Hesekiel 43:17

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Och avsatsen var fjorton alnar lång och fjorton alnar bred, utefter sina fyra sidor. Kanten runt omkring den höll en halv aln, och dess bottenram sträckte sig en aln runt omkring. Och altarets trappsteg vette åt öster.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and the border: Exodus 25:25, Exodus 30:3, 1 Kings 18:32

his stairs: Rather, "its ascents," maalothehoo probably an inclined plane; for the law ordained that the priest should not ascend by stairs. Exodus 20:26

look toward: Ezekiel 8:16, Ezekiel 40:6, 1 Kings 6:8, Nehemiah 9:4

Reciprocal: Ezekiel 43:14 - the lower settle Ezekiel 43:20 - and on the four

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof,.... Here Kimchi confesses his ignorance. Jarchi interprets it, the top of the altar, with the place of the horns, and of the feet of the priests, and was twenty eight cubits by twenty eight, the fourteen mentioned being to be measured from the middle z; and he seems to be right in making it to be the upper part of the altar, and not the lower settle, as some; the focus or hearth where the wood was laid, and the sacrifice burnt; and which had a projection of a cubit on each side, and so made the twelve cubits, the length and breadth of the altar, fourteen:

and the border about it shall be half a cubit; or the enclosure, as the Targum; the ledge about it, which went round the altar, to keep the fire or sacrifice from falling, or that the feet of the priests might not slip: the Jews expound it of the horns:

and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; or the foundation, as the Targum; which was between the altar, and the border on which the priests walked, when they went round it, to do the business of it: here Kimchi owns his ignorance again;

and his stairs shall look towards the east; steps to the altar were forbidden by the law of Moses, Exodus 20:26 wherefore, as the height of the altar of Solomon, and so of the second temple, required some way and method of ascent to the top of it, to do the business upon it; the Jews had what they call "kibbesh", a way made of earth thrown up, which rose gradually, and led to the top of it, and was about two and thirty cubits long, and sixteen broad a; but here steps or stairs are expressly mentioned, which show that this refers to times when the Mosaic and ceremonial laws should be abolished. These stairs were placed eastward, so that those that went up them looked toward the west, toward the temple and house of God, where he dwelt; and turned their backs to the east, or rising sun, in direct opposition to the worshippers of the sun, whose faces were to the east. How many steps or stairs there were to the altar is not said; Starckius conjectures there might be twelve or fourteen of them, and allows for each step half a cubit; but as the altar was ten, or, as others, eleven cubits high, there should be twenty steps or more, of such a measure. These may signify the several ways and means of coming to, and increasing in, the knowledge of the doctrine of the altar, or of Christ's satisfaction for sin; as hearing, reading, prayer, meditation, &c.

z So Lipman. Tzurath Beth Hamikdash, sect. 40. Vid. Misn. Middot, c. 3. sect. 1. a So Lipman. Tzurath Beth Hamikdash, sect. 43.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The settle - The “lower settle” (L), projecting beyond the “upper settle” (M) one cubit on every side.

His stairs - Jewish tradition says that the approach to the altar was by an inclined plane, because to go up “by steps” was forbidden Exodus 20:26.

The number “twelve” was symbolic of the twelve tribes, “four,” of the earth; “sixteen” is the square of “four,” and “fourteen” the double of “seven,” the number of the covenant, as being composed of “three,” the number of God, and of “four,” the number of the world. Thus we have in the altar a special instance of Hebrew symbolism.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 43:17. And the settle — The ledge on which the priests walked round the altar, see Ezekiel 43:14. By these settles or ledges the altar was narrowed towards the top. "The ascent shall look toward the east;" this ascent was an inclined plane. But these settles, or more properly ledges, as Bp. Newcome translates, may be thus computed. The altar itself was ten feet high and twenty broad; the same as that of Solomon, 2 Chronicles 4:1.

	Cubits
For the base, Ezekiel 43:13, is in height . . .	1
From the surface of the base to the first ledge, Ezekiel 43:14, is . . .	1
From the lower ledge to the upper, Ezekiel 43:14, are . . . .	4
From the upper ledge to the ariel or hearth, Ezekiel 43:15, are . . .	4
___ In all . . . .	10
And as to the breadth, the upper ledge, Ezekiel 43:17, was. . . .	14
Add a cubit on each side for the higher ledge, Ezekiel 43:14, latter part . .	2
Add a cubit on each side for the lower ledge, Ezekiel 43:14, former part . .	2
Add a cubit on each side for the base, Ezekiel 43:13, . . .	2
___ In all . . . .	20

The altar of burnt-offerings, described Exodus 27:1; Exodus 38:1, was smaller than this, because it was to be removed from place to place with the tabernacle. This was designed for a permanent temple. See Bp. Newcome on this chapter.