Works

SECT. I. The steps up to it.

IN taking particular account of the length of the building from East to West, (which was an hundred cubits) we will first begin at the Porch (which was the beautiful Front Eastward) and view severally every special place and parcel till we come to the West end.

The spreading of the Porch in length was an hundred cubits, and in height an hundred and twenty cubits higher than the height of the Temple: And this Porch which was a cross building to the Temple itself, and so high above it, may not improperly be conceived to be that place whither Satan brought our Savior in his temptation, when he is said to have brought him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , properly to the wing of the Temple.

There were several things at this Front, before we stir from it, that were very remarkable, and cannot be passed without observation: And the first that we will look upon, shall be the steps that rose up out of the Court into this entrance, which were twelve in number, every step half a cubit rising, six cubits in the whole rise, and so much was the floor of the Porch higher than the floor of the Court. And here we meet with a passage in the Treatise Middoth, in the place cited in the Margin, which is exceeding hard to be understood, and the very same also in Maimonides, in whom it is harder. The words are these: Having spoken of the steps that went up to the Porch, that they were twelve, and that the rise of every step was half a cubit, and the breadth of it to stand upon a cubit, it comes on and saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Which applied to the steps, and their rising, I should translate to this sense, At every cubits rise there was a half pace of three cubits broad, and at the highest cubits rise there was a half pace of four cubits broad. The meaning is this, That as you had gone up two steps (which being half a cubit high apiece, made but a cubit rise) at the third step the space you tread upon was enlarged, and was three cubits broad, whereas the steps themselves that you had come up, were but one cubit breadth: And so from this enlarged breadth, or half space, step two steps further and there was another, and after two steps more another, and after two steps yet more there was the highest, which was an half space, or inlargment of four cubits breadth: And so every third step of the twelve was an half pace, or such an enlargement, which made the Ascent exceeding beautiful and stately. And this helpeth to understand a passage in the Treatise Joma, which at the first reading is not easy to be understood. Where relating how when the High Priest on the day of Expiation had slain his own Bullock, he gave the blood to one to stir it, to keep it from congealing, it saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That he stirred it about, upon the fourth half pace of the Temple; which Maymony expresseth, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He stirred it about that it should not congeal, upon the fourth half pace of the Temple without; that is, upon the very top of these twelve steps that went up into the Porch. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Baal Aruch (after the production of many examples of it) renders by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Standings, or Pillars, or Benches; I find not a fitter word for it here to express it by than Half-pace.

Now Maymony in Beth habbechirah, or in his Treatise of the Temple, having to deal with these words of the Talmud that we have been speaking of, doth utter them thus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Round about the Walls of the Porch from below upward they were thus: One cubit plain, and then an half pace of three cubits, one cubit plain (or an ordinary rising of steps) and then another half pace of three cubits, and so up; so that the half paces did go about the Walls of the Porch; His meaning is the same with what was said before, but he addeth somewhat more, and that is, that these twelve steps thus beautifully spreading, every third step into an half pace, did not only go up to the entrance into the Porch, but also there was such steps all along the front of the Porch Eastward; and also such steps at either end of it, North and South; and the reason of this was because the floor of the Porch was higher so much than, the floor of the Court, and there then were Doors in the Buildings besides the great Door that gave passage into the Temple, and into these Doors you could not get without such steps.

SECT. II. The two Pillars Jachin and Boaz.

OF the Gate or entrance into the Porch, and so into the Temple, and of its dimensions and beauty hath been spoken before, and therefore as to that particular we need say no more here, but may be silent: but one main part of the Ornament and beauty of it was there omitted, and reserved to this place, and that is the two famous Pillars that in Solomon's Temple stood at the cheeks of the entrance or passage in, Jachin and Boaz. I find not indeed mention among the Jews Antiquities of any such Pillars set at the entrance of the Temple, that we are surveying (which was the Temple built by Herod, the Temple that was in the days of our Savior) though Ezekiel speak of such Pillars at the door of his Temple, Chap. XL. 49. yet because we desire to give account chiefly of what we find recorded in Scripture concerning the Temple in general, we cannot pass over two such memorable Monuments as these two Pillars, of whom the Story and relation is held out by the Scripture so largely and exactly.

• 1. These two Pillars (which were of brass) consisted either of them of two parts, the Pillar itself, and the Boll and Chapiter that was set on the head of it. The Pillar itself was hollow, the circle incompassing the hollow four fingers thick, and the compass of that circling twelve cubits about, Jer. LII. 21. 1 King. VII. 15. the whole thickness or diameter of either Pillar four cubits, or three cubits, and four fifth parts of a cubit, as is the reckoning of Levi Gersom. The Chapiter or Boll likewise of either Pillar was hollow, and was a huge piece of Brass Boll or oval fashion, which had a very large hole in it, into which the top of the Pillar was let, and so this Chapiter sat upon it.
• 2. The length or height of either Pillar was eighteen cubits, besides the Chapiter, for the Text doth clearly reckon the height of Pillar and Chapiter distinctly. Now the Book of Chronicles summeth the length of both Pillars together, and saith they were five and thirty cubits high, 2 Chron. III. 15. in which it cometh short a cubit of that account and sum that is given in the Book of Kings and Jeremiah, which say, That either Pillar was eighteen cubits, and so the whole of both was six and thirty: But half a cubit of either Pillar was taken up, and hid in the hole of the Chapiter that sat upon it: and so that Text in the Book of Chronicles, measures them as they stood with the Chapiters upon them; two and twenty cubits and an half high, Pillar and Chapiter and all.
• 3. The Chapiter or oval on the head of either Pillar is called in Hebrew 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which Rabbi Solomon renders in the vulgar 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Pumels, Kimchi, A Crown, with which the Chaldee agrees, who expresseth it by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Corona; but Levi Gershom more exactly, saith, it was like two Crowns joined together. It was a huge great oval of five cubits high, and did not only sit upon the head of the Pillars, but also flowred or spread them, being larger about a great deal than the Pillars themselves.
• 4. Whereas it is said both in 1 King. VII. 16. & Jer. LII. 22. that the height of either Chapiter was five cubits, and yet in 2 King. XXV. 17. it is said, that the height of the Chapiter was three cubits; it is generally and well answered by the Jews, that the lowest two cubits of the Chapiter were plain, and without any graving or imbroidering, but the three upper cubits were of such embroidery. To which may be added, and some of them do add it, that the two lower cubits were but the rising into the spreading or belly of the Chapiter, and that they there are not reckoned in that place, but only from the belly upward the account is taken.
• 5. The ingravery or embroidery, or both of these Chapiters is thus described by the Holy Ghost in various particulars; As.

1. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 King. VII. 17. which our English renders, Nets of Checkerwork: And so the Seventy useth the word Nets also: The original word doth properly signify the inwrapping and infolding of the branches of Trees one within another, as Neh. I. 10. Gen. XXII. 13. Jer. IV. 7. Isaiah. X. 34. As Vines or Thickets, (saith Kimchi explaining the word) that are caught and infolded one within another: And so some others express this clause 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That the embroidery was like the branches of Palm Trees: or like the handful of branches they used to carry in their hands at the Feast of Tabernacles: This I conceive to be the proper meaning of the words, that the Chapiters were curiously wrought with branch-work, seven goodly branches standing up with their feet from the belly of the oval, and their boughs and leaves curiously and lovelily intermingled and inwoven one with another. And the words might not improperly be translated thus, for the clearer understanding of their meaning, and of the manner of the work itself. With thickets of branch-work, and wreaths of chain-work.

2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Wreathes of Chain-work. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Deut. XXII. 12. signifies the fringes that they wore upon their Garments for memorials of the Law, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Chaldee Paraphrast: And according to such a sense is it to be taken here, that about the belly of the Chapiter was a curious Fring or border of wreathen and intwined work, upon which border stood the feet or root of the branchwork spoken of before; and those branches from thence went upward spreading upon the swelling of the Chapiter, and bowing toward the top of the oval as the oval bowed, and they there growing into their contracted tops.

3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Two rows of Pomegranates, were wrought artificially below the boughs of these branches, as if they had been the Apples that those branches bare, but only that they were not scattered dispersedly among the branches, as Apples use to be in their Trees, but were ranked into two several rows or borders severally below them.

But here we had need to look upon the Text with much seriousness, for in two things about this very thing it speaks obscurely and with much difficulty: For first in speaking of these rows it saith, That the Chapiters were above or upon the Pomegranates, 1 King. VII. 18. Now it is so harsh to hear of the Chapiters being upon the Pomegranates, whereas it is most undoubted that the Pomegranates were upon the Chapiters, that some Copies, as David Kimchi tells us, have been so bold as to change the word, and instead of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 upon the head of the Pomegranates, to read 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 upon the head of the Pillars; but as he well observes, the Masoreth by putting a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 upon it, or a note that it is not read so anywhere else, doth conclude that it is and must be read so here, upon the head of the Pomegranates: Now the construction of this may be fetched from 2 Chron. III. 16. where it is said, That he put the Pomegranates upon the chains; that is, the two rows of the Pomegranates were close above the Fring or border of chain-work, which was as it were the bottom and basis of the embroidery; and so the bulk and body of the Chapiter where the embroidery was, was above these rows of the Pomegranates; and though the stalks of the branches rested upon the Fringe or Chain-work, yet did they not spread into their leaves and branches till their stalks had carried them above the Pomegranates: therefore the construction and sense of that Verse, viz. 1 King. VII. 18. is to be taken thus, Thus he made the Pillars: And there were two rows round about by the branch-work which branch-work was for to cover the Chapiter, even that of the Chapiter that was above the Pomegranates. Secondly, There is no small scruple about the number of the Pomegranates, because the Text doth sum them up in several countings, for in 2 Chron. III. 16. there is mention only of an hundred. In 1 King. VII. 20. of two hundred. And in 1 King. VII. 42. of four hundred: In all which diversity the main difficulty rests in the count of Jeremy; for there was an hundred Pomegranates in every row, according to the reckoning of the Book of Chronicles; and so there were two hundred upon either Chapiter, as is the account of the Book of Kings in the former place cited, that is four, hundred upon both Chapiters, according to the sum of the later quotation; but what to make of Jeremiah 's ninety six is somewhat intricate at the first sight: His words are these, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 wherefore the last word is hard to translate, and breeds all the scruple. The Chaldee and Seventy render it, The Pomegranates were ninety six on a side, and so doth the Italian and our English; but this is of a very hard construction, since the rows of Pomgrenates were in circles, the Chapiter being round; and whereas there were but an hundred in a row, how could ninety six of them be upon one side? The word is more easy to pharaphrase, than verbatim to translate. The meaning of the clause is this, That whereas there was an hundred Pomegranates in every row; when the Pillars were set to the Wall, four of every row could not be seen, but ninety six might, the other four being hid behind the Pillar as it stood close up to the Wall: And so the Pomegranates were ninety six only in sight. Therefore the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 may well be translated in the clause thus, And the Pomegranates were ninety six on the open sides, or toward the open air: for in this sense I conceive 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to stand here.

4. It is said moreover, in the Text in the Book of Kings, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 Kings VII. 19. And the Chapiters which were on the top of the Pillars had Lily-work in the Porch four cubits; for so should I rather translate it, than were of Lillywork; and that upon these grounds: 1. Because the work of the Chapiters is so exactly described before to be of Branch-work and Pomegranates, and that but for three cubits or thereabout, that I cannot possibly imagine how they should be said besides, to be of Lily-work four cubits. 2. The Text expressly telleth afterward, That the Lily-work was on the top of the Pillars, verse. 22. and not on the top or sides of the Chapiters. 3. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 In the Porch, or by the Porch, hath its special emphasis and intention; for it is not said at all, that either the Chapiters or the Pomegranate-work were in the Porch, but the thing is referred only to the Lily-work.

The meaning thefore of the Verse appeareth to be this, That at the head of the Pillar, even at the setting on of the Chapiter, there was a curious and a large border or circle of Lily-work, which stood out four cubits under the Chapiter, and then turned down, every Lily or long tongue of Brass, with a heat bending, and so seemed as a flowred Crown to the head of the Pillar, and as a curious Garland whereon the Chapiter had its seat: And that particular expression, that it was in or by the Porch, intendeth to show that these long tongues of Brass which were made like Lilies, did not suddenly decline, and lie down upon the sides of the Pillars, nor suddenly ascend and stick upon the sides of the Chapiter, but stood out into and along the Porch a four cubit circle, after the manner of a spread Lily, and then the tongue bended downward, as the Lily doth.

And this construction of that Verse, helpeth to clear and explain the next Verse that follows after it, which otherwise would cost some pains to translate it out of the original, or to make facile sense of it being translated: In consonancy and contexture to the Verse before, so understood as hath been held out, this Verse may be intrepreted and paraphrased thus: And the Chapiters upon the two pillars were also above this Lily work, for they sat upon the growing out of it, even from over against the belly, which was by the Branch-work▪ for the Lily-work wrought out, as far as the belly of the Chapiters wrought out, with an accurate bowing or swelling upwards towards the belly, where the stalks of the branch-work, and the rows of the Pomegranates were; even as a Lily gently swelleth up, before the tongue or utmost point of it turneth down again.

