Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The glory of the Lord, which in chapter IX, 3 and chapter X, 4 and 18, was seen to depart from the temple, when it was to be destroyed by the Chaldeans; now that it is to be rebuilt by Zerubbabel, returns thither, and the Lord commands Ezekiel to show the Jews the plan of the temple, and its rites and precepts, so that they may observe them: and if they do so, He promises to dwell perpetually with them in it. Then, in verse 13, he describes the altar of holocausts, and in verse 18, the rite of sacrificing.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 43:1-27
1. And he led me to the gate that looked toward the way of the East. 2. And behold the glory of the God of Israel came in by the way of the East: and His voice was like the voice of many waters, and the earth shone with His majesty. 3. And I saw the vision according to the appearance which I had seen, when He came to destroy the city: and the appearance was according to the vision which I had seen by the river Chobar: and I fell upon my face. 4. And the majesty of the Lord entered the temple by the way of the gate that looked toward the East. 5. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court: and behold the house was filled with the glory of the Lord. 6. And I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and the man who stood beside me, 7. said to me: Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever: and the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, they and their kings, in their fornications, and in the ruins of their kings, and in the high places. 8. They who have set their threshold by my threshold, and their posts beside my posts: and there was but a wall between me and them: and they have defiled my holy name by the abominations which they have committed: wherefore I consumed them in my wrath. 9. Now therefore let them put away their fornication, and the ruins of their kings far from me: and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. 10. But thou, son of man, show the temple to the house of Israel, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the building: 11. and let them be ashamed of all that they have done: Show them the form of the house, and of the fabric thereof, the goings out and the comings in, and the whole description thereof, and all its precepts, and all its order, and all its laws, and thou shalt write it in their sight: that they may keep the whole form thereof, and its precepts, and do them. 12. This is the law of the house upon the top of the mountain: All its border round about is most holy: this then is the law of the house. 13. And these are the measures of the altar by the truest cubit,
which had a cubit and a hand-breadth: in its cavity was a cubit, and a cubit in breadth, and the border thereof unto its lip, and round about, one palm; and this also was the trench of the altar. 14. And from the bottom upon the ground to the lowest ledge, two cubits, and the breadth of one cubit: and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge, four cubits, and the breadth of one cubit. 15. And the Ariel itself was four cubits: and from the Ariel upward, four horns. 16. And the Ariel was twelve cubits long by twelve cubits broad: square on all sides equally. 17. And the ledge was fourteen cubits long by fourteen cubits broad in its four corners: and the rim round about it was half a cubit, and the cavity thereof one cubit round about: and its steps faced toward the East. 18. And He said to me: Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the rites of the altar, on whatever day it shall have been built; that holocausts may be offered upon it, and blood poured out. 19. And thou shalt give to the priests, and the Levites, who are of the seed of Sadoc, who come near to me, says the Lord God, to offer me a calf of the herd for sin. 20. And thou shalt take of its blood, and shalt put it upon the four horns thereof, and upon the four corners of the ledge, and upon the rim round about: and thou shalt cleanse it and make expiation. 21. And thou shalt take the calf that is offered for sin: and thou shalt burn it in a separate place of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22. And on the second day thou shalt offer a he-goat of the goats without blemish for sin: and they shall expiate the altar, as they expiated it with the calf. 23. And when thou hast made an end of the expiation thereof, thou shalt offer a calf of the herd without blemish, and a ram of the flock without blemish. 24. And thou shalt offer them in the sight of the Lord: and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and shall offer them as a holocaust to the Lord. 25. Seven days shalt thou offer a he-goat for sin daily: and they shall offer a calf of the herd, and a ram of the flock without blemish. 26. Seven days they shall expiate the altar, and shall cleanse it: and they shall fill the hand thereof. 27. And when the days are expired, on the eighth day and thenceforward, the priests shall offer your holocausts upon the altar, and the peace-offerings: and I will be appeased towards you, says the Lord God.
