Further Buildings for the Use of the Priests (Ezekiel 42:1-12).
‘Then he brought me out to the outer court, the way towards the north, and he brought me to the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building, to the north.'
The heavenly visitant now took Ezekiel outside the sanctuary and across the temple yard to buildings on the far side of the temple yard, northward from ‘the building' (the sanctuary and its accompaniments). Compare here Ezekiel 42:10 where ‘the building' is closely connected with the temple yard. This involves referring ‘to the north' as connected with the direction of movement rather than as an indication of where the building was. These buildings were totally different from any yet described. The ‘outer court' here probably actually means what he has previously called the inner court, looked on as ‘outer' compared with the temple yard which seems to be called the ‘inner court' in Ezekiel 42:3. He probably did not have technical names fixed in his mind as we do. (LXX agrees and thus translates ‘the inner court'). Compare the use of ‘inner' in Ezekiel 42:15.
This is supported by Ezekiel 42:13-14 where they would seem to be for the retaining of the priestly garments because they were holy and could not leave the area of the sanctuary, and for the eating and disposal of the animal sacrifices because they too were holy.
However some argue that the building in mind was in the outer court. They interpret ‘the building towards the north' as being the chambers on the outer wall. Much depends on the meaning of ‘over against'. Are we to see it as meaning ‘adjacent to' or ‘opposite' or ‘in the general direction of'? In this case the rooms in Ezekiel 42:13-14 must be other rooms, for example in the back building, or in the side chambers mentioned in Ezekiel 41:5-7.