5. The place where these Pillars stood is somewhat uncertain; the Text indeed saith, they stood before the House, 2 Chron, III. 15. and before the Temple, verse. 17. but yet it is to seek, whether within the Porch at the entering in, or without the Porch, or within the Porch at the Temple door, which last is the opinion of Rabbi Sol. upon the Text cited. Upon these four reasons I am induced to conceive that they stood within the Porch, even at the very entering into it, joining or standing up to the very cheeks of the Gate or entrance. 1. Because Ezekiel hath so placed his two Pillars in the Porch of his Temple, namely, at the top of the steps, by the posts or cheeks of the entrance itself; Ezek. XL. 49. 2. Because, as we observed before, it is said, that the Lily-work under the Chapiters was four cubits in the Porch. 3. Because the Book of Kings saith That Solomon set up the Pillars, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for the Porch, as the word properly signifies, though David Kimchi, and our English translate it In: The expression seemeth to intimate these two things, First, That the Pillars were set up for the Porch door, and not for the Temple door, as was the opinion of Solomon Jarchi cited before: And, Secondly, That they stood for the Porch, or very entrance into the building, as doorcheeks or posts at that entrance 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , At the door cheeks of the Porch, as saith Josephus. 4. That obscure passage of Ezekiel, Chap. XL. 48. The breadth of the Gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side, cannot be so understood, as if the entry or passage into the Porch were but six cubits broad (and why also should he speak of this side, and that side, if he meant but one entire breadth?) but it is well understood by Kimchi to mean, that on either side of the entry there was something standing out into the breadth of the entry, three cubits, which made the passage itself but fourteen cubits broad: which measure of three cubits, though it fell short one cubit of the thickness of these Pillars cast by Solomon, yet suiting with the measure of Ezekiel 's Pillars, it may do this for us, as to show us how these Pillars that we have in hand were placed, by the disposing and placing of those of his, namely, on your right hand, and on your left, as soon as ever you were stepped within the Porch.

The names of the two Pillars (to omit the fancies of some Jews about them) were Jachin and Boaz, 1 King. VII. 21. which words denote Establishment and Strength, Jachin signifieth he will establish: from God's promise to establish the Throne of David, and his people Israel: And Boaz denoteth Herein is strength; namely, alluding either to God's promise, in which was all their strength and settlement: or to the Ark which was within, which is called, The strength of the Lord, Psal. LXXX. 2. and CV. 4.

SECT. III. The Closets for the Butchering Instruments. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

YET before we enter into the Porch, and so into the Temple, there is one thing more calls for our observation, and that is, certain Closets or places that were in this pile of the Porch, in which were laid up the Knives and instruments that were used by the Priests, about the killing, and slaying, and cutting up the Beasts to be Sacrificed. The Treatise Middoth giveth intelligence and account of these places in these words, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Porch was broader than the Temple, fifteen cubits on the North, and fifteen cubits on the South and that that exceeded was called Beth hachillapoth, where they laid up the knives.

The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 doth signify the butchering Knives of the Temple, Ezr. I. 9. from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 saith Ibn Ezra, as it betokeneth cutting off, which it doth, Isaiah. II. 18. Prov. XXXI. 8. And so saith Kimchi on the same place 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are Knives: And of this sense is Beth hachillapoth, for because they laid up the Knives there; therefore the place was called, The Chamber of the laying up of the Knives 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

There was therefore on either end of the extent of the Porch for that space that it stood out further than the buildings of the Temple, a Chamber, one at the end towards the North, and another at the end towards the South, in which two large Chambers were four and twenty little Closets; wherein the Knives were laid up severally for the four and twenty courses of the Priests: And these and such like little Closets the Jews call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Fenestrae, or Windows; because they were Closets or Boxes joining to the Wall. And besides these that we are speaking of where the Butchery Instruments were laid up, Maymony reckons fourscore and sixteen more, for the laying up of other things, four for everyone of the four and twenty Courses. There were (saith he) ninety six Closets 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Temple, wherein to lay up the Vestments, four Closets for every Course. And the name of every Course was written upon their Closets, and they were all shut: And when the men of any Course came into the service upon the Sabbath, they opened their Closets, and took out the Utensils: and when they went out of the service they restored their Vestments to their Closets again, and shut them up. And why made they four Closets for every Course? Namely, that the Utensils might not be jumbled together, but all the Breeches were in one Closet, and upon it was written, Breeches; Girdles in another Closet, and upon it written, Girdles; All the Bonets in another Closet, and all the Coats in another.

Now he neither telleth where these Closets were; nor speaketh he among them all, of these for the Knives, that are before us: and the reason of this later, is easily given, because in the place where he hath the words that are produced, he is only speaking of the installing and arraying of the Priests: But where to find these ninety six Closets he hath left us at uncertainty. Were they in the rest of the building of this Porch? It is not like they were, because the Priests usually came ready with their Vestments on, into the Court, and especially so high as the Porch, and came not thither for their Vestments to put them on: there was room enough in the other buildings about the Courts to lodge all these Closets in; but where to point them out we must suspend.

But what became of the other Rooms of the Porch, besides the entrance; and these two at either end of the building; for there were five and twenty cubits between the entrance and these Chambers on either side upon the ground, and there were divers Chambers and several Stories over head, the building being so very long, and so very high? There is not express intimation to be had, either in Scripture, or in the Jews Antiquities, as far as I can find, how these several parts were disposed of, and therefore we can assert nothing, but leave it to censure.

A renowned monument the Jews speak of, namely, Crowns that were laid up 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 In Closets, for a memorial: as it is said in the Prophet Zacharias (for they take that literally) Zach. VI. 14. And the Crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobiah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the Son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the Temple of the Lord. And they say, that the young Men or Candidates of the Priesthood did use to climb up Golden Chains which were fixed to the roof of the entry of the Porch, that they might look up into the Closets to see these Crowns.

SECT. IV. A Golden Vine in the Porch, and a Golden Candlestick: and a Marble and a Golden Table.

AND now let us go in at the entrance of the Porch. And there Josephus his prospective doth represent it to us in these colors, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. That it had no doors, because it did represent the open Heaven, and all the front of the Gate was gilt with Gold; and through the Gate you might see all the Porch within, which was large (for it was twenty cubits long, and eleven over) and all about the inner door shining with gold.

Over this inner door (which meaneth the door of the Temple) there was a great golden Vine, of so vast a bigness that (as the same Josephus relateth) it had 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , bunches of Grapes as big as the proportion of a Man. And like a true natural Vine, it grew greater and greater, till it came up to so great a bigness by time and degrees, for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Men would be offering, some Gold to make a leaf, some a Grape, some a bunch, and these were hung up upon it, and so it was increasing continually.

Over the Temple door also there was a golden Candlestick, which was given thither by Helena the Queen of Adiabeni, a Woman of famous renown, and of great benefactorship, towards the Jews; of whom, and of whose Sons Izates and Monobazes, Josephus hath a large Story, Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 2. whither I refer the Reader. Of this Candlestick of her bestowing, there is mention in the Talmudic Treatise Joma, in this passage. Ben Kattin made the twelve Cocks for the Laver, whereas before it had but two; he also made the Engine for the Laver, (of which hereafter) that the water of it might not be unclean, by staying in it all night. Munbaz (Monobazes) the King made all the handles of the Vessels which were for the service of the day of Expiation, of Gold. Helena his Mother made the Golden Candlestick over the Temple door: she also made the Golden Table whereon was written the Section about the suspected Wife, &c.

In the Porch on either side of the Temple door there was a Table. On the right side, a Table of Marble, and on it they set down the Shew-bread as they carried it new into the Temple: And on the left side was a Table of Gold on which they set the old Bread down for a while, when they fetched it out: And the reason why they began on the Marble Table, and ended on the Golden was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Because they rose higher and higher with holy things, and went not lower and lower.

SECT. I. The steps up to it.

IN taking particular account of the length of the building from East to West, (which was an hundred cubits) we will first begin at the Porch (which was the beautiful Front Eastward) and view severally every special place and parcel till we come to the West end.

The spreading of the Porch in length was an hundred cubits, and in height an hundred and twenty cubits higher than the height of the Temple: And this Porch which was a cross building to the Temple itself, and so high above it, may not improperly be conceived to be that place whither Satan brought our Savior in his temptation, when he is said to have brought him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , properly to the wing of the Temple.

There were several things at this Front, before we stir from it, that were very remarkable, and cannot be passed without observation: And the first that we will look upon, shall be the steps that rose up out of the Court into this entrance, which were twelve in number, every step half a cubit rising, six cubits in the whole rise, and so much was the floor of the Porch higher than the floor of the Court. And here we meet with a passage in the Treatise Middoth, in the place cited in the Margin, which is exceeding hard to be understood, and the very same also in Maimonides, in whom it is harder. The words are these: Having spoken of the steps that went up to the Porch, that they were twelve, and that the rise of every step was half a cubit, and the breadth of it to stand upon a cubit, it comes on and saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Which applied to the steps, and their rising, I should translate to this sense, At every cubits rise there was a half pace of three cubits broad, and at the highest cubits rise there was a half pace of four cubits broad. The meaning is this, That as you had gone up two steps (which being half a cubit high apiece, made but a cubit rise) at the third step the space you tread upon was enlarged, and was three cubits broad, whereas the steps themselves that you had come up, were but one cubit breadth: And so from this enlarged breadth, or half space, step two steps further and there was another, and after two steps more another, and after two steps yet more there was the highest, which was an half space, or inlargment of four cubits breadth: And so every third step of the twelve was an half pace, or such an enlargement, which made the Ascent exceeding beautiful and stately. And this helpeth to understand a passage in the Treatise Joma, which at the first reading is not easy to be understood. Where relating how when the High Priest on the day of Expiation had slain his own Bullock, he gave the blood to one to stir it, to keep it from congealing, it saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That he stirred it about, upon the fourth half pace of the Temple; which Maymony expresseth, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He stirred it about that it should not congeal, upon the fourth half pace of the Temple without; that is, upon the very top of these twelve steps that went up into the Porch. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Baal Aruch (after the production of many examples of it) renders by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Standings, or Pillars, or Benches; I find not a fitter word for it here to express it by than Half-pace.

Now Maymony in Beth habbechirah, or in his Treatise of the Temple, having to deal with these words of the Talmud that we have been speaking of, doth utter them thus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Round about the Walls of the Porch from below upward they were thus: One cubit plain, and then an half pace of three cubits, one cubit plain (or an ordinary rising of steps) and then another half pace of three cubits, and so up; so that the half paces did go about the Walls of the Porch; His meaning is the same with what was said before, but he addeth somewhat more, and that is, that these twelve steps thus beautifully spreading, every third step into an half pace, did not only go up to the entrance into the Porch, but also there was such steps all along the front of the Porch Eastward; and also such steps at either end of it, North and South; and the reason of this was because the floor of the Porch was higher so much than, the floor of the Court, and there then were Doors in the Buildings besides the great Door that gave passage into the Temple, and into these Doors you could not get without such steps.

SECT. II. The two Pillars Jachin and Boaz.

OF the Gate or entrance into the Porch, and so into the Temple, and of its dimensions and beauty hath been spoken before, and therefore as to that particular we need say no more here, but may be silent: but one main part of the Ornament and beauty of it was there omitted, and reserved to this place, and that is the two famous Pillars that in Solomon's Temple stood at the cheeks of the entrance or passage in, Jachin and Boaz. I find not indeed mention among the Jews Antiquities of any such Pillars set at the entrance of the Temple, that we are surveying (which was the Temple built by Herod, the Temple that was in the days of our Savior) though Ezekiel speak of such Pillars at the door of his Temple, Chap. XL. 49. yet because we desire to give account chiefly of what we find recorded in Scripture concerning the Temple in general, we cannot pass over two such memorable Monuments as these two Pillars, of whom the Story and relation is held out by the Scripture so largely and exactly.

• 1. These two Pillars (which were of brass) consisted either of them of two parts, the Pillar itself, and the Boll and Chapiter that was set on the head of it. The Pillar itself was hollow, the circle incompassing the hollow four fingers thick, and the compass of that circling twelve cubits about, Jer. LII. 21. 1 King. VII. 15. the whole thickness or diameter of either Pillar four cubits, or three cubits, and four fifth parts of a cubit, as is the reckoning of Levi Gersom. The Chapiter or Boll likewise of either Pillar was hollow, and was a huge piece of Brass Boll or oval fashion, which had a very large hole in it, into which the top of the Pillar was let, and so this Chapiter sat upon it.
• 2. The length or height of either Pillar was eighteen cubits, besides the Chapiter, for the Text doth clearly reckon the height of Pillar and Chapiter distinctly. Now the Book of Chronicles summeth the length of both Pillars together, and saith they were five and thirty cubits high, 2 Chron. III. 15. in which it cometh short a cubit of that account and sum that is given in the Book of Kings and Jeremiah, which say, That either Pillar was eighteen cubits, and so the whole of both was six and thirty: But half a cubit of either Pillar was taken up, and hid in the hole of the Chapiter that sat upon it: and so that Text in the Book of Chronicles, measures them as they stood with the Chapiters upon them; two and twenty cubits and an half high, Pillar and Chapiter and all.
• 3. The Chapiter or oval on the head of either Pillar is called in Hebrew 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which Rabbi Solomon renders in the vulgar 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Pumels, Kimchi, A Crown, with which the Chaldee agrees, who expresseth it by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Corona; but Levi Gershom more exactly, saith, it was like two Crowns joined together. It was a huge great oval of five cubits high, and did not only sit upon the head of the Pillars, but also flowred or spread them, being larger about a great deal than the Pillars themselves.
• 4. Whereas it is said both in 1 King. VII. 16. & Jer. LII. 22. that the height of either Chapiter was five cubits, and yet in 2 King. XXV. 17. it is said, that the height of the Chapiter was three cubits; it is generally and well answered by the Jews, that the lowest two cubits of the Chapiter were plain, and without any graving or imbroidering, but the three upper cubits were of such embroidery. To which may be added, and some of them do add it, that the two lower cubits were but the rising into the spreading or belly of the Chapiter, and that they there are not reckoned in that place, but only from the belly upward the account is taken.
• 5. The ingravery or embroidery, or both of these Chapiters is thus described by the Holy Ghost in various particulars; As.

1. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 King. VII. 17. which our English renders, Nets of Checkerwork: And so the Seventy useth the word Nets also: The original word doth properly signify the inwrapping and infolding of the branches of Trees one within another, as Neh. I. 10. Gen. XXII. 13. Jer. IV. 7. Isaiah. X. 34. As Vines or Thickets, (saith Kimchi explaining the word) that are caught and infolded one within another: And so some others express this clause 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That the embroidery was like the branches of Palm Trees: or like the handful of branches they used to carry in their hands at the Feast of Tabernacles: This I conceive to be the proper meaning of the words, that the Chapiters were curiously wrought with branch-work, seven goodly branches standing up with their feet from the belly of the oval, and their boughs and leaves curiously and lovelily intermingled and inwoven one with another. And the words might not improperly be translated thus, for the clearer understanding of their meaning, and of the manner of the work itself. With thickets of branch-work, and wreaths of chain-work.

2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Wreathes of Chain-work. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Deut. XXII. 12. signifies the fringes that they wore upon their Garments for memorials of the Law, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Chaldee Paraphrast: And according to such a sense is it to be taken here, that about the belly of the Chapiter was a curious Fring or border of wreathen and intwined work, upon which border stood the feet or root of the branchwork spoken of before; and those branches from thence went upward spreading upon the swelling of the Chapiter, and bowing toward the top of the oval as the oval bowed, and they there growing into their contracted tops.

3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Two rows of Pomegranates, were wrought artificially below the boughs of these branches, as if they had been the Apples that those branches bare, but only that they were not scattered dispersedly among the branches, as Apples use to be in their Trees, but were ranked into two several rows or borders severally below them.

But here we had need to look upon the Text with much seriousness, for in two things about this very thing it speaks obscurely and with much difficulty: For first in speaking of these rows it saith, That the Chapiters were above or upon the Pomegranates, 1 King. VII. 18. Now it is so harsh to hear of the Chapiters being upon the Pomegranates, whereas it is most undoubted that the Pomegranates were upon the Chapiters, that some Copies, as David Kimchi tells us, have been so bold as to change the word, and instead of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 upon the head of the Pomegranates, to read 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 upon the head of the Pillars; but as he well observes, the Masoreth by putting a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 upon it, or a note that it is not read so anywhere else, doth conclude that it is and must be read so here, upon the head of the Pomegranates: Now the construction of this may be fetched from 2 Chron. III. 16. where it is said, That he put the Pomegranates upon the chains; that is, the two rows of the Pomegranates were close above the Fring or border of chain-work, which was as it were the bottom and basis of the embroidery; and so the bulk and body of the Chapiter where the embroidery was, was above these rows of the Pomegranates; and though the stalks of the branches rested upon the Fringe or Chain-work, yet did they not spread into their leaves and branches till their stalks had carried them above the Pomegranates: therefore the construction and sense of that Verse, viz. 1 King. VII. 18. is to be taken thus, Thus he made the Pillars: And there were two rows round about by the branch-work which branch-work was for to cover the Chapiter, even that of the Chapiter that was above the Pomegranates. Secondly, There is no small scruple about the number of the Pomegranates, because the Text doth sum them up in several countings, for in 2 Chron. III. 16. there is mention only of an hundred. In 1 King. VII. 20. of two hundred. And in 1 King. VII. 42. of four hundred: In all which diversity the main difficulty rests in the count of Jeremy; for there was an hundred Pomegranates in every row, according to the reckoning of the Book of Chronicles; and so there were two hundred upon either Chapiter, as is the account of the Book of Kings in the former place cited, that is four, hundred upon both Chapiters, according to the sum of the later quotation; but what to make of Jeremiah 's ninety six is somewhat intricate at the first sight: His words are these, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 wherefore the last word is hard to translate, and breeds all the scruple. The Chaldee and Seventy render it, The Pomegranates were ninety six on a side, and so doth the Italian and our English; but this is of a very hard construction, since the rows of Pomgrenates were in circles, the Chapiter being round; and whereas there were but an hundred in a row, how could ninety six of them be upon one side? The word is more easy to pharaphrase, than verbatim to translate. The meaning of the clause is this, That whereas there was an hundred Pomegranates in every row; when the Pillars were set to the Wall, four of every row could not be seen, but ninety six might, the other four being hid behind the Pillar as it stood close up to the Wall: And so the Pomegranates were ninety six only in sight. Therefore the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 may well be translated in the clause thus, And the Pomegranates were ninety six on the open sides, or toward the open air: for in this sense I conceive 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to stand here.

4. It is said moreover, in the Text in the Book of Kings, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 Kings VII. 19. And the Chapiters which were on the top of the Pillars had Lily-work in the Porch four cubits; for so should I rather translate it, than were of Lillywork; and that upon these grounds: 1. Because the work of the Chapiters is so exactly described before to be of Branch-work and Pomegranates, and that but for three cubits or thereabout, that I cannot possibly imagine how they should be said besides, to be of Lily-work four cubits. 2. The Text expressly telleth afterward, That the Lily-work was on the top of the Pillars, verse. 22. and not on the top or sides of the Chapiters. 3. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 In the Porch, or by the Porch, hath its special emphasis and intention; for it is not said at all, that either the Chapiters or the Pomegranate-work were in the Porch, but the thing is referred only to the Lily-work.

The meaning thefore of the Verse appeareth to be this, That at the head of the Pillar, even at the setting on of the Chapiter, there was a curious and a large border or circle of Lily-work, which stood out four cubits under the Chapiter, and then turned down, every Lily or long tongue of Brass, with a heat bending, and so seemed as a flowred Crown to the head of the Pillar, and as a curious Garland whereon the Chapiter had its seat: And that particular expression, that it was in or by the Porch, intendeth to show that these long tongues of Brass which were made like Lilies, did not suddenly decline, and lie down upon the sides of the Pillars, nor suddenly ascend and stick upon the sides of the Chapiter, but stood out into and along the Porch a four cubit circle, after the manner of a spread Lily, and then the tongue bended downward, as the Lily doth.

And this construction of that Verse, helpeth to clear and explain the next Verse that follows after it, which otherwise would cost some pains to translate it out of the original, or to make facile sense of it being translated: In consonancy and contexture to the Verse before, so understood as hath been held out, this Verse may be intrepreted and paraphrased thus: And the Chapiters upon the two pillars were also above this Lily work, for they sat upon the growing out of it, even from over against the belly, which was by the Branch-work▪ for the Lily-work wrought out, as far as the belly of the Chapiters wrought out, with an accurate bowing or swelling upwards towards the belly, where the stalks of the branch-work, and the rows of the Pomegranates were; even as a Lily gently swelleth up, before the tongue or utmost point of it turneth down again.

5. The place where these Pillars stood is somewhat uncertain; the Text indeed saith, they stood before the House, 2 Chron, III. 15. and before the Temple, verse. 17. but yet it is to seek, whether within the Porch at the entering in, or without the Porch, or within the Porch at the Temple door, which last is the opinion of Rabbi Sol. upon the Text cited. Upon these four reasons I am induced to conceive that they stood within the Porch, even at the very entering into it, joining or standing up to the very cheeks of the Gate or entrance. 1. Because Ezekiel hath so placed his two Pillars in the Porch of his Temple, namely, at the top of the steps, by the posts or cheeks of the entrance itself; Ezek. XL. 49. 2. Because, as we observed before, it is said, that the Lily-work under the Chapiters was four cubits in the Porch. 3. Because the Book of Kings saith That Solomon set up the Pillars, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for the Porch, as the word properly signifies, though David Kimchi, and our English translate it In: The expression seemeth to intimate these two things, First, That the Pillars were set up for the Porch door, and not for the Temple door, as was the opinion of Solomon Jarchi cited before: And, Secondly, That they stood for the Porch, or very entrance into the building, as doorcheeks or posts at that entrance 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , At the door cheeks of the Porch, as saith Josephus. 4. That obscure passage of Ezekiel, Chap. XL. 48. The breadth of the Gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side, cannot be so understood, as if the entry or passage into the Porch were but six cubits broad (and why also should he speak of this side, and that side, if he meant but one entire breadth?) but it is well understood by Kimchi to mean, that on either side of the entry there was something standing out into the breadth of the entry, three cubits, which made the passage itself but fourteen cubits broad: which measure of three cubits, though it fell short one cubit of the thickness of these Pillars cast by Solomon, yet suiting with the measure of Ezekiel 's Pillars, it may do this for us, as to show us how these Pillars that we have in hand were placed, by the disposing and placing of those of his, namely, on your right hand, and on your left, as soon as ever you were stepped within the Porch.

The names of the two Pillars (to omit the fancies of some Jews about them) were Jachin and Boaz, 1 King. VII. 21. which words denote Establishment and Strength, Jachin signifieth he will establish: from God's promise to establish the Throne of David, and his people Israel: And Boaz denoteth Herein is strength; namely, alluding either to God's promise, in which was all their strength and settlement: or to the Ark which was within, which is called, The strength of the Lord, Psal. LXXX. 2. and CV. 4.

SECT. III. The Closets for the Butchering Instruments. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

YET before we enter into the Porch, and so into the Temple, there is one thing more calls for our observation, and that is, certain Closets or places that were in this pile of the Porch, in which were laid up the Knives and instruments that were used by the Priests, about the killing, and slaying, and cutting up the Beasts to be Sacrificed. The Treatise Middoth giveth intelligence and account of these places in these words, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Porch was broader than the Temple, fifteen cubits on the North, and fifteen cubits on the South and that that exceeded was called Beth hachillapoth, where they laid up the knives.

The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 doth signify the butchering Knives of the Temple, Ezr. I. 9. from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 saith Ibn Ezra, as it betokeneth cutting off, which it doth, Isaiah. II. 18. Prov. XXXI. 8. And so saith Kimchi on the same place 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are Knives: And of this sense is Beth hachillapoth, for because they laid up the Knives there; therefore the place was called, The Chamber of the laying up of the Knives 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

There was therefore on either end of the extent of the Porch for that space that it stood out further than the buildings of the Temple, a Chamber, one at the end towards the North, and another at the end towards the South, in which two large Chambers were four and twenty little Closets; wherein the Knives were laid up severally for the four and twenty courses of the Priests: And these and such like little Closets the Jews call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Fenestrae, or Windows; because they were Closets or Boxes joining to the Wall. And besides these that we are speaking of where the Butchery Instruments were laid up, Maymony reckons fourscore and sixteen more, for the laying up of other things, four for everyone of the four and twenty Courses. There were (saith he) ninety six Closets 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Temple, wherein to lay up the Vestments, four Closets for every Course. And the name of every Course was written upon their Closets, and they were all shut: And when the men of any Course came into the service upon the Sabbath, they opened their Closets, and took out the Utensils: and when they went out of the service they restored their Vestments to their Closets again, and shut them up. And why made they four Closets for every Course? Namely, that the Utensils might not be jumbled together, but all the Breeches were in one Closet, and upon it was written, Breeches; Girdles in another Closet, and upon it written, Girdles; All the Bonets in another Closet, and all the Coats in another.

Now he neither telleth where these Closets were; nor speaketh he among them all, of these for the Knives, that are before us: and the reason of this later, is easily given, because in the place where he hath the words that are produced, he is only speaking of the installing and arraying of the Priests: But where to find these ninety six Closets he hath left us at uncertainty. Were they in the rest of the building of this Porch? It is not like they were, because the Priests usually came ready with their Vestments on, into the Court, and especially so high as the Porch, and came not thither for their Vestments to put them on: there was room enough in the other buildings about the Courts to lodge all these Closets in; but where to point them out we must suspend.

But what became of the other Rooms of the Porch, besides the entrance; and these two at either end of the building; for there were five and twenty cubits between the entrance and these Chambers on either side upon the ground, and there were divers Chambers and several Stories over head, the building being so very long, and so very high? There is not express intimation to be had, either in Scripture, or in the Jews Antiquities, as far as I can find, how these several parts were disposed of, and therefore we can assert nothing, but leave it to censure.

A renowned monument the Jews speak of, namely, Crowns that were laid up 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 In Closets, for a memorial: as it is said in the Prophet Zacharias (for they take that literally) Zach. VI. 14. And the Crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobiah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the Son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the Temple of the Lord. And they say, that the young Men or Candidates of the Priesthood did use to climb up Golden Chains which were fixed to the roof of the entry of the Porch, that they might look up into the Closets to see these Crowns.

SECT. IV. A Golden Vine in the Porch, and a Golden Candlestick: and a Marble and a Golden Table.

AND now let us go in at the entrance of the Porch. And there Josephus his prospective doth represent it to us in these colors, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. That it had no doors, because it did represent the open Heaven, and all the front of the Gate was gilt with Gold; and through the Gate you might see all the Porch within, which was large (for it was twenty cubits long, and eleven over) and all about the inner door shining with gold.

Over this inner door (which meaneth the door of the Temple) there was a great golden Vine, of so vast a bigness that (as the same Josephus relateth) it had 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , bunches of Grapes as big as the proportion of a Man. And like a true natural Vine, it grew greater and greater, till it came up to so great a bigness by time and degrees, for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Men would be offering, some Gold to make a leaf, some a Grape, some a bunch, and these were hung up upon it, and so it was increasing continually.

Over the Temple door also there was a golden Candlestick, which was given thither by Helena the Queen of Adiabeni, a Woman of famous renown, and of great benefactorship, towards the Jews; of whom, and of whose Sons Izates and Monobazes, Josephus hath a large Story, Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 2. whither I refer the Reader. Of this Candlestick of her bestowing, there is mention in the Talmudic Treatise Joma, in this passage. Ben Kattin made the twelve Cocks for the Laver, whereas before it had but two; he also made the Engine for the Laver, (of which hereafter) that the water of it might not be unclean, by staying in it all night. Munbaz (Monobazes) the King made all the handles of the Vessels which were for the service of the day of Expiation, of Gold. Helena his Mother made the Golden Candlestick over the Temple door: she also made the Golden Table whereon was written the Section about the suspected Wife, &c.

