Page images
PDF
EPUB

always remained; only they were drawn out towards the veil."

There were three things placed within the ark for preservation, by the express command of God; viz. the two tables of the law; the golden pot that had the omer of manna; and Aaron's rod that budded: but when Solomon, after all its wanderings, set it in the Temple, the two last seem to have been either lost or destroyed, for we find it positively asserted in 1 Kings viii. 9. that "there was nothing then in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt."

In the book of Deuteronomy there is mention made of the book of the law, as being put in the side of the ark, in some chest attached to it for that purpose; but it was evidently not put into the ark itself. And it was, perhaps, this which Hilkiah found in the Temple, in the days of Josiah, king of Judah, which being read to the king, was the cause of that desire he felt to reform abuses.f

The cherubim were also described when treating of the tabernacle; but it is worthy of remark, that although they are often mentioned in Scripture, they were never described by any writer before Ezekiel, but are always taken for granted to be so well known, as to need no description. And, perhaps, that was indeed the case till after the captivity; when, being forgotten by the Jewish nation, they were thus rescued from oblivion by a new revelation.

But let us return to the consideration of the Holy of Holies. We have already seen that cherubim were carved

a 2 Chron. v. 9. b Deut. x. 2. 4 Numb, xvii. 10; lleb. ix. 4.

Exod. xvi. 33, 34; Heb. ix. 4. Ch. xxxi. 26. f 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14.

on the walls, both of the Holy and Most Holy Places : the cherubim, however, which we have most to consider, are those which were placed on either end of the mercyseat; for both in the tabernacle" and Temple" this was the case. Now these figures extended from the one side of the sanctuary to the other; the one wing touching the wall, and the other, the wing of the cherub above the mercy-seat. Thus those in the tabernacle would stretch each of them five cubits, since the Most Holy Place was then only ten cubits; whilst those in the Temple would stretch ten cubits each, since Solomon had enlarged it to twenty cubits. It is not said how high the cherubim in the tabernacle were; but as those in the Temple were ten cubits broad, and ten cubits high, so it is probable that those in the tabernacle, which were five cubits broad, would be five cubits high. Let us further remark, that although the cherubim in the Temple were much larger than those of the tabernacle, they were not precious in proportion; for those in the tabernacle were of beaten gold, while those in the Temple were only of olive-tree, overlaid with gold.

Such were the cherubic figures appointed to be placed on the mercy-seat; and it is worthy of notice, that it was from between these that Jehovah appeared in visible glory, and gave his answers to the Jewish nation, as may be seen by consulting among others, the following passages:-Exod. xxv. 22; xxix. 42, 43; xl. 34. Levit. ix. 23, 24; x. 2; xxiv. 12, 13. Numb. vii. 89; xii. 5; xv. 34; xvi. 19.

The Jews imagined that when Solomon built the Temple, he also built some secret and intricate vaults under it, to conceal the ark in dangerous times; so that what

b 1 Kings vi. 23-25. 2 Chron. iii. 10. 4 Exod. xxxvii. 7. • 1 Kings vi. 23-28.

a Exod. xxv. 18; xxxvii. 7. * 1 Kings vi. 23.

ever should happen to the Temple, it might be safe: and in this light they understood the order of Josiah to the Levites in 2 Chron. xxxv. 3: "Put the holy ark in the house, which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, did build." As if the good king, upon understanding from the book of the law which had been found, and the prophecy of Huldah," that evil was threatened against Jerusalem, was exceedingly anxious for its preservation, and therefore caused it to be put in Solomon's vault, along with the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. But the more natural interpretation of the king's command is, that Manasseh, his grandfather, and Amon, his father, having removed the ark, and set up abominations of their own, in its place, he ordered the Levites to fetch it from its obscurity, where it had been set aside and neglected, and restore it to its accustomed place. A second account we have of the matter in 2 Maccab. ii. 4-8, with a particular reference to the return from the Babylonish captivity: for we are there told, that Jeremiah, having climbed up the hill, whence Moses saw the heritage of God, found a hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense, and stopped up the door; which some that followed him having tried to find out, could not; and were thereupon reproved by Jeremiah, and informed, that the place should be unknown until the time that God should gather his people again together, and receive them into mercy. Now all this is evidently a fiction; for to what good purpose was all this concealment in the supposed vault, or cave, since even the Jews themselves were forced to own, that these articles never were in the second Temple; and that the ark, particularly, was one of the five things that were wanting; the ark, the urim

