THe TABeRNACLe ITS
HISTORY^ STRUCTURe
BY TH€ R€V.W.SHiW CALDeGiTT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
DS
Cornell University Library
10g.3.C14 Tabernacle
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The Tabernacle Its
History and Structure
•6v
I
i;^--'=^~^^-4;
ft
^ ^iiiiiiif
I.
Conventional Tabernacle. 2. Fergusson's Restoration. 3. Tabernacle of Text.
The Tabernacle Its
History
and ^ ^ ^ Structure ^ By
the Rev.
W. Shaw
(Member of the Royal Asiatic
With a Preface by the
Caldecott
Society)
Rev. A. H. Sayce, D.D., LL.D.
(Professor of Assyriology at Oxford University)
Our pursuit
is to look after the things themselves,
leaving the allegorizing
of them unto others.— Dr. John Lightfoot, 1650,
PHILADELPHIA
THE UNION
PRESS,
1122
1904
Chestnut Street
PEEFACE. By
the Eev. A.
H. SAYCE, D.D., LL.D.
(Professor of Assyriology at the
Oxford Umversity)
"ITR. -"-L
CALDECOTT He
volume.
has
written
a
very
interesting
has been content to study the Old
Testament books themselves instead of the commentators
upon them, and the
He
original work.
yet to be
who
made
result
is
has shown that there are discoveries
in the text of the Old Testament
will put aside traditional interpretations
what the Hebrew writers have views put forward by him general assent It
an unconventional and
:
is sufficient if
that
is
actually said.
are, of course,
by those
and examine All the
new
not likely to win
the case with all pioneering work.
the most important of them prove to be
established on a firm basis of fact.
The kernel
of the
of the Tabernacle.
book
is
the history and architecture
There are mathematical calculations
involved in the architectural restoration of the Israelitish
sanctuary into which I will not follow him left to the professional
mathematician.
;
It
they must be is
naturally
only that part of Mr. Caldecott's researches which deals
with subjects familiar to to write.
me
about which I
am
qualified
PEEFACE.
vi
He
has made considerable
iise
of the much-neglected
and
materials contained in the Books of the Chronicles,
has shown that of
more
credit
when properly understood they than criticism
That David should hare
allow.
nowadays left
'
plans
'
are
worthy
disposed to
is
of the future
him may seem too modem an idea to many readers, but it is borne out by archaeological fact. Such plans were made in Egypt and Babylonia centuries before the days of David, and some of them have survived to our own time. The profession of the architect temple-buildings behind
is
immensely old in the
One
civilised East.
upon which he has rightly
of the points
insisted is
the historical importance of the destruction of Shiloh.
It
have drawn attention in
my
is
a point to
which I
Early History of detailed
the
account
surprising
also
Hebrews.
of
it
in the
That there should be no
Old Testament
Shiloh was the centre and
;
home
is
of
not
what
was in Israel during the stormy the Judges, and its destruction necessarily meant
literary culture there
period of
a break in the literary and annalistic record.
It
would
have been at the central sanctuary only that a yearly chronicle of events could be kept.
The
destruction of Shiloh seems to correspond with an
archaeological fact
The
our notice. Phoenician
which
is
earliest
but just forcing
monument
of
itself
the
upon
so-caUed
alphabet stiU remains the Moabite Stone, the date of which is the ninth century before our era. The '
'
excavations which have been carried on
Exploration
Fund on
the
sites of
by the Palestine
various ancient cities in
the south of Canaan have failed to bring to light any
PREFACE. earlier
relic
result
has
of
'
tlie
followed
Taanach, where
the
PKcenician
on
the
vii
The same
alphabet.
'
Austrian
Canaanitish
excavations
population
does
at
not
appear to have submitted to Israelitish rule until the reigns of David and Solomon.
Before that date whatever
written documents have been found have been in the
language and cimeiform script of Babylonia. the
official
At Taanach and
records were kept in cuneiform,
it
is
probable that what was the case at Taanach was the case
In the Tel el-Amarna
also in other cities of the country.
tablets of the century before the
of
any other
On
script
Exodus there
is
no trace
being known.
the other hand, the Tyrian annals translated into
Greek by Menander must have been written
in ' Phoenician
and we know from Josephus that they went back to Hiram, the son of Abibal, the contemporary of David and Solomon. In the Book of Judges we have in the Song
letters,
of
Deborah and Barak a poem which
with the events to which
contemporaneous
is
Supposing that
refers.
it
it
—
was handed down in writing and not orally and the allusion to the stafE of the scribe ' in Judges v. 14 raises '
a presumption in favour of this
—
^was it originally written
in cuneiform characters or in the letters of the 'Phoenician'
alphabet
any
?
If in the latter, the archaeological absence of
early example of the
'
Phoenician
the least, difficult to explain. destruction of
It
may
'
script
is,
to say
be, then, that the
ShUoh marks the break between the
old
culture and the new, between the use of the cuneiform
syllabary and the Babylonian language that went along
with
it,
and that
of the
'
Phoenician
'
alphabet and the
PREFACE.
viii
Canaanitish or
Hebrew
Th.e importance of the
tongue.
fact in its relation not only to Israelitish history but also to the composition
and text of the older books of the Old
Testament need not be pointed out.
In his restoration of the architecture of the Tabernacle, Mr. Caldecott seems to all events, if it is
me
At
to have been successful.
admitted, the Biblical description of the
building becomes inteUigible and self-consistent.
That
more than one cubit was employed in its measurement is what would be expected by anyone who was acquainted with the metrology of ancient Babylonia or who had Hved in
modern Egypt.
It
is
only with his interpretation of
the Senkereh tablet, or rather of the ideographs found in it,
must part company from the author.
that I
His book once more impresses upon us the necessity of archaeological research ia Palestine.
suggested by
it
the excavator.
which can be
settled only
R&met
el-Khalil near Hebron, a
light will be cast on the social Israel in the age of Samuel.
to exclaim
explored
!
'
and
And
new
religious condition of
in reading
what he has
ShUoh, more than once I have been inclined '
:
by the spade of
If Mr. Caldecott is right in his theory as
to the origin of the
to say about
There are questions
Oh
that the site could be archaeologically
Until Palestine has been
made
to yield
up
buried past like Egypt and Babylonia, the Old Testament will remain a battle-ground for disputants who have no solid basis of fact on which to stand.
its
INTRODUCTIOK T WRITE -*-
from tte once Holy
knowing that the
object of
been satisfactorily attained.
me have
my
and ana happy in
visit to Palestine
me
Let
that object was, and in what
I brought with
City,
say, in brief,
has
what
manner the problems that I came prepared
been solved.
with a literary demonstration of the cubit of the Bible, as
given to the Royal Asiatic Society^ and included
in this volume.
That instrument I was desirous of
applying, as a test both of itself and of the subject, to the
most remarkable ruin within the limits of the ancient Jewish
State.^
"When I say 'ruin' I
limit the term to
include only buildings dedicated to the worship of or the service of man.
a
is
large
monolithic
special ruin to
which I refer
rectangular ground-figure enclosed within stone walls,
visible from, the ancient
to
The
God
Hebron.
standing near
to,
though not
highway leading from Jerusalem
Countless travellers have looked on this
mysterious handiwork of
Each must have
man
with reverence and wonder.
speculated as to
who
masonry, and for what purpose. Tolume as Part
107
^
Eeproduced in
See Dr. Edward Eobioaoa'B descriptions in Part
II. p.
its
massive
Archaeologists
*
this
reared
have
et seq. I,
Chapter 2, pp. 42, 43.
INTEODUCTION.
X
agreed that we have not here the remains of a church.
Nor of
could these low walls of solid stone have been those
any military
fortification, as
the work
and time-engrossing a character
to
is of
too refined
have been done for
The questions remain, vast substructions, and
to
whom
for
what
the purposes of war.
do
we owe
these
purpose were they laid
?
To
these questions I believed
that I had an answer, and I was supremely anxious to visit
Bamet el-KhalU and
to satisfy
myself on certain
points before giving that answer to the world.
For
this purpose I
I was received
my way
made
with
Dr. and Mrs. Paterson, of
the
Hebron, where Free
United
Medical Mission, stationed there. I also received
to
most cordial hospitality by
the
From
Church
Dr. Paterson
much-needed and invaluable assistance in
taking measurements, and in making other arrangements necessary in a population so hostile to Christians as that of
As
I
Hebron
am
is
to-day.
publishing, with this, a reconstructed plan
of the enclosure, together with
I do not need to add
many
sundry photographs of
topographical details.
it,
I may,
however, be allowed to show the significance of some figures given in the
drawing of the Plan of reconstruction.
The first and in some respects the cardinal result attained by my measurements is a conviction that the Rdmet ruin is a work of Jewish, or rather of Israelitish origin, and that the standard of length used in is
that
of
the newly-discovered
its
Hebrew
construction cubit.
thickness of the walls throughout, where perfect,
good
illustration of this fact.
The
The is
a
foundation, wherever
INTRODUCTION. visible,
XI
has a uniform thickness of 6
The foundation being of the interior,
it is
of a single cubit,
the foundation
built of this dimension to the level
then rebated or reduced by the length
and
is
5 cubits.
feet, or
is
4^
feet through.
6 cubits (7
ft.
Its height above
2*4 ins.), each of the two
courses of stone having an average height of 3
7 ins.,
ft.
as stated in the Survey of Western Palestine, published
the Palestine Exploration
A ,
Fund
Society (vol.
iii.
p. 322).
harmony runs throughout the whole
similar
by
series
of actual measurements, the unbroken building cubit of
common denominator
a-foot-and-a-fifth being the
the dimensions of original work
still
of all
This
standing.^
particularly noticeable in the diameter of the well,
is
which has a measure of 8 cubits
by a platform
surrounded
15
feet),
(9|-
cubits
the
in
and
is
square
(18 feet).
One could not expect a weathering
the
resisted
structure
influence
of
that
may have
three
thousand
years to show as crisp and exact a set of figures as did
when
first
erected.
Nor must we
leave out
view the depredations of an ignorant peasantry. this there
is
of
chiselling
a somewhat obvious one
of
the
case
in the
Nor perfect.
1
Happily the stone
This fact
is
may
is still in situ.
formed the enclosure
side is in
of the first importance, as
an almost unbroken
Hebrew
architects
did not usually use fractions in conjunction with whole cubits. less
Of
border stones of the well-
are the four walls which
That on the south
of
rough
platform into a trough out of which small cattle drink.
it
than a single cubit, see pp. 220, 223.
and builders For measures
INTRODUCTION
XII
condition,
many
of
stones being 12
its
and 15
side.
is
The
though
in fair condition,* as is
interest
can
To
constructed.
attaches,
as
it
There
be traced.
still
in determining the
originally
a portion on the north
east wall has almost completely disappeared,
its line
difiBculty
The
squared.
length, laid without mortar, and truly
west wall
feet in
is
is
thus no
size
of the enclosure as
this
point
the
greatest
well established that every
sacred area amongst the Jews was not built upon its
surrounding wall, but was enclosed by
this principle in view, I
was careful
it.
Keeping
to see if there
any relation in size between the area enclosed at and the primitive court of the Tabernacle
by
were
Udmet
—which, in the
times of the Judges, stood successively at Gilgal, Shiloh,
As
Nob, and Gibeon.
the large or ground-cubit was used
in all such delimitations,
we know from Exodus
People's or Altar Court of the Tabernacle
50 cubits or 75 English of Sacrifice stood
two ends.
on
Judge of
its
feet,
was a square of
and that the great Altar
western
my
that the
line, equidistant
surprised delight
from
its
when I found
Rdmet enclosure gave a square of 100 cubits or 160 English feet in the clear,^ showing it to have had an
that the
area exactly four times that of the Tabernacle Court of "Worship.
The growth of the nation
in the centuries that
passed between the great Lawgiver and the last of the
Judges would make such an enlargement necessary. *
See photographs
of
portions
of
its
iuterior
and
exterior,
opposite
pp. 3 and 17. * Not including those portions of the foundation built only to the level of
the
floor.
INTEODUCTION.
my
I must no longer conceal from the theory which I took with
I wished to
me
by an appeal
test
xiii
readers the fact that
to ^Ealestine,
and which
the topography of
to
Udmet, was that the enclosure now standing was built to suJTound with a stone fence 'the Altar to Jehovah that
Samuel
Ramah/
built in
In furtherance
economy
deduced from of
sacrifice.
essential,^ there
altar-court in
B.C. (1
Samuel
vii.
of the correctness of this view let
moment on
enlarge for a altar, as
about 1050
all
17).
me
the requirements of such an
that
we know
Having an
would require
east
of the Mosaic
aspect as
an
to be, in addition, to the
which the people assembled, space
for the
ministrations of the priests and for the slaying of the sacrifices.
In the Tabernacle these ends were attained by the curtaining of a second square of 76 feet lying to the west.
There being no Tabernacle
at
Ramah, a compromise was
effected, by which a space about equal to one-third of the
Great Court was included within the stone-walling. The interior length of the enclosure is 204 feet, it having been imperative that the additional width of 54 feet should be measurable either by the large cubit for Survey purposes
by the medium
or
cubit for building purposes.
not point out that 54 feet
medium cubits. The present condition 54 1
feet was, at
is
equal to 36 large and 46
of the ruin shows that the added
one end of the addition, divided into three
The north and south
walls at
E&met run
i° to the south, as recorded in the third Palestine.
I need
east,
yolome
with an inclination of
of the
Survey of Wettem
INTEODUCTION.
xiv squares of equal
There
size.
are, as partially
shown in
one of the photographs, two paved platforms (of
diflFerent
heights of paving) in the south-west corner of the enclosure.
Each of
these
is
Mdmei
a square of 18 feet, a third
square of the same size intervening between them and the line of the large quadrangle in
which the
altar stood.
This third square was probably used as a wood-pile for the altar fires, the centre square as the place for the laver,
the corner square
and
retains its intended use as that in
still
which the well was dug that supplied water for the washing of the sacrifices and the repeated ablutions of the priests. It
not necessary here to linger over minor points of
is
coincidence, though there are
many
omit a short reference to the well
such.^
itself.
exception, the finest bit of ancient
But
This
masonry
I cannot
is,
without
in the
Land
Each stone is squared and set without mortar. The well, fed by an interior spring, was brimming full of clear water when I saw it, but each stone visible had a concave face, without margin or boss. The stones are not of a uniform size or thickness, but of the Bible.
each concentric circle or course was completely formed of full-sized stones,
all
of the
and elaborate work
careful
anywhere
else
same thickness. shows
as this well
in Palestine, so far as
my
No
is to
such
be seen
reading and
observation go. 1
The most obyious
of these
is,
perhaps, that of the ledges as
shown
in the
photograph and referred to in the table of references on the reconstruction plan. The length of these was possibly determined by the size of the stone slabs which rested on them, as they are not uniform and do not conform to the whole-cubic principle. As such tables were not ordered in the '
interior
'
specification, a certain latitude
may haye been taken
in their construction.
mTRODUCTION. Let
me add
xv
a few words of description as to the
desecration which has been allowed to take
R&met
place
at
The Fellaheen have been
in quite recent times.
permitted to build two walla of rubble atone across the enclosure, dividing
it
into three nearly equal parts.
been made into
spaces thus created have
of the three
Two
gardens by carrying some tons of earth to overlay the rock. is
The space
comparatively
to the west
clear.
which the well stands
in
All search for the main entrance
gate in the centre of the east wall
is
further barred by
the erection, within the enclosure, of a rubble house,
Without the
untenanted.
of this wall
line
heaps of stones piled in confusion. stones that
now encumber
Samuel's possible
it
Were
lie
great
the earth and
removed, the question of
connection with the
R&met el-Kh&lU The sills of
could be finally and authoritatively settled.
the north door and east gate might be recovered, and even the foundation of the altar-base might be distinguishable. It is to be
this work will not be left to The one man to whom it should be
hoped that
private enterprise.
entrusted
is
Mr. Macalister, the
Exploration Fund,
Officer of the Palestine
now working with
excavators in Palestine.
Should he be
a band of trained set to
do the work
of verification, the confidence of the public in the accuracy
may make will be secured, and, in my Ramet el-Kh&Ul, when scientifically examined,
of any report that he belief,
the
will take its place as at once the oldest
and most authentic
Palestinian memorial of Israel's past religious history.
In concluding
this very imperfect sketch of the origin
and probable use
of a
monument which may be found
INTRODUCTION.
xTi
to antedate tlie establisliment of the
and incidentally of Biblical
to settle the greatest unsolved
geography,
i.e.
the
Ramah, I may be permitted to ment given to me to make Sidney
and to
Hebrew monarchy,
locality
of
problem Samuel's
refer to the encourage-
these
investigations
by
Langford House, Langford, Somerset, own sense of pleasure at being able to put
Hill, Esq., of
my
the results of
them
into such a
permanent record as we
have before us in this volume.
W. Jerusalem. February, 1904.
SHAW
CALDECOTT.
CONTENTS PAOX
Pkeface by the Key. Peofessob A.H. Satce, D.D., LL.D. Inteobuction
v ix
.
PART I THE HISTORY OF THE TABERNACLE Chapteu
I
TO THE DESTRUCTION OF SHILOH The
Sinai—First Kadesh — First departure — Second Kadesh— Second departure —Death Aaron — The Edomite route taken Early Stages —Passage the Jordan— The Tabernacle Gilgal— Removed Shiloh— Decay Faith— Fall ShUoh Returned Gilgal— Defeat the
Start from
arrival at
from Kadesh from Kadesh
arrival
at
of
of
at
to
of
to
of
Philistines
of
.
.
.
1-34
CHAPrEB II
TO THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE
— Samuel's Last Days— His Altar Udmet el-KkalU— The —The fimotions to Samuel — return Ramet Enclosure — Saul's Nob — Nob Gibeon — Tabernacle removed Gibeon — Massacre Sennacherib on Nob — The Tabernacle a Capital — Tabernacle the Gibeonites — Gibeon Obed-Edom — Ark Gibeon — A second Tabernacle — Rise brought to Jerusalem—Publio "Worship reorganized—Theophany "Worshijj— on Moriah— Three on Moriah—Altar Moses — Solomon the Temple — Descendants David's Plans La^c becomes King — Temple Service organized— Courts towns revised— Reduction Pnestly readjusted— Kohathite towns— Reduction Merarite towns — Reduction — Tabertowns — Discontent removed— High-priesthood
History of the Tabernacle
Ramah
at
of
Sacrifice
TTia
visit
to
to
Identification of
of
at
as
Site
at
of
centres of
built
of
for
of
Ecclesiastical
of
of
nacle history ended
—
of
.... settled
'
The second
Priest
'
36-104
CONTENTS.
xviii
PART
II
THE TRIPLE CUBIT OF Chapter
BABTLOMA
I
ON THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SENKEREH TABLET fage
Glossary of principal Cuneiform characters used in the Senkereh
Tablet— The Senkereh Mathematical Tahlet— History of the Tablet— The Tablet columns— Deductions from the Tablet Fraction signs—Value signs—Arithmetical sign
Chapter
.
.
.
106-139
II
THE RESTORATION OF THE SCALE OF GUDEA AND COINCIDENCES WITH THE SENKEREH TABLET History of the Scale of
Gudea
— The
Scale itself
— Length —
ITS
of
the Scale— Cuttings on the Scale—Palm of the Scale— The Sexagesimal System— Application of the Scale Babylonian
140-156
length -measures
PART III THE TRIPLE CUBIT OF BABYLONIA AS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTIOIT OF THE TABERNACLE Chapter
I
THE ADJUNCTS AND ACCESSORIES OF THE TABERNACLE The
Biblical Cubit
conservatism
announced
— Size
of
—
'
Cubits
'
—
—
—Hebrew — The Court —The
of three lengths
Tabernacle
the
Court
Plan of the Court The Gate of Sacrifice Gate of Worship Vestibule of the East Gate Dimensions of the Great Altar Position of the Great Altar Pre-Tabemacle Enclosure
Tent
of
— — Worship —
Pillars
Curtains of the Tent
of the
— The
— —
Tabernacle
Screen
of
the
— The
eleven
Tabernacle
— 157-192
External coverings
Chapter II
THE TABERNACLE WITHIN THE TENT
— Holy Chambers exact in —The —The figured Curtains—Ventilation of the Chambers — The Tent portable— The Curtains not sewn Tent -ropes and pegs — Dormitories of the Tent— Gilding of the
The Walls
of the Tabernacle
size
Veil of the Sanctuary
Tabernacle
193-213
CONTENTS.
XIX
PART IV THE TETPLE CUBIT IN BABYLONIA AND IN PALESTINE New light on the Tabernacle —The Small of the Talmud— The Stature of Herodotus
FAOI
—Testimony
Cubit as Span
Goliath — The Cubits —The Bira-Nimroud,—Influence of Babylon Asia
of
215-231
in
Index
232
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1,
CoNTBNTiONAi, Tabbknaclb 3, Tabernacle of Text
;
2,
Fergusson's Eestoeation
;
Frontispiece
The Ramet Enclosure —Exterior of West "Wall Reconstkuction of Samuel's Altar at Bamah
to
Map
to face
face
or Sinai Peninsula and Canaan
—
The S.AMET Enclosure Interior of "West Wall The Erection of the Tabernacle — First Stage 9>
8
17 32
Second Stage
48
Third Stage Fourth Stage
64
„ ,, The Scale op Gudea The Tabernacle of Witness and Court
80 142, 143
op the Tabernacle
Outline Plan of the Outer Court and Tabernacle
The The The The The
iz
XX
.
Eleven Curtains Screen of the Tabernacle Forty-eight Boards Inner Veil Ten Curtains Reconstruction Plan of the Birs-Nimroud Geometric Principle of the Tabernacle Tent
........
.
166
.
171
.
186
.
189
.
196
.
.
.
.
199 201
228
230
UJ
I
-5
I
1 < < q: q:
< h < j
< "J UJ
D
8i
«ii
s n
? a
S
< (/)
L O
Z o
^ a
f d d I B z
O D q: H (0 z o o
liJ
Ul
=*•-«-
i q u
S
PAET
I.
THE HISTORY OF THE TABERNACLE.
CHAPTER
I.
TO THE DESTRUCTION OF SHILOH.
THE
Tabernacle and
day of the
its
Tent were
ecclesiastical year,
set
up on
tlie first
and a great passover
service held thereat on the first anniversary of the Exodus.
A
few days were spent in perfecting
organization, and on the
first
its
ceremonial
day of the second month a
census of the people was taken, and the princes of the tribes
made for journeying. Six covered wagons, each drawn by two oxen, were presented by the princes on behalf of the tribes, aijd, from the uses to which these were put, we gain a view Preparations were then
selected.
of the relative sizes of the tabernacle parts,
and of the
portability of the whole construction.
To the
children of Kohath, the second son of Levi,
and the grandfather of Moses and Aaron, was relegated the duty of carrying, upon their shoulders, the ark of the covenant, the two altars (one of brass and one of gold),
and
all
the furniture and vessels of the sanctuary.
The
ark was wrapped in the most sacred veil, and the screen
was folded together and carried free. The removal of this portion of the structure was under the direct care and supervision of the High-priest, and of the Tabernacle
did not allow of the use of any vehicle.
THE TABERNACLE.
4
To the Gershonites
fell
duty of conveying the
tlie
twenty-one curtains of the tent and the Tabernacle, the skia covering of the tent, and the sixty linen-hangings of the surrounding court,
with their pegs and ropes.
One
Besides these there were two screens.
of these
was
the embroidered screen of the east gate.
The other
that which
for
of the court
(Numbers
described
is
which 26).'
iii.
'the screen
as
We
its
own
learn also that
which was unembroidered and of
screen,
white linen, and was probably put in place only the court of the Tabernacle was closed.
have been 15 feet
to
opening.*
first
gate which was
We
directly opposite to the brasen altar.
had
altar'
have, in these words, the
recognition in the text of that north
it
the door
by the tabernacle and the
is
is
in
It
would require
have
length to
when
closed
the
There would be a centre-post opposite the
line of the Soreg.
Eleazar, the prospective High-priest, oversee this
was appointed
to
department of the transport, and two wagons
were detailed for his use.
To
the Merarites, as the descendants of the youngest
of the sons of Levi, the heavy entrusted.
work
Forty-eight boards, each
wooden standards, with their metal
of the removal 12'
x
was
l|-'x-i^', sixty
sockets, twelve pillars
Unleas otherwise specified, all Scripture references of this volume are to the text of the Revised Version of the English Bible. '
It
was the removal of
which was probably composed of two Samuel opened the doors of the house of the Lord (1 Samuel iii. 15). This was done at the dawninoof the morning, the offering of the morning sacrifice being completed before ^
curtains,
that
is
this screen,
referred to '
the rising of the sun.
in the words
'
THE START FROM and
fifteen
side
-
SINAI.
6
with the two pieces of
bars, together
the ridge-bar, were their care.
For the transport of the timber of the Tabernacle, four wagons were given, the whole being under the hand of Ithamar, the younger son of Aaron.
1.
All was
now
materially arranged for a start from
But one duty
Sinai.
still
remained to be performed,
which was the dedication of the brasen
by anointing Not until this
altar
(Exodus xxix. 37; Numbers
vii.
was done was
and capable of
it
'
most
holy,'
84-88).
fulfilling its
great function in the economy of Jahvism.
A week
was spent in the performance of
during which
many
gifts
this
ceremony,
were made for the service of
These were 'spoons' with which to handle
the altar.
the incense, 'bowls' in which to convey the sacrificial
blood to the altar for sprinkling, and platters or trays on
which
to
carry the sacrificial joints.
of gold or silver,
and remained
All these
were
to after-times as part of
the utensils for the service of the altar.
This week of dedication followed the of the passover in the wilderness,
first
solemnisation
and on the twentieth
day of the second month the guiding cloud
lifted.
The Tabernacle was The taken down, having stood for fifty days only. Gershonites moved forward first, as by the eleven curtains In an instant
which they
marked
all
was activity
carried, the
out.^
^
new
The Merarites For the reason
!
site for
the tent had to be
followed with the standards
of this see pp. 208 and 230.
THE TABERNACLE.
6
and boards and vessels,
pillars to
came the holy
which on arrival were placed, by priestly hands, Such, repeated again
in the already-erected Sanctuary.
and again, was the order from place
2.
Last,
be set up.
to place
The general
which the Tabernacle moved
in
its history.
during the whole period of direction taken
in removing from Sinai
is
by the guiding cloud
'And
indicated in the words
the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran'
(Numbers
by Paran we are to understand 'that great and terrible wilderness which lay between Horeb and If
X. 12).
'
Kadesh-Barnea
now known
as
(Deut.
1
19),
i.
in the heart of Arabia,
Badiet et- Tih, the pathless Wilderness,
the direction of the route taken by the Israelites will not
be
difficult of decision.
In
wilderness
this
the
of
oasis
Zin
(= lowland,
as
opposed to the uplands of the Negeb) was the tract of pasture-land '
wilderness
'
now known
as the
having reference to
man, and not being meant
The Wadp Qadees the
its
Qadees
term
non-occupation by
is
an irregularly-surfaced plain,
In
this fertile
amphitheatre
Ain Kadis, one or more never-failing springs
clear water, rising at the foot of a limestone
On
—the
to describe its physical qualities.
or Kadis
several miles in diameter. is
Wady
cliff,
of
which.
said to have gone down to the wilderness Carmel and Maon to Nabal, having heard that he was shearing his sheep. These places are about 68 miles north of Ain Kadis (1 Samuel xxv. 1). As all journeys were performed afoot, it is impossible to limit the northern extension of the term wilderness of Paran to any distance from Carmel greater than this would allow of. The more so as David claimed to have protected Nabal's property. •
Samuel's death David
of Paran.'
Thence he sent
ia
'
to
'
'
PIRST AREIVAL AT KADESH. down
flowing
Before being they
7
the valley, spread fertility on either hand.
lost in the sand,
a few hundred yards away,
two stone wells or basins built up from the
fiU.
bottom with limestone blocks.
Around
lie
stone troughs
for watering stock.
The
principal event of the first stay at Kadesh,
now
Kadis, was the sending of the spies in advance to search
out the land (Numbers
xiii.).
It is noteworthy that they
traversed the land, probably in companies of two or three, as far as the pass oiSitnin in the latitude of Tyre, beginning
from the point at which the camp lay in the
oasis of Zin.
This rich valley was provisionally included in the national the frontier of which ran
territory,
to
its
immediate
south (Numbers xxxiv. 4), and was allotted to the tribe
Judah (Joshua xv.
of
These
3).
facts will prepare us for the reception of a little
recognised aspect of the forty years' wanderings, which that with the exception of a short time spent in
is,
travel across the Arabah, thirty-eight years were spent
The evidence
at the central station of Kadesh-Barnea.
on
this behalf
clear.
is
The record
purely textual and is
as follows
the congregation pitched in
(Numbers marches
xii.
—each
16).
The
probably the
:
is
convincingly
—On leaving Hazeroth
the wilderness of itinerary efibrt of
gives
Paran
seventeen
a single day
from Sinai, through the wilderness of Paran, the
^
—
last
Thus Hazeroti. is desorited as a three days' journey from Sinai (Numbers The encampments were at Taherah (Numbers xi. 3), Kibrothhattaavah, and Hazeroth (Numbers si. 34-35). Fourteen names follow Hazeroth in Numbers xxxiii. '
X.
33).
THE TABERNACLE.
8
There
being to Bene-jaakan (Numbers xxxiii. 16-31). ia
more than
was that
a suspicion that this place
wards named
Kadesh
(
= the
Holy), from
the children of Jaakan, the descendants of
Horite (Genesis xiv. 6 and xxxvi. 27
who may have the Wells of
Children
the
This was the place to which
42),
i.
children
the
as
later,
Jaakan (Deut.
of
the
Seir,
became known,
it
of
basins to conserve
built the limestone
the water of the springs,
home
1 Chronicles
;
long
the
Originally the
stay of the Tabernacle there.
after-
of
x.
6).
Israel
came when they encamped on the other side of the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh (Numbers xiii. 26). It is a faint reminiscence of those far-off days of the
troglodyte
name
=
the
of
the
cavern
prefixed to
it
is
Edom,'
Gidgad
of
is
later
that the
Zin,
page, as
it
is
32), has
the
is
Mount and
23),
by
border
of
Kadesh,'
of
situated its
xxxiii.
This
(Numbers xx. '
proximity
predicated
To
the same chapter.
died
be
to
showing
which the same a
(Numbers
the Horite name.
stated
thus
of
neighbouring station of Hor-haggidgad,
Hor on which Aaron which
the oasis
of
inhabitants
in
this subject
the to
the
16th
we must
verse of
return on
the hinge on which the whole
question of the later stages of the Exodus route turns. *
1.