In the Porch on either side of the Temple door there was a Table. On the right side, a Table of Marble, and on it they set down the Shew-bread as they carried it new into the Temple: And on the left side was a Table of Gold on which they set the old Bread down for a while, when they fetched it out: And the reason why they began on the Marble Table, and ended on the Golden was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Because they rose higher and higher with holy things, and went not lower and lower.

SECT. I. The Temple door.

THE entrance out of the Porch into the Temple was through two Gates, and either Gate had two doors or folding leaves: for the better understanding of which, let us first look upon the dimensions of this passage as we have done upon the others.

The Talmud and Josephus do seem at the first sight exceedingly to differ, about the measure of this Gate: the Talmud reckoning it but twenty cubits high, and ten broad; and he five and fifty cubits high and sixteen broad. In which diversity, if we take the proper meaning of either party, the difference between them will not be so vast, as at the first scanning it doth seem to be. It is the manner of the Talmud in measuring of the Gates to speak only of the open space through which the passage was, but Josephus, as hath been observed before, measures 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the whole front of the Gate both above the open space and the spreading of the posts on either side it: and after this their usual manner they both of them measure this Gate through which we are going: The very open space that gave the passage was but twenty cubits high and ten broad; and of this measure were the two doors: but the front of the Gate was three cubits (curiously wrought and richly gilt) on either side, and thirty five cubits above the Gate to the roof or first floor of the entry of the Porch: and this is the meaning of Josephus, as it appeareth plainly enough by these his two passages. For as to the first he saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , That the Gate of the House (meaning this that we are about) was gilt all over, and so was the Wall all about it: And as to the second, he hath this saying, somewhat difficult, but well understood resolving the matter according as hath been spoken. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . But the Temple having two floors, or being double roofed, that within was lower than that without, and had gilded doors of fifty five cubits high, and sixteen broad.

Now by what he saith that the Temple was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or double floored or roofed, his meaning is, that as you stood in the Temple there was a first floor over your head, and a room above that, which was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of which we have spoken before, and above that there was the roof; Had all the House been open to the very roof, as our Churches are, there could have been no difference between the height of the Holy and most Holy place to the roof, but both had been alike.

But both places being floored over, and having an upper Chamber above them, there was a difference made in the height of this first floor: for in the Holy place it was five and fifty cubits from the ground, but in the Most Holy place it was but twenty, as shall be shown. Now the Porch had its floor lay at the least as high if not higher than the floor of the Holy place: and so the space above the Gate to the first floor was a goodly space, and made a fair front: It seemeth by our Author that the first floor of the Porch was ninety cubits high, yet doth he reckon the height of the Gate but five and fifty, because he reckons only to the height of the floor of the Holy place, and the height of the front of the Gate of the Oracle, for he speaketh of them both alike.

Thus much being observed concerning the height and breadth of this Gate; it is also to be remembered that the Wall of the Temple was six cubits thick, as was observed when we measured the breadth of the building. The two Leaves of the Gate therefore which were five cubits broad apiece, were hung up a little within the thickness of the Wall from the Porch, so that when they were opened they covered the whole thickness of the Wall on the right hand and the left, that as you passed through you could not see it.

Now at the very farthest of the thickness of the Wall towards the Holy place, there was a two-leaved Door likewise paralleled to this that we have surveyed, which when the Leaves opened, they fell back to the Wall which was at the lower end of the House, and covered a place which was ungilded: for all the Walls were gilded but only the places where the Leaves of the Doors fell back.

And thus had you two several Doors of two folding Leaves apiece to go through between the Porch and the Temple, the one standing within a cubit of the Porch, and the other at the very edge of the Wall within, and so when they were both shut there was a five-cubit space between them, which was so much space in the thickness of the Temple Wall.

The outer Door is called commonly by the Jews, the great Door of the Temple, not but that the inner Door was as big, but because of the great front that this Gate had, which the other had not: And of this outer Door there are these memorials or remarkable things recorded among them. First, That the Morning Sacrifice was never killed till this Door was opened: And so it is recorded in the Treatise Tamid, or concerning the daily Sacrifice 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That he that was to slay the Sacrifice, killed him not till he heard the noise of the great Gate opening.

And there they relate the noise of this Gate might be heard to Jericho, and so the noise of divers other things there mentioned, in which they do Hyperbolize for the glorifying of the matters of the Temple. And a second thing for which this door is renowned among them, is, For that it had two Wickets in it, in either leaf one, one in the North leaf, and another in the South: And that through that in the South no Man passed, but that that was it of which Ezekiel saith, This Gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no Man shall enter in by it, &c.

Now for the opening of these Doors every morning, the way was thus: One took a Key and opened the Wicket in the North leaf of the Door, and went in, into the five cubit space between the two Doors: and there he went in at a Door into the very Wall where there was a hollow passage into the Holy place, coming forth in the place where one of the Leaves of the inner Door fell to the Wall.

Being come in, he opened that inner Door, and then he came and opened the outer Door, at the noise of the opening of which the killer of the Morning Sacrifice went about that work: In this five cubits space between the two Doors even behind the leaf of the Door on the right hand, there was a Marble Flag of a cubit square lay loose in the floor with a ring fastened in it to pull it up, and when the Priests tried and suspected Wife, they came hither and pulled up this stone, and took dust from under it, to put into the water to make her drink, as was enjoined, Numb. V. 17, &c.

SECT. II The Veil.

BEtween these two Doors also in this five cubit space, there hung a Veil answerable to the Veil at the Door of the Tabernacle, Exod. XXVI. 36. And so it is testified by Josephus, who speaks of two Veils, one at the entering into the Holy place, and another to distinguish betwixt the Holy and Most Holy. And he describes the Veil to have been of the measures that he had newly spoken of before, namely five and fifty cubits deep and sixteen cubits broad (yet the Gate where it hung was but ten) and that it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Josh. VII. 21.) Babylonian Tapistry-work, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined Linnen, which he resembles to the four Elements.

Other Jews likewise give us intimation of such a Veil hanging at the entrance into the Holy place. For the Talmudic Treatise Tamid, mentioned but a little before, speaking of the High Priest going into the Holy place to worship, saith, there were three that held him, one by his right hand and another by his left hand, and a third by the precious Stones in the Brest-plate. And when the president heareth the sound of the High Priests feet coming out, he lifteth up the Veil for him: and then himself goeth in and worshippeth, and after him his Brethren the Priests go in and worship.

There were thirteen Veils in all about the Temple: namely, seven for the seven Gates of the Court: one at the Gate of the Porch, one at the Gate of the Temple, and two betwixt the Holy and the Most Holy place, and two just over them in the room above: And there was an Overseer of the Veils, that took care for the supply and the right ordering of them: and if they were defiled by any common uncleanness, they were taken down and washed and hung up in the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Chel to dry: And when new Veils were made, they were hung up on the Gallery in the Court of the Women, that they might be viewed by all the people to see that they were right.

SECT. III. The Holy place itself.

THIS place was forty cubits long and twenty broad: and in Solomon's Temple it was thirty cubits high, having no floor at all on this side the roof, but in Herod's Temple it was sixty: For the the Children of the captivity building their Temple sixty cubits high, they floored it not over, but left it open to the roof in the Holy place as Solomon's Temple had been, and according to the same height was the floor laid, when it was floored over in the time of Herod.

And here two things are to be remembered; 1. That whereas the lower leads of the building which were over the side Chambers, were but fifty cubits high, as hath been described, and there was a passage off those leads into the upper Chamber over the Holy place, and it was by steps of ten cubits high, partly without the Wall, and partly within the thickness of the Wall itself. 2. That there was an inequality of the height of the floors in the three parts of the House, the Porch, the Holy place and the Most Holy. The first floor of the Porch was ninety cubits high, the Holy place sixty, and the most Holy but twenty. And therefore whereas there was a floor over the most Holy place, even with the floor over the Holy place, viz. at sixty cubits height, that was not the first floor over it, but there was another floor forty cubits beneath that.

The beauty and richness of this place was exceeding great: The floor of it upon which they trod was planked with Firr boards, and they gilt with gold; and the Walls were also cieled or wainscoted with Cedar, and that gilt likewise: This gilding was from the ground floor, even to the floor over head, all the sixty cubits high up the Walls; and this is meant when the Text saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He built the Walls of the House within with boards of Cedar from the floor of the House to the Walls of the covering: that is, up to the very Walls of the floor over head, as it is well expounded by the Rabbins upon that place.

For fifty cubits height of the Walls was the embroidery of Branches and open Flowers, &c. and for the ten cubits above, it was the place of the Windows: for the side Chambers without the House, in three stories, did take up the height of fifty cubits high, so that for so high no Windows could be made into the House, but the space of ten cubits above, was the place for the Windows which were made narrow without and broad within.

The deckage or carving of the Wainscot of the Walls is said to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The carving of knops and open flowers, as our English renders it: but the Hebrew Doctors are somewhat nice about the construction of these words. The Chaldee expounds it, the engraving of the likeness of Eggs (Ovals) and wreaths of Lilies: as if he meant that he wrought the Walls with the work of Lily garlands▪ and an Oval in the midst of a garland: Levi Gershom understands 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Ovals, as the Chaldee doth, but he takes them to be such Ovals as are the buds of Flowers, and that out of them came 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the flowers spreading and opening as in their maturity. David Kimchi takes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for wild Gourds, and so our English hath it also in the Margin; and this I take to be the proper construction of the words, and this the embroidery of the Walls: That there was the carving of Cherubims and Palm-trees, and the carving of Gourds and open Flowers interchanged thus: first a border of Gourds or Pompions or such like Apple-fashioned sculpture intermixed with Marigolds, Gilliflowers, and such opening flowers, and this border or wreath went round about the House: upon this wreath as upon a base, were set the feet of Cherubims, and the rooting of Palm-trees both which stood up from this wreath a Cherub and a Palm-tree, a Cherub and a Palm-tree round about: above the Heads of the Cherubims and Palm-trees was such another wreath, and Cherubims and Palm-trees set upon that again, and so interchangeably to the top. By all which was signified the attendance of Ministers, Heb. I. 14. and flourishing condition, Psal. XCII. 12, 13. of those that serve the Lord and wait upon him. Everyone of the Cherubims was pictured with two faces, one of a man that looked toward the Palm-tree on one hand, and the other of a Lion that looked toward the Palm-tree on the other.

Whereas it is said that twenty cubits were built on the sides of the House with boards of Cedar from the floor to the Walls, 1 Kings VII. 16. the Jews do expound these twenty cubits by way of breadth and not of height, as thinking that they mean, that besides the sides of the House on either Hand, which were forty cubits long, he also made the like work upon either end of the room, which was twenty cubits broad: But the Text doth speak it more peculiarly of the most Holy place, and showeth what was the height of that, which was different from the outer room or Holy place, as we shall see hereafter.

SECT. IV. The Candlestick.

THERE were three remarkable and renowned things in the room of the Holy place, which next come to our observing, and those were the Candlestick, the Table of Shew-bread, and the Altar of Incense: The first of Gold, and the other two gilded, so that here in this room could nothing be seen but Gold. Josephus sets out these three things with this Encomium. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That they were three most wondrous workmanships, and to be renowned amongst all men: And that the seven Lamps in the Candlestick resembled the seven Planets: And the twelve Loaves upon the Shew-bread Table, the twelve Signs in the Zodiac or the Year: And the Incense Altar, whereon Incense was offered, which came partly out of the Sea, and partly from Land, denoted that all things are of God and to him.

The Candlestick was eighteen hand breadth high, which according to the cubit of six hand breadth, was a yard and an half: It had three feet, which almost lay flat upon the ground: As three hand breadth height, there was a flowring of a Coronet work curiously spreading out, then went the shaft up, two hand breadth high; and there was a dish, a boss, and a flowring above the boss, and all in a hand breadth compass: thence the shaft went up again, plain for two hand breadths, and then was there a boss of a hand breadth, and there went out two branches, which were carried out, bowed on either side, till they were to be brought up straight to an equal height to the top of this middle shaft out of which they proceeded. Then was there an hand breadth of the shaft plain, and a boss of an hand breadth, and then came out two branches more on either side: And again, one hand breadth of the shaft plain, and a boss again of an hand breadth, and then came out two branches more: Above them was two hand breadth of the shaft plain: And for the three hand breadths above, there were three cups, and three bosses, and three flowrings in that space, and so the Lamp stood in a flowring.

In every branch that came out of this middle shaft, there were three Cups at a handsome distance one from another, and above the highest a boss, and above that a flowring, and in that flowring the Lamp stood: And before the Candlestick there was a Stone with three steps cut in it, on which he that mended the Lamps stood, and on which he set down his dishes whilst he was about that work.

This Candlestick of seven branches (to which allusion is made, Apoc. I. Zechar. IV. 2. Apoc. XI. 4.) was set on the South-side of the House, but so as that the arms or branches of it spread North and South: All the Lamps or Lights that were set in the six branches that came out of the shaft, were turned bending, and looking towards the Lamp which was in the middle in the shaft itself, and the Lamp in that, was turned bending towards the most Holy place, and therefore it was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Western Lamps: These seven Lamps (which denoted the seven Spirits of God, Rev. IV. 5. & V. 6. which the Jews call, the Seven Spirits of Messias from Isaiah▪ XI. 1, 2, 3.) did burn continually or if any of them were gone out, every Morning and Evening they were lighted again, and their perpetual Light resembled the Word and Doctrine of Salvation, the Light of the Lord, in which we see Light.

