The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 2
CHAP. II. The meaſure of the floore of the Mountaine of the Temple.
foreign.
THE Compaſſe of the floore of Moriah [a]Ioſ. de Bell. lib 5. cap. 14.did increaſe by time and induſtry (ſomewhat though not much) above what it was when Solomon firſt began the Temple there: For[b]1 Chr. 21.8. & 22.1. whereas David by divine direction had built an Altar, and God by divine fire upon it, had fixed that very place for the place of the Altar of the Temple; the Mountaine poſſibly in ſome part of it, might want here and there ſomewhat upon the edge of it, by bendings and windings in, ſo that the ſquare for all the Courts which was intended, and which was to be meaſured from the Altar as from the ſtanding mark, could not runne even, but did meet with ſome ſmall hiat us through the want and pinching in of the hill in certaine places: whereupon Solomon and the ſucceeding generations, were ſtill encreaſing the ſpaciouſneſſe and capaciouſneſſe of it, by filling up the valley or precipice where the want was, inſomuch that the compaſſe and ſpace of it at the laſt, under the ſecond Temple was[c]Mid. per. 2. foreign five hundred cubits upon five hundred cubits, that is, a perfect ſquare of 500 cubits upon every ſide, 2000 cubits in the whole compaſs about:[d]Maym in Beth habbechir. per. 5. And this ſquare piece of ground was incloſed with a Wal. Not but that there was ſome more ſpace upon the floore of the Mount then barely this meaſure, for[e]Pisk. Te… …ph. ad Midd. foreign the Mount was farre larger then 500 cubits ſquare, but only ſo much was taken in for the holy ground.
This number of 500 cubits upon every ſide of the ſquare, is ſo agreeable to the number of[f]Ezek. 42.20. & 45 2. Ezekiel, that that helpeth to confirme and juſtifie this proportion and account: and although his large meaſure, do differ farre from this of ours, yet doth his cubit meaſure and ſtate the cubit that we have in hand, ſo well, that it would be very hard, if not impoſſible otherwiſe among the various ſizes of cubits that we meet withall, to determine any thing of it: For wee finde mention of the[g]Kimch. in Ezek. 45. & 43.13. & R. Sol. ibid. common cubit of five hand bredths,[h]Kelim. per. 17. of the middle of ſix, of the cubit halfe a fingers breadth larger then the cubit of Moſes, and the cubit halfe a finger bredth larger then that: but Ezekiel hath flinted his[i]Ezek. 4 5. cubit to be a cubit and a hand bredth (that is the common cubit of 5 hand bredths, and one hand bredth over;) And ſo the Jewes conclude upon the ſame meaſure in this received maxime: foreign [k]Kelim ubi ſupr. Kimch. in 2 Chron. 3.3.The cubit by which the Temple buildings were meaſured was 16 hand bredths, but the cubit by which the veſſels were meaſured was but five.
The hand bredth therefore being[l]Kimch. in M…ol in voce foreign the foure fingers bredth as they be laid cloſe together, which make but three inches, the cubit of ſix hand bredths, (which is the cubit we imbrace here) ariſeth to 18 inches or juſt halfe a yard, and ſo by this computation, the 500 cubits upon every ſide of the ſquare was 250 yards, and the whole compaſſe of the wall was a 1000 yards about.
[m]Antiq. lib. 15. c. 14.Joſephus hath alotted a juſt furlong to every ſide of the ſquare: foreign, and ſo hath made the whole compaſſe to be exactly halfe a mile about, reckoning according to the common cubit, and according to the meaſure beſt known among the Greeks and Romans, for whom he wrote.
And now if any one will take up the full circuit of the wall that encompaſſed the holy ground, according to our Engliſh meaſure, it will amount to halfe a mile, and about 166 yards. And whoſoever likewiſe will meaſure the ſquare of Ezekiel, chap. 42.20. he will finde it 6 times as large as this chap. 40.5. the whole amounting to three miles and an halfe, and about 140 yards, a compaſſe incomparably larger then Mount Moriah divers times over; and by this very thing is ſhewed that that is ſpiritually and myſtically to bee underſtood.
The deſcription of the Temple and City, that he hath given in the end of his book, as it was a prediction of ſome good to come, ſo was that prediction true, thus farre according to the very letter, namely that there ſhould be a Temple and a City newly built: and ſo it was a promiſe and a comfort to the people then in captivity, of their reſtoring againe to their owne land, and there injoying Jeruſalem and the Temple againe, as they had done in former time, before their removing and captivating out of their owne country: But as for a literall reſpondency of that City and Temple, to all the particulars of his deſcription, it is ſo farre from it, that his Temple is delineated larger then all the earthly Jeruſalem, and his Jeruſalem larger then all the land of Canaan. And thereby the ſcope of the Holy Ghoſt in that ichnography is cleerly held out to be, to ſignifie the great inlarging of the ſpiritual Jeruſalem and Temple, the Church under the Goſpel, and the ſpirituall beauty and glory of it, as well as to certifie captived Iſrael, of hopes of an earthly City and Temple to be rebuilt, which came to paſſe upon their returne under Cyrus.
Yet had this his ſpace of the holy ground its bounds, though they were exceeding large; but when John in his Revelation is upon the meaſure of his Temple, this outer Court or ſpace is left boundleſſe, and not meaſured nor incloſed at all, and the reaſon is given becauſe that Court was given to the Gentiles, and they ſhould tread the holy City (as men trod Gods Courts when they came to worſhip) two and forty months, Rev. 11.1, 2, 3, &c. ſtill clearing the reaſon of the Propheticall inlarging of the holy ground, which was to denote the abundant and numerous worſhippers of God which ſhould be under the Goſpell.
The Wall that encompaſſed and went about the ſquare of the holy ground, was of very fair ſtone,[o]Joſ. de Bell. lib. 5. c. 14. and it was five and twenty cubits, or twelve yards and an halfe high, that is, as one ſtood within the compaſſe of it, in the holy ground; for without it ſtood over a very deep and ſharp precipice, and ſo there was an exceeding great height from the bottome of the trench beneath, to the top of the wall, but within it was no higher then 25 cubits, and that height it carried about the whole ſquare.
Now whereas it is a very common Tenet amongſt the Talmudicks that foreign [p]Mid. per. 2. & Kimch. ubi ſupr.The Eaſterne wall w… ſix cubits high and no more, It is not to be underſtood of the whole Eaſt ſide Wall, for that was 25 cubits high as well as the reſt, but it is to be underſtood only of the wall or battlement that was juſt over the Eaſt gate: and ſo it is explained by ſome of them thus, foreign [q]Mid. per. 1. Sect. 1.For whereas the Prieſt that was ſprinkling the bloud of the red Cow upon Mount Olivet, was to looke directly by this Eaſt gate, upon the gate of the Temple, and whereas[r]Maym. in Beth habbechir. per. 6. the floore of the Porch of the Temple was two and twenty Cubits higher ground then the floore of this Eaſt gate, and ſo the Prieſt looking from Olivet through this gate[ſ]R. Sh…m. … in Mid. could not ſee above the eight ſtep before the Porch,[t]Pisk. T… ſaph. ibid. therefore it was needfull that the wall that was juſt over the Eaſt gate ſhould be low, that what he could not ſee through the gate he might ſee over it.