Verse 1: And He led me (from the outer enclosure, which in the preceding chapter He had measured before me) t
1. And He led me (from the outer enclosure, which in the preceding chapter He had measured before me) to the gate of the temple, that is, of the outer court (for in verse 5, from there He leads the Prophet into the inner court), which first presented itself, facing the East: because the guide here is the Sun of justice, whose name is the Rising, Zechariah III, 8; and because through the Eastern gate one went directly to the Holy of Holies, where His seat and throne were. So Maldonatus.
Verse 2: The glory of God, namely the chariot of the Cherubim representing the glory of God, which he describ
2. The glory of God, namely the chariot of the Cherubim representing the glory of God, which he describes in chapter I, 8 and chapter X, and called it the glory of God. And His voice was like the voice of many waters. "His," not of God, but of the glory of God, that is, of the Cherubim, as if to say: the Cherubim, when they bore this glorious chariot of God, and God Himself sitting upon it, by the beating of their wings produced a sound similar to the sound of rushing waters, which, when they dash against each other and against shores and rocks, seem to roar, indeed to bellow. Similar is Apocalypse I, 15.
And the earth shone with His majesty. He calls "majesty" the light or splendor of the chariot of the Cherubim, or of the glory of God. Mystically, St. Thomas, Part III, Question XXVII, article 3, in the body, teaches that the Blessed Virgin was especially sanctified at that time when she conceived in her womb the Son of God: "And this," he says, "is signified in Ezekiel XLIII, where it is said: Behold the glory of the God of Israel came in by the way of the East, that is, through the Blessed Virgin; and the earth, that is, her flesh, shone with His majesty, namely of Christ." For then he holds that in the Blessed Virgin the kindling of concupiscence was completely extinguished through the Word incarnate in her, which before had only been bound. But that this kindling was extinguished in her when she was first conceived, and that therefore she was then preserved from original sin, and consequently from its kindling, seems far more true: and this is the common sense of the faithful, as Suarez, Barradius, Carisius, and others teach. For this complete purity was fitting for the Mother of God; for who would believe that the Mother of God was ever a slave of sin, and a daughter of the devil? Therefore in her conception she received complete sanctity, and in the incarnation a great increase of sanctity, from the majesty of her Christ. And this is what the word "shone" signifies, for which the Septuagint translates: it resplended as a brightness (the Complutensian renders, as a brightness), as if to say: the Blessed Virgin, conceiving Christ, received another illustrious splendor and radiance of sanctity, she who in her first conception had received that same radiance, so that she now shone with wondrous splendor, indeed blazed, she who before was already resplendent and luminous.
Verse 3: And I saw the vision according to the appearance which I had seen (chapter I and chapter X) when He
3. And I saw the vision according to the appearance which I had seen (chapter I and chapter X) when He came to destroy the city. From this it is clear that the chariot of the Cherubim was like a war-chariot and triumphal chariot of God, in which God, angered and armed, went forth as it were into battle, to destroy the impious Jews together with their land through the Chaldeans, as I said in chapter I.
And I fell, almost fainting from the brilliance and terror of the glory of the Lord.
Verse 5: He brought me (from the outer court, that is, of the laity, of which verse 1 speaks) into the inner
5. He brought me (from the outer court, that is, of the laity, of which verse 1 speaks) into the inner court of the priests. For Ezekiel was a priest. So Vatablus.
Verse 6: And I heard (God) speaking to me from the house, that is, from the Holy Place, says Vatablus, or rat
6. And I heard (God) speaking to me from the house, that is, from the Holy Place, says Vatablus, or rather from the Holy of Holies: for this was the seat of God, above the ark and the Cherubim. So Maldonatus.
6 and 7. And the man (the Angel) who stood beside me (in Hebrew it is: And a man was standing beside me) said to me, in Hebrew: And he said to me; whence it is clear that the following words: "The place of my throne," etc., were spoken by God speaking from the temple. But, since Ezekiel, struck by the thundering of this voice, perceived it less clearly, the Angel standing beside him repeated the same in a moderate voice, so that Ezekiel might perceive it. For it is certain that "The place of my throne" are properly the words of God, not of the Angel, except as the words of a legate or interpreter reporting the words of God.