These Lamps were called the Candle of the Lord, 1 Sam. III. 3. where it is said, before the Candle of the Lord went out, the Lord called to Samuel, &c. upon which words, David Kimchi giveth this Gloss, If this be spoken concerning the Lamps in the Candlestick, this was somewhat before day: for the Lamps burnt from Even till Morning; yet did they sometimes some of them go out in the Night. They put Oil into them by such a measure as should keep them burning from Even till Morning, and many times they did burn till Morning; and they always found the Western Lamp burning. Now it is said, that this Prophesy came to Samuel, before the Lamps went out▪ while it was yet Night, about the time of Cocks crowing▪ for it is said afterward, that Samuel lay till Morning: Or allegorically it speaks of the Candle of Prophesy; as they say the Sun ariseth, and the Sun sets: Before the holy blessed God cause▪ the Sun of one righteous Man to set, he causeth the Sun of another righteous Man to rise. Before Moses his Sun set, Joshua's Sun arose; before Eli's Sun set, Samuel's Sun arose: And this is that which is said, Before the Candle of God went out.

The Lord needed no light of Candles (no more than he needed Bread which was set upon the Shew-bread Table) nor the Priests needed no Candles in this room neither, for the Windows though they were high, yet did they give light into the Room abundantly, but God by these Candles did as it were enlighten the People to teach them Spiritual things by these Corporal, and to acquaint them with the necessity of the light of his Word, and the Bread of Salvation which came down from Heaven. And therefore when Solomon did make ten Candlesticks, and ten Tables, and set them intermixedly by five and five on either side the House, he added nothing to God, but he added only more splendor to the service, and more luster to the Doctrine of the necessity of the light of the Word, and of the Bread of Life, Our wise Men say (saith Baal Hatturim) that the Western Lamp (which never went out) was a testimony that the Divine glory dwelt amongst Israel.

SECT. V. The Shew-bread Table.

ON the North-side of the House which was on the right Hand, stood the Shew-bread Table of two cubits long, and a cubit and a half broad, in the Tabernacle of Moses, but wanting that half cubit in breadth in the second Temple (the reason of the falling short not given by them that give the relation.) It stood length ways in its place, that is East and West, and had a Crown of Gold round about it, toward the upmost edge of it, which the Jews resemble to the Crown of the Kingdom.

Upon this Table there stood continually twelve Loaves, which because they stood before the Lord, they were called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The bread of setting before, for which our English hath found a very sit word, calling it the Shew-bread: The manner of making and placing of which Loaves was thus.

Out of four and twenty 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Sata (three of which went to an Ephah) that is, out of eight bushel of Wheat being ground, they sifted out four and twenty tenth Deals or Omers of the purest Flower; and that they made into twelve Cakes, two Omers in a Cake; or the fifth part of an Ephah of Corn in every Cake: They made the Cakes square, namely ten Hand breadth long, and five broad, and seven Fingers thick: They were made and baked in a room that was in the great building Beth mokadh, on the North-side of the Court, as we shall show anon, and they were baked on the day before the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath they set them on the Table in this manner: Four Priests went first in, to fetch away the Loaves that had stood all the week, and other four went in after them to bring in new ones in their stead; Two of the four last, carried the two rows of the Cakes, namely six a piece: and the other two carried either of them a golden dish, in which the Frankincense was to be put to be set upon the Loaves, and so those four that went to fetch out the old Bread, two of them were to carry the cakes, and the other two the dishes: these four that came to fetch the old Bread out, stood before the Table with their Faces towards the North, and the other four that brought in the new stood betwixt the Table and the Wall, with their Faces toward the South; those drew off the old cakes, and these as the other went off slipped on the new, so that the Table was never without Bread upon it, because it is said, that they should stand before the Lord continually.

They set the cakes in two rows, six and six, one upon another, and they set them, the length of the cakes cross over the breadth of the Table (by which it appears that the Crown of Gold about the Table, rose not above the surface of it, but was a border below edging even with the plain of it, (as is well held by Rabbi Solomon ) and so the cakes lay two hand breadths over the Table on either side; for the Table was but six hand breadth broad, and the cakes were ten hand breadth long: Now as for the preventing that, that which so lay over should not break off, if they had no other way to prevent it (which yet they had, but I confess that the description of it in their Authors I do not understand, yet their manner of laying the cakes one upon another, was such, as that the weight rested upon the Table, and not upon the points that hung over.

The lowest cake of either row they laid upon the plain Table: and upon that cake they laid three golden Canes at distance one from another, and upon those they laid the next cake; and then three golden Canes again, and upon them another cake, and so of the rest; save only that they laid but two such Canes upon the fifth cake, because there was but one cake more to be laid upon. Now these which I call golden Canes (and the Hebrews call them so also) were not like Reeds or Canes, perfectly round and hallow thorough, but they were like Canes or Kexes slit up the middle, and the reason of laying them thus betwixt cake and cake, was, that by their hollowness Air might come to every cake, and all might thereby be kept the better from moldiness and corrupting; and thus did the cake lie hollow, and one not touching another, and all the golden Canes being laid so, as that they lay within the compass of the breadth of the Table, the ends of the cakes that lay over the Table on either side, bare no burden but their own weight.

On the top of either row was set a golden dish with a handful of Frankincense, which when the Bread was taken away, was burnt as Incense to the Lord, Lev. XXIV. 7. and the bread went to Aaron and his sons, or to the Priests as their portions to be eaten.

What these Loaves did represent and signify, is variously guessed: the number of twelve in two rows seem to refer to the Twelve Tribes, whose names were so divided into six, and six in the two Stones on the High Priests shoulders: And as Bread is the chief subsistence and staff of our mortal life, so the offering of these might denote an acknowledgment of the people, of their receiving of all their subsistence from the Lord, to whom they presented these as their Tribute: and these as well as the Lamps standing before the Lord, might show, that their Spiritual and Temporal support were both before him. But our pursuit is to look after the things themselves, leaving the allegorizing of them unto others: for in such things men are most commonly more ready to give satisfaction to themselves, than to take it from others, for as much as the things themselves may be bended and swayed to various application.

SECT. VI. The Altar of Incense.

THE Candlestick stood on the one side of the House, and the Table on the other, and this Altar in the middle: not just betwixt them, but somewhat higher in the House toward the most Holy place than they were: These three Ornaments and furnitures of the Holy place, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a were set in third part of the House; that is, whereas the House (meaning the Holy place) was forty cubits long, when you had gone up six and twenty cubits, and two third parts of a cubit into the room, there stood the Table and Candlestick, and somewhat further higher towards the Veil stood this Altar.

It was a cubit square, and two cubits high, had four Horns at the four corners of it, and a Crown about the brim or edge of it, which the Jews say denoted the Crown of the Priest-hood: It stood not so nigh the Veil of the most Holy place, but that one might go about it; and so how the Priest did on the day of Expiation, and besprinkled the Horns of it with Blood, we observe elsewhere.

On this Altar (commonly called the golden Altar) Incense was offered Morning and Evening every day: a Figure, if you apply the action to Christ, of his Mediation; and if to man, a resemblance of the duty of Prayer. The twelve cakes which resembled the sustenance and sustentation of the Twelve Tribes, which was ever before the Lord, were renewed only once every week, but the Lamps dressed, and the Incense offered twice every day, for we have more need of the light of God's Word, and of Prayer, than of our daily food. And if we will apply all the three to Christ, The Kingly Office of Christ provided Bread for his People, his Prophetick Office provided the light of his Word, and his Priestly Office the Incense of Mediation.

SECT. I. The Temple door.

THE entrance out of the Porch into the Temple was through two Gates, and either Gate had two doors or folding leaves: for the better understanding of which, let us first look upon the dimensions of this passage as we have done upon the others.

The Talmud and Josephus do seem at the first sight exceedingly to differ, about the measure of this Gate: the Talmud reckoning it but twenty cubits high, and ten broad; and he five and fifty cubits high and sixteen broad. In which diversity, if we take the proper meaning of either party, the difference between them will not be so vast, as at the first scanning it doth seem to be. It is the manner of the Talmud in measuring of the Gates to speak only of the open space through which the passage was, but Josephus, as hath been observed before, measures 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the whole front of the Gate both above the open space and the spreading of the posts on either side it: and after this their usual manner they both of them measure this Gate through which we are going: The very open space that gave the passage was but twenty cubits high and ten broad; and of this measure were the two doors: but the front of the Gate was three cubits (curiously wrought and richly gilt) on either side, and thirty five cubits above the Gate to the roof or first floor of the entry of the Porch: and this is the meaning of Josephus, as it appeareth plainly enough by these his two passages. For as to the first he saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , That the Gate of the House (meaning this that we are about) was gilt all over, and so was the Wall all about it: And as to the second, he hath this saying, somewhat difficult, but well understood resolving the matter according as hath been spoken. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . But the Temple having two floors, or being double roofed, that within was lower than that without, and had gilded doors of fifty five cubits high, and sixteen broad.

Now by what he saith that the Temple was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or double floored or roofed, his meaning is, that as you stood in the Temple there was a first floor over your head, and a room above that, which was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of which we have spoken before, and above that there was the roof; Had all the House been open to the very roof, as our Churches are, there could have been no difference between the height of the Holy and most Holy place to the roof, but both had been alike.

But both places being floored over, and having an upper Chamber above them, there was a difference made in the height of this first floor: for in the Holy place it was five and fifty cubits from the ground, but in the Most Holy place it was but twenty, as shall be shown. Now the Porch had its floor lay at the least as high if not higher than the floor of the Holy place: and so the space above the Gate to the first floor was a goodly space, and made a fair front: It seemeth by our Author that the first floor of the Porch was ninety cubits high, yet doth he reckon the height of the Gate but five and fifty, because he reckons only to the height of the floor of the Holy place, and the height of the front of the Gate of the Oracle, for he speaketh of them both alike.

Thus much being observed concerning the height and breadth of this Gate; it is also to be remembered that the Wall of the Temple was six cubits thick, as was observed when we measured the breadth of the building. The two Leaves of the Gate therefore which were five cubits broad apiece, were hung up a little within the thickness of the Wall from the Porch, so that when they were opened they covered the whole thickness of the Wall on the right hand and the left, that as you passed through you could not see it.

Now at the very farthest of the thickness of the Wall towards the Holy place, there was a two-leaved Door likewise paralleled to this that we have surveyed, which when the Leaves opened, they fell back to the Wall which was at the lower end of the House, and covered a place which was ungilded: for all the Walls were gilded but only the places where the Leaves of the Doors fell back.

And thus had you two several Doors of two folding Leaves apiece to go through between the Porch and the Temple, the one standing within a cubit of the Porch, and the other at the very edge of the Wall within, and so when they were both shut there was a five-cubit space between them, which was so much space in the thickness of the Temple Wall.

The outer Door is called commonly by the Jews, the great Door of the Temple, not but that the inner Door was as big, but because of the great front that this Gate had, which the other had not: And of this outer Door there are these memorials or remarkable things recorded among them. First, That the Morning Sacrifice was never killed till this Door was opened: And so it is recorded in the Treatise Tamid, or concerning the daily Sacrifice 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That he that was to slay the Sacrifice, killed him not till he heard the noise of the great Gate opening.

And there they relate the noise of this Gate might be heard to Jericho, and so the noise of divers other things there mentioned, in which they do Hyperbolize for the glorifying of the matters of the Temple. And a second thing for which this door is renowned among them, is, For that it had two Wickets in it, in either leaf one, one in the North leaf, and another in the South: And that through that in the South no Man passed, but that that was it of which Ezekiel saith, This Gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no Man shall enter in by it, &c.

Now for the opening of these Doors every morning, the way was thus: One took a Key and opened the Wicket in the North leaf of the Door, and went in, into the five cubit space between the two Doors: and there he went in at a Door into the very Wall where there was a hollow passage into the Holy place, coming forth in the place where one of the Leaves of the inner Door fell to the Wall.

Being come in, he opened that inner Door, and then he came and opened the outer Door, at the noise of the opening of which the killer of the Morning Sacrifice went about that work: In this five cubits space between the two Doors even behind the leaf of the Door on the right hand, there was a Marble Flag of a cubit square lay loose in the floor with a ring fastened in it to pull it up, and when the Priests tried and suspected Wife, they came hither and pulled up this stone, and took dust from under it, to put into the water to make her drink, as was enjoined, Numb. V. 17, &c.

SECT. II The Veil.

BEtween these two Doors also in this five cubit space, there hung a Veil answerable to the Veil at the Door of the Tabernacle, Exod. XXVI. 36. And so it is testified by Josephus, who speaks of two Veils, one at the entering into the Holy place, and another to distinguish betwixt the Holy and Most Holy. And he describes the Veil to have been of the measures that he had newly spoken of before, namely five and fifty cubits deep and sixteen cubits broad (yet the Gate where it hung was but ten) and that it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Josh. VII. 21.) Babylonian Tapistry-work, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined Linnen, which he resembles to the four Elements.

Other Jews likewise give us intimation of such a Veil hanging at the entrance into the Holy place. For the Talmudic Treatise Tamid, mentioned but a little before, speaking of the High Priest going into the Holy place to worship, saith, there were three that held him, one by his right hand and another by his left hand, and a third by the precious Stones in the Brest-plate. And when the president heareth the sound of the High Priests feet coming out, he lifteth up the Veil for him: and then himself goeth in and worshippeth, and after him his Brethren the Priests go in and worship.

