The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. The Breadth, Chambers, and Staires of the Temple.
THus were the riſings of the Temple to its height, in the parcels named: it is now equally requiſite to take notice alſo of the length and breadth of it, and to obſerve into what leſſer meaſures thoſe dimenſions were divided.
[a]Mid. per. 4.The length of it was from Eaſt to Weſt, and it was an hundred cubits, and ſo was the breadth from North to South, in ſome part of it, but not in all. That part of it that bare this bredth, was only the porch, for the building behind it was only ſeventy cubits broad. And the porch ſtood before it as a croſſe building, reaching fifteen cubits South, and fifteen cubits North further out then the breadth of the Temple; which ſpaces on either ſide were thus taken up,[b]Maym. in Beth babbechir. per. 4. The thickneſſe of the wall of the porch at either end was five cubits, and from that wall to the wall of the Temple on either ſide were ten cubits.
So fair a front there was at the entring: an hundred cubits broad, and an hundred and twenty cubits high; for ſo is Joſephus to be underſtood, when ſpeaking of the Temple built by Herod, he ſaith, it was foreign [c]Ioſeph. Ant. lib. 15. cap. 4.An hundred long, and twenty cubits above an hundred high; Not all the houſe throughout ſo high, for that the Talmud denies, giving ſo particular and exact account of an hundred only, as we have obſerved, but the porch of this height riſing twenty cubits above the height of the reſt of the houſe.
Juſt in the middle of this faire front[d]Mid. per. 3. was the gate of the porch, 40 cubits high, and 20 cubits broad:[e]Maym. ubi ſupr. It had no dootes to it at all, but[f]Ioſeph. de Bell. lib. 5. c. 14. it was an open gate, into which whoſoever ſtood in the Court might looke and ſee the ſpace of the porch within. foreign, &c. All this front was gilt with gold and through it, all the firſt houſe (that is, the porch within) might be ſeen, and that glittered with gold alſo: Now by all this front, Joſephus, (for they are his words) meaneth not the whole face of the porch, or all the hundred cubits long, and hundred and twenty high, but the very front of the gate, or entrance only, which he ſheweth to have been 70 cubits high, and 25 broad: And herein the Talmud and hee doe not claſh, though the Talmud ſay, that the height was only forty cubits, and the breadth but twenty, for it ſpeaks only of the very hollow entrance, but he ſpeaks alſo of the Poſts and head or front of the whole gate-houſe, as we obſerved about the other gates before.
[g]Mid. ubi ſupThe Talmud likewiſe ſpeaks of five foreign beams of ſome choice wood (the learned Buxtorfius tranſlates it quercinoe) that were laid over this gate, curiouſly wrought with knots and flowers, and a row of ſtone ſtill laid between beame and beame: The loweſt beam that lay on the head of the gate was a cubit on either ſide longer then the gate was broad: then was laid on that a row of ſtone: After that another carved beame a cubit on either end longer then the other; and then a row of ſtone. Then another beam, and ſo of the reſt, every beam being a cubit at either end longer then that that lay below it. Theſe were thus laid over the gate to bear the weight that was above; they roſe to a great height were curiouſly ingraven, and gilt, and from the higheſt there was a neat deſcending border gathered at either end of the beams, ſtil inward and inward as the beams ſhortned, and at laſt it ran down by the cheeks of the entry two cubits and an halfe broad, on either ſide the gate: And this was the front that Joſephus meaneth.
And now turn behind this porch at whether end you will, and look Wellward: There ran the body of the Temple it ſelf, pointing exactly upon the middle of the porch, or juſt upon this entrance that we have been ſpeaking of, the breadth of it between wall and wall, juſt equall with the breadth of this entrance; but the walls and chambers built on either ſide, of ſuch a breadth, as that the whole came to ſeventy cubits broad: and thus doth Ariel or the Lion of God, as the Jewes interpret it, repreſent the proportion of a lion, broad before in the large front the porch, which was of an hundred cubits breadth, and narrow behind, in the buildings of the houſe reduced in breadth to ſeventy cubits; which breadth to take up in its ſeverall parcells, we will begin at the North ſide, and thus we find theſe particular meaſures.
