The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 35

The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described · Chapter 35

p. 209CHAP. XXXV. The Contents of the Court betwixt the Altar and the North ſide of it; and betwixt the Altar and the South ſide.

THe moſt ordinary and univerſall ſlaughter of the Sacrifices was on the North ſide of the Altar, and ſo is it declared at large in the Treatiſe[a][a]Talm. in Zevach. per. 5. Zevachin through the fifth chapter, of which we have had occaſion to ſpeak before; The moſt holy offerings (ſay they) are ſlaine on the North ſide, the bullocke and the goat of the day of Exptation, their ſlaughter was on the North, and the takeing of their bloud in a veſſell of the ſervice, was an thy North: The bullockes that were to be burnt, and the goats that were to be burnt, were ſlaine on the North, and their bloud to be taken on the North: The goats of the beginning of the months and of the ſolemne Feaſts were ſlaine on the North, and their bloud taken on the North: The whole-burnt-offering moſt holy was ſlaine on the North, the peace-offerings of the Congregation and treſpaſſe-offerings, were ſlaine on the North, &c. and generally the greateſt number of Sacrifices were ſlaine on that ſide the Altar: On that ſide of the Altar therefore were neceſſaries and accommodations for that purpoſe and convenience, and thoſe were eſpecially theſe three, the place of the rings, the tables, and the bookes in the pillars.

foreign [b][b]Mid. per. 5.Eight cubits from the Altar Northward was the place of the rings, and that place was four and twenty cubits over towards the North ſtill. foreign [c][c]Ibid. per. 3.Now th…ings were in ſix rowes, four in a row: but ſome ſay they were four rowes, and ſix in a row, and there they ſlew the Sacrifices. Theſe rings or ſtaples rather, were fixed downe in the ſtones of the pavement, and either a bending hooke was faſtned to theſe ſtaples, that they might bring the necke of the beaſt under and hold him faſt, or they drew down the necks of the beaſts to be ſlaine with cords to theſe ſtaples and there faſtned them, and ſo they had them at command to p. 201ſlay them with facility, It is not much to be controverted whether there were ſix rowes of theſe rings, foure in a row, or foure rowes with ſix rings in a row; this doth not much break the ſquare, ſince the ſame number of rings and the ſame compaſſe of ground remaineth ſtill.

Here was the place where they tyed the ſacrifices till they were killed and where they killed them: and this place is commonly called foreign The place of the ſlaughter: and to theſe rings they lyed the ſacrifice with cordes, till they were to offer him, and to ſprinkle his blood on the bornes of the Altar as the Chaldee Paraphraſt renders the 27. verſe of the hundred and eighteenth Pſalme.

