Behold, there was a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a hand width each. So he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 5. Breadth. Hebrew Chal. Septuagint “of six cubits, in a cubit and a palm;” imitating that the sacred cubit contained six palms, while the common one had only five, (Calmet. 43:13. Worthington.) being half a yard; (Arbuthnot) or the Hebrew cubit was a hand’s breadth larger than the Babylonian, or about 21½ inches, ( Calmet.) which may be styled ( Menochius.) the sacred cubit. Arb. Bible.—Reed. This outer wall ( Calmet. Menochius.) was to prevent any from falling down the precipice. It was about four yards nine inches in height and thickness, being so solid in order that the ground might not give way. Josephus describes prodigious walls, ( Bible.) reaching to the bottom of the mountain, three hundred cubits on the south and west; but then the temple was much enlarged. Calmet.
A normal cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters. A handbreadth is about 4.3 inches or 11 centimeters, so the long cubit described here would be about 22.3 inches or 57 centimeters long. Thus, a 6 long cubit measuring reed would have been about 3 yards 26.6 inches or about 3.42 meters long.