Nicanor's gate — assuming the usual view — was 56 cubits high and 40 broad, the others that led out of the lower court being 30 high and 40 broad. Round the walls of the court there ran porticoes with a single piazza, the roof of which rested on lofty anil highly-linished pillars. These porticoes were less indeed, but not less beautiful, than the porticoes of the outer court. Between the gates there were cells for storing the various properties belonging to the temple : these are called by Josephus /i 7afo0i/XdKia.i' Concerning the special purposes of these rooms see Now. op. cit. ii. 79 n. 2. There were upper rooms over tlie gateways, hence justifying Joseplius' description of them as tower- shaped. The cells between the gates had also upjier rooms ; hence we read of the upper room of Bet-Abtinas.l Somewhere within the women's court would be placed the thirteen boxes for re- ceiving contributions to the temple. At least one must have been in the women's court, else the widow (Lk 21"-) could not have put in her mite. See Trkasury. According to Midd. ii. 5, there were four cells in the women's court, but both Schiirer and Now. think this unlikely.
The inner court was divided into an eastern part, into which women were admitted as well as
« Thev were the gift of a Jew from Alexandria.
0 Midd. i. S. r JQR. Oct. 1898.
i Uichm'8 tlWB' 1606'>. i Monatssch. 1S78, 434.
C Da9 Jerusalem de4 Joseptius, p. 70.
<i Op. oil. ii. p. 78. 0 JQR, July 1898.
( Op. cit. i. p. 190. But he is inconsistent, for in the previous page (Eng. ed.) he B.ay8 the inner c.rdrt went around the women's court, and he takes the view that Nicanor's gate was on the east of the woireii's court.
« Riehn\, U tVB- KlUlib. x Op. cU. ii. 78.
lA, BJ v. V. 2, VI. V. 2. > See Tkeasurt.
{ Yuma L 6 ; Tarn. L \.
men, and a larger western portion, which included the men's court and tlie priests' court. The house and the altar were in the latter, and were sur- roiinded by its rampart. Just .'is the whole inner court was separated from the outer, and within the inner the men's was shut oH' from the women's, so the remainder was subdivided into a larger part for priests only. The men's court was 11 cubits wide, and surrounded the priests' court on all four sides.a The Mishna, however, appears to reduce the space for men to 11 cubits on the east alone. Tlie altar and all the arrangements for sacrificing, as well, of course, as the house itself, were in the priests' court.
The house. — The higher ground of the house was attained by means of twelve steps. The inside area was 60 cubits high and the same in length, by 20 cubits in breadth. There were, as in the other temples, two divisions — the lickal or Holy Place, (3 which was 40 cubits long, and the debir or Most Holy Place, which was 20 cubits long. This last was empty, and w;is entered by the high priest once a year, viz. on the Day of Atonement. The hi'kcd or larger room had in it the following : — Table of shewbread,^ altar of incense, the seven-armed lampstand.5 The altar stood in the middle, between the temple walls : to its north was the table, and the lampstand was on its south.e Only the othciating priests were per- mitted to enter the hekcd, to bring in the incense morning and evening, to trim the lamp, which was done once a day, and to supply the table with fresh shewbread, which was done every Sabbath.
The porch was 100 cubits in both height and breadth, and 11 cubits deep. It stood, therefore, like a high wall in front of the house. The breadth of the house, including its surrounding chambers, being 70 cubits,f the porch projected 15 culiits on each side.)) There was an entrance to the porch 40 cubits high and 20 broad. There was, however, no door. Above the entrance Herod placed a golden eagle, which as a Roman emblem was very distasteful to the Jews ; and during a turmoil, some time before the king's death, it was destroyed. From the entrance of the porch the hckal door, gilded like the court gates, could be easily seen. It was adorned with carvings of golden vines, with grapes, according to Joseplius, as large as a mau.9 Tacitus also speaks of this vine. I
Veil. — In front of the hckal door there hung a beautifully coloured Babylonian veil. The lickcd was shut oft' by a veil or veils, but there was no wall, nor therefore any door, leading into the dehir. According to the Mishna, k there were two veils between the hckcd and the dibir, with a cubit's free space between them. The outer was loose on the south side, the inner being loose on the north. On the Day of Atonement the hijrh priest entered the dcMr with his censer by passing to the south side and getting behind the outer veil, until he reached the north of tlie inner veil, where he was able to enter the dcbir. In the NT this veil is spoken of in the singular, the two perhaps being looked upon as one.X The veil outside the door of the hiked is never referred to in the NT. See Veil.