[h]Ibid. per. 4.1. foreign, The wall of the Gallery five cubits thick, this was the outmoſt wall of all, and it roſe to the battlements or firſt leads mentioned before; where the foundation for ſix cubits high, was ſaid to be ſix cubits thick: but that odde cubit is not here reckoned, becauſe the count it not from the very foundation, but from the wall above, as any one would count in ſuch a building.
2. foreign, The gallery three cubits broad.
3. foreign, The wall of the chambers five cubits thicke.
4. foreign, The chambers themſelves ſix cubits broad.
5. foreign, The wall of the Temple, ſix cubits thick.
6. foreign, The breadth of the Temple within, from wall to wall twenty cubits.
7. foreign, The other wall of it ſix cubits thicke.
8. foreign, The breadth of the chambers ſix cubits.
9. foreign, The wall of the chambers five cubits thicke.
10. foreign, The place of the coming down of the water, three cubits broad.
11. foreign, The outmoſt wall five cubits. Seventy in all.
[i]Ibid. Sect. 3.Now the chambers were in number eight and thirty, fifteen upon the Northſide, fifteen upon the South, and eight at the Weſt end. They were in three ſtories, five in the loweſt ſtories, and five over them, and five over thoſe, thus on the North and South ſides; but at the Weſt end there were three on the ground, and three over them, and two over thoſe. Every chamber was ſix cubits broad, and twice as long (only the two higheſt chambers at the Weſt end were of a greater length)[k]See Ezek: 40.21. And there was a ſpace between the chambers on the ſame floore, in manner of an entry of ſome 7 cubits and an halfe broad, that you might paſſe in it betwixt chamber and chamber, to every chamber doore which was upon the ſide.
Before theſe chambers there ran a gallery from the Eaſt end of the building to the Weſt (but at the Weſt end there was none ſuch) of three cubits broad, by which you were carryed along to any of theſe Entries between the chambers, and ſo to any chamber doore: In the outmoſt wall of the fabrick, toward the North and the South, there were foure doores on either ſide, into foure entries (for ſo many there were between five chambers) but as ſoon as you were come within the doors, there ran a gallery along on your right hand and left, over which you ſtepped into the entry that was before you: or if you went not in at the doore that was juſt oppoſite to the entry that you would goe to, you might goe in at any dore you thought good, and this gallery would lead you to that entry.
Thus was it with the loweſt chambers, and the like gallerie and entries were alſo in the middle ſtory, and in the higheſt: Now the way to goe up into them, was by a large pair of turning ſtaires, in a turret at the North-Eaſt corner of the North ſide; by which ſtaires you went up to the firſt floore, and there if you would, you might land in the gallery, and go there to what entry or chamber you would, or if you would go higher, you might doe ſo likewiſe into the gallery in the third ſtory; and if you had a mind, you might yet go higher up theſe ſtaire, up to the leads, to walk over the chambers, on the roof, round about their whole pyle.
But beſides this ſtair caſe-turret, which thus conveyed to the roofe of the buildings, there was ſuch another, at the furtheſt end of every one of the entries that have been ſpoken of, which carryed up to the firſt and ſecond floore, or to the upper chambers, but went not ſo high, as to convey to the roofe: And ſo had you gone in at any of the fo…m dores to the ground chambers, either on the north ſide of the houſe, or on the ſouth, ſtepping over the gallery, you come into the entry between two chambers, one on your right hand, and another on your left, and their dores opening into the entry, and facing one another, but before you, towards the Temple wall, there was a round large turret-like ſtaire caſe, into which you might goe out of either chamber, and ſo go up ſtaires into the chambers over head: and from thence up ſtairs againe, into the chambers over them. And thus are wee to underſtand that Talmudick paſſage, of no ſmall difficulty at the firſt fight.[l]Mid. ubi ſu. There were three dores to every one of the Chambers, foreign One to the Chamber on the right hand, and another to the Chamber on the left (that is, one dore to the entry on the one ſide, and another to the entry on the other,) and one to the Chamber over head) that is, into this ſtair caſe that carryed up to the Chambers above. And thus[m]Eze: 41.7. one went up from the loweſt ſtory to the higheſt by the middle: for[n]1 Kin. 6.8. they went up with winding ſtaires into the middle ſtory, and out of the middle into the third.