Verse 7: The place of my throne (supply: this is in the temple, namely in the propitiatory), and the place (t
7. The place of my throne (supply: this is in the temple, namely in the propitiatory), and the place (that is, this is) of the footprints of my feet. In Hebrew כפות רגלי cappot raglai, that is, of the soles of my feet, as if to say: Here I have fixed my feet, my soles, as one about to dwell here perpetually: and, as Maldonatus says, as if to say: This place shall be my house, like heaven and earth: "For heaven is my throne: and the earth is the footstool of my feet," Isaiah LXVI, 1. Where I dwell. In Hebrew אשכן escan, that is, I shall dwell, where I have decreed to remain and dwell perpetually in the midst of the children of Israel.
And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, etc., in their fornications, because after their return from Babylon the Jews no longer worshipped idols. For this worship is called fornication by the prophets, namely spiritual and mystical fornication. Therefore Maldonatus does not rightly contend, relying on St. Jerome, from this passage, that these things are to be referred not to the temple of Jerusalem, but to the heavenly temple, because the temple of Jerusalem was often afterward defiled, and abandoned by God, both under the Antiochuses, and under Pompey, Titus, and the Romans. I admit, however, that these things pertain more to the spiritual temple, that is, to the Church both militant and triumphant. For the Jewish temple was its type: whence the Prophet frequently leaps and springs back from the type to the antitype, as is customary, as I said in Song of Songs IV and V.
In the ruins (in Hebrew בפגרי bepigre, that is, in the corpses) of their kings. For the temple and sacred places were contaminated by contact with corpses. He alludes to Amon and Manasseh, kings who were buried in their gardens near the temple, IV Kings XXI, 18; for the palace was next to the temple. So the Hebrews, Vatablus, and Maldonatus. Our Translator calls the corpses "ruins"; for corpses are named from falling and ruin. Thus it is said in Psalm CIX, 6: "He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill them with ruins," as if to say: Christ shall give a great slaughter of enemies, so that He fills the streets with ruins, that is, with corpses.
Let them hear this, says St. Jerome, those women (nuns, clerics, and monks) laden with sins, that a mind joined to God, not proximity to churches and neighboring dwelling, provokes God's clemency toward them: nay rather, that the Lord's indignation is stirred up, because in places consecrated to God an unworthy dweller resides. For God did not choose the nation for the sake of the place, but the place for the sake of the nation.
Verse 8: They who have built their threshold beside my threshold
8. They who have built their threshold beside my threshold. He gives the reason why kings defiled the temple: because, namely, since they had their palace adjoining the temple, so that they seemed to be separated from it only by a threshold and an intervening wall, the crimes which they committed in the court seemed to be committed in the temple. So Vatablus, Maldonatus, and others. To this St. Jerome adds, explaining thus, as if to say: When kings dwelt in the vicinity of the temple, they were not therefore purer and holier than others, but rather more wicked, defiling my holy name, and therefore "I consumed them" through the Chaldeans "in my wrath."
Verse 9: From me, from my temple and my throne in which I sit and dwell.
9. From me, from my temple and my throne in which I sit and dwell.
Verse 10: Show the house of Israel the temple, that is, the plan of the temple soon to be restored, and its fi
10. Show the house of Israel the temple, that is, the plan of the temple soon to be restored, and its figure and dimensions, and make them measure it with their own hands, so that when they see its grandeur, they may be confounded that, on account of their crimes, so magnificent a basilica of God was destroyed.
Verse 11: And (in Hebrew אם im, that is, and if) let them be ashamed, as if to say: If, after being shown so m
11. And (in Hebrew אם im, that is, and if) let them be ashamed, as if to say: If, after being shown so magnificent a plan of the temple and given the hope of rebuilding it, they shall wish to repent, explain to them in detail the individual parts and their measurements, so that when the time comes, they may build it according to that form, says Maldonatus, who here seems to concede that Ezekiel literally describes the temple to be restored by Zerubbabel, although elsewhere he denies it. Goings out and comings in, that is, the entire figure, plan, and order of the building. It is a Hebraism, as I said in chapter XLII, 11. Its precepts, the rites and laws of sacrifices: for the Hebrew חקות chuko, signifies the ceremonial precepts pertaining to the rite of sacrificing, which were established and prescribed by God in Leviticus, and which He again describes here in verse 18, so that, since they had been almost obliterated in captivity, their knowledge and memory might be refreshed.
