SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2015
7:45 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The Outer Court of the Temple
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
40:5-27
Message of the
verses: “5 And behold, there was a
wall on the outside of the temple all around, and in the man’s hand was a
measuring rod of six cubits, each of which was a cubit and a handbreadth. So he
measured the thickness of the wall, one rod; and the height, one rod. 6 Then he
went to the gate which faced east, went up its steps and measured the threshold
of the gate, one rod in width; and the other threshold was one rod in width. 7
The guardroom was one rod long and one rod wide; and there were five cubits
between the guardrooms. And the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate
facing inward was one rod. 8 Then he measured the porch of the gate facing
inward, one rod. 9 He measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its
side pillars, two cubits. And the porch of the gate was faced inward. 10 The
guardrooms of the gate toward the east numbered three on each side; the three
of them had the same measurement. The side pillars also had the same
measurement on each side. 11 And he measured the width of the gateway, ten
cubits, and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits. 12 There was a barrier
wall one cubit wide in front of the guardrooms on each side; and the guardrooms
were six cubits square on each side. 13 He measured the gate from the roof of
the one guardroom to the roof of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits from
one door to the door opposite. 14 He made the side pillars sixty cubits high;
the gate extended round about to the side pillar of the courtyard. 15 From the
front of the entrance gate to the front of the inner porch of the gate was
fifty cubits. 16 There were shuttered windows looking toward the guardrooms,
and toward their side pillars within the gate all around, and likewise for the
porches. And there were windows all around inside; and on each side pillar were
palm tree ornaments. 17 Then he brought me into the outer court, and behold,
there were chambers and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty
chambers faced the pavement. 18 The pavement (that is, the lower pavement) was
by the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates. 19 Then he
measured the width from the front of the lower gate to the front of the
exterior of the inner court, a hundred cubits on the east and on the north. 20
As for the gate of the outer court which faced the north, he measured its
length and its width. 21 It had three guardrooms on each side; and its side
pillars and its porches had the same measurement as the first gate. Its length
was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five cubits. 22 Its windows and its
porches and its palm tree ornaments had the same measurements as the gate which
faced toward the east; and it was reached by seven steps, and its porch was in
front of them. 23 The inner court had a gate opposite the gate on the north as
well as the gate on the east; and he measured a hundred cubits from gate to
gate. 24 Then he led me toward the south, and behold, there was a gate toward
the south; and he measured its side pillars and its porches according to those
same measurements. 25 The gate and its porches had windows all around like
those other windows; the length was fifty cubits and the width twenty-five
cubits. 26 There were seven steps going up to it, and its porches were in front
of them; and it had palm tree ornaments on its side pillars, one on each side. 27 The inner court had a gate toward the
south; and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, a hundred cubits.”
The first thing I want to do is to quote an end note from
Warren Wiersbe’s commentary: “The long
cubit was twenty-one inches long. If the
rod was six cubits long, that equals ten feet six inches. Some make the long cubit twenty-four inches
making the rod twelve feet long. As I
follow Ezekiel and his guide touring the temple precincts, I will not convert
each measurement into feet and inches, unless the number is important to the
meaning of the text.”
I have looked at other passages that have a lot of
measurements in them and all I can say is that I am glad that there are people
who can understand these passages in order to make pictures, prints, and movies
about them. I have found one such short
movie on youtube that will explain all that we will read about in chapter
forty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNmERZkT6JM If you click on this site or copy and paste
it you will get a short film that shows much more than I can write about.
Dr. Wiersbe writes that the entire sacred area was 875
feet, square, including a wall 10 feet high and ten feet thick. “The temple itself was on the west side of
the enclosure, 175 feet from the walls, and the back part reached to the edge
of the sacred area. Behind the temple
were two kitchens for preparing the sacrificial meals, plus a third building
whose purpose was not explained. At each
corner of the walls, there was a kitchen; in the center of the east, north, and
south walls there was a gate; and on either side of these three gates, built
right into the walls, were five special rooms for the worshipers, making a
total of thirty rooms.”
He writes later on that “The outer court covers nearly
400,000 square feet, but it will not have a court of the Gentiles with the
all-important separating wall (Eph. 2:4), nor will it have a separate court of
the women. In the Millennial temple, or
Lord’s desire will be fulfilled that His house be a house of prayer for men and
women of all nations (Mark 11:17; Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11).”
5/9/2015 8:22 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment