Hebrew Literature

by Unknown

8. And stone buttresses were joined from the wall of the sanctuary to the wall of the porch, lest it should bulge. And in the roof of the porch were fastened golden chains, upon which the young priests climbed up, and saw the crowns. As it is said, “And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord.”[582] And over the doorway of the sanctuary was a golden vine supported upon the buttresses. Everyone who vowed a leaf, or a berry, or a cluster, he brought it and hung it upon it. Said Rabbi Eleazar, the son of Zadok, “it is a fact, and there were numbered 300 priests to keep it bright.”

Our Beauty be upon Thee, O Altar.

Chapter IV

1. The doorway of the Sanctuary[583] was twenty cubits in height, and ten in breadth. And it had four doors, two within and two without, as is said, “Two doors to the temple and the holy place.”[584] The outside (doors) opened into the doorway to cover the thickness of the wall, and the inside doors opened into the Sanctuary to cover (the space) behind the doors, because the whole house was overlaid with gold excepting behind the doors. Rabbi Judah said, “they stood in the middle of the doorway, and like a pivot these folded behind them two cubits and a half; and those two cubits and a half, half a cubit and a jamb on this side, and half a cubit and a jamb on the other side.” It is said, “two doors to two doors folding back, two leaves to one door and two leaves to the other.”[585]

2. And the great gate had two wickets, one in the north, and one in the south. Through the one in the south no man ever entered. And with regard to it Ezekiel declared, as is said, “The Lord said unto me; this gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.”[586] The priest took the key, and opened the wicket, and went into the little chamber, and from the chamber to the Sanctuary. Rabbi Judah said, “he went in the thickness of the wall, until he found himself standing between the two gates, and he opened the outside gates from inside, and the inside from outside.”

3. And there were thirty-eight little chambers, fifteen in the north, fifteen in the south, and eight in the west. The northern and southern ones were (placed) five over five, and five over them; and in the west three over three, and two over them. To each were three doors: one to the little chamber on the right, one to the little chamber on the left, and one to the little chamber over it. And in the northeastern corner were five gates: one to the little chamber on [pg 241] the right, and one to the little chamber over, and one to the gallery, and one to the wicket, and one to the Sanctuary.

4. The lowest row was five cubits, and the roofing six cubits, and the middle row six, and the roofing seven, and the upper was seven, as is said, “the nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle six cubits broad, and the third seven cubits broad.”[587]

5. And a gallery ascended from the northeastern corner to the southwestern corner. Through it they went up to the roofs of the little chambers. One went up in the gallery with his face to the west. So he proceeded all along the northern side, till he reached the west. On reaching the west, he turned his face southward, going along the west side, till he reached the south. On reaching the south, with his face to the east, he went along the south side till he arrived at the door of the upper story, because the door of the upper story opened in the south side. And at the door of the upper story were two cedar beams. By them they went up to the roof of the upper story, and on its summit rails separated between the Holy and the Holy of Holies. And in the attic, trap-doors opened to the Holy of Holies. Through them they let down the workmen in boxes, lest they should feast their eyes in the Holy of Holies.

6. The Sanctuary was a square of 100 cubits, and its height 100. The foundation six cubits, and the height (of the wall) forty cubits, and the string course[588] one cubit, and the rain channel two cubits, and the beams one cubit, and the covering plaster one cubit; and the height of the upper story was forty cubits, and the string course one cubit, and the rain channel two cubits, and the beams one cubit, and the covering plaster one cubit, and the battlement three cubits, and the scarecrow one cubit. Rabbi Judah said, “the scarecrow was not counted in the measurement; but the battlement was four cubits.”