Ezekiel 42:7 - Exposition

The wall ; or, fence —the Hebrew term being not חֹמָה , as in Ezekiel 40:5 , or קִיר , as in Ezekiel 41:5 , both of which signify the wall of a city or a building, but גָדֵר (or גֶדֶר , as in Ezekiel 41:10 ), which means a fence or hedge, as in Ezekiel 13:5 — without, over against —or, by the side of (Revised Version)— the chambers, toward the outer court , cannot have been a rampart along the north side of-the chambers, since this was a hundred cubits long, but must have been a wall upon the side of the chambers (east or west) fencing off the outer court from the passage which led down by the side of the chambers. That this fence was on the east side is rendered probable by the circumstance that the sacrificial kitchen lay upon the west (see Ezekiel 46:19 , Ezekiel 46:20 ), and by the statements which follow in Ezekiel 13:8 and Ezekiel 13:9 . The fence was doubtless intended to screen the side windows of the lower chambers from public gaze, since these were to be occupied as robing and disrobing rooms for the priests who should officiate in the temple (see Ezekiel 13:14 ; and Ezekiel 44:19 ).