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296 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Temples
burnt-offerings stood inside, of the same size as that of Solomon's Temple and, according to I Mace. iv. 44 sqq., of unhewn stone. There must have been an outer court in which there were the oft-mentioned cells (Ezra viii. 29, x. 6, etc.). The laity, up to the time of Alexander Janna;us, had free access to the inner court in all its parts. The ark having disappeared, its place in the holy of holier was taken by a flat stone called the shetiya, upon which the high-priest on the day of atonement placed the censer. There was a curtain between the holy place and the holy of holier, and the entrance to the holy place seems also to have been hung with a curtain. In the holy place were found a golden candlestick, the tabte of showbread, and the gilt altar of incense. The Temple contained besides, at least in later times, rich ornaments.
The absence of the ark resulted in a change in the conception of the Temple; God was no longer thought of as actually present in the holy of holier. Although the sacrifices continued, they were not gifts to God as present, but symbols of the heart's devotion. The priesthood took on increased importance. Religion became more and more the exclusive business of the priesthood and the (ecclesiastical) State. Of the later history of this Temple, it is reported (Ecclus. L) that Simon II. repaired the Temple and raised the outer walls. Antiachus Epiphanes plundered and desecrated it; Judas Maccabaeus restored and purified it, after which it was newly decorated and fortified. It was stormed by Pompey, who penetrated to the holy of holier, and again by Herod.
III. The Temple of Herod: About 20-19 s.c. Herod conceived the plan of erecting a new temple at Jerusalem; but his motives were political rather than religious, as he aimed to conciliate the pious Jews, whom he had formerly outraged, and to rival the magnificent temples of Greece. Josephus (Ant., XV., x.) and the Mishna tractate Middoth are the chief sources of information concerning this Temple. The area covered was twice that of the old. The present Haram is essentially the work of Herod. The whole resembled a great fortress with towers and battlements. The chief gates were on the west and south sides. Josephus mentions four gates, one of which connected with the city by means of a bridge, and another by a stairway. The two " Hulda " gates were onxhe south. The great outer court, or court of the gentiles, was surrounded by magnificent pillared halls, the most splendid of which, the royal hall, contained 162 Corinthian marble columns in four rows; on the other three sides the columns were in two rows. There were, no doubt, also rooms for the priests and a chamber for the Sanhedrin. A short flight of steps led up to the inner court in the northern half of the area. Bronze tablets forbade any but Jews to enter on pain of death, and one of these was discovered in 1871 by Clermont-Ganneau (for the text cf. Schurer, Eng. transl., IL, 1. 266). This court was divided into three parts: the court of women, the court of men, and the court of the priests, tl?e last surrounding the Temple. The altar stood in the innermost court, the laity being allowed to view the ceremonies only from a distance, the women
farther removed than the men. Outside the men's and women's courts ran pillared halls, and, adjoining these, were chambers for paraphernalia. Sentinels guarded the vestibules-Levites on the outside, and priests inside. The altar of burnt-offerings, in the innermost court, was 32 cubits square at the bottom, contracting to twenty-four at the top. The blood of the sacrifices was drained away through two holes, a canal conducting it to the Kidron. The altar was approached by a stairway sixteen cubits wide and thirty-two long, of unhewn stone, like the altar itself. Behind the altar was a bronze layer, approached by twelve steps, and north of the altar was the slaughtering-place, behind which were pillars and marble tables, for the preparation of the sacrifices.
The Temple proper, gleaming with gold and marble, was approached by twelve steps. The vestibule was 100 cubits high, 100 wide, and twenty deep. Through its gateless entrance over which Herod had placed an eagle, afterward torn down by the people, could be seen the door to the holy place, hung on the outside with a great Babylonian curtain, and ornamented with golden vines with grapes. The holy place was an oblong forty cubits long and twenty wide, containing the table of showbread, the seven-branched candlestick, and the altar of incense; only the priests might enter. The holy of holier was a cube of twenty cubits. The high priest alone entered it on the day of atonement to offer incense and place the sacrificial blood on the stone that had taken the place of the ark. A double curtain forty cubits long and twenty wide separated it from the holy place. A three-story structure, as in Solomon's Temple, containing thirtyeight cells ran around three sides of the Temple, as high as the interior of the holy place; which consequently must have been dark. Over the holy place was an attic, and probably a double-attic over the holy of holier.
IV. The Temple Furniture: In the Hebrew of I Sam. xxi. 6 the expression commonly rendered " showbread " is " bread of the face," i.e., that placed before Yahweh; it was called also " hallowed bread," and later other names r. The were given. This bread corresponded
Table of to the food offerings in other systems