Tke
biblical indications as to the situation of
Kadesh
are these
:
It was eleven days ordinary caravan journey from Horeb when (1) travelling the Edom road (Deut. i. 2). cai-avan travels from iifteen to eighteen miles per diem. The direct distance from Sinai to Ain Kadis ig
A
one hundred and fifty miles. In the itineraries of Numbers seventeen marches are given by name, showing that those taken by the host were shorter than was usual. This is what we might anticipate. a city ' on the edge of the boimdary of Edom (2) Kadesh is described as '
SINAI PENINSULA AND
\f
CANAAN (LLU.^TFiATlNG THE F.XOPUS FROM 51NAI
ROLITE OF tXODuS
MEDITERRANETAN
K
SEA
<" -^^-r^KA-^vp^
'^^'^
"^^ ^
'0 t
-r-
./Ul/
e.
riEST DEPARTURE FROM KADESH. As has been
3.
stated, the first year of the
was spent in travelling there.
to Sinai
and
9
wanderings
in a prolonged stay-
Sinai was left on the twentieth day of the second
month of the second year of the Exodus (Numbers x. 11). The actual days of travel to Kadesh were seventeen, but there were delays, as at Hazeroth, where they 'abode'
and rested (Numbers
xi. 35).
It
thus impossible to fix
is
the time of the arrival at the wells of the Beni-Jaakan,
but the stay there was
long to allow of the
suflficiently
forty days' absence of the twelve spies.
On
the morrow after their defeat by the Amorites at
the place afterwards called
and Deut.
i.
Hormah (Numbers
xiv. 25,
was bidden
to leave
44), the congregation
(Numbera xx. 16 and xxxiv. 3). It was then occupied by the Hebrew The Ir,' and was otherwise unclaimed. as an enclosed place, or calling of it a city is an imdesigned proof of its long-continued occupation by the Hebrew host. (3) The well Beer-lahai-roi is described aa being between Kadesh and Bered (Genesis xvi. 14). As Bered is identified with Ealasah, thirteen nost,
'
'
'
miles south of Beersheba, the geographical conditions suit Ain Kadis. (4) It lay to the south of Aiad, now Tell Arad (Numbers xiy. 45 and xsi. 1-3). Ain Kadis is almost due south of Tell Arad. The (5) It was near the hill country of the Amorites (Deut. i. 20). Amorites are described as living in the ' mountain or elevation on which Arad was situate (Deut. i. 44). '
II.
The following
is
a
wards known as Kadeah (1)
En-Mishpat,
Genesis xiv. (2)
list
of the Scripture designations of the place after-
:
the
same
is
Kadesh
(
=
the
spring
judgment,
of
7)
Bene-Jaakan (=the children
of Jaakan,
1
Chron.
i.
42
;
Numbers
xxxiii. 31). (3) (4)
Beeroth-bene-Jaakan (=the wells of the sons of Jaakan, Deut. x. 6). Meribah- of- Kadesh, in the wildemess of Zin (Numbers xxvii. 14 ;
Deut. xxxii. 51). (5) (6)
(7) (8)
The wUdemess of Zin, the same is Kadesh (Numbers xxxui. 36). The waters of Meriboth-Kadesh (Ezekiel xlvii. 19 and xlviii. 28). ' '
Kadesh- Bamea has ten occurrences in the Hexateuch. Meribah ' has five occurrences in the Pentateuch and Psalms. '
THE TABEENACLE.
10
journey into the Wilderness of This the humiliated people did, and they
Kadesh, and take
Red
the
Sea.
tlieir
reached Ezion-Geber, which, as the crow five miles south of
Of
a single incident
seventy-
Kadesh.
journey of
that
flies, is
is
Of the
recorded.
not
punishment
and
disgrace
which
stations at
we exclude the two termini (Numbers xxxiii. 32-36). The They return journey is described in a single sentence they must have encamped, three only are named,
if
'
:
journeyed from Ezion-Geber and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, the It
same
is
Kadesh.'
appropriate
is
which
expedition
an
that
was
altogether punitive should find mention in the historical
Beyond the
records of that time, and nothing more. fact of it
removing them from further attack by the Amorites
had no apparent
object, except a
moral one.
Eight or ten months would seem
on
This period
this expedition.
statement that they went anniversary (Deut.
ii.
of
their
have been spent
to
arrived at
is
by the
over the brook Zered on the
first
departure
from
Kadesh
14).
If there are no exact data to give us the time of their first
departure from Kadesh,
date of their return. of Zin (to
XX. 1).
we know
'They came
abide there) in the
That
this
was the
first
to a
few days the
into the wilderness
month (Numbers month of the third year first
'
of their
wanderings hardly admits of doubt
mind.
It is probable that they arrived at
time to
to
an unbiassed
Kadesh in keep the Passover on the fourteenth day of that
month, but no mention
is
made
of
the fact.
As
the
SECOND ARRIVAL AT EADESH.
11
ordinary sacrifices were not offered during the years in the wilderness (Amos
were
seasons
10
ii.
merely
v. 25),
;
observed
it
the
possible
is
This
without
them.
regards
sacrifices,
is
It thus transpires that two whole years were spent
by
provisional
referred to
of
state
things,
as
by Moses in Deut.
xii.
5-9.
the fugitives from Egypt in wandering from place to
These were the
place.
first
two of the
It is to
forty.
these years that the Psalmist refers *
They wandered They found no
Hungry and
in the wilderness in a desert
way
city of habitation.
thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
Then they
Lord
cried unto the
in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses. He led them also by a straight way, That they might go
to a city of habitation
(Psalm that
*
city
*
(Numbers xx.
being
enclosed
the
camp
'
cvii.
at
4-7)
Kadesh
16).
4. Having arrived at Kadesh for the second time, the
congregation and the Tabernacle did not again remove
had
thirty- seven years
until
passed.^
Aaron's death
took place at the first station after their final departure,
and
occurred on the
it
first
day of the
of the fortieth year of their exile *
The
sentence pronounced upon
them
(Numbers
for their unbelief
should be 'wanderers forty years,' but that they should be •wilderness
'
for that time
(Numbers
xiv, 33,
fifth
margin)
month
xxxiii. 38).
was not that they '
shepherds in the
THE TABEKNACLE.
12
was
This
equinox,
the
month
lunar
fifth
and corresponds with
after
end
the
Spring
the of
July or
In March or April thirty-seven the congregation had arrived there from
beginning of August. years before,
Ezion-Geber.
Of
these
Deut.
ii.
adult
males
thirty -seven
'many days' of The are recorded.
the
years,
few or no incidents
1,
of
were
nation
the
under
sentence
of
punishment
death, and during these years the merciful
gradually and almost insensibly.
fell
incident of ingratitude and rebellion, which had
One
far-reaching consequences, incident
so
recorded,
recorded.
is
and
this,
It
is
the only
because
not
it
was
intended to give any particulars of the history of the people, but because
it
became the reason
for the exclusion
That Aaron and Moses from the promised land. murmuring the people of course, the of event was,
of
because
there
was no water,
or
enough
not
water
(Numbers xx. 2-13). This solitary incident of the thirtyseven years at Kadesh has suffered misapprehension in two
directions.
One, by confounding
it
outbreak at Rephidim soon after the Sinai
(Exodus
xvii.
But the
1-7).
with a similar
departure from
two
are clearly distinguished in the blessing of
former being called Massah
Meribah^
(=
strife),
(=
Moses
— the
proving), and the latter
(Deut. xxxiii. 8).
that of supposing that the
is
outbreaks
The other mistake
water from the smitten
rock 'followed' the wandering tribesmen in their long '
This name was, at the
XTii. 7),
first,
applied to the sin at Eephidim (Exodus
but was afterwards reserved to Kadesh.
SECOND DEPARTURE FROM KADESH. pilgrimage. of Paul's
This idea
words
followed them
—
'
'
is
13
based upon a superficial view
They drank
of a spiritual
(1 Corinthians x. 4).
As now
Rock
that
explained,
the thirty -seven years stay of the Tabernacle at Zadesh renders such false exegesis impossible flow of water continuing for its
own law
— the
increased
that time, and following
The limestone rock
of gravitation.
Ain Kadis became a type of
Christ,
at
and the source and
constancy of its increased flow the point of the Apostle's
argument with regard
5,
to
it.
As Aaron died immediately
from Kadesh-Barnea on the of the fortieth year of exile,
after
the departure
month
first
day of the
it is
evident that but eight
fifth
months elapsed between that event and the crossing of the Jordan on the tenth
(Joshua
iv.
19).
was spent on
Of
this
the plains of
day of the
following
period of eight months, one
Moab mourning
for the death
of Moses (Deut. xxxiv. 8), and another at
Mount Hor The actual
Aaron (Numbers xx. 29). travelling from Kadesh, and in the conquest
for the death of
time spent in
year
of Eastern Palestine,
till
the arrival at Jordan, coidd
not have been more than six months.
As
the river
was crossed four days before the holding of the passover in Spring, these were the months of "Winter. It
was thus early Autumn when the host
finally
moved from the wells of Kadesh on its last journey. The direction taken was eastward, with a northern inclination. A single copyist's error in Numbers xxi. 4 has lead to a prevalent belief that the promised land
THE TABERNACLE.
14
We
was reached by way of the Red Sea. read Salt Sea for 'Red' Sea in
to
Deut.
iii.
17,
and the harmony of the whole narrative
The change was
is restored.
possibly
made
text into accord with the same phrase in
(Deut.
ii.
But
1).
to bring the
Deuteronomy
in this case the reference is to the
departure from Kadesh, and
first
have but
that verse, as in
In the other the reference
the second departure
to
is
historically right.
is
from Kadesh, when the route lay across the Arabah, south of the Dead Sea.
There
is
but one broad valley of access that leads to
Hebrew
the oasis of Zin, so that the
and going, had the
east,
isolated peak,
variously
to travel
and terminates
by
host,
both in coming
This valley runs from
it.
at the foot of a singular
which they passed and re-passed.
known
and It
ia
in the text as
Moseroth, Numbers xxxiii. 30.
Moserah, Deut. x.
^
6.
Hor-haggidgad, Numbers xxxiii. 32.
Mount Hor, Numbers
A
xxxiii. 38.
comparison of these texts will show that the
Hebrew
host camped at the foot of this mountain on their visit to
first
Kadesh, and that they again pitched their tents
there on their final departure from Kadesh. It
was
at this time that
his burial there
is
Aaron
1
'
is
i.
p. 805).
to the fact of
change of name
equivalent to the
Moserah or Moseroti must be considered
(Hastings' Dictionary, vol,
and
to be attributed its
Mount Hor, which name
to
died,
as equal to
Mount
Mount Hor
DEATH OF AARON. of Mounts.
Deut. x. 6
Moserah Aaron
is definite
15
in telling us that at
Within a march of Ain Kadis hill, which bears the
died.^
stands this remarkable and isolated
Arabic name of Jebel Moderah, and which the weight of evidence shows to have been the place of Aaron's death
and
The
burial.
similarity of
name
to
Moserah
will not
escape notice.
was during the thirty days mourning
6. It
King
that the
of Arad, living in the Negeb,
of hostility to the stragglers
Hebrew
from the camp.
ruins of the city
Aaron
showed signs
and captured some of the
host,
These were probably herdsmen
and shepherds in charge of grazing
The
for
Arad
stock.
are
still
to be seen
on
a white-crowned hill about sixteen miles south of Hebron,
and are known as
Ain Kadis being about
Tell Arad,
eighty miles from Hebron.
for the
offensive action of
that he
The reason given the king in the Negeb is,
heard Israel was moving, from their long stay at Kadesh,
'by the way
of
the
spies'
Numbers
(marg.
xxi.
Clearer testimony than this as to the direction taken
the host
*
The
is
hardly to be desired.
parenthesis of Deut.
x.
The consequence
1).
by
of his
6 and 7 not only breaks into Moses'
narrative of events, but associates the Jirst departure of the host from Kadesh,
when
it
travelled to Ezion-Geber
by way
(cf. Numbers sxxiii. when Aaron died. If
of Jotbathah
33-34), with the second departure from Kadesh,
verse 8 be read in immediate succession to verse 5, the sense will be clear,
and the
facts related in
them
will be seen in their true perspective.
The
Eevised Version's inclusion of verses 8 and 9 within the parenthesis is misleading. Meanwhile the present readings of w. 6-7 cannot be defended in their sequence.
the latter verse
is
While both contain statements anterior to that of the former.
of historical truth, that of
THE TABERNACLE.
16
was a national resolution
action
of Deut.
XX. 16-18, and to
breathed,
if
God gave
carry out the ban
to
save nothing alive that
victory.
The struggle is very briefly described (Numbers xxi. 1-3). The Canaanites were delivered up, and the place
Hormah (=
called
This
devoted).
is
not a proper name,
but an appellative, signifying the total destruction to
which every living thing was doomed within the town
We
or district so described.
have a similar use of the
word in the case of Zephath, a town destroyed by Judah after the death of
Joshua (Judges
which Arad was
treated, as a place
of
i.
The fury with beyond the bounds
17).^
humanity and mercy, was a blow of
to prevent further molestation,
and the way
to the
Arabah
It was, of course, the place of their defeat
lay open.
thirty-eight years before It
sufficient severity
was
also
during
(Numb. the
xiv.
stay at
45
;
Deut.
Mount
messengers were sent to Petra, the capital of request permission for the
Hebrew
i.
44, 45).
Hor that Edom, to
host to pass through
their territory.
Thirty-eight years before, similar permission had been
asked for and had been refused (Numbers xx. 14-21).
The terms travellers
offered
were
to
now were
the same as then, that the
go upon the highway, and to pay for
anything consumed by themselves or by their stock. ^ By tke time of David one of the two places was known by the name of Hormah, which had then superseded the Canaanite name (1 Samuel xxx. 30). Zephath is probably meant, as its name was oflclcially changed to Hormah
(Judges
i.
17),
(Joshua xii. direction
4).
and as such it was apportioned to the division of Simeon Zephath, now Sebaita, is about 25 miles in a N.N.E.
from Ain Kadis.
THE EDOMITE ROUTE TAKEN. During
these years
amongst others
many changes had that
this,
a
preservation and defence of the
sense
taken place, and
of
Hebrew
17
miraculous
the
host
had penetrated
the mind of the Edomite king and people.
The consent now asked for was granted, being based upon the results which a refusal would have entailed. The congregation, therefore, prepared to leave Mount Hor and to enter the Edomite
being issued by Moses in anticipation (Deut.
One
the direction to be taken.
you northward that,
'
;
the other
is
in the words
is
march
by the
great
road
'
Turn
a statement of the fact
having passed through the Edomite
travelled
the
of
This order contains two indications of
2-8).
ii.
and warning
special order of care
territory, a
which,
territorj',
they
even then,
ran
northward from Ezion-Geber in the direction of Damascus.
The
fact of this concession
from the children of Esau
in Seir, having been so generally overlooked
dealing with this period of
Hebrew
the more remarkable as
is
it
is
history,
is
it
'
The
From
the latter reference
acted in a somewhat
action of
Moab
statement of Deut. did not meet
it
to,
as
In verse 4
spoken of in anticipation, and in verse 29
in retrospect.
Moab
writers
one which
twice referred
a fact, in the second chapter of Deuteronomy,
we have
by
xxiii.
with
is
to be difEerentiated
4,
gifts of
we
similar way,'
learn that
and that
it
Edom by
the
from that of
when the host came from Egypt they bread and with water in the way. The route that
of the great highway through Eor-of-Moab and Dibon, but they are described as pitching on the other side of Amon, which is in the Their stations are given as Beer, Mattanah, wilderness (Numbers xxi. 23).
travelled
was not that
They thus kept away from Moab towards the east, and obeyed the injunction not to meddle with Moab. By this route they Nahaliel, and Bamoth.
THE TABERNACLE.
18
was not
until tlie river
Arnon was reached
that fighting
became necessary.
The
7,
direction
thus
conclusion
the
of
stated
plainly
Exodus taken
as
leaving
after
the
to
Kadesh
borne out by the particulars of the case, if the stations at which the Hebrews camped be examined. The earlier of these need only occupy our attention, as
Barnea
is
the distance across Seir, between Jehel Moderah and the
Wady
Hessi
(
= the
brook Zered),
is
not more than sixty
and four intermediate names only are given. Each of them represents a day's march, of about twelve miles. miles,
First Stage.
Kadesh Barnea
to
Mount Hor.
Second Stage.
On
leaving
Numbers
Mount Hor, the
xx. 17
^
king's
way
'
of
would lead them at once to the
descent into the valley or
watershed of the Akabah the two seas, and
above the level of that
'
Ghor
lies
of
Akabah.
The
about midway between
more than 2,000 feet the Dead Sea. It is evident
is
rather
any king's way passing
from east to west
found the rivers shallower and more easy of passage. After the passage of the Arnon they turned westward, and this brought them into conflict with In his endeavour to avoid this, Moses offered the King of the Amorites. Heshbon to buy food and water for money, as he had done from Edom and from Moab. This was refused. Till this time there were both sales
and I
gifts.
This will have been the old Babylonian highway. Gen. xiv, 6, 7.
EARLY would go
As, however, no water
would
it
19
as nearly as possible over the saddle of
the Akabah, there,
STAGES.
deflect a little
is
to
be found
either to south or
north, so as to secure for travellers this necessary
To
element. a
perennial
the north
the
of
named
stream,
watershed
El-Jeib,
in
flows
a valley
which widens out from a width of half-a-mile to Twenty-four miles south
a breadth of ten miles.
Dead
and at the
level
terranean (1,292 feet above the
Dead
of the
Sea,
of the
Medi-
Sea), are
some
remarkable lacustrine terraces of marl, sand, and flowing below them,
gravel, with abundant water
lined with thickets of palm, tamarisk, willow,
and
reeds.
As the first station was named Zalmonah it is
possible that
further
name
west,
itself is
it
that
at (
which the host encamped
= terraces
was on the
or shady places),
these, or similar terraces
camp was
The
pitched.
evidence that the Tabernacle and
attendants were
travelling
a
road
its
which lay in
terraces one above another.
Third Stage.
The next and
is
to
station
was named Punon
(
= ore-pits),
be sought on the eastern side of the
Ghor, and north of the city of Petra (Numbers xxiv. 19).
In the
Dead
Sea,
required is
a
site
position,
east-of -south
of
the
named Phanon, where were
copper -mines mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome.
THE TABERNACLE.
30
They He
in
'
parched places in the wilderness, a
land and not inhabited' (Jeremiah xvii.
much
6).
that the soul of the people
Hence we read
salt
was
because of the way (Numbers
discouraged
As
xxi. 4), for there
was neither bread nor water.
from
ttey are said to have pitched in
this station
Oboth,
was appropriately here that the brasen
it
serpent was
and
xxi. 10
made and xxxiii.
uplifted
(compare Numbers
The
tract they followed
43).
was naturally one of ascent from the valley of the Ghor, which made the want of water the more It does not appear that their sufferings
from
felt.
thirst
were in any way mitigated. Fourth Stage.
The king's way, travel,
in
which Moses
promised to
was almost certainly one which led from the
west to the
the capital, afterwards Petra.
site of
was one which the advancing
host,
on
its
It
way
to
the ford of the Zered, would have to abandon after
The want
crossing the Ghor.
of a beaten track
would
greatly increase the difficulties of travel, as well as
We find them through a waterless country. encampment was one which had no recognised name. There was again no water for the famished herds, and the thousands take
accordingly, that the next place of
of travellers skins.
Oboth a
(
=
memory
and
were wholly dependent on their water-
Little
beast.
wonder that they
water
-
skins),
and
of great sufferings
called
that
it
this place
remained
endured both by
man
PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN.
21
Fifth Stage.
The fourth intermediate station, which took them to what is now the great Haj road, was variously named lye-abarim (= the passages of the Hebrews) and Izim (Numbers xxi. a march south of the
Zered
is
known
to
and
IJ
Wady
It lay
which by
name
its
have been the boundary between
A village,
Edom and Moab.
xxxiii. 45).
Hessi,
Ime,
may
still
be found
on the main road a few miles south of Zered.
Here,
doubtless, the overjoyed host
saw the end of their
now
again in the track of
sufferings, as
they were
caravans, and would go from water to water.
do not hear of any further hardships from
We
this source.
Sixth Stage.
This was from the Passages of the Hebrews to the tributaries of the brook Zered,
and the remainder
of their journey to the plains of
known 8.
Moab
is
too well
to require recapitulation.
During
all
the travel in the wilderness and across
the Arabah, south of the
Dead
Sea, the
Ark
of the
Covenant had preceded the hosts of the Lord (Numbers 33)
;
and not
until
it
came
to the
x,
banks of the Jordan was
the order given that a space of 1,000 yards, or 2,000 cubits,
was
to intervene between the priests
who bore
it
and the
crowds of men, women, and children who followed.
The crossing took place on the 10th day Abib (= April), and four days afterwards of the fortieth year
was held (Joshua
iv.
of Nisan or
the passover
10, 14).
The
THE TABERNACLE.
33
parenthesia of Joshua
15
iii.
is tlius
to
be understood in
the sense of tke waters being low at the time of crossing,
was only in Summer, wben the snows of Hermon
as it
were melting, that
Having found
tke Jordan,
crossed
itself in a
banks overflowed.
its
pitch the sacred tent death, for is slain
it.
consideration
first
*
host under Joshua
new, unknown, and hostile land, with no
cloud of light to guide
The
the
was
—a
to find a place
on which to
place which was undefiled
whosoever in the open
field
by
toucheth one that
with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man,
or a grave, shall be unclean'
(Numbers
It
xix. 16).
was
upon some spot which should man, and of which the soil
therefore necessary to alight
have been uninhabited of
should have been undisturbed.
Such a spot was found
41 miles west of the Jordan, and 1-^ miles east of Jericho (= Tell Jiljulieh). Here the twelve stones, brought from the bed of the Jordan, were erected, not in a megalithio circle of a
stones
few yards in diameter, but as twelve boundary-
marking out the
camp was
the
'clean place'
might be still
circle
to consist.
(=
the Gilgal), of which
Within these
limits
was the
(Lev. x. 14), within which the sacrifices
On
eaten.'
the site described as Jiljulieh are
some twenty-five mounds scattered irregularly over
an area one-third of a mile wide. Here, then, the Tabernacle was erected, and here
remained 1
'
till
the land had rest from
In the East, at the present time, a sanctity
•which any holy place
is
Smith's Dictionary, vol.
visible.'
ii.
war (Joshua is
xi. 23).
attached to the spot from
Quoted by the
p. 388, n. h.
it
late
George Grove, in
THE TABERNACLE AT GILGAL.
23
This was a period of at least seven years from the
we know from the of Jephunneh, who was 40 years old
first
occupation of Gilgal, as
plea of Caleb
the son
at the spying
and 85
of the land
at the time of his request,
38 of the
intervening 45 years having been spent in the wilderness
But
(Joshua xiv. 7—10). did not lose
The
site of
the
reason
Gilgal was within the territory allotted
named given
already
"While the
uninhabited.
of Israel
Hosea and Amos.
in the prophecies of
to Benjamin, but it is not
for
kingdoms
sanctity while the
shown
lasted, as is
9.
its
Gilgal, as a once sacred spot,
camp
as
of
one of its
its
cities,
having
stood at Gilgal the all-
important question arose as to the choosing of a for the
been
permanent location of the Tabernacle.
site
No more
deeply engrossing matter could have been debated, as
any new
site
would
necessarily
capital of the twelve tribes.
TJrim and
Thummim
there were those
And
become the
spiritual
Unless counselled by the
(Deut. xxxiii. 8),
who advocated
its
we may be sure
retention at Gilgal.
when, possibly by divine appointment, a change
was decided upon, the mutual jealousy of the tribes had The tribe of Ephraim had to be met and overcome. already shown signs of that autocratic spirit (Joshua xvii.
14-18) which ultimately led to the disruption of the
Kingdom.
As the
claimed, from the their territory
it
heirs
first,
of Joseph's birthright,
they
pre-eminence in Israel, and to
was determined to remove the tent.
This decision was based on military considerations as well as on ecclesiastical and civil ones.
Seven years of
THE TABERNACLE.
24 constant
war had shown the Hebrews that
formidable
foes
Philistines of the
were the
These remained unsubdued, and
warlike
Kohathites
was thought advisable
was
had
most
sea-coast.
eastern
and one of
largest
Not only
tribes.
aristocratic
its
it
God on the
to place the sanctuary of
the terrain, and amid
their
ten
their
of
most
its
done,
this
side
but
the
in
the
cities
contiguous tribes of Ephraim,
West Manasseh, and Dan,
The Kohathites, like the other war at twenty years of age.
Levites, were enrolled for
Further, the choice of a fact that every adult
was influenced by the
site
male was required
attend the
to
Tabernacle service at each of the three annual festivals.
These included the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan. it
will
If a glance at a
be seen that the
map
site
the tribes be taken
of
of Shiloh
is
about
midway
Dan and Beersheba, and midway between Mount Gilead and Joppa. The situation was not ill-chosen for the purposes of
between
a contemplative faith, as well as for security in time of strife.
No
building
had by any
death and desecration to the spot. virgin
soil,
as
God
is
The
brought
Like Gilgal,
the choice of a name, taken
blessing of Jacob, showed.
the house of
possibility
situation
it
was
from the
selected
for
minutely given (Judges xxi. 19).
was north of Bethel (twelve miles), south-east of Lebonah {=Lubban, three miles), and four miles to the east of the great highway which then ran, and still runs, from Bethel to Shechem. It
The
distance of Shiloh from Gilgal
is less
than twenty
EEMOVED TO SHILOH. miles,
25
and over these miles the Tabernacle and
all its
furniture was removed during the lifetime of Joshua.
The now deserted site of SeilAn not impossibly presents much the same appearance as it did then. There are The
a few ruins and some reek-hewn sepulchres. lie
outside the Taanath-Shiloh
Joshua
(=
which corresponded
xvi. 6),
last
the circle of Shiloh,
to the circle of GUgal,
and was formed by a complete circle of hills wbich surrounds the soft eminence where once stood the Tabernacle.
Stanley
characterizes
the
as
landscape
and as being neither beautiful nor grand. Through Its glory was other than of earth.
'featureless/
So be
it.
the two passages in the hills around, the thousands of
amid scenes of joyousness and
Israel poured,
two or three centuries (Judges
xi.
26).
gaiety, for
One
of these
rocky gates leads to the plain on the south, and to the great highway
the other, in the east, to the fountain,
;
where the daughters of Shiloh gathered, then,
draw water.
excellent quality.
Land,
its
Like
all
now,
other springs in the
volume has much decreased, owing
deforesting of the country, though
Being a new a levitical
as
to
Robinson pronounces this water to be of
city,
it is
still
Holy
to
the
abundant.
creation, Shiloh was neither a priestly nor
and
is
not
named
as one of the towns of
Ephraim, though the southern border of the country of Ephraim ran south of the circle of hills in which the basin of Shiloh stood.
No
events of striking national
importance took place there while the Tabernacle stood. It was was not intended that they should do so. thought enough that the sacrifices were offered and the It
THE TABERNACLE.
26 ritual of the
Law
observed.
The fervour
of earlier^ years,
"When thou wentest after me in the wilderness/ was lost, and there must have been some great ecclesiastical '
convulsion by which the High-priesthood was transferred
from the elder branch of the house of Aaron
Of
younger.
to
the
It records,
this the history says nothing.
names of certain High-priests of the But these are only time of Joshua and the Judges.
in later books, the
a selection, as between Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron,
and the time of the prophet Samuel, a period of two centuries, the chronicler has preserved five names only (1
Chron.
vi.
4-7, 50-53).
the histories of the time,
A
Captivity documents.
omen Book
Even and we
derive
men
name
post-
one of evil
is
The
themselves.
of Judges, itself a record of heroes
for God, contains the
them from
fact such as this
the characters of the
for
these are not given in
and heroic deeds
of no head of the Tabernacle
worship, and no reference to the Tabernacle,
if
we except
the rather scornful advice to the Benjamites to abduct
two hundred daughters of Shiloh at the yearly passoverfeast of the Lord, the
neglected.
every
man
two other
The age was one lost.
There
the same effect in the words.
nor yet the work that ii.
when
disorganization,
own
is positive
eyes,
and
evidence to
After the death of Joshua
there arose another generation, which
(Judges
being apparently
did that which was right in his
the power of law was
'
of
feasts
knew not
He had wrought
the Lord,
for
Israel
10).
The Tabernacle after a perfunctory
daily services were doubtless observed
manner, but they would seem
to
have
DECAY OF FAITH. had
little effect
manners or
to
upon the raise
people,
their
27
either
to soften their
The two gloomy
morals.
Book of Judges in chapters xvii., and xix.-xxi. are intended to set forth this aspect
appendices to the xviii.,
of the nation's character.
The nation was
imminent danger of apostacy from Sudden and unearned prosperity had fallen
Jehovah.
upon
in
and they loved the creature more than the gift more than the Giver. For its unfaithfulness the priesthood was changed, and when Samuel appears upon the scene, as a little lad, we find it,
Creator
— the
Eli, of the
10.
house of Ithamar, judging Israel.
Samuel
was
still
a
young man,
accumulated wrath of offended Deity
fell,
when the
in one heavy
upon both priest and people. War with the Philistines had broken out; an expression used by the
blow,
conquerors,
'
Be
not servants to the Hebrews as they
have been to you,' shows that the war was in the nature of a revolt, and tribute
had been preceded by some years of and slavery on the part of the Israelites. The
oppression having become intolerable,
by a combined
it
was determined,
effort of all the tribes, to
throw
off the
Philistine yoke.
An army
of thirty thousand footmen
^
(1
Samuel
iv.
10)
assembled at a spot near Beth-Shemesh, afterwards named Ebenezer.
This word '
The is
Philistines
had
their
not here a proper name, as
These are the numhers of the
subject to future correction.
camp it
in
Aphek.
has the definite
text, but, like others, are given here as
being
THE TABERNACLE.
28
article prefixed to
the
i.e.
it,
Aphek (=the
aqueduct),
Wady Ohurah, the valley above intended. At the first engagement
tte watercourse of the
Beth-Shemesh, being the
Hebrews
lost
about 4,0Q0 men, and the honours of war
A
were with the enemy. imminent, and
undone
was
it
to fetch the
30 miles distant.
who were
of Eli, hostile
camps
is
fight, the
Ark
its
unprecedented proposal was
guardians.
indicated
plain of Siirdr,
a council of
of the Covenant from Shiloh
by the
still
the two sons
it
The proximity
of the
fact that the Philistines
heard the shouting which welcomed
The
At
came, and with
It
now became
that nothing should be left
to secure the nation's freedom.
war held before the
made
felt
decisive battle
its
beautiful
arrival in
and
camp.
fertile,
was the
probable scene of the previous engagement and of the
one
about
The
follow.
to
the Israelites
is
misplaced
embodied in the words,
us out of the hand of our enemies.'
