The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Of the Situation of Mount MORIAH: foreign
MORIAH *2 Chron. 3.1. Iſ. 2.2.The Mountaine of the Lords Houſe, from whence ſoever it had its denomination (about which there are various conjectures) it is certain, it had its deſignation for that uſe and honour to which it was imployed,*1 Chron. 21.26. & 22.1. by fire from Heaven, and of old time,*Gen: 22.2, &c. by Abrahams offering up his ſon Iſaac there in a figure.[a]R: Sol: in Gen. 22. Some are of opinion that it was called Moriah from foreign Inſtruction, becauſe from thence there went forth a law and doctrine for all Iſrael: [b]Onkel ibid.others conceive the name to have been derived from the word foreign Mor which betokeneth Myrrh and ſpicery, becauſe it was to be the only place of offering incenſe:[c]Fuller miſſel. lib. 2. cap. 15. others from foreign Mor…eh jah, The Lord will be viſible, becauſe the Sonne of God was to appeare there in humane fleſh. And ſo they all repute, that it carried a notation predictive, or referring to ſomething that was to occurre there in time to come. But if we will apply the etymologie of it to that …i…e preſent, when it and the Country about it, did firſt take that name of the land of Moriah, we may conſtrue it, The Land of a teacher of God, (as John 3.2.) or the Land of the Lord my teacher, as being the Territory of Sem, or Melchiſedek, the great teacher of the waies of the Lord, (while the Canaanites round about did walke in blindneſſe, and were led by teachers onelyonly of deluſion) and the Land which the Lord his teacher had deſigned to him in the prediction of his father Noah.
[d]Ioſeph. An. 114. lib. 15. c. 14.This Mouut was ſo ſeated in the midſt of Jeruſalem, that the City lay foreign, in form of a Theatre round about it.[e]Vid. Ezek. 40.2 & Kamch. ibid. & Toſaph. ad Kelim. On the South lay Jeruſalem it ſelfe built upon Mount Acra, and Acra naturally higher then Moriah, [f]Ioſeph. de Bell. lib. 5. c. 13.but much levelled by the Aſmonean family in the time of their reigne, and the valley betwixt, well raiſed and filled up with earth, that both the Temple might over-top the buildings on Acra, and that the coming up from the City to the Temple, might be the more plaine and eaſie, compare Luke 3.5.[g]Pſal. 48.2. A…en Ezra ibid. … On the North ſide lay Mount Sion furniſhed with the gallant buildings of the Palace, Court, and City of David. Theſe two Mountaines Acra and Sion, and the Cities built upon them (the London and Weſtminſter, City, and Court of the Land of Canaan) did ſo decline and deſcend upon their South-eaſt and North-eaſt points, that on the Eaſt and Weſt of the Temple they met and ſaluted each other in a valley, having alſo a deep valley betwixt them and the Temple on every ſide, but only on the South, where it was the leſſe deep becauſe of the levelling, mentioned immediately before.
Although this Mount Moriah were not ſo high of it ſelfe as the two hills on either ſide it, yet was it of a great pitch and ſteepneſſe[h]Id. de Bell. lib. 5. c. 14. foreign A ſtrong heap, ſteep, and deep on every ſide. And it was a diſcerning note of a young male child,[i]Hagigab per.1. That he was bound to appear before the Lord, at the three feſtivals, if …e were once come to be able, to go up the Mountaine of the Temple holding his father by the hand.
This Mount fell ſo in the diviſion of the Land, that part of it was in the lot of one Tribe, and part of it in another;[k]Aveth R. Na…han per. 34. Zevachin pe. 5. in Geinara. For moſt part of the Courts was in the portion of Judah, but the Altar, Porch, Temple, and moſt holy place were in the portion of Benjamin. And that part that lay in the portion of Judah was made hollow under foreign with arches built upon arches underneath, (ſaith Maimony)[l]Beth …abbekirah per. 5. becauſe of the Tent of defilement.
Now this that he calleth The Tent of defilement, might very well be ſuppoſed to be a Sinke, or common Shore, made under ground, and arched over for the conveyance of all the filth and waſh of the Courts away, (and that there was ſuch a thing we ſhall ſee hereafter) but he explaineth himſelfe in another place, and ſaith that foreign [m]Maym. Parah per. 2.All the Mountaine of the houſe (that is, the outmoſt ſpace) and all the other Courts were hollow under, becauſe of an abyſſe or deep grave. Now the Talmudicks uſe to call a ſinke, unſeen, or unſuſpected grave, foreign [n]Talm Bab. Parah per. …. gloſſ. ibid.An abyſſe grave, foreign, in the Goſpell language, Luke 11.44. And ſo they call an unſeen or unknowne uncleaneneſſe, foreign [o]Nazir. per. … & Maym. in Biath Mikd… per. 4.an abyſſe of uncleaneneſſe, and they oppoſe to it foreign An uncleaneneſſe knowne of. Wherefore that they might be ſure, that there ſhould be no graves ſecretly made in any of the Courts of the Temple, by which they might be defiled, they arched all the Courts under ground, ſo as that there were foreign arches upon arches (as my Author expreſſeth it, which he explaineth in another[p]Id. in Parah per. 3. place, in another ſtory of the like nature) foreign one arch ſet upon two arches, ſo that the feet of an arch ſtood upon two arches that were under it. And ſo it was either impoſſible to bury above the arch for want of ſoile, or if it were poſſible to bury below the arches, it was deep and farre enough from defiling.