upon Religion and upon hewing Mercy He was surnamed the Just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both because of his piety towards God and his good will towards his nation Joseph Ant. lib. 12. cap. 2. 3. Antigonus of Soco He was the master of Sadoc Baithus who mistaking misconstruing his good doctrine vented the Heresie against the resurrection his doctrine was this Be not as servants that serve their master because of receiving a reward but be as servants that serve their master not because of receiving a reward but let the fear of heaven be upon you which his crooked disciples construed into this impious sense that there was no reward at all to be had for the service of God so they denied the world to come But his schollers Joseph ben Joezer Joseph ben Iochanan held orthodox 4. Iosi or Ioseph ben Ioezer of Zeredah Ieroboamâ— towne 1 King 11.26 he had Iosi or Ioseph ben Iochanan of Ierusalem for his vice-president Here the Talmudick records begin to reckon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by couples that is the President and Vice-president both not but that there were vice-presidents before but they be not named and so were there after the times of Hillel also though they be not named then neither This Ioseph ben Ioezer had children so untoward that he would not leave them his land but bequeathed it to pious uses 5. Ioshua the son of Perehiah president Nittaithe Arbelite vice-president This Ioshua is recorded to have lived in the time of King Iannai called also Alexander the son of Hyrcanus This Hyrcanus was likewise called Iannai he affected the Kingdome and thereupon the wise men or great ones of that time would have put him from the High-priest-hood but he maintained his station by the sword for he slew divers of the wise men which caused Ioshua the son of Perahiah to flee to Alexandria but he was recalled upon the mediation of Simeon ben Shetah 6. Iudah the son of Tabbai president Simeon ben Shetah vice-president A gallant paire for integrity and justice Were their lives to be written most eminent actions of theirs might be related which are recorded of them as that they hanged fourscore witches in one day Judged King Iannai the one of them wept daily for an error of Judgement that he had committed and the other preferred the execution of justice before the safety of his owne son This Simeon ben Shetah is he whom we suppose the builder of this roome Gazith that we are surveying 7 Shemaiah president and Abtalion vice-president These were kinsmen and of the posterity of Sennacherib but their mother was an Israelite 8. Hillel president and Shammai vice-president At first it was Hillel and Menahem but Menahem departed to the service of Herod Hillel was one of the eminentest that ever was among the Jewish Doctors both for birth learning rule and children He was of the seed of David by his mothers side being of the posterity of Shephatiah the son of Abital Davids wife He was brought up in Babel from whence he came up to Ierusalem at forty yeares old and there studied the Law forty yeares more under Shemaiah and Abtalion and after them he was president of the Sanhedrin forty yeares more The beginning of his presidency is generally concluded upon to have been just an hundred years before the Temple was destroyed by which account he began eight and twenty years before our Saviour was borne and died when he was about 12. yeares old He is renowned for his fourscore scholars one among which was Ionathan ben Vzziel the Chaldee paraphrast c. 9. Rabban Simeon Hillels Son this man was first dignified with the title Rabban he is supposed to be the Simeon mentioned Luk. 2. that tooke Christ in his armes and for that it is conceived that he is not of so frequent and honourable mention among the Jewish writers as others of the same ranke with him are they not well relishing his confession of Christ whom they deny He began his presidentship about the thirteenth yeare of our Saviours age if the date and account of Hillels rule mentioned before be current and how long he sate president no one mentions but some assert that his rule was not long The author of Iuchasin relateth that he is never mentioned in the Mishneb or in the Code of the Jewes traditions it may be his imbracing Christianity made him coole towards their traditions so that there is none to father on him as there are on the other Doctors It is like he was a secret professor of Christ as Nicodemus was and kept both his place and profession 10. Rabban Gamaliel Simeons sonne This was he under whom Paul was brought up Act. 22.3 and see Act. 5.34 He was president of the councell when Christ was arraigned and lived two and twenty yeares after Oâ—kelos the Targumist of the Law did solemnly celebrate his funeralls He is commonly styled Rabban Gamaliel the old either because he was the first of that name or because he was of a long life Of him they have this saying in the last chapter of the treatise Sotah From the time that Rabbâ—n Gamaliel the old died the honour of the Law failed and purity and Pharisaisme died 11. Rabban Simeon Gamaliels sonne He was slaine at the destruction of the Temple and so should his sonne also have been had not Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai being in favour with Caesar begd his life And thus have we followed the succession of the presidents of the Sanhedrin till the Temple and city fell but the Sanhedrin fell not as yet but continued in a flitting and languishing condition for a good space still and had its presidents till it fell also which were these 12. Rabban Iochanan ben Zaccai he was not of the blood of Hillel but he was his scholler he came to be president upon the death of Rabban