IT is by combining the statements in I Kings 6. (2 Chron. 3.
and Ezekiel 40. 41., etc.), that we ascertain the dimensions and details of the
Temple and its courts; some particulars being given in one place, some in
another; but, wherever the measure ments are repeated in the different books,
they perfectly coincide, or differ only in a manner which helps to ascertain
the truth. In general the INTERNAL. measurements are given rather than the
external. The measure generally employed is that of the cubit or forearm,
respecting the exact length of which there is diversity of opinion. According
to some eighteen inches, to others twenty-one, while others make it 21.888
inches, or nearly one foot ten, and some even twenty-five inches. It will be
generally sufficient, in order to form an idea of the various dimensions, to
adopt some easy measurement, say one foot ten, or two feet. The cubit of
Ezekiel is one-sixth larger, being a cubit and a handbreadth (Ezek. 40. 5), the
handbreadth being reckoned as one-sixth of the ordinary cubit.
Ezekiel’s REED of six GREAT cubits is therefore equal to seven ordinary
cubits. But when the SCALE is larger, the number of cubits where the
measurements coincide is the same. SEVEN being the Scriptural number for
completeness or perfection, it is interesting to observe that the measurements
of the Temple of Ezekiel, or the MILLENNIAL Temple, are thus brought up to the
scale of perfectness.
The length (of the house) by cubits, after the first measure
(that is, as I understand it, after the ordinary cubit), was threescore cubits,
and the breadth twenty cubits (1 Kings 5. 2, 17; 2 Chron. 3. 3). This is
internal measurement, and inclusive both of the Holy and Most Holy places. This
is distinctly stated in Ezekiel 41. 2, 4. "He measured the length thereof,
forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits" (verse 2), that is, of the
Holy Place. "So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the
breadth, twenty cubits, before the Temple: and he said unto me ‘This is
the most holy’ [holy of the holies]."
"The height thereof thirty cubits" (1 Kings 6. 2), the internal
height of the wall of the Holy Place, while the height of the Oracle, or Most
Holy Place, was twenty cubits (1 Kings 6. 20).
The Porch BEFORE THE HOUSE in internal measurement was twenty cubits in length, ten cubits in breadth, twenty cubits in height (1 Kings 6. 3.) It is well to remember that in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness the Holy Place was twenty cubits long by ten cubits broad, but TEN cubits internal HEIGHT. In 2 Chron. 3. 4 the Porch is described as a hundred and twenty cubits HIGH, but this is acknowledged to be a mistake arising from a transposition of letters; the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint reads "twenty cubits." In Ezek. 40. 49 the breadth is from the door of the Holy Place one cubit deeper, eleven cubits.
"Windows of narrow lights" [broad within, narrow without] (see 1 Kings 6. 4, margin).. These appear to be for the Holy Place; whilst in Ezek. 41. 26 we read, "And there were narrow windows and palm trees [artificial palms] on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side-chambers of the house." These were the windows of the porch and of the side- chambers on either side.
"And against the walls of the house he built chambers
[floors or stories] round about" [on either side] (1 Kings 6. 5). The
Hebrew word sahbib rendered "round about" is to be interpreted
according to the connection. Sometimes it means "on either side," as
in Ex. 7., 24, where it first occurs; and sometimes "round about."
These FLOORS were formed of rafters of cedar, in three storeys, on which the
side chambers and galleries were, and they extended the whole length of the
house.
"And he made chambers [side-chambers] round about: the nethermost chamber
[floor or storey] was five cubits broad." The word is floor, but it is
true both of the floors and chambers. Compare Ezek. 41. 7. "The middle was
six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall
of the house he made narrowed-rests [narrowings or rebatements] round about [on
either side], that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the
house" (1 Kings 6. 6, 10). This is further explained in Ezek. 41. 5-8. The
wall of the house, at the foundation of the side-chambers, was six cubits; the
thickness of the wall for the LOWER side-chamber was five cubits (verse 9); as
the side-chambers of the second and third storeys enlarged one cubit each, the
wall decreased in proportion. The side-chambers were in three storeys, fifteen
on either side in each storey, making ninety in all, four cubits broad each
(Ezek. 41. 5), five cubits high (1 Kings 6. 10). They seem hinted at in 1
Chron. 28. 11. David gave to Solomon the pattern of the TREASURIES, probably
the side-chambers on the first floor; and of the UPPER CHAMBERS, or the second
and third storeys; and of the INNER PARLOURS, or the innermost side-chambers
toward the west.
It appears there was but one door of entrance from the galleries, on each side
of the Temple, so that the passage was from one to another into the innermost
(1 Kings 6. 8; Ezek. 41. 11). And from the whole building being said to be
seventy cubits broad (Ezek. 41. 12), these galleries appear to have extended
ten cubits on either side; for the width of the house was fifty cubits. I might
suggest that the chambers reached by ascending stairs were for the use of the
priests and Levites, who day and night served in the Temple, watch by watch,
that they might wait on God continually.
We read in 2 Cor. 12. 2 of the third heaven, implying a first
and second; so the threefold division of the Temple, the Porch, the Holy Place,
and the Holiest of all, may be figures of these three heavens; while the
side-chambers in three storeys, becoming larger as they ascend, and leading one
into another from east to west, and still ascending higher and higher, is
strikingly suggestive of thoughts of enlargement and progress in heavenly
glory, of higher heights, of fuller conformity to God and fellowship with Him.
Not only do these chambers ascend higher and grow larger, but there is a
progress from east to west, from one chambers to another, until the innermost
chamber is reached, the nearest to "the Holiest of all," the nearest
to the manifested glory of God. Thus shall the saints have increasing capacity
to enjoy and serve God in the countless ages of eternity to come. Their
progress also from the sun-rising towards the Holiest of all is suggestive of
thoughts of that eternal day, having a morning without clouds,
"a sacred, high, eternal noon,"
without an evening or night, still -
"Nearer, our God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee."
The variety and number bring forcibly to our remembrance the words of Jesus to
His disciples, "In My Father’s house are many mansions" (John
14. 2). The GALLERIES in front of the side-chambers, on their three stories,
afford a wider range, an increasingly higher and more extensive prospect. We
can scarcely imagine that a million ages spent in the presence and service of
God will leave us the same at the end as we were at the beginning. Surely we
shall rise higher and higher, and yet higher in our enjoyment, our
acquaintance, and communion with God in that eternal day. As we rise in our
apprehension of God, our capacities for knowing Him will proportionately
expand. What heart can conceive, what tongue can tell, what God and the Lamb
have in reserve for the redeemed in glory in the ages to come, which stretch
onward before us in ever-widening and brightening anticipation! There to be
nearer and yet nearer, to worship, admire, adore. No standing still, but an
evergrowing aquaintance with God, and an ever-increasing capacity for the
enjoyment of, and communion with, Him whom we adore.