It
confidence '
of
It shall save
was no longer
Jehovah, but the material ark that was the hope of the tribesmen and their Elders.
So low had fallen the faith Abraham's sons To this act of national apostacy Eli must have been an acquiescent party. He was the High-priest, and without his permission the ark could not of
!
have been removed from Shiloh.
In what might be called the Battle of Beth-Shemesh the revolt was extinguished in blood. The ark was captured, Hophni and Phinehas dying in its defence. All
organized
Israelite
mercy
fled
resistance to
his tent,
of the invaders.
was
broken
down.
and the country was
Every at the
Over what followed the Hebrew
FALL OF SHILOH. historians
draw a
veil of silence.
Shiloh
except as the place of Eli's death.
Yet
29
is
not mentioned,
it is
certain that
the hands of the Philistines, and long centuries
it fell into
afterwards the prophet Jeremiah appealed to the voice
was
of history to declare that this destruction
wickedness of fullest
My people Israel'
for the
The
vii. 12).
account of the shame, disgrace, and misery that
followed on the sack of the
Ephraim, *
(Jeremiah
'
is
little city
within the limits of
contained in one of the Psalms of Asaph
The children
of
Ephraim, carrying
Turned back in the day
slack
bows
:
\_Ewald'\,
of battle
They provoked Him to anger with their high places. And moved Him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, He was wroth,
And
greatly abhorred Israel
So that
The
He
forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
tent which
He
placed
among men
;
And delivered His strength into captivity. And His glory into the adversary's hand. He gave His people over also unto the sword And was wroth with His inheritance. Fire devoured their young
;
men
And their maidens had no marriage-song. Their priests fell by the sword And
their
widows made no lamentation.' (Psalm
Ixxviii. 9, 58-64.)
In the presence of this patriotic reticence, it is impossible to say, from the evidence of the contemporary records, whether the sacred tent fell into the hands of 11.
THE TABERNACLE.
30
It is probable that it did not
the Philistines.
do
so,
but that immediately on the receipt of the news that
who were in charge of it, This would hastily folding it together, moved it away. be done in the absence of the Ark of the Covenant (its caused Eli's death those
most precious deposit), and by the direction of Samuel, remaining authority in Shiloh.
as the sole
Soon the Philistine hosts would be on the
No
the sack of the town ensued. atrocity
would seem
to
and
spot,
element of savage
have been wanting to the occasion.
Fired with fanatical hatred, stimulated by the possession of the ark, the conquering horde carried fire
and sword
through
Shiloh
the
little
a desolation from
Among
settlement,
which
it
and
razed
has never recovered.
who escaped were Samuel and Ahitub,
those
the latter the youthful son of Phinehas, of Eli (1 Samuel xiv. 3).
and
to
associations
The wreck
and grandson
of all the hopes
which clustered around the Tabernacle
placed Samuel in a position of great responsibility and
His word had already come
power.
to all Israel,
and
in the failure of the High-priestly power, whatever of
law and of guidance remained was held by him. His
first
act
would seem
Tabernacle at Gilgal.
It
to
have been to re-erect the
was here
that,
many
years
afterwards, he appointed Saul to meet him, in order to offer
the
burnt
-
offerings
consecration and coronation
and peace
—
sacrifices
-
offerings
of his
which could only
be offered on the brasen altar before the Tabernacle.
That
this altar
was that constructed by Bezalel, and that
the tent which later stood in Gibeon was that
made
RETURNED TO GILGAL.
31
by Moses, is affirmed in the text of 2 Chron. i. 3, 6. They could not, therefore, have fallen into Philistine hands
The
at Shiloh.
re
-
erected Tabernacle, in its old place in
plains of Jericho,
note of time in
stood
there
Samuel
1
the
The
years.
2 cannot be taken
vii.
refer to this, as the years there
the time the ark was at
many
for
to
mentioned do not represent
Kirjath
-
Jearim, that
time
including the periods of Samuel's, Saul's, and part of
They were rather the
David's reigns. in which the itself
to
national spirit
gradually adjusting
Jehovah and His people.
been
Under
and gracious rule of Samuel the house of was drawn together after the Lord [margin,
wise
Israel 1
twenty years
the true relations which had formerly
established between
the
was
*
Samuel
Sorrow and suffering had effectually
vii. 2).
done their work, and the people were now willing to be guided into the heartfelt monotheistic worship
which their deliverance depended.
and a
spirit of
penetrated
humble
the
When
trustfulness
Samuel
assembly,
all
was ready,
was seen called
on
a
to
have
national
convention at Mizpah, one of the three centres from
which he judged is
Israel.
The Mizpah here
referred to
that mentioned in Joshua xviii. 25 as one of the cities
of Benjamin, five miles
and
is
that
now known
as
Nehy Samwil,
north of Jerusalem.
Here they were speedily attacked by As at Rephidim the the Philistines.
their overlords
intercession
of
Moses gained victory over the Amalekites, so here the prayers of Samuel prevailed.
A
great storm discomfited
THE TABERNACLE.
32
men from
the Philistines, and they were chased by the
Mizpah
till
critical
an authority as
Professor
Ain Kdriin,
of Jerusalem, where
What we It
significance.
is
home
of
lay.
G. A. Smith
four miles south
-
west
The pursuit and the power of
nine
miles,
but of these particulars
slain,
=
Doubtless some thousands of the
was broken.
nothing.
(
a famous spring.
is
thus covered eight or
enemy were
Car
base-camp
places Beth-Oar at
Philistia
-
their
where probably
pasture),
So
they came unto Beth
are that
told
is,
we
howev^er,
the victorious
are told
of fuller
army went
to
the scene of their former defeat, between Beth-Shemesh
and Kirjath-Jearim, and the ark had selected
fallen
into
the
hands of
its
Samuel
of
help),
which they called Ebenezer (= stone and which, after the example of Jacob at
humble
gratitude,
This was done in the
oil.
and
as
an acknowledgment
that the event there celebrated, however dark
the time, was in reality the
national fortunes,
and the
*
it
seemed
turning - point of the
help
'
that Israel needed.
which they had been No other action could have been so expressive
Thus did they smitten.
they
vi. 15),
Bethel, was anointed with
at
foes,
a great stone, already consecrated by sacrifice
(1
spirit of
where
there, on the very spot
of the change
kiss the rod with
which had passed over the people in the
intervening years.
The stone so set up is described as being 'between Mizpah and Shen.' This Mizpah (= watch-tower) is that mentioned as one of the
and
is
represented
Judah
Joshua xv. 38, by the Arab village of Deir el-Hawa, cities of
in
DEFEAT OF THE PHILISTINES.
33
placed on the summit of a mountain south of the Ismail.
It
than four miles east of Beth-Shemesh
is less
Midway between
(here abbreviated to Shen).
places
is
of the Rock).
memorial,
it
expression vii.
it
vi. *
its
Ehan (= Convent
of Deir
consecration as a national
mentioned as the great stone in the
is
when
Samuel
name
Previous to
Beth-Shemite, beside which the ark
field of Josliua the
(I
the two
Deir Abdn, a large village, in which stands
a great rook bearing tbe
stayed
Wady
from
returned
14).
We
the
cities
to understand the
are thus
Samuel took a stone and
12) in the sense of selection
Philistine
set it
'
(1
Samuel
and appropriation, and
not of actual elevation.
12. This act of public contrition was the turning-point of tbe national fortunes.
the Philistines came no
During the
more
lifetime of
Samuel
into the border of Israel.
The ark remained at Kirjath-Jearim, of Beth-She mesb. The Tabernacle was
four miles east at Gilgal, but
without any officiating High-priest, Ahitub being under
He was
the ban pronounced on Eli's family.
15 years of age at the time Shiloh
fell,^
perhaps
and, with his
brother Ichabod, was the sole representative of the house
Samuel did not dare
of Ithamar.
famUy
of Eleazar,
not be neglected.
to recall to office the
and yet the sanctuary of God could He himself was a Levite. In this
emergency a son of Amariah, of the rejected family of •
The mention
of his son Ahijah, as being in the
his assumption of rule, is (1
Samuel
xiv. 3).
camp
an indication of the length
of Saul soon after
of Samuel's judgeship
THE TABERNACLE.
34
Eleazar, was called upon to act, not as High-priest, but '
as
was that of
name and xi.
His name was Ahitub,
Ruler of the House of God.'
as
Eli's grandson,
designation in 1 Chron.
He was
11.
and he appears with ix. 11,
and Nehemiah
the grandfather of Zadok, in whose
person the family of Eleazar was restored to
How
office.
far the Tabernacle services at Gilgal
to the ritual of the
this
law we
may
best judge
conformed
by concluding
that the duties of the High-priest remained in abeyance,
but that the
levitical
and
priestly duties
were regularly
performed under the direction of the ruler of the House of God.'^
Such were the maimed
rites of
Jahvism which
followed the destruction of Shiloh.
In later times we find that Azariah V. was High-priest in the reign of Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxxi. 10), and also 'ruler of the House of God' (verse 13). As such he co-operated with Hezekiah in appointing certain men It would appear that the two to he over the storehouses of dedicated things. ofiices were distinct, but might he held by the same person. In the history of Jeremiah (xx. 1) there is mention of a certain priest named Pashhur, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord.' We have here an instance of the same or a similar office being held by a man who was neither Highpriest nor the son of a High-priest, as he belonged to the course of Immer. If the two offices were the same, this was an irregularity, owing to the '
disorganized state of public affairs.
35
CHAPTER
II.
TO THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. nPHE -*-
Tabernacle being re-erected at Gllgal, and the Ebenezer rock being consecrated as a memorial,
tbe Twelve
Tribes entered upon a career of peaceful
development.
Samuel was tbe one man
to
whom
the
whole nation looked. duties in
As a Levite he had no special the House of God. The courts held at its
East Gate were principally for the settlement of cases of ceremonial purity, and were presided over by Levites
and
There were, however, many other hard cases' of civil and criminal law, corresponding to those priests.
*
brought before Moses by the advice of his father-in-law (Exodus xviii.). ^ These were appropriately brought before Samuel, who, like Moses, was a Kohathite Levite.
These courts were not always held at Gilgal, but at Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, to each of which places an annual the
visit
was
paid.
The
selection of
two centres
for
administration of justice other than that at which
• The diflSculty as to the names in this family may be met by adopting Ewald's suggestion that Jethro ' signifies prefect, and was a title held by Keuel, who was the father of Hobab (Numbers x. 29). In this way Hobab would be the brother-in-law of Moses, as is stated in Judges iv. 11, and Jethro returned Moses the son-in-law of Jethro, as written in Exodus ui. 1 to his own land (Exodus xviii. 27), but Hobab accompanied the host (Judges iv. 11 ; 1 Sam. xv. 6). Later scholarship suggesta that both were the '
.
Arabian names of Moses' father-in-law.
THE TABERNACLE.
36
new departure
the Tabernacle stood, was in itself a the history of
Hebrew
jurisprudence, wbicb could only
by the revelation of tbe Urim and
have been
justified
Tbummim,
as declaring tbe will of God.
bowever, associated witb the
wbicb bad so
Betbel was,
God given
of
lately given liberty to
Hebrew any
tbe
vision
and Mizpab with tbe remarkable
Jacob,
in
act,
interposition
tbe
spot at wbicb Jebovab
Himself became, by that
to
nation.
To
bad manifested
for ever sacred.
It
may
thus have been thougbt tbat tbe sanctity of these two places
was equal
to tbat of Gilgal,
wbere tbe Captain of
tbe Lord's host bad appeared to Josbua (Joshua
As
1.
made
bis
2,
13-15).
tbe years passed, and Samuel grew feebler, be
two sons judges over
A
Israel.
probably dropped out of the Hebrew text of viii.
v.
as it is bardly
name bas 1
Samuel
likely tbat botb judges should
bave been stationed in far-south Beersbeba.
Josepbus'
paraphrase of the history has retained tbe second name,
which
is
Betbel {Antiquities,
Wbile doing
vi. 3, § 2).
Samuel took a step far in advance anything yet done in tbe way of liberalizing and
of
tbis
delocalizing tbe institutions of Mosaism. less
It
was nothing
than tbe building of an altar at bis own borne in
Ramab, wbicb be was tbe
less
felt less
and
less able to leave.
This
revolutionary as there was no ark at Gilgal
before wbicb to burn incense.
There were many Ramahs
(
= beigbts)
in tbe land.
Nearly every division of tbe tribes bad a place so named. Among these were
SAMUEL'S LAST DAYS. (1)
(2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Ranaab of Benjamin (Joshua
Eamah Eamah Ramah Ramah
Ephraim (Judges
of
37
xviii. 25). iv. 6).
of Naphtali (Joshua xix. 36).
Asher (Joshua
of
xix. 29).
(or Ramoth) of Gad (2 Kings Remeth (Joshua xix. 21) or Ramoth
Chron.
(1
viii.
28-29).
of Issachar
Yi. 73).
harmony with these examples country of Judah there should be a
It would be in
the hill
named, the
Ramah, a be a
found
on
Ramah In
name
as
of
where
place-names
belonging
Ramah
Ramah
of
prevent
the
-
and
hill,
isolated
hill
might but
ground,
lying
the
to
does not occur
name
for
given
in
— except
the of
division
the
of
Baalath-beer (Joshua xix. 8),
Negeb.
name
Book
Judah, the
as a descriptive
distinguished from all other
is
it
low
a
spot so
be sought for only on elevated land.
115
or alternative
Gibeah,
that an
being,
comparatively
is to
the
Joshua
between
distinction
height,
that in
being
This,
given
however, to
a
Ramahs would
suitable
as
not spot
which was colonised or inhabited after the conquest. Such would seem to have been the history of the Ramah in which Samuel was born, and where he died and was buried, as it probably was of some of the other
Ramahs, several
2.
Two and
of
which are unmentioned by Joshua.
a half miles north of Hebron, the road
to the north, having crossed the plain of
Mamre, climbs
THE TABERNACLE.
38
hundred
a gentle ascent of three
That gained, the
feet.
traveller finds himself in the saddle of
road,
an old
Roman
roughly paved, with a slight hilly projection
still
on either
to the left is 3,340 feet
That
side.
and that
to
the right 3,370 feet above the level of the Mediterranean.
These are the two Ramahs contained in the plural word
Robinson found the name
Ramathaim.
Ramah
still
in
use here, disguised in the Arabic er-Bdmeh.
From away,
(=
at
till
2,593
ceptible,
Jutta
Jerusalem
is
it
is
gradually
similar decline
and with the exception of the (3,747 feet),
falls
nearly a thousand feet lower
To the south a
feet).
stands
heights
northern horizon
this point the
the
altitude
hill
per-
is
on which twin
of these
not attained within 100 miles west of the
Jordan.
Through a
cleft
in the hills the waters of the blue
Within an hour's walk of this Ramah is the ancient city where the three Patriarchs and Around these their wives, except Rachel, were buried. Mediterranean are seen.
tombs sprang up the city of Kirjath-Arba, after conquest called Hebron
Josephus says that
and
it
was
visited
land (Numbers xiv.
(=
it
by the
xiii.
22).
association).
was the
oldest city in Palestine,
spies sent
by Moses
It was taken
12 and xv. 14), and owing to
as the last resting-place of special provision
was made
to inspect the
by Joshua (Joshua
its
great reputation,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
for its security.
a city of refuge, and given, with for the priests
its
its
It was
made
suburbs, as a residence
and the Kohathite Levites (Joshua xxi.
10-13), being the only city thus jointly occupied.
The
SAMUEL'S ALTAE AT RAMAH.
39
suburbs, forming a circle around the city of one or two
(= 500
thousand cubits
were given
4-5),^
and
its villages
doubt that
to 1,000 yards),
The
to the clergy.
were given to Caleb.
this
was done,
(Numbers xxxv. fields of
There can be no
as to doubly
so
the city
and trebly
secure the sepulchres of the ancestors of the race. It
way
is
impossible to do more than to establish in a general
a conaection between the Kohathite settlement in and
around Hebron, and similar settlements in the division of Ephraim,
Of
21-22).
of which
there were
four
(Joshua
xxi.
these the principal was Shechem, described of Ephraim,
as being in the hill country
Hebron, was one of the three
which, like
refuge ou the west
cities of
of Jordan.
3.
There were twenty generations from Jacob
(1 Chron.
Some
33-38).
vi.
of the Judges,
Zuph
to
Samuel
time during the period
or Zophai, an Ephraimite Levite of
the sons of Kohath, migrated from the northern to the
He
southern settlement of his clan.
settled
on the then
bare and stony highland to the north of Hebron, which
from his occupation of
it
came
to be
(=
Zuph, or Ramathaim-Zophim
of
of Zuph), (1
Samuel
i.
1
and
known
as the
Land
double high-place
ix. 5). f
1
A
distinction -was
made between walled and unwalled
cities.
In the
case of the former the suburbs or pasture-fields were to be 1,000 cubits from the wall of the city round about. In the smaller and unwalled villages, the ' suburbs were to be 2,000 cubits on every side, measured from some central point in the hamlet, around which the houses were grouped. Disputes would thus be of rare occurrence. These Levitioal pasture-fields were inalienable '
(Lev. xsv. 34).
THE TABEENACLE.
40
His descendants in the direct line are given in
and
Chronicles in the following genealogies
1
1
It
Samuel
1
1.
i,
Samuel
1
:
Chronicles
yI. 34.
Zuph.
Zuph
or Zophai (v. 26).
Tohu.
Toah
or
EHhu.
Eliel or
Jeroliam.
Jeroliam.
Elkanah.
Elka&ah..
Samuel.
Samuel.
Nahath
EUab
(y.
26).
(v. 26).
would thus seem that the migration took place
five
generations, or less than two centuries, before the birth of
His childhood was spent
Samuel.
meridian of
life
passed,
and
its
at Shiloh,
main
but as the
were
activities
left
behind, he retired to the city of his fathers, 'for there
was
his house.'
Here 'he judged
Israel.'
In doing
this
'He
But he did more.
built there an altar unto the Lord' (1 Samuel
Samuel followed the example
of
vii.
17).
Abraham,
and did not deem that he was contravening the law against the building of private and unauthorized altars.
The of the
erection of this altar, on one of the high-places land,
did
not
involve the
Tabernacle, or any part of
it.
What
duplication it
of the
did involve was
that the altar should stand within an enclosed space, to
correspond
with
the
outer
or
eastern
court
of
the
Tabernacle.
Also that provision should be made for the
sacrifice of
animals by duly ordained priests and Levites.
THE FUNCTIONS OF SACRIFICE. As
41
parts of every burnt-offering were washed, and the
officiating priests required frequent ablutions, every altar
of Jabvism required an abundant supply of water.
were the prime
necessities of the
had been decided
erection
As the laws of Moses, an
ecclesiastical,
many
cases,
case,
These
when once
the
on.
administered by Samuel, comprised
a civil,
and a criminal
code, and, in
required that restitution should be
made
both to the complainant and to the ordinances of religion,
an
altar,
received,
where such
and sin-offerings could be
sacrifices
became a necessity of every supreme court of
justice.
The
object and application of law amongst the
was not obtain
even-handed justice should
solely to secure that
between
man
Hebrews
and man,
but also
that
every
transgressor should be purged of his sin by sacrifice and,
prayer, should obtain the Divine
by penitence and
forgiveness.
In the case
of
minor
courts,
one of which was held in
every Levitical city and town, the convicted defendants
were sent to the central sanctuary
A
to attain these ends.
general clause to cover all such cases was that of the
national sacrifices, constantly offered, and of the institution
of a great day of
Atonement
for the
whole nation.
Samuel, not unwisely, judged that by the erection of an altar, near to himself as the fountain of justice, he
would be forwarding the best of true religion amongst them.
The
interests of his people
and
existence of this altar, a few miles from Hebron,
was without doubt a
chief
cause
of David's choosing
THE TABERNACLE.
42
Hebron
the capital
as
conquest
of
city
of
With
Jerusalem.
his
his
kingdom,
till
the
it
was
departure
These
probably removed, the enclosure-walls remaining.
would remain undisturbed during the whole period of Jewish national
life,
as having once been
worship of Jehovah.
employed in the
Their partial removal would thus
date from times subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem under
The
Titus.
of
tradition
some unusual
sanctity
still
survives amongst the peasantry of the neighbourhood,
who name
this
Friend,
Abraham.
4.
i.e.
Dr.
ruin
Ramet
Edward Robinson
the hill of the
el-Khulil,
twice visited er-Rameh, at
His
an interval of fourteen years.
first
account, written
in April, 1838, contains the following description '
At one hour from Hebron,
right, at right angles, leading to
a blind path
Tekoa
;
went
and on
it,
:
off
to the
almost five
minutea walk from our road, are the foundations of an immense
which
building,
excited
our
curiosity.
We
found
the
would seem to have been commenced, but never completed. They consist of two walls, apparently of a large enclosure, one facing toward the southwest, two hundred feet long; and the other, at right angles, facing north-west, one hundred and sixty feet long, with a space left in the middle of it, as if for a portal. There are only two courses of hewn stones above ground, each 3 feet 4 inches high; one of the stones measured 15^ feet long by In the south-west angle is a well or cistern 3 feet thick. arched over, but not deep. There are no stones or ruins of any kind lying around, to mark that the walls were ever carried higher The spot is called by the Arabs Rdmet substructions of an edifice, which
el-KMlU
'
{Biblical Researches, vol.
i.
p. 215).
BAMET
BL-KRULIL.
In May, 1852, Dr. Robinson again approacliing
it
visited tlie spot,
from the north, and wrote
we
'Rising gradually,
43
as follows
turned at 4.15 to the
:
a right
left at
and came, in seven minutes, across the fields, to the immense foundations we had formerly visited. Those inexplicable walls remain as when we saw them in 1838, except that the covering to the well was gone. This well is of large circumference, and about 10 feet deep to the surface angle
;
.
.
of the water.
It
is
.
The
said to be strictly a fountain.
course
of the longest wall is south, 80° east.
'The foundations are regarded by the common people as belonging to the ruins of er-Rdmeh, which cover the hill to the north, and extend down to this spot. We now turned up the hill er-Rdmeh, and reached the top in six minutes. Here and on the slope are the remains of a large village. The ground all the way is strewn with ruins of dwellings covering some acres, with hewn stones among them. There is on the top a cistern excavated in the rock. In respect to the immense walls, which form the most imposing feature of the place, I find as yet no satisfactory '
'
explanation.
They exhibit none of the tokens of ecclesiastical architecture, and do not of themselves suggest a church. "We left er-Rdmeh at 4.45, descending the hill toward the At the foot was an excavated cistern, now dry, with north. '
.
.
.
'
steps to descend into
it
'
{Biblical Researches, vol.
iii.
pp. 278-281).
In furtherance of the suggestion that we have in these walls, lying below the ancient town, the remains
may
of an enclosure built by Samuel around an altar, I
remark
:
The measurements coincide with The stones of the walls ancient cubit. (a)
40 inches in thickness, or Z\
feet.
those are
of
the
given as
This was
three
THE TABERNACLE.
44
building cubits of
1 1 feefc
= 3|-
The
feet.
walls were thus
six cubits high, the curtains of the tabernacle enclosure
being (b)
200
five.
The two remaining
feet respectively.^
Hebrew
walls are in length 160
and
These are outside measurements.
surface measures are uniformly interior measures,
We
taken with the large cubit.
may
tlius
that, as at Sinai, the space enclosed for the
the people around the altar was a square.
be a square of 100 cubits
(
= 150 feet),
conclude
worship of This would
whereas that was
a square of 60 cubits.
The precedent would doubtless be followed of a portion of the altar-platform being placed to altar,
adjoining which was a laver witb water.
purposes 30 cubits allocated,
though
it
(=45
feet)
would seem
may have been
of the eastern court, or SSg cubits (c)
lie in
the west of the
The enclosed spring and the south-west angle.
to
To
these
have been
one-third the length
(=50
feet).
cistern within the enclosure
This
for sacrificial purposes, as, in the
is
in the true position
Temples of the Jews,
the water supply was always placed on the western side
near the north gate. (d)
The corrected course taken by the longer wall
within four degrees of due
east.
is
As, however, the sun
apparently rose southward in the latitude of Eamah, and no scientific
instruments were in use, the error in orientation
would thus
arise.
' According to Sir Charles Warren, 200 by 165 feet. If the thickness of the walls be added, the measurements -will be 218f x 164f feet.
THE RAMJET ENCLOSUEE. The
45
walls were so built as that worshippers standing
within them should haye their backs to the rising sun.
The oblong rectangle rightly
This was essential.
from east (e)
which
to west.
The opening doubtful
is
lies
in the west wall
— had
—
if
there were one,
nothing corresponding witb This
in the tabernacle enclosure.
it
accounted for by
is
the fact that there was no second court to the west at
Eamah,
as at Shiloh,
and that
this
opening would be for
the sole use of the oflSciating priests and Levites from the neighbouring city of Hebron.
(/) The
hewn
stones found in the Tillage higher
the hill were possibly carried
thougb Mr.
G-.
oflf
up
from the two walls,
A. Murray, of Hebron, suggests that the
removed stones may have been taken to form the first This use enclosure built around the Cave of Machpelah. of
them would not have been deemed a
foundations of these walls,
when
The
desecration.
found, will probably
show a large gate opening on the east
side,
and another
on the north, opposite to the line of the altar. {g) The Haram walls of Jerusalem and Hebron are largely Phoenician in walls
at
er-Rameh
The them in
character.
resemble
fact
the
that
character
of
masonry is in favour of their being early Israelitish work. The fact that there are no hewn stones or ruins of any kind to show that the walls were ever carried higher
is
a point of cardinal importance, as fixing the
use for which they were built.
was to screen an hangings of
altar
That
within
the
the tabernacle courts
use, it is suggested,
enclosure,
screened
as
its
the altar
THE TABERNACLE.
46
from curious and irreverent
If this
eyes.
was their
purpose, that altar could only have been the one built
by Samuel.
5.
Happily we are in a position
to test the
foregoing
suggestion that the ruins of er-B&meh are those of the ancient
Ramah
of Samuel,
by an appeal
and
x. of 1
Samuel an account
of a visit to
which contains many topographical
may compare with
Eamathaim,
details.
These we
Dr. Robinson's description of the
The
may be
examination of the
On
estate at
Ramah
site
would
the fourth day
Zelah near to
others which a
it,
more complete
afford.
after leaving Gibeon,
or the
Saul and his servant approached
before the hour of the evening meal.
They were
'in the land of Zuph,' and, as an afterthought,
determined to consult the the
hill
seer,
Samuel.
Dr. Robinson noticed at the foot of the
by the
it
was
As they ascended women
on the north side of the city they met
going to draw water from the 'excavated
(6)
site.
following are the principal coincidences between
the two, but there
{a)
contemporary
We have in chapters
evidence of unimpeachable authority. ix.
to
cistern,'
hill.
Leaving them, the two men ascended the
way
of the
Roman
road, but
by
a path
directly to the crest of the hill before them.
a large village,
all
the stone-enclosure
which
hill,
not
which led
Here
lay
way from the crest of the hill being now strewn with ruins
the
to
of
dwellings.
The
having crossed the peak and come within met Samuel on his way to the high-place.
travellers,
the city,
SAUL'S VISIT TO SAMUEL. was
It
(c)
'
in the gate/
^
47
the gate leading to the
i.e.
high-place south of the city, that Saul addressed Samuel.
The
result
was that together they went
chamher which lay within the enclosure of peace being usually eaten in
the guest-
to
—Jewish
sacrifices
the precincts of the
sanctuary.^ {d)
home
The in
feast over, Saul
Ramah
—
accompanied Samuel
the expression
'
came down
his
to
(verse 25)
'
having reference rather to the dignity of the high-place than to the comparative altitudes of the city and the
altar.
The next morning^ Samuel, accompanied by out, going down to the end of the city.'
Saul,
(e)
went
*
gather from
as
this,
from the
first
We
meeting of Samuel
and Saul, that
the
house of the former was in the
and
the
place
city it
would
as
was
above
appear
fitting, in
of
Saul
that
From
altar.
privately
this
anointed,
the neighbourhood of the altar, and
did not leave the city by the It will be
the
was
way he had
entered
it.
remembered that Dr. Robinson walked from
the main road to the
*
immense foundations
'
in seven
minutes, and from them to the top of the hill in six minutes.
As
the position of Samuel's
home
is
unknown.
* This doea not necessarily mean that the city was surrounded by walla. Hebron atill has gates at the ends of its streets, but has no surrounding wall. ' The word used for guest-chamber also occurs, as descriptive of a part '
'
of the Temple, in Jer. xxxv. 2, 4, and Ezek. xl. 17.
passages a sacrificial dining-room
ordinance of Lev.
vi. 16,
26,
is
meant.
In these and other Such rooms were required by the
and were bmlt as a part
of every temple.
Samuel is said to have summoned his guest ' about the spring of the day.' As the morning sacrifice was always killed before sunrise, and Samuel would '
attend this, the probability
the altar.
is
in favour of their having gone together to
THE TABERNACLE.
48
the time generally taken to cover
walk was probably
early is
not
distance of this
than fifteen minutes.
less
accompanied Saul
Samuel
that
stated
tlie
It
the
to
junction of the roads, though he probably did
so,
as
a token of respect to his future sovereiga.
Other confirmations of the identity of er-R&meh
(/)
Ramah
with Samuel's
are to be found in the fact of
David's having fled from the court of Saul to Samuel (1
Samuel
As
xix. 18).
Ephraim were
situated
Ramahs
the
close
to
of
Gibeon,
Benjamin and it
is
unlikely
that David would find any safety in places so few miles
away from There
enemy, or that he should expect
his
evidence to the contrary in the fact
positive
is
that Saul himself went toward
well that
is
in
it.
Ramah, and
at the great
Secu made inquiries for Samuel and
David, having previously been told that they were living
Naioth in Ramah.
at
Psalm
xxiii. 2,
here, probably,
Had
name.
it
where
Naioth it
is
translated
a descriptive noun,
been
so,
Saul,
when
have needed to inquire where the
He
were.
did
with the result
In Secu
this is
case
so,
and went
that, while
word used
the
is
'
'
pastures.'
is
and not a proper at Secu,
would not
pastures of
Ramah
to Naioth, or the pastures,
he prophesied, David escaped.
the whereabouts of the
a prime factor, in deciding
great well of
which of the many
Ramahs is meant as that of Samuel's home. The plain of Mamre, to the immediate north is
It
in
of Hebron,
drained by the brook Eshcol, running to the south-
west. fed
by
Between two arms
of the brook
is
a famous well,
a spring within.
The former
is
known
as the
RETURN TO GIBEON.
SAUL'S
Sirah Well (2 Samuel
In
SUr&h.
vineyards, rested, as
26),
iii.
this pleasant
vale,
and the with
its
49 as
latter
Ain
orchards and
we have the well Secu, beside which Saul Abner afterwards did. It is not more than
three or four miles either from er-R&meh or from Hebron. It is possibly one of the springs of Caleb (Joshua xv. 19).
6-
The
narrative before us yields, not only these rich
fruits of topographical interest, but others equally
welcome
in the department of geography.
In the opinion of the
(a)
situation of Samuel's
Ramah and
the most complicated
'
and
It will have
topography.'
its
difficult
and Mr. Van de Velde's Bdmet,
is
problem of sacred
Ramah Mr.
it is so
Walcott's
a little north of Hebron.
further scriptural evidence
found that there
allied questions is
become evident that
solely in the refusal to accept as
When
Dean Stanley the
late
is
adduced
will be
it
in this no variance with the existing
localities.
Speaking
him
to Saul in the gate of his city,
that he would find two
men
in the border of Benjamin.
undisputed.
It
The
it
is
Chron.
ii,
the land.
It
51). it
Judah.
territory of the
The name
termed Bethlehem-Judah.
founder was Salma, a son of Nahshon, (1
is
The boundary between Benjamin
city in the division of
in Judges xvii. 7, where
the land, though
tomb
site of this
and Judah thus ran between the two, the Bethlehem was a
told
by Rachel's sepulchre
stands beside the road about one mile
north of Bethlehem.^
*
Samuel
first
Its
first '
occurs
father
'
or
prince of the tribe of Judah
was thus occupied immediately on Joshua's conquest of
does not find a place in Joshua's record of the
cities of
THE TABERNACLE.
50
former being extended, in a wedge-shape, just far enough,
tomb of their great ancestress. It is, if possible, a still more inevitable deduction that the 'land of Zuph' (1 Samuel ix. 5) lay to the south of Bethlehemin-Judah. As Saul was a Benjamite, the speech of the
to include the
two men he was of the
to
meet
was
at Zelzah
coming supremacy of
'little
to be
an indication
Benjamin, their
ruler.'
That Rachel's tomb remained a well-known spot
for
we know
from the prophetic utterance
of Jeremiah (xxxi. 15), the
Ramah mentioned by him
centuries after this,
here not being the same as that of chapter
The
first
xl. 1.
Matthew, though
Evangelist,
a
Galilean,
could have had no misgivings as to the contiguity of Rachel's tomb with
Ramah, and
of both with
(which lay between them), as he
Jeremiah and connects
it
cites
Bethlehem
the
with Bethlehem and
verse '
all
of
the
borders thereof,' er-R&meh being twelve miles off (Matthew
At
16-18).
ii.
of stones with a
tomb was only a pyramid cave beneath, which was its appearance
this time the
80 late as the seventh century a.d. {b)
As
Saul went northward to Gibeon from Rachel's
tomb, he would pass to the west of Jebus, even then called Jerusalem,*
he came happen.
apply (at
to
and was told by Samuel that when
the Gibeah-of-God a certain thing would In Samuel's mouth this name could hardly any other place than Mizpah (= Neby Samwil), to
the foot of which his most direct path lay), as
was there that God had
so lately
come
people against the Philistine army. 1
As shown by the
Tel
to the help of his
Its connection
el-Amarna
it
tablets.
with
TABEENACLE REMOVED TO NOB. the subject of this chapter
lies
51
in the fact that
it
had
become a bamah or high-place, and that a procession of musicians coming from there was joined by Saul, who,
meeting them at the
Ir
'
them
enclosure, accompanied
'
to another high-place, probably that at Gibeon, I5 miles
away.
These Israelitish high-places
heathenism, being based upon the
were
copy of
a
material idea that
worshippers standing on them were nearer to the seat
God
of the
when on lower ground.
or gods than
contrast with this
it
may
be noticed that the
chosen
sites
Gilgal
for the Tabernacle were never those of hill-tops.
was on a
plain, Shiloh
on a gently-rising
even Moriah was surrounded by
hills
In
slope,
higher than
and
itself.
Ramah, as we have seen, lay below the town in which Samuel lived, and Gibeon may have been on a plain. In the identification of er-Rdmeh of Judah with the Bamah of Samuel, we also recover the Arimathea of '
Joseph, the Sanhedrist,
and
laid it in his
of the
7.
The
It
is
altar at
now
of
selection
a
king,
the body of Jesus
Arimathea was 51)
the
at
still
*
time
a city
of
the
quite deserted.
Ramah was
national assembly
Samwil)
xxxii.
informed of his
privately
A
own tomb.
Jews' (Luke
Crucifixion.
who begged
'
held
in use
coming shortly
showed
that
when Saul was
election
as
King.
afterwards, for the
Mizpah
(
= Nehy
was the central meeting-place of the Tribes;
while Samuel's instruction to Saul to spend seven days at Gilgal
him
as
in
preparation for the public recognition of
God's vicegerent, showed that the Tabernacle
THE TABERNACLE.
52
now
stood
change
great
This was no
imminent.
ment
A
ttere.
less
however,
was,
than the
abandon-
final
of Gil gal as the site of the Tabernacle.
vain to attempt any categorical reason
Not unlikely
it
It
were
for this action.
was done at Saul's instigation, and as
a step toward the attainment of a purpose which he, Saul's attitude toward the priesthood
later, carried out.
was uniformly one of
had usurped the consecration
(1
He
and even contempt.
hostility
own
priest's office at the service of his
Samuel
xiii.
He
9).
had,
as
a con-
sequence, alienated from himself the friendship of Samuel,
whose
life
he threatened
Samuel
(1
More was
xvi. 2).
to
follow.
The with
however, was that, after the final breach
result,
Samuel
(1
Samuel
xv.),
Tabernacle as being at Nob. case
in
the records of
revolting- to
those
the conscience
we next hear of As is so frequently
Doubtless
over without mention.
deeds
days,
of the
writers
the the
were
that
are passed
Saul found
Qilgal,
in the eastern limit of the land, inconvenient as a place of rendezvous for the militia of the people,
engaged
(1
Samuel
xiv.
47),
sometimes requisite there.
with Samuel had been that
we
find the
and injurious
which he was constantly
to the military operations in
It
as is
his
attendance
was
not until the breach
followed by that with David,
High-priest Ahimelech
(son
of
the
Ahitub who, forty years before this, had been rescued from the burning of Shiloh) officiating at Nob. He seems to have been a
man
character or pride of
office,
without any real dignity of just
such a one as would
IDENTIFICATION OF FOB.
63
whom
surrender everything to the hectoring of Saul, of
he lived
craven
in
He
fear.
probably removed the
Tabernacle to Nob.
Four miles
8.
to the north of Jerusalem,
and at the
main
distance of a quarter of a mile to the east of the road,
named by the Arabs of this
knobbed
a curiously
is
hill
and
double-topped
30 feet higher than Mount Zion, and
is
pyramidal
large
mound
Robinson supposes to tower of 40 or 50
No
thrown down.
At
The crown
Tell (or Tuleil) el-Ful.
Jerusalem can be plainly seen from a
hill,
of
have
been
and
feet,
other
On
it.
unhewn to
top
its
is
stones,
which
originally a
square
have been violently
foundations
are to be
seen.
the foot of the hill are ancient substructions, built
of large
unhewn
are on
south side, and adjoin the great road.
If
its
we take
Nob (=
low massive walls.
stones in
These
the scriptural indications as to the site of
and these ruins
height), this hill
fulfil
the
all
conditions of the case. (a)
as
Nob was
one of
its
so far regarded as belonging to Jerusalem, villages
involving
(thus
its
proximity),
that David's bringing Goliath's head and sword to the
Tabernacle at
Jerusalem (6)
(1
Nob was regarded
Samuel
A clearer
gained by the villages in
32).
record
which Nob
These
them
to
xvii. 54).
indication as to its situation
of is
the
restoration
is,
however,
towns
and
mentioned, the name occurring
between those of Anathoth xi.
as bringing
two places
and still
Ananiah bear
(Nehemiah
practically
the
THE TABERNACLE.
54
same names, and their
well known.
are
sites
In the
narrow space between Anata and Hanina stands the of Tell el-Ful,
which we take
Another indication
(c)
climax of which ;
hill
be the ancient Nob.
contained in Isaiah's account
is
march on Jerusalem, the picturesque
of Sennacherib's
Nob
to
'
is,
This very day shall he halt at
he shaketh his hand at the mount of the daughter
of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem' (Isaiah x. 28-32).
There
are only two hills on the north from which the city can
be seen, so as of these
is
Pompey
in
to give reality to the poet's words.
Nehy SamwU, the other
the Assyrians
centuries,
after
Tell el-Ful.
One Like
approached
Jerusalem from the valley of the Jordan, and not by
any of
its
The evidences of
great roads.
be found in the
Nob
context of the verse in which
with their modern equivalents, are (1) Aith,
east
of et
.
(=
Tell
is
mentioned.
are
to
which
Ai),
These,
:
now Khdn Haiyan,
.
.
this
of places given in the preceding
list
is
I mile south-
one mile north of
Michmash. (2)
a
Migron,
little east
(3)
.
=
(
.
.
precipice),
now Makhrun,
of Bethel.
Michmash,
.
modern
.
.
village of MUkhrnds,
north of the Eastern Gibeah (Jeba).
The Michmash' (4)
'
Pass (1
'
.
Sam.
.
xiii.
.
Compare
'
the
pass
of
23).
(5) Geba, (= Jeba), 2 or 3 miles south of Michmash, with the Suweinit gorge between. .
.
.
Ramah, ... (= west of Geba (= Jeba). (6)
er Earn),
between 2 and 3 miles
SENNACHERIB ON NOB. (7)
Gibeah of Saul,
3 miles to tbe west of (8) Gallim, (1
.
.
.
.
.
.
55
= Gibeon,
now el- Jib, Benjamin (= er Rdm).
Ramab of (= heaps),
birthplace of Pbalti
Sam. XV. 44), unknown. (9) Laishah,
...
named Adasa,
a ruin
east of
Gibeon. (10)
Anathotb,
.
.
village
.
of An&ta,
5 miles
north-east of Jerusalem. (11)
Madmenah,
.
.
(=
.
dung-heap), unknown,
possibly a suburb of Jerusalem. (12)
Gebim,
.
.
(
.
= the
trenches),
unknown,
possibly defensive works on the north side of Jerusalem.
The outstanding military facts of the five verses in which these names occur are that Sennacherib had laid up his baggage at Michmash, the pass being impossible for vehicles, and had moved on to Nob with a part of his army (the main body being at Geba), from the top of which he was
on that very day
'
'
to shake his fist at
Jerusalem.
Mizpah
is
not mentioned.
and may have had no {d)
An
settled population.
examination of the three books of the Bible in
which Nob
is
mentioned leaves us no ground
Neby 8amwil.
in
It lay off the line of march,
If
Mizpah be
in this
the only other claimant to the position
David was 30 years '
Saul was an old
man
lead to this conclusion. 39),
is
for seeing it
way
excluded,
Tell el-Ful.
of age at the time of Saul's death.'
at the time of his death.
Two
lines of
One, that his fourth son, Ish-bosheth
was 40 years old when he was
set
upon the throne
(2
Sam.
argument
(1
Chron.
ii.
10).
ix.
The
THE TABERNACLE.
56
He
was thus
still
a young
man when he
and obtained Goliath's sword.
Nob
called at
Shortly afterwards, during
the lifetime of Saul, the Tabernacle was removed to Gibeon.
During the few years
in
which
stood at
it
Nob
would
it
hardly be likely to have been placed on the top of the hill.
We have seen
spirit of the
new
the foot of the
that such situations were alien to the
faith. hill,
must thus be sought
Its place
where are the low massive walls
and ancient substructions of unhewn
No
Robinson.
Their
height,
at
stone,
remarked by
dimensions of these walls are available.
and
thickness,
length
unrecorded, together with the areas and aspect.
With
of
size
remain their
as
yet
enclosed
the key of the cubit in our
hand we may be able to decide as to their probable origin and history, so soon as the required data are before Then may be expected to close another chapter in us. the elucidation of the memorable sites of the Holy Land.
9.
The episode
of the High-priest Ahimelech's giving
Goliath's sword to David at
with consequences to
other, that
all
Nob
one that was pregnant
is
the parties concerned in
by the true interpretation of
1
it.
It
Sam. xiii. Saul's popular election by Samuel, when he became war with the Philistines broke out,
as king took place one year after his anointing
king de jure.
Two
years after his election
which Jonathan greatly distinguished himself. He could not haye been less than 18 years of age at this time, his father, Saul, being possibly 20 years older. This was in the fourth year of his reign, when he was about in
The length of his The reading in the margin of
38 years of age.
reign
short.
1
is
Sam.
in which Saul, at the time of his election, than as 'young.'
nowhere given, but
ix. is
2
is
it
was not
therefore to be preferred,
spoken of aa
'
choice
'
rather
THE TABERNACLE AT GIBEON.
57
gave to the tyrant Saul the opportunity of carrying out a half-fulfilled purpose which he must, for a long time,
have secretly cherished.
To
was we must, for a moment, look which the family of Saul stood to Gibeah-of-Saul, more
We
have, in the
what that purpose
learn
at
their ancestral city,
commonly known
first
the relations in
as Gibeon.
book of Chronicles, genealogies,
rewritten after the return from the Captivity, in which
the descent of the two houses of Saul and David are
minutely traced. Six verses of chapter
33-38) trace the family
(vv.
viii.
history from Ner, the father of Kish, and grandfather of Saul, to those descendants of the ex-royal family
returned from the Babylonish captivity. are repeated in
chapter
(vv.
ix.
who
These particulars
39 — 44), and are an
illustration of the composite character of the book.
In
each of these texts are verses preceding them, practically identic,
in
which the family history
They
back as the records went. another as to
tell
given as far
us that a certain Jeiel, whose wife's
name was Maachah, was joint
is
so far supplement one
the
*
father
genealogy furnishes a line of
'
This
of Gibeon,
fifteen generations,
and dates from some period anterior to the elevation of Saul.
What
is
meant by the
•'
father
which cannot be reproduced
Western
social life.
The
'
of a city
is
a position
—hardly understood—in
soil
out of which the
our
office
grew was the patriarchal one, by which the family, the sept, and the clan were governed by its eldest and most honoured member.
When
the change from a pastoral
THE TABERNACLE.
68
was complete, and
into that of an agricultural one
life
communities were formed in villages, towns, and the same social instincts prevailed, and the
the
little
ofl&ce,
*
cities,
father
'
of
group of households became an hereditary
Thus the
transmitted from father to son.^
of 'father,' in
tlie
oflS.ce
once Gibeonite town of Gibeah, was
retained in the family of Matri, and descended to Saul.
The family
inheritance was
Benjamin,
of
Samuel
(2
where
Eleph (=
28, next to
is
Holding
Israel,
all
family
the
county
sepulchre xviii.
and was probably not far
it
honour
this local
King over
the
mentioned in Joshua
Lifta),
from Gibeon, but no trace of
in
Zela,
was
also
Zela
xxi. 14).
at
has been found.
in the family,
and elected
make Gibeon
Saul determined to
the seat of government for the country and the spiritual capital of the
new kingdom.
To
this
end tbe transfer
of the Tabernacle from Gilgal was one step. of Samuel's altar at a large
Ramah was
another, as
The it
erection
withdrew
amount of influence from the recognised place
of sacrifice for the twelve tribes.
about this time
(1
Samuel xxv.
The death 1),
of
Samuel
and the incident of
the sword of Goliath, gave Saul the opportunity he
long waited
and
all
for.
Sending
for
bad
Ahimelech, the High-priest,
the priests that were in Nob, to some height
adjoining Gibeon, he had them foully murdered before his eyes. '
The
title,
He
did not fear to
lift
up
his
hand upon the
however, would seem to have been retained in the records only who were the first of their line, or the founders of cities.
to those fathers
cases as those of 1 Chron. ii. 42-62 and iv. 4-5, in which Canaanite towns are mentioned, the father of each is to be understood of its
In such
'
first ruler or patriarch.
'
MASSACRE OF THE GIBEONITES.
59
He
This was but a part of his crime.
Lord's anointed.
sent his executioners to Nob, and there destroyed all the
dedicated servants of the Tabernacle, Abiathar alone, as
a
priest,
At
being allowed to escape.
the
same time he began a war of general ex-
termination against the Gibeonite hewers of wood and
drawers of water for the Tabernacle.
We catch
a glimpse
of this act of uncalled-for ferocity in the statement that
the Beerothites fled to Gittaim (2 Samuel
was
iv. 3).
Beeroth
one of the four Hivite cities that drew Joshua into
a treaty of peace, and by the destruction of
their
all
heathen inhabitants Saul hoped to purge Gibeon and the land of
its
the Tabernacle, of Israel (2 of
series
foreign element, and to secure around
when
Samuel
men of the We know how
re-erected, only
xxi, 2, 5).
race this
monstrous crimes was expiated in the reign
by the death of seven of Saul's descendants, who were hanged in Gibeah-of-Saul, i.e. Gibeon. Before that day came, however, the Tabernacle was removed to Gibeon, and the policy of blood and sacrilege
of David,
seemed
to prosper.
10. In the original grant of fourteen cities to the tribe
same name
of Benjamin, three had different forms of the
(Joshua
xviii.
21-28), two of which were priestly
cities.
These are given as Geba, Gibeon, and Gibeath, but their sites have been recovered, and they may be distinguished as Jibia, the place of the northern Gibeah site of
the eastern Gibeah
;
southern Gibeah, or Gibeon.
and
el- Jib,
;
Jeba, the
the village of the
THE TABERNACLE.
60
The former
was not only the largest
city of the Hivites
more prominent part in the history of the country thaa either Gibeah of Benjamin of the three, but played a
'
(=
Jeba) or the Gibeah lying in the north angle of the
few miles south of Shiloh,^ now
territory of Benjamin, a
known
In addition
as Jlbia.
this similarity of
to the confusion
names, the word Gibeah
an
in the English Bible (both versions) as
and not as a proper name,
tree in
Ramah
The
Samuel
(1
practically
is
(2
said to
have
vi. 3),
xxii. 6).
identity of the village
Gibeon'
is
appellative,
described as sitting in Gibeah, under the
is
of Gibeon
Abinadab
often used
Gibeah of Kirjath-Jearim (2 Samuel
lived in the
and Saul
e.g.,
is
caused by
Samuel
are in Gibeon
ii.
with the '
site
The pool
of
and 'the great waters that
13)
(Jeremiah
'
of el-Jih
beyond dispute.
xli.
11) are
still
represented
by a large stone tank or reservoir, 100 x 120 feet, by a spring which rises in a cave higher up. A secret way led down from the town to the spring, supplied
as at Jerusalem.
The
village
stands
mamelons (2,572 from Bethel.
on the more northerly of two
feet) six miles
from Jerusalem and seven
Its strategic value
was
great, as it lay
on
the watershed of the central plateau, across which, passing its
northern
foot,
ran the road which connects the pass
of Bethhoron on the west with that of east.
El- Jib
is
built
upon an
isolated oblong hill standing
in a plain or basin of great fertility. '
Michmash on the The northern end
Hence we read that in the reign of Josiah the kingdom from Geha to Beersheba (2 Kings xxiii. 8).
extended
'
'
of
Judah
GIBEON AS A CAPITAL. of tte hill fallen
now
is
down
covered with old massive niins, which have
in every direction,
and in which the villagers
Across the plain to the south
live.
the lofty
is
Nehy SamwU.
ridge of
Gibeon was one of four towns
Benjamin given
as
(Joshua xxi. 17). priests,
61
and
this,
in
added
of
was thus already inhabited by to its other advantages,
humanly speaking, a not unsuitable place of the new kingdom. Its situation is than that of Jerusalem, and
central
division
the sons of Aaron
residences for It
the
made
it,
for the capital
more
certainly
the
soil
of the
adjoining territory more fertile than the rocky slopes of Olivet and Moriah or the valleys that
In the
total
destruction
Tabernacle was reserved. to the plans of the
King.
lie
around them.
Nob
hamlet at
of the
Its preservation
It is in entire consonance
the habits and traditions
of
Hebrew
the
was necessary with
historiographers
that an act so founded in self-will and ambition as the transfer of the altar and tabernacle to Gibeon, with
all its
brutal accompaniments, should be unrecorded by them.
Not
in
any way
to refer to
was at once the most
it
or to notice
find
and the
Such we find
and devout reign of
to be the case throughout the long
we
existence,
dignified censure of Saul,
most complete repudiation of his action.^ David.
its
Not until his death and Solomon's accession do any specific reference to the erection of the
> The verdict of history was spoken by the prophet Hosea, who wrote He traces the moral corruption of years before the fall of Samaria. few a They have deeply corrupted the northern kingdom to its source at Gibeon Israel, thou hast sinned from themselves as in the days of Gibeah the days of Gibeah. There have they continued (Hosea ix, 9 and x. 9). :
'
....
'
THE TABERNACLE.
62
And
Tabernacle at Gibeon.
and minute that we at once of a long and
A
the record feel it to
is
tben so
full
be tbe breaking
Kings
premeditated silence (1
iii.
4).
single line in the history of David's officers of state
bad been
records tbat Zadok, of the senior line of Eleazar,
placed in charge of the Tabernacle at Gibeon, doubtless
by
Saul,
and
shows that David did not kindle
this entry
the flames of religious strife by repudiating Saul's action,
but recognised
wisb
it
as a tbing done,
to interfere (2
No
witb whicb he did not
Samuel xx. 25).
remains of buildings at el-Jib have been discovered,
such as those at er-R&meh and Tell el-Ful, wbicb attributed to the Tabernacle as
A
suggestion
may
outer walls.
be hazarded that the Tabernacle
stood on the west side of is
its
may be
el-Jib,
where, in the plain,
a large neglected well, at a distance of about a mile
from the
city.
in diameter
It is called Bir el-Ozeiz,
and nearly
filled
8 feet to the water, which also Biblical Researches, vol.
i.
p.
up with is
455;
and
19 feet^
is
earth, being only
very scanty (Robinson's vol.
ii.
p.
256).
So large a work as the digging of this well would not have been undertaken without some adequate motive. It
is
not used for purposes of agriculture,
and may
possibly have once supplied an adjoining tabernacle with
water. 1 This nmst be a printer's error for 9 feet. I judge the well to have about the same diameter as the well at Mmet. It has lately been cleaned out and the upper wall rebuilt, so that no stress can be laid upon any diameter that is
not taken below the level of the wai«r. overflowing, and no agricultural use
running to waste.
In February, 1904, the well was was being made of the water, which was
TABERI^ACLE SITE AT But
GIBEOI^r.
further investigation is necessary, though
be remarked that
tlie
situation
63 it
may
suitable to the description
is
that the Gibeonites hanged Saul's seven descendants
the mountain before the
Lord
'
*
Samuel xxi.
(2
9)
'
;
in if
by this we are to understand the southern Mamelon, on which there are no ruins, and which is to the east of the well.
11. If,
however, David never worshipped in person at
the Tabernacle of Gibeon, and did no more than ofiEcially
standing of Zadok as one of two
recognise the high
officiating High-priests,^ difficult
we
are not to suppose that the
ecclesiastical questions of the
ceive consideration
hour did not
from him, and some kind of
re-
solution.
Whatever the treatment he adopted, we may be sure that it was at once tender and cautious, and in contrast to the high-handed action of Saul, the apostate King of Israel. That it was not sufficiently reverential we shall see.
1 The mention of Geba (Gibeon) in 1 Chron. viii. 6 is suggestive, the more so as the Chaldee Targum adds to Manahath the words In the land of Edom.' Considering how hostile were the relations of Benjamin and Judah after the death of Saul (2 Samuel iii. 1), and the fact that at David's election as king over all the tribes the greater part of the tribe of Benjamin kept their '
allegiance to the house of Saul (I Chron.
the migration
('
captivity
')
of a
number
xii.
29),
it
is
not improbable that
of malcontent Benjamites, under the
guidance of Naaman, Ahijab, and Gera, heads of fathers' houses in Gibeon, to Mahanath ( = resting-place) in Edom, took place at this time.
At the 1 Chron. *
The
restoration the return of viii.
some of
their descendants is
noted in
8-12.
resolution to build at Jerusalem a
new
tent and Tabernacle for the
Ark, rather than to replace it in its old shrine at Gibeon, is the clearest possible proof of the adoption of this line of conduct.
THE TABERNACLE.
64
On
David's election as
King over
his capture of the fortress of Jehus
the
Amarna
tablets,
—
one of his
though fitted
is
—the With
Uru-salim of
was
characteristic
always called
by Phoenician masons and (2 Sam. v. 11, and
built
the Tribes, and
first civic activities
the building of a palace for himself. simplicity of language this
all
with cedar-wood
'
a house,'
carpenters, and 1 Chron. xv. 1).
Questions of the situation of this house, and even of the locality of the city of David,
belong to the topography of
In the
Jerusalem, and will be treated under that head.
meantime
it
is
enough
to state the conclusions arrived
which are that the Ophel
at,
known
should be
house stood on wall of the
narrow
its
what
and that David's
highest point, and just below the south
was reached by a gate and
It
area.
running east and west, from the place of
the Horse Gate, which of Mount Moriah.
palace
swelling) spur is
as the city of David,
Haram
street,
(=
stood
at the south-west
The elevated
situation
of
corner
David's
implied both in the Bathsheba incident, and in
is
the view of the procession of the ark Michal had from
one of
its
Near
windows.
to,
possibly
adjoining, the
farther to the west,
was a place
for the ark of God,
and a
at Gibeon,
site of
the
prepared,'
i.e.
levelled,
tent, in exact imitation of that
was pitched upon
That the
'
King's house, and
it (1
Chron. xv.
new Tabernacle
1).
adjoined that of
the palace to which Solomon brought his Egyptian wife,
we
see in the curious reason given
by him
for
removing
her to the porch built for her on Mount Moriah. wife,' said he,
'
'
My
shall not dwell in the house of David,
A SECOND TABERNACLE.
65
E!ing of Israel, because the places are holy whereunto the
ark of the
Lord hath come
size,
'
Chron.
(2
viii. 11).
David's house was not of large
It is probable that
and that the tent of the Tabernacle stood in a very
though enclosed, area
limited,
The language
Kings
of 1
the great high place,'
is
(1
Kings
iii.
that
'
at
Gibeon was
not only singular in appropriating
to the Tabernacle a description
authorized places of
4,
viii. 1).
but
sacrifice,
commonly used it
of un-
also involves the idea
of there having been another sanctioned high-place of inferior
age and fewer associations.
That when the golden
ark of the Covenant arrived at Jerusalem they offered burntofferings
leaves no
and peace-offerings before God
(1
Chron. xvi.
1),
room for doubt as to whether David's tabernacle was furnished with an altar or not. These
in Jerusalem offerings
could have been
made only
at
a
equipped tabernacle, before which an altar stood is
it
probable that up to this time the public
offered daily, monthly,
nation,
were
The new and
use,
Ark
and
sacrifices,
its altar
and
by Zadok.
offered
being ready for occupation it
the
of the Covenant, which had, for nearly a century of
room
priest in attendance
This approximate total
at Kirjath-Jearim,
upon
is
with no High-
it.
thus made up
;
(1)
Samuel's judgeship, from
the loss of the ark to the election of Saul, 40 years
;
(2)
length of Saul's
which the ark was in captivity, ahout 20 years David's reign of seven years at Hebron, and portion of reign in Jerusalem,
reign, during the whole of (3)
though
arrangements were made for bringing into
years,* lain in its
'
;
and yearly, on behalf of the whole
slain at Gibeon,
tent
properly-
10 to 15 years.
THE TABERNACLE.
66
was determined to have a great procession of manythousands, gathered from all places between the extremes It
Wady-el-Arish and the Yalley of the Orontes.
of
the record of this assemblage no mention priests or Levites.
The its
idea
was that
Psalm
cxxxii.
of
lost in battle,
and
absence from the Tabernacle was thus a national act,
so the it to
whole nation, by
its
representatives, should escort
Jerusalem, and that the soldiery and civilians should
there deliver
to the priests, to be put into its place in
it
The procession was formed
the midst of the Tabernacle.
many
at Kirjath-Jearim, with as the ark
cart
a
In
made
was then composed.
had been
as the ark
is
had been restored by the Philistines on a new
drawn by two milch
new
cart
were laymen. is
The
whom
it
led the oxen
As Kirjath-Jearim was
a Levitical city,
nor
kine, so
was now put upon
and placed in the care of two of the sons o£
Abinadab, one of the cart.
musical instruments, and
it is
They
and the other drove
neither a priestly nor
probable that Abinadab and his sons are
nowhere given any sacred rank,
any blessing attached
to their long care of the ark.
policy pursued, that of following the Philistine
precedent of
removing
the
ark,
and of
restoration an act of national glorification,
one.
when
Uzza was smitten
making its was a fatal
to death for touching the
the oxen were restive.
The
ark
procession was at once
David, who was present, as one of the players upon harps, on the instant gave orders to abandon the
arrested.
progress.
The ark was reverently carried by Levites into the house of one of their number who lived in a neighbouring
RISE OF OBED-EDOM. Tillage,^
and
Israel dispersed with a
Law, and
reality of the Mosaic
on those who disobeyed
67
new
of the
sense
of the penalties following
it.
Obed-Edom, into whose house the ark was received, was a Kohathite Levite of the family of Korah, the Kohathites being the highest in rank of
Aaron and Moses belonging a resident of Gittaim
(= two
their
to
the Levites,
all
He was
stock.
winepresses), a village that
stood beside the road, somewhere in the ten miles that
separated Eirjath-Jearim
and Jerusalem.
not been recovered, though
time (2 Samuel
(Nehemiah
xi.
iv.
33).
it
is
and again
3),
From
the
Its site has
mentioned in David's after the
name
restoration
of his home, and
from the prominence into which the events of brought him, he came Gittite.
to
be known as Obed-Edom the
The ark remained
in his care for the space of
three months, during which time
The nature of the
blessed him. in the
names
day
this
we
Lord
are told the
blessing
may
be seen
of the eight sons (1 Chron. xxvi. 4-5)
were successively born
to
who
him, and whose descendants
became principal members of the Temple guard. Till The fact of these sons then he evidently had no son. having been born, and having grown to early manhood subsequent to the removal of the ark to Jerusalem,
is
one
of many indications of the time which elapsed between different events recorded in
the text, and which stand
adjacent to one another. 1
A
number
village (2
Nethinim were at this time living in this fled from the massacre by Saul, it is lay outside the boundaries of the tribe of Benjamin. The
of the Tabernacle
Samuel
probable that
it
text impUes this.
iv. 3).
