The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 15
CHAP. XV. The moſt Holy place.
Sect. I. The Partition ſpace. foreign
THE Holy and the moſt. Holy place were divided aſunder by a threefold partition, namely by a cubit ſpace, and by two veils, on either ſide of that ſpace: The partition ſpace which[a]Mid. per. 4. was a cubit broad, and no more, by the Jews is called foreign which[b]Aruch. in voce. Rabbi Nathan confeſſeth to be a Greek word, and he ſaith it ſignifieth within or without, as meaning, foreign that it was doubtfull to them, whether is were within or without; and thus it is interpreted[c]Talm. Jeruſ. per. 5. in the Jeruſalem Tal…d: [d]Beth habbec. per. 4.Maymony helps us to their meaning thus. In the Temple there was a wall which parted between the Holy and moſt Holy place, a cubit thick. But when they builded the ſecond Temple, they doubted whether the thickneſſe of that wall belonged to the meaſure of the Holy place, or to the meaſure of the moſt Holy place: Therefore they made the moſt Holy place twenty cubits long compleat: and they made the holy place forty cubits long complete. And they leſs a ſpace betwixt the holy and moſt holy place of a cubit breadth; and in the ſecond Temple they built not a wall there, but they made two veils, one at the end of the most holy place (Eaſtward), and the other at the end of the holy place (Weſtward) and between them, there was a cubits breadth, according to the thickneſſe of the wall that had been in the firſt Temple: But in the firſt Temple there was but one veil.
The word foreign therefore is well conceived by the learned[e]Conſt Lemper. in Mid, Pag. 164. Lempereur to be the Greek foreign which ſignifieth a diſeaſe in the eye, diſtempering the ſight, and hindering it, and ſo were the eyes of the underſtanding of the builders of the ſecond Temple at a ſtand about this place, whether it ſhould belong to the Holy, or moſt Holy place, and there upon they called the place it ſelf foreign.
The wall that Solomon built for the parting of the Holy and moſt Holy place, being a cubit thicke (in ſtead of which this ſpace was left), had theſe things regardable and conſiderable in it, and not eaſy to be underſtood.
Firſt, For the entring of the Oracle, bee made dores of Olive tree. foreign, 1 King. 6.31. Theſe latter words are very difficult of conſtruction, and if we go to Gloſſaries for the explication of them, they will give us variety of ſenſes, but little facility of underſtanding. The Chaldee renders it only, Their poſts with its lintell were orderly ſet, taking the word foreign in the ſenſe of foreign ranked in order, & giving but very little light unto the obſcure place. David Kimc. and Rabbi Solomon ſeem to underſtand it, that the poſts of the dores were not four ſquare but five ſquare, if wee may uſe ſuch a word, or wrought into five ribs, as their own words are. But Levi Gerſhom hath a far fetch for it, for he thinkes foreign meaneth the Fifth gate that was in the Temple as you went forward; the Temple dore the fourth, the Porch dore the third, the dore of the inner Court the ſecond, and of the outer Court the firſt.
To me the words ſeem to bear this conſtruction; The poſt which was the dore checks was at the fifth cubit; meaning from either wall of the houſe, come inward five cubits, and there was the dore cheek, and ſo the houſe being twenty cubits broad, the dore hereby is concluded to be ten. And this may the rather be ſo interpreted, becauſe the text had been taking notice of the breadth of the houſe immediately before; as when it was ſpeaking of the Cherubims wings, it ſaith, the wing of the o…e touched the one wal, and the wing of the other touched the other wal; and ſpeaking of the adorning of the houſe, it ſaith, all the walls of the houſe were carved, and the floore gilt and then he comes on to ſpeak of the partition betwixt the one houſe and the other, and ſaith, That the Oracle had a two leaved dore of Olive tree, and the fifth cubit from either wall was the poſt which ſerved for the checks of the dore: And ſo it is ſald in ver. 33. He made for the dore of the Temple poſts of Olive tree, from the fourth cubit; that is, four cubits from either ſide wall he ſet up an Olive beame for a poſt on either ſide the dore, of a cubit thickneſſe, and ſo the dore came to bee ten cubits broad.
