'For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high-

priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify

the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.'--Hebrews 13:11, 12

To the devout and earnest Jew the second Temple must, 'in comparison of' 'the house in

her first glory,' have indeed appeared 'as nothing' (Hagg 2:3). True, in architectural

splendour the second, as restored by Herod, far surpassed the first Temple. 20

But, unless faith had recognised in Jesus of Nazareth 'the Desire of all nations,' who

should 'fill this house with glory' (Hagg 2:7), it would have been difficult to draw other

than sad comparisons. Confessedly, the real elements of Temple -glory no longer exis ted.

The Holy of Holies was quite empty, the ark of the covenant, with the cherubim, the

tables of the law, the book of the covenant, Aaron's rod that budded, and the pot of

manna, were no longer in the sanctuary. The fire that had descended from heaven upon

the altar was extinct. What was far more solemn, the visible presence of God in the

Shechinah was wanting. 21

Nor could the will of God be now ascertained through the Urim and Thummim, nor even

the high-priest be anointed with the holy oil, its very composition being unknown. Yet

all the more jealously did the Rabbis draw lines of fictitious sanctity, and guard them

against all infringement.

In general, as the camp in the wilderness had really consisted of three parts --the camp

of Israel, that of the Levites, and that of God--so they reckoned three corresponding

divisions of the Holy City. From the gates to the Temple Mount was regarded as the

camp of Israel; thence to the gate of Nicanor represented the camp of Levi; while the

rest of the sanctuary was 'the camp of God.' It is in allusion to this that the writer of the

Epistle to the Hebrews compares Christ's suffering 'without the gate' of Jerusalem to the

burning of the sin -offerings 'without the camp.' According to another Rabbinical

arrangement different degrees of sanctity attached to different localities. The first, or

lowest degree, belonged to the land of Israel, whence alone the first sheaf at the

Passover, the firstfruits, and the two wave-loaves at Pentecost might be brought; the

next degree to walled cities in Palestine, where no leper nor dead body (Luke 7:12) might

remain; the third to Jerusalem itself since, besides many prohibitions to guard its purity,

it was only there lawful to partake of peace-offerings, of the firstfruits, and of 'the

second tithes.' Next came, successively, the Temple Mount, from which all who were in a

state of Levitical uncleanness were excluded; 'the Terrace,' or 'Chel,' from which, besides

Gentiles, those who had become defiled by contact with a dead body were shut out; the

Court of the Women, into which those who had been polluted might not come, even if

they 'had washed,' till after they were also Levitically fit to eat of 'things sacred,' that is,

after sunset of the day on which they had washed; the Court of Israel, into which those

might not enter who, though delivered from their uncleanness, had not yet brought the

offering for their purification; 22 the Court of the Priests, ordinarily accessible only to the

latter; the space between the altar and the Temple itself, from which even priests were