As they had
THE TABERNACLE.
68
12. During these three months great preparations were
made
for the further removal of the ark with all fitting
The ritual of the Law was studied Both the High - priests were and minutely followed. ordered to be in attendance, that they might wrap up solemnity and honour.
the ark in the inner veil of the sanctuary, as prescribed in
Numbers
5-6, and place
iv.
its
staves in
position.
Neither priests nor Levites were allowed to touch the ark, or to look
tken carried
upon
from Gittaim
;
of
120 attended the procession
this purpose
The
sons,
number
of 742 attended
the associates, of Jeduthun
i.e.
had harps and other instruments The sons of Heman, the grandson of
Merarites,
percussion.
Samuel,
The Kohathites resting upon their
uncovered.
other Levites to the
as musicians.
who were
when
the ends of the staves
it,
For
shoulders.
it
and
Kohathites
so
Chron.
(1
vi.
33),
bore
The sons of Asaph The members of these three conductor named Chenaniah,
trumpets and other wind instruments. (Gershonites) were singers. guilds of music were under a chief of the Levites,
who
of the ark, because
he was
Some
instructed about the carrying skilful
Chron. xv. 22).
(1
of the instruments were set to Alamoth and others
to the Sheminith.
It
is
know
interesting to
that the
musical octave was in use in those early times, of which the superscriptions of Psalms xlvi. and
When
the procession
linen garments
preceding
but that sacrifices
it,
God
moved
and blowing
and
it
oflF,
vi.
are memorials.
seven priests, robed in
silver trumpets,
was seen that no
immediately
disaster occurred,
accepted the services of the porter-Levites,
were
offered
by the
roadside.
With
great
ARK BROUGHT TO JERUSALEM. rejoicings
tlie
ark was carried to Jerusalem (Obed-Edom
and Jehiah being in
attendance upon
special
Holy
set in its place in the
it),
and
of Holies within the
new
Tabernacle which had been built for
David.
Sacrifices
on the altar before gifts of
great
in it,
official
in the city of
it
number were then
oflfered
and the day closed with royal
— the
bread and raisins and wine to every adult
flesh of the peace-offerings
We
69
being
common
have in the 16th chapter of setting of the
this great occasion.
for
all.
Chronicles
1
the
Psalm which David composed
for
And
we
have the same poem as
amended
to
in
Psalms
cv.
and
xcvi.
was divided into parts and use in the Temple worship. Besides these it
memorials of that day, we have in Psalms xv. and xxiv.
two other
lyrics
which were written with direct reference
to the death of Uzza, but their tone of sadness
and query
does not comport so well with the day of rejoicing as
with the period of anxiety which immediately preceded
it.
13. There were now, and for several years, two fully
equipped Tabernacles in
Israel.
That
at
Gibeon was
presided over by the representatives of the elder line
Aaron and had as its distinctive glory the original Tabernacle and Altar made by Moses. That at Jerusalem, was distinguished by having the original Ark and MercySeat and the two tables of the Law, and was attended of
by the heir of the younger line of Aaron's descendants. Both were under the protection and support of the King, as supreme ruler in Church and State subject
—
only to the theocratic idea under which the nation was
THE TABERNACLE.
70 called
With consummate
existence.
into
David determined upon doing divide
Israel
into
two
hostile
which
nothing
camps
kingcraft
of
should
worshippers.
The younger brothers and sons of each High-priest being ordinary priests, and not High-priests, and the genealogies being carefully kept, no difficulty arose in surrounding each of the two heads of the sub-clans with a
number
of
associate-priests.
They would
naturally
group themselves around the several princes of their The danger of family at Gibeon and at Jerusalem. schism in such an arrangement was one which David took an early opportunity of correcting, as
But
how
at the first this is
so far as sacrificing priests
shall see.
the two altars were served,
were needed.
"With Levites the case was different. of these were divided
we
The three
clans
by David's authority immediately
on the establishment of regular worship in Jerusalem.
Asaph and ministered
all
before
the Gershonites (1 Chron, the
ark
continually,
vi.
by
39-43)
turns,
as
every day's work required, either as musicians or as attendants on the
Obed-Edom with
slaughterers
of
sacrificial
animals.*
the Gittite, with sixty-seven of his brethren,
another
Obed-Edom,
Hosah, another Merarite, in
a all
son
of
Jeduthun,
and
seventy persons, or ten
' At the reopening of the Temple on the accession of Hezekiah, the priests were too few to flay the sacrifices. They were therefore helped, in this part of the work, by the Levites (2 Chron. xxix. 34). This passage is therefore against the view that the Levites up to this period slaughtered the sacrificial animals, as, when needed, they only assisted to flay them. But in the amended rules of Ezekiel they were to be allowed to kill the sacriflces for the people, hut not more directly to attend upon the altar (Ezekiel xliv. 10-14).
PUBLIC WORSHIP REORGANIZED.
71
per diem for every week, were appointed to be doorkeepers of tlie Tabernacle in Jerusalem. The staff was
now
complete.
were in their
Priests, Levites, singers,
and doorkeepers
and chief amongst them was Asaph, the writer of Psalms 1. and Ixxiii.-lxxvii. That Asaph places,
was the writer
of certain
Psalms
is
aflBrmed in 2 Chron.
xxix. 30,
The remaining Levites
of the
Heman
sub-clans of
and Jeduthun (Kohathites and Merarites) were
in
the
choir, or assistants to the slaughterers in the shambles,^
or at the gates of the Tabernacle of the Lord' that was at
Gibeon
which
this
(1
Chron. xvi. 39-42).
arrangement of Levites
From is
the terms in
recorded
it
would
appear that the service of song in the House of the
Lord that was
at Jerusalem was, with the exception of
the priests' trumpets, purely vocal, and that at Gibeon it
was
largely,
if
not wholly, instrumental.
This
is
what might have been anticipated when we read that, at the progress from Gittaira, 'On that day did David first ordain to give thanks unto the Lord by the hand of Asaph and his brethren' (1 Chron. xvi. 7). The precedent then established was retained by the same authorities, David and Asaph, in the worship which daily rose from the city of David. set to
music were now
by the poet-king and
first
Devotional words
introduced into the Church
the psalmist-singer.
The
older
and more conservative method of musical worship by instruments was naturally retained at Gibeon. This was in
harmony with the law of Numbers 1
See note on p. 70.
x. 10.
Such an
THE TABERNACLE.
72
innovation as was in use in Ophel not only rendered the service of devout,
also
it
House of God more intelligently called for such psalms and hymns and the
we have
spiritual songs as
in the
body of the Psalter,
and has thus been an unspeakable blessing
to the
Church
in all subsequent ages.
The genealogy
of the three chiefs of the two choirs,
with Asaph standing on the right of Heman, and Ethan (
= Jeduthun)
16-48,
on his
being
it
stated
merely provisional of the
left,
'
until
Lord in Jerusalem
of the tent of meeting
though in two
parts,
'
is
In chapter
two choirs
is
vi.
that their appointments were
Solomon had built the House '
The
(verse 32).
is,
the representatives
xvi.
'
tabernacle
however, spoken of as one,
body of musicians being present meeting.
Chron.
given in 1
of the whole
the
at
recognition
37-42, their separation into
recorded, with their constituents, as already
noted.
14. It
is to
be imagined that the removal of the ark to
Jerusalem, and the inauguration of the Tabernacle- service there, took place about the
forty years.
The
middle of David's reign of
true sequence of events
is,
however,
of more importance than an exact chronology of any one of them,
and the next development bearing upon our
subject
that of the acquirement of a site for the future
is
temple, and
its
occupation by an altar.
This took place in connection with David's census of
we have it, Joab knew that it
the people, a matter which the Law, sanctions,
though
so
shrewd a man
as
as
THEOPHANY ON MOEIAH. would be a cause of
guilt to Israel
;
73
reason
tlie
being
that the half-shekel of atonement-money for each male
above 20 years of age was not proposed to be collected,
The penalty
according to the law of Exodus xxx. 11—16. for not
The
doing so was to be an outbreak of the plague.
sequel of the census taken
by Joab
however, worthy of notice
is
well known.
command
the
that
It
is,
to
build
an
of
Oman
the Jebusite was of Divine origin, and came
Jehovah in the
altar to
through the prophet Gad
mand was
(1
It is
Chron. xxi. 18).
(as
might be anticipated)
lay outside the circuit of the city wall as is
to
a point of capital urgency to
show that the threshing-floor Evidence on this behalf
This com-
and David himself went
at once obeyed,
effect the purchase.
threshing-floor
reserved until
it it
then stood.
can be more
fully dealt with in the topography of Jerusalem.
It is
there inferred that the original north wall of the city of
David ran diagonally
across
what
is
now known
Haram
area, cutting off its south-west corner,
the
of the Sakhrah Stone
site
as the
and leaving
outside the fortification.
To this spot David came, buying the threshing instrument and oxen for fifty silver shekels,^ and the large site of ground, probably the whole farm, for 600 shekels of gold.^
As soon
as the purchase
was completed, David
built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered the
as a burnt-sacrifice, on
»
At 3«. id., about £8 As the ratio in value
which
fell
the
fire
two oxen
of Heaven.
10s.
and gold in early times -was that of 13 40, a gold shekel of the same weight as one of silver would be valued at about 2
10».
of silver
Hence 600 such =£300.
:
THE TABEENACLE.
74
When we remember that every Jewish altar was placed upon a base of either sods or unhewn stone, by which the was at once raised and
site
levelled,
altar was, in every case, a small
and that the brasen
moveable box, with an
interior grating, it is hardly possible to avoid the con-
clusion that the actual altar then used for
was that which had stood before the Tabernacle
sacrifice
in the city of David.
It
was
fitted
with rings and staves
doubtless modelled after that con-
for removal, being
by Bezalel in the wilderness.
structed
receives support
that
the burnt-
from the fact that
day were hastily carried
This supposition the proceedings of
all
out,
on account of the
plague then raging, and which prevented David's going to
Gibeon (1 Chron. xxi. 29).
several days
To suppose
that a delay of
would have followed, while a new
altar,
covered with plates of brass, was being constructed,
is to
violate all the probabilities of the case.
On
the miraculous
sacrifice,
of
David emphatically
High-priest and other
House
proof
of Jehovah,
the
acceptance of
said, in the
presence of the
sacrificial attendants,
and This
is
his
'
This
is
the
the altar of burnt-oflfering
for Israel.'
harmony with Eastern habits of thought and conduct that a spot consecrated by a Theophany should at once supersede any other in its neighbourhood which It
is
in
had hitherto been used for highly credentialled (Ex.
and was not so
The altar Solomon, continued to smoke
iii.
at Gibeon, till the reign of
sacrifice,
5;
Josh. v. 15).
with victims, but
it is
the brasen altar
made by David was ever taken back
against the evidence to suppose that to
ALTAR BUILT ita
place before the Tabernacle.
evidence to show that authoritative
from
There the
statement to that
threshing-floor
became the place
and that the national
MOEIAH.
ON"
is,
on the contrary,
moment
effect,
75
David's
of
the site of the
of sacrifice for all Israel,
sacrifices
provided by the King
(2 Chron. xxxi. 3) were, from this time, offered thereon.
If
so,
individual and occasional sacrifices of peace- or sin-
The whole establishment of priests and Levites engaged in this work would thus be transferred, from before the new Tabernacle, offerings
would
to the place
also
be presented there.
which the Lord had chosen.
This involved,
further, that as all offerings were required to be
over
by trumpets (Numbers
'
x.
to sprinkle the blood
An
entirely
new
upon and at the
situation
blown
10), a constant service
of priests would be in attendance there, to
and
'
make the blasts, foot of the altar.
had thus arisen
the
in
The
conduct of the public worship of the chosen people. site of it
the threshing-floor, being without the city,
left
The
an unenclosed or but lightly-enclosed space.
miracle so
unexpectedly
wrought
there
made
it,
in
a moment, a place of the utmost sanctity, and required it
to
be guarded, day and night, against the intrusion
of unclean animals and the defilements of man.
No
eyes
but those of the chosen priests and worshippers might gaze on an altar of Judaism, or on
its
attendant sacrifices.
If at this time a Levitical guard were appointed,
it
could be stationed only according to the points of the
compass, as there was no enclosure-wall, and there were
no gates. This accordingly was what was done.
We
have in
THE TABERNACL1E.
76 1 Chron.
an account of some rearrangement of
xxvi.
sanctuary
guards which can apply only to this period
-
of history
and
Appoint-
to these special circumstances.
ments of Levitical guards were made by
To
southward, eastward, and westward.
northward,
lot,
these
several
doorkeepers were
apportioned,
who held wards one over against another. As we examine the lists of these, we
discover that
directions
'
courses
of
'
they were composed largely of the same families and as
had previously been detailed
Tabernacle in the
to serve the
men
Jerusalem
same capacity, the transfer of the
whole body of guards being apparently complete, the
number being
at the
of 96 was thus
same time increased.
made up
The
total
:
Obed-Edom and 62
63
others
Meshelemiah and 18 others
...
Hosah and 13 others
19
14
96
Of the
three
'chief men,'
Obed-Edom and Hosah
have already been before us as chief porters on Opbel.
In the third as one
case, Shelemiah, or
of the sons
Meshelemiah, appears a contingent from
of Asapb, with
that family (1 Chron. xxvi.
1).
This
is
what we should
when we remember the close connection Asaph with the Tabernacle built by David.
anticipate
of
These 96 persons were divided into four courses under as
many
captains,
Zechariah,
being chosen for the fourth counsellor.'
the
son
officer, as
of Shelemiah,
being 'a discreet
THREE CENTRES OF WORSHIP. Their stations were
77
:
Eastward
Sheleiniah
Northward
Zechariah'
Southward
Obed-Edom Hosah
Westward
la giving us these statements the chronicler adds several particulars storehouses,'
'
own knowledge
of his
the Parbar,'
are intended to
and
'
as
to
the
'
the Causeway,' which
be explanatory of the various places
held by the Levitical watchers during the standing of
Solomon's Temple. restoration
editor,
These items are the work of a post-
and on that account are not
be
to
An
rejected as untrue, but accepted as supplementary.
unaltered early record was here evidently later material
'
written over,'
being incorporated.
15- There were, during the last years of the reign of
David, three centres of worship in Israel.
At Gibeon
was the original Tent and altar. On Ophel was the tent prepared by David, with its sacred depositum of the Ark, before which incense was burned daily. On Moriah. was the
new
altar consecrated
by the command
and deed of Jehovah.
When
the prohibition came to David that he was not
to build the
Temple behind the
make complete 1
In an
preparations for
historical parenthesis of
altar, its
he
set
by
his son.
verses, written
by a post-
erection
two and a half
himself to
restoration scribe, Zechariah, the son of Meshelemiah, is said to have been porter of the door of the tent of meeting (1 Chron. ix. 19", 20, 21), thus
confirming the above, and showing the persistence with which the term of the tent of meeting ' was applied to the northern or sacrificial gate.
'
door
THE TABERNACLE.
78
The
national
unity,
well
as
as
the
national
faith,
required the supercession of rival tabernacles and altars,
and the aged king did what lay in his power
to hasten
the erection of the Temple.
A great
step
was taken when the question of
been settled and partially occupied. to stand to levels,
areas,
the west of the altar,
As all
site
the Temple was
such matters as
and drainage could be taken into account
the preparation of drawings and specifications.
in.
there those
had
That
were such will cause no shock of incredulity to
who
made by
are acquainted with the elaborate preparations
the
architects
and
artists
of
antiquity.
Not
only were such prepared, by David's orders, but carefully compiled bills of quantities were drawn up, in which the weight of gold and of silver for all the plate and furniture to be used in the new Temple was set
down, item by item
Tbe drawings
of
(1
the
Chron. xxviii. 14-18). plans
included these separate items 1.
2.
3.
(called
the
'pattern')
:
The pattern of the porch, with {a) The houses thereof, (b) The treasuries thereof, (c) The upper rooms thereof. The pattern of the inner chambers, one being, The house of the Mercy-Seat, or Holy of Holies. The pattern of the courts of the house, with (d) (e)
(/)
The chambers round about, The treasuries of the House of God, The treasuries of the dedicated things. (1
Chron. xxviii. 11-12.)
DAYID'S PLANS FOR THE TEMPLE.
By
1.
the
first
of these
we
79
are to understand the design
or plan for the porch of 120 cubits
(
=
144
feet)
in
height. (a)
By
the 'houses* or rooms 'thereof,'
intended
is
a royal oratory over the porch entrance, with an attic
above
it,
which was
in
stored, at one
the wine
time,
offered with all peace-o£Fering8 (Jeremiah xxxv. 1-5). (b)
The
treasuries of the porch were
two small rooms
with thick walls, one on either side of the porch entrancehall (called
'
the entry of the house,' 2 Chron.
iv.
22),
in which were kept the golden and silver vessels of the
sanctuary (1 Kings of the altar,
vii.
51).
These included the furniture
and were under the immediate care of the
High-priest and his deputies.^ (c)
By
the upper rooms of the Temple
understand the two
and of the same
attics
are to
over the two holy chambers,
floor-area as they.
they were divided by a low of the roof,
we
In Herod's Temple
railing,
below the ceiling
which may have been the continuation
of
a precedent.
The inner chambers were the pronaos and the adytum, known as the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, The latter of these was a cube of 24 feet, and the former 2.
a double cube of the same dimensions.
The transfer of thought in verse 12, from the central and main building to the surrounding structures, is 3.
1
was
A
somewhat
finished in
Bimilar plan
438 B.C.
was afterwards adopted
The Temple proper was
in the Parthenon, divided,
by
which
pillars,
into
In the western of these small chambers were kept vessels for use It became the in the sacred processions, with articles of gold and silver.
three parts.
Treasury or State Bank of Athens.
THE TABERNACLE.
80
marked by another pattern of
The
all
introduction, in tlie words
that he had
by the
And
the
Spirit.'
of these to be mentioned
first
'
the courts of the house,' by which
arrangement of one court, called the
is
the
'
pattern of
we understand
priest's or
the
inner court,
within another court, called the people's or outer court.
Such was the
interior disposition of the enclosed ground-
area upon which the Temple stood, as will appear later.
By
(d)
the
'
chambers round about
'
are intended the
three stories of thirty priests' chambers that were built outside the side walls of the
Kings
(1
vi.
Temple and
of the Oracle
These are spoken of as being a portion
5-6).
of the court, and not of the Temple itself
—
was emphasized in Ezekiel's Temple-plan by
a fact their
which having
separate walls adjoining those of the sanctuary, and in
Solomon's by the ceiling beams resting
were
for the use of
free.
As they
man, and not a part of the dwelling-
place of the Most High, they are appropriately ranged as a part of one of the courts. (e)
The
distinct
treasuries of the
from those of the Temple, already mentioned.
They were the
(1
outward care of which
to the sons of
Chron. xxvi. 15, 17).
his lifetime,
imply, '
storehouses, the
Obed-Edom, and described being on the southward side of the Temple area
was committed as
House of God were wholly
1
From
their
as
their
Possibly built by David during
being separately guarded would
contents
were
placed
may be
inferred that
till
the
care
of
King Hezekiah had Btore- chambers, to contain Temple (2 Chron. xxxi. 11), his time they had stood without that enclosure
the statement that
the tithes, built within the enclosed area of the it
in
DESCENDANTS OF MOSES.
81
Shebuel,
representative of
Gershom, the eldest son of
Moses
Chron. xxvi. 24).
In them was stored the corn
(1
and wine and
which were paid as tithes by the whole nation, and which formed so large a part of the susoil
tenance of priests and Levites. erections, together with their
David g^ve
to
Solomon, as
of the House of God.'
'
It
was the plan of these
place
Gates
(Nehemiah
(/) The
and
all the spoil
The
after.
Numbers
'
storehouses of the
xii. 25).
treasuries
of
chambers similar to the placed
the court, that
These structures are afterwards
mentioned by Nehemiah as being the '
in
the pattern of the treasuries
won
dedicated
last
described, in
in battle
references
things
to
were two
which were
from the time of Joshua this
will
be
found in
xxxi. 21-23, 51-54, and 1 Chron. xxvi. 26-28.
These chambers when built were placed under the care of Shelomoth, the lineal descendant of Eliezer, the second
son of Moses. the
memory
In
this
way
did later generations honour
The care of the Temple was thus uniformly com-
of their great lawgiver.
outside property of the
mitted to the Levites, and over the whole of the chambers, the contents of which were committed to the sons of
named Ahijah, also was not he who wrote the
Moses, was placed a chief treasurer a Levite (1 Chron. xxvi. 20).
book of the
acts of
The
is
scribe
It
Solomon mentioned
in
2 Chron.
ix. 29.
described as a Shilonite, or resident of
Shiloh (1 Kings xiv. 2), and therefore an Ephraimite,
while the superintendent of the treasuries was a Levite. and to the south, of it. In the Herodian Temple they occupied the four comers of the Treasury Court, which lay to the south of the Temple.
THE TABERNACLE.
82
tribal affinities of these three families of Levites
The
already given) are confirmed by the statement of
(as
1 Chron. xxvi. 19, that the courses of the doorkeepers
were
'
Edom
of the Korahites and the sons of Merari,' Obed-
being a Korahite, of the family of Korah, and
Shemaiah and Hosah being Merarites. It
probable,
is
at
that,
threshing-floor was guarded
of
its
the
by
the altar on the
first,
a single sentinel on eacli
four sides, the captain for each side furnishing
these in rotation out of the twenty-four
guard consisted.
his
Or, the Jewish
of four weeks, each course
week
for a single
service
the
of
number
which
month being one
have furnished the guards As, however, the Temple
in turn.
became more elaborate with Solomon's
erection,
of guards on duty at the same time
twenty -four.
increased
to
enlarged
guard
A
may
men
that
are
It
is
detailed
the
stations
by the
chronicler.
curious error of some copyist occurs in the
words of verse
16, chapter xxvi., the last
was
of this
first
two
word of the
previous verse being repeated, and the corrected sentence
reading 'To Hosah westward.'
The twenty-four guards
on duty in the Temple of Herod, with
their stations, are
given in the Mischna, and will be referred to in due This number was continued from the time of
course.
Solomon's Temple to the destruction of the Temple by Titus,
and
restoration,
is
that
as a
given
by the
chronicler,
matter of previous history
(1
at
the
Chron.
xxvi. 12-19).
16.
I.
From
the
two -verse
recapitulation
of
the
SOLOMON BECOMES KING. buildings to be erected
it is
it
an in-
evident tbat
it
It is so for
two reasons.
complete summary of them.
One, because
83 is
does not include any docket of state
The house
erections or royal dwellings.
of the forest
of Lebanon, the palaces that Solomon built for himself
and Pharaoh's daughter, and the hall of justice or judgment are not included. Civic conveniences and requirements were
state
given
patterns
and
ground-plans
surrounding (v.
Divine ap-
Another reason may be that the
pointments. the
not classed with
may have
Solomon
to
drawings
of the
The plan
erections.
contained
and
courts of
of
roll
Gudea's
their
palace
Plate, p. 142), dating back to nearly twenty centuries
before David's day,
may
show how such
suffice to
Not only were
drawings were prepared.
outline-
these drawings
and building-specifications complete, but the weight metals for every
the precious calculated.
We
know
that,
item of in
furniture
place
of
the
of
was
single
seven-branched candlestick in the Tabernacle, ten such candlesticks were a
new golden
made
(1
Kings
altar of incense
bread were constructed.
vii.
49).
and ten
Beside these,
tables of shew-
Also the gold-plating for the
two olive-wood cherubim, which flanked the ark, was estimated for. All the gold and silver for these articles of furniture was duly estimated and provided.
The ark
of the Covenant alone remained unrenewed.
The
last official act of
David's reign was to hand over
these documents to Solomon in a national assembly of the
heads of the people, with solemn charges to him and to
them
to carry out the
work
of
buUding the Temple with
THE TABERNACLE.
84 courage and festivities,
On
zeal.
the next day, amid great religious
Solomon was, a second time, anointed king,
and assumed the reins of government. II.
the papyri or parchments handed to the
Amongst
youthful sovereign on this memorable day was one containing nominal Levites,
of the courses of the priests
lists
who should do
house of the Lord on
The preparation
all
its
the
work
and
of the service of the
completion (1 Chron. xxviii. 13).
immense
labour,
and was accomplished when David was old and
full of
of this record involved
Of even greater age was Zadok, from Gibeon, and with them was young Ahimelech, son of Abiathar days.
(1
Ohron. xxiv.
3).
The succession to the High-priesthood in the new Temple was left undetermined and untouched. It was solved, as we know, by the deposition of Abiathar, soon (fl)
after Solomon's accession. (b)
The
there were
priests
were scheduled, and
many more
it
was found that
of one family than of the other.
In the division into twenty-four courses the cast as to effect a complete
Two
hierarchies.
lots
were so
amalgamation of the
rival
were taken from the house of
lots
Eleazar, and, alternately, one from the house of Ithamar.
The name 1
of
Chron. xxiv.
names
the prince of
each
course
is
given in
Three of these were known by the same
in the time of
Nehemiah
Nehemiah xi, 11). (c) The Levites were number of courses for
(1 Chron. ix. 10,
and
similarly divided into an equal
rotation in
service.
Of
these
TEMPLE SERYICE OEGANIZED. courses
nine
formed
were
of
Gershonites,
Kohathites, and six of Merarites. consisted of a thousand men.
85 nine
of
Each of the courses
Their duties are defined as
those of tithe- gatherers, police, cooks, weighers, sweepers
and cleaners xii.
Chron. xxxiii.
(1
28-32, and Nehemiah
44-47).
(d)
The
were divided into twenty-four
singers, again,
courses of twelve
members
their fitness for this work,
These were chosen for
each.
and not by
their descent alone.
Fourteen of the sections were Kohathites, six Merarites,
and four Gershonites.
In the Temple
built
after
the
Captivity, to the singers were assigned certain chambers
attached to the Temple,
it
being explained that they
dwelt in the chambers, for they were employed in their
work day and night
Chron.
(1
of 2 Chron. xxxv. 15
named after The way Levites,
its
in
is to
The number of The Asaphite choir
ix. 33).
twelve to each choir was retained.
be understood as being so
founder.
which these several courses of
and singers rotated in
upon the peculiar
service
division of time
priests,
was dependent
amongst the Hebrews.
Their months were lunar, twelve of which were reckoned to each year, with
an intercalary month, called a second
Adar, inserted now and again to keep the seasons.
Seven
such were required every nineteen years.
Each
of the several twenty-four courses
for a single
at
week
at a time, the
noon on the Sabbath.
custom
may
An
was on duty
exchanges taking place
illustrative use
made
of this
be seen in the account of the revolution
under Jehoiada, which owed
its
military success largely
THE TABERNACLE.
86
of there being two courses of priests and
to the fact
Levites in the Temple at the same hour (2 Kings
In eight
way each
this
xi. 9).
course undertook duty twice in forty-
weeks, the occasional insertion of an intercalary
month providing
few
variety, so that in the course of a
years every set of courses would attend at each of the four seasons. (e)
As
the
number
was in excess of those
of Levites
required for the interior service of the sanctuary, others
were
appointed
doorkeepers,
and from the family which Obed-Edom belonged.
of Merari
contemporary courses. porters,
number
of
four
These were chosen exclusively from the clan
thousand.
to
the
to
On
histories
that
the restoration
who were
Levites,
of
It is not stated in the
the
we
Korah the Kohathite, porters
attended
in
find that the four chief
had their lodging round about
the house of God, and their brethren in their villages
come in every seven days from time to time to be with them (I Chron. ix. 25-27). The number on were
to
duty every day
is
given by the Talmud at 240, ten being
detailed for each of the twenty-four stations in the Herodian
Temple.
It
is,
evident that there must have
therefore,
been some system of
relief
by which a part only of the
4,000 ' porters should be on duty at once.
It
was their duty
to see that no one ceremonially impure should be admitted
into the court of the sanctuary (2 Chron. xxiv. 19).
A
writer in Hastings'
Genealogy, '
Each
assistants.
iii.
20)
finds
Dictionary of the Bible a
difficulty
of the four chief doorkeepers thus
in
{art.
the fact that
had the command of a thousand
This would allow of 40 for each of 25 weeks.
LAW
COURTS OF
READJUSTED.
men
Jehdeiah and Isshiah, chief
of the eons of
87
Amram,
father of Moses, were the contemporaries of the descendants
of Moses,
who were
the rulers of the treasuries.
be observed that these two
difficulty is obviated if it
were the heads of
'
the rest of the sons of
Levi
'
This
men
(1 Chron.
xxiv. 20) after the principal appointments had been made.
Of the surplus
(/)
became
and
officers
officers
14,000, six thousand others
of
By
and judges.^
were
to
the
Law
of Moses judges
be appointed in every Levitical city of
the tribes (Deut. xvi. 18), and, from the blessing of Moses, the tribe of Levi was to 'Teach Jacob thy judgements
and Israel thy law
'
The appointment a
new
thing,
but
(compare Dent. xxi. 5 and xxxiii. of these
reconstruction
a
machinery of the Law.
10).
6,000 was not, therefore, the
of
personal
In the days of Nehemiah,
Levites are described as having the oversight of the
outward business of the house of God (Nehemiah xi. 16), which would include the administration of law as well as the collection of tithes. It
is
Levite,
interesting to note that
who conducted
brought to Jerusalem
(1
the
Chenaniah, the chief
music when the .
ark
was
Chron. xv. 22), was now, with
his sons, appointed over this great department of State (1
Chron. xxvi. 29).
Four thousand others were appointed instrumental musicians, and were thus completely separated from the singers, and given an inferior position. They were {g)
1 Connting eastern and western Manaeseh aa two tribes, this would give Each minor an average of 500 Levites for legal purposeB to each tribe. court consiated of not less than seven persons.
THE TABERNACLE.
88
not divided into courses, and
supposed that
is
Temple were voluntary and
services in the
Of
it
course, like
tlieir
occasional.
other Levites, they had their share in
when
the Temple offerings
there,
and their right
to a plot
of land in one of the cities of the Levites. t
17.
Not only was the
personnel of the priesthood
reformed before David's abdication
them was
By
the land held
;
also subjected to revision.
Joshua's direction twelve cities had been set apart
for the Aaronites,^
and an average of twelve others
each of the three clans of Levi, forty-eight in
Of
by
these, six
to those
who were
from murder. towns
were
were
situations.
cities
for
all.
of refuge, to afford protection
guilty of homicide, as distinguished
For the purposes of easy access these for
principally
selected
According
to the direction
their
central
of Deut. xix. 3,
three were on the east and three on the west of the
Those on the east were
Jordan.
first
chosen, and, later,
three others on the west, the positions of which were
nearly as
as
Thus,
Bezer
paralleled
possible
in line with those
in
wilderness
the
by Hebron.
