"And the chambers of the gate toward the east were three on this side and three on that side; the three of them had one measure, and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side." The chambers of the gate toward the east. Now we will speak about the chambers of the eastern gate. That is, since he will be speaking to us about the chambers of the western portion, this means that whoever enters, enters from the eastern side, so he sees the chambers, so to speak, from the outside. But there were similarly chambers on the inside as well.
Now he will not touch upon them, he will not speak about them, and therefore he wishes to speak about the chambers of the gate, the chambers about which we spoke earlier, three on the right and three on the left, which were toward the east, on the side of whoever comes from the east side, from the front, whoever comes from the eastern side. They were three on this side and three on that side. "The three of them had one measure." One measure for the three of them we already saw, for the inner portion of each chamber was six cubits by six cubits. This is one measure for the three of them. "And the posts had one measure on this side and on that side."
Likewise he tells you, one measure for the posts. There was also one measure for the posts that were on this side and on that side. What does this mean? The chambers, as we will see further on, each chamber was six cubits by six cubits, and separating between them was a wall of five cubits. This we already saw above. There was a passageway between them. Between one chamber and the next there was a passageway. Not only between one chamber and the next was there a passageway, for we explained that we enter beneath a sort of hall, which is really the gate, above which was covered with the covering of the gate.
And to the right we turn into the chambers. So there was also a passageway on the right for whoever entered the gate, he could turn to the right into the three chambers on the right and pass from one chamber to the next. There was a passageway, an opening, from one chamber to the next. And the same on his left side. He would see the opening of the left trio of chambers, which is really the trio located on the north side, which if we wish to be precise is the right-hand trio of chambers, yes? The right-hand trio of chambers, this is the trio that was located on the north side; earlier we spoke about the left-hand trio.
And then he would see an entrance to the chambers, and he could also enter the chambers on the right side, on the north side, and here too he passes from one chamber to the next. Now pay attention, until the final portion there is an exit there. It emerges, then, that this is not only a passageway from one chamber to the next, but it is also a place from which one could exit from the chambers to the outside, not only through the gate, but one could also exit to the other side. And then here, pay attention, at the exit to the outside there were some posts.
Just as there was on the side by which we come, in the gate itself, whoever came from the west direction would see on the right and on the left posts, two pillars, so too at the exit from the chambers there were posts, there were two pillars with an arch like this, which was at the exit from the chambers toward the outside. So this is what he is speaking about here: "And the chambers of the gate toward the east were three on this side and three on that side," on the east side, three on the right and three on the left; three on the right refers to the north side and three on the left refers to the south side.
"The three of them had one measure, and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side." And also at the opening of the exit from the chambers there were posts, and they had a measure of a cubit by a cubit, rounded, on both sides.
Let us note, sometimes we will see it written "mipoh" with a hei, sometimes we will see "mipo" written with a vav. According to the plain meaning there is no difference between them. According to the mystical meaning, certainly there is presumably something in this, for in every matter of the Temple there are matters of secrets, and here it is written with a hei, here with a vav, and whoever follows will see that in this chapter there are many instances of keri and ketiv (the read and written forms). And it is known that the matter of keri and ketiv is also full of hints and secrets. We do not enter into all of this; we are learning a plain explanation to understand the depiction of the Temple, and therefore we will not enter into all these matters.
For these matters I myself also do not know; one needs to look in the books to see whether someone spoke about this and detailed the matter of why here a vav and here a hei, when in every place it may be that it stems from some particular variation. The Malbim does not speak about this matter, and therefore we will relate to what is written "mipoh" with a hei just as what is written "mipo" with a vav, or the reverse, and as far as we are concerned it is the same thing.
"And he measured the breadth of the entrance of the gate, ten cubits; the length of the gate, thirteen cubits." Now he measures the gate itself. That is, whoever enters the gate, we are speaking about the central gate, whoever comes from the east side, from the eastern direction, he enters, the gate, he measures its breadth, it is ten cubits. The length of the gate is thirteen cubits. Why do we now see an additional measurement? For we saw earlier that he already measured the breadth of the gate, and also in the previous measurement we saw that the breadth of the gate was eight cubits.
According to what we explained earlier this is self-understood, since although the breadth of the gate was ten cubits, but since we had the posts on the right and on the left, each such post being really the walls, the pillars that rise up, each of them was a cubit, so it emerges then that we are left with an opening of eight cubits. But the breadth was really a breadth of ten cubits. Likewise now he measures for us the portion of the hall, meaning the space of the gate itself.
