entirely cased in cedar, so as to give it the appearance of a rough log-house.1 The porch, the most startling novelty of the building, was, The porch. as being external to the rest, the part in which foreign architects were allowed the freest play. In materials it was probably suggested by the Assyrian, in elevation by the Egyptian architecture, whilst the Tyrian sculptors displayed their art to the full in the two elaborate pillars. They stood immediately under the porch, within, but not supporting it, and were called either from the workmen, or from their own firmness and solidity, Jachin and Boaz. Their golden pedestals, their bright brazen shafts, their rich capitals, their light festoons, were thought prodigies of art so remarkable,2 that the Israelites were never weary of recounting their glories. The gates of the porch usually stood wide open.3 Hung round it, inside, were probably the shields and spears that had been used in David's army, perhaps also the sword and the skull of the gigantic Philistine, which had originally been laid up in the Tabernacle. Place. Within, another pair of folding-doors (made of cypress, The Holy with their door-posts, which fitted immediately behind the square pedestals of the pillars) led into the Holy Place. It would have been almost dark, in spite of a few loopholes above, but for an innovation now first ventured upon. In the place of the original single seven-branched candlestick, ten now stood on ten golden tables, five on each side. The light of these revealed the interior. As without, so within, the whole was lined with wood; the walls with cedar, 1 Josephus, Ant. viii. 2, §2; see Reland, Palestina, 313. 1 Kings vii. 15-22; 2 Kings xviii. 16, xxv. 17; 2 Chr. iii. 15-17; Jer. lii. 21-23 * 2 Chr. xxix. 7; Isa. vi. 1. 2 Chr. xxiii. 9; 2 Kings xi. 10. These were distinct from the shields taken from Hadad-ezer. 51 Sam. xvii. 54, xxi. 9. 7 Ibid. vii. 49; 2 Chr. iv. 20. The Holy of Holies, the floors with cypress or deal.' The Phoenician workmen had rendered it as nearly as they could like one of the huge vessels to which their own city of Tyre was compared by the Hebrew Prophets.2 But inside, the wood was overlaid with gold, and on this were sculptured forms which nearly resemble the winged creatures 3 and mysterious trees familiar to us in Assyrian sculpture. The Cherub with the alternate face of a man and of a lion, and the Palm, then, as afterwards in the Maccabæan age, the emblem of Palestine, were worked alternately along the walls. At the end of the chamber were the two symbols of nourishment and feasting, which in a more tangible and material form was represented by the sacrifices:-as, on the rough altar outside, the great sacrificial feasts were of animal flesh, so within, the daily offering was of the consecrated loaves on their gilded table, the daily cloud of incense from the gilded altar. 4 Awall of partition,' such as the lighter structure of the tent had not allowed, shut in the innermost sanctuary. But this too was penetrated by folding-doors, of olive-wood; over which hung a parti-coloured curtain, embroidered with cherubs and flowers.5 6 He who in the progress of the building ventured to look in would have seen a small square chamber, like an Egyptian adytum, absolutely dark except by the light received through this aperture. But in the darkness, two huge golden forms would have been discerned, in imitation, on a grand scale, of the cherubs which had formed the covering of the ancient Ark. But, unlike those moveable figures, these stood firm on their feet; one on the north, one on the south side, waiting to receive the Ark, which was destined to occupy the vacant space between them. Their vast wings extended over it and joined in a car or throne, called the 'chariot of the cherubs,' to represent the throne of Him who was represented as flying and sitting upon the wings of the wind, and the extension of His protecting shelter over His people-Thou shalt be safe under His feathers.' A protuberance of rough rock or stone waited to receive the Ark itself. To mark the sanctity of this extremity of the Temple, the chambers which ran round the rest of the building were not allowed to lean against the outer walls of the sanctuary, but, as in the case of an Egyptian adytum, a passage was left free all round it outside. cation. In turning from the building to the history of its erection, The Dedievery stage of its progress is recorded. The magnitude of the event is marked by the fact that now, for the first time since the Exodus, we have the years and months recorded. The foundation-stone was laid in the month Zif (May) of the fourth year of Solomon's reign. It was completed in the month Bul (November) of the eleventh year. And the solemn dedication took place in the month Ethanim (October) of the succeeding year. This interval of nearly a year took place no doubt in order to accommodate it to the great national Festival of the Tabernacles. The whole population came up from the remotest extremities of the empire.3 The two solemnities were joined; the extraordinary taking the place of the ordinary festival, and the ordinary festival being thus postponed to the following week, so as to make altogether a prolonged holiday of a fortnight.5 It was on the fourteenth day of the seventh month that 11 Chr. xxviii. 