Ezekiel 42:1 - Exposition

The survey of the house having been completed, the seer was conducted by his guide into the outer court (see on Ezekiel 40:17 ), by the way toward the north, i.e. by the inner north gate (see Ezekiel 40:23 ) and from the outer court into t he chamber that was over against the separate place , and which was before the building toward the north . That this chamber, or these chambers ( לִשְׁכָּה being a collective noun, though in Ezekiel 42:4 and Ezekiel 42:5 it occurs in the plural), were not the same cells as those mentioned in Ezekiel 40:17 , Ezekiel 40:44 , as Havernick supposes, is apparent from their situation and use. Those in Ezekiel 40:44 were in the inner, while these were in the outer; and if the cells spoken of in Ezekiel 40:17 were in the outer court, they were also on the pavement by the outer wall, while the chambers now alluded to were "over against," or in front of , the gizrah , or separate place (see on Ezekiel 41:12 ), and "over against," or in front of , "the building toward the north." This building Kiel, Hengstenberg, Schroder, and Plumptre hold to have been the erection on the gizrah ; Ewald, Kliefoth, Smend, and Currey believe it to have meant the temple. The question as to which view is correct is immaterial, since the row of chambers extended in front of parts of both buildings. Ewald, as usual, follows the LXX ; and translates, "brought me to the fifteen (another Greek text has five) cells;" but of this the Hebrew contains nothing.