The space of the gate itself is thirteen cubits. Earlier he counted it for us as six cubits plus six cubits. But we explained, six cubits is up to the door, the door itself a cubit, afterward six cubits in the inner portion, these were the thresholds, and when you combine them you get in total a space of thirteen cubits. So then here he counted the space in its entirety. The space in its entirety is thirteen cubits in length; whoever enters, facing him there are thirteen cubits length divided into six, one, and six, and from right to left there are ten cubits breadth.
"And a border before the chambers, one cubit; and one cubit was the border on that side; and the chamber was six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side."
Cubits on this side and six cubits on that side. "And a border before the chambers, one cubit." Now he will speak to us about the side where the chambers were attached to the wall of the outer wall. For when we come from outside, we see first the wall of the chambers. I do not see the wall of the enclosure. However, pay attention, the chambers were not for the entire height of the wall, so above the chambers one does indeed see the wall of the enclosure, but in any case, whoever came, facing him he would see the wall of the chambers. Now the wall of the chambers, from our side it is a wall, but from the other side of the wall of the chambers, we had the enclosure wall. The enclosure wall itself was the other side of the wall of the chambers. About this we will now speak. "And a border before the chambers," the border of the chambers means the chambers, their border on the inner portion, when we are speaking more toward the west, not the eastern border for whoever comes from outside, but on the inner portion, one cubit. "And one cubit was the border on that side." What does one cubit mean? For when we speak about the wall itself, the wall itself was thirteen cubits. So how does he speak to me about one cubit? We are speaking about the portion that is really the wall. The answer is that in fact the wall was thirteen cubits, but there was another cubit that protruded, which was like a special cubit for the border of the chamber. It was not a cubit along the entire length of the wall, but only where there were chambers, on the side of the wall there was another protrusion a bit toward the outside, and this served as the wall of the chamber on the west side. About this he is speaking here. "And a border before the chambers, one cubit, and one cubit was the border on that side," the meaning is, if you come, then on the right side you see toward the north, there is such a border, meaning a cubit that is really the wall that connects to the enclosure wall, and another cubit on the other side, the wall that connects to the enclosure wall. And about this he tells you, a border on this side, a border on that side.
"And the chamber was six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side." What is "and the chamber was six cubits on this side, six cubits on that side"? The Malbim says, we are not speaking here about the interior of the chamber, for the interior of the chamber was six cubits by six cubits, this we already saw above. So what is "and the chamber was six cubits on this side, six cubits on that side"? He explains what we explained earlier, that in fact between one chamber and the next a wall of five cubits separated. This was between one chamber and the next. But the last wall, which really constitutes the wall of the last chamber on the right, and the wall of the last chamber on the left, and likewise the wall of the first chamber, for if I now enter through the gate, there is a wall of a chamber on my right and there is a wall of a chamber on my left. These walls, in fact these four walls, are outer walls. They are not walls separating between one chamber and the next, they are the outer walls. The outer walls were six cubits wide. They were not five cubits wide like the middle walls between one chamber and the next; they were six cubits wide. There was one additional cubit. This is what he says, "and the chamber was six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side." The chamber had walls that were six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side, yes? And it is impossible to explain, says the Malbim, that this refers back to the space of the chamber, for the space of the chamber was already discussed above. So what is he speaking about? About the wall of the chamber. That the wall of the chamber was, on the right side six cubits, on the left side six cubits, and so too in the chambers on the other side, the right side six cubits and the left side six cubits.
