The survey of the house or sanctuary being ended, the prophet is given to see the cells or chambers for the priests.
“And he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north, and brought me into the cell that (was] opposite the separate place, and that [was] opposite the building toward the north. Before the length of a hundred cubits [was] the north door, and the breadth fifty cubits. Opposite the twenty [cubits] which [were] for the inner court, and opposite the pavement, which [was] for the outer court, [was] gallery against gallery, in three [stories]. And before the cells [was] a walk of ten cubits in breadth inward, a way of one cubit, and their doors [were] toward the north. And the upper chambers [were] shorter, for the galleries contained more than these, than the lower and the middle one, of the building. For they [were] in three [stories], but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore it was contracted from the lower and the middle ones from the ground. And the wall which [was] without, opposite the cells, by the way of the outer court before the cells—its length [was] fifty cubits. For the length of the cells which [belonged] to the outer court [was] fifty cubits; and, behold, before the temple [were] a hundred cubits. And below these cells [was] the entrance from the east, in one's going into them from the outer court. In the breadth of the wall of the court eastward, before the separate place, and before the building [were] cells. And the way before them [was] as the appearance of the cells which [were] northward, as long and broad as they; and all their outlets according to their fashions and according to their doors. And according to the doors of the cells which [were] toward the south, a door at the head of the way, the way directly before the wall eastward, when one entereth into them.” (Vers. 1-12.)
This account of the chambers for the priests is followed by express regulations as to their eating in them, their laying the offerings in their service, and their dress within and without.
“And he said to me, The cells northward [and] the cells southward, which [are] before the separate place, [are] cells of the holy place, where the priests who draw near to Jehovah shall eat the most holy things; there they shall place the most holy things, both the meat-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering, for the place [is] holy. When the priests enter in, they shall not go forth from the holy [place ] into the outer court, but they shall leave there their garments with which they ministered, for they [are] holy, and put on other garments, and shall approach the [place] that [is] for the people.” (Vers. 18, 14.)
The closing paragraph is a summary of the general extent. “And he finished the measurements of the inner house, and brought me out by way of the gate that looketh eastward, and measured it round about. He measured the east side with the measuring-reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed, round about. He measured the north side, five hundred reeds; with the measuring-reed round about. He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed. Turning to the west side, he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring-reed. He measured. it by its four sides; it had a wall round about, five hundred long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the holy and the profane place.” (Vers. 15-20.)
It is well known that there has been no little debate as to the reading in verse 16, and whether the word here used (íéÄðÈ÷) should be taken in the sense of “reeds” or not; for that of the text (five cubits) is clearly an error of transcription. Some would strike out the measure altogether (and the LXX. waver in the verses). Doubtless, the space is greatly larger, than Mount Moriah as it is; but this is a small difficulty to the believer, who looks for great physical change according to prophecy. To view it as, hyperbolical, and yet as leaving the literal interpretation intact, seems to me not only unbelieving but absurd.