Ezekiel 41:3 - Exposition

Then went he inward ; i.e. into the most holy place. As this could not be entered even by a priest, but only by the high priest once a year ( Exodus 30:10 ; Le Exodus 16:17 ; Hebrews 9:7 ), Ezekiel was left without, while "the man" announced to him in succession the measurements of the adytum , as these were taken. First, that of the post of the door (the singular for the plural, meaning the post on either side of the doorway) two cubits . Next, that of the door itself, which is given first as six and second as seven cubits . Kliefoth and Keil take the six as the height and the seven as the breadth of the entrance into the holy of holies; but as no other measurement of height occurs throughout this description, Dr. Currey regards "six" as the distance from "pest" to "post," and "seven" as the actual width of the door, each post projecting half a cubit beyond the hinge of the door, which opened inward. Ewald and Villalpandus, after the LXX ; read, "the entrance six cubits and the flanks of the entrance seven cubits;" and these figures, 7 + 6 4- 7, certainly make up the breadth of the interior; only it is impossible to extract this meaning from the Hebrew without tampering with the text.