Now although the command was ſtrict and expreſſe that ſuch and ſuch ſacrifices ſhould be ſlaine on the North ſide of the Altar, Lev. 1.10, 11, &c. that is in propriety, juſt betweene the Altar and North wall of the Court: yet where there were many ſuch ſacrifices to be ſlaine at once, ſo that this place of the rings was not able to containe them, then they killed them higher up in the Court, namely in that ſpace that was between the Altar and the porch, but on the North ſide of it, as neere as might be in the place parallel to this place of the rings. This matter is handled and decided in Toſaphta on the treatiſe Corbonoth in theſe words[d][d]Toſaphta. in Corbanoth per. 6. Which is the North ſide of the Altar, where it was fit to kill the moſt boly ſacrifices? It was from the North ſide of the Altar, to the North ſide of the Court even juſt over againſt the Altar which was 30 cubits breadth. The words of Rabbi Meir: Rabbi Eliezer from Rabbi Simeon addeth the ſpace from the Altar to the porch, even to over againſt the cloſets of the Butchering knives, which was 22 cubits. But Ribbi addeth the place where the feet of the Iſraelites trod, which was eleven cubits broad, and 187 cubits long: and the place where the feet of the Prieſts trod which was eleven cubits broad, and 187 cubits long: foreign From the ſide of the North wall, to the Eaſt wall of the Court: That is, along the North wall, from the Weſt end of the Court to the Eaſt, for ſo both the meaſure of 187 cubits which was the juſt length of the Court confirmeth, and the ſame author in the next following chapter doth alſo illuſtrate in theſe words[e][e]Ibie. per. 7. Rabbi Joſi ſaith, all the Altar may be underſtood for p. 211Northward: As it is ſaid, and he ſhall kill it on the ſide of the Altar, Northward before the Lord. Rabbi Joſi from Rabbi Judah ſaith, From the midſt of the Altar Northward was as the North, and from the midſt of the Altar the other way was as the South: And ſo Rabbi loſt from Rabbi Ludah ſaith alſo: There were two wickets in the houſe of the but chering knives opening toward the Weſt, and eight cubits from the ground, ſo that the Court might be ſit for eating of the moſt holy things, and for the killing of the leſſer holy ſacrifices, even behind the oracle. From both which allegations taken up together, we may obſerve, 1. That the Iſraelites had a ſtanding on the North ſide of the Court as well as on the Eaſt, which though it was not nor indeed could be exactly eleven cubits broad as was their ſtation at the Eaſt end, yet was it a ſtation for them as well as that: And our author when he ſpeaketh of the place where the feate of the Iſraelites trod, of eleven cubits broad, and of the place where the feete of the Prieſts trod of eleven cubits broad: he meaneth not that there was ſuch a ſpace for the Iſraelites and the Prieſts to ſtand in all along the North ſide of the Court as there was in the Eaſt, but his meaning is this, that when the ſacrifices to be ſlaine on the North ſide of the Altar were exceeding many indeed, that rather then want roome to kill them, they ſhould not onelyonly ſlay them in the place of the rings, but even in the ſtanding of the Prieſts and Iſraelites at the Eaſt end, namely ſo farre on that ground, as lay even with that ſpace that was on the North ſide of the Altar: and ſo might they uſe the like ſpace all along the North ſide of the Court for the ſame purpoſe even to beyond the Weſt end of the Temple. 2. That the houſe of the butchering knives, called foreign was in that end of the porch that pointed Northward, and that the doores thereof were behind the porch Weſtward, even where the wing of the porch ſtood out more Northerly then the breadth of the Temple and extended: and there the going up to theſe doores was by ſteps even eight cubits high: and the reaſon why the doores were there, rather then in the front or the end of the Porch, was becauſe the paſſage to them there, tooke up the leaſt roome, and was the leaſt hindrance in the Court.

foreign [f][f]Midd. per. 5.Foure p. 212cubits from the North ſide of this place of the rings there ſtood marble tables upon which they waſhed the inwards of the ſacrifice, and cut it up into pieces: and foure cubits further North, there were the pillars on which they hung up the ſacrifice upon hookes that ſo they might flea it: Theſe pillars the Jewes call foreign which[g][g]Aruch in foreign Aruch interprets foreign pillars low or ſhorty (it may ſeeme the word is taken from the latine Nanus, [h][h]Parah. per. 2.and ſo the treatiſe Parah, ſpeaketh of a red cow foreign low and ſmall, Nana & minuta:) Now theſe pillars were not thoſe that ſupported the cloiſter on this North ſide of the Court, but low pillars ſet by theſe or joyning to them,[i][i]Mid. per. 3. Tamid. per. 3. Peſachin per. 5. eight in number, over the heads of which were ſaid tranſome beames of cedar, and hookes of iron faſtned both in theſe beames and in the pillars, on which hookes they hanged up the beaſt ſlaine for ſacrifice, that they might the better come at him to flea him; The pillars had every one of them three hookes in them, one above another, that they might be fit for beaſts of ſeverall higneſſes and cizes. And before theſe pillars, or rather, before the ſpace that was between the pillars (ſo that one might eaſily paſſe betweene) ſtood the marble tables, on which, after that they had given the entrailes of the beaſts their firſt waſhing in the waſhing roome mentioned before, they waſht and dreſt them a ſecond time and made them fit and faire for the Altar, and on which after they had fleaed the beaſt as he hanged upon the hookes, they cut him in pieces according as he was to be cut and divided for his laying on the Altar to be offered up.