The Weſt end Chambers had no gallery at all before them, but you ſtepped immediately through the dores that were in the outmoſt wall into the entries, and at the end of the entries there was ſuch a ſtair-eaſe as this, which conveyed and carryed you up from ſtory to ſtory. On the South there were ſuch galleries in the three heights, as there were on the North, and ſuch ſtair caſes at the end of the entries, joining to the Temple-wal, but that ſpace where the galleries were, was called by another name. Not foreign Meſibbah, as it was called on the Northſide, but foreign, the place of the coming down of the water: Not as if here were the gutters to carry off the raines from the whole houſe, but becauſe in this ſpace were laid the pipes that brought water down from the fountane Etam, to the Ciſtern or Well, in the Well-roome that was made to receive them: They were ſo laid, as that they hindred not the acceſſe or paſſage in the galleries, to any of the Chambers, and it may be they were not to be ſeen at all, but lay under ground in the ground-gallery; but they were glad thus to diſtinguiſh between the North and South ſides, by theſe different names, as that they might the eaſier and quicker bee underſtood, when they ſpake of a chamber in the Meſibbah, or of a chamber in the conveyance of the water.
Theſe chambers, which where of this number, meaſure, poſture and compoſure that hath been ſpoken, and whoſe floor and roofe beams reſted upon benches in the Temple wall, as was obſerved before, were for the laying up ſome choice treaſures and utenſils, as alſo for corne, wine, and oile, and whatſoever was brought in of …, and firſt fruites for the ſuſtenance and ſubſiſtence of the Pri… that attended upon the Altar, and they were as meaſuries or ſtorehouſes for that purpoſe, Neh. 12.44. Mal. 3.10.
And now let us go up the ſtaires of the great turret, in the North-eaſt corner on the North ſide (for there was none ſuch on the South) that will carry us to the roofe of this building, or on the leads. At the top of the ſtaines he went out at a wicket, and his face was then towards the Weſt.[o]Mid. ubi ſu. Hee walked upon the leads along upon the Northſide … came to the Weſt corner: when he came thither be turned his face toward the South corner: when he came to the South, be turned his face, Eaſtward, and went all along on the Southſide, till he came up a good way, and there was a dore through the Temple wall into the roomes over the holy and moſt holy place. In this roome over them (which was …y cubits from the ground, and ſo were the leads wh… were theſe threathings worth taking notice of.
1. That as ſoon as a man was ſtept within the d…e. … were two Codar beams or trees ſaid cloſe together; ſloping ſtill upward, and lying along the wall, by which (they were ſaid ſo handſomely ſlope, and ſteps were either … in them, … upon them) one might go to the very top of the Temple, and this was the way to the higher leads.
2. Ju… over the parting between the holy and moſt holy pl… them … ſome little pi…aſters … the partition.
3. In the floore, over the moſt holy places, there were divers holes like trapdores, through which, when … required, they let down workmen by …, to … of the … as there was …. And they let them down in … ſome ſuch thing where they could … before the…, and the reaſon of this is given by the Je…s, foreign … holy … [p]Ma. in Beth habbech. per. 4.… and …, they whited the Temple walls within: and for this and other neceſſary work about the houſe within, it was deſiced and endeavoured that Prieſts or Levites, ſhould do the work; but if ſuch were not found to do it, then other Iſraelites were admitted, and they were admitted to go through the dores into the moſt holy place, if Cheſts or Trunks, were not to bee found in which to let them downe.