The Temple Measurements and the Sacred Cubit

Abstract

In 2 Chronicles 3:2, Solomon instructed that the Temple be built in cubits “after the first measure”. This implies an ancient standard and the cubit was one of the most widely used measurements in the ancient world. It was considered to be a natural measurement. Deuteronomy 3:11 describes the bedstead of Og, the King of Bashan: “nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man”. To measure the bed with a cubit was to measure it with the length of the forearm from the elbow joint to the end of the middle finger. The body as a measurement was a simple and ever handy measuring stick. This simple measurement is inscribed in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The hieroglyph for a cubit is the image of the forearm, and the cubit can be divided into smaller parts; there are also measurements of the body, of palms and of digits.