(2) Fifty cubits round about.--In Ezekiel 42:16-20 the space of 500 reeds square is described, which was "for," or belonged to, the sanctuary, to guard it from any profanation; but here we have, still farther, a narrow strip of 50 cubits wide (about 83 feet) of open space outside the wall to prevent the priests' houses being built too close to the sacred precincts. The word suburbs is better rendered in the margin, void or open place. The situation of the sanctuary and its surroundings within the priests' portion is more definitely fixed in Ezekiel 48:10 as "in the midst thereof."

Verse 2. - Of this district, either of 25,000 × 10,000, or 25,000 × 20,000 reeds, according to the view taken of ver. 1, there should be measured off for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth. The supplement here also, Keil, Kliefoth, Plumptre, and others consider to be "reeds," since obviously the whole temple with its precincts is intended (Ezekiel 42:16-20), though Hengstenberg and Schroder prefer "cubits," holding the sanctuary to be the temple buildings enclosed within the outer court well (Ezekiel 40.). The free space of fifty cubits round about for the suburbs (or, open places) thereof seems to indicate that the larger area was that alluded to by the prophet. That the term מִגְדָשׁ. occurs more frequently in the so-called priest-code (Leviticus 25:84; Numbers 35:2, 3, 4, 5, 7; Joshua 14:4; Joshua 21:2, 3, 8, 11, 13, etc.) and in the Chronicles (1 Chronicles 5:16; 1 Chronicles 6:35, 37; 1 Chronicles 13:2; 2 Chronicles 11:14; 2 Chronicles 31:19) than in Ezekiel (see Ezekiel 27:28; Ezekiel 48:15, 17) is a fact; but on this fact cannot be founded an argument for the priority of Ezekiel, since it rather points to Ezekiel's acquaintance with such "suburbs" in connection with priestly and Levitical cities.

45:1-25 In the period here foretold, the worship and the ministers of God will be provided for; the princes will rule with justice, as holding their power under Christ; the people will live in peace, ease, and godliness. These things seem to be represented in language taken from the customs of the times in which the prophet wrote. Christ is our Passover that is sacrificed for us: we celebrate the memorial of that sacrifice, and feast upon it, triumphing in our deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery of sin, and our preservation from the destroying sword of Divine justice, in the Lord's supper, which is our passover feast; as the whole Christian life is, and must be, the feast of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.Of this there shall be for the sanctuary,.... Or temple, the house before described in the preceding chapters:

five hundred in length, and five hundred in breadth, square round about: that is, five hundred reeds square, as is manifest from Ezekiel 42:16, and this denotes the largeness, perfection, and stability of the church of Christ, which the sanctuary was a type of:

and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof; which were a void place of fifty cubits round about the sanctuary, measuring from the wall to that; this was done in reverence to the holy place, and to show that we should not rush hastily into the house of God, and church of Christ, but first pass through the suburbs or open place. Cubits being here mentioned, show that reeds are to be understood where the kind of measure is not expressed.