a 2 Chron. xxxiv. 22.

and thummim, the fire from heaven, the cloud of glory over the mercy-seat, and the spirit of prophecy. Yet we are not to suppose that they had no ark, mercy-seat, nor cherubim in the second Temple, and in that erected by Herod. For they had them all of their own making, and made them answer every ordinary purpose, but that of giving responses, which was confessedly confined to the first Temple. On this account I have said so little about the ark of the second Temple, and dwelt chiefly on the ark of the first. They were both of the same form, and it is probable, also, of the same materials; but I choose rather to follow inspiration than wade through the mazes of uncertain tradition. But here a difficulty deserves to be noticed; viz. why the Psalmist commonly speaks of God as dwelling in Zion, and never on Moriah? I answer, that the ark of God, which was the symbol of the divine presence, remained on Mount Zion all the days of David, and was not taken to Moriah till the days of Solomon, when the Temple was built, for its reception. The phrases, therefore, of the tabernacle, the sanctuary, the hill of God, &c. referred in David's days to Mount Zion; but were afterwards transferred to Moriah: and it was for the same reason that Zion was made use of by David, to denote the church, in Psal. cii. 13; cxxix. 5.

SECT. XIII.

Buildings attached to the Temple.

The fifteen chambers on the north side; the fifteen on the south side; the eight at the west end; their size and uses. The gallery before these chambers; the wall before the gallery; the large chamber over the Holy and Most Holy Places; the veils that divided it; and the stair that communicated from

Psal. ix. 11-14; xx. 2; xlviii. 2; 1. 2; lxv. 1; lxxiv. 2; lxxvi. 2; lxxviii. 68; xcix. 2; cii. 21; cxxxii. 13.

it to the top of the Temple. Josephius's plan of the Courts of the Temple shewn to be not at variance with the foregoing accounts. The different degrees of sanctity attached to the Temple. The punishments inflicted on those who violated it:-1. Death by the hand of Heaven; 2. Cutting off"; 3. Whipping; 4. Rebels' beating.

THE buildings attached to the Temple were those along the sides, the end, and in the upper part of that sacred edifice. The chambers along the sides, and at the end, were not fewer than thirty-eight (marked No. 26, in Plate II.), viz. fifteen on the north side, fifteen on the south side, and eight at the end which looked to the west. In Ezekiel's vision of the Temple," however, they were only thirty, and they are the same in Josephus ;b but it is probable that they omitted those at the end, and only noticed the side-chambers. Those on the north and south sides were exactly alike. They were divided into three stories, each story consisting of five chambers, and each chamber being twelve cubits long, by six in breadth. Thus, if the Holy Place was forty cubits long, the partition between the Holy and Most Holy Place one cubit, the length of the Most Holy Place twenty cubits, and the wall of the Temple six cubits thick, this would make the whole length for the side-chambers to be sixty-seven cubits, or fifty-five cubits for the five chambers, and twelve cubits for the five partitions, which gives about two cubits and a-half to each partition. Dr. Lightfoot mentions a space between each of the chambers of seven cubits and a-half, but if it existed, it must have been taken from the room, to allow the door to enter at the end in place of the side, which is rather an awkward situation, especially as he takes the seven cubits and a-half from each room, and does not make it a common landing-place to two. We are informed by Josephus, that the height of these chambers was twenty

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »