from kings and princes, and which were carried away by Antiochu Epiphanes (s). Jofephus and the Rabbins speak of a golden vine in this place, which crept up the pillars of cedar: this vine was the product of the prefents made by private perfons when they dedicated their firft fruits of their grapes. Here ftood alfo a golden table; and a lamp of the fame metal was fixed over the gate which led into the fanctuary: Thefe were given by Helena, queen of Adiabena, when the embraced the Jewish religion. There were two other tables in this porch; a marble one, whereon were fet the loaves of fhew-bread, before they were carried into the holy place; and a golden one, on which they were placed, when they were brought back from thence.

The fanctuary, or holy place, called by the Jews the The holy place. outer houfe, (it being fuch in refpect of the Holy of Holies) was between the porch, and the most holy place; being twenty cubits broad, and forty in length and height. It had two gates, one whereof was called the leffer; through which they went in order to open the great gate, which had four folding doors. The fanctuary was divided from the Holy of Holies neither by a wall nor gate, but only by a double vail (t). This is fuppofed to have been the vail which was rent in twain at our Saviour's death (u), because it was to be of no further use. Allufion feems to be made to this in the Revelations, where it is faid, that the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the temple of the tabernacle of the teftimony was opened (x).

What we are chiefly to confider in the Sanctuary are the The altar of golden candlestick; the table, whereon were put the cakes or ¡ncenfe. loaves of fhew-bread; and (between it and the candlestick) the altar of incenfe, fo named from the incenfe that burnt on it every day, which by St. John is ftiled the prayers of the faints (y). This altar was alfo called the inner altar, in oppofition to the altar of burnt-offerings, already defcribed; and the altar of gold, because it was overlaid with pure gold (z). It was not placed in the holy of holies, as fome have been induced to believe from a wrong interpretation of fome paffages of fcripture (a), but in the fanctuary near the vail, which parted it from the Holy of Holies, and over against the ark of the covenant (b). This is the altar fo often mentioned in the Revelations. It was one cubit in length and breadth, and two in height. On the four corners it had four horns like the outer altar. On these horns was the atonement made, once every year, with the blood of the fin offering (c): Round it there was a very thick border, on which they fet the coals for burning the incenfe, which was prepared in the court of the priefts (d).

(s) 2 Maccab. iii. 2. v. 16.

() It was divided by a wall and a vail, faith Lamy, Appar. p. 92.

() Matth. xxvii. 51.

(y) Revel. v. 8.

(x) Revel. xi. 19. and xv. 5.

(x) Exod. xxx. 3.

(a) See 1 Kings vi. zz. and Heb. ix. 4.
(b) Exod. xxx. 6. and xl. 5.

(c) Exod. xxx. 10.

(d) Over the water-gate in the room Ablitines.

There

The table for

fhew-bread.

It

There is no mention in Exodus of any more than one table for the ufe of the tabernacle (e); but we learn from the fecond book of Chronicles (f), that Solomon made ten tables (of gold, as is fuppofed,) and placed them in the temple, (which he had built) five on the right fide, and five on the left. The table of fhewbread having been carried to Babylon, and loft there, they were forced to make a new one for the fecond temple. This laft Titus rescued from the flames, (at the taking of Jerufalem) and had it carried to Rome with =the candlestick, and fome other rich fpoils, to grace and adorn the triumph =of his father Vefpafian. It was made of wood, and overlaid with gold; and was two cubits long, one broad, and a cubit and a half high. = was placed by the altar at fome diftance, and against the north wall of the fanctuary. Upon this table were put the twelve loaves of bew bread called in Hebrew the bread of faces (g), because the table being almost over against the ark of the covenant, they might be faid to be fet before =the face of God (b). Thele twelve loaves reprefented the twelve : tribes of Ifrael, and were offered to God in their name, for a token of an everlasting covenant. They were oblong, fhaped like a brick; ten palms long, and five broad, and might weigh about eight pounds each. They were unleavened, and made of fine flour. After the Levites had made and baked them, they brought them to the priests, who fet them upon the table in two rows, fix on a row, on the fabbath day. Frankincenfe was put upon each row; and to keep them from moulding, they were feparated from one another by a kind of reeds. The following fabbath the priest took them away, and put immediately others in their room; fo that the table was never without them. The old loaves belonged to the priests that were upon duty, who accordingly parted them among themselves. As this fort of bread was holy, it was not lawful for any but the priests to eat of it, except in a cafe of neceffity (i). fides the loaves, there were fome veffels and utenfils upon the table; but the learned are not agreed about the shape or use of them. It appears from the IId book of Chronicles that there were ten canulesticks in Solomon's temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left (k). But there was only one in the tabernacle, and the fecond temple, which ftood near the fouth wall of the Janctuary, over against the table. It was all made of pure gold, of beaten work (1); and had feven branches, three on each fide, and one in the middle bigger than the reft. Each branch had three bowls made after the fafbion of almonds, three knobs, and three flowers, but the middlemoft had four. At the end of each of thefe branches there was a lamp; but whether faftened to the candlestick or not, is not well known, it is moft probable they were not. The fcripture tells us, that thefe lamps were to burn continually (m), which undoubtedly ought to be reftrained to the night-time, at least in refpect of the candlestick, that

(e) Exod. xxv. 24.