"And he measured the gate from the roof of the one chamber to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits, door against door." The three chambers that are located on each side belong to the gate. And therefore, therefore they were called "ta" (chamber). For "ta" is from the language of "ata." "Ata" means "came." "Ata boker," the watchman said, "ata boker" (morning comes). "Ata" means "came," it is from the language of coming. "Ata," went and came. So "ta" is from the language of coming, from the language of "ata," meaning the place through which they would arrive or enter, and this was, as we saw, from the gate on the right and from the gate on the left. So now he measures the gate; when it is written "he measures the gate," the meaning is he measures the chambers, since the chambers are called the chambers of the gate. And he measures this from roof to roof. Now, this measurement is a breadth of twenty-five cubits. Pay attention, we are not measuring the length, we are really measuring the breadth. Which means, that when you enter through the gate, we said on the right there are chambers, on the left there are chambers, three, they are long. I am not speaking now about their length. I am speaking now from the point where I enter, how far I advance until I finish the chamber and the wall. About this he tells you, this was twenty-five cubits. How is the calculation actually? Let us see, this was very simple. Since if we do the calculation, we have the wall itself, it is thirteen cubits wide. That is the wall itself. Besides this, we also had another addition to the wall toward the chambers, we said, of another cubit. The wall protruded, if we measure from inside toward outside, it protruded toward the chambers another cubit. We reached a measure of fourteen cubits. Afterward, we continue and measure toward outside, we continue measuring the chamber itself. The chamber itself is six cubits. How much have we gotten together? We have gotten together already twenty cubits. If we measure the outer wall it is another five cubits. The outer wall of the chamber toward outside, whoever comes from outside, this is the thickness of the wall, we reached twenty-five. It emerges then, that when I measure the chambers, not the length of the three chambers, but the breadth, from the moment I enter until I pass the wall, you reached twenty-five cubits. This is what he tells us here. "And he measured the gate from the roof of the one chamber to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits, door against door."
What is the meaning of "door against door"? The Malbim says that the meaning is that all the chambers had openings, they had openings one opposite the other. This means, all the chambers were open. If you enter from the gate, then as we explained earlier, you enter to the right, you enter into a chamber. You continue, you have an opening to the next chamber. You continue, you have an opening to the third chamber. You continue, you have an opening to the outside. And this is what we say, that all the openings were opening against opening. The same on the left. You enter from the left side, you have the opening of the first chamber, and from it to the following chambers until the outer opening. So that whoever entered from the gate could enter to the right and left into the chambers. And likewise it was possible also the reverse. It was possible to come from the chambers, from the outermost chamber, the right one, and the outermost left one, and to enter inward, to pass chamber after chamber, until reaching the space of the gate. So that the entrance could be from both sides. Let us note here, one need not be precise about what is written "petach neged patach" (door against door), since when we have a segol and it appears at the end, either at the end of a verse or at an etnachta, then it receives a kamatz. Like "efes kesef" (no money), we do not say "kesef," we say "kasef." Or "lechem" (bread), we do not say "lechem," we say "lachem." Why? Because it is located either at an etnachta which is like the end of a verse, or at the end of a verse, therefore it receives a kamatz. This rule is not always true, but in most cases it is so. For example, "and the children of Israel made the Pesach" - "haPasach," and not "haPesach." There there is a question because it is not the end of a verse and not an etnachta. So there there is a question why it is written in this form. But in any case, let us know, this is the rule and therefore also here from this stems the change.
"And he made the posts sixty cubits, even unto the post of the court in the gate round about." "And he made the posts sixty cubits." Now he will speak to us about the posts, which he will actually explain to us. The chambers, which we mentioned earlier, extend from the side of the gate forty cubits to each side. This we will see in the next verse. And afterward we have the wall. Now he makes posts that extend from the place where the chambers end up to sixty cubits, and they stand in a straight line with the chambers. That is, when you arrive, on the right you see chambers, on the left you see chambers. If you now do not enter, do not enter through the gate, but go along the chambers, for example on the right, from outside, when the chambers end, posts begin. What are the posts? This was made in a very beautiful decorative form, in the form of arches of gates. That is, after the chambers end, arches of gates begin in a straight line with the chamber. And this was on the right and this was on the left. And how many such gates were there? About this he tells you, we had sixty posts. "And he made the posts sixty cubits." In fact we had there sixty gates. The Malbim gives several possibilities to explain. The Malbim says, there was a gap between one post and the next of a cubit. And then he says, then, it emerges that this held in total one hundred nineteen cubits. Since each post, meaning each gate with an arch, is a cubit, and another gap between them a cubit, you reached in total sixty, sixty gates, and another fifty-nine gaps between them, you reached one hundred nineteen cubits. So it was on the right side and so too it was on the left side. The Malbim says, if we do the calculation, it emerges that this reaches a situation where these gates covered the entire eastern wall up to the western wall on this side, and up to the southern wall on this side, and the northern on this side. For whoever came, these gates would cover on the right and would cover on the left the entire wall. And their purpose was so that they would constitute the replacement for the soreg (lattice barrier). As is known, in the Temple there was a soreg. The soreg was intended to keep away, so that the gentiles would not enter inward. For this purpose they made the soreg, on it were inscriptions, as we spoke in our sermons for Chanukah, that this was one of the things that provoked Titus, this matter of the soreg on which was written that a gentile shall not approach, and so forth. In any case, then as a replacement for the soreg this was. There are those who say that this was on all sides, but the Malbim says no, this soreg was only on the eastern side. Thus explains the Malbim.
