The Temple Service in the Days of our Savior Described, Chapter 10
CHAP. X. The manner of their worshipping at the Temple.
THE holinesse of the place, and the equity of that Law, Ye shall reverence my Sanctuary, did justly challenge all solemne and holy behaviour of them that came to worship there: for which, as the law had prohibited all uncleannesse from that place, so did the great Masters of traditions prohibit other things which the Law had not named, in which provision they did, as they did generally in all other things, they strained at a Gnat and swallowed a Camel: not sticking to make and permit the house of prayer to be a house o… merchandise, and a den of theeves, a…d yet strict in prohibiting what was of far lesse faultinesse and scandall. According to which their punctuall precisenesse in lesser matters
I. foreign [a]Berachoth. per. 9. Zavim. per▪ 1. Gemara. Maym. in Beth Habbech. per. 7.No man might go into the mountain of the house with his staffe. It being reputed as a thing unfit, to bring in weapons of striking into that place of peace, or to use that place as a journey, which was to be a rest, or to leane upon any staffe there, but onelyonly on God. From this custome it was that our Saviour drove not out the buyers and sellers out of the Temple with a staffe, but with a whip of cords, no staffe being permitted to be brought in thither. And here it was a strange contradiction in religion, that they might bring cattle to ma…ket into the Mountaine of the house, but they might not drive them in thither with a staffe. Yet did the man of the Mountaine of the house walke up and downe the Mountain with his staffe, and use it to strike too, for foreign as Maymonides tels us, he cudgelled or punched with his staffe, those Levit…s that lay sleeping upon the guards.
II. foreign [b]Ibid.Nor might any man enter in thither with his shoes on his feet. This prohibition they tooke from those words of God to Moses and Jos…ua, Put off thy shoes from thy feet &c. Exod. 3. J…sh. 5. Under which prohibition and practice was couched that doctrine, which the Targum uttereth on these words in Eccles. 5. Take heed to thy feet when thou enterest into the house of God. [c]Targ. in Eccles 5.1.Thou son of man take heed to thy feet when thou enterest into the sanctuary of the Lord to pray, that thou goe not in thither full of thy sins unrepented of, &c. And be not as fooles, which offer sacrifices for their sinnes, and yet turne not from their evill workes.
They might go into the mountaine of the house in t…eir sandal… though they might not in their sho…s,[d]Erach. per. 2. in Gemar. but the Levites might not goe into their desks to sing, nor their Priests into the Court to serve, no not so much as in th…ir sandals, but bare footed.
III. foreign Nor might any man en…er into the mountain of the house with his scrip or bag purse about him. The word foreign or foreign is taken by some to signifie a little upper garment that they wore, which in Greeke (from which language they conceive this word is taken▪) is called foreign Joh. 21.7. but I have ventured to render it a scrip or bag purse, for the clearer sense of the prohibition that we are about, upon some ground… and reasons which I shall give, when I have named one or two of their prohibitions more.
IV. foreign Nor might he come in with the dust upon his feet, but he must wash or wipe them, and looke to his feet when he entered into the house of God. How under this might bee couched the doctrine of shaking off all worldly thoughts and affections when they were to goe about the service of God, is ready for every one to observe, and needeth no intimation.
