Ezekiel 40:17

“Then brought he me into the outward court, &c.] The divine and glorious Person in human form, having brought the prophet up to the eastern gate, and through it, and the porch that belonged to it, to the inner gate of it, which lay westward; and having measured that gate, its threshold, the porch, the posts or pillars, and little chambers in it; introduced him into a spacious piece of ground, that lay open to the air, and surrounded the whole building; and answers to the court of the Israelites in the temple, where they worshipped promiscuously, good and bad: and so may design the outward visible state of the Gospel church, consisting of good and bad, of wise and foolish virgins; like a field…”

“pavement--tesselated mosaic (Est 1:6). chambers--serving as lodgings for the priests on duty in the temple, and as receptacles of the tithes of salt, wine, and oil.”

“The “outward” or outer “court” (o, Plan II) corresponds to what was in Herod’s temple the court of Women, into which all Jews, but not Gentiles were admitted. Ezekiel 40:17 Chambers - (I) See Jeremiah 35:2. A pavement - (H) Of mosaic work 2 Chronicles 7:3; Esther 1:6 which formed a border of forty-four cubits. On each side of the court in which there were gates, i. e., on east, north, and south. It was called the “lower pavement” to distinguish it from the pavement of the inner court; the outer court being lower than the inner Ezekiel 40:31. Ezekiel 40:19 There were eastern, northern, and southern gates of entrance from the outer to the inner court (B). Without - Not as in the margin, but…”

“The outward court - So called in regard of the more inward court, between that where he was, and the temple itself; this court, was the second about the temple. Chambers - Not only lodging rooms for the priests, but also store - houses for tithes and offerings. A pavement - A beautiful floor laid with checker works. The whole floor of this court was thus paved. Thirty chambers - That is, fifteen on the south side of the gate, and fifteen on the north side, built over the pavement. Ezekiel 40:18”

“40:17-19 The outer courtyard provided a buffer zone around the holy things in the inner courtyard, and thirty rooms were built around the walls. The purpose of these rooms is not stated, nor are their dimensions precisely given, which heightens the contrast between the relatively less significant outer area of the Temple and the crucially important central holy space. These rooms were most likely to be used by the Levites for a variety of activities.”

“the outward: Eze 10:5, Eze 42:1, Eze 46:21; Rev 11:2 there were: Kg1 6:5; Ch1 9:26, Ch1 23:28; Ch2 31:11 thirty: Eze 42:4, Eze 45:5 Ezekiel 40:19”

“The Outer Court Described and Measured Eze 40:17. And he led me into the outer court, and behold there were cells and pavement made round the court; thirty cells on the pavement. Eze 40:18. And the pavement was by the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates, (namely) the lower pavement. Eze 40:19. And he measured the breadth from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court, about a hundred cubits on the east side and on the north side. - Ezekiel having been led through the eastern gate into the outer court, was able to survey it, not on the eastern side only, but also on the northern and southern sides; and there he perceived cells and רצפּה, pavimentum,…”