Verse 12: This is the law of the house, this is the description of the temple, this is the plan designated and
12. This is the law of the house, this is the description of the temple, this is the plan designated and prescribed by me for it, that you may build according to it. So the Hebrew, Vatablus, and others. All its border round about, as if to say: These are the boundaries and limit and enclosure of the temple, which I measured in chapter XLII, 16 and following, which encompassed the summit of Mount Zion, and indeed also the spaces adjacent to the mountain, as Vatablus translates from the Hebrew. The Holy of Holies it is, as if to say: This place is most holy: for it is the temple of God, and its courts and enclosures, all of which are sacred to God. Hence Jeremiah XVII, 12 says: "A throne of glory on high from the beginning, the place of our sanctification," that is, in our temple and in the place of our sanctification there is supreme loftiness, supreme majesty, that is, the sanctity of the temple is greatest and most exalted. For the temple was the house of God, the throne of God, the delight of God. Psalm XXVI, 4: "One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek," namely, "that I may see the delight of the Lord, that is, that I may visit His temple." Hence the Latin word "temple" (templum) is derived from "guarding" (tuendo), because God perpetually guards it as His own house, that is, He watches over it, looks after it, protects and keeps it. Therefore the temple is an image of heaven, indeed of the whole world: for the world is the primordial house and temple of God, as Philo says.
Verse 13: And these are the measures of the altar (of holocausts; for the altar of incense he measured in chap
13. And these are the measures of the altar (of holocausts; for the altar of incense he measured in chapter XLI, 22) by the truest cubit, that is, the most perfect. Thus "true" is often taken for "perfect," as when the Apostle says, I Timothy VI, 10: "That they may lay hold on true life," true, that is, perfect. See what was said there. In Hebrew it is: "And these are the measures of the altar by cubits;" for it is said both cubitus in the masculine, and cubitum in the neuter. Which had a cubit and a palm, as if to say: The cubit of which I speak is the sacred cubit, which exceeds the common one by a palm. For this cubit is the common or profane cubit, plus an additional palm, as he said in chapter XL, 5. In its cavity was a cubit. By "cavity" (sinus) R. David understands the hollow, which was at the top of the altar, one cubit deep, for receiving the pile of wood on which the victims were to be burned. Better is Vilalpandus, page 389: The cavity, he says, is a trench cut in the marble pavement, encircling the altar, one cubit deep and one cubit wide, into which the blood of the victims was poured, and through underground channels was conducted into the torrent, of which chapter XLVII, 5 speaks. The Chaldean indicates the place of this trench. Maldonatus and others, while they interpret the cavity as the foundation: for this cavity was at the bottom, not at the top of the altar. For at the bottom the blood of the victims was poured, as Vilalpandus beautifully represents in his depiction of the altar at the cited place. For from the base and foundation, the Prophet begins the description of this altar.
And the border. In Hebrew גבולו gebula, that is, the boundary or limit thereof, as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translate; but the Septuagint translate sine, the meaning of which word St. Jerome says he does not know. Up to its lip, and round about, one palm, that is, the base of the altar, besides its breadth of one cubit, had a lip of one palm all around for the sake of elegance, says Maldonatus. Likewise Vatablus; for he translates "border," that is, rim or enclosure of the altar, "which was at its extremity round about, was one palm high; that is, four transverse fingers high." Likewise Vilalpandus, who more clearly translates: the rim of the cavity (that is, of the hollow and trench for receiving the blood of the victims, already mentioned), running along the lip of the trench all around, was one palm wide. Likewise the Chaldean. Note: the palm here is not the lesser measure of four transverse fingers, as Vatablus holds, but the greater one, containing three lesser palms; namely twelve fingers, that is, a half-cubit. For this is what the Hebrew זרת zereth and the Greek σπιθαμή signify. There was a twofold reason for making this rim: first, lest priests approaching the altar carelessly should fall into the trench; second, lest the trench, sacred with the blood of victims, should be considered common and open.
