We have already spoken of the following inci- dents connected with the temple: (1) the new cate made by Jotham ; 0 (2) the sujiplanting by king Aliaz of the altar of burnt-olI'eiing,i and the removal by him of the brazen oxen on which the
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brazen sea rested ;a (3) the taking away by Heze- kiah of the gold, etc., of the house./3 But worso than that of Ahaz or Hezekiah was the conduct of Manasseh, for he caused altars to be raised in the court to all the host of heaven, and an image to be put in the house of Jehovah. 7 Moreover, he erected abodes for hierodules, in which women wove tents for the Aslierah, these tents to be put up in the sanctuarj'.S He had also horses, consecrated to the sun, kept in a part of the inner conrt.e Josiah purged the temple of these abominaliuns,f but unfortunately his lile was cut short at Mf^iddo in the war with Egypt, about li.C. 009.); Twelve years later Jeru.s;ilem was attacked bj' the Chal- da-ans under their king, Nebuchadrezzar. 0 In B.C. 586 Jerusalem and its temple were burned to the ground, and whatever of value remained in the temple was carried to Babylon. i Thus ended the lirst temple after an existence of over four centuries.
ii. EZEKIEL'S Temple.— lS.7.fik\(iVa programme for the new State and temple was suggested to him by the sights he had seen in the Holy City, and the events amidst which he moved. Hence the picture he drew of the temple that was to be is helpful in understanding what the temple was immeiliately before its destruction. In a less de- gree, less than is generally supposed, it is an aid, too, in reconstruetin" the temple of Solomon.
But Ezekiel'stemine obtains its chief siguilicance from its relation to the future. The legislation set forth in tlie last 9 chapters of Ezekiel represents an intervening stage in ritual and theological con- ceptions between the Deuteronomic legislation and tlie I'rieslly. In Ezekiel's ideal picture the temple and its priesthood stand in the very foregiound. Some items in his programme could nut be realized. For instance, the territory in which each of the 12 tribes was to dwell is marked out, but the 12 tribes did not return. Again, the temple buildings did not, and could not, occupy exactly a square of ,"iijO cubits each way.
The description of Ezekiel's temple is to be found in 40'-43-'' and parts of the following chapters.
The text is often very corrupt, and has to be oonjecturally emended. Buttclier's Proben altUat. iichrifterhlaniiuj (iswa) and Thenius' Com. on Kiwjs are very serviceable in reconstnict- ing the text. The CominL-ntaries of Smend and of Cornill are of the utmost value in the same direction : especially ComiU's monumental work, which deals mainly with the text. One cannot but wish, however, that Cornill were less wedded to the text implied in the LXX. We ought not to omit noticing the Commentaries of Keil, Bertholet, and Kraetzschniar, all of which the present writer h&a found helpful, more particularly that of Bertholet.
Hiivernick in his Commentary on Ezekiel has called attention to the fact that in the account of Solomon's temple it is the house — including hiked SiwA dibir — which receives most attention ; but in the description of Ezekiel's temple it is the external circumstances that stand out most prominently, such as the courts with cells and doors, the guard- rooms, chambers, ornaments, dres.ses, and the like. The house is but slightly touched upon. This may be owiii" to the fact that in both temples the house was in all essentials identical : the dillerences and addiiions were in the external parts.
1. General Arhangement.— Solomon's temple was but one part of the comjilex of royal buildings on the eastern hill. It was enclosed in the great court, as were the royal palace, the house inhabited by his Egyptian wife, and other erections. In this temple co\irt the people were in the habit of gather ing to oiler sacrilices. Priests and people mingled around the altar and in the immediate precincts of the house. lu Ezekiel's time no palace and no Stat«
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704
TEMPLE
TEMPLE
buildings were needed. The space on which these had liueu built was now devoted, accordingly, to | that DUter court which is the grand feature of this nev lemple. Israel had suH'ered for want of proper reverence. God had not been worshipped with i becoming respect. His house had been desecrated, the sacritices profaned. Now the house was to be ! shut oflfrom secular buildings. In close proximity i to it tlie priests alone were to be allowed ; it was I only in the large outer court, which stood where pre- viously the royal buildings were, that the common people could gather. There was to be a new land separated to Jehovah, and cut otf on the west by the sea, and on the east by the rapid Jordan and its I