Commento su Ezechiele 43:13

And these are the measurements of the altar as he explains further (verse 17): “fourteen [cubits in] length by fourteen [cubits in] breadth.”

in cubits; the cubit, one cubit and a handbreadth with a cubit of six [handbreadths], which is a cubit and a handbreadth, [judging] by a cubit of five [handbreadths].

but the base one [ordinary] cubit but its base is measured with an ordinary cubit, which equals five [handbreadths]. The word חֵיק is related to חֵקוּי, permanence, it refers to the one cubit. The cubit is the ordinary cubit, not a cubit and a handbreadth, which is the cubit of six [handbreadths]. So too did we learn in Menahoth (97b) that the base, the circuit, and the horns are measured with a cubit of five [handbreadths].

but the base one [ordinary] cubit This is the yesod.

and such a cubit also for the breadth This is the circuit.

and [likewise on] its border, [going] one span to its edge all around These are the horns, [each of which measured] one span from its center; and they measured a span to each side, totaling a cubit by a cubit.

and equally so the very top of the altar And with this cubit the top of the golden altar was measured [to be] a cubit in length and a cubit in breadth [forming a] square. So it is explained in Erubin (4a). In Menahoth (97b) it is explained more fully in terms of the computation: The base was a cubit in height. It extended upward a cubit, and a cubit was its breadth. The recess of the circuit was recessed a cubit of five [handbreadths], but its height, of which we learned (Middoth 3:1): “It extended upward 5 [cubits] and was recessed a cubit” was not [measured] with a cubit of five [handbreadths].

and [likewise on] its border, [going] one span to its edge The horns, both in their breadth and in their height, were [measured] with a cubit of five [handbreadths].