This also was the trench of the altar, of which I already spoke. For it is a recapitulation of what was said, as if to say: Such then was the trench of the altar, namely of an excavated half-cylinder: for it did not have corners in its lower part, but was defined by a semicircle, lest blood should stick in the corners, says Vilalpandus. Aristeas describes the use and manner of this trench in his History of the Seventy Interpreters: "There are," he says, "at the base of the altar frequent openings, unknown to all except those who minister (for they were in the lowest part of the trench), by whose inflow and force all the blood from the multitude of victims is purged." Otherwise the Septuagint: and the height of the altar, namely, was that which follows, namely two cubits; and Vatablus: and this ridge, or elevation of the altar, exists. So also Maldonatus. For they read גב gab, that is, elevation, height, prominent ridge. But our Translator read גב geb, that is, trench, hollow, cavity.
Note: when he says: "And the border thereof up to its lip, and round about one palm," the palm here must be understood as the greater palm, as Vatablus translates, which contained three lesser palms, namely twelve transverse fingers. For this is the measure signified by the Hebrew זרת zereth and the Greek σπιθαμή, as the Septuagint translate. Therefore an error has crept into the Commentary of St. Jerome, as Vilalpandus rightly observes, vol. II page 473. For it reads: "Which border, or circuit round about, of one palm, that is παλαιστή, extended in breadth." Where for σπιθαμή, there crept in παλαιστή, which had appeared a little before in the text at the beginning of this verse, where it says: "And these are the measures of the altar by the truest cubit, which had a cubit and a palm." For there the lesser palm is understood, which the Greeks call παλαιστή, as the Septuagint translate. For there in Hebrew there is not zereth, but טפח topach, which is a measure of four transverse fingers, namely the lesser palm.
Verse 14: And from the bottom upon the ground to the lowest ledge, two cubits
14. And from the bottom upon the ground to the lowest ledge, two cubits. In Hebrew it is עזרה azara, which elsewhere signifies a court. But the Hebrews and Vatablus err when they teach that the court of the priests is here described as divided into three parts, namely into a lower, upper, and middle court, in which was the altar. For the discussion here concerns the altar, not the court: for he treated of the courts in chapters XL and XLII. Secondly, Maldonatus: The Prophet signifies, he says, that upon the altar above the foundation there were two recessions, which he calls עזרות azaroth, that is, courts: because there were two spaces in which the priests could walk about and go around the altar: which St. Jerome rightly called ledges. Thirdly and best, Vilalpandus: The ledge, he says, in Hebrew is called עזרה azara, from the root עזר azar, that is, to help, support, sustain: hence azara signifies a platform, or buttress, upon which a house or altar (as here) rests, and by which it is sustained. The Vulgate translates it as "ledge" (crepido), because crepido, derived from "discrepancy" (discrepando), signifies the part of a structure that projects where the line diverges, namely a step running inward and wider than the width of the structure, such as was this buttress of the altar. Whence he notably said: "From the bottom upon the ground:" because the cavity already mentioned, or trench, was not outside the pavement, but was sunk into the ground, so that through it the blood of victims was sprinkled: from the upper lip of this cavity, therefore, to the ledge, he counts two cubits of height.
Moreover, the ledge of the altar was twofold, one upper, the other lower: of the lower one it is said that it was two cubits high; for it is called here the lowest, that is, as in Hebrew, the lower. For thus "lowest" often signifies the following, later, lower. And the breadth of one cubit. This ledge was two cubits high from the pavement of the temple, where it narrowed and formed a step one cubit wide. And from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge, four cubits (of height) and the breadth of one cubit. He calls the upper one the "greater ledge," not because it was wider (for it was narrower) than the lower, but because it was higher; for it was four cubits high, while the lower was only two cubits high, and is therefore also called the lesser. So Maldonatus and Vilalpandus, who graphically depicts both ledges, as well as the trench, rim, etc., of the altar in an illustration.