There were thirteen Veils in all about the Temple: namely, seven for the seven Gates of the Court: one at the Gate of the Porch, one at the Gate of the Temple, and two betwixt the Holy and the Most Holy place, and two just over them in the room above: And there was an Overseer of the Veils, that took care for the supply and the right ordering of them: and if they were defiled by any common uncleanness, they were taken down and washed and hung up in the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Chel to dry: And when new Veils were made, they were hung up on the Gallery in the Court of the Women, that they might be viewed by all the people to see that they were right.

SECT. III. The Holy place itself.

THIS place was forty cubits long and twenty broad: and in Solomon's Temple it was thirty cubits high, having no floor at all on this side the roof, but in Herod's Temple it was sixty: For the the Children of the captivity building their Temple sixty cubits high, they floored it not over, but left it open to the roof in the Holy place as Solomon's Temple had been, and according to the same height was the floor laid, when it was floored over in the time of Herod.

And here two things are to be remembered; 1. That whereas the lower leads of the building which were over the side Chambers, were but fifty cubits high, as hath been described, and there was a passage off those leads into the upper Chamber over the Holy place, and it was by steps of ten cubits high, partly without the Wall, and partly within the thickness of the Wall itself. 2. That there was an inequality of the height of the floors in the three parts of the House, the Porch, the Holy place and the Most Holy. The first floor of the Porch was ninety cubits high, the Holy place sixty, and the most Holy but twenty. And therefore whereas there was a floor over the most Holy place, even with the floor over the Holy place, viz. at sixty cubits height, that was not the first floor over it, but there was another floor forty cubits beneath that.

The beauty and richness of this place was exceeding great: The floor of it upon which they trod was planked with Firr boards, and they gilt with gold; and the Walls were also cieled or wainscoted with Cedar, and that gilt likewise: This gilding was from the ground floor, even to the floor over head, all the sixty cubits high up the Walls; and this is meant when the Text saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He built the Walls of the House within with boards of Cedar from the floor of the House to the Walls of the covering: that is, up to the very Walls of the floor over head, as it is well expounded by the Rabbins upon that place.

For fifty cubits height of the Walls was the embroidery of Branches and open Flowers, &c. and for the ten cubits above, it was the place of the Windows: for the side Chambers without the House, in three stories, did take up the height of fifty cubits high, so that for so high no Windows could be made into the House, but the space of ten cubits above, was the place for the Windows which were made narrow without and broad within.

The deckage or carving of the Wainscot of the Walls is said to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The carving of knops and open flowers, as our English renders it: but the Hebrew Doctors are somewhat nice about the construction of these words. The Chaldee expounds it, the engraving of the likeness of Eggs (Ovals) and wreaths of Lilies: as if he meant that he wrought the Walls with the work of Lily garlands▪ and an Oval in the midst of a garland: Levi Gershom understands 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Ovals, as the Chaldee doth, but he takes them to be such Ovals as are the buds of Flowers, and that out of them came 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the flowers spreading and opening as in their maturity. David Kimchi takes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for wild Gourds, and so our English hath it also in the Margin; and this I take to be the proper construction of the words, and this the embroidery of the Walls: That there was the carving of Cherubims and Palm-trees, and the carving of Gourds and open Flowers interchanged thus: first a border of Gourds or Pompions or such like Apple-fashioned sculpture intermixed with Marigolds, Gilliflowers, and such opening flowers, and this border or wreath went round about the House: upon this wreath as upon a base, were set the feet of Cherubims, and the rooting of Palm-trees both which stood up from this wreath a Cherub and a Palm-tree, a Cherub and a Palm-tree round about: above the Heads of the Cherubims and Palm-trees was such another wreath, and Cherubims and Palm-trees set upon that again, and so interchangeably to the top. By all which was signified the attendance of Ministers, Heb. I. 14. and flourishing condition, Psal. XCII. 12, 13. of those that serve the Lord and wait upon him. Everyone of the Cherubims was pictured with two faces, one of a man that looked toward the Palm-tree on one hand, and the other of a Lion that looked toward the Palm-tree on the other.

Whereas it is said that twenty cubits were built on the sides of the House with boards of Cedar from the floor to the Walls, 1 Kings VII. 16. the Jews do expound these twenty cubits by way of breadth and not of height, as thinking that they mean, that besides the sides of the House on either Hand, which were forty cubits long, he also made the like work upon either end of the room, which was twenty cubits broad: But the Text doth speak it more peculiarly of the most Holy place, and showeth what was the height of that, which was different from the outer room or Holy place, as we shall see hereafter.

SECT. IV. The Candlestick.

THERE were three remarkable and renowned things in the room of the Holy place, which next come to our observing, and those were the Candlestick, the Table of Shew-bread, and the Altar of Incense: The first of Gold, and the other two gilded, so that here in this room could nothing be seen but Gold. Josephus sets out these three things with this Encomium. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 That they were three most wondrous workmanships, and to be renowned amongst all men: And that the seven Lamps in the Candlestick resembled the seven Planets: And the twelve Loaves upon the Shew-bread Table, the twelve Signs in the Zodiac or the Year: And the Incense Altar, whereon Incense was offered, which came partly out of the Sea, and partly from Land, denoted that all things are of God and to him.

The Candlestick was eighteen hand breadth high, which according to the cubit of six hand breadth, was a yard and an half: It had three feet, which almost lay flat upon the ground: As three hand breadth height, there was a flowring of a Coronet work curiously spreading out, then went the shaft up, two hand breadth high; and there was a dish, a boss, and a flowring above the boss, and all in a hand breadth compass: thence the shaft went up again, plain for two hand breadths, and then was there a boss of a hand breadth, and there went out two branches, which were carried out, bowed on either side, till they were to be brought up straight to an equal height to the top of this middle shaft out of which they proceeded. Then was there an hand breadth of the shaft plain, and a boss of an hand breadth, and then came out two branches more on either side: And again, one hand breadth of the shaft plain, and a boss again of an hand breadth, and then came out two branches more: Above them was two hand breadth of the shaft plain: And for the three hand breadths above, there were three cups, and three bosses, and three flowrings in that space, and so the Lamp stood in a flowring.

In every branch that came out of this middle shaft, there were three Cups at a handsome distance one from another, and above the highest a boss, and above that a flowring, and in that flowring the Lamp stood: And before the Candlestick there was a Stone with three steps cut in it, on which he that mended the Lamps stood, and on which he set down his dishes whilst he was about that work.

This Candlestick of seven branches (to which allusion is made, Apoc. I. Zechar. IV. 2. Apoc. XI. 4.) was set on the South-side of the House, but so as that the arms or branches of it spread North and South: All the Lamps or Lights that were set in the six branches that came out of the shaft, were turned bending, and looking towards the Lamp which was in the middle in the shaft itself, and the Lamp in that, was turned bending towards the most Holy place, and therefore it was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Western Lamps: These seven Lamps (which denoted the seven Spirits of God, Rev. IV. 5. & V. 6. which the Jews call, the Seven Spirits of Messias from Isaiah▪ XI. 1, 2, 3.) did burn continually or if any of them were gone out, every Morning and Evening they were lighted again, and their perpetual Light resembled the Word and Doctrine of Salvation, the Light of the Lord, in which we see Light.

These Lamps were called the Candle of the Lord, 1 Sam. III. 3. where it is said, before the Candle of the Lord went out, the Lord called to Samuel, &c. upon which words, David Kimchi giveth this Gloss, If this be spoken concerning the Lamps in the Candlestick, this was somewhat before day: for the Lamps burnt from Even till Morning; yet did they sometimes some of them go out in the Night. They put Oil into them by such a measure as should keep them burning from Even till Morning, and many times they did burn till Morning; and they always found the Western Lamp burning. Now it is said, that this Prophesy came to Samuel, before the Lamps went out▪ while it was yet Night, about the time of Cocks crowing▪ for it is said afterward, that Samuel lay till Morning: Or allegorically it speaks of the Candle of Prophesy; as they say the Sun ariseth, and the Sun sets: Before the holy blessed God cause▪ the Sun of one righteous Man to set, he causeth the Sun of another righteous Man to rise. Before Moses his Sun set, Joshua's Sun arose; before Eli's Sun set, Samuel's Sun arose: And this is that which is said, Before the Candle of God went out.

The Lord needed no light of Candles (no more than he needed Bread which was set upon the Shew-bread Table) nor the Priests needed no Candles in this room neither, for the Windows though they were high, yet did they give light into the Room abundantly, but God by these Candles did as it were enlighten the People to teach them Spiritual things by these Corporal, and to acquaint them with the necessity of the light of his Word, and the Bread of Salvation which came down from Heaven. And therefore when Solomon did make ten Candlesticks, and ten Tables, and set them intermixedly by five and five on either side the House, he added nothing to God, but he added only more splendor to the service, and more luster to the Doctrine of the necessity of the light of the Word, and of the Bread of Life, Our wise Men say (saith Baal Hatturim) that the Western Lamp (which never went out) was a testimony that the Divine glory dwelt amongst Israel.

SECT. V. The Shew-bread Table.

ON the North-side of the House which was on the right Hand, stood the Shew-bread Table of two cubits long, and a cubit and a half broad, in the Tabernacle of Moses, but wanting that half cubit in breadth in the second Temple (the reason of the falling short not given by them that give the relation.) It stood length ways in its place, that is East and West, and had a Crown of Gold round about it, toward the upmost edge of it, which the Jews resemble to the Crown of the Kingdom.

Upon this Table there stood continually twelve Loaves, which because they stood before the Lord, they were called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The bread of setting before, for which our English hath found a very sit word, calling it the Shew-bread: The manner of making and placing of which Loaves was thus.

Out of four and twenty 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Sata (three of which went to an Ephah) that is, out of eight bushel of Wheat being ground, they sifted out four and twenty tenth Deals or Omers of the purest Flower; and that they made into twelve Cakes, two Omers in a Cake; or the fifth part of an Ephah of Corn in every Cake: They made the Cakes square, namely ten Hand breadth long, and five broad, and seven Fingers thick: They were made and baked in a room that was in the great building Beth mokadh, on the North-side of the Court, as we shall show anon, and they were baked on the day before the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath they set them on the Table in this manner: Four Priests went first in, to fetch away the Loaves that had stood all the week, and other four went in after them to bring in new ones in their stead; Two of the four last, carried the two rows of the Cakes, namely six a piece: and the other two carried either of them a golden dish, in which the Frankincense was to be put to be set upon the Loaves, and so those four that went to fetch out the old Bread, two of them were to carry the cakes, and the other two the dishes: these four that came to fetch the old Bread out, stood before the Table with their Faces towards the North, and the other four that brought in the new stood betwixt the Table and the Wall, with their Faces toward the South; those drew off the old cakes, and these as the other went off slipped on the new, so that the Table was never without Bread upon it, because it is said, that they should stand before the Lord continually.

They set the cakes in two rows, six and six, one upon another, and they set them, the length of the cakes cross over the breadth of the Table (by which it appears that the Crown of Gold about the Table, rose not above the surface of it, but was a border below edging even with the plain of it, (as is well held by Rabbi Solomon ) and so the cakes lay two hand breadths over the Table on either side; for the Table was but six hand breadth broad, and the cakes were ten hand breadth long: Now as for the preventing that, that which so lay over should not break off, if they had no other way to prevent it (which yet they had, but I confess that the description of it in their Authors I do not understand, yet their manner of laying the cakes one upon another, was such, as that the weight rested upon the Table, and not upon the points that hung over.

The lowest cake of either row they laid upon the plain Table: and upon that cake they laid three golden Canes at distance one from another, and upon those they laid the next cake; and then three golden Canes again, and upon them another cake, and so of the rest; save only that they laid but two such Canes upon the fifth cake, because there was but one cake more to be laid upon. Now these which I call golden Canes (and the Hebrews call them so also) were not like Reeds or Canes, perfectly round and hallow thorough, but they were like Canes or Kexes slit up the middle, and the reason of laying them thus betwixt cake and cake, was, that by their hollowness Air might come to every cake, and all might thereby be kept the better from moldiness and corrupting; and thus did the cake lie hollow, and one not touching another, and all the golden Canes being laid so, as that they lay within the compass of the breadth of the Table, the ends of the cakes that lay over the Table on either side, bare no burden but their own weight.

On the top of either row was set a golden dish with a handful of Frankincense, which when the Bread was taken away, was burnt as Incense to the Lord, Lev. XXIV. 7. and the bread went to Aaron and his sons, or to the Priests as their portions to be eaten.

What these Loaves did represent and signify, is variously guessed: the number of twelve in two rows seem to refer to the Twelve Tribes, whose names were so divided into six, and six in the two Stones on the High Priests shoulders: And as Bread is the chief subsistence and staff of our mortal life, so the offering of these might denote an acknowledgment of the people, of their receiving of all their subsistence from the Lord, to whom they presented these as their Tribute: and these as well as the Lamps standing before the Lord, might show, that their Spiritual and Temporal support were both before him. But our pursuit is to look after the things themselves, leaving the allegorizing of them unto others: for in such things men are most commonly more ready to give satisfaction to themselves, than to take it from others, for as much as the things themselves may be bended and swayed to various application.

SECT. VI. The Altar of Incense.

THE Candlestick stood on the one side of the House, and the Table on the other, and this Altar in the middle: not just betwixt them, but somewhat higher in the House toward the most Holy place than they were: These three Ornaments and furnitures of the Holy place, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a were set in third part of the House; that is, whereas the House (meaning the Holy place) was forty cubits long, when you had gone up six and twenty cubits, and two third parts of a cubit into the room, there stood the Table and Candlestick, and somewhat further higher towards the Veil stood this Altar.

It was a cubit square, and two cubits high, had four Horns at the four corners of it, and a Crown about the brim or edge of it, which the Jews say denoted the Crown of the Priest-hood: It stood not so nigh the Veil of the most Holy place, but that one might go about it; and so how the Priest did on the day of Expiation, and besprinkled the Horns of it with Blood, we observe elsewhere.

