE; that is, in the midst portion of land, consisting of the above measures, be the holy place, and the holy of holies; this is, but a further explanation of the two preceding verses.

CHAPTER 45 _ 1. The portions of the priests, the Levites, of the whole house of Israel, and the prince (Ezekiel 45:1) _ 2. Concerning the prince (Ezekiel 45:9) 3. The feast of Passover and the feast of tabernacles (Ezekiel 45:18)...

THE PRIESTS. (_Their estates._) A rectangular space, roughly eight miles by three, in the centre of which was the sanctuary, is to be reserved for the priests. Immediately north of this was an area of similar extent for the Levites (Ezekiel 45:5), and south of it lay the city with its adjacent territory, occupying an area of about eight miles by two (Ezekiel 45:6) the whole thus forming a square. East of this, stretching to the Jordan, and west to the Mediterranean, were the domains of the prince (Ezekiel 45:6). (In Ezekiel 45:5 for twenty chambers read, with LXX, cities to dwell in.)...

FIVE AND TWENTY THOUSAND. about sixty or seventy miles, according to the length of the cubit. MOST HOLY PLACE. holy of holies....

The portion of the sacred land assigned to the priests shall consist of a tract 25,000 long by 10,000 broad. _sanctuary_and _the most holy_ SANCTUARY, (even) THE MOST HOLY THING. The whole area of land is holy, the sanctuary most holy....

_5. THE APPORTIONMENT OF THE SACRED PORTION OF THE LAND_ (_45:1-8_) TRANSLATION (1) Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the border thereof round about. (2) Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred in length, square round about; and fifty cubits for the suburbs thereof round about. (3) And of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand; and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy. (4) It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, that come near to minister unto the LORD; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuar...

THE LANDS FOR THE PRIESTS, LEVITES, PRINCE, AND CITY The division of the whole country is described in ch. 48, which includes the substance of the present passage, and shows the position of these lands in relation to those of the tribes. The holy portion (Fig. 7, _a b g h_) was to be 25,000 cubits long (_a b, g h_) and 20,000 cubits broad (_a g, b h_). The sanctuary (_s_) was to occupy a square of 500 cubits each way, with a border on every side of 50 cubits more. The holy portion was to be subdivided into a portion (_e f g h_) 25,000 by 10,000 cubits, containing the sanctuary, and allotted to the priests; and a portion (_a b e f_) of the same size, allotted to the Levites. Alongside the priests, portion was to be a strip (_g h c d_) 25,000 by 5,000 cubits, for the city and the people. These three portions would form a square of 25,000 cubits each way, and E. and W. of this the possessio...