Verse 15: And the Ariel itself was four cubits
15. And the Ariel itself was four cubits. "Ariel" signifies the third and topmost part of the altar, resting upon the two ledges already mentioned, as upon a double base, which was properly the altar itself, on which victims were burned: this then he asserts was raised upon the ledges to a height of four cubits. The altar is called הראל harel, that is, mountain of God, because on Mount Zion, namely in the court of the priests, it towered like a little mountain. Again it is soon called האריאל haariel, that is, lion of God; because, as R. David says, the sacred fire, which had descended from heaven in the time of Aaron and in the time of Solomon, perpetually kept watch upon it like a lion of God; or rather because it was perpetually drenched with the blood of victims, like a lion tearing its prey. Vilalpandus adds that the altar, like the other parts of the temple, was adorned on all sides with carvings of Cherubim, and consequently also of lions. Moreover, it bore and displayed the form of a lion (as the Hebrews commonly report): for it had leonine legs for feet, whence it seems to have originated that in ancient altars leonine feet and claws were sculpted, and this for the purpose that those approaching the altar to sacrifice might remember that God, to be worshipped at the altar, is like a lion, who tears the proud to pieces but spares the humble and the suppliant. This is what the Apostle warns in Hebrews XII, at the end: "Let us serve, pleasing God, with fear and reverence. For our God is a consuming fire."
He alludes to Isaiah XXIX, 1: "Woe, Ariel, Ariel, the city which David conquered." Where although the Chaldean translates: Woe, altar, altar, which was built in the city in which David dwelt; yet all others commonly understand by Ariel Jerusalem. This is called Ariel, that is, lion of God, because it was most mighty, and in it David the most mighty king, and his other descendants, reigned, of whom Jacob had foretold, Genesis XLIX, 9: "Judah is a lion's whelp; to the prey, my son, thou hast gone up: resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him?" Moreover, the altar itself was called Ariel after the city, because the altar was properly dedicated to God and represented God; it was therefore Ariel, that is, lion of God: for God, dwelling as it were upon the altar, kept watch like a lion for the protection of His city and nation, and like a lion sprang from His altar upon the faithless Philistines and other enemies of His people and His Church, so long as Jerusalem stood in the faith and religion of its God, and worshipped Him piously and holily at this altar of His. This seems the true origin, this the etymology of Ariel.
Let both the faithful and heretics learn here, therefore, that altars and temples and the true religion itself and the worship of God are the bulwarks of the republic, and that they protect and defend it like a lion. For this reason Isaiah says in chapter XXXI, 9: "The Lord said, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem." See what was said there. Thirdly, Ariel is the same as the ram of the curse; because on the altar rams were offered for the curse, that is, for sin. Fourthly, St. Jerome thinks Ariel is said as if Uriel, that is, the light, or illumination of God, which is represented on the altar by the flame. Allegorically, all these things apply to Christ, who is our altar, that is, the mountain, the lion, the light, the ram of God, and who was made a curse for us, and communicates these same things to His faithful, because He communicates Himself, especially in the Eucharist. "Therefore let us depart from that table like fire-breathing lions, having become terrible to the devil, and revolving in our mind our Head, and the charity which He showed us," says St. Chrysostom, Homily 61 to the People. And Augustine, Book X of the City of God, chapter IV: "When, he says, our heart is raised up to God, it is God's altar: we slay bloody victims upon it, when we fight even unto blood for the truth." St. Gregory Nazianzen, in the Oration at his father's funeral, calls constant patience in adversity a rational holocaust, remarkably consumed in the body of each person. Clement of Alexandria, Book VII of the Stromata, calls the body an altar, on which, he says, "a holocaust to God takes place, when a person destroys himself, that is, removes the old man, who is corrupted through lusts; and raises up the new from the old death of his former manner of life."
