{"id":75393,"date":"2020-05-31T10:24:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T07:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=75393"},"modified":"2020-05-31T10:24:17","modified_gmt":"2020-05-31T07:24:17","slug":"ezekiel-and-the-temple-the-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ezekiel-and-the-temple-the-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezekiel and the Temple: The Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"75393","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"492","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Architectural mysteries\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The remaining chapters of the Book of Ezekiel feature a highly detailed description of a rebuilt Temple and a renewed sacrificial order. However, the prophet\u2019s language in these chapters is even more opaque than usual, leading no less an authority than Maimonides to note:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The [design of the] structure built by [King] Solomon is described explicitly in [the Book of] Kings. [In contrast, the design of] the Messianic Temple, though mentioned in [the Book of] Ezekiel, is not explicit or explained. Thus, the people [in the time] of Ezra built the Second Temple according to the structure of Solomon, [including] certain aspects which are explicitly stated in Ezekiel<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0(<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hilkhot Beit HaBechirah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 1:4).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biblical exegetes, too, faced singular problems in commenting on these chapters. Rashi, among the medievals, made note of his inability to resolve certain issues. On 42:3, for example, he admitted: \u201cI was unable to understand these three verses at all.\u201d Radak wrote, similarly: \u201cThe truth is that the measurements of this edifice are not clear to us since they pertain to a future construction, and whatever a person will offer in their interpretation by means of independent reasoning is unreliable.\u201d In contrast, Yosef Qara\u2019s commentary on Ezekiel simply stops at this point, and Isaiah of Trani\u2019s commentary ends here, too, with the notice: \u201cThe dimensions of the Temple, the order of sacrifices, and the regulations of the priesthood that are listed here, no one in the world can know them for certain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Modern exegetes, on the other hand, stepped in, undaunted, where their predecessors had feared to tread. R. Yomtov Lipman Heller (author of the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tosafot Yomtov<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the Mishnah) dedicated an entire book, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tzurat Habayit<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to this end, Malbim countered with his own exposition called <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tavnit Habayit<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and yet another account was published in the name of the Gaon of Vilna. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Commentaries on the tractate of <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Middot<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2:5, 3:1, 4:2) also contrast Ezekiel&#8217;s vision with the structure of the Second Temple. (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several schematics based on these commentaries are offered in the\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Da`at Mikra<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cEzekiel\u201d (Hebrew) p. 319 ff.).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We will try to convey some of these interpretations, while necessarily avoiding those whose reliance on principles of engineering or mathematics would require the kind of visual aids largely inaccessible in this format.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":75394,"id":75394,"title":"ez40-Visionary_Ezekiel_Temple","filename":"ez40-Visionary_Ezekiel_Temple.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-Visionary_Ezekiel_Temple.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ezekiel-and-the-temple-the-problems\/ez40-visionary_ezekiel_temple\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez40-visionary_ezekiel_temple","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":75393,"date":"2020-05-31 07:22:50","modified":"2020-05-31 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