Marko Jauhiainen, «The Measuring of the Sanctuary Reconsidered (Rev 11,1-2)», Vol. 83 (2002) 507-526
The act of measuring in Rev 11,1-2 does not portray the Church as spiritually protected but physically vulnerable, as normally thought. Not only are there lexical and interpretive difficulties with the traditional view, it is also not supported by the OT and extra-biblical evidence commonly adduced. Reading two kai/j differently and recognizing an allusion to Ezek 8:16 LXX addresses both the lexical and interpretive issues. The act of measuring is used to communicate the fact that contrary to Ezek 8–9, this time God will not abandon his earthly sanctuary, though idolatry among his people will still be judged.
text appears to support the claim that measuring signifies protection. Certainly here any idea of measuring is at best implicit, and the notion of protection only derives from the fact that the builder of the building is God himself30.
"Stretching a [measuring] line" (wq h+n in Hebrew; usually translated as e/)ktei/nw me/tron) belongs to the vocabulary of construction (Isa 44,13; Job 38,5; Zech 1,16; cf. Jer 31,38-40), but the expression can also be used metaphorically to signify destruction. In 2 Kgs 21,13, Yahweh promises to stretch over Jerusalem "the line of Samaria and the level of the house of Ahab", and in Isa 34,11 over Edom "a line of desolation and stones of emptiness" (cf. Lam 2,8). The "line" and "level" can also signify Yahweh’s righteous standards, against which human works are measured (Isa 28,16-17; Amos 7,7-9)31. The kind of practice referred to in Mic 2,5 is less certain, but the "casting of the rope by lot" seems to describe the allotment of the land among God’s people.
The remaining three texts normally cited in support of the traditional view actually use a verb which can be translated "to measure" or "to measure off" (Hebrew ddm, Greek diametre/w). In 2 Sam 8,2, the defeated Moabites are separated into two groups: those who are put to death, and those who are kept alive. Both the LXX and the MT suggest that the separation was somehow carried out with "ropes" or "the rope", respectively, a procedure perhaps akin to what is described in Mic 2,532. While it may be argued that "measuring off" or "dividing up" especially in this context connotes separation, it does not in itself imply protection or destruction any more than does, say, the use of the verb "to lie down" or the noun "rope" in this same verse. Moreover, in the absence of clear verbal or thematic links with Rev 11,1-2 it seems very unlikely that John’s audience, in their search for meaning, would have recalled 2 Sam 8,2 and, on the basis of that verse, concluded that the act of measuring must connote security or protection33.