TEMPLE
501
TEMPLE
ndjncpnt building, as also the porch, were furnished
with windows having fixed gratings of wood, of which
iih ntion is made in the text (III Kings, vi, 4). The
walls of the hekal had similar openings at the north and
scuth, at least in the low-er portion; but the position
of rhese windows scarcely allowed the admission of
\itzh\ into the large chamber, which, furthermore, was
lighted night and day by numerous lamps. The win-
dows were intended rather to permit the circulation of
fresh air antl the escai^e of incense-smoke through the
side chambers. The Holy of Holies seems to have
had no windows and was always enveloped in dark-
ness (III Kings, viii, 12).
Bronze Pillars. — It should be borne in mind that the entire building was constructed of the beautiful red and white limestone of the country, which could be polished hke marble. We cannot believe that such a sumptuous monument was built on the earth without any foundations. Moreover Ezechiel tells us (xli, 8) that it rested on a foundation six cubits high, which formed all about it a border five cubits broad (8). The porch was reached by a stairway of ten steps [Ezech, xl, 49, (9)], which in ancient times were always rather high. At the top of the stairway on the foundation stood two pillars of molten brass each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in cir- cumference (III Kings, vii, 15). The pillars were hollow, but the metal was four fingers in thickness (Jer., lii, 21). The capitals which surmounted them were five cubits high, and their tops were fashioned in the shape of lilies. They were richly adorned with network, garlands, pomegranates, foliage, etc., but despite the details furnished by the Bible (III Kings, vii, 16-19; II Par., iii, 13-17), it is very difficult to reconstruct them in their true form. The pillar which stood at the right of the porch door (10) was called Jachin, "He will establish", and that on the left Booz, "in strength". There is no mention in the text of base or pedestal, but some sort of a base would not have been out of place. Despite their squat shape these magnificent pillars recall the obelisks before the pylons of the Egyptian temples.
Furniture. — In the he.kdl before the gate of the d^bir stood the altar of incense, a rectangular square chest of cedar wood, each side measuring a cubit wide and two cubits high. The wood was com- pletely covered with plates of gold (III Kings, vi, 20, 22; vii, 48; I Par., xviii, 18; II Par., iv, 19). At the north side stood the table of gold on which the loaves of proposition were set every Sabbath. Ill Kings, vii, 48, speaks of only one golden table for these .sacred loaves, while I Par., xx\'iii, 16, and II Par., iv, 19, mention several, but the text has been mutilated by the copyist, for elsewhere (II Par., xiii, 11, and xxix, 18) there is likewise mention of only one. The ten tables of II Par., iv, 8, were those which held the candlesticks. On each .side of the south and north courts stood five candlesticks of pure gold adorned with flowers which held gold oil-lamps, prob- ably seven in number. The snuffers, bowls, knives, mortars, cups, censers, and other vessels were likewise all of pure gold (III Kings, vii, 48-50; II Par., iv, 8-9; 21-22). The .\rk of the Covenant made by Moses in the Desert, with its staves, stood in the dgbtr (III Kings, viii, (3). It contained a golden vessel holding manna, the rod of Aaron, and the two tables of the Law (Heb., ix, 4). At the ends of the Ark with wings outspread stood two cherubim ten cubits high carved from wild-olive wood and covered with gold. The inner wings met above the mercy-seat or cover of the Ark and the outer wings touched the walls (see Ark).
Court of the PriestJi. — On the north, south, and west Bides of the building was a court about twenty cubits wide which extendefi in front of the house a distance of one hundred cubits each way (Ezech., xl, 47). This was the "inner court" (III Kings, vi, 36), called also
the "court of the priests" (II Par., iv, 9), because
they alone entered it, laymen being admitted only in
exceptional circumstances (cf. IV Kings, xii, 12; Jcr.,
XXXV, 1 sq., and .\xxvi) (10). It was surrounded by a
wall of three rows of polished stones and one row of
beams of cedar (III Kings, vi, 36), probably placed
edgewise in the form of a railing. The court was
paved with stone slabs (II Par., vii, 3) and was entered
by three doorways on the north, south, and east
sides (Jer., xxxviii, 14; lii, 24; Ezech., xl, 28, 32, 35),
the last-named was called the "king's gate" (I Par.,
ix, 18). In this court opposite the porch gate and at
a distance of twenty-two cubits stood the brazen
altar of holocausts (III Kings, viii, 64), which was
twenty cubits in length and breadth and ten cubits
high (II Par., iv, 1). The ascent to it was made by an
incline facing the east. According to Ezech., xlii,
13 sq., the altar consisted of a square base measuring
twenty cubits on the sides and one cubit high, with a
trench around the border; on the base stood a large
section eighteen cubits sideways and two high, above
which was a second section sixteen cubits sideways
and four high. Lastly came the harel, "mountain of
God", measuring fourteen cubits on the sides and two
high. The top of the altar consisted of the artel,
"hejirth of God", having at each corner a horn one
cubit high, and of a section one cubit high surmounted
by a crown.
Between the Temple and the altar, but somewhat towards the south, was the famous "sea of molten brass", a vessel "round all about", the height of it five cubits and the diameter ten cubits. The outer brim which was a handbreadth (four fingers) in thick- ness was adorned with colocynths. It contained 2000 bates (III Kings, vii, 23-26). (The capacity must have been doubled by the cop\-ist, for a bate equals 361 litres; but the interior diameter of the vessel instead of allowing a capacity of 72,800 litres allows barely 36,000.) The brazen sea rested upon twelve oxen, Ukewise of brass, which stood in four groups facing the four cardinal points. This magnificent vessel was used by the priests for washing their hands and feet at the hours of sacrifice. Along each of the right and left wings of the Temjjle were arranged five movable brazen vessels. On four wheels a cubit and a half in diameter stood a base four cubits in width and length and three high; the ledges were decorated with figures of oxen, lions, and cherubim. On this vehicle was fixed a cylinder a cubit and a half in diameter and a cubit high, on which was placed a laver four cubits in diameter and shaped like an elongated dish. Four shoulders fastened at the four corners of the base supported the laver (III Kings, vii, 27-39). These movable lavers each having a capacity of forty bates, were chiefly used for washing the flesh of the victims. There has recently been discovered at Lar- naea in Cyprus a Phccnician vessel in brass which corresponds in the smallest details to that described in the Bible (see Benzinger, op. cit., 218, 221).
Outer Court. — The inner court (III Kings, vi, 36), also called the "upper court" (Jer., xxx\-i, 10), implies the existence of an outer and lower court, and the court of the priests (II Par., iv, 49) supposes another for laymen. There is mention of still another in the time of Josaphat (II Par., xx, 5), but we have very little interesting information concerning these courts, which must have been completed and adorned by the successors of Solomon. It is stated, for instance, that Joatham "built the highest gate of the house of the Lord" (IV Kings, xv, 3.5), which refers to a new gate, probably north of a court. On the other hand Achaz replaced the altar of holocausts bj' another, the model of which he had seen at Damascus. He also removed the twelve brazen oxen and the graven bases of the ten movable lavers and changed the gate of the Sab- bath and the outer entrance for the king (IV Kings, xvi, 10-18). Ezechias emptied the treasury of the
