Kaisipang Hudyo sa Ezekiel 42:7: The Third Beit HaMikdash

“The wall facing the outside, [the space] opposite the chambers, leading to the Outer Courtyard before the chambers, was 50 cubits long.”¹²Yechezkel 42:7. Rashi comments: “The wall facing the outside: [The wall of the chamber] that separated between the chambers and the Outer Courtyard on the eastern side was 50 cubits long from north to south.” One may conclude that the corresponding wall of the chamber on the western side was also 50 cubits long. Rashi only mentions the eastern side because the verse only speaks of one wall, and Rashi thinks that it is referring to the wall that faced the larger portion of the courtyard.

Thus, the verses seem to contradict each other. It is a third verse that resolves this contradiction.¹⁵In the original, Tosafos Yom Tov refers to the last of Rabbi Yishmael’s Thirteen Principles of Biblical Exegesis. By stating,¹⁶Yechezkel 42:7. “The wall facing the outside…,” it resolved that apparent contradiction. As Rashi explains, this verse is only referring to the wall on the east. That wall was 50 cubits long, and faced the Outer Courtyard. The chambers themselves were 51 cubits wide. On the eastern side, however, the extra cubit did not require a wall, because it was enclosed by the wall of the Inner Courtyard. For that reason, Rashi understands that the verse only mentions one wall, the wall of the eastern chamber. The wall of the western chamber, by contrast, was 51 cubits long, because there was nothing else enclosing it.