V. foreign Nor with mony tyed to him in his Purse. The words of our Saviour to his Disciples when he was sending them to preach, are so parallel to these prohibitions, that it is more then probability that he speaketh in allusion to these things. Provide neith…r gold, nor silver, nor brasse in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither shoes nor staves, Mat. 10.9, 10. And therefore I have the rather translated foreign a scrip, and foreign a purse, because those two words in our Saviours speech do not only fitly translate these two, but that they seeme to do so purposely. And for the rendring of the former word so, there is this double warrant: 1 Because the word foreign, which the Syriack hath used to render the Greeke word foreign by in the place cit…d, is sometimes used by the Talmud in conjunction with the same words that foreign is used with here; as foreign [e]Shabbath. per. 2. fol. 31.with his staffe and his scrip, foreign [f]Jebamoth. fol 122.his staffe, his shoes, and his scrip: and 2 from the signification that Rabbi Nathan giveth of foreign in these words,[g]Aruch in foreign It was a kind of v…sture which was a little upper garment in which were many places sew…d, in which they put any thing they met with, that they had occasion to use: So that this was a kinde of an apron with divers purses, or pockets made in it, in which they put their necessaries, as we do in our pockets; which apron they could readily put on or off, wear or lay aside as they saw occasion. And as in such an apron they had their pockets, so in the scarfe or girdle wherewithall they girded their under coats, they had their purses, Mat. 10.9. Their girdles ordinarily were of linnen, which the word before us foreign meaneth, (and it was extraordinary in Elias and John the Baptist to goe in leathern girdles) and in these their girdles they had a way to keep the money that they carryed about with them when they travelled or went upon their occasions, but into the Mountaine of the house they might bring no money in it. And thus might they not come thither, with any thing of worldly notion or incumbrance about th…m, but must lay aside for their time of being there, (as a lecture of devotion retired from worldly thoughts or employments) their money, their worldly implements and utensils, and whatsoever in their common imployments & occasions they used, and used to carry with them: Sure then (it will be thought, that) the poor Creeple that lay at the Beautifull gate begging, Act. 3. had but a very poor and comfortlesse trade of it, to b…g there where no money was, or might be stirring: and when Peter and Iohn say to him, silver and gold have I none; it may seem that that was the tune of all that came by him: But money was brought into the Temple in abundance, though they brought it not in their purses, for they gave money to the Priests, who helpt them to offerings for their money, and they gave money to the treasury for the poor, but they brought their money in their hands. And it may be that phrase so ordinary in the Hebrew did allude to this custome, Hee shall bring an offering as his hand shall find.
VI. Being come into the mountain of the House, he must be carefull of these four things. 1. foreign [h]Maym. ubi …te.He may in no wise spit there: but if he be n…c…ssitated to spit, h…e must d… it in some c…rner of his garment: Yet did they not stick to spit in the face of him that was greater then the Temple, Mat. 26.67.[i]Shek per. 8. There was a street in Jerusalem, which was called the upper street, and in this street spittle was unclean, and so it was in no street of Jerusalem besides.
2. foreign He may not use any irrev…rent gesture, especially not before the gate of Nicanor, for that was just before the face of the Temple: and this irreverence forbidden was, that they might not laugh, scoffe, nor talke idlely, much lesse doe any thing of a higher irreverence.
3. foreign He may not make the mountain of the House a thorough-f…re: [k]Maym. in Tephillah. per. 1.no more might they do one of their Synagogues: As if he had occasion to goe from one side of the City to another about his occasions, he might not go through the mountain of the Temple, though that were the neerer way, but he must goe about▪ for thither hee might not come foreign, but onelyonly upon occosion of Religion.
4. foreign He that went into the Court must go leasurely and gravely into the place where hee was to stand, and there he must demean himselfe as in the presence of the Lord God, in all reverence and fear.
VII. foreign [l]Id. ib. per. 5.Being now come in, to pray and to attend the service in the Court, 1. He must stand, and neither sit, nor lean, nor lie: for b…sides that caution which we shall observe by and by, that none might fit in the Court, it was not only their custome, but they held it their duty to pray standing wheresoever they prayed: Our Saviour saith, they loved to pray standing in the Synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, Mat. 6. Their own traditions doe bear witnesse to these words, both as to the posture, and to the place. Th…re are eight things (saith Maymony in the place cited above in the margin) that he that prayeth must take notice of▪ to doe them: namely, to stand, to set his face toward the Temple, to compose his body, to compose his cloathes, to fit his place, to order his voice, to bow, and to w…rship: Hee is not to pray but standing (unlesse sick or weak) and if he be in a ship or a cart, if he can let him stand. And in the eleventh Chapter of the same book, he speaks of praying in the streets at their Fasts, and some other dayes when the Synagogues would not hold them. 2. As for the composure of their bodies in prayer, the rule that their tradition gives, is this, Hee is to stand, with his feet one even by another, and must cast his eye… downward, and his heart upward, and he must l…y his hands upon bis breast, the right hand upon the left, and hee must stand as a servant before his Master, with all reverence and fear. Their looking down in prayer, they took from those places in scripture that speak of being ashamed to look up towards heaven, and of being unable to look up because of sin, and to this posture of looking down, and laying his hands upon his heart; that demeanour of the Publican in the parable seemeth parallel. Hee would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven, but smote upon his brest, Luk. 18.13. And even the Priests when they pronounced the blessing upon the people, neither looked up towards heaven, nor levell upon the people, but down upon the ground, and the people might not look upon them.