The continuation of the verse: "even unto the post of the court in the gate round about." The Malbim explains that the pivot of the gate was fixed between the two thresholds of the gate. As we explained earlier, there was a threshold for whoever came from outside, there was a threshold for whoever came from inside, which is the bottom, which is really six cubits on this side, six cubits on this side. In the middle we said there was the door. This was really the gate. It was in the middle, a cubit wide. About this he now speaks here. "Even unto the post of the court in the gate round about." The Malbim says, this was the gate that was there in the middle. We do not know to where the gate opened, whether it opened to the outside or to the inside. Here he comes and teaches us that it opened toward the court side, toward the inside. It rotated on its pivot. It was not two gates that opened toward the inside, it was only one gate. And this gate was ten cubits long, for as we explained, the breadth of the gate's entrance was ten cubits. And it stood in the middle, and it opened to the right side, and rotated on its pivot. And this is what he tells us, that the post of the court was fixed at the opening of the hall, and there they stood face to face, a post on this side and a post on that side, a cubit apart. As we explained earlier, whoever came from the hall side inward would see that there is a post on the right and a post on the left, which is really the form of the opening, yes, rounded, with pillars on the right and on the left. This is what he tells us, "even unto the post of the court in the gate round about." It would reach, the door would reach, rotate and reach almost up to the post. That is, whoever entered would see here the door, and this door would rotate and reach almost up to the posts, but it did not reach up to the posts, there was a gap of a cubit, and only then after this there were the pillars on the right and on the left that were on the inside. The Malbim explains that the idea of the opening of the gate that does not reach up to the edge, is because if the gate reached up to the edge, for we will soon see that there were also chambers on the inside, and if the gate reaches up to the edge, it would close the windows of the chambers. We will soon see that the chambers that were on the inside had windows toward the outside. So now, if it reached up to the chamber itself, it would close its window. And it would also close its opening, for the chambers that were inside also had openings. So it would also close its opening. Therefore it reached but not really up to the edge, a cubit remained, and this cubit constituted a gap, and in this cubit, yes, there was the opening and the window.
"And upon the front of the gate of entrance, unto the front of the porch of the inner gate, fifty cubits." "Upon the front of the gate of entrance." We already explained that the three chambers on the right and the three chambers on the left are considered part of the gate. We mention this in the Kinot, we say "shomem iton veTadi." Iton and Tadi, these are two gates that were in the Temple. Yes, in any case, it is called the gate of Iton, because the "iton" is not with an ayin, it is not "iton" (newspaper). It is "iton," it is like we explained "ta," it is from the language of "ata," "iton" is from the language of "ata." The gate of Iton means a gate through which one enters, it is the gate of entrance. And how, what was the size of this gate? About this he tells us, that the gate including the gate, that is, the chambers including the gate, were fifty cubits. So first let us do the calculation, how much the chambers themselves would include. If we do the calculation, if you remember we said, that from the last chamber, we saw that the wall of the chamber is six cubits. The chamber itself another six, how much have we gotten? Twelve. Afterward another two separating walls in the middle, that is ten, five and five. How much have we gotten? Twenty-two. Afterward another two chambers that we have, each of them six. How much have we gotten? Another twelve, thirty-four. Afterward we have another six, which is really the last wall before the gate, since we saw that this was a thicker wall, at the edges there were thicker walls of six and not five, we got together forty. The gate itself, for we already said that it is ten cubits, we got fifty. This is what he tells us, "unto the front of the porch of the inner gate, fifty cubits." If you count this together with the inner gate, it is fifty cubits. And if you count from the other side and again together with the gate, you also get fifty cubits. Without the gate it is forty on the right, forty on the left, and the gate itself another ten cubits. Let us note that here it is mentioned, "and upon the front of the gate of entrance, unto the front of the porch of the inner gate." The Malbim says that here two things are written. Until now we spoke about the chambers that were on the outside. We already mentioned above that corresponding to this there were also on the inside. Therefore he tells you, know that when I count for you the length and I told you that it is fifty, this is not only regarding what we are speaking about the chambers that are on the outside. Corresponding to them there were chambers also from the wall inward, and they too were this length of fifty cubits. And this is what he says, "and upon the front of the gate of entrance," this is whoever was on the outside, the entrance, whoever comes from outside, facing him fifty cubits. "Unto the front of the porch of the inner gate," and also whoever looks from the porch of the inner gate, meaning comes from the direction of the porch, from the inside, and whoever looks from there, sees also that there were chambers exactly this length, a length of fifty cubits including the gate. It emerges then, that what we saw from outside, we also saw from inside. The Malbim already mentions here, that we will see further on that there was, there was a pavement, in the inner portion there was a pavement, a pavement meaning a higher paved place, and this portion too was outside the chambers, it protruded outward, and this the Malbim explains to us more further on.
