What is "ha'Ari'el"?
Rashi: The place of the Ma'arachah
Radak (14): After four Amos of height, the Mizbe'ach widens. That place is called ha'Ari'el. Chazal (Zohar Tzav 33) said that the Mizbe'ach is called ha'Ari'el, because the Kadosh fire that descends from Shamayim crouches on it like an Ari (lion).
How big was ha'Ari'el?
Rashi: The place of the Ma'arachah was 24 Amos by 24.
Malbim (17): The Stam Tana of Midos is R. Eliezer ben Yakov. He holds that the entire Mizbe'ach and its ramp were in the south. The ramp was 30 long 1 ; if the Ma'arachah was 24, and the Mizbe'ach [at the Yesod] was 32 2 wide, they could not fit in the south in Bayis Shelishi 3 , in which Chatzer ha'Penimi is only 100 wide (the south is only 50 wide)! Rather, he explains that the top of the Mizbe'ach was 12 from side to side 4 , including the corners and the Kohanim's walkway 5 . At the bottom it was 16, including the Sovev and Yesod. The entire Mizbe'ach and the ramp fit in the south.
Zevachim 62b: The ramp was 32 long, but two of those Amos were over the Yesod and Sovev, so it added 30 Amos to the Mizbe'ach's length.
Malbim: Rather, R. Yosi says that it was 32; he holds that the Mizbe'ach was in the north, and the ramp in the south. Also the one who says that it was in the middle can say that 16 Amos of it were in the south, and the ramp, and four Amos remained until the wall in the south.
One could answer that R. Eliezer ben Yakov taught about Bayis Sheni; it was unlike Bayis Shelishi! However, it is better to say that he equates the Mizbe'ach's size and place in both Batim; he holds that both of them were 12 wide, unlike R. Yosi. (PF)
Malbim: The Vilna Gaon explained so, even though a Mishnah says that it was 12 in each direction, and 24 in all. That Mishnah is R. Yosi; the Vilna Gaon explains like R. Eliezer ben Yakov, like the Rambam rules.
Perhaps he explains "Al Arba'as Reva'av" to mean that in every direction it was 12, i.e. a square. "Ha'Azarah Arba Esre" (17) must refer to the Mizbe'ach's width at the Sovev. (PF)
What do we learn from "Al Arba'as Reva'av"?