Simeon last mentioned his Sanhedrin sate at Iabneh 13. Rabban Gameliel of Iabneh this was Rabban Simeons son whom Rabban Iochanan ben Zaccai begd from death of the hands of Caesar at the slaughter of his father his minority made him unfit for the presidency when his father was slaine therefore Rabban Iochanan ben Zaccai bare that place and after his death this Rabban Gamaliel succeeded 14. Rabban Simeon the sonne of Gamaliel of Iabneh 15. Rabbi Iudah the sonne of this Rabban Simeon he is eminently called Rabbi and Rabbenu haccadosh He collected and compiled the Mishnaioth 16. Rabban Gamaliel the sonne of Rabbi Iudah Here the title Rabban expired and the Sanhedrin was gone CHAP. XXIII The Draw-well roome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AT the west end of this famous roome Gazith there was the House which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the House or roome of the Draw-well and the reason of the name was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [a] Mid. per. 5. Because there was a well sunke there with a wheele over it and from thence they fetched up
Court as we shall shew anon and they were baked on the day before the Sabbeth On the Sabbath they set them on the table in this manner Four Priests went first in to setch 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 rowes of the cakes namely six a peace and the other two carried in either of them in 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 foure 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 slipt 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 rowes six and six one upon another and they set them the length of the cakes crosse over the breadth of the table by which it appeares that the crowne of gold about the table rose not above the surface of it but was a border below edging even with the plain of it [b] R Sol in Exod. 25. as is well held by Rabbi Solomon and so the cakes lay two hand bread the over the table on either fide 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 confesse that the description of it in their authors I doe 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 rowe they laid upon the plaine 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 cal golden canes and the Hebrews call them so also were not like reeds or canes perfectly round and hallow thorow 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 bee kept the better from moldinesse and corrupting and thus did the cake lie hollow and one not touching another and all the golden canes being laid so as that that they lay within the compasse 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 handfull of frankincense which when the bread was taken away was burnt as incense to the Lord Lev. 24.7 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 signifie is variously guessed the number of twelve in two rowes seem to referre 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 staffe of our mortall life so the offering of these might denote an acknowledgement of the people of their receiving of all their subsistence from the Lord to whom they presented these as their tribute and these aswell as the lamps standing before the Lord might shew that their spirituall and temporall support were both before him But our pursuit is to looke 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 then to take it from others for as much as the things themselves may be bended and swayed to various application Sect. 6. The Altar of Iucense 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 then they were These three ornaments and furnitures of the holy place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [a] Maym in Beth habbec per. 3. were set in a 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 vail stood this Altar [b] Ex 30.1 2. Maym. ubi sup It was a cubit square and two cubits high had foure horns at the foure corners of it and a crown about the brim or edge of it which the Jews say denoted the Crowne of the Priesthood It stood not so nigh the vail of the most holy place but that one might goe about it and so how the Priest did on the day of Explation 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 lampsdrest and the incense offered twice every day for we have more need of the light of Gods word and of prayer then of our dayly 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 CHAP. XV. The most Holy place Sect. I. The Partition space 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 [a] Mid. per. 4. was a cubit broad and no more by the Jews is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which [b] Aruch in voce Rabbi Nathan confesseth to be a Greek word and he saith it signifieth within or without as meaning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was doubtfull to them whether is were within or without and thus it is
