The Temple Service in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Of the different holinesse of the severall parts of the Temple.
THE degrees of the Holiness of places among the Jews, by their own reckoning were[a]Kelim. per. 1. Maym. in Beth habbechirah. per. 1. these eleven.
1. The land of Israel was more holy then other lands. Not to mention the many appropriations, fixed to that land by them, which they will have no other land under heaven to partake of, [as[b]R. Sol. in Jonah. 1. that the spirit of prophesie,[c]Maymon. in Sanhed. per. 4. ordination,[d]Idem in Kiddush hhodesh. per. 1. & per. 5. appointing the new Moones, &c. should be no where else] these two or three peculiarities they observe by name, as proper only to that very soil and no other. That the Omer or first reaped sheaf and other first fruits that were to be offered, and the two loaves of shew-bread which were to stand continually before the Lord, might not be taken and made of the corn of any Countrey under heaven, but only of the corn that grew in the land of Israel.
2. Walled Cities were more holy then the rest of the land: For 1. Lepers were not suffered to be in them, but were turned out, 2 Kings 7.2, 3. and this their turning out was called[e]Maymon …iath Mikdash per. 3. foreign Shiloah: and it may be possibly the fountain Siloam took its name from such a thing, it being without the City, a place whither such poor creatures were sent. 2. A dead body carried out of the walls, might not be brought in again: foreign: they might carry it up and down in the City, as they thought good, but if it were once carried out of the gates it might not be brought in again. 3. A dead corps was not to be buried within the walls. Luk. 7.12. And none [saith[f]Avoth. R. Nathan. per. 34. Rabbi Nathan] were buried within the walls of Jerusalem, but the Kings of the house of David, and the Prophetesse Huldah.
3. Within Jerusalem was holyer then within any other walled City; for[g]Ram…am in Kelim per. 1. there they might eat the Peace-offerings, the first fruits, and the second tith, which they might not eat in any City else whatsoever: And there alone [while Jerusalem was theirs] did they eat the Passeover.
4. The mountain of the Temple was more holy then Jerusalem, for foreign, Men or women that had issues or fluxes, and women that were unclean in their menstruis, and upon child-bearing, might not come in thither; yet such were in Jerusalem continually. And the reason of this their restraint was[h]Maym…n. ubi supr. because they made that unclean that either they sate or lay upon, yea even the place where they stood: which in this circumstance was a deeper defiling, then defiling by the dead, for a dead corps might [if there were occasion] be brought in hither, [as to save the dead body of an eminent person from violence, and as they give the example of Moses carrying the bones of Joseph with him, even within the camp of Levi,] but one of these unclean persons might not come in here.
5. The foreign chel, or alley was holyer then the mountain of the House; for strangers and those that were defiled by the dead might not come within it, which they might do into the other. By strangers, here, we are not to understand Proselytes that were circumcised and baptized, for they were as Israelites to all purposes; but strangers, were such, as were of other nations, that were not come to that conformity with the Jews in religion; were they Pr…s…lytes of the gate, or were they strangers in the most proper sense: For we shall observe hereafter, that even Gentiles unproselyted, yea while they were yet Idolaters, might and did sometimes bring their offerings to the Temple, and so might come into the mountain of the House; and hence, that is ordinarily called among Christian writers, The Court of the Gentiles: But though they might come within the mountain of the House, yet might they not enter into the chel upon pain of death, which was signified to them by inscriptions upon pillars at the entrance into it, as is observed in its place.
And from hence rose that tumult against Paul, Act. 21. who being himself, and four others, attending upon their purification, in the court of the women, shaving their heads, and burning their hair in the Nazarites room, and doing what was to bee done by those whose vow was out; an hubbub ariseth upon supposall that one of the four had been a Gentile, namely Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they had seen walking with Paul in the City, and indignity was taken at this, as if Paul had brought in a stranger within the foreign chel.
6. The Court of the women was mere holy then the foreign, for foreign Tibhuliom might not come in thither, that is, whosoever was defiled with such an uncleannesse, as required his washing, and his sun going down, before he was clean; though he had washed, yet if the sun were not set, he or she might not come in there.