On this Altar (commonly called the golden Altar) Incense was offered Morning and Evening every day: a Figure, if you apply the action to Christ, of his Mediation; and if to man, a resemblance of the duty of Prayer. The twelve cakes which resembled the sustenance and sustentation of the Twelve Tribes, which was ever before the Lord, were renewed only once every week, but the Lamps dressed, and the Incense offered twice every day, for we have more need of the light of God's Word, and of Prayer, than of our daily food. And if we will apply all the three to Christ, The Kingly Office of Christ provided Bread for his People, his Prophetick Office provided the light of his Word, and his Priestly Office the Incense of Mediation.

SECT. I. The Partition space. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

THE Holy and the most Holy place were divided asunder by a threefold partition, namely by a cubit space, and by two Veils, on either side of that space: The partition space which was a cubit broad, and no more, by the Jews is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which Rabbi Nathan confesseth to be a Greek word, and he saith it signifieth within or without, as meaning, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that it was doubtful to them, whether it were within or without; and thus it is interpreted in the Jerusalem Talmud: Maymony helps us to their meaning thus, In the Temple there was a Wall which parted between the Holy and most Holy place, a cubit thick. But when they built the second Temple, they doubted whether the thickness of that Wall belonged to the measure of the Holy place, or to the measure of the most Holy place: Therefore they made the most Holy place twenty cubits long complete: and they made the Holy place forty cubits long complete. And they left a space betwixt the Holy and most Holy place of a cubit breadth; and in the second Temple they built not a Wall there, but they made two veils, one at the end of the most Holy place (Eastward), and the other at the end of the Holy place (Westward) and between them there was a cubits breadth, according to the thickness of the Wall that had been in the first Temple: But in the first Temple there was but one Veil.

The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 therefore is well conceived by the Learned Lempereur to be the Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifieth a disease in the Eye, distempering the sight, and hindering it, and so were the Eyes of the understanding of the builders of the second Temple at a stand about this place, whether it should belong to the Holy or most Holy place, and thereupon they called the place itself 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

The Wall that Solomon built for the parting of the Holy and most Holy place, being a cubit thick (instead of which this space was left) had these things regardable and considerable in it, and not easy to be understood.

First, For the entering of the Oracle, he made doors of Olive-Tree. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 King. VI. 31. These later words are very difficult of construction, and if we go to Glossaries for the explication of them, they will give us variety of senses, but little facility of understanding. The Chaldee renders it only, Their posts with its lintel were orderly set, taking the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the sense of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ranked in order, and giving but very little light unto the obscure place. David Kimchi, and Rabbi Solomon seem to understand it, that the posts of the doors were not four square but five square, if we may use such a word, or wrought into five ribs, as their own words are. But Levi Gershom hath a far fetch for it, for he thinks 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 meaneth the fifth Gate that was in the Temple as you went forward; the Temple door the fourth, the Porch door the third, the door of the inner Court the second, and of the outer Court the first.

To me the words seem to bear this construction; The post which was the door cheeks was at the fifth cubit; meaning from either Wall of the House, come inward five cubits, and there was the door cheek, and so the House being twenty cubits broad, the door hereby is concluded to be ten. And this may the rather be so interpreted, because the Text had been taking notice of the breadth of the House immediately before; as when it was speaking of the Cherubims Wings, it saith, the Wing of the one touched the one Wall, and the Wing of the other touched the other Wall; and speaking of the adorning of the House, it saith, all the Walls of the House were Carved, and the Floor Gilt, and then he comes on to speak of the partition betwixt the one House and the other, and saith, That the Oracle had a two leaved door of Olive-tree, and the fifth cubit from either Wall was the post which served for the cheeks of the door: And so it is said in verse. 33. He made for the door of the Temple posts of Olive-tree, from the fourth cubit; that is, four cubits from either side Wall he set up an Olive beam for a post on either side the door, of a cubit thickness, and so the door came to be ten cubits broad.

A second thing of difficulty to be understood about this partition Wall in Solomon's Temple, is that which is spoken in verse. 22. of the same Chapter 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 And he made bars in chains of gold before the Oracle, and he overlaid it with gold. All the difficulty lies in the first word, for it is generally agreed by the best skilled in the Language, the Chaldee and the Rabbins that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifieth chains, but, what is meant by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is the Question. The word properly signifieth, He caused to pass over, but in this place, R. Solomon, and D. Kimchi take it in a Chaldee propriety, as signifying to make bars, because 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 bars, in the Hebrew is translated 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Chaldee. The sixteenth verse of 2 Chr. III. giveth some light to this obscurity, for there it is said, He made chains as in the Oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; by which he means the flower wreaths that we spake of before that went about the Chapiter, and the like is to be understood here. That upon this Wall which was before the Oracle, and divided betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, be made borders or chained wreaths, with a swelling in the border like a bar in it, carried from the one side of the House to the other upon this Wall.

SECT. II. The Veil.

THE Veils were two, as was observed before, and the reason given why; and these two Veils were renewed every year, the old ones taken away, and new ones put in their room: It was woven of four colors, blew, purple, scarlet, and fine white linen yarn, everyone of these threads twisted six double, and woven upon hair for the warp, of seventy two hairs twisted into every thread. These two Veils rent at our Savior's death from the top to the bottom, Matth. XXVII. 51. and gave demonstration of the laying open and common of those Ceremonious things which had thitherto been reserved in such recluseness and singularity. The Evangelist indeed calleth it by the name of One Veil, and so also doth Josephus, when he saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , It was parted by a Veil. For, 1. Though they were two, yet hung they up to be but as one partition. 2. Had they known where the proper place of one Veil had been, there had been but one in this second Temple and no more.

Imagine what an amazement it would prove to the two Priests that were that Evening that our Savior suffered, to mend the Lamps, and to burn the Incense, to see, and for the rest of the people to hear that the Veils rent of their own accord from the top to the bottom, and no Hand upon them. Had not a Veil been upon the Eyes of that Nation, they might have seen more in this matter than they did, and made a better use of it than they made. Whether that story that is both in Josephus and in the Talmudicks, about the Gate of the Temple opening of its own accord, which we shall relate ere long, refer not to this story in the Gospel, be it referred to the Reader to judge. The Apostle himself gives us the typical application of this piece of the Sanctuary, Heb. X. 19, 20. Having boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the Veil, that is to say, his flesh.

SECT. III. The most Holy place itself.

THE most Holy place in Moses his Tabernacle was a perfect cube of ten cubits long, and ten cubits broad, and ten cubits high: And the like was it in the Temple that was built by Solomon of twenty cubits every way, 2 Chron. III. 8. For though the Temple itself were thirty cubits high, yet did he floor over the most Holy place at twenty cubits height: And to this sense is that verse to be understood, in 1 King. VI. 16. He built twenty cubits on the sides of the House, both the floor and the Walls with boards of Cedar; he even built them for it within, even for the Oracle, even for the most Holy place.

The beauty of the Walls of this place, was agreeable to the other; decked with Cherubims and Palm-trees, and some precious Stones intermixed, Floor and Walls, and Roof and all gilded with Gold. It is said in 2 Chron. III. 9. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that he overlaid the upper chambers with gold, which may move a just Query, for over the Holy place there was no upper chamber at all, (that is, in the Temple built by Solomon, for of that we are speaking) but it was all open to the Roof, being but thirty cubits high: and over the most Holy place there was indeed an upper room of ten cubits high; but why this should be called Chambers in the plural number, and why it should be gilded at all, since there was no coming into it, nor no way to come there, is not easy to apprehend: And as for the side Chambers, that were set on the outside of the House, is there warrant or reason to suppose them overlaid with Gold, where they were to lay up Corn and Wine, and such other things of Tythes and first Fruits? Therefore by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 might be understood, not the upper Chambers in the common sense in which the word is used, for there was none over the Holy place but the upper Floor, or the Roof of the Holy and most Holy place, and so the Text showeth that the Rooms were all overlaid with Gold everywhere, both the Floor on which they trod, and the Walls and the Floor or Roof over head.

But another Text in the Book of Chronicles helpeth to resolve this doubt, and that is, 1 Chron. XXIX. 3. Moreover because I have set mine affection on the House of my God, I have of mine own proper good; of Gold and Silver which I have given to the House of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy House: Even three thousand talents of Gold, of the Gold of Ophir, and seventy thousand talents of refined Silver, to overlay the Walls of the Houses withal; where these two things are remarkable. First, That he saith this preparation was above what he had prepared for the holy House, and yet, he saith, he had prepared it for the House of God. And secondly, That here is mention of Silver to overlay the Walls withal, whereas it is plain, that within the Temple itself all the overlaying was of Gold. Therefore it is thus to be understood, that beside the store of Gold that David had provided for the gildings of the House within, in the Holy and most Holy place, he had also laid by a stock of Gold and Silver both, to gild and overlay the Chambers over the Porch (for there were upper Chambers diverse in it, the height of it being one hundred and twenty cubits) and to beautify the side Chambers, and the other Chambers that were about the Courts.

Now in the Temple after the Captivity, we do not find that they were so curious to reduce the compass of the most Holy place to a cubick form, but that the height of it did exceed the breadth, it being twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad, like that of Solomon's, but the height far more for ought I find determined to the contrary.

SECT. IV. The Cherubims and Ark.

AS there were two Cherubims upon the Ark itself, so also did Solomon cause two Cherubims besides, to be made to stand over the Ark, it standing between them: they are so plainly and facilely described, in 1 Kings VI. 23. that I shall refer the Reader thither for the story of them, and say no more concerning them but only this, that as the two Cherubims upon the Mercy seat, may very well be resembled to Christ's two natures, so these two that stood by, to the two Testaments; which in their beginning and end reach the two sides of the World, The Creation, and the last Judgment, and in the middle do sweetly join one to another.

The Ark ( the strength and presence of the Lord, Psal. CV. 4. and the glory of Israel, 1 Sam. IV. 22. the most pregnant and proper resemblance of our Savior, in whom God dwelleth among men) described, Exod. XXV. 10, &c. and XXXVII. 1. &c. was set upon a stone, up toward the West-end of the most Holy place, even under the middle wings of the two tall Cherubims that stood besides it: For the Cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the Ark, and the Cherubims covered the Ark, and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the Holy place before the Oracle; and they were not seen without, 1 King. VIII. 7, 8. 2 Chron. V. 8, 9. For before the Temple was built, while the Ark was in a moving posture, the staves whereby the Ark was born, were of an equal length on either side it, ready for the Priests shoulders when there was occasion for the Ark to flit; but now when they had brought it into Solomon's Temple, where it was to fix and remove no more, they drew out the staves towards that side that looked down the most Holy place. Levi Gershom is of opinion, that these staves were not the same that were made by Moses, but of a longer size, and that they raught down to the very Door; and that though there were Doors betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, yet those Doors could not shut because of these staves. And Kimchi, and Jarchi come up very near to the same supposal, conceiving that the Ark stood not up near the Western Wall of the House, but more downward, towards the Door, and that the staves raught down to the Door; and on the day of Expiation, when the High Priest went into the Holy place, he went up to the Ark between these staves, and could not go off to one hand or other.

But that that hath strained from them this conception is, 1. Because they have strictly taken the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Text in the Book of Kings, for the Holy place without the Veil, whereas the Book of Chronicles doth expressly render it by the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Ark; for whereas the one place saith, that the heads of the staves were seen, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the other hath it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 And so the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 meaneth not the whole room, either of the Holy or most Holy place, but that singularly Holy place that was under the wings of the Cherubims; for of that place had the Text spoken immediately before, when it said, The Priests brought the Ark into the most Holy place, under the wings of the Cherubims. For the Cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the Ark, &c. and then he comes on and saith, And they drew out the staves, so that the ends of the staves appeared out of that holy place, meaning under the wings of the Cherubims. And 2. The Authors alleged have strictly taken 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to mean so, as one standing at the Door betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, had the most Holy place before him; whereas it signifieth in the same sense that it doth in that clause, in Gen. I. 20. Let the Fowl fly upon the Earth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which our English hath well rendered, in the open Firmament of Heaven. And so is it to be taken here, and the verse in hand may be properly understood thus; And they drew out the staves at length, so that the ends of the staves were seen from that Holy place in the open face of the Oracle: but they were not seen without. The staves were the same that were made by Moses, and their length not great, but only so much as to fit a Mans shoulder on either side of the Ark; and now when they had set the Ark between the two standing Cherubims on the Floor, the Cherubims inner wings covered the Ark, and the staves that were above at the ends of the Ark, but the rest of the staves drawn out downward toward the Oracle Door, shot out from under the Cherubims wings, and appeared in the open Face of the most Holy place, and the High Priest when he came to offer Incense at the Ark on the day of Expiation, he stood before the Ark between the staves.

It is fancied by the Jews, that Solomon when he built the Temple, foreseeing that the Temple should be destroyed, he caused very obscure and intricate Vaults under ground to be made, wherein to hide the Ark when any such danger came, that howsoever it went with the Temple, yet the Ark which was as the very life of the Temple might be safe. And they understand that passage in 2 Chron. XXXV. 3. Josiah said unto the Levites, Put the Holy Ark in the House which Solomon the son of David did build, &c. as if Joah having heard by the reading of Moses his Manuscript, and by Huldahs Prophesy, of the danger that hung over Jerusalem, he commanded to convey the Ark into this Vault, that it might be secured, and with it, say they, they laid up Aaron's Rod, the pot of Manna, and the anointing Oil: For while the Ark stood in its place, upon the Stone mentioned, they hold that Aaron's Rod and the pot of Manna stood before it, but now were all conveyed into obscurity, and the Stone upon which the Ark stood, lay over the mouth of the Vault. But Rabbi Solomon, which useth not ordinarily to forsake such Traditions, hath given a more serious Gloss upon the place; namely, whereas that Manasseh and Amon had removed the Ark out of its Habitation, and set up Images and abominations there of their own, Josiah speaketh to the Priests to restore it to its place again: what became of the Ark at the burning of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar we read not, it is most like it went to the fire also. How ever it sped, it was not in the second Temple, and is one of the five choice things that the Jews reckon wanting there. Yet had they an Ark there also of their own making, as they had a Breast-plate of Judgment; which though they both wanted the glory of the former, which was giving of Oracles, yet did they stand current as to the other matters of their Worship, as the former Breast-plate and Ark had done.

