I am in a Ministry college and I know there are two perfect cubes in the Bible. I was wondering what the first on was. I know that Revelation is the second one. I thank you so much. Glory to God.
Answer
I find one definite cube and two other possible cubes, depending on how you read the Hebrew. All relate to the Temple, and since the New Jerusalem in the Revelation is most likely a picture of the church, then it could be said that all cubes in the Bible relate to a Temple of God.
The one definite cube is the “Oracle,” or Most Holy Place, in Solomon’s Temple. “And within the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.” (1 Kings 6:20)
One of the possible cubes is in Ezra’s Temple (the Second Temple). “In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices are offered and burnt offerings are brought; its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits.” (Ezra 6:3) Since no depth of the space is given, it is logical to think that the depth and the breadth are equal, thus making this Temple a cube.
The other possible cube is in Ezekiel’s vision of the new Temple (most likely a spiritual temple such as the church, or possibly the Third Temple that is to be built by the hand of God, according to some Jewish sources). “And behold, there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area, and the length of the measuring reed in the man's hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length; so he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed; and the height, one reed. The American Standard Version uses the word “building” for “wall,” thus making the building a cube, albeit a very small cube for a building.
There may be some symbolism in the perfect cubes mentioned, or possibly not. The New Jerusalem is obviously a spiritual symbol. Otherwise you would have a city the size of Australia with walls of equal height. The meaning is obviously that it is vast beyond measure. The other cubes are more manageable, being thirty feet, ninety feet, and twelve feet to a side.