Ezekiel 41:5 - Exposition

The measuring commenced with the wall of the house , i.e. with the outer wall, which, beginning at the pillars ( Ezekiel 41:1 ), enclosed the temple on its south, west, and north sides. Its great thickness, six cubits, corresponded with and even surpassed the colossal proportions of architecture in the ancient East. The walls of Solomon's temple, though not mentioned in either Kings or Chronicles, could hardly have been less than four cubits thick (see 1 Kings 6:6 ), and were probably more (Schurer). Like the Solomonic ( 1 Kings 6:5-10 ), the Ezekelian temple had side chambers , which, like those of the earlier building, served as storehouses for priests' clothing, temple utensils, and temple treasures ( 1 Kings 7:51 ; 2 Kings 11:2 ; 2 Chronicles 5:1 ), and measured four cubits broad in the clear.