18; compare Ps. xviii. 10, xcix. 1; Isa. vi., xxxvii. 16; Ezek. i. 26; Ecclus. xlix. 8. 2 * Mishna, Joma, v. 2. 1 Kings vii. 65. As afterwards in the dedication of the Temple of Bethel by Jeroboam, 1 Kings xii. 32. See Lecture XXIX. 52 Kings viii. 1, 65; 2 Chr. vii. 8, 9, 10. The the festival opened. Two processions advanced from different quarters. The one came from the lofty height of Gibeon, bearing with it the relics of the old pastoral worship, now to be disused for ever. The Sacred Tent, tattered no doubt, and often repaired, with its goats' hair covering and boards of acacia wood, was carried aloft. Together with it were brought the ancient brazen altar, the candlestick, and the table of shewbread, and also the brazen serpent. A heathen tradition described that the King himself had inaugurated the removal with solemn sacrifices. This train, bearing the venerable remains of the obsolete procession. system, was joined on Mount Zion by another still more stately procession, carrying the one relic which was to unite the old and the new together. From its temporary haltingplace under the tent erected by David on Mount Zion, came forth the Ark of acacia-wood, covered with its two small winged figures, supported as of old by the Levites on their shoulders. Now, as before when it had removed from the house of Obed-edom, the King and people celebrated its propitious start by sacrifices-but on a far greater scale— sheep and oxen that could not be numbered for multitude.' 2 The road (such was the traditional picture preserved by Josephus) was flooded with the streams of blood. The air was darkened and scented with the clouds of incense; the songs and dances were unintermitted. Onwards the procession moved up' the slope of the hill. It entered, doubtless, through the eastern gateway. It ascended court after court. It entered the Holy Place. And now, before the Ark disappeared for the last time from the eyes of the people, the awful reverence which had kept any inquisitive eyes from prying into the secrets of Eupolemus (in Eusebius, Præp. Ev. ix. 34). He says Entwu, Shiloh, but this is a natural confusion for Gibeon. 21 Kings viii. 5. Ant. viii. 4, §1. that sacred Chest gave way before the united feelings of necessity and of irresistible curiosity. The ancient lid formed by the cherubs was to be removed; and a new one without them to be substituted, to fit it for its new abode. It was taken off, and in so doing, the interior of the Ark was seen by Israelite eyes for the first time for more than four centuries, perhaps for the last time, for ever. There were various relics of incalculable interest which are recorded to have been laid up within, or beside it 'the pot of manna, the staff or sceptre of the tribe of Aaron, and the golden censer of Aaron. These all were gone; lost, it may be, in the Philistine captivity. But it still contained a monument more sacred than any of these. In the darkness of the interior lay the two granite blocks from Mount Sinai, covered with the ancient characters in which were graven the Ten Commandments. There was nothing in the Ark 'save these.' On these the lid was again shut down, and with this burden, the pledge of the Law which was the highest manifestation of the Divine Presence, the Ark moved within the veil, and was seen no more. In that dark receptacle, two gigantic guardians were, as we have seen, waiting to receive it. The two golden cherubs were spreading forth their wings to take the place of the diminutive figures which had crouched over it up to this time. On a rough unhewn projection of the rock, under this covering, the Ark was thrust in, and placed lengthways, on what is called the place of its rest.' Then the retiring Priests, as a sign that it was to go out thence no more, drew 5 forth from it the staves or handles on which they had Heb. ix. 4. It may, however, be that this is an erroneous inference from before the Lord,' and 'before 'the testimony' (Exod. xvi. 33; Num. xvii. 10). 2 See Lecture VII. • Mishna, Joma, v. 2. 2 4 Ps. cxxxii. 8, 14. The words 'drew forth,' however, are taken by Ewald and Thenius to mean 'elongated.' The LXX. calls the stares τὰ ἅγια and τὰ ἡγιασμένα in 1 Kings viii. 7, 8, but in 2 Chron. v. 9, οἱ ἀναφορεῖς. P |