"And there were narrow windows to the chambers and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches; and windows were round about inward; and upon each post were palm trees." "And there were narrow windows to the chambers." There were windows that were made to bring the light into the chambers. What is "atumot" (narrow/closed)? The Malbim explains that they were closed with glass. There are those who explain "atumim," like it is written in the Temple of Solomon, "windows broad and narrow." The meaning is that on one side they were wide, on the other side narrow, so that it was more convenient to see from one side and not from the other, to tell you that He does not need its light. But the Malbim explains that what is meant here by "atumim," "atumim" means closed with a frame of glass, meaning with a glass window. And they were to the chambers, meaning in the eastern wall of the chambers. That is, whoever came from outside would not see a solid wall. He would see a wall in which there were windows. And these windows were three windows, each chamber had a window. And then this thing created a situation where the chambers that we saw earlier, each one six by six, each chamber received in fact a window leading outside, and through this the light entered into the chambers. And this is what he says here, "narrow windows to the chambers." The meaning is windows, this is an opening, and they were closed with glass, and this is to bring the light into the chambers. "And to their posts." What is "to their posts"? The Malbim explains that the meaning is that at the side of the openings, there stood two posts. "Eleihema" is from the language of the posts that were there, "the posts, those." And we explained above that the chambers also had openings on both sides. Opening opposite opening opposite opening up to the outside. On the right, and opening opposite opening up to the outside on the left. And so too in the chamber that was opposite the gate, adjacent to the gate, it too had an opening, as we explained. And then one could see, whoever enters the gate sees to the right and to the left, sees up to the edge, up to the outside. He could see through the openings. He tells you, know that besides the openings, there were also windows to the outside. On the right and on the left there were also windows to the outside, and also inside there were windows. So there were not only openings, but there were also windows, and these windows were also intended to bring in the light from outside. And this is what he says, "to their posts," meaning at the opening of the outside side, in the eastern wall through which he enters. And so he tells you, there was to the arches. And so it was for the arches, meaning, also for the windows that were toward the porch of the gate, they were open also to the court. There too there were windows. So that you should not think that there were windows only for whoever came from outside, also whoever looked from inside, from the courtyard, would see windows in the chambers that were on the inside. They too had windows and these windows were open toward the court. And likewise they were open round about, "and upon each post palm trees." The meaning is, both for the posts of the court, both for the posts of the chambers, there were palm trees. The meaning of palm trees, meaning like decorations in the form of a palm. This is the meaning of "timorim," from the language of "temarim" (dates). In the sixty posts that we saw from outside, which we explained that after the chambers ended, then on the right side and on the left side there were arches, which say not to enter inward. Above them there were also decorations. You will see in the drawings that they draw, one sees decorations of dates, of palms, which was also part of the ornamentation of the Temple.