The
ruins
are three miles south-west of
Moab
1
of
Dibon,
north bank of the river Arnon. northern boundary of
(Joshua
on the xx.
8)
east.
was
Kusur Besha^r and
lie
on the
The Arnon was the
at the time of the conquest,
Eeferring to the Herodian Temple, Edersheim says,
'
The number
of
instrumental performers was not limited, nor yet confined to the Levites,
some of the distinguished families which had intermarried with the priests being admitted to the service (The Temple, p. 143). The instruments used were cymbals, psalteries, and harps (2 Chron. xxix. 25). '
ECCLESIASTICAL TOWNS REVISED. but in the time of Jeremiali
the fall of
(xlviii. 24), after
Samaria and the captivity of eastern
89
under the
tribes,
name Bozrah,i Bezer belonged
to Moab. It is mentioned on the Moabite Stone as having been rebuilt by Mesha.
The two
central
refuge
west and Ramoth-in-Q-ilead (
=
were Shechem in the
cities
the
in
division
Gad
of
Reimun), on nearly the same parallel of latitude.
The two northern refuge towns were Kedesh-in- Galilee and Golan in Bashan. As a possible site ( = Kades) for Golan, Dr. Merrill suggests es Sanamein on the Haj pilgrim-road, and in the proper latitude.
Of
Hebron was occupied by priests and Kohathite Levites, Shechem by Kohathites, Golan and Kedesh by Gershonites, and Bezer and Eamoth by Merarites. No change in any of them was carried out at these six towns
the time of David's revision.
Twelve other towns, in the divisions of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, were set apart, at the occupation, {a)
to
be inhabited by the families of the sons of Aaron,
known later as the number of
Aaronites.
The only
their inhabitants
is
indication
we have
of David's removal from Hebron to Jerusalem, are told
that nine hundred
men
under Zadok, afterwards High
David king. If we except some
-
of
that given at the time
when we
of the house of priest,
slight changes of
came
to
Aaron
make
name, as Hilen for
Holon, AUemeth for Almon, there are but two or three alterations in '
them
That Bezer was
[Onom. 232).
also
at the time of David.
known
as
Bozrah
is
One
confirmed
There was a second Bozrah in Bashan.
is
the
by Eusebius
THE TABERNACLE.
90
Ashan
substitution of
for Ain, in the land of Simeon.
These places were neighbouring towns near (Joshua xix.
Beersheba
7).
Another modification significance
to
;
it is
is
is
of greater
no
In
substitute.
this severe treat-
certain result of Saul's attempt to
Gibeon the capital sacred place
list
that of the omission of Gibeon as a city
of the priests, with
ment we have one
of Joshua's
city.
make
Its complete superceasion as a
strong evidence of that intention, as no
other reason of suflBcient weight can be found to have
caused so violent and unparalleled a disturbance of the long-existing order.
The removal
of the priests' families
from Gibeon would largely diminish ance in the
cities of Israel,
a punishment inflicted
and was
upon them,
its relative
also in the nature of
as
having been parties
to Saul's policy of local aggrandisement.
was
also
import-
Juttah in Judah
abandoned, as the division of Judah had an
undue number of sacerdotal
cities,
and the scheme of
reduction was to take two cities from the priests and four
from the Levites. (b)
This diminution of
priestly
towns was accompanied by some similar cases in
the Levitical
cities,
tbeir case are
and
its
two in the number of the
though the causes of the reduction in
more obscure.
coming importance
The capture as
the prospective place of
the Temple, would bring a large
Levites into
it,
new
number
and would thus contribute
bility of lessening the
of Jerusalem,
number of
of priests
and
to the desira-
Levitical towns on the
register.
Another
political
change which had occurred within
REDUCTION OF PRIESTLY TOWNS.
91
the past three centuries was that, during the time of the
Judges, the small tribe of Dan, originally located about the seaboard of Joppa, had removed to the northern lying near the sources of the Jordan.
The
Dan
tribe consisted
Dan having had but
of but a single clan, the patriarch
one son.^
The 600 men who went
form the settlement
to
Laish were probably the bulk of the
some
must have remained
families
tribes'
at
manhood, but
home, as Samson's
at
exploits were subsequent to the migration.
In the south,
the tribe gradually declined in numbers, though
it is
not
correct to say, as does a writer in Hastings' Dictionary (art.
Dan), that the tribe
of the Chronicles.'
is
'omitted from the genealogies
Hushim
there
is
named
(1
and in his proper place in the order of the
vii. 12),
Judah being named and Benjamin
The vacant
first
tribes,
as that of the Tribe of David,
last as that of the ex-royal
territory of
Chron.
family of Saul.
Dan, never more than partially
conquered, was occupied in part by the Philistines and in part
by the
tribe of
we
a consequence Levitical cities
the
find
Ephraim (Judges i. 34, 35). As that when David rearranged the
name
of
Dan
is
not mentioned, and
Ephraim are introduced with the enigmatical sentence, Some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their border [taken] out of the tribe of Ephraim
those of
*
'
(1
Chron.
vi.
66).
The hidden
fact that of the four Kohathite
*
'
Shuham
reference here
the
towns formerly attributed
Numbers ixvi. 42 is the result of a simple transposition Hushim (Genesis xItL 23). In 1 Chron. vii. 12 there is reference to idolatrous Dan in Aher as Another one.' '
in
pf the letters of
a scornful
is to
'
'
'
THE TABERNACLE.
92
Dan, two, Eltekeh and Gibbethon, entirely
to the tribe of
disappear, and two, Aijalon and Qath-rimmon, are included
in those of Ephraim.
Another change in Kohathites was
Ephraimite
the
of
substitution
Mount Carmel,
eastern foot of
the south of
the
the tribe,
towns
of
the
Jokneam, at
the
Kibzaim, a town in
for
mentioned with
Gezer
and
^
Bethhoron (Joshua xxi. 22), and wbich had probably fallen into the
hands of the Philistines, or been destroyed
by war.
At
its
Jokmeam
mention,
first
(called
Jokneam,
Joshua xxi. 34, now Tell Keimun) appears as a border
town of Zebulun, and was given
to the Merarites.
was now, by David, transferred their boundary,
and given
It
Ephraim, being on
to
to the Kohathites.
Ephraim
thus gained an extension of territory to the north as well as to tbe south, this being one of
growing power of that
many
indications of the
tribe.
In the adjoining division of western Manasseh,
th.e
Kohathite towns of Taanach (Joshua xxi. 25) and Gath-
rimmon were of Shechem,
replaced by
Aner
and Ibleam (Joshua
(
=
Elldr),
xvii.
north-west
11), the
modern
Yebla, five miles north of Bethshan.
The number
of towns in the occupation of the Kohathites
was tbus reduced from ten
to eight, tbe
two Danite towns
of Elteke, the Eltekeh of Joshua xix. 44, and Gibbethon, 1
Gezer was a city of the Kohathite Levites,
now known
as Tell Jezer,
lying between the road and the rail from Jafia to Jerusalem.
A
rock
found here, the translation of which is, ' The boundary As Gezer was a walled town (1 Kings ix. 17), this inscription of Gezer.' should measure 600 yaads from the wall of tiie city.
inscription has been
REDUCTION OF KOHATHITE TOWNS. modern Ras-el-Ain, being
finally lost to
them and,
93
for the
time, to the nation.^ (c)
The
thirteen towns
given by Joshua to the sons
of Gershon remained unaltered in
A
Solomon,
of
of the
monarchy shows, Thus
changes in name. 1.
as
becomes Ashtaroth one of the royal
of Og,
cities
remains are known as
2.
King
was formerly
It
vi. 71).
of Bashan,
Tell 'Ashterah,
and
its
twenty miles
Kishion in Issachar becomes Kedesh, on the west
Megiddo.
Mishal in Asher becomes Mashal, now Maisleh, to
the north of the 4.
(=Houseof Ashtoreth)
Sea of Tiberias.
side of the plain of 3.
time
with that
:
Chron.
(1
to the
list
might be expected, some
Be-eshterah (Josh. xxi. 27)
east of the
number
comparison of the early
Bay
Hammoth-dor
of Acre.
in Naphtali
famous hot springs
at
the
becomes
south
of
Hammon, Lake
the
the of
Gennesaret. 5.
Kartan
in
meaning in each
Naphtali becomes case
being
'
Kiriathaim,
double city
'
;
to
the
the
west of the Sea of Tiberias, but undiscovered.
A a
is
more
copyist's
Joshua xxi.
miswriting of Jarmuth for
Eamoth
in
29.
There was a place of 1
any of these
serious clerical alteration than
Nadab, the second king of
this
Israel,
name
in the Shephelah of
attempted to wrest Gibbethon from
tbe Pbilistines, and was assassinated while besieging The siege was raised by Omri (1 Kings xvi. 15-17).
it
(1
Kings xy. 27).
THE TABERNACLE.
94
Judah (Joshua xv.
35), the ruins of
many
at
The Ramoth intended
to the north of Socoh.
in Issachar,
which are
Yarmuk, is
a town
Its site has
leagues to the north.
been
recovered at er-Rameh, between Samaria and Dothan. is
the
Remeth
It
of Joshua xix. 21.
Another town replaced in Issachar was En-gannim (
= fountain
gave place
gardens), the Jenin
of
Anem (= two
to
by the modern
springs),
village of Anin,
to-day,
of
and
on the
is
which
represented
hills to
the west
of the great plain.
modern
Hukok, the
Also
Yahiik,
the
to
west
of
Capernaum, in the territory of Naphtali, took the place of Helkath in the territory of
thirteen
Gershonites'
cities
Asher
(=
therefore
Yerka).
The
remained
un-
diminished in number, but six of them lay in the two
most northerly tribes on the west, and two in
Bashan on the of the
As
east.
Law and Judges
far-off
the Levites were the officers
in all the Tribes,
it
was necessary
that the old Jacobean prophecy should be fulfilled, and that they should be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel
(Genesis xlix.
effects of
7).
In
this
way
law were everywhere present, and the temporary
residence of Levites in
all
the cities of Israel tended to
diminish the pressure of population in their (d)
we
the civilizing
Coming,
lastly, to the
twelve
cities of
own
towns.
the Merarites,
note that of these eight were in Eastern Palestine
Reuben and four in that of Gad. These towns remained unaltered, in number and in name, from the days of the conquest to those of the monarchy four in the division of
if
we except
the slight alteration of Jahaz into Jahzah,
REDUCTION OF MERAEITE TOWNS. the
site of
of the
As
95
the nation's earliest victory after the crossing
Arnon (Deut.
32).
ii.
a counterbalance to this semi- expatriation of more
than half their number, the Merarites bad the remaining four cities of their clan amid the fertile hills and valleys
around Nazareth and to the north of the plain of Megiddo. This was the territory of Zebulun, and for some reason
which cannot now be divined David and
made
his
assessors
a complete change in the Merarite holdings in this
division.
Jokneam was
on the south bank of the river
built
Kishon, this being 'the brook that (Joshua xix. 11).
The
boundary between the
Jokneam'
before
is
ford of the river was always the tribes of
Zebulun and Issachar,
The effect of this has already been pointed out in making Jokneam a town of the Kohathites, and transferring it to
Ephraim.
The three Merarite towns which, by Joshua's remained, were
now K&na,
:
nine
allocation,
Kartah (the Kattath of Joshua miles
north
of Nazareth
;
xix. 15),
Dimnah,
which, from not being mentioned as one of the twelve
towns of Zebulun (Joshua xix. 10-16), to
have been
Rimmon
;
is
wrongly thought
and Nahalal, now Ain Mahil, in
the same range of hills as Nazareth.
In place of these we have Rimmono, in the same division, built at a river-pass to the north of Cana-in-
Galilee,
now Eummdneh, and
Tabor, showing a reduction
of one in the number of the exchanges.
Tabor was one of the sixteen
was
built
cities of Issachar,
on the top of the well-known
hill of that
and
name,
THE TABEENACLE.
96
There are
six miles east of Nazareth. its
summit, scattered in indiscriminate confusion, walls,
arches, all
be seen on
still to
and foundations (apparently of dwelling-houses),
of which are surrounded by the remains of a thick
This was the city newly given to the Merarites
wall.
out of the country of Issachar, in place of two others in Zebulun of which they were deprived.
Of
the four towns in Zebulun originally granted to
Rimmon
them, but one remained,
was transferred
to a
Rimmono
or
;
another
neighbouring country, a third was
chosen from a contiguous division, and one was altogether
The net result was that the total number of occupied by the Merarites was reduced from twelve
dropped. cities
to ten. (e)
Omitting the six
cities of
refuge and the twelve
priestly towns as being (with the omissions of
Gibeon and
Juttah) unchanged, the thirty purely Levitical cities were,
by David and number.
his
advisers,
reduced to twenty -six in
This reduction of four
the work of revision, as
it
^
would greatly
would be
easier to
facilitate
remove
a body of Levites from any locality, and to give the
land and houses to the the process.
laity,
than
it
In the four cases where
would be
this
to reverse
was done, Aner,
Bileam, Hukkok, and Tabor, the removal of the original Israelites to other sites
was accompanied by giving them
the vacated towns of Kibzaim, Taanach, Gath-rimmon,
Helkath, Kartah, and Nahalal, the transfer from to 1
Anem
being probably to an unoccupied
The superseded towns were Aijalon and Gath-rimmon
of Epliraim, and Nahalal of Zebulun.
Engannim
site. of
Dan, Kibzaim
DISCONTENT REMOVED. The whole authorities,
97
process shows that, in the opinion of the
the Levites had been
share of the national property.
If
enjoying an
we look
number the conquest, we
of Canaanite towns distributed after
at the
by a seemingly great anomaly.
shall be struck
undue
Several
of the tribal divisions are given in their boundaries only,
and we cannot
tell
how many towns
these boundaries
enclosed.
In seven of the eleven contained in each all
is
divisions the
given in
totals.
227 towns or agricultural hamlets,
being unknown in Palestine.
Of
number
of cities
These numbered in solitary farmsteads
these 227 towns, 34 were
given either to the priests or Levites, being nearly onesixth of the whole, instead of one-eleventh.
This undue disproportion fact that the Levitical
is,
however, lessened by the
towns had a limited commonage
attached to each, of from 500 to 1,000 yards in circumference,
houses.
which was not the case in other
The
idea evidently
was that the
collections of priests
and
Levites should approximate to the urban rather than to
the rural type of character, and represent a higher culture
and
civilization.
growth of the nation and an increased pressure of population, popular discontent at such an arrangement was sure to arise. It was in order to meet
With
this
and
the
to leave
no seeds of
dissatisfaction in the people's
minds that David carried out his revision of the Church's property, and reduced the Levitical and priestly towns from 48 in number to 42, which is the total of the names in 1 Chron. vi.
THE TABERNACLE.
98
In
this
way he hoped
to prepare for the peaceful reign
The removal
of his son, then about 18 years of age.
of these grievances against the ecclesiastics
would be
possible to their veteran leader, and might not be so to his successor, while his well-known and tried sympathy
with the clergy of his day would render acceptable to
them changes that would be sure coming from Solomon.
to
resented
be
These are the motives with which we
David
in his difficult
preparation
for,
and gigantic
of,
the building of the
Temple, and of the contented labour in Levites (1 Chron. xxiii. 3) all of
to
whom
whom
credit
All was done in
task.
and in anticipation
may
as
it
of the 38,000
the census had revealed,
were, in one department or another, called
its service.
18.
made of
the
It
was with a statesman's prescience that David
these
various
the country after financial
preparations his
prosperity
for
decease.
and
characterized Solomon's reign
A
the
large share of
political is
government
progress
that
to be credited to him.
The changes and developments initiated by him were gradually introduced. Thus the geographical changes and the reorganization of the legal work of the country was probably carried out during the
first
three years of
Solomon's reign, and before the work of building the
Temple had begun. During these years an event of family history occurred which had large consequences. It was the request by Adonijah
for
Abishag the Shunamite.
This at once
HIGH-PRIESTHOOD SETTLED.
99
aroused the somewhat unreasoning wrath of Solomon,
and was followed by the immediate execution of Adonijah and Joab,^ and by the deposition of Abiathar, who was
With him
banished to his estate at Anathoth.
Ahimelech disappears from the page of
his son
history.
It was the daily duty of the High-priest to burn
incense before the ark of the Covenant at the time of
the morning and evening
without blew with silver trumpets
were consumed
the while the priests
sacrifice,
till
(2 Chron. xxix. 28).
by the summary discharge
the burnt-offerings It
is
apparent that
of Abiathar this principal
could no longer be performed,
as, till
duty
the time of the
Maccabees, no other than the High-priest performed this
In
duty.
New
Testament times
a priest chosen daily by
lot
(Luke
it i.
was discharged by
10).
It does not seem that Abiathar had anything to do
request of Adonijah,
with the
though he
had been
implicated in his previous attempt to seize the throne
Kings
(1
an
i.
His dismissal from
27).
was, therefore,
act of State policy, as it solved the difficulty of there
being a dual High-priesthood in
>
office
As Joab's mother was David's
sister,
Israel.
he was cousin to Solomon.
His
violent death at the altar raised a strong feeling of revulsion amongst the members of his own family and clan. These were descendants of Shelah,
Owing to the feeling Judah (1 Chron. iv. 21). them migrated to Moab, where they rose to power, and are said to have 'had dominion.' The migration must have been that several centuries later, 2,812 of a considerable body, as on the restoration, governor of Moab), of the children Pahath-Moab of (= 'children returned, Two hundred others returned from (Ezra ii. 6). of Jeshua and Joab Babylon with Ezra {viii. 4). In these lists the Shilonite family of Pahatheldest surviving son of
engendered, a number
of
'
Moab
is
uniformly associated with others of the tribe of Judah.
THE TABERNACLE.
100
For a short time the
service of
burning incense in the
Tabernacle must have been discontinued, as Zadok served the Tabernacle at Gibeon, where, however, there was no
golden
In
and incense was not
altar,
this crisis it
to close
offered.
would seem that a resolution was taken
the worship at Gibeon, but to do so with
all
the wealth of ceremony and of sacrifice of which the case admitted.
Solomon himself attended
and
the closing services,
provided a thousand burnt-offerings for sacrifice (1 Kings iii.
The Tabernacle was then, presumably, taken
4).
down and
where
carried to Jerusalem,
its
golden furniture
furnished models for similar articles to be constructed
by
Having served this purpose, the gold of which they were made was doubtless melted down and formed Hiram.
a part of the ritual
that
new
service
;
it
anything once dedicated to the service of
Jehovah might not be put
When
being a principle of Hebrew
Solomon returned
any other
to to
himself before the Tabernacle, thereof.
At
use.
Jerusalem he presented standing in the porch
the same time burnt-offerings were
on Moriah, for which doubtless Zadok the
made
priest offered
the necessary incense before the altar of incense.
Every
diflSculty
had now been overcome.
reign of schism was ended. building of the Temple.
The time was
The long ripe for the
The plans were prepared, the
Temple service organized, the ground levelled, and on the 2nd day of the month Zif (= May) the building was begun (1 Kings vi. 1). Seven years after this the Temple was dedicated to the
TABERNACLE HISTORY ENDED.
101
by transferring to it, with great pomp ceremony, the ark and the tent of meeting
service of Jehovah,
and
sacrificial
and
all
(1
the holy vessels that were in the tent on Ophel
Kings
viii. 4).
the ark given
its
These
last
were placed in
its treasuries,
place in the innermost sanctuary, while
the wood of the Tabernacle would be consumed in the fires
of the great altar.
Thus, in the tenth year of Solomon's reign, did the Tabernacle worship cease
:
the construction of Moses in
the wilderness having served the purpose of God, as the place of meeting with man, through the space of nearly
three hundred years.^
' This statemeEt is made upon the conclusion that the 480 years of Kings Ti. 1 date from the descent into Egypt, and not from the Exodus. According to the Septuagint the stay of the Israelites in Egypt was one of 216 years. This gives an interval, on the basis ahove suggested, of 265 years between the Exodus and the founding of the Temple. From Egyptian chronology we learn that Ramases II., the Pharaoh of the oppression, died b.c. 1281. There were no Israelites in Canaan when Ramases III. took Hebron and other towns, b.c. 1260-1230. They would be then in the Negeb. From Babylonian chronology we get our first fixed biblical date, which Working back from this we find that is the fall of Samaria in 721 b.c. Samuel was alive in 1050, and that the Temple was begun about 1016 b.c.
1
THE TABERNACLE.
102
GENEALOaiCAL TABLE Of the Famxlt op The names given
Aaeoit, to
the openhtg of Solomon's Temple.
in capitals are those of
men known
to have been anointed
High-priests.
AARON ELEAZAR
Ithamar I
PHINEHAS
o
ABISHUA
o
I
I
I
BUKKI
o
I
1
UZZI
o
ZERAHIAH
o
I
I
MERAIOTH AZARIAH
o
(Ist)
ELI
(1st)
I
PHINEHAS
Amariah
I
Ahitub (Ruler I
House
Ahitub
of the
of
God)
Meraioth (2Ed)
AHIMELECH
(= AHIJAH, AHIAH) (kiUed by Saul)
I
ZADOE
ABIATHAR* TI
I
I
Ahimelech^ (= Abimelech)
AHIMAAZ
Shalium
I
(= MeshaUum)
AZARIAH
(2nd)
JOHANAN AZARIAH
(3rd)
"THE SECOND 1
Deposed by Solomon
*
I do not
tUnk
(1
Kings
ii.
PRIEST."
103
27).
that the theory of a copyist's thrice-repeated transposition
names in 2 Sam. viii. 17, and 1 Chron. xvui. 16 xxiv. 6, is tenable, hut to be based upon a non-apprehension of the official relations which, from early
of
;
times, existed between the High-priest and his eldest son.
As the
slightest accidental defilement
—
—a dream
is
given in the
Talmud
as
an instance disquaUfled the actual High-priest from officiating on the great day of Atonement and at the festivals, it was necessary to have a second High-priest in reserve, prepared to take his place. This place could only be taken by his eldest son, as the prospective High-priest.
There being in the Law no age fixed as that at which the sons of Aaron, in the direct line, were to enter upon their duties,* the eldest son of the Highpriest,
when
stiU a
young man, was often associated with
his father in these
Teeponsibilities.
Of this we have an illustration in the case of Abiathar, who in Luke ii. 26 spoken of as High-priest, when the contemporary histories leave us in no
is
doubt that his father was
still
alive
So, again, with Ahimelech,
who
and held
office.
David in the formation of the was the son of the Abiathar just At the his murdered grandfather.
assisted
priestly courses (1 Chron. xxiv. 3).
He
mentioned, and was given the name of
time that he was thus engaged, as the representative of the house of Ithamar, his father stUl lived,
If
under Solomon's '
'
not any need to alter the text of either Samuel Ahimelech the son of Abiathar ' may stand as David's
priest,' i.e. High-priest, is
fell,
edict, there is
or Chronicles, but
he was so
(1 Kings ii. 27). with the deposition of his father,
and survived to the reign of Solomon
we reckon a second Ahimelech, who
during his father's lifetime.
The statement that
repeated in 1 Chron. xviii. 16, though in this passage he
is
called Ahimelech.
It is evident that in cases such as these, contributory causes ill-health of the senior
member
might be the
of the family, the greater capacity of the
younger member, and the favour of the reigning sovereign shown toward one person rather than another. '
'
He
it is
that executed the priest's
office
in the temple that Solomon buUt
in Jerusalem' (1 Chron. vi. 10).
The Chronicler (1, vi. 4-15), having traced the succession of down to Azariah III. abruptly ends the line with the above note. ,
High-priests
In verse
1
• The High-priest Aristobulus, after having officiated in the Temple, was murdered by Herod, at the age of 17 (Josephus, JFar, I. xxii. § 2).
THE TABERNACLE.
104 he resumes the
line of succession at Azariah I., and traces it through Shallum, the second son of Zadok, to the time of the Captivity. This is conflrmed by the record of Ezra, who was of the High-priestly family of the line of Shallum (vii.
1-6).
From
the fact that, for the birthright privileges of Shallum and his went back seven or eight generations (from
descendants, the Chronicler
Azariah III. to Azariah point that the line of
I.),
the inference
official
may be drawn
that
it
was
at that
descent had been broken in the time of the
Judges, by the introduction of the line of Ithamar in the person of EU.
PAST
II.
THE TRIPLE CUBIT OF BABYLONIA, WITH RECONSTEUCTION OF THE SENKEREH TABLET,
EESTOKATION OF THE SCALE OF GTJDEA.
GLOSSARY OF PRINCIPAL CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS USED IN THE SENKEREH TABLET.
Numerals.
COLUMN
I.
»RAi^iv. MATHEMATICAL TABLET, KEY. Number of Sossi.
3* 3f
4i 4f 5
5l
6
6 8
9 lO 12 i8
24 30 30 35
40 45 50 55
60 90 120 150
6
obv.
3LU1
oKAi^ .EY.
III.
No.ofSossi.
MATHEMATICAL TABLET,
obv.
COLUMN
III.
6.
THE SENKEREH
X>IjA.-
oKAov^
II.
KEY. Number
of Sossi.
MATHEMATICAL TABLET,
obv.
COLUMN
IV.
csuRA.!^ I.
KEY.
MATHEMATICAL TABLET.
No. ofSossi.
OBV.
3
I g o
o OQ -1
H m <( H W g H § {> « o p p P CQ OQ
P pq
O P£1
«1
o OS P
wts
118
CHAPTER 0:N^
I.
the RECONSTRUCTIOif OF THE SEI^KEREH TABLET.
deeply interesting to know how men's minds worked when the world was young. And it is to Babylonia the cradle of the human race that we must go for some evidence of this. The low alluvial plains at the
IT
is
—
—
head of the Persian Gulf are covered with the remains of primitive
one of which, slab of as
temples, and cemeteries
;
from
years ago, was disinterred the
little
cities, palaces,
fifty
unbaked clay which
is
embodying the world's
now
to
earliest
engage our
known
attention,
arithmetical
system.
Senkereh
is
Arab village standing on the site of Larsam or Larsa, in Southern away from its series of mounds are
a small
of the ancient city
Babylonia.
Not
the ruins of
Warka
far
— the
Mukayyar, once the home in 1850, Mr.
W.
Erech of Genesis of the Patriarch
x.
10
—and of
Abram. Here,
K. Loftus discovered a great number of
tombs containing baked - clay
tablets
and pottery, the
former with rude Cuneiform inscriptions impressed upon one or both sides.^ His most valuable discovery was '
Chaldea and Susiwm, 1867, p. 265.
HISTORY OF THE TABLET.
119
a 'table of squares,' which, with the late Sir Henry
Rawlinson's
was seen to confirm the statement of
aid,
Berosus the Chaldean, that the Babylonians made use of a sexagesimal notation, the unit of which was termed
a
sossus, as well as of
The
a'decimal notation.
early investigations into the contents of this tablet
were confined
to its reverse side,
which
is
in a state of
almost perfect preservation, and which, from metrical method,
is
geo-
its
of comparatively easy comprehension.
Its other side, the obverse, is in
much worse
nearly one -half of
figures
and ideographs being
Henry Rawlinson's
editorship the Trustees
its
condition,
flaked away.
Under
Sir
of the British
Museum
published a transcription of the
37 of the fourth volume of their
tablet in Plate
'
Cuneiform
Western Asia,' the second edition of which appeared in 1891.^ The possible value of this tablet was In 1868 Lenormant issued his Essai early recognized.
Inscriptions of
'
un Document Math^matique,' and in 1877 Lepsius, of Berlin, published a monograph upon sur
may
Professor it,
which
be seen in the library of the Society of Biblical Beside these,
Archaeologists.
made
to
restore
many
other attempts were
the missing figures, and to read
riddle of this literary sphinx.
Hommel
the general conviction of Assyriologists Dictionary
(Hastings'
Babylonia),
*
On
of
the
Bible,
the
well expressed
when he wrote i.
218,
article
the reverse of the tablet of Senkereh
are given the squares and cubes of the cubit from the
No. 1 up 1
The
to
60 [this
tablet itaell
is
is
a clerical error for 40], and on
numbered 92,698, and
is
in the British
Museum.
THE TABERNACLE.
120
the obverse the fractions and multiples of the cubit.'
This still
much was
perceived, but no more.
The
remained for others to accomplish.
attained seemed
exposition
of
the
obverse
though not complete consistent
and
pressions of the
result to be
exceedingly desirable that several
so
months of application have enabled
far
Its reconstruction
to
present an
to
of the
side
as,
which,
tablet,
the smallest detail,
harmonious
stylus
me
still
is
so
with the existing im-
I believe, to merit general
acceptance.
When
it is
stated that each side of the tablet has a
surface for writing of about six inches square (7^ inches),
and that 285 separate characters are
still
x 5f
found
on the obverse, and that these require the addition of an almost equal number which have been effaced, in order
be seen that enormous
to complete the system, it will difficulties
The
have already been overcome in
difficulties
its
transcription.
must have been insuperable but
of the microscope, a magnifying- glass
certainly used in
its
construction.
for the use
baving been almost
Why
a
work
of such
care and elaboration should not have been hardened
being baked,
is
one of those questions which
it is
by
easy to
ask and impossible to answer.
Coming now our
first
duty
to the contents of the tablet, is
to divide it
some acquaintance with
value of each of
its
characters.
find that
horizontally into sections
and longitudinally into sub-columns. course,
we
its
This involves, of
contents and with the
This done, we find that
there are, in each of its four columns, six sub-columns,
the
number
of sections in each being either three or four.
SEI^KEEEH TABLET COLUMNS. Column
The
first
column
I.
{Diagram IV.)}
found to represent a
is
121
series
of
arithmetical progressions, and is not, as are the other three, a
column of multiplication, with the multiplier In extent it ranges from the smallest
unexpressed.
length-measure, that of the ells
contained in the following columns.
which
minutest
this
ingenious one.
through nine
and to
to half of each of the
line,
fraction
Three lines.
expressed
is
sossi are taken,
This
them in sub-column
6.
in
a very
is
and are repeated
done in sub
is
their equivalents in writing are set
characters,
The way
-
column
down
1,
opposite
Between these two rows of
and in sub-column
3,
there are impressed the
gradual and progressive values of nine
lines
(Section A),
with the sign for addition connecting them with the written figures to their
diagram
(p.
great eU, this
is
was taken
figure
of a whole
three
were
that,
The
with the exception of the
to express a ;
whole number or a fraction
the idea to be conveyed being that
one-twentieth
which could hardly have been
way than by having
other
third line on the fifth
the only instance in which a written
number
sossi
left.
116) shows
its
of a palm,
own
ideograph occurs only here in the
In
this
way
complete,
is
'
1
it
a measure
distinguished
six sossi are reached,
ideograph.
in
any This
tablet.
and the
first section
having been shown that there are three
to each sossus.