And so having thus gone through the many parts and particulars of the Temple itself, let us but take account of the several parcel measures, that made up the length of it an hundred cubits, and so we will turn our Eye and survey upon the Courts.

• 1. The Wall of the Porch was five cubits thick.
• 2. The Porch itself eleven cubits broad.
• 3. The Wall of the Temple six cubits thick.
• 4. The Holy place forty cubits long.
• 5. The space between Holy and most Holy place one cubit.
• 6. The length of the most Holy place twenty cubits.
• 7. The Temple Wall six cubits thick.
• 8. The breadth of the Chambers at the end six cubits.
• 9. The Wall of the Chambers five cubits thick.

SECT. I. The Partition space. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

THE Holy and the most Holy place were divided asunder by a threefold partition, namely by a cubit space, and by two Veils, on either side of that space: The partition space which was a cubit broad, and no more, by the Jews is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which Rabbi Nathan confesseth to be a Greek word, and he saith it signifieth within or without, as meaning, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that it was doubtful to them, whether it were within or without; and thus it is interpreted in the Jerusalem Talmud: Maymony helps us to their meaning thus, In the Temple there was a Wall which parted between the Holy and most Holy place, a cubit thick. But when they built the second Temple, they doubted whether the thickness of that Wall belonged to the measure of the Holy place, or to the measure of the most Holy place: Therefore they made the most Holy place twenty cubits long complete: and they made the Holy place forty cubits long complete. And they left a space betwixt the Holy and most Holy place of a cubit breadth; and in the second Temple they built not a Wall there, but they made two veils, one at the end of the most Holy place (Eastward), and the other at the end of the Holy place (Westward) and between them there was a cubits breadth, according to the thickness of the Wall that had been in the first Temple: But in the first Temple there was but one Veil.

The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 therefore is well conceived by the Learned Lempereur to be the Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifieth a disease in the Eye, distempering the sight, and hindering it, and so were the Eyes of the understanding of the builders of the second Temple at a stand about this place, whether it should belong to the Holy or most Holy place, and thereupon they called the place itself 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

The Wall that Solomon built for the parting of the Holy and most Holy place, being a cubit thick (instead of which this space was left) had these things regardable and considerable in it, and not easy to be understood.

First, For the entering of the Oracle, he made doors of Olive-Tree. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 1 King. VI. 31. These later words are very difficult of construction, and if we go to Glossaries for the explication of them, they will give us variety of senses, but little facility of understanding. The Chaldee renders it only, Their posts with its lintel were orderly set, taking the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the sense of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ranked in order, and giving but very little light unto the obscure place. David Kimchi, and Rabbi Solomon seem to understand it, that the posts of the doors were not four square but five square, if we may use such a word, or wrought into five ribs, as their own words are. But Levi Gershom hath a far fetch for it, for he thinks 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 meaneth the fifth Gate that was in the Temple as you went forward; the Temple door the fourth, the Porch door the third, the door of the inner Court the second, and of the outer Court the first.

To me the words seem to bear this construction; The post which was the door cheeks was at the fifth cubit; meaning from either Wall of the House, come inward five cubits, and there was the door cheek, and so the House being twenty cubits broad, the door hereby is concluded to be ten. And this may the rather be so interpreted, because the Text had been taking notice of the breadth of the House immediately before; as when it was speaking of the Cherubims Wings, it saith, the Wing of the one touched the one Wall, and the Wing of the other touched the other Wall; and speaking of the adorning of the House, it saith, all the Walls of the House were Carved, and the Floor Gilt, and then he comes on to speak of the partition betwixt the one House and the other, and saith, That the Oracle had a two leaved door of Olive-tree, and the fifth cubit from either Wall was the post which served for the cheeks of the door: And so it is said in verse. 33. He made for the door of the Temple posts of Olive-tree, from the fourth cubit; that is, four cubits from either side Wall he set up an Olive beam for a post on either side the door, of a cubit thickness, and so the door came to be ten cubits broad.

A second thing of difficulty to be understood about this partition Wall in Solomon's Temple, is that which is spoken in verse. 22. of the same Chapter 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 And he made bars in chains of gold before the Oracle, and he overlaid it with gold. All the difficulty lies in the first word, for it is generally agreed by the best skilled in the Language, the Chaldee and the Rabbins that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifieth chains, but, what is meant by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is the Question. The word properly signifieth, He caused to pass over, but in this place, R. Solomon, and D. Kimchi take it in a Chaldee propriety, as signifying to make bars, because 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 bars, in the Hebrew is translated 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Chaldee. The sixteenth verse of 2 Chr. III. giveth some light to this obscurity, for there it is said, He made chains as in the Oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; by which he means the flower wreaths that we spake of before that went about the Chapiter, and the like is to be understood here. That upon this Wall which was before the Oracle, and divided betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, be made borders or chained wreaths, with a swelling in the border like a bar in it, carried from the one side of the House to the other upon this Wall.

SECT. II. The Veil.

THE Veils were two, as was observed before, and the reason given why; and these two Veils were renewed every year, the old ones taken away, and new ones put in their room: It was woven of four colors, blew, purple, scarlet, and fine white linen yarn, everyone of these threads twisted six double, and woven upon hair for the warp, of seventy two hairs twisted into every thread. These two Veils rent at our Savior's death from the top to the bottom, Matth. XXVII. 51. and gave demonstration of the laying open and common of those Ceremonious things which had thitherto been reserved in such recluseness and singularity. The Evangelist indeed calleth it by the name of One Veil, and so also doth Josephus, when he saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , It was parted by a Veil. For, 1. Though they were two, yet hung they up to be but as one partition. 2. Had they known where the proper place of one Veil had been, there had been but one in this second Temple and no more.

Imagine what an amazement it would prove to the two Priests that were that Evening that our Savior suffered, to mend the Lamps, and to burn the Incense, to see, and for the rest of the people to hear that the Veils rent of their own accord from the top to the bottom, and no Hand upon them. Had not a Veil been upon the Eyes of that Nation, they might have seen more in this matter than they did, and made a better use of it than they made. Whether that story that is both in Josephus and in the Talmudicks, about the Gate of the Temple opening of its own accord, which we shall relate ere long, refer not to this story in the Gospel, be it referred to the Reader to judge. The Apostle himself gives us the typical application of this piece of the Sanctuary, Heb. X. 19, 20. Having boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the Veil, that is to say, his flesh.

SECT. III. The most Holy place itself.

THE most Holy place in Moses his Tabernacle was a perfect cube of ten cubits long, and ten cubits broad, and ten cubits high: And the like was it in the Temple that was built by Solomon of twenty cubits every way, 2 Chron. III. 8. For though the Temple itself were thirty cubits high, yet did he floor over the most Holy place at twenty cubits height: And to this sense is that verse to be understood, in 1 King. VI. 16. He built twenty cubits on the sides of the House, both the floor and the Walls with boards of Cedar; he even built them for it within, even for the Oracle, even for the most Holy place.

The beauty of the Walls of this place, was agreeable to the other; decked with Cherubims and Palm-trees, and some precious Stones intermixed, Floor and Walls, and Roof and all gilded with Gold. It is said in 2 Chron. III. 9. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that he overlaid the upper chambers with gold, which may move a just Query, for over the Holy place there was no upper chamber at all, (that is, in the Temple built by Solomon, for of that we are speaking) but it was all open to the Roof, being but thirty cubits high: and over the most Holy place there was indeed an upper room of ten cubits high; but why this should be called Chambers in the plural number, and why it should be gilded at all, since there was no coming into it, nor no way to come there, is not easy to apprehend: And as for the side Chambers, that were set on the outside of the House, is there warrant or reason to suppose them overlaid with Gold, where they were to lay up Corn and Wine, and such other things of Tythes and first Fruits? Therefore by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 might be understood, not the upper Chambers in the common sense in which the word is used, for there was none over the Holy place but the upper Floor, or the Roof of the Holy and most Holy place, and so the Text showeth that the Rooms were all overlaid with Gold everywhere, both the Floor on which they trod, and the Walls and the Floor or Roof over head.

But another Text in the Book of Chronicles helpeth to resolve this doubt, and that is, 1 Chron. XXIX. 3. Moreover because I have set mine affection on the House of my God, I have of mine own proper good; of Gold and Silver which I have given to the House of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy House: Even three thousand talents of Gold, of the Gold of Ophir, and seventy thousand talents of refined Silver, to overlay the Walls of the Houses withal; where these two things are remarkable. First, That he saith this preparation was above what he had prepared for the holy House, and yet, he saith, he had prepared it for the House of God. And secondly, That here is mention of Silver to overlay the Walls withal, whereas it is plain, that within the Temple itself all the overlaying was of Gold. Therefore it is thus to be understood, that beside the store of Gold that David had provided for the gildings of the House within, in the Holy and most Holy place, he had also laid by a stock of Gold and Silver both, to gild and overlay the Chambers over the Porch (for there were upper Chambers diverse in it, the height of it being one hundred and twenty cubits) and to beautify the side Chambers, and the other Chambers that were about the Courts.

Now in the Temple after the Captivity, we do not find that they were so curious to reduce the compass of the most Holy place to a cubick form, but that the height of it did exceed the breadth, it being twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad, like that of Solomon's, but the height far more for ought I find determined to the contrary.

SECT. IV. The Cherubims and Ark.

AS there were two Cherubims upon the Ark itself, so also did Solomon cause two Cherubims besides, to be made to stand over the Ark, it standing between them: they are so plainly and facilely described, in 1 Kings VI. 23. that I shall refer the Reader thither for the story of them, and say no more concerning them but only this, that as the two Cherubims upon the Mercy seat, may very well be resembled to Christ's two natures, so these two that stood by, to the two Testaments; which in their beginning and end reach the two sides of the World, The Creation, and the last Judgment, and in the middle do sweetly join one to another.

The Ark ( the strength and presence of the Lord, Psal. CV. 4. and the glory of Israel, 1 Sam. IV. 22. the most pregnant and proper resemblance of our Savior, in whom God dwelleth among men) described, Exod. XXV. 10, &c. and XXXVII. 1. &c. was set upon a stone, up toward the West-end of the most Holy place, even under the middle wings of the two tall Cherubims that stood besides it: For the Cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the Ark, and the Cherubims covered the Ark, and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the Holy place before the Oracle; and they were not seen without, 1 King. VIII. 7, 8. 2 Chron. V. 8, 9. For before the Temple was built, while the Ark was in a moving posture, the staves whereby the Ark was born, were of an equal length on either side it, ready for the Priests shoulders when there was occasion for the Ark to flit; but now when they had brought it into Solomon's Temple, where it was to fix and remove no more, they drew out the staves towards that side that looked down the most Holy place. Levi Gershom is of opinion, that these staves were not the same that were made by Moses, but of a longer size, and that they raught down to the very Door; and that though there were Doors betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, yet those Doors could not shut because of these staves. And Kimchi, and Jarchi come up very near to the same supposal, conceiving that the Ark stood not up near the Western Wall of the House, but more downward, towards the Door, and that the staves raught down to the Door; and on the day of Expiation, when the High Priest went into the Holy place, he went up to the Ark between these staves, and could not go off to one hand or other.

But that that hath strained from them this conception is, 1. Because they have strictly taken the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Text in the Book of Kings, for the Holy place without the Veil, whereas the Book of Chronicles doth expressly render it by the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Ark; for whereas the one place saith, that the heads of the staves were seen, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the other hath it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 And so the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 meaneth not the whole room, either of the Holy or most Holy place, but that singularly Holy place that was under the wings of the Cherubims; for of that place had the Text spoken immediately before, when it said, The Priests brought the Ark into the most Holy place, under the wings of the Cherubims. For the Cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the Ark, &c. and then he comes on and saith, And they drew out the staves, so that the ends of the staves appeared out of that holy place, meaning under the wings of the Cherubims. And 2. The Authors alleged have strictly taken 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to mean so, as one standing at the Door betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, had the most Holy place before him; whereas it signifieth in the same sense that it doth in that clause, in Gen. I. 20. Let the Fowl fly upon the Earth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which our English hath well rendered, in the open Firmament of Heaven. And so is it to be taken here, and the verse in hand may be properly understood thus; And they drew out the staves at length, so that the ends of the staves were seen from that Holy place in the open face of the Oracle: but they were not seen without. The staves were the same that were made by Moses, and their length not great, but only so much as to fit a Mans shoulder on either side of the Ark; and now when they had set the Ark between the two standing Cherubims on the Floor, the Cherubims inner wings covered the Ark, and the staves that were above at the ends of the Ark, but the rest of the staves drawn out downward toward the Oracle Door, shot out from under the Cherubims wings, and appeared in the open Face of the most Holy place, and the High Priest when he came to offer Incense at the Ark on the day of Expiation, he stood before the Ark between the staves.

It is fancied by the Jews, that Solomon when he built the Temple, foreseeing that the Temple should be destroyed, he caused very obscure and intricate Vaults under ground to be made, wherein to hide the Ark when any such danger came, that howsoever it went with the Temple, yet the Ark which was as the very life of the Temple might be safe. And they understand that passage in 2