Western wall of the house but more downeward towards the dore and that the staves raught down to the dore and on the day of Expiation when the high priest went into the Holy place he went up to the Arke between these staves and could not go off to one hand or other But that that hath strained them from this conception is 1. Because they have strictly taken the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text in the book of Kings for the Holy place without the vail whereas the booke of Chronicles doth expresly render it by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Arke for whereas the one place saith that the beads of the staves were seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaneth not the whole roome 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 Arke 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 alledged have strictly taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mean so as one standing at the dore 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. 1.20 Let the fowl flie upon the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English hath wel rendred in the open firmament of beaven 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 Arke and now when they had set the Ark between the two standing Cherubims on the floore 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 dore 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 Arke on the day of Expiation he stood before the Arke between the staves [d] Maym. ubi sup It is fancied by the Jews that Solomon when hee built the Temple foreseeing that the Temple should be destroyed he caused very obscure and intricate vaults under ground to bee made wherein to hide the Ark when any such danger came that howsoever it went with the Temple yet the Arke which was as the very life of the Temple might be safe And they understand that passage in 2 Chron. 35.3 Iosiah said unto the Levites Put the Holy Arke in the house which Solomon the son of David did build c. [e] Kimch in 2 Chron. 35. as if Ioab having heard by the reading of Moses his Manuscript and by Huldabs prophecy of the danger that hung over Ierusalem he commanded to convey the Arke into this vault that it might be secured and with it say they they laid up Aarons rod the pot of Manna and the annointing oile For while the Arke stood in its place upon the stone mentioned they hold that Aarons rod and the pot of Manna stood before it but now were all conveyed into obscurity and the stone upon which the Arke stood lay over the mouth of the vault But Rabbi Solomon which useth not ordinarily to forsake such traditions hath given a more serious glosse upon the place namely whereas that Manasseb and Amon had removed the Arke 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 againe what became of the Arke at the burning of the Temple by Nebucadnezzar 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 Judgement 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 Arke had done And so having thus gone through the many parts and particulars of the Temple it selfe let us but take account of the severall parcell measures that made up the length of it an hundred cubits and so wee will turne our eye and survey upon the Courts [f] Mid. per. 4. 1. The wall of the porch was five cubits thick 2. The Porch it self 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 CHAP. XVI The Courts of the Temple THe dimensions and platform of the Temple it selfe being thus laid out we may now the better observe the forme and situation of the Courts that were before it or about it Where in the first place it will bee needfull to remember that againe which was spoken before which was that the Temple and the Courts about it were not pitched so just in the middle of the Mount of the house as that they lay in an equall distance from the four sides of the incompassing wall [a] Mid. per. 2. but they were situate more towards the North side and West in such manner as that they left lesse space betwixt them and the West then betwixt them and the North and lesse betwixt them and the North then between them and the East and lesse betwixt them and the East then betwixt them and the South There were three which we may call Courts belonging to the Temple besides that space in the mountaine of the house without them which was very large and which is ordinarily called by Christian writers Atrium Gentium or the Court of the Gemiles And these three were The Court of Israel and the Priests the Court of the women and The Chel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but properly and ordinarily the two former are only called Courts That word in Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the text
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
floore of the Court before them and that that step whereon they stood was not called the Dukan but the whole place of the three steps rising And thus were the eleven cubits of the Court of the Priests at this East quarter of the Court taken up and divided Namely two cubits and an halfe taken up by the deskes of the singers for as was the height of the steps so was their breadth and eight cubits and an halfe for the Priests standing The Court of Israel parted from the Levites desks by pillars and railes The Levites standing parted from the Priests by a wainscot deske or some such thing The Court of the Priests open to the Altar but onely that the pillars that supported the cloister stood in a row before it And so we have the dimensions and platforme of the Court of the buildings and the cloisters that stood about it But before we proceed to observe the particulars that were within it I cannot but thinke of a piece of structure that in its story looks something like to some of the cloisters that we have described either in the mountaine of the house or in one of the Courts though I beleeve it was none of them and that is The Covert of the