Keil I reconstructs the altar according to what we know of the altar of the tabernacle. Most modern authorities recon- struct it in accordance with what we know of Ezekiel's altar.f But neither procedure is a safe one ; certainly not the former, since the whole account of the tabernacle is conceived under the influence of late ideas and practices. Nor is it safe to argue from Ezekiel's to Solomon's altar of burnt-offering ; for, assuming that the prophet's conception was governed by what he had seen of the pre-exilic temple at Jerusalem, yet many changes are likely to have been made between Solomon's time and that of the prophet. Some of these are known to us, and have already come under our notice.*
The altar of the first temple stood probably at the spot where David erected an altar after the plague was stayed. p Indeed this altar might have been the very one that David raised, though 2 Ch 4' is against this supposition, as is also the fact that the rest of the temple was new.
The Brazen Sea. s — Between the house and the altar, but towards the south, was the Brazen Sea (called al.'^o 'the Jlolten Sea' and simply 'the Sea'). See Sea (liKAZEN).
The Lavers.T — On each side of the altar, at
. Ezk SS »». /S 2 K 15SS. V Jer 20^.
»Ezk8». 1 Jer 2010 S6i». ?Cf. Ezk 4«J«..
,2K161'. «2Ch73. 1 Ezk 401 s.
« On Ezk 401». X n:;n 'J?. ^ Ei 20Mt.
. Der Temp. Sal. p. 117 (. { I.e.
• Ezk 4313-1''. » Cf. 1 K 16»>, 2 K W.
, 2 S 24l5ff . (IK 7»2« I 2 Oh 4". t 1 K 7n-»».
TEMPLE
TK.AIPLE
703
the right and left wings of the temple, tliere were ten brazen stands on wheels, with brjiss basins set upon them (see tlie ^ery el.iborjite article, with illustrations, entitled ' Die Kesselwagen des salum. Teuipel,' by Stade, in ZATIV, 1901, p. 14511'.). They were lilled with water, which was used for the purpose of washing the IIlsIi that was to be ofTered in sacrilice. Perhaps the water in them was obtained from the brazen sea. Or it may be that both the brazen sea and also the lavers were supplied diiect from the stream men- tioned in Ezk 47'.
In 1 K "« (II 2 Ch 4") we are told tliat Huram made also pots.c shovels,^ and basins,>- but it is not stated where these were kept.
Of any additional chambers in the court besides those around the liouse the biblical accounts say nothing;. There is no mention, for example, of chambers for sacritlcing, for washing the sacrincial flesh, for storing the instruments used in sacri- ficing, etc
l^bbinical writers say there were eight stone tables on the north of the altar of burnt-offering, fastened to the pavement by twenty-four iron rings. Lund,% who follows Jewish authori- ties far too slavishly, gives details of these tables, deiieiidiiig upon his Jewish guides. If, however, these tables obUiiiied at all, it was in the temple of Herod alone, with which Jewish writers were familiar, and from which far too freely and un- critiially they drew conclusions concerning the temple of Solomon.
Subsequent hv^toTy of Solomon's temple. — Solomon did not intend the temple he built to be a rival to the already existing high places of the land, much less did he intend by his sanctuary to supplant the many others. For long after his time, as the genu- ine Hooks of Kings show, the hann'ith or high places had the stamp of approval as much as the Jeru- salem sanctuary. 'IhewTitings of the early pro- phets make this very clear. From Amos and Hosea we see that the people of the Northern kingdom made pilgrimages to Beersheba in the south (.■\m 5°, cf. S", Hos 4'" (text as amended bj- Wellh., Now., etc.)), and that they worshii)ped there and at Dan, Bethel, and other places (Am 4* 5° 8'^ Hos 10") without incurring blame, so far as con- cerned the locality of the sanctuaries. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Judah sacrificed at Gil"al as well as Jerus.alem (Hos4" ; buttextdub., see Wellh. ad loc). The opposition to the bdmMh arose from the superstition anil immorality asso- ciated with them, and the danger of worshipping the Canaanite deities to which they were origin- ally consecrated.* It should be noted that the temple-worship of Jerusalem is as stronglj' repro- bated hy Isaiah as worsliiji at the bdmOth is by Amos and Hosea, and for a similar reason ; see Is 1, etc. F.lijali was one of the lirst to set his face against these local cults ; but the first to make anj' attempt to suppress them was Hezekiah (B.C. 7'2'J-U'20).f But tlie high places continued to be recognized until about n.C. G2I, when Josiah (li.c. 64O-C09) employed vigorous measures, and for the most part succeeiled in stamping them out.i; More and more the temple became the centre of the nation's life, religious and [lolilical, especially after the return from exile (see Smend, Alt test. lieHrjionsgcsrh. 216 f. , 230 f., 3ir> f., 438 11'., and especially his article \nSK, 1884, p. 689 f.).
In 2 Ch 20° mention is made of a ' new court ' belonging to the house of Jehovah before which Jehoshaphat stood; an outer court could hardly have existed at this time ; probably the I'hronicler is influenced by the temple of his own day.