Ezekiel 40:39

Eze 40:39 And in the porch of the gate [were] two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.

Ver. 39. Two tables.] See on Eze 40:38.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 40:39-40. In the porch of the gate were two tables, &c. — Those expositors who, by the word gates, in Eze 40:38, understand both the north and south gates, render the sense of these two verses perspicuously thus: In the porch of one gate (namely, that on the south) were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, &c. And at the outer side of the step of the entry of the north gate were two tables; which interpretation agrees very well with what follows, Eze 40:41, Four tables were on this side, and four on that side. But they that understand these verses to be only a description of the north gate (on which side of the altar the sacrifices were commonly killed) suppose that two tables were on each side, as a person came into the porch of the gate, and two on each side of the inner part of the gate that looked toward the altar.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In these verses we have an account,

I. Of the tables that were in the porch of the gates of the inner court. We find no description of the altars of burnt-offerings in the midst of that court till Eze 43:13. But, because the one altar under the law was to be exchanged for a multitude of tables under the gospel, here is early notice taken of the tables, at our entrance into the inner court; for till we come to partake of the table of the Lord we are but professors at large; our admission to that is our entrance into the inner court. But in this gospel-temple we meet with no altar till after the glory of the Lord has taken possession of it, for Christ is our altar, that sanctifies every gift. Here were eight tables provided, whereon to slay the sacrifices, Eze 40:41. We read not of any tables for this purpose either in the tabernacle or in Solomon's temple. But here they are provided, to intimate the multitude of spiritual sacrifices that should be brought to God's house in gospel-times, and the multitude of hands that should be employed in offering up those sacrifices. Here were the shambles for the altar; here were the dressers on which they laid the flesh of the sacrifice, the knives with which they cut it up, and the hooks on which they hung it up, that it might be ready to be offered on the altar (Eze 40:43), and there also they washed the burnt-offerings (Eze 40:38), to intimate that before we draw near to God's altar we must have every thing in readiness, must wash our hands, our hearts, those spiritual sacrifices, and so compass God's altar.

II. The use that some of the chambers mentioned before were put to. 1. Some were for the singers, Eze 40:44. It should seem they were first provided for before any other that attended this temple-service, to intimate, not only that the singing of psalms should still continue a gospel-ordinance, but that the gospel should furnish all that embrace it with abundant matter for joy and praise, and give them occasion to break forth into singing, which is often foretold concerning gospel times, Psa 96:1; Psa 98:1. Christians should be singers. Blessed are those that dwell in God's house, they will be still praising him. 2. Others of them were for the priests, both those that kept the charge of the house, to cleanse it, and to see that none came into it to pollute it, and to keep it in good repair (Eze 40:45), and those that kept the charge of the altar (Eze 40:46), that came near to the Lord to minister to him. God will find convenient lodging for all his servants. Those that do the work of his house shall enjoy the comforts of it.

III. Of the inner court, the court of the priests, which was fifty yards square, Eze 40:47. The altar that was before the house was placed in the midst of this court, over-against the three gates, and, standing in a direct line with the three gates of the outer court, when the gates were set open all the people in the outer court might through them be spectators of the service done at the altar. Christ is both our altar and our sacrifice, to whom we must look with an eye of faith in all our approaches to God, and he is salvation in the midst of the earth (Psa 74:12), to be looked unto from all quarters.

IV. Of the porch of the house. The temple is called the house, emphatically, as if no other house were worthy to be called so. Before this house there was a porch, to teach us not to rush hastily and inconsiderately into the presence of God, but gradually, that is, gravely, and with solemnity, passing first through the outer court, then the inner, then the porch, ere we enter into the house. Between this porch and the altar was a place where the priests used to pray, Joe 2:17. In the porch, besides the posts on which the doors were hung, there were pillars, probably for state and ornament, like Jachin and Boaz - He will establish; in him is strength, Eze 40:49. In the gospel church every thing is strong and firm, and every thing ought to be kept in its place and to be done decently and in order.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 39. The porch of the gate] The north gate of the court of the priests. See Q in the plan. See Clarke on Eze 48:35.

Two tables] Some say of marble. See dddd in the plan. See Clarke on Eze 48:35.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(39) In the porch.—The preposition admits the sense of either in or by, but as the porch was very small for two tables on either side, and as a thoroughfare would be an inconvenient place for the slaughter of the victims, it is better to take the sense of by. The four tables were arranged, two on either side, near the porch.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

39. The verse states what was in the porch, in antithesis to Eze_40:38. Possibly the words “to slay thereon” are used generally, not of the actual slaughtering, but of the manipulation of the flesh of the victims. In Eze_40:41 it is said that there were eight tables on which they slew, four of which were certainly outside the porch. If the burnt, sin and trespass offerings (LXX. omits burnt offerings here) were slain in the porch, there would remain only the peace offerings to slay outside.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the four tables were of hewn stone,.... These are either the same tables as before, the four that were on one side, and the four that were on the other; they were all made of hewn stone: in the second temple they were made of marble; so it is said in the Misnah (q),

"the marble tables were between the pillars;''

and they were made of marble, as the commentators (r) say, because that cools the flesh, and preserves it from corruption: they were both decent and durable; and may denote the continuance of the ordinance of the Lord's supper till his second coming; and which is a decent and becoming ordinance, as well as perpetual: or these were other four tables, as Cocceius thinks; and which he places without the porch, near the cell or chamber, where the burnt offering was washed, Eze 40:38, and these are said to be for that, as follows,

for the burnt offering: and also for the sin offering, and for the trespass offering, though they are not mentioned:

of a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad; just a foursquare:

and one cubit high; these were the dimensions of each table:

whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice: the knives with which they slew the creatures offered, and cut them to pieces, and the bowls and basins in which they received their blood; these were laid upon the tables, as the sacrifices were: and may signify, that in the ordinance of the Lord's supper are not only represented the sacrifice of Christ, but the means, instruments, causes, and occasion of it; the sins of his people, for which he was wounded and bruised in his body, and with which he was pierced in his soul; and here we may look on him whom we have thus pierced, and mourn; and yet rejoice that there is healing by his stripes, pardon by his blood, and atonement by his sacrifice.

