Ezekiel 40:43

Eze 40:43 And within [were] hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the tables [was] the flesh of the offering.

Ver. 43. And within were hooks.] Where hung the beasts when they were flayed, and afterwards the priests’ and offerers’ portions, till after the sacrifice they were shared out.

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 40:43. Within were hooks, a hand broad, fastened round about — Within the gate, or entrance, on the north side of the inner court, were iron hooks, for the hanging up the beasts that were to be sacrificed, in order to the flaying off their skins. And upon the tables was the flesh, &c. — Or, they laid the flesh of the offering; upon the marble tables the priests laid the flesh of the slain beasts, which they cut in pieces, and fitted for the altar: see Lev 1:6.

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

40:43 The hooks might be used to store the knives and implements mentioned in 40:42.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

hooks--cooking apparatus for cooking the flesh of the sacrifices that fell to the priests. The hooks were "fastened" in the walls within the apartment, to hang the meat from, so as to roast it. The Hebrew comes from a root "fixed" or "placed."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(43) Hooks.—This is a word of doubtful meaning, found elsewhere only in Psa_68:13, where it is translated pots. It certainly designates something “within” the porch, and therefore could not have been anything attached to the tables which were “without.” Our translators, following the ancient Chaldee paraphrast, have probably given the true sense, hooks, upon which the flesh of the victims was hung after it had been prepared upon the tables.

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

43. within were hooks] The word rendered hooks occurs in the sense of cattlepens (Psa_68:14), a meaning precluded here by the dimension, a handbreadth. Such hooks fitted up “within,” i.e. in the porch, might be used for hanging the carcases upon in order to flay them (Targ.). The meaning “hooks” is not certain. LXX. assumes that the stone tables are still referred to and points differently, reading lip or border for “hooks:” “and they shall have a border of hewn stone inwards round about of a span broad.” Cf. Eze_43:13; Eze_43:17.

flesh of the offering] Except in a clause of Eze_20:28 (wanting in LXX.) the word “offering” is not used by Ezek. The present clause seems to say little. LXX. reads: “and over the tables above (they shall have) coverings, to protect them from the wet and from the heat”—which has a suspicious resemblance to Isa_4:6.

The Eze_40:38-43 are no doubt in some disorder. They suggest several questions not easily settled. Upon the whole it is improbable that slaughtering took place at more than one gate. The word “northwards” indeed (Eze_40:40) seems decisive of this point. Either the N. gate is intended, or the N. side of the E. gate, no other gate having a N. side. There are several things in favour of the N. gate:

(1) In Eze_40:35-37 the prophet was at the N. inner gate, and no intimation is given that he was transported to another gate in Eze_40:38. (2) In the Law slaughtering is ordered to be performed on the N. side of the altar in the case of the burnt, sin and trespass offerings (Lev_1:11; Lev_4:24; Lev_4:29; Lev_4:33; Lev_6:25; Lev_7:2; Lev_14:13); no injunction is given in the case of the peace-offering (Eze_3:2; Eze_3:8; Eze_3:13). It is probable that the prophet’s legislation and that of the Levitical books will be in harmony. (3) In ch. Eze_8:5 the “altar-gate” is certainly the N. gate. (4) The E. gate, both inner and outer, was to be kept shut except on sabbaths and new moons (Eze_46:1), or on other occasions when the prince wished to offer a freewill offering (Eze_46:12). In favour of the E. gate there is the supposed meaning of Eze_40:40; but the rendering, “on the N. of one going up to the entry,” is hardly tenable (Eze_40:40). Ew. indeed for “gates” Eze_40:38 would read “east gate”—a purely arbitrary amendment. And altogether unhappy is his proposal to read for without (michuçah), Eze_40:40, “runnel” (meruçah)—the verb to “run” being never used of the running of water or fluids.

