יחזקאל, פרק מ״א, פסוק כ״ד

The entrances to the Temple required a highly advanced architectural design to account for the massive thickness of its walls. Instead of standard doors, the entryways featured a complex mechanism of double, folding doors that allowed them to open and perfectly cover the exposed space within the doorway. Both the entrance to the main sanctuary and the inner holy space utilized two sets of doors, an inner pair and an outer pair [רש״י, רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. These doors did not simply swing open; they rotated on their hinges and folded back onto themselves [מצודת ציון, מלבי״ם, מצודת דוד].

There are two primary ways to understand how this intricate system operated. One approach suggests that the outer doors opened into the entryway to cover the walls, while the inner doors swung inside the sanctuary itself. Opening inward served a specific purpose: to conceal the wall directly behind the doors, as the entire interior was plated with gold except for that hidden section [רש״י, רד״ק].

However, a second approach, which offers a more precise fit for this specific architectural vision, maintains that both the inner and outer doors remained entirely within the entryway space. To function inside such a limited area, each door was built with joints and hinges that allowed it to fold in half, much like connected wooden panels. Originally five cubits wide, these doors reduced to half their width when folded. As they opened toward one another, they precisely covered the bare thickness of the entryway walls [רש״י, רד״ק, מצודת דוד].

This unique folding mechanism, where each main door was actually composed of two smaller sections folding backward, represents the future architectural plan for the Third Temple. In this future structure, the doors will be perfectly tailored to the dimensions of the entrance and will move exclusively within its space, showcasing a more advanced design than what existed in the Second Temple [מלבי״ם].