The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 32
CHAP. XXIX. The Gate, and Houſe Nitſots foreign. The houſe of Stone veſſels.
WE are now come to the gate that was moſt Eaſt of all the three on this North ſide, and it bare the double name of[a]Mid. per. 1. the Gate Nitſots and[b]Ibid. per. 2. the Gate of the Song. The word Nitſots foreign betokeneth properly ſparkling, as Eſai. 1.31. Ezek. 1.7, &c. and ſo it ſignifies the beames of the Sun, which as it were ſparkle at his riſing or going forth. But ſometimes it is uſed by the Rabbins to ſignifie Drops, which are as it were the ſparks of water: And ſometime as Baal Aruch obſerves, Froth or Foame: Now to what ſenſe of all theſe to apply the name of this gate, and to give the reaſon of its denomination in that ſenſe, will prove more labour then profit, though the pains be put to the beſt improvement. I ſhall leave it upon theſe two conjectures in the ſenſe of Sparkling: That it was called the Sparkling gate, either becauſe the fire or flaming of the Altar ſhone upon it, it ſtanding in moſt oppoſition to the Altar of all the gates on this North ſide: or becauſe the South ſun did give a great dazling light upon the gilding of this gate, which it did by neither of the other on this North ſide, the height of the Temple interpoſing betwixt the Sun and them: But this gate lay clearly open to the South Sun and ſo the leaves of the gate being gilt, they gave a ſparkling and dazling reflexion into the Court.
But why it is called the gate of the Song, for ought I can finde, is left alſo onelyonly to conjecture: And I ſhall onelyonly offer this; Becauſe they that came in at this gate came in the very face of the Levites as they ſtood in their deskes ſinging, or playing on their inſtruments and making the Temple muſicke.
Joyning to the Eaſt ſide of this gate there was a building was called from the gate,[c]Mid. per. 1. The houſe Nitſots, in which the Prieſt a kept a guard in the upper roome, and the Levites in the lower: and betweene this building and the gate there was as it were a cloiſter paſſage, by which paſſage there was a way out of the very gate into the roome below where the Levites kept, & there was alſo a paſſage out of the cloyſter into the chel foreign: And ſo is that clauſe in the Talmuds ſurvey of the Temple to be under ſtood when it ſaith foreign:[d]Ibid. That this gate was like a cloiſter, and a chamber was built over it, where …he Prieſts kept ward above, and the Levites below, and it had a doore into the foreign Chel. The meaning of which paſſage may be conceived to be this: That as you went through this gate Nitſots out of the Court into the foreign Chel upon your right hand there was not a plaine wall for the ſide of the gate, as the other gates had, but that ſide was open with pillars (as the cloiſter ſides were of which we have ſpoken) and within thoſe pillars there was a little cloiſter or walke which was almoſt as long as the paſſage through the gate was broad: So that when you were in the hollow of the gate you might ſtep in between the pillars into this cloiſter, and ſo into the roome where the Levites kept their guard, and over this cloiſter and that roome and over the gate, was there a place where the Prieſts kept their ward, and this was one of the three places where they warded: Out of the Levites roome there was a doore into the Chel.
Theſe buildings ran thus from this gate of Nitſots Eaſtward a pretty way, and then there joined to them another building which raught to the very corner of the Court wall. And it was called foreign The houſe of ſtone: Not as if it were built of ſtone and the other buildings of wood, for the reſt were of ſtone alſo; nor as if this differed in manner of building from the reſt; but becauſe all the veſſels that were uſed in it were of earth or ſtone; And ſo the Gemara upon the treatiſe Joma explaineth it foreign [e]Joma per. 1. in Gemara.Before the Temple, at the North-eaſt corner was the chamber of the houſe of ſtone, and thither they put the Prieſt apart, that was to burne the red cow ſeven dayes before. And it is called the houſe of ſtone, becauſe the worke of it was in veſſels of dung, earth, or ſtone. In which paſſage they doe not only give the reaſon of the name, but they alſo give an evidence of the ſituation of this place, when they ſay it was foreign Before the Temple at the North-weſt corner. And as for the putting of the prieſt apart into this roome that we are about, who was to burne the red cow, there is the like record in the treatiſe Parah, in theſe words[f]Parah per. 3. in Miſhn. Seven dayes before the burning of the cow, they put apart the prieſt that was to burne her out of his houſe, into the chamber which was before the Temple in the Northeaſt, which was called the houſe of ſtone, and they beſprinkled him all the Seven dayes, &c.