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 chamber whose prospect is towards the north,.... The row of chambers on the side of the east gate; that side of it that was towards the north, and which the chambers in it faced:

is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar; the ministers of the Gospel, that take care of the altar, of public worship; that preach the Gospel, and administer ordinances; and who are to be taken care of themselves, and live of the Gospel, and have everything provided for them that is necessary, Co1 9:13,

these are the sons of Zadok, among the sons of Levi; these Levites, or priests, were of the family of Zadok; who descended from Aaron, and was the eldest house of Aaron, to whom the priesthood belonged; though it had been usurped a long time by the family of Ithamar; but, in Solomon's time, Abiathar, of that family, was dispossessed of it, and Zadok was placed in his stead, whose name signifies "just", or righteous; and was a type of Christ, the holy and just One, whose spiritual children and offspring are here meant:

which come near to the Lord to minister unto him; both preachers and people, who have near access to God through Christ, and minister before him in holy things, in praying, preaching, administering ordinances, and attending on the same.

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

Hooks - The alternative renderings given in the margin indicate the doubtfulness of the translation of the original word. The form is dual, and indicates that it is some object usually found in pairs. Some suggest that they were borders or ledges set, on either side of the tables, a handbreadth from the edges, to prevent the instruments placed on them from falling off. If the rendering “hooks” be adopted, it is to be explained thus: that these hooks were set on the wall “within,” that each hook was forked (hence, the “dual” form), and projected from the wall one span; and that on these hooks were hung the carcasses of the slain animals.

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

Borders, to prevent any thing falling. Chaldean, &c., have "hooks."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Within the house, porch, or whatever the place be called where these tables stood.

Hooks; learned conjectures here, as in many other places, perplex more than explain. Hooks, on which the slaughtered sacrifice might be hanged. while they prepared it further, were needful, and the word imports such iron hooks. It is probable that there might be two hooks of iron fastened to or wrought out, where the plate was so broad, and therefore called hooks in the plural. Fastened to walls, no doubt, near these tables.

Upon the tables was the flesh of the offering; they were careful to keep the holy flesh from lying any where that might look like common ground. It is like that the sacrifice was fastened to these hooks, and rested on these stone tables, while the priests cut them into their pieces.

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

The hooks. The word occurs again only in Psa_68:13, where it signifies "sheepfolds," or "stalls;" its older form ( appearing in Gen_49:14 and Jud_1:5:16. As this sense is unsuitable, recourse must be had to its derivation (from tp "to put, set, or fix"), which suggests as its import here either, as Ewald, Kliefoth, Hengstenberg, Havernick, and Smend, following the LXX and Vulgate, prefer, "ledges," or "border guards," on the edge of the tables, to keep the instruments or flesh from falling off; or, as Kimchi, Gesenius, Furst, Keil, Schroder, and Plumptre, after the Chaldean paraphrast, explain, "pegs" fastened in the wall for hanging the slaughtered caresses before they were flayed. In favor of the first meaning stand the facts that the second clause of this verse speaks of" tables," not of "walls," and that the measure of the shephataim is one of breadth rather than of length; against it are the considerations that the dual form, shephataim , fits better to a forked peg than to a double border, and that the shephataim are stated to have been fastened "in the house" (ba-baith), which again suits the idea of a peg fastened in the outer wall of the porch, rather than of a border fixed upon a table. The last clause of this verse is rendered by Ewald, after the LXX, "and over the tables" (obviously those standing outside of the porch) "were covers to protect them from rain and from drought;" and it is conceivable that coverings might have been advantageous for both the wooden tables and the officiating priests; only the Hebrew must be changed before it can yield this rendering.

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

Within - Within the porch, where these tables stood. Hooks - Hooks on which the slaughtered sacrifice might be hanged, while they prepared it farther. Fastened - To walls no doubt, near these tables.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

hooks

Or, endirons, or, the two hearthstones.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the hooks one handbreadth iron hooks attached to short pillars in the slaughtering area in the north upon which the hallowed animals were hung and flayed, as we learned in Pes. (5:9): Iron hooks were attached to the pillars and to the walls upon which they would hang and flay [the sacrifices]. Jonathan renders likewise: And hooks extending one handbreadth.

attached on the inside attached within the interior of the Court. בַּבַּיִת means inside.

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.