7. The Court of Israel was more holy then the Court of the women, [i]Id. ubi supra. & Kelim. per. 1.for foreign they might not enter into it, that were, indeed, acquitted from their uncleannesse, but had not as yet, their atonement made, for their purification:[k]Id. in Mechofere capparah per. 1. There were four sorts of th…se, the Leper, a man that had had an issue: a woman that had been in her separation, and she that had born a child: [l]Joseph. de bell. 5. cap. 14.As for the women they might not not go into the Court at all,[m]Tesaphera in E…achim per. 2. unlesse it were when they brought a sacrifice: but men who were capable of going in at other times, yet might they not enter the Court in this condition, till their atonement made.
8. The Court of the Priests was more holy then the Court of Israel: for no Israelite might come in there but upon necessity: and that was in these three occasions[n]Pishe T… saph. ad Mid., either for the laying of his hands upon the head of the sacrifice to be slain, or for staying of it, or for waving of some part of it being killed.
9. Between the porch and the Altar was more holy then the lower part of the Court; for even no Priest might come there that had a blemish, or bareheaded, that is, without his bonnet or without his vail: for they used the covering of their heads as one most solemn sight in their greatest devotions, as shall be shewed afterward.
10. The Temple was more holy then that: because none might go in thither, unlesse with washed hands and feet: which up and down the Court they might more tolerably do with both unwashed, if they did not meddle with some part of the service.
11. The Oracle or within the vail was most holy of all, because that none might go in thither, but only the High-priest, and that but one day in the year only.
Thus many risings and degrees of holinesse were in that land, and in these places; now, and many hundreds of yeers ago raked up in as many, and many more degrees of misery, defilement, and desolation. The blinded nation despising the life and marrow of those holy things, whereby these places received all their holinesse and honour; and so losing the things, places, and holinesse it self.
The Jews doe parallel Jerusalem and the Temple, to the Camp of Israel in the wildernesse and the Tabernacle, in these proportions.[o]R. Sol. in Kelim. per. 1. Maym. in Beth habbech. per. 7. From the gates of Jerusalem to the mountain of the House, was as the camp of Israel. From the gate of the mountain of the House, to the gate of Nicanor, the camp of Levi: and from the gate of Nicanor inward, the camp of the divine glory.
Sect. I. How the unclean were kept from the Temple.
VPonUpon the observation of what persons were prohibited accesse to the Temple, lest they should defile it, two things methodically do come to hand to be considered thereupon, as referring to it; and those are, 1. What course was taken for the prohibiting of the unclean from coming there. And 2. What was the penalty of those that were in their uncleannesse, yet would dare to come.
The former inquiry is not of so easy resolution as is the latter, and the reason is, because thousands of persons might come, that were not in a fit case to have come thither; and yet it was impossible, without immodesty and uncivility, unless it were by oath, to discover in what case they were. There were indeed Porters & guards at the gates, but thousands of unclean persons might pass them, and they never the wiser, unless they should have put the passengers to an oath, which I beleeve was never yet dreamed of by any writer that hath handled the Jews customs. Men in issues of blood or seed, and women in their ordinary or extraordinary fluxes, could neither be discerned by their face in what case they were, nor do we find that they were ever at all examined, much lesse sworn or searched. They might repel and keep back, indeed, what or whosoever carried with them visible defiling, as one that appeared to be a Leper, one that came with things about him that might not be brought into the temple: or they might keep back those that would go beyond their bounds: or they might have an eye to any that came suspiciously either to steal or to disturb the service: or they might check those that shewed any lightnesse at their coming in, or being entred: or they might direct those that were not well acquainted with the place what to do & how to behave themselves there: or they might admonish all that came, to take heed of coming there if they were unclean: But as for keeping out all that were in any uncleanness, and such as whereby the place might receive defilement, it was a thing so far impossible, that it is far from being imaginable. A man might have touched a dead corps, or might have touched a woman in her separation, or suffered gonorrhoea in the night, or twenty such like cases as these, and he cometh to enter into the Temple, and no one in the world knew how the case was with him but himself, how should this man be possibly discovered or restrained, unless it were by the spirit of Prophe…ie, or by giving him an oath, which power we never read the Porters to have had, nor is there any ground or colour to suppose such a thing.