(g) Exod. xxv. 30, & alibi.

(f) iv. 8.

Of the golden

candlestick.

(b) Exod. xl. 23.255.

(i) Matth. xii, 4, 1 Sam. xxi. 3, &c. (k) 2 Chron. iv. 7.

was

(1) Exod. xxxvii, 17. &c.

(m) Exod. xxvii. 20.

"

was in the tabernacle, fince it is faid (n) that the priests lighted them in the evening, when they burned incenfe upon the altar, and put them out in the morning. Thefe lamps were filled every day with pure oil; to which custom our Saviour alludes in his parable of the ten virgins (). Jewish writers find abundance of myfteries in the candlestick, and afcribe to it feveral ufes; but there is no need of having recourfe to their fictions, fince we are affured by St. Paul that it was one of the types of Christianity. St. John alfo makes frequent allufions to it in his Revela

tions.

The Holy of Holies.

We must now proceed to confider the Holy of Holies, otherwife called the most holy place, and the oracle (p). In the firft temple it was divided from the holy place, by a partition of boards overlaid with gold; in which there was a door-place with the above-mentioned vail over it. But in the fecond, it was divided by two vails nailed at a cubit's diftance one from the other, as is commonly fuppofed. The Holy of Holies, according to the Jews, was twenty cubits in length. Though the holy place was reckoned very facred, yet it was not to be compared in this refpect with the molt holy, which was looked upon as the palace of God. For this reafon none but the highpriest was permitted to go into it, and that but once a year, viz. on the great day of expiation (q); on which day the Jews tell us it was lawful for him to go in feveral times (r). This part of the temple, as well as the whole building, was furrounded with rooms and apartments for different ufes (s). The roof of the Holy of Holies was not flat, (as in the other parts of the temple, and in the houses of eaftern nations in general) but floping as in our buildings; and according to Jofephus (t),

it was covered and armed all over with pointed fpikes of gold to "keep off the birds from neftling upon it." Though the roof was inacceffible to all, yet there was round it a kind of rail or baluftrade, according to the law (u), to keep any one from falling down that fhould happen to go there.

The Holy of Holies was at the west end of the temple, and the entrance into it towards the east, contrary to the practice of the heathens. The greatest ornament of the Holy of Holies was wanting in the second temple (x),

namely,

(n) Exod. xxx. 7, 8. Levit. xxiv. 2, 3. 1 Sam. iii. 3. 2 Chron. xiii. 11. (0) Matth. xxv.

(p)"It was fo called, because God here gave his answers to the high "prieft, when he confulted him." Lamy p. 92.

(q) Exod. xxx. 10. Levit. xvi. 2. 15. 34. Heb. ix. 7.

(7) Philon. Legat. ad Caium.

(u) Deut. xxii. 8.

(s) "Thefe ferved to fupport the height, and were, as it were, fo many "buttreffes, and a great ornament to it at the fame time-there were three ranges of them one above another." Lamy p. 92. (1) Jofeph. de Bell. Jud. 1. vi. c. 6. (x)" The defect was fupplied, as to the outward Form. For in the se"cond temple there was alfo an ark made of the fame fhape and dimenfions "with the firft, and put in the fame place. But it had none of its prerogatives or honours -For there were no tables of the law,-no appearance of the divine glory over it, &c." Dr. Prideaux Con, P. I. B. III. under the year 534.

66

2

Some

The ark of the covenant.

