Exposition of the Laws of Moses, Exegesis 1 · Part 7
EXERCITAT. VII. In what Tribe the Temple ſtood. A ceremoniall appendix of Command. 2.
Ezek. 43.12. This is the Law of the houſe, VponUpon the top of the mountaine the whole limit thereof round about ſhall be moſt holy: behold this is the Law of the houſe.
THat we may the better underſtand to what Tribe the Temple of Ieruſalem did belong,Why the Tribes were kept diſtinct. we muſt marke that the Lord commanded in his Law that neyther the Tribes, their poſſeſſions, nor generations ſhould be confounded; to the end, they might know of what Tribe Chriſt ſhould come, who was to come of the ſeede of David according to the fleſh: therefore he cauſed to divide the Land into Tribes, Num. 36.2. and he commanded that they ſhould not diſpone of their poſſeſſions eyther amongſt themſelves, or to ſtrangers; therefore if a poore man for poverty had morgaged his poſſeſſion, the Lord appointed the yeere of Iubile that it might returne to him againe that yeere, Levit. 15.10.
To which Tribe the Temple belonged.Now Iuda having gotten his lot, and Benjamin his (for upon theſe two Tribes the Temple did ſtand) the queſtion is, to which of theſe it did belong? for ſometimes it is given to the Tribe of Iuda, Ioſh. 15.63. as for the Iebuſites the inhabitants of Ieruſalem, the children of Iſrael could not drive them out, foreign verbum contrarie ſignificationisbut the Iebuſites dwell with the children of Iudah at Ieruſalem unto this day, In the originall it is, Iaraſh, exhareditare, to caſt them out of their poſſeſſions.The Temple aſcribed to the Tribe of Benjamin. Sometimes to the Tribe of Benjamin, Iudg. 1.25. Ioſh. 18.20. and Nehe. 11.24. Ieruſalem could not belong to them both alike, for mount Moriah ſtandeth betwixt the upper and lower Citie, the upper belonged to the Tribe of Iuda, and the lower to Benjamin, but to which of the Tribes doth mount Moriah belong? it ſeemeth to be aſcribed to the Tribe of Benjamin by the teſtament of Iacob, Why Benjamin is called a ravening Woolfe.as the ſcepter to the Tribe of Iuda; for Iacob ſaith in his teſtament, Benjamin ſhall ravine as a Woolfe: in the morning he ſhall devoure the prey, and at night he ſhall divide the ſpoyle, Gen. 49.27. by which is ſignified the Altar upon which the ſacrifices were burnt, and the blood powred out at the foote of the Altar: for the Prieſts killed the ſacrifice in the morning, and divided the ſpoyle, that is, the things which they had gotten from the people, they divided amongſt themſelves at night; they call the Altar the ravening Woolfe, and the Prieſts the dividers of the ſpoyle.
The Temple aſcribed to the Tribe of Iuda.Againe the Tribe of Iuda vendicateth the Temple to them, Pſal. 78.67. he refuſed the Tabernacle of Ioſeph, and choſe not the Tribe of Ephraim; but choſe the Tribe of Iuda, the mount Sion which he loved, and he built his ſanctuary like high places, like the earth which he hath eſtabliſhed for ever, meaning the Temple, which was builded in this Tribe.
But that we may decide the queſtion, we muſt marke that the Temple was builded upon mount Moriah, 2 Chron. 3.1.The Temple was builded upon mount Moriah. this mount Moriah was divided from mount Akra by a great valley, but in the time of the Macchabees they filled up this valley, that they might joyne the Citie to the Temple, and made the top of mount Akra lower, that they might ſee the Temple in the Citie.