In an independent study
of the Senkereli tablet it will be found advisable
to take the diagrams in the order of their numeration, 1 to 4, rather than
that of the columns.
THE TABERNACLE.
122
B
In Section later
move forward
figures
Section
the progression
the progression
move forward
figures
a decimal one, and
is
in
a duodecimal one,
is
now
the table has
arrived at
which was
to
with
accompanying
one,
on
all its
show
tlie
palm
true
its
is
and the
To each
in twelfths of a palm.
these sections the value of half a
In
a palm.
of
tenths
tlie
of
devoted, and
summit and
goal,
whole palm, as hand-breadth, fractions, except its principal
which was reserved for Column
II.,
where
it
appears
lines 14-22.1
Before closing the record, however, the scribe inserted another section, D, in order to show the relation which the palm bore to the subsequent columns.
60
sossi is therefore
given as
leading us insensibly to
1-^,
2,
The palm
and 2^ palms, thus
further developments, as
its
of
now
to be indicated.
Column This
a
is
II.
{Diagram III.).
column of multiplication, and
to the second
is
comparable
column in an ordinary multiplication
Apart from the
table.
fact of the multiplier 3 being unexpressed,
and from the bad condition of the upper part of the Cuneiform,
In one
and It
is
presents few difficulties.
respect, indeed, it differs
singularity
this this
Columns
it
:
—Whereas
II., III.,
merits
a
from those following,
moment's consideration.
the multiplicand in
and lY.
is
each of the
the same, namely, twelve
palms variously arranged and expressed, in Column '
It will not escape notice tbat the details of the digit in Section
followed by their use in the fractions of Section C,
Column
II.
II.
B
are
SENKEREH TABLET COLUMNS. the working-out of the system
is
123
divided into two main
In the former of these four palms are dealt with, in minute fractions, and are multiplied into small ells, each ell being of the length of three palms. In the divisions.
latter,
Section C, eight palms are dealt with in larger
fractions, the total of
of 60 sossi
X
both divisions being 12 palms each
= 2,160,
3
a figure which
is
recorded at the
foot of the column.
Columns III. and IV. {Diagrams II. and
I.).
In these columns the unexpressed multipliers are 4 and 5 respectively,
and with
this
key
hand any scholar
in his
will be able to test for himself the correctness of the
One
conclusions given and that of the restored figures.
item only of these columns needs to be referred to here.
They, in common with Column a
higher
number
denomination
of ells
than
II., are
ells.
When
become
mark
yards.
of these reeds
certain
a
become
feet
and
Unfortunately, the distinguishing (i.e.
that
by which they were known
one from another) has been efiaced in columns.
to
had been reached, the system developed
into one of reeds, just as with us inches feet
worked out
all
but one of the
The missing characters have been conjecturally
restored in the left-hand panels of the diagrams, but these
have no accepted authority, except in Column lY.
The Fractions of the
One of the most fascinating way in which its fractions are
Tablet.
aspects of the tablet
expressed.
Of
is
the
these there
THE TABERNACLE.
124
are a great number,
and they
afford us a simpler con-
ception of the mathematical attainments of primitive
these
fractions used are
and
^, ^, |, |, f |, and ^ are also used. I must refer to a later page, where :
,
^,
a horizontal wedge, cut in half
the sign for
is
ocular
J,
and that
will be seen that
by an upright wedge,
this simple principle of the
may
series.
take leave to doubt whether, either the actual
finger-breadth or the finger-length to as a factor of the palm, which,
was the 'fundamental' of measures. all
it
demonstration of the fraction intended obtains
throughout the whole I
man
The improper fractions f The f. For the mode of their expression
than can be got in any other way.
this
Taking the palm
it
is
ever here referred
will hardly
be denied,
whole system of length-
from which
as the original
other measures were derived, the tablet shows that six
lesser
lengths
multiplied into
were derived from six
it,
and that
lengths.
greater
it
Amongst
twelve derivations the finger does not appear
was these
What
!
does appear, and what for convenience has been termed a 'digit,' on nine lines of
Column
II.,
is
one-third of
a palm, each unit being of the value of twenty
sossi.
These I take to have been adopted as the conventional length of the fore-joint of the thumb, which
is
ordinarily
about one-third of the width of the palm, and
may have
been commonly used in a sparse population hand-breadth) for purposes of measurement. arising from this unscientific
(as
was the Disputes
method would early compel
the conventionalization of both measures.
A
tribute of respect is
due
to the
dead-and-gone sages
POINTS FROM THE TABLET. wto, some selves,
five
and
their right
which
in
and
hand For
ourselves.
thousand years ago, worked out for them-
for us, this system of arithmetic.
many
125
to guide
respects theirs
is
was
With only
them, they elaborated a system superior to that in use amongst at once decimal
and duodecimal,
monetary system there could not have been
in their
the anomaly of having twelve pence in a shilling and
twenty shillings in a pound without any power of simple co-ordination.
Hqw
human hand as the whole system may be seen
closely they adhered to the
source and embodiment of their
in their appropriation of its five fingers to differing uses.
One was the symbol of unity or completeness, and
is
used
in twelve difierent relations on the face of the tablet, as
Two was used
shown in diagram No. V. of duplication.
Thus there were
for all purposes
single reeds
and double
The remaining integers, 3, 4, and 5, when multiplied together, gave them the 60 which Berosus chronicled, and which, being divisible either by 10 or 12, gave them in the sexagesimal system of notation a more simple and elastic system than our decimal one. reeds of three varieties.
What
I
established
think
may be
considered as having been
by the present reading
are these three points.
of the Senkereh tablet
That in the system which
it
represents (1)
The breadth of
the
hand-palm (conventionalized) was
the fundamental of all length-measures. (2)
That there were three
ell-lengths in simultaneous use,
each probably in a different department of trade,
own Troy and Avoirdupois
weights.
like
our
THE TABEENACLE.
126 (3)
That the relation of these
relation
of
3,
and 5
4,
palms of which they
;
one another was the
ells to
number of
these having been the
respectively consisted.
2.
Having thus given a
Senkereh
of the restored
the conclusions to be
go over the
to
bird's-eye view of the construction
and a brief summary of
tablet,
drawn from
it is
it,
now
necessary
again with more especial reference
field
to the arithmetical signs used,
and to the characters, other
than figures, which appear on
its face.
The numerals themselves do not
detain ua, as, with
one or two exceptions,^ they are not more
comprehension than are the later the
mode
in
this,
therefore,
a
brief space
of
but
figures,
which the fractions are expressed
To
undisputed.
Roman
difficult
not
is
may
be
given.
In the system by which the various fractions of a whole
number were
at the first
made
visible to the eye,
and
given an abiding permanency,
we have
the solution of
a deeply interesting problem.
In order
to attain these
ends, the original
method would seem
of taking a single wedge,
emblem to the
which
of unity, and by treating
to
-was it
have been that throughout the
as such to
mind, through the eye, the desired
foundation
wedge was
generally treated
idea.
convey This
horizontally,
there being thus but one step from the work of the *
Of these exceptions that
the obverse of the tablet. ''^
= 4,
.<^
= 40.
for 19
The
is
the most unusual.
distinction
It does not occur on
between 4 and 40
See Glossary, p. 107.
is
thus attained
TABLET FRACTION
SIGNS.
hewer-of-wood to that of the ideal of the
127
artist in .clay.
So placed, the prostrate unit was 'cut up' into
its
various component parts, and thus the intended effect
The
was produced.
earliest application of this principle
naturally would be to divide a *
halves
'
;
and
to
single
wedge
into
its
do this in such a way as that a person
would know what was
at a distance, seeing the graph,
intended.
The
series
would then be as follows »f
(1)
:
=i
This sign occurs in each of the four columns of the tablet,
and has everywhere the same
relative value, that
value being one moiety of some whole number, generally that of the one preceding
the 'half'
720
sossi.
of the is '
it
;
Column
In Column
medium
ell
III., line
the 'half
19,
of which the whole section
lines
24 and 29,
no need to say more about
(2)
that
1=' third:
;y
=
i.
is
one
growth
As, however,
devoted.
is
it
to the
sossi,
Assyriologists are in full accord as to the is
is
of 240 sossi, to which the whole section
In Column IV.,
half ' of the great reed of 1,800
sign, there
II., line 24,
that of the immediately preceding total of
is
devoted.
e.g., in
meaning
of this
it.
;cfr
= f.
This character, \, when unassociated with any other, This is in occurs but once on the face of the tablet.
Column
II.,
line 22,
where
its
undisputed appearance
furnishes indubitable evidence and plays a most important
part in the elucidation of the column.
For we have here
THE TABERNACLE.
128
the singular result that while the whole column is based upon a multiplicand of 12 palms (as are the others), and works out by multiplication to a total of reeds (as do the other columns),
yet
we have
single character
in this
a suggestion of a division of
contents
its
(other
the usual) into two parts of one and two reeds.
presence of this sign shows that
its first division
Had
of but one-third of the whole.
than
The
consisted
single figure
this
been effaced by time, I do not see how the tablet could
have been perfectly reconstructed.
In
all
other parts of the tablet the
one or more index figures following
were intended.
This
of perpendicular wedges,
which
'
thirds
'
^^ is
accompanied by
show how many indicated by a number
is
tell
it,
to
us whether one or two
thirds are to be taken into account.
In Column
III., lines
26-30, this system
is still
further
extended, so as to reach the improper fraction of fivethirds,
these being the fractions, in
medium Four
reed consisted before
it
ells,
of which the
reached the second unit.
of these five characters are in the original, one only
requiring to be added by conjecture.
(3)
YtT
=f
This sign occurs but once on the face of the tablet as the equivalent of three-quarters of a whole number. It is
found in Column
II.,
line 25, as one of a series of pro-
gressive fractions, and being in such good
company
respectability can hardly be doubted.
normal con-
struction
is
Its
its
also in its favour, as it is that of a horizontal
wedge divided
into quarters, three of
which are indicated
TABLET FRACTION by
as
many
upriglit wedges, the
SIGNS.
129
middle wedge being
taken to be in tbe centre of the prostrate one. Allied to this character, both in form and significance, are
two
Column jectures)
One
others.
where in
III.,
line
Column
II.,
sub-column
1,
to that
under consideration.
It
here taken to signify 'three,' that being the unusual
number
of reeds into
column above It
in
of
ell.
another instance of the use of a character
is
similar in appearance is
repeatedly in
occurs
12-16 (preceded by two con-
stands as the sign for the 3-palm
it
In the summary line 33,
these
of
lines
is
which the whole multiplicand sub-
had been multiplied.
not certain that these three characters, so similar
meaning
The
it
to
one another,, are exactly identical in shape.
three upright wedges in each of
them may have been
slightly differentiated in position, so as to give a distinctive
In the case of the
character to each.
Column
III., it
the small
ell
ordinary or
may have
five occurrences
on
been intended to convey that
there was three-quarters the length of the
medium
ell,
just as the old English ell of
27 inches was three-quarters of a yard. This would then be its name, and no difference of structure would be required, the same sign serving for three-quarters of an integer and the three-quarter
(4)
The original sign
ell.
(<.)=i(?JL).
for one-fourth does not
now, unhappily,
occur in any part of the tablet as an independent character. Its place in
Column
II.,
sub-column
6, line
23, where the
THE TABERNACLE.
130 •
system
'
makes
of the tablet
imperative,^ has been
it
irremediably injured and the writing defaced.
On
the principle of analogy and
by acting on the
rule
already suggested as that by which the expression of the fractions was arrived
wedge
character of a horizontal is
indicated
by
a
we may give
at,
should be to the right of the centre. is
it
the
which the fourth part
of
wedge standing above
no instance of such figure
to
all
it.
place
Its
While, however,
to be found, there are slight
indications that the sign for one- quarter,
when used
in
combination with other fractions, was a single perpen-
This will be seen in the next paragraph.
dicular wedge.
m=i.
(5)
This sign actually occurs only in Column lY., lines 26
and
31,
and conjecturally in Column
II., line 31.
These
occasions enable us to determine its value with something like certainty,
and to analyze
its
form in harmony with
the examples and principles already laid down. position of
would seem
two other
to
Its
com-
have been determined by a union
fractions, thus Xi
:
=h
These being added together will give the fraction of five- sixths.
1 Its value is determined by the single wedge of one palm in sub-oolunm 1, governed by the multiplier 3, producing J of a small reed. No other fraction
could have been used.
TABLET FRACTION
In
close conjunction
will be
with the sign for three-quarters
found that for seven-eighths, which seems to have
been founded upon
when
131
= |.
1tT
(6)
SIGNS.
it.
Of
three had been cut
the one-quarter which remained to
off,
make
the former,
was
it
but necessary to halve the remainder to give the desired This was accordingly done, but
result of seven-eighths.
the additional wedge, instead of being placed beside the other,
was written above
it,
thus signifying that of the
original whole number, but
instead of one-quarter.
In closing
was
one-eighth
It appears in
Column
this part of the subject I
may
excluded
II., line 26.
say that I
am
quite aware that to some of the above-mentioned characters
other meanings are given by Cuneiform scholars.
not dispute the correctness of their interpretation.
I do
As,
however, most characters of this early language have
more than one meaning, and in some cases a great variety of meanings, I would urge that to those already accepted the values here given to these signs
may be
added.
I do
upon the gi-ound of the homogeneity of the whole document before us, which requires tbat in it these values, this
and these only, be read into the six signs which have already engaged our attention.
"We pass now, by a natural transition, to the consideration of the remaining characters of the tablet,
than figures or arithmetical signs.
i.e.
those other
These will merit the
THE TABERNACLE.
132
most cautious and enliglitened treatment, as their evidence that the
upon,
whole metrological value of the
ourselves a series of ledger accounts
As with
tablet rests.
it is
are dependent for the just appreciation of their figures
upon the headings of
their
and pence,
The
so here.
our attention correspond,
commerce
may
and any
;
columns for pounds, six characters
now
to
with the
in their uses,
shillings,
£
engage s. d.
of
error of interpretation, or feature that
be overlooked, will vitiate the whole scheme and
render
it
worthless.
In order from the
'
ideographs, correct.
to distinguish these six determinatives-of- values
signs
already dealt with, they are here
'
though
They
this
term
is
named
not perhaps philologically
are taken in the order of their supposed
length-values, rising from the lesser to the greater.
^ ^y =
(1)
The union
the Sossus (sii-si).
these two
of
characters
is
Mr. Theo. Q. Pinches, LL.D., who writes characters cannot,
when
side
by
side,
Avoiding
all
^f
'
These two
^f meaning
meaning " horn,"
possible controversial matter as to
came afterwards
this combination its
:
be separated, and
in that case they stand for hand-horn, the
" hand " and the
approved by
to
how
be interpreted into
recognized and cognate meaning or meanings, I wish
to confine myself to the sole evidence of the tablet,
from the
first
Senkereh
column of which we learn that the
fundamental measure of Babylonian metrology was divided into sixty spaces.
These,
we may
suppose, to have been
TABLET VALUE marked by notches on a clay tablet.
It
SIGNS.
a stick or rule, or
133
by
cuttings in
not improbable that these notches, or
is
rather the spaces between them, were originally called '
horns,'
and as the measure of the hand was the
the system, there
is
basis of
every reason for the application of the
term 'hand-horn' to the length-measure which Berosus the Chaldean tells us was the original of the Babylonian
system of metrology. This compound ideograph
^ J^| occurs
no
less
than
ten times in a perfect state on the tablet, at other times requiring to be read-in as part of the sub-columns in
which varying numbers
of
noticeably the case in the
first
sub-columns 1 and
A
6.
given.
are
sossi
This
twelve lines of Column
still
better
is
II.,
example of
its
omission, all the existing figures being authentic,
may
be found in Column IV., sub-column
with
In
the denominator unexpressed. llJf
1,
lines 1-17,
this case the twelve
in sub-column 3 are taken to belong to the figures
on their right.
Diagram V. shows
that no
single ideograph has so
many occurrences on the tablet as that for the sossus. This is what should have been expected when its premier position
is
remembered.
It ought to be no detriment to
this aspect of the case that the ancient artist has sometimes
forgotten to head his sub-columns with the yard or foot or inch of his day, or, likelier
room
for
it.
The coherency
still,
has failed to find
of the whole tablet should be
our sufficient warrant for understanding these governing signs
when not
expressed.
THE TABERNACLE.
134
The measure next of three
of
^^^^^
larger in size to
tlie sosb
It is almost the only
sossi.
the tablet which
wedge.
= Tff
in
(2)
is
was a measure
length-measure of
not somewhere represented by a single
Its only occurrence is in
Column
sub-column
I.,
6,
lines 7-13.
The
interpretation of this character is based
fact that
Column
throughout
I. is
upon the
length a table of
its
equivalents, every item in sub-column 6 being the equation
of the corresponding item in sub-column of constructing
Column
this ideograph,
both the characters
I.
carries with
The
special value
7 and
TfT
sixtieth part of the small
|y;
appearing
8.
and use of a measure of
will presently appear in the
(3)
the meaning of
and
jfy
in all their original clearness in lines
This principle
1. it
fact that it
this length
was the one-
ell.
=
the
Palm
(gar).
Proceeding in the same direction as hitherto, from
we come As this was
smaller to larger,
to the
hand-breadth.
the
all
'
ideograph for palm or
fundamental from which '
other measures were derived, either by division or
multiplication, its written sign has
more than an ordinary
interest for the student.
The character '
The
itself
conveational yahie of TIT is tie fraction |.
assuming that the
first
constituent parts, of
upright wedge in
which
Section A, sub-column 3. in
(5), p.
appears in Columns
130.
9,
Column
I.,
I.
This
on
and IV. is
arrived at by
line 14, has 60
each of the value of 6 parts, are given in
The
true character for
f has already been given
TABLET YALUE In the former
SIGNS.
shown in every
it is
135
line of Sections
and D, having been effaced in but one of ten occurrences. It
is
here used in conjunction with the various fractions
that constitute the hand-breadth, these rising from half-
a-palm to
palms.
2-^
In Column lY. on
its
use
is
It occurs
slightly diflFerent.
lines 2-8, in order to give the value of the figures in
eub-column
many
sixtieths
10-14
it
sub-column
4.
lines
These
6.
of
are, in this
the
palm, and
way, shown to be so therefore
sossi.
In
serves a similar purpose for the figures in
Its non-recital
on
That being the
line 9 is instructive.
line on which the 60
sossi or
palm was reached
in the
progression, no characterization was necessary, the single
wedge (representing the completed palm) appearing in Thus does the intentional omission of sub-column 6. a character here tend to give validity to
both above and below.
Its insertion
its
insertion
would have been
misleading. (4)
(ill or)
= 3-palm Ell = ^y 'L-palm ML ^^y = 5-palm Ell. 3f
1
These three characters are taken together here, as they not only mutually illustrate each other's construction, but are found together at the foot of
Column
II.,
where they
occupy a position of isolation on line 33, as indices of the various columns, or summaries of their contents. '
It
wedge.
is
mmecesaary to remark that the
fish-tai] is
here the sign of an extra
THE TABERNACLE.
136
It will be seen
First, as to their plan of construction.
that the upright
wedge
is
common and
to the left in each character,
to is
This stands
them.
the symbol of unity
or completeness.
At and
right angles to this are, in one case
in another 5 horizontal wedges, these
3,
in another 4,
being the number
of palms of which the several ells respectively consisted.
If these index-characters be compared with those in
the body of the tablet, a slight difference, not of shape,
but of aspect, will be observed in one of them.
The 5-palm ell has a long series of occurrences in Column IV., where its appearance corresponds with that at the foot of Column II. Its use, however, is to accompany the development of the double large ell from its earliest fraction of a single palm to its maximum of nine palms, when it is merged into the third of a great (a)
reed of 1,800
This illustrative use of an ideograph
sossi.
seems to be a singular one in the whole of the document
we
are examining.
(6)
The 4-palm
ell
any part of the body
by
does not appear as a 'character' in of the tablet, though
a series of single wedges in
In
lines 17-24.
Sections
B
Column
it is
III.,
referred to
sub-column
6,
this connection a comparison-study of
and C should be found
useful.
(c) The 3 palm ell has a fivefold appearance in It is not Column III., sub -column 6, lines 12-16. -
a matter of importance that the wedges composing
it,
while bearing the same relation to one another, are placed at a different angle. affect the
This
is
not unusual, and does not
value of the character.
TABLET YALIJE
^ i;>— =
(5)
SIGNS.
137
Great Reed {kas-bu)}
Dr. Pinches' note on these two characters '
These two characters cannot when
and
separated,
is
as follows
by
side
side
:
be
in that case they stand for a well-known
measure of length, " the long road," and, by extension,
known
for the space of time
as a
Babylonian hour (two
of our hours), apparently the period needed to walk the distance indicated,
I
give
i.e.
note
this
about 7 miles.' containing the Assyriologists'
as
current view of the interpretation of these associated characters.
While not presuming
these conclusions, conviction, forced
tablet as to
I wish
attempt to traverse
to
place
to
(beside
them)
the
upon me by the evidence of the Senkereh
what possibly was
primitive meaning.
It
that
is
their
^
earlier
and more
stands here for the
instrument by which lands or roads were measured. learn from Ezekiel
(c. b.c.
600),
who wrote
"We
in Babylonia,
that the courts and open spaces about the temple were
measured by a reed of six
cubits,
each of which was
a palm-breadth longer than the cubits of the measuring line
(Ezekiel
xl.
5
been that originally
and this
xlii.
16).
May
it
not have
ideograph stood for the reed of
measurement, and was afterwards transferred to the thing
measured
?
I take the ideograph '
'
Professor Sayee,
^$
is
I prefer This
is
who
^*—
be an adjectival element
occupies the Chair of Assyriology at Oxford, writes
the primitive hieroglyph
my
to
^x^,
which denotes
old rendering "double-length" for kas-bu.''
in full accord with
my text.
sina, or double.
THE TABERNACLE.
138 governing
its
associated character,
the reed intended
wedges
is
and representing that
one of five-palm
ells,
there being five
in its figure.
Rawlinson's transcription of the Senkereh tablet gives this ideograph as occurring i.e.
on ten lines of Column IV.,
throughout Section C, where
But he lines of
also gives it as
Column
II.,
having been, in
it is
obviously in place.
appearing in the ten corresponding
where
it is
all likelihood,
as obviously out of place,
copied as to
its
exact form
Column lY. The character required in Column II. is one of three wedges, and in Column III., where it has now been from the
wholly
clearer indentation of
efiaced,
one otfour wedges.
To anyone who has examined
the tablet at
first
hand,
these suggested modifications and additions will not appear overbold, so bad in parts
ij^
(6)
is its
=+
present condition.
or Plus (ammatu).
This character occurs authentically twenty-five times
on
Rawlinson's
transcription,
reconstruction diagrams
many it.
and the accompanying
show that
it
has been efiaeed in
other places, in seven of which Rawlinson suggests
It
is
found only in Columns
Over the meaning
I.
and
III. as authentic.
of this character earnest consultations
have taken place with one or more eminent Cuneiform scholars, as
it
is
upon the
significance
and value of
this
element that previous attempts to interpret and reconstruct the Senkereh tablet have been based.
That in much Cuneiform writing has been clearly and fully proved.
^^
With
means 'cubit' this
knowledge
TABLET ABITHMETICAL
SIGN.
139
have approached the consideration of the and as a result have seen cubits in its first column,
philologists tablet,
where we have found palms only.
The consequence has
been that Lenormant found acres and stadia within four corners, and Lepsius stadia and parasangs.
former gives 12,960,000
total at
its
21,600
and the
latter
lines; all of
which
'lines,'
I find but 10,800
lines:
'
'
its
The
are contained within the space of eighteen English feet.
This divergence
is
caused by
my
document
treating the
primarily from a mathematical point of view, and owing to the fact that I have
no philological prepossessions.
Seeing the unity and geometric accuracy of side,
I
am
In
obverse.
its
its
reverse
encouraged to find similar characteristics in so
doing I
am
driven to the conclusion
that whatever other meanings "sfH had, then or at other times, on the tablet it
means plus, and plus
only.^
Thus understood, '^^ becomes the principal
factor in
the solution of the whole mystery of the Senkereh tablet,
and enables
it
to
be
read
with the
consistency and
coherency of a proposition of Euclid.
From
considerations of space I
must
refer
my
readers,
for the systematized results of the whole re-reading of
the tablet, to the summarized contents of Diagrams V.
and YI. pp. 116, 117.
Attention
called to the
is also
hitherto unmentioned numerical summaries at the foot of
Columns 1
II.
and lY.
Professor Sayce allows that in later Assyrian
meanings of u or date
is
'
and.'
This concession
is
all
*
^^
that
sometimes has the is
claimed for the actual writing of the Senkereh tablet.
necessary, as no
140
CHAPTER
II.
THE EESTORATIO:^r OF THE SCALE OF GUDEA AND ITS COINCIDENCES
WITH THE SENKEREH TABLET.
HAYING
gained from the Senkereli tablet the literary
evidence as to the number of
ells
used in Babylonia,
together with that of their relative constituent fractions,
we
further require some material evidence from the same
field,
and of about the same age, in order
to
produce
a working scheme which shall claim to reproduce the
Evidence of this
length-measures of 5,000 years ago. nature fortunately
lies
within our reach,
and in the
two factors
will lie the
interior co-ordination of these
proof of the theory the public in
its
now
for the first time laid before
entirety.
It will be apparent that if
any one measure can be substantiated to the
two documents before
us,
as being
the
other measures can be derived from
size
it.
common
of all the
Also, that the
most useful length which could be produced would be that
of
the
'
fundamental
'
palm.
Its
discovery in
a permanently concrete form would be in itself a most striking indication that the antique to
which
it
belonged
HISTORY OF THE SCALE OF GFDEA. was of the same
by
say
:
'
side,
These
as will
may belong
to
now
affinities
one civilization and to the is
the nature of the
and
to be laid before the public,
it
is
it readers will not lose sight of the fact that the is
failed to
its
ravages here, as
face of its fellow-witness
it
new
Time has not
a very ancient one, and that
show
upon
In considering
these lines that the evidence will move.
witness
and
enable the archaeologist to
Such
same system of Metrology.' case
Senkereh
palm takes the
seen, the
should show such fractional
subdivisions
identic
we have
These two discovered 'palms,' being placed
first place.
side
intellectual dispensation as the
which, as
tablet, in
141
has done on the
from Senkereh.
In 1881 M. de Sarzec undertook a series of excavations for the French Government^ in one of the tells Babylonia, not far from Senkereh.
of
proved to be the
site of
This has since
the ancient city of Lagash or
Lagas, the ruins of which are 130 miles south-east of
Babylon. 1
'
What
Basra, bring
It
is
now known
as the village of Telloh.
should a French explorer, Mr. E. de Sarzec, French conaul in home but nine magnificent statues made of a dark, nearly black
stone as hard as granite, called diorite.
make up
Unfortunately they are aU headless
;
head was found separate, a shaved and tuxbanned head beautifully preserved and of remarkable workmanship, the very pattern of the turban being plain enough to be reproduced
but, as though to
for this mutilation, one
The title of patesi (not king) adopted by by any modem loom Gudea points to great antiquity, and he is generally understood to have lived somewhere between 4000 and 3000 b.c. That he was not a Semite but an Accadian prince is to be concluded from the language of the inscriptions and Eagozin's Ghaldea, the writiiig, which is of the most archaic character.' 3rd edition, pp. 92, 214.
—
143
THE TABERNACLE.
SCALE OF GUDEA.
Z
143
= -^§.
02
^=
I .0
I
-ro
I
^^
I
! 5*1
I
-5a
•J
12
I
c
I
OS
i I
-K,*S.
3-W (^
u
ue
OQ <8
THE TABERNACLE.
144 Buried in
tlie
courtyard of an archaic palace at Telloli,
M. de Sarzec found eight headless statues of diorite. These are now in the Louvre Museum, a cast of one having been presented (No. 91,025).
the Trustees of the British
to
Its notice-card bears the date of
Museum b.c.
2500.
This piece of engraved statuaiy represents King Gadea as a worshipper, in the act of dedicating his palace to the
care of
some
His hands are folded in the attitude
deity.
of prayer, and on his knees lies a slab of stone.
there
slab
is
palace, the walls
upon the same
likeness of plan to one another.
site,
On
ground-plan, are engraved two is
than that of the
earlier erection
and courtyard of which
these palaces stood
a graving
from the
this
engraved the ground-plan of a building
which was evidently of
these
On
tool,
still exist.
Both
and have a general
the slab, besides the
other
One
details.
which has no message
of
for us, apart
fact that it is similar in every respect to tools in
use to-day.
The other is a record of the measure, or one of the measures, by which the palace was built. It is this feature of the slab which
The
rule
—known as
is
now
the rule of
to claim our attention.
Gudea
—
is
in the form of
a double line cut near the outer edge of the slab. are a
number
of indentations or cuts,
which give
rule its unique value and importance.
It
is to
In
it
to the
the great
loss of ourselves that parts of this rule are missing, the
two corners of the
slab, i.e. those farthest
king's body, having been broken off and
away from
the
lost.
Many attempts have been made to restore, by conjecture, these broken-off portions,
and thus
to complete the rule.
LENGTH OF THE SCALE.
145
but none of these has met with general acceptance. first
was made by the
discoverer,
who
The
gives to the slab
a total length of 29 centimetres, and to the graduated scale, as
by him,
restored
= 10'6301133
a length of
British inches.
Professor
27 centimetres^
Hommel
gives
an original length of 249 millimetres,^ or
to the rule
9'80332671 inches.
Haupt
Professor Paul
says,
'
The
graduated portion of the rule of Gudea, on statue B,
10^ inches, while the entire length of the rule
is
is
lOf inches.' These varying lengths would seem to have been arrived
by reading the cuttings of the
at
side of the figure.
the slab itself
An
is
rule from the left-hand
Also, I have not seen
it
remarked that
not rectangular.
original measure of the slab at the edge nearest
to the king's
body gives
11-^ inches as the length.
If the
existing lines on either side be produced, they will
show
a contraction of two-fifths of an inch in the length of the It
slab.
rule
is
The
at this point that the
is
rule itself
right angles. rule
or inner, line of the
first,
met.
was
is
We
to
be credited with corners which were
thus arrive at the conclusion that the
104- inches in length.
This
the measure which
is
Dr. Oppert gives as the result of the measurement of the walls of Khorsabad.
His words
therefore exactly 104 inches.'
is
new 1
series, vol. xi,
are,
'
The Assyrian span
See Records of the Fast,
for 1878, pp. 22-23.
Beeomertes in ChaUee, by E. de Sarzec, 1884-1889, plate 15.
* Article
Babylonia, Hastings' Dictionary of Bible, vol.
s
vol. of the
EzeMel
on statue
E
is
i.
p. 218.