A ſecond thing of difficulty to be underſtood about this partition wal in Solomons Temple is that which is ſpoken in ve. 22. of the ſame Chapter foreign And be made bars in chains of gold before the Oracle, and he overlaid it with gold. All the difficulty lies in the firſt word, for it is generally agreed by the beſt skilled in the language, the Chaldee & the Rabbins that foreign ſignifieth chains, but, what is meant by foreign is the Queſtion. The word properly ſignifieth, He cauſed to paſſe over, but in this place, R. Solomon, and D. Kimchi take it in a Chaldee propriety, as ſignifying to make hars, becauſe foreign bars, in the Hebrew is tranſlated foreign in the Chaldee. The ſixteenth verſe of 2 Chr. 3. giveth ſome light to this obſcurity, for there it is ſaid, He made chains as in the Oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; by which he meanes the flower wreaths that we ſpake of before that went about the chapiter, and the like is to be underſtood here. That upon this wall which was before the Oracle, and divided betwixt the holy and moſt holy place, be made borders or chained wreaths, with a ſwelling in the border like a bar in it carried from the one ſide of the houſe to the other upon this wall.
Sect. 2. The Va…le.
THE Vailes were two as was obſerved before, and the reaſon given why;[a]Maym. in Kele Mik. per. 7. & theſe two vails were renewed every year, the old ones taken away, and new ones put in their roome: It was woven of four colours, blew, purple, ſcarlet, and fine white linnen yarn, every one of theſe threds twiſted ſix double, and woven upon hair for the warp, of 72 haires twiſted into every thred. Theſe two vails rent at our Saviours death from the top to the bottome, Mat. 27.51. and gave demonſtration of the laying open and common of thoſe Ceremonious things which had thither to been reſerved in ſuch recluſeneſſe and ſingularity: The Evangeliſt indeed calleth it by the name of One vail, and ſo alſo doth Joſephus, when he ſaith, foreign [b]De Bell. lib. 5. cap. 14.It was parted by a vail. For, 1. Though they were two, yet hung they up to bee but as one partition. 2. Had they known where the proper place of one vail had been, there had been but one in this ſecond Temple, and no more.
Imagine what an amazement it would prove to the two Prieſts that were that evening that our Saviour ſuffered, to mend the lamps, and to burne the incenſe, to ſee, and for the reſt of the people to hear that the vailes rent of their own accord from the top to the bottome, and no hand upon them. Had not a vail been upon the eyes of that Nation, they might have ſeen more in this matter then they did, and made a better uſe of it then they made. Whether that ſtory that is both in Joſephus and in the Talmudicks, about the gate of the Temple opening of its own accord, which we ſhall relate are long, referre not to this ſtory in the Goſpell, be it referred to the Reader to judge. The Apoſtle himſelf gives us the typicall application of this piece of the Sanctuary, Heb. 10.19, 20. Having holdneſſe to enter into the Holyeſt by the blood of Jeſus, by a new and living way which be hath conſecrated for us, through the vail, that is to ſay, his fleſh.
SECT. 3. The moſt Holy place it ſelfe.
THE moſt holy place in Moſes his Tabernacle was a perfect cube of ten cubits long, and ten cubits broad, and ten cubits high: And the like was it in the Temple that was built by Solomon of twenty cubits every way, 2 Chron. 3.8. For though the Temple it ſelf were thirty cubits high, yet did he floor over the moſt holy place at twenty cubits height: And to this ſenſe is that verſe to be underſtood in 1 King. 6.16. He built twenty cubits on the ſides of the houſe, both the floor and the walls with boards of Cedar; be even built them for it within, even for the oracle, evan for the moſt holy place.
The beauty of the walls of this place, was agreeable to the other; deckt with Cherubitus and palme-trees, and ſome precious ſtones intermixed, floore and walls, and roofe and all gilded with gold. It is ſaid in 2 Chron. 3.9. foreign that the overlaid the upper chambers with gold, which may move a juſt Querie, for over the Holy place there was no upper chamber at all, (that is, in the Temple built by Solomon, for of that we are ſpeaking) but it was all open to the rooſe, being but thirty cubits high: and over the moſt holy place there was indeed an upper roome of tenne cubits high, but why this ſhould bee called chambers in the plurall number, and why it ſhould bee gilded at all, ſince there was no comming into it, nor no way to come there, is not eaſy to apprehend: And as for the ſide chambers, that were ſet on the outſide of the houſe, is there warcant or reaſon to ſuppoſe them overlaid with gold, where they were to lay up corn and wine, and ſuch other things of tythes and firſt fruits? therfore by foreign might be underſtood, not the upper chambers in the common ſenſe in which the word is uſed, for there was none over the Holy place but the upper floore, or the roof of the holy and moſt holy place, and ſo the text ſheweth that the roomes were all overlaid with gold every where, both the floore on which they trod, and the walls and the floore or roofe over head.
