The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII. The Incloſure. foreign Chel.
ABout both theſe Courts thus laid, there was another incloſed ſpace incompaſſing them in, and this by the Jews is called The foreign Chel: The word is uſed by Jeremy, Lam. 2.8. in that ſenſe (as[a]Maym. in beth habbech. per. 5. ſome Jews do interpret) that wee are to underſtand and deſcribe here. Both the foreign chel, and the wall mourn: by the wall, being meant the wall of the Court, and by the foreign chel the ſpace that incompaſſed it round about; and ſo tranſlated by the Chaldee foreign the incompaſſing or incloſure. The Scripture frequently uſeth the word foreign for a wall, trench, or rampart, as 2 Sam. 10.15. 1 King. 21.23. Obad. ver. 20. Nab. 3.8. and it is rendred variouſly by the Hebrew Expoſitors there, but of the ſenſe of the word & nature of that place at the Temple that we are looking after, they give us this unanimous account[b]Mid. per. 2. Sect. 3. Maym. ubi ſup. that it was a place or ſpace of 10 cubits broad, incompaſſed with a wall, between the mountain of the houſe and the Courts. I cannot find a better name for it, then the incloſure or outer virge of the Courts.
The words of Rabbi Nathan in Aruch in two ſeverall plamay move two ſeverall doubts about this place, for in one ces place bee ſaith that the foreign chel was foreign,[c]Ar. in foreign. A place incompaſſed with a wall between the mountain of the Houſe and the Court of the women. And in another place he ſaith, that foreign. The foreign [d]Id. in foreignchel was a wall higher then the wall called foreign Sor…g; Out of which words he ſeemeth to hold out theſe two opinions; the one, that the foreign chel did not incompaſſe all the Courts, but only the Court of the women; and the other, that the foreign chel was not a ſpace of ground, but a wall; but theſe two doubts we ſhall cleer as we goe along.
And firſt to evidence that this foreign was a ſpace of ground, and not a wall, we have not only the teſtimony of the Talmud and divers other Jews that meaſure out the breadth of it to be 10 cubits, but we have mention abundantly in them of peoples coming into it, and ſtanding and ſitting in it; as R. Nathan himſelfe giveth one inſtance,[e]Id. ubi ante. when he ſpeaketh of a great foreign Divinity ſchoole in the foreign chel: And[f]Iuchaſ ſo. 21. Abraham Zaccuth ſpeaketh of Rabban Johanan ben Zaccai having a Sanbedrin there.[g]Peſa. per. 2. And Rambam relates at large how thoſe that brought their Paſſoever lambs into the Court when they were diſpatched, went and ſtood in the foreign chel, and diverſe of the like examples might be added, which prove evidently enough what kind of thing this foreign chel was, namely, not a wall but a ſpace of ground. And ſo R. Nathan meaneth even when he ſaith, it was a wall higher then the wall foreign: for ſo the word foreign at large when it is taken for other places then this in the Temple, and is joined with the word foreign is defined by the Jews to mean foreign [h]R. Sol. in Lam. 2.8.A wall, and a Son of a wall, or an inner and outer wall; that is, a lower wall before a higher, as Rabbi Solomon conſtrues it not cloſe joined together, but ſome ſpace of ground between, and ſo our Authour underſtands it, though he ſpeak ſo ſhort.
The wal that incloſed the foreign is called foreign ſoreg in the Talmud and Rabbins language, which Nathan rendreth plainly a wal, but[i]R. Semajab in Mid. ſome other expound it for a wal curiouſly lattized, & made of wood, but Joſephus comes and ſpeaks further, ſomewhat like to both their ſenſes, and tells us that it was of ſtone, but curiouſly wrought: Let us a little examine what he ſaith upon this place:[k]Ioſeph. de bell. lib. 5. c. 14. foreign
As you went through this (that is, the mountain of the Houſe) into the ſecond Temple, there was a ſtone wall that went about of three cubits high of very curious worke: wherein ſtood pillars at an even diſtance; ſome in Greck and ſome in Latin letters giving notice of the holineſſe of the place; That no ſtranger muſt enter within the holy place: for the ſecond Temple was called holy; and they went up 14 ſteps into it out of the firſt. And a little after foreign And above the 14 ſteps it was 10 cubits to the wall (of the Court) and all even. Out of whch relation we may obſerve theſe things remarkable
1. That the outmoſt ſpace of all, that lay within the great incompaſſing wall (that which the Jews diſtinctively call the Mountaine of the houſe) was alſo commonly call the firſt Temple: And in this very ſenſe doth the Goſpell ſpeak very oft, uſing the word Temple when it meaneth but this outmoſt ſpace, as John 2.14. Jeſus found in the Temple thoſe that ſold Oxen &c. John 8.1, 3. Mat. 21.14, 15.
2. That within this foreign Chel no ſtrangers might come but Jewes only, and for this purpoſe there were pillars in which there was ſo much written in Greek and Latine ſentences. And ſo the Iewes ſay that the foreign Chel was more holy then the Mountaine of the houſe, becauſe no ſtranger might come into it, [l]Talm. in Kelim. per. 1.nor none polluted by the dead. And upon this very thing we may conclude if we had no other ground to conclude it by, that the foreign Chel did incircle or incompaſſe all the Courts and not the Court of the women onelyonly: for if the ground along that Court for 10 Cubits next to it were ſo holy that a ſtranger might not come upon it, certainely we muſt hold the ground along by the upper Court as holy and as unacceſſible for ſtrangers every whit. And therefore whereas R. Nathan in what was alledged before, ſaith that the foreign Chel did incloſe the Court of the women, and ſpeaketh of incloſing no more, he doth not exclude the other, but ſpeakes according as the foreign Chel lay to one that came in at the Eaſt gate.
3 That into the foreign Chel there was the firſt riſing, all being levell from the Eaſt gate thither, and the riſing into the foreign Chel was 14 ſteps or 7 cubits[m]Mid. per. 2. or as the Talmud more truly reckons but 12 ſteps or 6 cubits (for every ſtep was half a cubit riſe) and the foreign Chel being 10 cubits broad it was levell to the wall of the womens Court.
The wall that incompaſſed the foreign Chel was not high as were the other walls about the Temple, but it was onelyonly as it were barnes before the higher wall of the Court, but of 3 cubits high; the faſhion or worke of it being very curious, wrought into paves or lattices, or ſuch open worke that one might looke through it as well as over it.
The paſſages into the foreign Chel through this wall were many, namely, one before every gate that went into either of the Courts, and there on either ſide the paſſage, was a pillar ſet up, with the inſcription mentioned, adviſing ſtrangers to beware of coming upon the holy ground.
Now in the Syrogrecian Kings times when the Iewes and Ieruſalem lay in ſubjection to thoſe Kings foreign this wall that was the barre againſt ſtrangers going any further,uId. ibid. was broken by thoſe Kings in thirteen places, they ſcornfully and diſdainfully, and impiouſly breaking in upon the holy ground foreign But the Iewes made up the breaches againe, and ordained thirteen adorations and oraiſons to be made againſt the Heathen Kingdomes upon any ones coming to any of the places where the breach had been.