Ezekiel 41:21 - Exposition

The posts of the temple were squared ; literally, as for the temple the doorposts were squared , or "the sanctuary post work of square form" (Keil). The remaining clauses ought to read as in the Revised Version, "As for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance thereof was as the appearance of the temple ," the sanctuary being the holy of holies as distinguished from the holy place or the house as a whole, The precise force of the last words, the appearance as the appearance , is supposed by Kliefoth and Keil to be that the sanctuary door, like that of the temple, had square pests; by Ewald, that it appeared to be what it really was; by Plumptre, that the appearance was like that he (Ezekiel) had formerly described: by Currey, that the appearance in this vision was the same as in the other visions, and as in the actual temple (comp. Ezekiel 43:2 ). Something can be said for each of these attempts to elucidate a dark phrase. Smend and Hitzig, follow the LXX . in connecting the last clause of Ezekiel 41:21 with Ezekiel 41:22 in this fashion, "And in front of the holy place was an appearance like the sight of a wooden altar."