Again, allegorically, the altar is the cross of Christ: for on this He immolated Himself to the Father. Whence the Church sings: "Whose most holy body was scorched on the altar of the cross." The four horns of the altar are the four horns of the cross. And from the Ariel upward, four horns. The altar had at the top, in its four corners, four projecting posts, or four small pyramids like horns. The altar therefore resembled a lion in its feet, and a bull in its horns, so that it partially bore the image of the Cherubim. These horns were as it were trophies of prey. For on the more solemn feasts, bulls and young oxen were slaughtered for God and cast to the Ariel, or sacred lion, to be devoured. For this reason the ancients seem to have adorned the fronts of sacred buildings with bull-head friezes, that is, with skulls, as trophies and insignia of sacrifices, says Vilalpandus.
Verse 16: And the Ariel was twelve cubits long by twelve cubits broad, that is, the altar (which I said was fo
16. And the Ariel was twelve cubits long by twelve cubits broad, that is, the altar (which I said was four cubits high above the ledges, or two bases) was twelve cubits long, and equally broad. It was therefore square and equal on all four of its sides.
Verse 17: And the ledge was fourteen cubits, etc., as if to say: The ledge of the altar was likewise square, b
17. And the ledge was fourteen cubits, etc., as if to say: The ledge of the altar was likewise square, but exceeded the Ariel itself, that is, the altar placed upon it, by two cubits. For it had not 12 cubits like the altar, but 14 cubits both in length and in breadth. The reason was that the ledge, or upper base of the altar, on each side projected one cubit beyond the Ariel itself. Therefore if the Ariel was 12 cubits in every direction, it was necessary that the ledge, or upper base, should extend 14 cubits in every direction; and by the same reasoning, the lower ledge, which projected beyond the upper one by one cubit on every side, should extend 16 cubits both in length and in breadth. So Vilalpandus. For the altar was wider at the bottom, and ascending upward it gradually narrowed: therefore it had two recessions of two cubits each, one in the upper ledge, the other in the Ariel itself. Maldonatus measures these differently. And the rim round about it was half a cubit. He calls the rim a cornice, or border like a crown encircling, not the lowest ledge, as Maldonatus holds, or the foundation of the altar, for he spoke of this in verse 13; but the topmost surface, and its four horns. For thus we see even now in Rome many altars adorned and crowned with such a cornice at the top, which is therefore called in Hebrew גבול gebul, that is, boundary, limit, defining and circumscribing the thing; whence our Translator, in verse 13, translates it as "border." He asserts this was half a cubit.
The entire altar therefore was ten cubits high, which may be calculated thus: the lowest ledge was two cubits high, the second four, the Ariel itself four, and all these together make ten. The lowest ledge had 16 cubits both in length and in breadth; the second 14, the Ariel itself 12. This altar was therefore smaller than the altar that Solomon made, II Paralipomenon (Chronicles) chapter IV, verse 1; for that was 20 cubits long, the same in breadth, and 10 high, as is stated there. And the cavity thereof was one cubit round about. He calls the cavity the trench, or blood-pit, of which he spoke in verse 13. For he repeats what he said there. And its steps faced toward the East, as if to say: By steps from East to West, one ascended to the altar. Vilalpandus gives the reason, namely that God wished to call the Jews away from the idolatry of the gentiles, who worshipped the rising sun: therefore He wished the Jews to turn their backs to the East, and adore the true God toward the West, as I said in chapter VIII, 16. See St. Thomas, I-II, Question CII, article 4, reply 5, and Athanasius of Nicaea, Question XVIII on Sacred Scripture, and Pineda on Job XXXI, 26.
Verse 18: These are the rites of the altar, as if to say: You shall observe these rites in sacrificing upon th
18. These are the rites of the altar, as if to say: You shall observe these rites in sacrificing upon the altar, so that you may expiate it, consecrate it, and sanctify it. He prescribes these rites in what follows, and repeats them from Leviticus. Here then he properly establishes the rite to be observed in the consecration of the altar.