"Then he brought me into the outer court, and, lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about; thirty chambers were upon the pavement." Now he brings him into the outer court. As you recall, we enter through the eastern gate, and then we have the great court, which is really called the outer court. Now he counts for us that there are thirty chambers. The Malbim says, when we contemplate and try to understand where the thirty chambers are, we have difficulty understanding. Because we are speaking that the chambers are located, as I enter from the eastern gate, located on the right and on the left. There the chambers are located. And when we try to understand how you reach there the number thirty, this is very puzzling. And the difficulty is because on the right and on the left we have, these chambers are thirty-four cubits. So if you do a calculation of thirty chambers, how do you fit thirty chambers into thirty-four cubits? And therefore he says, what we need to explain is that there are two possibilities, and in fact to both possibilities the verse here intends. One possibility, that we are speaking about three gates. The meaning is, for we entered from the eastern gate, but to the same extent, just as from the eastern gate there are chambers on the right and on the left, there is also a gate on the north, and there is also a gate on the south, and there too there are chambers on the right and on the left. So when he counts for me the chambers, he really counts for me all the thirty chambers of all the three gates. And then the calculation emerges like this, that when he enters the gate, five chambers on the right, five chambers on the left, in the eastern gate. The same when he enters from the northern gate, five on the right, five on the left, we reached already twenty. The same in the southern gate, five on the right, five on the left, that is another ten, we reached thirty. Here we have in each gate ten chambers, about this he speaks here when he says that there are here thirty chambers upon the pavement. An additional possibility, the chambers themselves had three stories. And then it automatically emerges that if I speak about the ten chambers that are in each gate, when I speak about three stories, I reach together thirty chambers. Since in each story ten, we reached thirty chambers. And then it emerges then that the calculation here of the chambers, says the Malbim, is a correct calculation, whether we count all the gates, then we count only the lower chambers, you reached thirty, and whether we count in the gate through which he enters, the eastern gate, also the upper chambers, you also reached thirty. And therefore he told us in a general manner thirty chambers, in order to include both this calculation and that calculation, for however you count, this thing emerges precise. "And the pavement was by the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates, the lower pavement." "The pavement was by the side of the gates." The pavement was already a portion located on the inside, in the outer court. After he entered through the eastern gate, then on the right side and on the left side we had the chambers, and there before them was a pavement. This pavement was a place that was a bit higher than the area of the general outer court. This place was called the pavement. And the pavement, its length, what he counts for us, "by the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates." Its length was like the length of the chambers. Like the length of the chambers, so too was the length of the pavement. Now, if the chambers had a breadth of four cubits, now when we speak about the pavement, the pavement is six cubits. So the chambers sit on part of the pavement, they sit on four. It emerges then that in front of the chambers there were another two cubits along the entire length of the pavement. Where is this located? Again, we enter the eastern gate, after we passed the wall, on the right and on the left the chambers are located, when in front of them toward the west, there is another pavement along the entire length of two cubits. This is the pavement by the side of the gates. Let us note that this pavement he calls the lower pavement. The Malbim says, why does he define it as the lower pavement? Because also in the wall of the outer court opposite the porch and the Sanctuary, there too we will see that there was a pavement and chambers. Just as there was in the court of the Court of Israel, also in the inner court. Since this is so, then he tells you, I will speak here about the lower pavement, for there one already ascends, it is higher, it is called the upper pavement. Therefore he mentions here a lower pavement, for he wants to tell you specifically the pavement of the first entrance that one enters, which is the pavement of the outer court, what is called the Women's Court.
"Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, a hundred cubits, eastward and northward." Now he comes to measure the breadth of the space of the Women's Court from east to west. That is, as you recall, he enters from the east side, what he sees before him immediately is the Women's Court. He wants to check the size of the Women's Court, how much there is as he continues to advance toward the west, as he continues to advance to the inner court. Now, the inner court had a wall. Imagine like a backward chet, with the pavement of the roof facing downward, and another backward chet within it. The backward chet on the inside, this is the place where the inner court was there. The backward chet on the outside, this is the place from where we now entered into the outer court. What was the distance between them? What was the distance between the wall of the outer court, of the Women's Court, to the wall of the inner court? About this he tells you, a hundred cubits. "Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, a hundred cubits, eastward and northward." Why does he want to tell you "eastward and northward," and what does he want to say "then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate"? The Malbim explains, that if we wanted to measure from wall to wall, we cannot measure. And why? Because as we explained earlier, as we entered on the right and on the left there are chambers. These chambers are already after the walls, so you cannot measure from the wall. Therefore in order to measure from the wall, what would you have needed to do? You would have needed to go to the right side and go around the chambers until you reach the wall of the outer wall. And from there to measure up to the wall of the outer wall of the inner court. And then you have a precise measure from wall to wall. But if you measure directly on the right and on the left, the measure is not precise, for you have the chambers, the chambers also take up space. And this is what he reminds us here, that this was after forty cubits on the right and on the left where the chambers ended there, from there he measured from the eastern and northern wall. The meaning is, that after he measured on the east side, for he enters from the east side, after he measured from the east side, he measures also on the north side. And he sees that there too there is from the northern wall up to the inner court also a hundred cubits. And we will see after this also from the southern wall up to the inner court a hundred cubits. So that this chet that we defined as being within the second chet, this chet is at an equal distance from all sides. It is located at a distance relative to the outer chet, it is equal from all sides. That is, a hundred cubits on the right, a hundred cubits on the left, a hundred cubits in front, when we enter through the eastern gate.