{"id":75454,"date":"2020-06-01T11:01:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T08:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=75454"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:01:42","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T08:01:42","slug":"ezekiel-revisits-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ezekiel-revisits-jerusalem\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezekiel Revisits Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":"75454","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"493","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Wherein he learns the mysteries of the intermediate cubit\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"

Chapters 40-48 mark the prophet Ezekiel\u2019s second \u2018visit\u2019 to Jerusalem, the first described in Chapters 8-11. Now, as then, he was transported in a vision from Babylonia to Jerusalem, but a close reading reveals a substantive difference in the conditions under which the respective journeys were taken. 8:1 states: \u201cThere [at home], the hand of the Lord God <\/span>fell<\/span><\/em> (<\/span>naflah<\/span><\/em>) upon me,\u201d while 40:1 reads: \u201cThe hand of the Lord was (<\/span>haytah<\/span><\/em>) upon me.\u201d The former is indicative of a forced journey, implying an adversarial relationship with God; the latter suggests more conviviality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another significant feature of the latter journey emerges from the structure of the story. From 40:4 though 42:20 (incorporating the physical description of the Temple and its precincts), Ezekiel\u2019s interlocutor (\u201ca man who shone like copper\u201d 40:3) interjects into the prophet\u2019s narrative only four times: In 40:45, he pointed out the priests\u2019 chamber (<\/span>lishkah<\/span><\/em>); in 41:4, he identified the Holy of Holies; in 41:22, the table (<\/span>shulchan<\/span><\/em>); and in 42:13, the \u201cconsecrated chambers\u201d (<\/span>lishkot ha-kodesh<\/span><\/em>) in which the priests were able to eat from the sacrificial offerings.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I were to venture an explanation for these exceptional utterances, I would assume that the last named three locations were presumed to be of particular interest to Ezekiel who was, after all, a priest (1:3). As for the site of the Holy of Holies, it was sacrosanct and its identification is self-explanatory; Malbim, however, attributed yet another reason for singling it out:<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Second Temple, they were uncertain whether the intermediate cubit belonged within [the Holy of Holies] or without. God hereby informed him that only this was the Holy of Holies while the two-cubit space occupied by the wall is not part of the Holy of Holies and belongs outside it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cintermediate cubit\u201d (<\/span>amah teraksin<\/span><\/em>) is addressed by Mishnah Midot 4:7, which Pinchas Kehati explained as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

In the First Temple, a one-cubit wide wall separated the hall (\u2018<\/em><\/span>ulam<\/span><\/em>) from the Holy of Holies\u2026 However, the Second Temple was much taller than the First Temple so a wall only one cubit wide could not be erected there, so they hung a curtain (<\/span>parokhet<\/span><\/em>) between them as in the Tabernacle. Because they did not know whether the one cubit space belonged within or without, they hung two curtains with a one cubit space between them, reminiscent of the [earlier] wall.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":75455,"id":75455,"title":"ez41-cubit","filename":"ez41-cubit.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ezekiel-revisits-jerusalem\/ez41-cubit\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez41-cubit","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":75454,"date":"2020-06-01 08:00:26","modified":"2020-06-01 08:00:37","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":448,"height":284,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit-300x190.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":190,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit.jpg","medium_large-width":448,"medium_large-height":284,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit.jpg","large-width":448,"large-height":284,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit.jpg","1536x1536-width":448,"1536x1536-height":284,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit.jpg","2048x2048-width":448,"2048x2048-height":284,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit.jpg","post_full_size-width":448,"post_full_size-height":284,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez41-cubit.jpg","home_baner-width":448,"home_baner-height":284}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Ezekiel 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