Sabbath of which there is speech and mention 2 King 16.18 where it is said of Abaz The Covert of the Sabbath that they had built in the House and the Kings entry without c. How to frame the verbe to this sentence is somewhat doubtfull whether to say he turned it from the house of the Lord and so doth our English or he turned is to the house of the Lord and so doth the Chaldee Paraphrast some others with him for the word in the originall doth not determine it were that the question before us I should adhere to the sense of our English for the Kings entry without was turned to the house of the Lord from its first making but our question is what this Covert of the Sabbath was The Lxx. have rendred it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The foundation of the chaire or seat upon what mistake in their unprickt bible a mean Hebrician will easily discover namely that they read Musadh for Musach Daleph and Caph finall being like and for Shabbath they read Shebeth [u] Vid. Kime Leu Gersom in loc Nehil in Lxx. Ibid. The most received opinion about this matter is that this was some speciall piece of building that was purposely made for the course of Priests that went out every Sabbath to repose themselves in till the Sabbath was out or till they might goe home And the reason of this conception is because of the word Sabbath which they suppose to referre rather to the change of the Priests courses who came in and went out on the Sabbath then to the service or the peoples attending whose concourse was greater at the festivalls then on the Sabbath I should rather take it to meane some Court of guard that was made on the Top of the causey Shallecheth up towards the gate Coponius where the Kings guard stood on the Sabbaths having attended the King into the Temple till he came out againe there to receive him againe and to guard him home and I should understand and construe the word The Kings in conjunction with both particulars named namely that it meaneth the Kings covert of the Sabbath as well as the Kings entry without and my reason for this opinion I should fetch partly from the mention of these gates that we had in speech before namely The gate of the foundation and the gate behinde the guard 2. King 11.6 And partly from the passage in Jerem. 38.14 where it is said that King Zedekiab sent and tooke Jeremy the Prophet unto him into the third entry that was in the house of the Lord where Solomon Jarchi doth ingenuously confesse that he knowes not what this third entry in the house of the Lord was but perhaps saith he it meaneth the Court of Israel the Court of the women and the Chel being the two other Kimchi doth well conceive that this entry was as they came from the Kings house into the Temple but more of it he hath not determined I should say it meaneth the gate Coponius and conceive the King coming to the Temple through these entrances or passages First at the bottome of the staires or descent of Sion much about his turning to come upon the causey there was the gate of the foundation then being come up the causey towards the Temple he passed through the gate behinde the guard and walked through the Court of Guard which I suppose was called the Kings covert for the Sabbath and so through the gate Coponius which was his third entrance or gate he passed through These gates we said before were gates of Sion meaning that they were in the way from the Temple thither and not gates of the Temple it selfe According therefore to this supposall I apprehend that Ahaz becoming a Renegado to religion did deface and defile the Temple within and did cleane cut off the way of the Kings accesse thither without as if he and his should never have more to doe there And according to this supposall also I apprehend that Zedekiah having garisoned himselfe in the Temple while the Chaldeans were now lying in siege about the city he sends for Jeremy from his prison in Zion and he comes up to the gate Coponius or Shallecheth and there the King and He conferre together And now let us turne our eyes and observation upon what is to be found in the Court from which we have thus farre digressed and first we will begin with the Altar which is not onely the most remarkable thing to be observed there but which must also serve us as a standing marke from whence to measure the place and sight of other things CHAP. XXXIIII Of the Altar of Burnt-offering THe Altar that Moses made in the wildernesse because it was to be carried up and downe was of light materialls and of small dimensions for [a] Exod. 27.1 it was of Shittim-wood and but five cubits square and three cubits high with a grate of brasse hanging within it for the fire and Sacrifice to lye upon And therefore when it is called the brazen Altar 2 Chron. 1.5 it is because it was plated over with brasse Exod. 38.1 But when Solomon came to build the Temple and there was to be no more removing of the Tabernacle of the Congregation as there had been before [b] 2 Chron. 4.1 he made the Altar farre larger and weightier then that of Moses namely of brasse and of twenty cubite square and ten cubits high I shall not be curious to inquire whether Solomons Altar were of brasse indeed or no or whether it is said to be of brasse though it were of stone because it succeeded in stead of Moses his brazen one as [c] Vid. Kimc in 1 King 8.64 some Jewes