chests did give them direction As there were these treasure-chests so also were there treasure chambers besides those that have been mentioned before at the gates of the mountaine of the House and besides those that joyned to the body of the Temple Besides the chambers where sithes first-fruits vessels and vestments were treasured up as they were in the chambers by the gates and by the sides of the Temple there were three chamber treasuries of remarkable note but the place where they stood is something difficult to discover 1. There was the chamber or treasury of the halfe-shekel poll money into which the two chests that have been spoken of were emptied when they were full and the chamber locked and sealed up Now at three set times of the yeare they took the money out of this chamber againe The Talmud and Maimony in the treatise Shekalim doe give the story and the manner of that action thus [b] Shekalim per. 3. At three times of the yeare they emptied this chamber Namely fifteene daies before the Passeover fifteene daies before Pentecost and fifteene daies before the feast of Tabernacles or as Rabba Akibathe sonne of Azai saith on the uine and twentieth of Adar the first of Sivan and the nine and twentieth of Ab He that went in to fetch out the money must not goe in in any garment in which it was possible to hide money nor in his shooes or sandals no nor with his Phylacteries on because it was possible to hide money under them when he went in a watch stood at the doore without and all the while be was within they talked to him and be againe to them that so he might be prevented for putting any money into his mouth He began not to empty out any money till he gave them without notice by saying I empty and they answered him Empty Empty Empty three times over The money that was in the chamber was put up when it was first brought in into three great chests containing nine Seabs or three bushels a piece and if there were more brought in then would goe into these three chests it was laid by somewhere in the chamber He that went in tooke three chests of three Seabs a piece or every one containing a bushel and be filled them out of the great chests within His three that be brought in had these three letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 written severally on thim for distinction sake for one be filled in the name of the Jews of the Land of Israel and another in the name of those that were in townes and countries nearer band and the third in the name of those in Babel and Media and further off And thus having filled these three at one time they were brought out and the money bestowed to buy the daily sacrifices and additionall sacrifices and shewbread and salt for the sacrifices and wood for the altar and other things that were necessary for the service and thus they laid out the money as long as those three bushels would run and at the next appointed time he went into the chamber againe and did the like 2. There were two other treasure chambers in one of which was laid up what was offered towards the repaire and service of the Temple and another in which was laid up what was offered for charitable uses The Talmudicks speake of them thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [i] Ibid. per. 5. Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There were two Treasure chambers in the Temple one the chamber of the Silent and the other the chamber of the Vessells The chamber of the Silent was where religious men did silently or secretly put in their offerings and poore children of honest parents were brought up by them secretly The chamber of the Vessells was where any that willingly offered any vessell cast it in there and once in thirty dayes the treasurers opened the chamber and fetched out what they found fit for the supply of the Temple and what was not of it selfe fit they sold and turned into some thing that was fit c. Now whereabout these chambers stood it is something difficult to discover we shall guesse at their place when we come to survey the upper Court the mention of the Gazophylacia which we have found in this Court of the women that we are about hath led us thus farre aside as to speake of these chambers also though they were not in this Court but in the upper we shall have so much the lesse to say of them when we come to their owne place And now let us looke over this Court that we have been so long about at one view As you were entered into it at the East gate you saw in every corner of it a piece of building that had a quadrangle in the midst of it on the North and the South sides there was a gate just in the middle betweene these buildings and from the buildings on either side there ran a cloister supported with goodly marble pillars unto the gates the like cloister there was at the East quatter at which you entered These cloisters had beaches within them for the people to sit downe when they thought good as there were in the cloisters that ran along the outmost wall that encompassed the mountaine of the house Before these cloisters on the East North and South sides stood the treasure chests and then you were come into the open Court. Before you as you went up toward the Court of Israel was a goodly rising of steps up to the gate of that Court called the gate of Nicanor which we are now to survey the next and upon this quarter there was no cloister at all CHAP. XX. Of the gate of Nicanor or the East gate of the Court. THe Court of the Women which was of the platforme that hath been described was parted from the Court of Israel by a high wall namely of thirty two cubits and an half high from the floor of the Court of the women yet but onely twenty two cubits high from the floore of the Court of Israel it selfe for so much higher was the ground in that Court then in the other Just in the middle of this wall was the gate that conveyed out of the one Court into the other [a] Mid. per. 2. Iosephus de bel lib. 8. cap. 14. to which gate there was a rising of fifteen steps every step halfe a cubit high the whole rising seven cubits and a halfe in all so high was the Court of Israel above the Court of the women [b] Succah per. 5. These fifteen steps saith the Treatise Suceah were answerable to the fifteene Psalmes of degrees in the booke of Psalmes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because upon these the Levites steed and sought Not in the daily service or in the ordinary course of the Temple musicke for their place of standing in that was in the Court as shall be shewed but onely on that solemne festivity