The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI. The Courts of the Temple.
THe dimenſions and platform of the Temple it ſelfe being thus laid out, we may now the better obſerve the forme and ſituation of the Courts that were before it or about it: Where, in the firſt place it will bee needfull to remember that againe which was ſpoken before, which was, that the Temple and the Courts about it; were not pitched ſo juſt in the middle of the Mount of the houſe, as that they lay in an equall diſtance from the four ſides of the incompaſſing wall,[a]Mid. per. 2. but they were ſituate more towards the North ſide and Weſt, in ſuch manner, as that they left leſſe ſpace betwixt them and the Weſt, then betwixt them and the North; and leſſe betwixt them and the North, then between them and the Eaſt; and leſſe betwixt them and the Eaſt, then betwixt them and the South.
There were three which we may call Courts, belonging to the Temple, beſides that ſpace in the mountaine of the houſe without them, which was very large, and which is ordinarily called by Chriſtian writers, Atrium Gentium, or the Court of the Gemiles. And theſe three were, The Court of Iſrael and the Prieſts, the Court of the women, and The Chel, foreign; but properly and ordinarily the two former are only called Courts: That word in Hebrew is foreign uſed in the text, 2 Chro. 4.9. and in the Chaldee Paraphraſt, Eſay 1.12. 1 Sam. 3.3. Ezek. 43.8. and by the Rabbins moſt conſtantly when they ſpeak of theſe places, David Kimchi gives the Etymology of it foreign that[b]Kimch. in 2 Chron. 4. & in Michol. it was called foreign (which ſignifies helpe) becauſe that every one that came to pray there with a good heart was helped by the Lord his God: And much to the ſame purpoſe Rabbi Nathan, when he ſaith,[c]Ar. in foreign. they prayed there to the Lord to help them, &c. there being their laſt recourſe for helpe in all exigents, as, 1 King. 8.31, &c. the word is uſed in Ezek. 43.14. in another ſenſe, namely, for a border or halfe pace at the foot of the Altar, on which the Prieſts that ſacrificed ſtood,[d]Kimch. in Ezek. 43. as Kimchi expounds it upon that place, and which wee ſhall meet with afterward.
Theſe two Courts are ſometimes ſo ſpoken of in ſcripture, as if they were three, for there is mention of the Court of the Prieſts, and the great Court, 2 Chr. 4.9. and the Court of the women, as we ſhall obſerve by and by, and yet they were indeed but two, for though the Court of the Prieſts, and the Court of Iſrael were diſtinguiſhed, yet were they not divided, but the Court of the women was divided from them both.
The meaſure of the Court of Iſrael and the Prieſts (which is ſometime called Emphatically, The Court, and ſometime, The Court of Iſrael)[e]Mid. per. 5. Sect. 1. was 187 cubits long; that is, from Eaſt to Weſt, and 135 broad from North to South. The Temple ſtood juſt in the middle of the breadth of it, ſo that the front of the Temple or the porch being 100 cubits broad, this Court breadth lay 17 cubits and an halfe on either ſide of it; and the body of the temple it ſelf being but 70 cubits broad, this Court lay 33 cubits and an halfe broad on either ſide it: Now behind the Weſt end of the Temple it extended but 11 cubits; ſo meaſure from the utmoſt Weſt ſide of it there, and you have 11 cubits behind the Temple, 100 cubits the length of the Temple, and then it extended Eaſtward before the Temple 76 cubits.
[f]Ibid. per. 2. Sect. 5.The Court of the women lay juſt before this Court, joining to it, being of equall breadth with it, namely, 135 cubits from North to South, but not ſo long as it from Eaſt to Weſt, for it was only 135 cubits that way alſo, and ſo it was a perfect ſquare.