The security of the place therefore from such pollutions lay more in the severity of the penalties that were sentenced against and inflicted upon those that were deprehended offenders in this kind, then it did in any possible care, or practicall prevention they could use that they should not come there: And as the rigour and strictness of Laws, and execution upon offenders in other cases, is the surest prevention of such offences, the like was the way of caution and prevention here.
Sect. II. Penalties doomed upon unclean Persons found in the Temple. Death by the hand of Heaven, and Cutting off.
FOur sad and severe punishments [for punishments I cannot but call them all] were severally allotted, two in sentence or doom and two in execution, upon those that presumingly by their uncleanness, did violate the holiness of the place and service, some upon one degree of offending, and some upon another: And those were these,
foreign Death by the hand of Heaven.
foreign Cutting off.
foreign Whipping.
foreign The Rebells beating.
1. There is a penalty of which the Jews do speak exceeding often, due as they hold to divers sorts of offenders, and amongst other, to some of those that we are speaking of, namely such as being unclean, yet would for all that go into the Temple, and they do call it Death by the hand of Heaven [or by the hand of God,[a]Vid. Elia. Levit. in Tisbi in foreign. for they do very commonly called God Heaven.][b]Maymon. in Biath. Mikdash. per. 4. An unclean person, [saith Maymony,] that serveth in the Sanctuary profaneth his service, and is guilty of Death by the Hand of Heaven, though he stay not there. And again[c]Ibid. per. 5. A Priest that serveth and washeth not his hands and feet in the morning, hee is guilty of Death by the hand of Heaven. And again,[d]Ibid. per. 4. Men or women with fluxes, women in their separatien and upon childbirth, or one unclean by a creeping thing or by a carcase, or the like, may not deal with the service, nor go into the Court: But if they do, they are liable to cutting off for their going in thither, and to Death by the hand of Heaven for their serving. And divers other instances and examples might be given in other delinquencies and offences, to which Death by the hand of Heaven is doomed as the proper punishment of them, but these may be sufficient to our present purpose.
2. There is likewise as frequent mention, if not more, among the Hebrew writers, of another doom or penalty upon divers offenders [and amongst others upon those of whom wee are speaking, who would go into the temple in their uncleannesse, knowing how the case was with them] which they call foreign kereth or Cutting off: And the Talmud in the treatise Kerithuth which bears the name upon this very subject doth reckon up six and thirty offences to which, if wilfully committed, this penalty accrewed. It may not be amisse to give the matter at large in their own words, and that the rather because we have not only some occasion to look after them now, but shall have again also, when wee come to treat concerning sin-offerings, which was a part of their service, and which, as we shall see then and even in the words now before us, had somewhat to say to the matter of Cutting-off. Their words are these.
[e]Kerithuth. per. 1.There are six and thirty cuttings off in the Law: Hee that lieth with his mother, or his fathers wife, or his daughter in Law, or with a male, or with a beast, or a woman lying with a beast: or a man lying with a woman and her daughter, or with another mans wife, or with his own sister, or his fathers sister, or his mothers sister, or his wifes sister, or his brothers wife, or his fathers brothers wife, or with a woman in her separation: or he that blasphemeth, or committeth Idolatry, or giveth his seed to Molech, or useth sorcery, or profaneth the Sabbath, or eateth holy things in his uncleannesse, or that cometh into the Sanctuary he being unclean: or that eateth fat or blood, or what is left of the sacrifice, or any sacrificed thing not offered in season, or that killeth or offereth up a sacrifice out of the Court, or that eateth leaven at the Passeover, or that eateth ought on the day of Expiation, or doth any work on it: or that makes oile or incense like the holy, or that anoints with the holy oil: that delayeth the Passeover or circumcision for which there are affirmative precepts: All these if done wilfully, are liable to cutting off, and if done ignorantly, then to the fixed sin-offering: and if it be unknown, whether he did it or no, then to a suspensive trespass-offering: but only he that defiles the Sanctuary and its holy things, for he is bound to an ascending or descending offering.
