its internal arrangements. If we may judge by the description of Ezekiel's Temple (Ezekiel 40:49), and by what

we know of the Temple of Herod, some steps would lead up to the porch, which, as we imagine, presented

the appearance of an open colonnade of cedar, set in a pavement of hewn stones, and supporting a cedar-

roof covered with marble.

The most prominent objects here were the two great pillars, Jachin and Boaz, which Hiram cast by order of

Solomon (1 Kings 7:15-22). These pillars stood, as we are expressly told, within "the porch" (1 Kings 7:21),

and must have served alike architectural, artistic, and symbolical purposes. Added after the completion of

the "House," perhaps for the better support of the roof of the "porch," their singular beauty must have

attracted the eye, while their symbolical meaning appeared in their names. Jachin ("He supports"), Boaz ("in

Him is strength"), pointed beyond the outward support and strength which these pillars gave, to Him on

Whom not only the Sanctuary but every one who would truly enter it must rest for support and strength.

Some difficulty has been experienced in computing the height of these pillars, including their " chapiters," or

"capitals" (1 Kings 7:15-22), It seems most likely that they consisted of single shafts, each eighteen cubits

high and twelve in circumference,109 surmounted by a twofold "chapiter" - the lower of five cubits, with

fretted network depending, and ornamented with two rows of one hundred pomegranates; the higher

chapiter four cubits high (1 Kings 7:19), and in the form of an opening lily. The symbolical significance of

the pomegranate and of the lily - the one the flower, the other the fruit of the Land of Promise, and both

emblematic of the pure beauty and rich sweetness of holiness - need scarcely be pointed out. If we compute

the height of these pillars with their chapiters at twenty-seven cubits,110 we have three cubits left for the

entablature and, the roofing of the porch (18 + 5 + 4 + 3 = 30).

"The porch," which (in its tablature) was overlaid with gold (2 Chronicles 3:4), opened into the Holy Place

by folding doors, each of two leaves, folding back upon each other. These doors, which were the width of a

fourth of the wall (1 Kings 6:33), or five cubits, were made of cypress-wood, and hung by golden hinges on

door-posts of olive-wood. They were decorated with carved figures of cherubim between palm-trees,111 and

above them opening flower-buds and garlands, the whole being covered with thin plates of gold, which

showed the design beneath. Within the Sanctuary all the sacred furniture was of gold, while that outside of

it was of brass.

In truth, the Sanctuary was a golden house. The floor, which was of cypress-wood, was overlaid with gold;

the walls, which were paneled with cedar, on which the same designs were carved as on the doors, were

covered with gold, and so was the ceiling. It need scarcely be said, how it must have glittered and shone in

the light of the sacred candlesticks, especially as the walls were encrusted with gems (2 Chronicles 3:6).

There were ten candlesticks in the Holy Place, each seven-branched, and of pure gold. They were ranged

right and left before the Most Holy Place112 (1 Kings 7:49).

The entrance to the Most Holy Place was covered by a veil "of blue and purple, and crimson, and byssus,"

with "wrought cherubs thereon" (2 Chronicles 3:14). Between the candlesticks stood the "altar of incense,"

made of cedar-wood and overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:20, 22; 7:48); while ten golden tables of shewbread (2

Chronicles 4:8) were ranged right and left. The implements necessary for the use of this sacred furniture

were also of pure gold (1 Kings 7:49, 50).

Two folding-doors, similar in all respects to those already described, except that they were of oleaster wood,

and not a fourth, but a fifth of the wall (= 4 cubits), opened from the Holy Place into the Most Holy. These

doors we suppose to have always stood open, the entrance being concealed by the great veil, which the

High-priest lifted, when on the Day of Atonement he went into the innermost Sanctuary.113

Considerable difficulty attaches to a notice in 1 Kings 6:21, which has been variously translated and

understood. Two interpretations here specially deserve attention. The first regards the "chains of gold

before the Oracle," as chain -work that fastened together the cedar-planks forming the partition between the

Holy and the Most Holy Place - somewhat like the bars that held together the boards in the Tabernacle. The

other, which to us seems the more likely,114 represents the partition boards between the Holy and the Most