Verse 19: And thou shalt give, that is, thou shalt hand on these rites received from me to the priests and Lev
19. And thou shalt give, that is, thou shalt hand on these rites received from me to the priests and Levites, or rather thou shalt give a calf, and sacrifice it, so that in practice thou mayest show them how they ought to sacrifice: for in so long a Babylonian captivity they have forgotten this. Whence He adds in verse 20: "And taking of its blood, thou shalt put upon the four horns thereof." It seems therefore that Ezekiel actually sacrificed, and by practice taught the priests who were ignorant of the rite of sacrificing. So Maldonatus. Who are of the seed of Sadoc. For Solomon transferred the priesthood and high priesthood to Sadoc, removing Abiathar, and to his descendants, as I said in chapter XL, 46. Sadoc in Hebrew means the same as "just," says St. Jerome. Who come near to me, who approach the altar to minister to me.
Verse 20: Upon the four horns thereof, for God had commanded that each horn of this altar be stained with the
20. Upon the four horns thereof, for God had commanded that each horn of this altar be stained with the blood of the victim, Exodus XXIX, 12, and Leviticus XVI, 18.
Verse 21: And thou shalt burn
21. And thou shalt burn. In Hebrew שרפו serephu, that is, they shall burn, namely the priests designated by thee for this. For not Ezekiel alone could perform all these things by himself.
In a separate place. For "the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary through the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp," Hebrews XIII, 11; Leviticus IV, 12; and chapter VI, 30, and XVI, 27: see what was said there. For this was the public expiation and consecration of the altar and place contaminated and profaned by the Chaldeans, through the victim of a calf, in which this rite was prescribed, Leviticus XVI, 27. Outside the sanctuary, outside the court of the priests, which is called the Sanctuary, because it was sanctified and consecrated with the blood of the slaughtered calf, says Vatablus.
Verse 22: A he-goat of the goats, that is, a he-goat not old, but young, so that it still follows its mother g
22. A he-goat of the goats, that is, a he-goat not old, but young, so that it still follows its mother goat and occasionally suckles. For when the Hebrews add the name of the mother to an animal, they signify that it is tender and still follows its mother. Thus Daniel, chapter VIII, 5, calls Alexander a he-goat of the goats because he was young. The Septuagint translate: "And on the second day they shall take two immaculate kids for sin." Mystically, these two kids immolated immediately after the Lord's passion are St. James the brother of St. John, and St. Stephen: "For these are the first-fruits of the martyrs, whom the confession of Christ crowned," says St. Jerome. This was the second expiatory and consecratory victim for the altar, namely the he-goat: for the first was the calf. For the he-goat, on account of its stench, is a symbol of sin, which was to be expiated by this altar, through the victims henceforth to be immolated upon it. Without blemish, lacking a blemish, not of color but of health and integrity, that is, not maimed, not mutilated, but sound and whole, as I said in Leviticus XXII, 19, 20, and 21.
Verse 25: Thou shalt offer (that is, thou shalt sacrifice) the he-goat
25. Thou shalt offer (that is, thou shalt sacrifice) the he-goat. Thus the Poet said: "When I shall offer a heifer," that is, when I sacrifice a heifer, "for the crops, come thou thyself."
Verse 26: And they shall fill the hand thereof
26. And they shall fill the hand thereof. "Hand," that is, side, meaning the sides, "thereof," namely of the altar, as if to say: For seven days they shall fill the sides of the altar with victims, and with the blood of victims. Hence the Chaldean translates: They shall offer its oblation. For the discussion concerns the consecration of the altar; and to fill the hands, in Hebrew idiom, means the same as to consecrate, as I showed in Exodus XXIX, 9 and 35. So Maldonatus. Others, like Vatablus, understand "hand" not of the altar, but of the priest, as if to say: They shall fill the hands of the sacrificing priest with the flesh of the victim for seven days, that is, they shall give him daily as many victims as he can immolate over seven days.
Verse 27: The priests shall offer (that is, they shall immolate, as I said in verse 25) upon the altar your ho
27. The priests shall offer (that is, they shall immolate, as I said in verse 25) upon the altar your holocausts, and those which they offer for peace, that is, peace-offerings, which they shall offer for peace, that is, for the safety of the household, whether future and to be obtained; or past and obtained, in thanksgiving (whence Vatablus translates, eucharistic offerings).