Now that we may the better understand what Death by the hand of heaven, and Cutting off mean; we are first to take notice, that neither of them was any penalty inflicted by the hand or sentence of man, but both of them do import a liableness to the wrath and vengeance of the Lord in their severall kinds. And the Jews do ever account Cutting off to be the higher and more eminent degree of divine vengeance: As to spare more evidences of this, which might be given copiously, this passage of Maymonides is sufficient, and it is remarkable, when he saith[f]Maym. in Biath. Mikdash. per. 4. Is it possible for a Priest that serveth in his uncleannesse, to stay so little in the Court foreign As that he should be guilty of death by the hand of Heaven only, and not guilty of cutting off: He had had those words but a little before which were cited even now. An unclean person that serveth in the Sanctuary profaneth his service, and is guilty of death by the hand of Heaven, although he stay not there: and then he comes on, and is it possible, (saith he) that hee should stay so little as to bee guilty only of death by the hand of Heaven, and not to be guilty of cutting off? apparently shewing that cutting off was the deeper degree and die of gilt and vengeance, although indeed they were both understood for vengeance by the hand of God, and divine indignation.
By Death by the hand of Heaven in their sense therefore is to be apprehended some such a sodain avengefull stroke, as the Lord shewed upon Nadab, and Abihu, or Ananias and Saphira to take them away. And this may the better be collected by two passages usuall in the Rabbines about this matter: First, in that they give up the offence of the Priests drinking wine before they went to serve, [which is held to have been the offence of Nadab and Abihu;][g]Id b. per. 1. to death by the hand of Heaven, which argues that they mean such a kind of stroke as they two had. And secondly, in that wheresoever the Law enjoyneth Aaron and his sons, and the people about the affairs of the Sanctuary, they shall or they shall not do thus or thus, lest they die; they interpret this of death by the hand of heaven.
But what to understand by Cutting off, is not so readily agreed among them:[h]Kimchi in Esay. 38. Kimchi alledgeth it, as the opinion of their Doctors, That Dying before fifty yeers old is death by cutting off. [Compare Joh. 8.57.][i]R. Sol. in Gen. 17. Rabbi Solomon saith, It is to die childlesse, and to die before his time: Baal Aruch giveth this distinction between Cutting off, and Death by the hand of heaven, that[k]Aruch. in foreign. Cutting off is of himself and of his children, but Death by the hand of heaven, is of himself, but not of his children. But mean it which of these you will, or all these together, or [which may have good probability to conceive] a liableness to cutting off from the life of the world to come; both this, and Death by the Hand of Heaven, were held by that nation, with whom the phrases were so much in use, to mean, not any censure or punishment inflicted by man, but an impending vengeance of God, and a continuall danger and possibility when indignation should seize upon him that was faln under these gilts: Anathema Maran Atha, one under a curse whensoever the Lord shall come to inflict it: as John 3.18, 36.
Sect. III. Penalties inflicted upon unclean persons found in the Temple. Whipping and the Rebells beating.
IT was not a small awe, that this might work in the hearts of the people, towards their restraining from going into the Sanctuary in their uncleannesse, to have this impressed and inculcated upon them, [as it was continually,] that such a venture did hazard them both body and soul, and brought them ipso facto into Gods dreadfull displeasure, and into undoubted danger of accrewing judgment.
