💾 Archived View for scholasticdiversity.us.to › scriptures › jewish › t › Steinsaltz%20on%20Ezekiel%… captured on 2024-05-10 at 12:50:43. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
41 [1] **He brought me to the Sanctuary **beyond the Hall, **and he measured the pillars **at the entrance to the Sanctuary, and they were** six cubits in width on this side and six cubits in width on that side, **which is also **the width of **the lintel of** the tent.**
[2] **The width of the entrance **from north to south** was ten cubits, and **the walls at **the sides of the entrance were five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and he measured its, **the Sanctuary’s,** length, **and it was **forty cubits, and the width **of the Sanctuary was** twenty cubits. **
[3] Then** he, **the man,** came to the inside, and he measured the pillar of the entrance **to the innermost room, and it was** two cubits, and **the thickness of **the entrance** was** six cubits, and the width **of the space **of the entrance, seven cubits.**
[4] **He measured its, **the innermost room’s, **length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, corresponding to the front of the Sanctuary, **which was** **also twenty cubits in width,** and he said to me: This is the Holy of Holies. **
[5] **He measured **the thickness of **the wall of the House, six cubits, and the width of the side chamber** behind the western wall of the House,** four cubits, surrounding the House all around. **Similar side chambers surrounded the Sanctuary on all sides.
[6] **The side chambers were **built **one side chamber to another. **This repeated itself** thirty-three times,**** and they come into the wall that was for the House, **the wall adjacent to the Sanctuary. The wall was designed** for the side chambers all around to be supported, **attached to a single building, **and **they** would not be supported by the wall of the House, **the Sanctuary. The thirty-three side chambers surrounding the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies were not part of the Sanctuary wall; rather, they were attached to a separate wall that was adjacent to the Sanctuary.
[7] **The side chambers widened and wound about higher and higher, because the House wound higher and higher all around the House; therefore, the House widened above. **The upper chambers were wider than the lower ones, as the staircase occupied a certain amount of space in the lower chambers.** And so one would ascend from the lowest **row of chambers** to the highest **row **through the middle **row.
[8] **I saw the height of the House all around, **as** **the Sanctuary itself rose higher than the surrounding structure of chambers. **The foundations of the side chambers were a full **measuring **rod of six expansive [*****atzila*****] cubits, **a cubit measured from the edge of the hand** **to** **the armpit [*atzil*], unlike a standard cubit, which is measured from the elbow to the end of the middle finger.
[9] **The width, **thickness,** of the outer wall that was for the side chambers was five cubits, and so for the remaining space between the side chambers and the House. **Between the chambers and the Sanctuary there was an open space, a hallway of sorts, which was five cubits wide.
[10] **Between the chambers **of the courtyard there **was a width of twenty cubits. **These chambers, which were located at the outer edge of the courtyard, were **surrounding** the Sanctuary at a distance from** the House all around **(see chap. 42).
[11] **The entrance of the side chamber **faced **to the remaining space, one entrance northward and one entrance southward. **All the chambers** **could be entered from the hallway that was five cubits wide; the doors of those on the south opened to the hallway on their north side, and, vice versa, the doors of those on the north opened to the hallway on their south side. **And the width of the remaining space, **the hallway,** was five cubits all around. **
[12] **The building, **the complex of chambers,** that was before the conspicuous structure, **the Sanctuary, which was prominent in its height, **to the west side was seventy cubits in width, and the **outer, surrounding **wall of the building was five cubits wide, **thick,** all around, and its** **length, **the length of the conspicuous structure, **was ninety cubits. **
[13] **He, **the man,** measured the House,** and** **it was **one hundred cubits in length; **this measurement included the length of **the conspicuous structure, **the Sanctuary, **the building **of the side chambers surrounding the Sanctuary,** and its walls. **They** were **together** **a total of** one hundred cubits in length. **
[14] **The width of the front of the House and of the conspicuous structure to the east was **also** one hundred cubits.**
[15] **He measured the length of the building **of side chambers that was **before the conspicuous structure that was to its rear, **on the west side of the Sanctuary, **and its supporting structures, **or beams, **on this side and on that side,** to the north and south, and it was a combined** one hundred cubits. As for** **the inner Sanctum, **the Holy of Holies, **and the halls of the courtyard,**
[16] **the thresholds, the narrowing, **or** **sealed,** windows, **which were alcoves in the wall, **and the supporting structures all around, for the three of them, **as there were three supports, to the west, south, and north of the Sanctuary, or, alternatively, this refers to all three types of structures mentioned in the verse, the thresholds, the narrowing windows, and the supports,** there was a wood panel all around** these structures and on the two doorposts and the lintel.** **No part of the Temple was made of wood alone, but there were wooden panels attached to the building so that it could be covered with gold, as stone itself cannot be covered with gold. **And **likewise, the structure **from the ground up to the windows, and the windows **themselves, **were covered **with wood,
[17] up **to above the entrance, to the inner room and to the outside and to the entire wall all around in the inner and the outer **sides of the walls,** with panels of size. **All these walls had specific dimensions, although Ezekiel does not specify them. Alternatively, the verse means that all these walls were covered with wide panels, which are called *middot *due to their large size or because the word *middot*, or *madim*, can also mean clothing and the walls were “clothed” with the panels.
[18] **It, **each of these planks,** was fashioned with **engravings of **cherubs and date palms, and a date palm was between one cherub and another, and there were two faces to each cherub: **
[19] **The face of a person toward the date palm on this side and the face of a young lion toward the date palm on that side. **Each cherub had two faces, one of a person and one of a young lion, both of which faced the palm trees between them. It is unclear whether the form of the cherub was crouching like a young lion or standing upright like a person.** **So** **was it** fashioned throughout the House all around. **
[20] **From the ground until above the entrance were cherubs and date palms fashioned, and the wall, **all the walls,** of the Sanctuary **as well.** **These decorations, as well as others, are also mentioned in connection to the First Temple, which had more lions.
[21] At the** **entrance to **the** **Sanctuary, the doorposts were square **rather than circular. Alternatively, this means that the Sanctuary had four doorposts, because it had double doors. **And the front of the Sanctum,** the entrance to the Holy of Holies,** the appearance **that was** **revealed to me **was like the appearance** that is unique to the Holy of Holies, which is indescribable.
[22] **The altar **in the Sanctuary **was** made **of wood.** It is not specified here whether this altar was covered with gold, as stated in the Torah with regard to the incense altar. In any case, the altar was** three cubits high, and its length was two cubits;**** its corners were **made **of it, **wood, **and its length and its walls were **also** **made** of wood. He said to me: This is the table that is before the Lord. **
[23] **There were two doors for the Sanctuary and for the Sanctum, **the Holy of Holies.** **
[24] **There were two doors for **each of** the doors, two swinging doors: two for one door and two doors for the other. **There were four doors: two swinging doors at the entrance to the Sanctuary and two swinging doors at the entrance to the Holy of Holies.
[25] **Fashioned on them, on the doors of the Sanctuary, were **forms of **cherubs and date palms, like they were fashioned upon the walls. **The decorations on the walls and the doors were identical. **And there was a thick beam on the front of the Hall on the outside, **possibly a horizontal beam to support the roof.** **
[26] **There were narrowing windows and **engravings of **date palms on this side and on that side, on the sides of the Hall, and **engravings of palm trees on **the side chambers of the House, and **on **the beams.**
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center