The Temple in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Tabernae Shops: The great Sanhedrin ſitting thereabout.
THere is very frequent mention in the Talmuds and Talmudicall writers, of a place in the Mountaine of the Houſe which was called foreign Hhanoth or Hhanijoth: which the learned in theſe Antiquities, doe commonly render by the Latine word Tabernae: which though in that language it be a proper expreſſion of the Hebrew word, yet cannot we ſo properly in Engliſh render it Tavernes: becauſe, that, in our uſuall acceptation, that word is taken for houſes where wine only is ſold; whereas theſe were ſhops where wine, oile, ſalt, meal, and ſuch like things were ſold, which were in conſtant uſe for Sacrifices and offerings in the Temple. And Rabbi Nathan relateth that[a]Aruch in foreign there were Clerks of that Market appointed to looke to the weights and meaſures of theſe Shops, and to ſee the Shopkeepers did not ſell too deare.
But the moſt famous thing concerning theſe Tabernae that the Jewes ſpeak of, is, that the great Sanhedrin ſate here, having removed hither from the roome Gazith the place of their common ſitting. The ſtory hereof is diſperſedly mentioned in the Talmud in ſeverall places, particularly it is thus at large in the Gemara of the Treatiſe Roſh haſhanah per. 4.
[b]Tal. in Roſh haſhan. fol: 31.Rabbi Iohanan ſaith, The divine glory had ten flittings: 1 From the Mercy ſeat to one of the Cherubs. 2 From that Cherub to the other. 3 From the Cherub to the threſhold. 4 From the threſhold to the Court. 5 From the Court to the Altar ſide. 6 From the… to the Alt…r top. 7 From thence to the outmoſt wall. 8 From that wall to the City. 9 From the City to Mount Olivet. 10 From Mount Olivet to the wilderneſſe, and from the Wilderneſſe it went up. So alſo the great Sanhedrin had ten flittings: From the Chamber Gazith, to Hhanoth (the Tabernae or place of the Shops) From Hhanoth to Jeruſalem. From Jeruſalem to Jabueh. From Jabueh to Oſha foreign. From Oſha to Shepharaam foreign From Shepharaam to Beth Shaaraim. From Beth Shaaraim to Tſipperis in Galilee. From Tſipperis to Tiberias.
Now whereas there are but eight removes here mentioned, yet they ſpeake of ten, it is to be underſtood, as the Gloſſe gives us notice, that from two of theſe places they removed forward and backward and forward againe, as from Jabueh to Oſhah, from Oſha back to Jabueh, and from Jabueh to Oſha a ſecond time.
[c]Gloſſ. ibid. Rab. Simeon.Their firſt comming to Jabueh was in the dayes of Rabban Johanan ben Zaccai; from Jabueh to Oſha, in the daies of Rabban Gamaliel the laſt; and to Jabueh back againe in the daies of Rabban Simeon. To Shaaraim and to Tſipperis in the daies of Rabbi Judah: And to Tiberias in the daies of Antonius.
Theſe their flittings, by their owne confeſſion, began forty yeares before the deſtruction of the. Temple. foreign [d]Shabbath fol: 51.Forty years ſay they, before the deſtruction of the Temple, the Sanhedrin flitted and betooke it ſelfe to ſit in Hanoth, or the Tabernae. And the reaſon is given[e]Ib. & Aruch in foreign Becauſe there were then many Theeves and Murderers, and they judged not of capitall matters: which meaneth to this purpoſe: They held that while they ſate in the roome Gazith, they were bound to judge and determine of all matters that came before them, and that all their determinations were obliging, but now, when beſide the curbe of the Roman power that was upon them, by which their power was abridged, villany and inſolency was alſo grown too ſtrong for them, they thought as the Gemara in Avodah Zarah, ſpeakes their mind,[f]Avodah Zarah fol: 8. It is good for us to riſe and flit from this place, of which it is written, And thou ſhalt do according as the men of that place ſhall ſhew thee.
Now in what part of the Mountaine of the Houſe Hhanoth or the Tabernae were placed, may be beſt conceived, by obſerving the place of the great Sanhedrins ſitting, before they came to ſit in the roome Gazith; And for this purpoſe a Text of Jeremy doth give us light, which is in chap. 35.4. where it is ſaid thus, I brought the Rechabites into the Houſe of the Lord, into the Chamber of the ſonnes of Hanan the ſonne of Igdaliah a man of God, which was by the chamber of the Princes, which was above the chamber of Maaſeiah the ſonne of Shallum the keeper of the doore. Now by the Princes we cannot underſtand the Princes of the bloud, for what had Jehojakims ſonnes to doe here? their reſidence was in the palaces of Sion, and their way into the Temple, was at the gate on the Weſt quarter, which was called Shallecheth and Coponius, whereas this gate whereof the ſon of Shallum was keeper or porter, was the Eaſt gate, as is apparent from 1 Chron: 9.17, 18.
By the Princes therefore are to be underſtood, the great men of the Sanhedrin, foreign, Acts 4.8. who ſate in Counſell and Judicature in a Chamber neere the Eaſt gate or the gate Shuſhan, namely, over the Porters lodge. Here they ſate in the time of the firſt Temple, but under the ſecond Temple, namely, from the times of Simeon Ben Shetah, they removed further inward and ſate even by the ſide of the Court of Iſrael, in the roome called Gazith, which we ſhall ſurvey in its due place.
Now when they were put to remove and flit out of Gazith, and to ſit there no more, whither ſhould they betake themſelves, but to ſome roome neare to the Eaſt gate again, where the place of the Sanhedrins fitting had been of old? It is obſervable in Jeremy, that in his time, they ſate in two Eaſt gates of the Temple, ſome times in the one and ſometimes in the other, namely, in this Eaſt gate of the Mountaine of the Houſe, as appeareth by the Text produced: and in the Eaſt gate of the Court, which was alſo called The New gate, Jer. 36.10. of which hereafter.
Now in after times when they ſate in the roome Gazith, there was a Sanhedrin of three and twenty Judges ſate in either of theſe gates, as is copiouſly teſtified by the Jewiſh records and antiquities. By the Eaſt gate therefore of the Mountaine of the houſe may we beſt conclude, the Hhanoth or Tabernae, to have been ſeated, namely, that they were as Shops in the lower roomes of the buildings that ſtood on either ſide of the gate Shuſhan, and the rooms over head were imployed for ſome other uſe, and among the reſt, one for the ſitting of the great Sanhedrin, when they were removed from Gazith; and when they ſate in Gazith, for a Sanhedrin of twenty three.
And whereas Maimony ſpeaketh of foreign [g]Maym. in Sanhedr. per. 3.A Divinity Schoole in the Mountaine of the Houſe, where the Sanhedrin ſate upon holy dayes, wee know not where better to place it then hereabout, where their ſitting was in the firſt and laſt times of the Temple. All the gates that we have viewed were beautified with gallant buildings on either ſide them, but the Eaſt moſt eminent, becauſe the greateſt and commoneſt entrance into the Temple. And whereas there is mention in Scripture of Women lodging in the Temple, as 2 Chron: 22.11, 12. Jehoſhebeath and Joaſh and his Nurſe lodged many yeares there: and Luke 2.37. Hannah is ſaid not to have departed from the Temple for many yeares more: their lodgings were in the buildings neere ſome of the gates of this outmoſt wall (but which undeterminable) for that all within this incloſing was called The Temple in the Scripture, and the common language, is ſo apparent, that it needeth no demonſtration.