From theſe low pillars to the North wall of the Court were eight cubits, and this was the place and ſpace for Iſraels ſtanding on this ſide the Court: for though theſe pillars ſpoken of did not beare up the cloiſter under which the people ſtood, yet did they ſtand ſo even or cloſe to thoſe pillars that did, that from theſe pillars we may, and the Jewes doe count and meaſure the ſpace of the Iſraelits ſtation on this ſide, and it was three cubits narrower then, their ſtanding at the Eaſt end. Thus was the ſpace taken up that was between the Altar and the North ſide of the Court, now let us come to view the ſpace on the other ſide of the Altar toward the South: Where firſt the foreign Cauſey p. 213or Riſe that went up to the Altar took up two and thirty cubits: even juſt as much ſpace on this ſide, as there was betwixt the Altar and the further ſide of the place of the rings on the other. But here a queſtion may not improperly be moved out of the Arithmetick of the Talmudicks about the meaſure of the Altar, and the riſe of it, which they hold out: for they ſay expreſſely that[k][k]Mid. per. 3. the Altar was two and thirty cubits ſquare, and that[l][l]Ibid. the riſe on the South ſide was two and thirty cubits long, and yet ſumming up both together, they ſay that[m][m]Ibid. per. 5. the Altar and the riſe were but ſixty two cubits: whereas according to the two particulars named they ſhould be ſixty foure: But the reaſon of the account is from this, either becauſe they reckon the length of the cauſey or riſe, not from the outſide of the foundation of the Altar, but from the narrowing of the Altar above the Circuit; for thither did the Cauſey bring them and land them there, as the ordinary place of their ſervice, when they went to beſprinkle the hornes of the Altar with the blood of the ſacrifices: or elſe becauſe they reckon not the two firſt cubits of the riſe or the very entrance upon it, it being ſo flat and neare to the ground, as that there was ſo much of the riſe gone, before there was any ſtepping off to the bridge that went to the foundation of the Altar: And yet though they doe ſometime account thus of the Altar and the riſe that they tooke up but 62 cubits, yet in diſtributing the 137 cubits of the Courts breadth into particular ſpaces they then allow, as they cannot doe otherwiſe, 32 cubits to the Altar, and as many to the riſe: for the particulars are thus: (that we may ſum them againe.)

Now theſe five and twenty cubits which were betweene the p. 214foot of the riſe and the South-wall, is given account of by the treatiſe Middoth in theſe words: foreign And the reſidue of ſpace which was between the riſe and the wall, was alſo a place of low pillars.

Theſe were ſome ſacrifices ſlaine on the South ſide of the Altar as well as theſe that have been mentioned were on the North: There were ſacrifices which were called foreign The holy of holies or the moſt holy ſacrifices, and thoſe were the burnt-offering, ſin-offering and treſpaſſe-offering and others reckoned before, and theſe were undiſpenſably tied to be ſlaine on the North ſide of the Altar, or at leaſt on the North ſide of the Court as hath been ſpoken: And there were offerings which were called foreign The leſſer holy things, and theſe might be ſlaine in any part of the Court and were not bound to that ſide: as foreign [n][n]Zevachin. per. 5.Thankſgiving-offerings and the Nazarites ramme which were leſſer holy offerings, were ſlaine in any place of the Court: Peace-offerings which were of the leſſer holy things, were alſo ſlaine in any part of the Court, and ſo were the firſtlings, the tenthes and the Paſſeover, which were alſo reckoned as leſſer holy things. Now although they ſpeak of any part of the Court, as permitted to ſlay the ſacrifices in, yet moſt eſpecially have they reference to the South ſide of the Altar in oppoſition to the North, and the South ſide underſtood in that latitude, as the North ſide was when extremity and multitude of ſacrifices put them to it: For when the ſacrifices were no more then what could be killed within the very compaſſe between the North ſide of the Altar and the North wall of the Court, they were ſlaine there, but when numerouſneſſe of ſacrifices urged[o][o]Ibid. per. 6. all the North ſide of the Court from Eaſt to Weſt ends, and as far South as to the middle of the Altar, was uſed to ſlay the beaſts in, and all that, was accounted as the North: So on the South ſide of the Altar, there were marble tables and low pillars for the very ſame uſe that there were on the other ſide of the Altar, namely for the fleaing and cutting up and waſhing the intrulls of the ſacrifices, but when greater ſtore came then that very ſpace juſt between the Altar and the South wall would containe, then all the South ſide of the Court p. 215was permitted for that uſe, even as farre as the middle of the Altar betwixt North and South.

The five and twenty cubits ſpace therefore that wee are to give account of betweene the South wall of the Court, and the foot of the riſe of the Altar, were thus parcelled. 1. There were eight cubits from the Court wall to the pillars, as there were on the North ſide, and this was the breadth of the Cloiſter, and the ſtanding of Iſrael on that ſide the Court. 2. The diſpoſall of the Tables as on the other ſide before the pillars tooke up foure cubits. 3. And then the thirteene cubits betweene theſe and the foot of the Altar riſe, was partly (as is probable) taken up with ſome rings as on the North ſide though not ſo many (for they needed not) and partly with ſome plaine pavement next to the riſe, that the Prieſts might have acceſſe to it the better.