amely, the ark of the covenant or teftimony fo called, becaufe the law, which contained the terms and conditions of the covenant God had made with the Ifraelites, was kept in it; and because it was moreover a pledge or teftimony of his gracious prefence among them. Jewish authors tell us, that they put a stone in the room of it three inches thick (y); which, as they pretend, worked abundance of miracles. This fame ftone, (as fome imagine) is ftill in being, and laid up in the mofque, which the Mahometans have built in the place where the temple of. Jerufalem flood, which for that reafon is called the temple of the fon As we meet in the New Teftament with frequent allufions to the ark of the covenant, it will be proper to fay fomething of it here. It was a cheft or coffer, of shittim wood or cedar, over-laid with pure gold within and without; which Bezaleel made by Mofes's order, according to God's direction (z). As its dimenfions were a cubit and a half in height and depth, and two in length, we may from thence judge it was pretty large. Round the edges was a ledge of gold, on which refted the cover of it, known bỳ the name of the mercy-feat, or propitiatory; fo called, because on the day of expiation the bigh-priest standing between the ftaves, wherewith it was carried upon the fhoulders of the Levites, made atonement and propitiation for the fins of the people, and for his own, by fprinkling fome of the blood of the facrifices before it (a). This mercy feat, which was all made of folid gold (*), ought to be looked upon as the chief part of the ark. For here it was that the voice of God, from between the cherubims over the cover, was heard, and here he declared to the priests the pardon of the people's offences. Hence in fcripture to cover fins, and forgive them, mean the fame thing (6). What shape thefe Cherubims were of, is not well known. All that can be faid of them, is, that they were reprefented with wings, faces, feet and hands; that they looked inward towards each other, and that their faces were turned towards the mercy feat, (fo that they were in the pofture of figures worshipping) (c). Their wings were expanded, and were expanded, and embracing the whole circumference of the mercy-feat, met on each fide in the middle; and over them did the pillar of the cloud appear, which was a token of the Shechinah, or divine prefence (d). In Solomon's time there was nothing in the ark, belides the two tables of ftone, containing the ten commandments, which Mofes put there by the command of God .(e). But before that time as fome fuppofe, the pot of manna (f), and Aaron's rod that budded (g), had been laid in it. And indeed this opinion feems to be countenanced by these words of the Apoftle, That within the

ark

(y) i. e. The ftone on which the ark flood in the first temple. Dr. Prideaux

ibid.

(z) Exod. xxv.

(a) According to Buxtorf (Lexic. p. 373.) it was so called-Quod illic Dominus fe propitium oftenderet.

(*) Of the thicknefs of an hand's breadth. Dr. Prideaux ubi fupra:

(b) Pfal. xxxii. 1.

(d) Levit. xvi. 2. Pfal. xcix. 7.

(e) 1 Kings viii. 9.

(c) Dr. Prideaux ubi fupra.

(f) Exod. xvi. 33. (g) Num. xvii. 6-10.

ark were the golden pot, that contained the manna, Aaron's rad, and the tables of the covenant (b). But the Greek particle is in doth also fignify with, or near, as we have obferved in our commentary on this place. It is very probable, that thofe facred monuments were laid up on the fide of the ark, in the Holy of Holies, as well as the golden cenfer, mentioned in this place. There ftood alfo near the ark fome boxes, wherein were put veffels and utenfils of gold (i), and the original and authentick copy of the law, as written by Mofes (k), It cannot be queftioned but that the ark had fome typical afes, but it is not fafe to carry types further than the holy fcriptures, and the epifle to the Hebrews have done.

Thus have we given an account of the temple of Jerufalem, as far as is neceffary for our prefent purpose. It is well known what was the unhappy end of that noble building, and how God was pleafed to permit that it should be laid waste, because it had been polluted and profaned, but especially because it was to make room for that spiritual temple which God was to raise upon its ruins. We learn from hiftory, that Julian the apoftate, out of hatred to JESUS CHRIST and the Chriftians, ufed all his endeavours to have it rebuilt; but God rendered this rafh and impious attempt of his ineffectual, and put a stop to it by very wonderful and fupernatural means (/).

Before we leave Jerufalem, it will be necessary Of the neighbouring to lay fomething of the places about it, especially places of Jerufalem. thofe which our bleed Saviour was pleased to honour with his prefence. The first remarkable place, on the east side of the city, was the Mount of Olives, from whence Jefus Chrift was taken up into Heaven. It was by the Jews called the mount of anointing, because abundance of olive trees (m) grew there, of which oil for anointing the priests, and other ufes, was made. St. Mark tells us, that this mount was over against the temple (n); and St. Luke, that it was a fabbath day's journey from Jerufalem (0), that is, two thousand cubits, which muft undoubtedly be understood of the bottom of the mountain, and not of the top of it, fince Bethany, which was built upon it, was fifteen furlongs from Jerufalem (p). This hill had three rifings or eminences; from the middlemoft of which it is fuppofed (but without any good grounds) that JESUS CHRIST was taken up into Heaven; that on the fouth was called the Hill of reproach or corruption, because Solomon built thereon high places in honour of falle deities (q); the third lay to the north, and is in St. Matthew called Galilee (r), but for what reafon is unknown here it was that JESUS CHRIST appointed his difciples to meet him after his refurrection. The ceremony of burning the red heifer, mentioned in Heb. ix. 13. was performed upon this mount ef olives; and upon one of its rifings was placed the light, which was to give notice of the new moon.

(b) Heb. ix. 4.

(k) Deut. xxxi. 26.

The

(1) Socrat. Hift. Eccl. 1, iii. c. 20. Sozomen. L. v. c. 22. Chryfoftom

(i) 1 Sam. vi. 15.

Orat. 111. contra Jud.

(m) Mark xiii. 3.

(1) Mark xiii. 3.

(p) John xi. 18.

(9)

(0) Acts i. 12. Kings xi. 7. and 2 Kings xxiii. 13.

() Matth. xxvi. 32.