whom it is written For the Lord thy God is a mercifull God he will not forsake thee nor destroy thee nor forget the covenant of thy fathers Presently he gave a signe to the blood and it was swallowed up in the place R. Jochanan saith the 80000. young Priests fled to the midst of the chambers of the Sanctuary and they were at burnt and of all them none was left but Joshua the son of Jozedeck as it is written It not this a brand pluckt out of the fire Zech. 3.2 In this space between the Altar and the Porch there stood the Laver but not directly before the Altar but removed towards the South so that it stood betwixt the rise of the Altar and the porch as we shall observe in the viewing of it by and by But the Talmud speaketh of a Vessel which by its relation appeareth to have layn directly betwixt Porch and Altar which it calleth Migrephah but what to english it is not very ready The Treatise Tamid speaketh thus of it [f] Tamid per. 5. They that were to goe into the Temple to burne incense and to dresse the lamps came between the Porch and the Altar one of them taketh the Migrephah and rings it between the Porch and the Altar one man could not heare another speake in Jerusalem because of the sound of the Migrephah It served for three things The Priest that heard the sound of it knew that his brethren the Priests were gone in to worship and he ran and came A Levite that heard the sound of it knew that his brethren the Levites were gone in to sing and he ranne and came And the chiefe of the stationary men brought them that had been uncleane and set them in the gate of Nicanor Now what kinde of thing this Migrephah was I finde but little light towards an exact resolution [g] Gloss in Mishnaioth ibi Some say it was a great vessell which they rung to make a sound but of what fashion and whether for any other use also they leave uncertain The Chaldee renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Exod. 38.3 c. which seemeth to be the same word with this that wee are about and so he understands it to meane some of the fire-shovels that belonged to the Altar which being either rung upon or shoved upon the pavement would make a loud noise being of brasse and very big The Jewes upon the sound of this and divers other things at the Temple do hyperbolize thus [h] Tamid per. 3. Even from Jericho they heard the noise of the great gate of the Temple when it opened From Jericho they heard the ringing of the Migrephab From Jericho they heard the noise of the Engine that Ben Kâ—ttin made for the Laver. From Jericho they heard the voice of the cryer that called them to their services From Jericho they heard the sound of the pipe From Jericho they heard the sound of the Cymbal From Jericho they heard the sound of the song From Jericho they heard the sound of the Trumpets And some say also the voice of the High priest when he uttered the name Jehovah on the day of expiation c. The truth of which things is not to be pleaded seeing it is apparent that they are uttered by way of hyperbole onely it may not be improper to observe how common the phrase was From Jerusalem to Jericho which is also used in Luke 10.30 CHAP. XXXVII Concerning the Vessells and Utensills of the Temple SECT 1. The Laver. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THe first command of making the Laver and the end of it being made is related in Exod. 30.18 19 20. c. in these words Thou shalt make a Laver of brasse and his foot of brasse to wash withall and thou shalt put it between the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Altar and thou shalt put water therein For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat when they goe into the Tabernacle of the Congregation they shall wash with water that they dye not or when they come near the Altar to minister c. And the making of it is related in Exod. 38.8 He made the Laver of brasse and the foot of it of brasse of the looking glasses of the women assembling which assembled at the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation The measures and the receipt of it is not at all described The Holy Ghost hath left it undetermined what was the forme or the cize of it but hath given notice onely of the materials of it and the end It was made of the brazen Looking-glasses of the women that assembled at the doore of the Tabernacle The Septuagint expresseth it of the Fasting women which fasted at the doore of the Tabernacle reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Jerusalem Targum with which also Jonathans agrees reads it of the Looking-glasses of the modest women which were modest at the doore of the Tabernacle which Aben Ezra's glosse upon the place helps us to understand thus It is the custome of all women saith he to looke their faces in Looking-glasses every morning either of brasse or glasse that they may see to dresse their heads but behold there were women in Israel that served the Lord that departed from this worldly delight and gave away their glasses as a free-will-offering for they had no more use of them but they came every day to the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation to pray and to heare the words of the commandement The end of it was to wash the hands and feet of the Priests but the most ultimate end was to signifie the washing and purifying by the spirit of grace which is so oft called water in the Scripture and so the sprinkling of the bloud of the Sacrifice and the washing in the water of the Laver did read the two great Divinity Lectures of washing by the bloud of Christ from guilt and by the grace of God from filthinesse and pollution The cize and measure of the Laver at the second Temple is not described neither only we have these things recorded of it in the Antiquities of the Hebrew writers 1. That it stood between the Altar and the Porch as the Primitive appointment was Exod. 30.18 but not just and directly between them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [a] Mid. per. 3. Sect. 6. a little aside toward the South And the reason given for the placing of it there is this [b] R. Sol. in Exod. 30. ex Zevachin Because it is said And the Altar of burnt-offering at the doore of the Tabernacle of the Congregation meaning that the Altar was to be before the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Laver not to be before the Tabernacle of the Congregation but it was set a little aside toward the South 2. That at the first it had but two spouts or cocks out of which the water ran