Ezekiel 40:8-9 - Exposition

The divergent measurements of this porch, which are given in these verses, led the LXX . and the Vulgate to reject Ezekiel 40:8 as spurious, and it is certainly wanting in some Hebrew manuscripts. Hitzig, Ewald, and Smend have accordingly expunged it from the text—an altogether unnecessary proceeding. The seeming discrepancy may be removed by supposing either, with Kliefoth, that Ezekiel 40:8 furnishes the measurement of the porch from east to west, and Ezekiel 40:9 its measurement from north to south, with the measurements in addition of the posts ( אֵלִים , from אַיִל , "a ram," hence anything curved or twisted), i.e. pillars or jambs; or, with Keil, that Ezekiel 40:8 states the depth from east to west, and Ezekiel 40:9 the length from north to south. The "posts," which were sixty cubits high ( Ezekiel 40:14 ), were two cubits square at the base.