VIII. foreign Were they never so weary with standing, or had they stood never so long, yet might they not sit down in the Court, either people or Priests: For this is a most known and received Maxime amongst the most Jewish writers, That no man whosoever might sit in the Court, but only the Kings of the House of David.[m]Kimch. in 1 Sam. 1. & Lev. Gerso…. ib. Though Kimchi alledg some, that excepted the Kings from this priviledg, and allowed it only to the High-priest.[n]Midr. Till. nPs. 1. ab initioMidras Tillin doth wittily apply this sitting of the King alone, and all the rest standing, to the posture of the congregation in heaven, where the great King sits, and all the company there, standeth attending on him: But some other of the Jews do as unwittily apply it, when they make this to be one of Jeroboams greatest feares for the peoples withdrawing from him, and personate him speaking thus.[o]R. Sol. & D- Kimch. in 1 King. 12. It is certain that there is no sitting in the Court, but only for the Kings of the house of David: therefore as soon as they shall see Rehoboam sitting, and me standing, they will conclude, that if I were a King I should sit down, &c. [p]Maym. in Beth habbech. per 5.From this received tradition, of not sitting in the Court, the great Sanhedrin, who sate in the room Gazith, which was in the South wall of the Court, would not presume to sit in that side of the building that stood in the Court, but they sate in the other side that stood in the foreign c…el. In its due place wee have at large described the situation of that building and their fitting there.
IX. foreign.[q]Id. in Tephillah. ubi sup. They might not pray with their heads uncovered: And the wisemen and their scholars (saith my Authour) never prayed but being vailed. So[r]Avoth. R. Nathan. per. 6. Rabbi Nathan relating a story of Nicodemus, how he prayed, and begged for rain in a great exigent, and mentioning his twice going in to pray upon that occasion, he doth particularly expresse this circumstance foreign That he put on his vail, and went in, & prayed. And the Jews compare the appearing of the Lord upon mount Sinai in a cloud, to the Angelus Ecclesiae, or minister of the congregation, having on his vail. [s]Maym. in Iesudei torah. per. 1.foreign. The Priests wore their caps or bonnets constantly all the time they were about the service, and yet it seems they did not account that covering of their heads sufficient when they went to pray, but they put on some other covering also. This custom and practice of theirs the Apostle taketh to task, 1 Cor. 11.4.
X. Their bodily gesture in bowing before the Lord, was either foreign bending of the knees, or foreign bowing of the head, or foreign falling prostrate upon the ground. Now this last is most spoken of, and yet according to its strict propriety it was least in use: they used indeed sometime to fall down upon the floore in prostration, but ordinarily this was changed among them from a flat falling upon the ground, to a very low bending of the body towards it: for they had this position,[t]Id. ubi ante. That prostration was not fit for every man, but only for such as knew themselves righteous men, like Joshua.
XI[v]Id. in Beth- habbech. per. 7. Having performed the service, and being to go away, they might not turn their backs upon the Altar, therefore they went backward till they were out of the Court: and when they came into the mountain of the House, [w]Talm. in Middoth per. 2.they might not goe out at the same gate, at which they came in, about which matter we have discoursed elsewhere.