The upper and the neather Citie were divided by a great valley which Ioſephus calleth Tyropoeon, How the upper and neather Citie of Ieruſalem were divided.& in the Scriptures Millo. If the line be drawne through this valley, then it leaveth Sion towards the South in the Tribe of Iuda, and mount Moriah with Salem and Akra towards the North, in the Tribe of Benjamin, but if the line be drawne through the valley which was filled up by the Maccabees, then mount Moriah is conjoyned with Sion in the Tribe of Iuda; for the Temple was builded in the threſhing floore of Arauna the Iebuſite; and the Iebuſites dwelt upon mount Sion: therefore the diviſion by this valley cannot ſhew us in what Tribe the Temple ſtood; So that we muſt ſearch out another line, which ſeparateth the Tribe of Iuda from Benjamin; which line being to the north of Iuda, muſt be upon the ſouth of Benjamin, the two extreames of this line are ſet downe, Ioſh. 15.5.The line which divided Iuda from Benjamin reached from the dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. where he deſcribeth the borders of Iuda; the caſt part of the line tendeth towards the dead Sea, at that part where Iordan entereth into it, called Lingua maris; and the weſt part of the line tendeth towards the great Sea, called the mediterranean Sea; theſe are his words; For the eaſt border was the ſalt Sea, even to the end of Iordan, this was the dead Sea where Sodome and Gomorra ſtood, And their border in the north quarter, was from the bay of the Sea at the uttermoſt part of Iordan, Ioſh 15.5.The line commeth from En-rogel thorow the valley of Hinnom to the tongue of the Sea. This was towards the eaſt, the line was ſtretched forth towards the weſt to En-rogel wch is a fountaine in the valley of Hinnom where the valley Tyropoeon endeth. Now if yee will ſtretch out the line from the fountaine of En-rogel to the tongue of the Sea, it muſt be drawne through the valley of Hinnom, to the north of mount Sion, and then it is ſubjoyned, verſ. 9. (ſpeaking of Moriah) and the border was drawne from the top of the hill unto the fountaine of the water of Nephtoah, which is over againſt Hinnom towards the weſt, and to the valley of Rephaim towards the north, for Ioſh. 18.16. maketh mention of two valleyes, one towards the eaſt of the Citie, called Hinnom, upon the weſt of which lieth the hill Moriah and the Temple; the other valley is called the valley of Rephaim or of Gyants, lying towardes the weſt and ſouth of mount Sion, then the north part of that valley muſt ſtretch towards mount Moriah, and the line which divideth the Citie and the mountaine thereof to wit Moriah, in two parts, muſt touch the valley of Rephaim towards the north,The line goeth directly over the top of Mount Moriah. the ſame diviſion is ſet downe, Neh. 11.24. So that Benjamin had the north ſide of this line, and Iuda the ſouth, and the line ſtretching over the top of mount Moriah, it went through the middle of the Temple, and through the holieſt of all; ſo that the one halfe of the Temple ſtood in the Tribe of Iuda, The line goeth through the midſt of the Temple, the holieſt, and holieſt of all, and betwixt the Cherubims.and the other in the Tribe of Benjamin; the one halfe of the Arke in the one Tribe, and the other in the other; and of the foure Cherubims, two ſtood in one Tribe, and two in another; and God himſelfe ſitting betwixt the wings of the Cherubims is ſayd to dwell (cethephau) betwixt his ſhoulders, How God is ſayd to dwell betwixt his ſhoulders.that is, in Ieruſalem where the Temple ſtood in the very borders of Iuda and Benjamin. foreign humerus vel extremitas alicujus rei.Catheph ſignifieth the borders or marches, as if he ſhould ſay, he ſhall dwell in the very outmoſt borders of Iuda and Benjamin.
Now for the better underſtanding of theſe things which hauehave beene ſpoken before, marke this figure following.
Weſt.
North.
Eaſt.
South.
And for this cauſe it was that Salomon had in his throne twelve Lions upholding it, but on the ſeat where he ſate and leaned his armes, there was a Bullock and a Lyon; the Lyon for Iuda and the Bullock for Benjamin: by which was ſignified;Why Salomons Throne had a Bullock and an Oxe. when ten Tribes ſhould bee rent from his crowne, that Iuda, and Benjamin ſhould cleave together and uphold the Temple; both Iuda and Benjamin went in captivitie together, came home together, and builded the Temple together.
Concluſion. The Concluſion of this is, the kingdome and the prieſthood ſhould never be ſeparated; for moſt of the Prieſts dwelt in the lower citie in the Tribe of Benjamin and the kingly Scepter was in Iuda the upper Citie.