(q) Tamid, c. 3. sect. 5. & Middot, c. 3. sect. 5. (r) Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In the porch - Not under the covered portico, which was only ten cubits broad Eze 40:9, but in the angles formed by the porch and gate-front. If the gate-building projected with its porch forward on to the pavement of the inner court, the tables were fitly placed for carrying out the directions of the Law.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Though the words seem so express, yet doubt is made whether any table were in the very porch itself, and think they would cumber the passage, but sure where only the priests in course of ministration entered, there would be no great crowd; therefore I conceive that these two pairs of tables were set in the very porch of the gate, which is the letter of the text.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 39-42The tables. These were twelve in number, of which eight were used for slaughtering purposes, i.e. either for slaying the sacrifices or for laying upon them the carcasses of the slaughtered victims; and the remaining four for depositing thereon the instruments employed in killing the animals. Of the eight, four stood within the porch of the gate, two on each side, and four without two on the side as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate; rather, at the shoulder to one going up to the gate opening towards the north, i.e. on the outside of the porch north wall; and two on the other side or shoulder, i.e. on the outside of the porch south wall. This determines the gate in question to have been, not the north gate, as the Authorized Version has conjectured, but the east gate, whose side walls looked towards the north and south. The third quaternion of tables appears to have been planted at the steps, presumably two on" each side, i.e. if with Kliefoth, Keil, and Schroder, hlwOl be translated "at the ascent," or "going up," i.e. at the staircase (comp. ver. 26). If, however, with the Authorized and Revised Versions, Ewald, Hengstenberg, Smend, and others, hlwl be read "for the burnt offering," then the exact position of the tables is left undetermined, though in any case they must have been near the slaughtering-tables. As they were designed for heavy instruments, they were constructed of hewn stones a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; from which it may be argued the eight previously mentioned were made of wood.

Sacrifices in the new temple.

As we read the dry details of the city that is to be rebuilt and its new temple, we are suddenly pulled up by a startling item. Among the various arrangements of the ancient temple that are to be revived, provision is made for the sacrificial rites. There are to be sacrifices in the new temple. The burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering are all to be there. Then sacrifices will be needed after the restoration. It might have been supposed that these would now be dispensed with, since sin was put away and the people were re-dedicated to God. But as a matter of fact, the temple ritual was never before cultivated with. such assiduity and elaborateness.

I WE NEED REPEATED REDEDICATION OF OUR LIVES TO GOD. The burnt offering signified the self-dedication of the man who presented it. It was given whole, to show that he had surrendered his all to God; it was consumed by fire, to suggest that he was to make this surrender complete in depth, intensity, and reality, as well as in comprehensiveness. Now, to have made this offering once for all did not suffice. It had to be continually renewed. The dedication of Israel to God in the restoration to their land could not be accepted as sufficient if it were done once for all. It had to be made over and over again. So is it with the Christian"s offering of himself. When thinking of his great, decisive step, he may exclaim, in Doddddge"s well-known words

"Tis done, the great transaction"s done: I am my Lord"s, and he is mine.

Yet if he rests satisfied with having once taken that step, he will soon find himself slipping back from his high resolve. We must continually renew our self-dedication to Christ. The sacrament of baptism, which signifies the first dedication, is taken but once; but it is followed by that of the Lord"s Supper, which suggests renewal of dedication in deliberate intention, as when the Roman soldier took the oath of allegiance to his general. This sacrament we repeat many times.

II WE NEED REPEATED CLEANSING FROM SIN. There were to be sin and trespass offerings in the new temple. This fact is startling and most painful. Even while the people are returning, penitent and restored, provision has to be made for future falls and sins.

1. Christian people sin. We know that this is only too true of all Christian people. There is no sinless soul on earth. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us". (1Jn_1:8) The foresight of the fact is no excuse for us; for God does not make his children sin he endeavors to save them from it. Thus Christ predicted Peter"s fall although he had prayed that his disciple might be kept faithful. (Luk_22:31, Luk_22:32)

2. God has provided for the recovery of Christians when they sin. There were to be sacrifices in the restored temple. This arrangement shows the wonderful long-suffering mercy of God. The same mercy is displayed towards Christians. It is a shame that they who have once washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb should again stain them with the ruin of sin. Yet as this is done, God provides even again for cleansing not now by repeated sacrifices, but by the eternal efficacy of the one perfect Sacrifice. "And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous: and he is the Propitiation for our. (1Jn_2:2, 1Jn_2:3)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in the hall of the gate [i.e., of] the Northern [Gate].

two tables in its east and two in its west, and although they extended into the Outer Court area, their sanctity was as [great as] those things of the Inner [Court area].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.