consequent freedom from practical restraints. The area it covered was a square 500 cubits a on each side. The proportion 2 : 1 obtains largely. The gateways are 50 cubits long and 25 broad. The house with walls and chambers had a length of 100 cubits and a breadth of 50. Between the house and the 3 inner gates was a square of 100 cubits each side. A glance at the plan below will show the thoroughly symmetrical character of the whole. From sijuare to square is 50 cubits.
The temple area was encompassed by a wall (gh i j) 6 cubits high and of the same thickness.^ In the centre of the N., E. and S. walls there were gate- ways 7 (G G G). Just opposite to them, towards
200 2^0 300 360
no. &. — GROUND PLAK OP BZB&IEL'S TRMrLB.3
600 CubiU.
J n 1 Je=the encompassiniJ walls. O O G = the 3 outer pates. Qi O* O^^the 3 inner ^aten. PP'=prie8ta' cells. H^thehotue (lu^kdl and 3<'6ir). A =altar of burnt-offerings. The numbera around the outer walls mark the cells.
seas, or rather lakes. But of that all-holy land the temple hill was to be first secured as a kind of tlrumdha or first-fruits. An enclosed land was to have its sanctuary enclosed— nay, doubly enclosed, the inner enclosure for the priests alone. It is no doubt this idea of the holiness of Jehovah and His house that prompted the prophet, in the spirit of his time and people, to appropriate the whole of the upper hill for uis temple, and to substitute the outer court for Solomon's all-encompassing great court.
A leading feature in Ezekiel's temple is its symmetry : this is due to its ideal character, and its
a njl-m, ct. Nu ISlOf- 1811"'- 3l«.
the inside and exactly 100 cubits distant, there were three gates of the same construction leading into the inner court 7 (G' G' G'). Within the pre- cincts of the inner court was the house, embracing botli hfkdl or Holy Place and dibtr or Most Holy Place (H). In our more detailed description we shall follow the order in which the angel showed the temple to the prophet in the vision. We
a Ezk 42i« not ' reeds ' as MT. The LXX has simply 600, bu« In v.n it has * cubits.' which should be understood in v.w. »8 the general measurements and other passa^ee show.
0 Kzk 4<)*. y See below for full description.
J The plan is adapted from Benzin^jer's Beb. Arch. 394. Ben- clnger takes bis from Stade, Getch, h. 61. The squares are doe to Benzinfirer.
TEMPLE
TEMPLE
7C5
begin, therefore, at the eastern gate of the outer court.
Tlie first thing we encounter as we approach the eastern gateway is the ascent by 7 steps a to the level of the outer court, which was liigher than the ground outside. At the inner gate there was a corresponding flight of steps which conducted to the inner court, but here there were 8 steps^ not 7. In a similar way an ascent of 10 steps had to be made before the house could be entered. 7 Tlie whole constituted thus three terraces, all which would j'ield a coninianding view from the moun- tains and high ground around, and from the lowest court.
Ueinht of gf^pt. — Ao«>rdlnBr to Ezk 41** the 10 Bt«p8 leading ininieiliateiy to Ibe house were equal to an elevation of fl cutiita, i.e. each step wofi j of a cubit bigb. The other Bt«pB were probably ol toe same height.
FIO. e.— IK Oirmt BATS.
Having reached the topmost of the steps in front of the outer gateway, we enter the gateway itself, *hich, as is common in the East, has rooms on both sides, { though it has none above, such as are often found in Eastern countries, and, indeed, not seldom in Europe. First of all we enter the threshold* (7), an open sjiace with a length f (E. to \y.) of 6 cubits I) and a breadth f of 10 cubits.*
Pa.Hsing beyond the threshold, we lind right and left of us ^juard-roomsi in which the temple olhcers were stationed to keej) order and to watcli tlie house. /( These were four-s(|uare, the side being 6 cubits. ]''ive cubits farther on there were two identical guard-rooms, and the same distance yet farther to the west there were two more. There were thus six guard-rooms in ail ( Fig. 6,GGGGG0).
No Uoors are mentioned as belonging to the guard- rooms, but it is probable that on the sides towards the outer court there were doors. On the inner side of each guardroom there wasa 'border' (KV) or ' barrier '\ (Comill, Bertholet, A. B. Davidson) (see Fig. (i,mn), of one cubit thickness. The purpose of this barrier was to enable the sentry to see along the whole length of the gateway without being jostled by the crowd that passed in and out. Of its form we are told nothing, but it was probably simply a straight stone wall, a cubit in thickness and 6 cubits across. Between the guard-rooms
« F.7M 406, cf. 40M «. 0 40'1. y 4(H» 41".
» 2 S isw ; cf. Layapd, Nin. and Bab. 67, and note.
I IB 40«.
C Len^h in Ezekiel is (greater diniciiaion, breadth the smaller dlmeriHion.
n i.r. the breadth of the outer wall, with which It ran parallel.