But did they let the offender thus alone, that had offended, as if he was fallen under the guilt of death, by the Hand of Heaven, or under the guilt of cutting off, that they had no more to do with him, but leave him to the justice of God, and to judgment, when it should fall upon him? Many a wretch would make sleight of this matter, and because sentence upon his evill work was not executed speedily, his heart would be fully set in him to do so again, as Eccles. 8.11. Therefore they let not the Delinquent so escape, but as he had fallen under the wrath of God, so they also brought him under a penalty by the hand of man. And this penalty was twofold, either foreign or foreign whipping by the appointment of the Judges, or mawling and beating by the people.
1. There was the penalty of foreign whipping or scourging, upon the censure of the Judges, according to the law, Deut. 25.2. Where he was to receive forty stripes: but their tradition brought it to forty save one, 2 Cor. 11.24. And the reason of this was, because they would make a hedge to the Law, and whereas that commands that they should not give to a Delinquent that was whipt, above forty stripes, lest their brother should seem vile unto them, they abated one of forty to make sure to keep within compass: The measure and manner of their whipping is largly described in the treatise Maccoth, thus in their own words[a]Maccoth. per. 3. How many stripes do they give him? [saith the Mishuch there.] Why, forty lacking one: As it is said by a certain number, forty stripes; that is, a number neer to forty: Rabbi Judah saith, he is beaten with full forty; and where hath he the odd one above thirty nine? Between his shoulders: They allot him not stripes, but so as they might he triplicated: They allot him to receive forty, he hath had some of them, and they say he is not able to bear forty, then he is quit: they allot him to receive eighteen, and as he is in whipping they say he is able to bear forty, yet he is quit. How do they whip him? His hands are tyed to two pillars or posts, and the Officer of the Court layes hold of his garments, and rip or rent, it is no matter; hee pulls them down till hee have bared his breast. Now there was a stone lay behind him, upon which the Officer of the Court stood, with a whip of whit-leather in his hand, platted four plat…, and two lashes hanging by it; the handle was a hand bredth long, and the whip a hand bredth broad, and the end of it raught to his belly: A third part of his stripes he gave him before [on his belly,] two parts behind: And he beats him not standing nor sitting, but bowed down, as it is said, The Judge shall cause him to lie down, and he strikes him with one hand with all his might. And in the mean while, one standing by, reads or sayes these portions of Scripture: But if thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law, &c. Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderfull, and the plagues of thy seed, &c. Deut. 28.58, 59. And therefore ye shall keep the words of this Covenant, &c. And hee concludes with, But he being full of compassion forgives iniquity, and destroyeth not, Psal. 78.28.
This was the manner of their scourging; a very sharp penalty, thirteen lashes with a three-lash whip, which by that triplication, arose to forty save one, or if the number were alotted less, yet it was as many stripes as they conceived the party could bear.
2. There was the penalty of foreign The Rebells beating, the beating or the mawling by the people; which was a terrible rugged beating by all the people, without any sentence of the Judges passed upon him at all, and without any measure: As in divers cases, if a man were deprehended faulty in such or such an offence, the people made no more adoe, but fell upon him pell mell, with fists, staves or stones, and mawled him unmeasurably, and very often to death: Rabbi Nathan describes it thus:[b]Aruch in foreign. The beating according to the Law is, of those that transgress against negative precepts, and it is by measure, and for admonition, and with a three corded whip: But he that transgresseth against affirmative speeches, they beat him till his life depart, and not with a threefold whip. And likewise, whosoever transgresseth against the words of the wise men, they beat him without number and measure, and they call it foreign, The Rebells beating, because he hath rebelled against the words of the Law, and against the words of the Scribes. The reason of this beating, [c]Gloss in Maym. in Sabbath. per. 1.[saith another Jew] is because he transgressed against a prohibition of theirs, in a thing which hath its foundation in the Law, and he is foreign A Son of Rebellion: The frequent taking up of stones by the people to have stoned our Saviour, and that incursion upon him, Mat. 26.67. and upon Stephen, Act. 7.57, 58. for blasphemy as they would have it, and upon Paul, Act. 21.31. for defiling the Temple as they supposed, were of this nature.