But another text in the booke of Chronicles helpeth to reſolve this doubt, and that is, 1 Chr. 29.3. Moreover becauſe I have ſet mine affection on the houſe of my God, I have of mine owne proper good; of gold and ſilver which I have given to the houſe of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy houſe: Even three thouſand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and ſeventy thouſand …alents of refined filver, to overlay the wals of the houſes withall; where theſe two things are remarkable. 1. That he ſaith this preparation was above what he had prepared for the holy houſe, & yet he ſaith he had prepared it for the houſe of God. And 2. that here is mention of ſilver to overlay the walls withall, whereas it is plain, that within the Temple it ſelf all the everlaying was of gold. Therefore it is thus to be underſtood, that beſide the ſtore of gold that David had provided for the gildings of the houſe within, in the Holy and moſt Holy place, he had alſo laid by a ſtock of gold & ſilver both, to gild and overlay the chambers over the porch (for there were upper chambers diverſe in it, the height of it being 120 cubits) and to beautifie the ſide chambers, and the other chambers that were about the Courts.
Now in the Temple after the captivity, we do not find that thay were ſo curious to reduce the compaſſe of the moſt holy place to a cubick form, but that the height of it did exceed the breadth, it being twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad like that of Solomons, but the height far more for ought I find determined to the contrary.
SECT. 4. The Cherubims and Arke.
AS there were two Cherubims upon the Arke it ſelfe, ſo alſo did Solomon cauſe two Cherubims beſides, to be made to ſtand over the Arke, it ſtanding between them: they are ſo plainly and facilly deſcribed in 1 King. 6.23. that I ſhall referre the reader thither for the ſtory of them, and ſay no more concerning them but only this, that as the two Cherubims upon the mercy ſeat, may very well be reſembled to Chriſts two natures, ſo theſe two that ſtood by, to the two Teſtaments; which in their beginning and end reach the two ſides of the world, The Creation, and the laſt Judgement, and in the middle doe ſweetly join one to another.
The Arke (the ſtrength and preſence of the Lord, Pſal. 105.4. and the glory of Iſrael, 1 Sam. 4.22. the moſt pregnant and proper reſemblance of our Saviour, in whom God dwelleth among men) deſcribed, Exod. 25.10, &c. and 37. 1. &c.[a]Maym. is beth habbech. per. 4. was ſet upon a ſtone, up toward the Weſt end of the moſt holy place, even under the middle wings of the two tall Cherubims that ſtood beſides it: For the Cherubims ſpread forth their two wings over the place of the Arke, and the Cherubims covered the Arke, and the ſtaves thereof above. And they drew out the ſtaves, that the ends of the ſtaves were ſeen out in the Holy place before the Oracle; and they were not ſeen without, 1 King 8 7, 8.2 Chron. 5.8, 9. For before the Temple was built, while the Arke was in a moving poſture, the ſtaves whereby the Ark was born, was of an equall length on either ſide it, ready for the Prieſts ſhoulders when there was occaſion for the Arke to flit; but now when they had brought it in into Solomons Temple, where it was to fix and remove no more, they drew out the ſtaves towards that ſide that looked down the moſt holy place,[b]R. Lev. Ger. …n 1 King. 8. Levi Gerſhom is of opinion, that theſe ſtaves where not the ſame that were made by Moſes, but of a longer cize, and that they raught downe to the very dore; and that though there were dores betwixt the Holy and moſt. …oly place, yet thoſe dores could not ſhut becauſe of theſe ſtaves.[c]Kimch. ib. & R: Sol:ibid. And Kimchi, and Iarchi come up very neer to the ſame ſuppoſall, conceiving that the Arke ſtood not up neer the Weſtern wall of the houſe, but more downeward, towards the dore, and that the ſtaves raught down to the dore, and on the day of Expiation, when the high prieſt went into the Holy place, he went up to the Arke between theſe ſtaves, and could not go off to one hand or other.
