C

D

A

B

A B. Section from east to west of the raised plot of ground in the middle of the temple yard, 450 feet, or 300 cubits, across.-From Catherwood's Survey. On this now stands the Mosque of Omar.

This

is the Inner Court (1 Kings, vii. 12, and Ezek. xliv. 17; xlvi. 1); the Court of the Priests,--in the Hebrew, the Great Terrace, or Platform (2 Chron. iv. 9).

CD. The small plot now under the dome of the Mosque of Omar, 40 cubits in diameter, and 3 or 4 high. This is the threshing-floor of Araunah (2 Sam. xxiv.), David's altar.

On this small plot was raised the altar above described by Ezekiel, which we have attempted to reconstruct in our woodcut. The Chronicler gives to the Court of the Priests the same Hebrew name- "the platform "—that Ezekiel gives to one of the raised portions of the altar; thus showing that that court was a raised plot, such as this now seen, in the temple-yard. The whole strongly confirms the opinion that the rock now under the dome of the Mosque of Omar was the altar of burnt offerings, which stood in front of the house of Jehovah. (See the Plan in Note on 2 Sam. xxiv. 24.)

The great height of the altar may possibly have been the reason why some of the offerings were called “heaveofferings."

A Map of Palestine, showing the way in which the prophet proposed that the land should be divided after the return from captivity under Prince Zerubbabel. measures are given in reeds of 6 longer cubits, or 10 feet 4 inches each.

The

It will be observed that the square plot allotted to the sanctuary in the middle of that for Jehovah, or the priests, measuring 500 reeds each way, is again mentioned in chap. xlii. 16-20. This is an imaginary plot, and must be left out of the account when we are attempting to draw the plan of the temple from the words of the Hebrew writers; whereas all the other measurements of the temple and its courts, though described as seen in a vision in chap. xl. xli. and xlii., seem to be meant for the actual building, and should be compared with those in our Plans given in Notes on Neh. iii. and Acts, xxi. 30.

66

EZEKIEL, XLV. 12.

Twenty shekels, five-and-twenty shekels, fifteen shekels shall be your maneh [sixty shekels in all]."

This lion-shaped bronze weight, now in the British Museum, was found, with many others, in the ruins of

Nineveh. On the base is written, in Phenician characters, "MNE-MLK a royal minah. Its weight is 14,724 grains, or about 30 ozs. troy weight. Hence the shekel, which, as we learn from the above text, was its sixtieth part, would be 245 grains. But, to judge from other lion-shaped weights, it once had a handle, which made it rather heavier. From a comparison of several of the heaviest of these lions, we should judge the shekel of commerce to be between 250 and 260 grains. It is probable that this was the same as the Hebrew shekel of commerce; and it is not contradicted by our finding that 220 grains was the weight of the coined silver shekel (see Note on Exod. xxx. 15), because that, very probably, was made on system lighter than the bronze shekel; and again the gold shekel was, probably, lighter than the silver.

The largest Hebrew weight is a kikar, or circle, translated a "talent" in the Authorised Version. It contained 3000 shekels, as we may calculate from Exod. xxxviii. 25, 26.

Thus, without hoping for scientific exactness, we have for the Hebrew weights of commerce stated in our avoirdupois weight,—

A shekel rather more than half an ounce.

A minah of 60 shekels = about 35 ounces.

A kikar of 50 minahs, or 3000 shekels about on hundred weight.

DANIEL, IV. 33.

fulfilled upon

"The same hour was the thing fulfilled Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws."

The Assyrian winged bull from Nimroud, now in the British Museum. It has a bull's horns and cloven feet, eagles' wings, and a man's head. It was built into the wall on the side of a doorway of the palace, with a second bull opposite to it; and as only the front and one side of each could be seen, the sculptor, in order to make both views perfect, has given to the animal five legs.

We may conjecture that these sculptured monsters, which ornamented the palace at Nineveh, were the foundation for the writer's vision of the king being changed into a winged ox.