Thus he that committed a transgression for which he became liable either to Death by the hand of Heaven, or to Cutting off, he did not escape barely with that liableness, but either he was to be whipt, or thus mawled, or in some cases was to suffer death by the sentence of the Judges:[d]Maym. in Biath. Mikdash. per. 4. [Every negative precept,[ saith Maymony] upon which they become liable to Death by the Hand of Heaven, they are beaten for it: Much more where there is a liableness to cutting off, which is the greater guilt. And the same author[e]Id. in San. per. 19. reckons eighteen offences, that fell under liablenesse to death by the Hand of Heaven, and for which the offenders were whipt: and twenty one that fell under liableness to cutting off, and for which the offenders were also whipt, and were not put to death by the Judges.
Amongst those transgressions that deserved these penalties; going into the Sanctuary in uncleannesse; fell under as many of them as any one offence whatsoever: It were too tedious to insist upon all particulars, let us take up these few, and guesse and conjecture of the rest by them: A Priest or any other that went into the Court being unclean, fell under the guilt of being cut off, and if they served there in their uncleannesse, the Priest at the altar, and any other person in laying on of his hands on the sacrifice, or waving any part of it, they then became liable to death by the hand of Heaven. And such a Priest being deprehended thus faulty,[f]In in Biath. Mikd. ubi supr. they never brought him before the Sanhedrin; [a]Talm. in Sahedr. per. 9.but the young men of the Priests, thrust him out of the Court, and dasht out his brains with the billets: And the like they did by the other persons; A Leper that entred into the mountain of the House was beaten with eighty stripes: He that was defiled by the dead, or unclean for a day, if he went into the Court of the women, he was to be beaten with the Rebells beating: And so was he that came in, having eaten or drunk any unclean thing, or after a seven daies uncleannesse would go into the Court of Israel before his atonement was made. And he that brought in a vessell, or came in any clothes which one that was defiled by the dead had toucht, was to be whipt. And not to multiply particulars, whosoever came within the holy ground being unclean, and knowing of it, and yet would come in, hee incurred the guilt of cutting off ipso facto; and if hee were discovered, and the matter proved by witness, he was sure either to be whipt, or else to be mawld with the Rebells beating, the former alwaies most terrible, the latter deadly very oft. It is indeed a common saying among the Talmudish writers; that for such or such offences though a man be not whipt, yet is he beaten with the Rebells beating, as if the latter were the gentler castigation; they do not mean, that the Rebells beating was the less penalty, but they intend this, that though there be no express in the Law, that appoints his whipping, yet the decrees of the wise men which hee hath broken, appoint him to bee beaten:[h]Talm. in Maccoth. per. 3. Whosoever had incurred the guilt of being Cut off, after hee is whipt is acquitted from that guilt: as it is said, Lest thy brother bee vile in thine eies: Behold, after he is whipt he is thy brother again: But the beating with the Rebells stripes, very ordinarily cost the life.
This then was the sure guard of the Temple, that kept it from defilement and pollution: the dreadfull penalties that were sure to light upon those that were discovered to bee unclean, and to know so much, and yet to have dared to enter there: Nay he that knew not of his uncleanness, if he came in there, was not so intirely excused by this his ignorance, but that whensoever he came to know in what case hee was, he was bound to bring an offering for this his sin, and so was he to do in the other cases [whose witting and wilful committing them, deserved cutting off] if he did any of them unwillingly and not knowing: Did he eat fat or blood, and not know what he eat, or come into the Sanctuary in uncleanness, and not know that he was unclean, or commit any of the other transgressions mentioned, and not know that he transgressed, there was an offering appointed to atone for him, which he was to bring as soon as he came to know that he had misdon: but he that knowingly and wilfully would run into those faults, there was no sacrifice to atone for him, but hee fell under the indignation of God; and liableness to divine vengeance, and humane penalty, and expectation when it would seiz upon him: And to this the Apostle writing to the Hebrews who were very well acquainted with these things, seemeth to allude in those words, Heb. 10.11. If we sin wilfully after wee have received the knowledg of the truth, there is no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearfull looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, &c. Heb. 10.26, 27.