But that that hath ſtrained them from this conception is, 1. Becauſe they have ſtrictly taken the word foreign in the text in the book of Kings, for the Holy place without the vail, whereas the booke of Chronicles doth expreſly render it by the word foreign The Arke; for whereas the one place ſaith, that the beads of the ſtaves were ſeen, foreign, the other hath it foreign: And ſo the word foreign meaneth not the whole roome, either of the Holy or moſt Holy place, but that ſingularly Holy place that was under the wings of the Cherubims; for of that place had the text ſpoken immediately before, when it ſaid, The Prieſts brought the Arke into the moſt holy place, under the wings of the Cherubims. For the Cherubims ſpread forth their wings over the place of the Ark, &c. and then he comes on and ſaith. And they drew out the ſtaves, ſo that the ends of the ſtaves appeared out of that holy place, meaning under the wings of the Cherubims. And 2. The authors alledged, have ſtrictly taken foreign to mean ſo, as one ſtanding at the dore betwixt the Holy and moſt Holy place had the moſt Holy place before him; whereas it ſignifieth in the ſame ſenſe that it doth in that clauſe in Gen. 1.20. Let the fowl flie upon the earth foreign which our Engliſh hath wel rendred, in the open firmament of beaven. And ſo is it to be taken here, and the verſe in hand may be properly underſtood thus; And they drew out the ſtaves at length, ſo that the ends of the ſtaves were ſeen from that holy place in the open face of the Oracle: but they were not ſeen without. The ſtaves were the ſame that were made by Moſes, and their length not great, but only ſo much as to fit a mans ſhoulder on either ſide of the Arke; and now when they had ſet the Ark between the two ſtanding Cherubims on the floore, the Cherubims inner wings covered the Ark, and the ſtaves that were above at the ends of the Ark, but the reſt of the ſtaves drawn out downward toward the Oracle dore ſhot out from under the Cherubims wings, and appeared in the open face of the moſt Holy place, and the high Prieſt when he came to offer incenſe at the Arke on the day of Expiation, he ſtood before the Arke between the ſtaves.[d]Maym. ubi ſup. It is fancied by the Jews, that Solomon when hee built the Temple, foreſeeing that the Temple ſhould be deſtroyed, he cauſed very obſcure and intricate vaults under ground to bee made, wherein to hide the Ark when any ſuch danger came, that howſoever it went with the Temple, yet the Arke which was as the very life of the Temple might be ſafe. And they underſtand that paſſage in 2 Chron. 35.3. Ioſiah ſaid unto the Levites, Put the Holy Arke in the houſe which Solomon the ſon of David did build, &c. [e]Kimch. in 2 Chron. 35.as if Ioab having heard by the reading of Moſes his Manuſcript, and by Huldabs prophecy, of the danger that hung over Ieruſalem, he commanded to convey the Arke into this vault, that it might be ſecured, and with it, ſay they, they laid up Aarons rod, the pot of Manna, and the annointing oile: For while the Arke ſtood in its place, upon the ſtone mentioned, they hold that Aarons rod and the pot of Manna ſtood before it, but now were all conveyed into obſcurity, and the ſtone upon which the Arke ſtood, lay over the mouth of the vault. But Rabbi Solomon, which uſeth not ordinarily to forſake ſuch traditions, hath given a more ſerious gloſſe upon the place; namely, whereas that Manaſſeb and Amon had removed the Arke out of its habitation; and ſet up images and abominations there of their own, Joſiah ſpeaketh to the Prieſts to reſtore it to its place againe: what became of the Arke at the burning of the Temple by Nebucadnezzar we read not, it is moſt like it went to the fire alſo. How ever it ſped, it was not in the ſecond Temple, and is one of the five choice things that the Jews reckon wanting there. Yet had they an Ark there alſo of their own making, as they had a breaſt-plate of Judgement; which though they both wanted the glory of the former, which was giving of Oracles, yet did they ſtand current as to the other matters of their worſhip, as the former breaſtplate and Arke had done.
And ſo having thus gone through the many parts and particulars of the Temple it ſelfe, let us but take account of the ſeverall parcell meaſures, that made up the length of it an hundred cubits, and ſo wee will turne our eye and ſurvey upon the Courts.
[f]Mid. per. 4.1. The wall of the porch was five cubits thick.
2. The Porch it ſelf eleven cubits broad.
3. The wall of the Temple ſix cubits thick.
4. The Holy place forty cubits long.
5. The ſpace between Holy and moſt Holy place one cubit.
6. The length of the moſt Holy place twenty cubits.
7. The Temple wall ſix cubits thick.
8. The breadth of the chambers at the end ſix cubits.
9. The wall of the chambers five cubits thick.