Polychrome Bible, p. 180, note. The rule of Gudea bere said to be a line measure and not an end measure.
THE TABERNACLE.
146
2.
Having,
result in the length of 10'8 inches,
cuttings which
having doubtless been It
still
remain on
it,
many
others
effaced.
at this point that I part
is
company with
my
decessors in the attempt to solve these difficulties.
length I give to the rule of the
French savant who
in the matter of
The data
end.
and
h
is
De
economy /
Sarzec and
h,
to
there
is
being to their
to their right.
If,
Hommel
Mine may be seen
by the plan herein adopted its
however, the same distance rule,
be seen that there are no double cuts at the 120th
equal spaces, but of two divisions,
important bearing upon
its
of which one was
This fact will have an
analysis
and reconstruction,
to be entered upon.
(a) '
The line,'
relation
of
mark
left twice the distance that
double the length of the other.
the
at
thus showing that the rule did not consist of three
soss,
now
But
shown
are
from the other end of the
of 3 6 inches be measured it will
it.
are opposite cuts in the rule (p. 143, B).
these opposite cuts that,
third,' there
The
begin at the other
for determining the original length of the rule, '
pre-
but slightly from that
gave attention
first
its interior
of
at a, where, as at
It
differs
on the accompanying drawing.
c
first
we have further to see
interior divisions of this space, as denoted
what were the
by the
arrived at the
Oppert's support,
witli
is
smallest measure of the Senkereh tablet
three of which
went
to each soss.
is
The same
given in the Gudea Scale, though the process
development
naturally
differs.
In
this
case
the
CUTTINGS ON THE SCALE.
147
exposition begins on the front edge of the rule, and at
right side.
its
Here we
find the remains of seven cuts,
stood opposite the same
which once
number on the inner
side, these
In each case these seven cuts on
latter still existing.
either side enclosed six spaces, each of the width of
The
Bossi.
clear
and
on the inner side were
six spaces
Those on the outer
distinct.
by leaving every other space
vacant,^
dividing the three intermediate spaces into
6^
partly-
This was
defaced, were the scene of the demonstration. effected
now)
(as
now
side,
two
2,
and by 3,
and
These were the consecutive fractions of
divisions.
2
—soss
spaces
^
soss.
Few
— showing
the widths of 1 soss and
traces of these
f and
minute subdivisions, though
engraven in the rock, could be expected
to withstand
the disintegrations of millenniums of years.
But enough
remains to show
how
the system was developed
'system' being that familiar to us
we
the Senkereh tablet, as
in.
— the
the columns of
shall see.
3.
shown that the
It has already been
Senkereh tablet
is
and larger
already suggested that the as
division
I,
fundamental measure. 1 Povir only are another.
column of the
devoted to an explication of the palm
in its various fractions
marked
first
is
'
third
'
relations.
It has been
of the Scale of Gudea,
an embodiment of the same
There should then be discoverable
shown on the drawing, owing
to their nearness to
one
THE TABERNACLE.
148
in this the same, or
found in {b)
Nor
that.
The
first
some of is
tlie
this expectation disappointed.
palm was
division of the
which three went
we have
same, fractions as
to its width.^
It
is
into digits, of
one of the vexations
of the case that the space given to the digit on the slab of
Gudea has been torn away by one-half its
length.
It
was
contained in the
right-hand corner of the rule, there
being nothing
with which to
else
the enclosing line and the exactly that of 20
sossi,
fill
up the space between This space, 'A,'
first cut.
having been meant to show the length of the (c)
Next
marked B,
seen used in the case of the
Of
and D.
0,
blank between the other two '
—
a device
B
line.'
digit.
on the scale come
to the width of the digit
three spaces
is
and may justly bo taken aS
these
and
of double-sossi, the one containing six
C forms
we have
a
already
D are composed
and the other ^ve
Buch parts, their values being respectively one-fifth and one-sixth of a palm. sossi
These two spaces of ten and twelve
show that the system
tablet, is
of the slab, like that of the
both decimal and duodecimal.
to be a point of cardinal importance,
relationship of the two witnesses;
mode
This will be seen as establishing the
the variation in the
of exhibition (one showing 5's
and
6*8,
and the
other lO's and 12's) being an additional point in their favour, as being the
and yet
in system
*
On
work
of
differing in the
the authority of Herodotus
between the
'
royal
'
two men,
essentially the
mode
(I. 178),
who
same
of presentation.
says that the difference
and another Babylonian cubit waa three
digits.
PALM OF THE
SCALE.
149
4.
Having ahovra. some pointa of harmony between the palm of the tablet, in its first column, and that of the Gudean scale in its first division, it is now advisable to see '
*
similar coincidences do, or do not, exhibit themselves in
if
the remaining portions of these two independent witnesses.
In making these investigations, it is of importance to remember that the Scale of Gudea does not consist of three
As
separate and clearly defined palm-lengths.
no double cutting opposite
to the
120th
soss, it is
that division I. was of the length of a single division
IL
Looking
of the length of at
De
there
is
evident
palm and
two palms.
Sarzec's reproduction of the cuttings
found in the maimed rule (none of which are disputed
my
in
transcript), it is not difficult to see
plan of construction.
In order
inner line must
on
its
i.e.
from the
These mediate
left of
cuts,
blank
now
what was
its
to do this, the cuttings
be read from
left
right,
to
the royal figure.
when not spaces,
single,
as
show that with
elsewhere,
there
inter-
were
five
detailed spaces given, containing respectively 2, 3, 4, 5,
and 6
interior
The conjectural
divisions.^
restoration
of the scale, adhering to these distances in detail 0,
shows that their contents were as follows: *
These several distances being plainly marked on the original
rule, it will
be found to be not impossible to subject them to a personal scrutiny, and thus to arrive at the length of the iossvs.
The
evidence to be derived from
this source is a strong proof of the correctness of the whole, as this test will
not stand had there been either more or fewer than 180 sossi in 10'8 inches.
The
differences
and another.
between these spaces
is
that of a single sossus between one
THE TABERNACLE.
150
Subdivision K, 2 spaces of 5 sossi each.
(1)
„
H,3
(3)
„
(4)
(2)
The
„
4
„
F, 4
„
3
„
„
D,5
„
2
„
jj
B, 6
„
2
„
B, has already been dealt with on
last of these,
a previous page, in illustration of the sossus and the 'line.'
This removes
remark
here,
as,
it
from the necessity of further
beyond
the
fact
that
progression 2-6 spaces, al»ove stated, the series of exhibits
to
contents
Its
of two
-
it
is
spaces
attention.
favour of this
in
is
the
does not belong
it
now engaging our
soss
in
had already been delimited
separation, as these spaces
in subdivision D.
Taking the four subdivisions minutiae of
B
D-K,
as previously explained,
together with the
it
will
be seen that
they cover the whole ground of the units of measurement, as well as of their fractions of
before him, any
derive from
it
workman
\ and
f.
With
instruction as to any of the 30 lengths
which are contained within the width of 10 to
^
of
an
inch.
It
is
of measurement were
numbers
Museum from
A
were
sossi,
equal
probable that these fine gradations necessary for the
precious stones and of seals, of which large
this scale
of ordinary intelligence could
used
in
engraving of
we know
Babylonia, the
alone having a collection
of
that
British
many hundreds
there.
comparison of details of the major A, B, and C, on
the accompanying plan, wiU. show that to the
left of his
THE SEXAGESIMAL SYSTEM.
151
datum at b, M. de Sarzec could not Lave found more than two or three of the five spaces recorded in his full-length rule,
inasmuch as the slab
is
here broken away.
I am,
howeyer, inclined to think that his suggestion of equal spaces to the that
number
in
left of b is correct,
my
conjectural restoration.
spaces I give a uniform width of 10 separated,
sossi,
by subdivision L, from the
on the right,
is
and was necessary
To
these
and find them
sixth tenth, which,
repeatedly cut up into units, as
This separation-device
we have seen.
everywhere apparent in the
is
to prevent
That there should be
five
and have marked
rule,
overcrowding and obscurity.
five
complete decades of
and that a sixth decade should be divided
sossi,
into its elemental
harmony with the Babylonian system of notation. The statement of Berosus already quoted, that the Babylonians made use of a decimal notation, is not units,
to
is
in
be understood in the sense of their having used
hundreds and thousands but, rather, that the sexagesimal ;
system was commonly divided into 6 decades of 10 each.
To
whole reading of the scheme of the Senkereh
this the
tablet bears
On
witness.
its
reverse
100 examples in which totals are worked result being 27,000.
face
about
out, the highest
All these are given in
In another transcribed on the same
are
sixties,
or
a portion of
in sixties -of- sixties.
tablet,
which
plate as Rawlinson's
is
reading of the Senkereh
a single upright wedge — '
was the system of 1
As
is also
tablet,
^being
3,600
60 X 60.
is
indicated
by
So immutable
sixties
done in the character immediately preceding the colophon of
the Senkereh tablet.
THE TABEENACLE.
152 It
therefore requisite that the systems, both of
is,
obverse of the tablet
and that of the Gudean
scale,
tlie
should
not transgress this cardinal rule in crucial cases, either
by overstepping of
and tbe
it,
in larger
it
numbers or by falling short they. Each conforms to
Nor do
in lesser numbers.
it
fact that th.e second division of the
scale exhibits five decades in full,
how completely
shows
units,
Gudean
and a sixth decade in this
fulfils
it
primary
condition of acceptance.
5.
Upon
the general agreement of the
Gudea Scale with
the Senkereh tablet the whole case for the Metrology of ancient Babylonia here rests.
If,
however,
we compare
the 3-palm length of the Gudea Scale with the 3- palm ell
of
the tablet,
as
to
their
respective
an
fractions,
accidental illegibility of the tablet in this portion of
much
obverse will deprive our conclusions of
Two
force.
(Column
of
original
lines 6-7),
II.,
addition to
the
value to
its
characters
its
of their
alone remain
each of which requires some
fit it
into the system.
The
first
twelve lines of the column, however, are a silent witness to the fact that they once bore as
many
and that these twelve
single palm,
fractions of the
relative constituents
palm were also those of the Short Ell, the nexus between the two being the unexpressed multiplier 3. of the
A
hitherto
the fact that Sections
A
little
it
noticed peculiarity of
Column
II. is
contained a twofold set of measures.
and
B
—partly
4 palms are worked out
In in
APPLICATION OF THE SCALE.
—
to a length
alone
remain as
smaller palm-fractions and partly in digits of four small
Tlie nine
ells.
—but
evidences of this operation Section
C,
which
is
they are enough.
much more
in
a fresh set of measures
digits
is
evolved.
worked out into two small reeds
153
In
perfect condition,
Here 8 palms
are
—3 being throughout the
multiplier of this column.
In
One
is
III.,
way two
this \m^u8ual
that the
and IV.
first
uniformities are maintained.
sub-column in each of Columns
shall consist of
12 palms.
The
II.,
other, that
the total exhibited in the sixth sub-column of each of the
columns shall be 2
reeds.
It follows that the reeds of
Column II. consisted of 4 ells, and those of Columns III. and IV. of 6 ells each. So radical a dislocation of the system could only have been caused by some sufficient reason, and have been redeemed by some well-known application of these earlier measures. My own suggestion is
that
A
and
B
were goldsmith's or jeweller's measures,
a suggestion which
is
supported by evidence that
lies
outside the scope of this chapter.
This supposed exceptional use of the short to the upper portion of the column.
The
ell is
limited
third section,
C, takes its place as giving the fractions oT the double
small reed, which
may have had
another use.
It will be
remembered that a reference has already been given to the fact that the walls of Khorsabad were measured in
'
spans,' the length of each being that of a small
eU
(=10-8 inches). Though of a foot happens to be the actual length of the Gudean scale, we are not at liberty to limit its
^
THE TABERNACLE.
154
use to this length.
Its design, as
and a double palm-length
—each
the other,— would enable any
the length of an 5 palms
(= x^
ell of
foot).
composed of a single
clearly separated
workman
4 palms
(= yf
from
to derive from foot)
it
and one of
It was not necessary to elaborate
these in the small space at the disposal of the sculptor,
nor was
The
'
it
possible.
palm
'
being fundamental in both records before
us, the following
Table will show
from the rule of Gudea.
its
fractions as
drawn
BABYLONIAN LENGTH-MEASTJRES. This conclusion
wards of many
may
locks,
155
prove to be a key which will
and may give entrance
of investigation, for " science
Taking the human hand
is
to
fit
new
the
fields
measurement."
as having an average,
and
agreed-upon, width of one-tenth of a yard or three-tenths of an English foot,
we have
in the sixth diagram of the
series (p. 117) a complete metrological
at one-fiftieth of an inch
and application.
As
system which begins
and admits of
indefinite extension
the experiment of inductive metrology
has hitherto failed to lead to one definite standard of
measurement for Accadian and Semitic antiquity, the subject of comparative metrology
may
possibly find in this
study a solution of some hitherto unexplained variations.
SUMMAET or BA-BTLONIAN LENGTH- ME ASTJEES. I.
As
derived from the Senkereh Tablet
and
(For fractions of the palm, see
the
finte.)
Gudean
Scale,
THE TABERNACLE.
156
II.
Ai
derived from the
Khorsabad Tablet}
PAET
III.
THE TRIPLE CUBIT OF BABYLONIA AS USED IN THE
COl^STRUCTIOIi OF
THE TABERI^ACLE.
159
CHAPTER
THE
ADJUI!^CTS
I.
AND ACCESSORIES
OE THE taber:n^acle. MOMENT'S
1
-^
it
make
consideration of the subject will
obvious that before the drawing of any plan or
map from upon a
a given specification
scale
of
necessary to decide
it is
measurement
to
which such drawing
shall conform.
If a single length-measure shall have been employed in the paraphrase of
any
specification, it will not greatly
matter what the adopted scale
The
is.
final result will
present the same appearance, whether to a
•
foot
given a length of ten or twelve or fourteen inches.
'
be
But
there will always remain the underlying disadvantage of its
not being
known what was
building specified. of
its
In a plan
parts one to another
the actual size of the
so
produced the relation
may be
correct, but it will
be impossible to say what relation in
would have This
is
twentieth
to
size
the whole
any existing building.
the condition in which the opening of the
century
finds
buildings of the Jews.
the
the
question
All
the
given measurements
in
Scripture are stated
and descriptions of buildings
of
sacred
THE TABERNACLE.
160 in
'
cubits,'
and the
determined.
One well-known
sixteen inches
;
inches
metrologist gives
it
as
another, equally well known, as eighteen
while a third, of
;
been
length, of the cubit has not
still
higher reputation, gives
his verdict in favour of twenty inches.
Not
only,
therefore,
is
there uncertainty as to the
actual size of the Tabernacle
and the Temples, but the
plans and models of these erections have been uniformly
and necessarily inconsistent within themselves.
It has
been found impossible to carry out the specifications as
The
they are written.
difficulties
encountered in working
out and harmonizing the details have
been found to
be insurmountable, and various compromises have been adopted.
These have been adopted, not from any want
of scholarship or of patient skill in the treatment, but
from the
fact that one of the
has hitherto been
The reason
unknown and
main left
features of the case
out of view.
for these repeated failures
wiU presently
appear in the thesis that no single cubit -length could
when
possibly succeed in reproducing a structural idea,
three such lengths were employed in description.
upon,
all
Till this fact has
its
inception and
been discovered and acted
attempts at the reconstruction, on paper or in
models, of the buildings of the Bible are of necessity
foredoomed to error and
failure.
It is in this condition of haziness that the absorbing topic of Jehovah's
when
House through thirteen centuries
a discovery has been
made which
is
Jew and
Christian.
;
calculated to
revolutionize the conception of both savant
of
lies
and
saint,
THE BIBLICAL CUBIT ANNOUNCED. That discovery
is
that, about a
thousand years before
the birth of Abraham, there were in
day use
Mesopotamia three
in
'
The
details
municated
and proofs of
to the
members
in December, 1902,^
'
or
every-
cubit-lengths,
and separate
specific
interest.
this
of the
common and
ells
each of which was applied in a
department of trade and human
161
discovery were com-
Royal Asiatic Society
and are published, with
corrections,
as Part II of this volume.
The
had previously been an-
conclusions arrived at
nounced in the Quarterly Statement
of
the
Exploration Society for January, 1902, in '
Palestine
the
words
There were three cubits of the respective lengths of
-f^,
and
-}-f,
-ff of
an English
foot, the first of
which was
used exclusively for gold and gold-tapestry work, the second for building purposes, and the third for measuring areas only.'
^
Forged upon the anvil will be found to
Journal
1
Art. VIII. ''
Mr.
S.
fit
of cuneiform research, this
key
the wards of every lock which has
the Eoyal Asiatic Society, April, 1903, pp. 257-283. The Linear Measures of Babylonia about b.c. 2500.
of
"Wiseman, of
tlie
English Missicm Hospital in Jerusalem, whoee
has been spent in Palestine, teUa me, under date 29tk February, 1904, that about fifty years ago there were actually three different cubits or dira ' life
'
Theywere common Egyptian
(arm) in ordinary use in Palestine.
The dirad
cubit), which was used for (= the manufactured in Egypt, and is equal to 22f inches. (2) The dirad JstambouH, or cubit of Constantinople, which was used for measuring European cloth, etc., and is about 26^ inches. (1)
measuring linen,
(3)
The land
baladi etc.,
dirad, used in connection with land measurement,
is
equal to
30 inches.
The
difference
between these lengths
is
approximately one of 3"6 inohss.
THE TABERNACLE.
162
way
hitherto barred the in these studies
to clearer light,
and
as
we proceed
it
will be found to open the door of
almost every architectural Bible difficulty, from the days of Moses to those of Josephus.
The suggestion has already been made public
2.
that
when Abraham left the land of Mesopotamia he may have taken with him the standard length-measures of his country.
This suggestion assumes an air of strong probability
when we
find, as
we
and without any reference the
Hebrews
in
on leaving Egypt,
shall do, that
to the land of their fathers,
the wilderness used the
Babylonian
measures for the erection of the Tabernacle.
The pattern was showed '
'
to
Moses
in the
Mount, and
the record of that revelation, as contained in the book of Exodus, makes no reference to a diversity in the length
These differences in the meaning of the
of the cubit.
word
'
cubit
'
were treated as matters of common and
every-day knowledge.
It is as if in our
own day
public
tenders were called for certain artistic metal-work, in
which
many
so
ounces of gold and silver and so
ounces of brass and lead were to be used.
many
Neither of
the parties to such a transaction would require to be told, or be expected to record, that the
was
to be
'
one of 480 grains and the
of 437^ grains.
Such a
ounce '
distinction
'
ounce
of the former '
of the latter
would be a matter
of ordinary knowledge to each party, and the fact itself
would, by
common
of dispute.
custom, be placed beyond the possibility
'CUBITS' OF THREE LENGTHS. This hypothetical illustration
may
163
enable us to under-
stand how, in the instructions given to Moses for the
new
creation of a
made
Tabernacle,
there was no reference
None such
to the various lengths of the cubit.
was given as
to the length
of the
single
sup-
cubit,
posing but one to have been used; and none such was
given as to the length of any other cubit, or cubits, that
may have been
requisite to
carrying out of
the
the work.
The books
of the Bible are
each of them severely
compressed, and facts obvious to us, or to those to
they were at the
whom
We
given, are seldom stated.
first
thus have an experimental right to assume that the early metric system of to us,
Western Asia, hitherto unknown
was perfectly familiar
use amongst the early
Hebrew
to
Moses and in common
people.
These measures, from their use in the construction of the Tabernacle, soon assumed a sacred character, and, as
we proceed adown
the stream of time,
and pause
from time to time to survey the erection of this Temple or of that,
we
shall find that they
remained unchanged
during the thirteen centuries of Hebrew national
3.
a
Having
far-ofi"
laid
antiquity,
the
foundation
of
the evidence on
our
its
Ufe.
subject
behalf
in
going
back to a period of from twenty-five to thirty centuries before Christ, we may now proceed to build upon it those divinely-ordered erections around which the heart of Judaism, Moslemism,
and Christianity have entwined
the most tender and sacred associations.
THE TABERNACLE.
164
Of
these erections,
Tabernacle
the
in
tlie
in order
first
to architecturally restore the details
we
of this earliest of all the Houses of God, to
testimony Scale
the
all
— witnesses
conditions
Senkereh
the
of
is,
b.c.^
In the endeavour faithful
which
the date of
wilderness,
approximately, 1280
of time is the
themselves
laid
Tablet
and
shall be
us by the
upon
the
Gudean
dating from a period as
long antecedent to the Tabernacle as that was to the Christian Era.
infancy
Bible
of
It
history
men were
not to be supposed that in the
is
and in the morning-lands of the
careless or inexact in
their religious faith.
what concerned
All the evidence of the inscriptions
goes to show that the religious faculty of the living played a life
than
this
be
supposed
conservatism
A
more important part in the business
does amongst ourselves.
it
of
of what
the
men
stock of
Least of
Abraham.
had already been was
minute and particular
the best
men then
ritual
of the nation.
governed the
The House
all
of
can
Their intense. lives
of
of Jehovah,
whether Tabernacle or Temple, was the centre of the nation's
thought and feeling, and any development or
reconstruction there was a matter of the most reverent
and
punctilious
showed
to
Believing the pattern
Moses in the Mount, and the description
handed by David '
consideration.
to Solomon, to
have been God-given
Matters of olironology and of the date of the composition of portions of lie beyond the range of these pages, though
tte Old Testament Scriptures
the very practical nature of these material reconstructions has an important
bearing on the historical character of the whole narratiye,
But
see p. 101.
HEBREW CONSERVATISM. and revealed, the
165
priests did not dare to alter or
amend
either of
them
possible.
It is in the force of this sentiment of tradition
that
we now
in.
any particular in which escape was
find our strongest ally in the endeavour
to trace the evolution of the
Herodian Temple from
its
prototype of the Tabernacle.
SCALE USED IN THE ACCOMPAJTnNG DEAWING OF THE TABERNACLE (WitkdetaiU).
1
Cubit used in the plotting of the Tabernacle Court,
2.
Cubit used in the erection of the Tabernacle and Tent,
U 3.
1 ft.
6 ins.
feet.
Cubit used in the making of the gold-embroidered Veil and the ten Curtaiiis, 10'8 inches.
Hi
o
A H n < n H O (4
D O
O P
o w o H n
w El
OF THE TABERNACLE COURT.
SIZE
The Coukt of the Tabernacle.
1.
The books
attributed to Moses uniformly speak, in the
singular number, of
'
the court
'
which the Tabernacle
in
This form of phraseology
stood.
167
is,
of course, perfectly
and equal sanctity of the
correct, as the idea of the unity
whole enclosed area was thus kept prominently before
As
the mind.
a matter of fact, however, the enclosure
followed the precedent of Egyptian temples, in which
were two square areas, the temple
there
itself
being
situated in the rearmost of the two.
In the delimitation
of the Tabernacle courts or squares,
they were placed as lying to the east and west of one another
;
each of
and each of the areas measured its
It
four sides.
fifty cubits
on
apparent that a cubit of
is
18 inches, as the measure of distance, applied to the text of
Exodus
75
feet in width,
In
xxvii. 9-18, will give us
by 150
this postulate
feet in length.
we have the
first
view,
into
positive result of the
Here
recovery of the surveyor's cubit.
which brings
an enclosed space of
from
the
is
a conclusion
uncertainties
of
speculation, the first concrete result of a well-ascertained of
fact
metrological
deliverance from the
us as we proceed, and of
its
correctness
lore. *
it
The
importance
might-have-been
'
will
of
this
grow upon
will culminate in the demonstration
when we come
to deal with the area
upon which stood the Temple of Herod. Till then I must ask my readers to hold their final judgment in suspense,
and
to allow the
we go
on.
evidence on
its
behalf to gather as
THE TABERNACLE.
168 Notv,
we may regard
this application of a
Babyloman
length-measure to a problem of Hebrew architecture as
being on
Then
its trial.
it
will be seen that it
was not
To this Q.E.D. a study of the whole series maps and plans is the necessary preliminary.
empirical.
of these
A
^
uniform width of
fifty
large cubits, with a
common
length of one hundred such cubits given to the court of the Tabernacle, yards.
A
is
easy to remember as so
many
half-
square of 25 yards was thus the size of each of
the two rectangles in which, for nearly three centuries, the worship of Jehovah was solemnized.
Are any There
traces
of such
an area
to be
still
found
?
SeiMn, the ancient Shiloh, a level
is still visible at
platform, which, in places, has been cut into the rock to
the depth of 5 feet.
on the gentle
rise
which leads
compared with the 75 coincidence
by
is
The width of
this platform, lying
to the village, is
feet required
remarkable in
itself,
the fact that the platform itself
by the
and is
it is
412
as against the requirement of 160 feet.
length of about 250 feet I must refer section of this chapter on the East will be seen that such
it
did to
it
my
feet, as
scale.
feet in length,
For the added readers to the
(pp. 175-8), in which
his
day
to Shiloh to see
for the wickedness of Israel (vii. 12).
the same desolate spot
This
not weakened
an additional space was required.
Jeremiah sent the men of
God
Gate
77
we may appeal
what
To
for a portion of the
The author has in preparation volumes similar to this, dealing with Solomon's Temple; (*) Ezekiel's Temple; (c) Herod's Temple; in all of which the same set of measures will he used, with the same local >
(a)
applications.
TABERNACLE COURT ENCLOSURE. evidence as to the size of the Tabernacle and
Such evidence
will be still
its
as nearly as the science of that
direction of east to west.^
courts.
more complete when we know
the bearings of the platform longitudinally. lie,
169
Some
It should
day allowed, in the
future traveller will,
it
hoped, enlighten us as to this point, and also as to
is
whether the slope of the ground on the upper side affords
any indication
of an approach to the
North Gate.
The Enclosure and Hangings op the Tabernacle
2.
Court.
Having 75
levelled a space of
feet wide, the
to enclose
Moses.
it,
ground 150
feet long
by
next care of the Jewish priests would be
in accordance with, the directions given to
These
may
be seen in the Book of Exodus, where
we have in chapters xxvi. and xxvii. the incipient account or specification, and in chapters xxxvi. to
of the erection.
No
xl.
the history
further reference will be
made
these chapters in these pages, every reader having at hand,
and
to
them
being supposed to be, or to become, familiar
with a subject contained in so narrow a literary space.
No
liberties will be
Anyone who and
taken with the text in this
will
little
book.
take a sheet of paper and pencil
will sketch out the places
of the sixty pillars on
—
which the curtaining was hung^ twenty on each north and south side, and ten on each west and east will find
—
*
See Introduction,
p. xiii.
In doing this, the direction of Exodus xxvii. 14-16 should be home in mind, that there were three lengths of curtaining on either side of the East Gate opening. These would require the support of four pillars on each tide, the comer pOlars heing counted to the sides. *
THE TABERNACLE.
170
himself confronted with this diflBculty, that twenty pillars
on each of
larger sides will give but nineteen spaces
its
instead of the twenty requisite, the pillars being placed at distances of five large
cubits
Not only must the
centre to centre.
have corresponded in
size
from
apart, reckoning
cubits here used
with those of the area, but
some special arrangement made by which, while the spirit of the instruction was obeyed, the letter of its numbers should not be broken. The solution of this diflBculty may be seen in the there must have been
detail drawing, opposite, of the Tabernacle court,
where
the pillars are numbered to facilitate reference. Several results follow from the
which
this
text.
Each
importance are
drawing of
to
dealing
is
these
adopted method by
brought into harmony with the is
thought
to
be
of
sufficient
merit separate mention, inasmuch as
with
a-
portable
which had a dominating
effect
erection,
the details
upon subsequent
we of
structures,
which were not portable, though evolved from
this,
and
designed to serve the same specific purpose.
Any
feature
unimportant,
of the Tabernacle,
may have been
however seemingly
developed and enlarged in
subsequent Temples, and, unless we can trace
its
in the Tabernacle, will remain unaccounted for,
significance be undiscovered.
germ
and
its
It is for this reason that
the reader's thoughtful attention
is
asked to the two or
three sections that follow.
The North Gate.
An
examination of the adjoining plan will show that,
—
o——
«5
o-
-o
-O-
x^
a— -o-
-o-
ON
k
1^
9N
^k
c
"«5
«f
In
^i
< I
c
0^
%j>
I-
(100
V«)
65
n
o-o o—o o—o o—o o—
8
5?
—
0—0 6-0 o-o o—o 6
5]
V
I
Q
01
V
vrt
99
W
-^^i
°^1
a. "5
^°it
6
K
s
S-'J
c
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no05
«0
N
-o
JO
V
f2
Outline Plan of the Outer Court and Tabernacle.
I
THE TABERNACLE.
172
as there arranged, the sixty pillars
around the court
a vacancy of one in the
This
circuit.
placing
left
not directly
The mathematics
referred to in the text of Exodus.
the case, specially the
is
of
of
the pillars of the
East Gate outside the alignment of the court, demand that at one point in the perimeter there should be a hiatus of
15 feet in the curtaining, caused by the inability to
The place of this hiatus has between the tenth and eleventh pillars on
use a sixty-first pillar.
been given as
the north side of the of Leviticus
i.
altar, in
obedience to the direction
11, that sacrifices
the side of the altar northward.'
were
to
be slain 'on
^
This was, therefore, the side which would be most convenient for the admission of animals to the court
The worshippers, other than
itself.
the court at the east gate.
animals entered, with
and each slew
it
saorificer
sacrificers,
entered
Those who brought living
them, through
north
gate,
oflFering,
there
the
standing beside his
before the Lord, and then took his place beside
the altar amid the other worshippers.
That
the highest act of temple worship
till
the days of Christ,
we know from His words
Sermon on the Mount
*
in the
this
remained
This definition of place -would seem to have been thus vague with
intention,
as
it
permitted of the sacrifices being offered either within or
without the enclosure of the Tabernacle.
In the vision of Ezekiel's Temple
the larger sacrifices were to be killed without the wall, and the smaller, as
lambs and goats, within the gate (Ezekiel xl. 39, 40). This was in harmony with the law of Leviticus iii., which states that offerings of the herd (i.e. cattle) were to be killed at the door of the tent of meeting (verse 2), and that sacrifices of the flock (i.e. sheep and goats) were to be kUled before the tent of meeting (verses 8, 13). That a distinction in place was intended must be evident from the change in the terminology.
THE GATE OF SACEIFICE. (whicli,
like
173
other citations, are here taken from
all
the Revised Version),
thy gift at the
altar,
'
thou art offering
therefore,
If,
and there rememberest that thy
brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift
way
before the altar, and go thy
thy brother, and then come and
to
first
;
offer
thy
be reconciled gift.'
The north gate of sacrifice is generally spoken of under the name of the door of the tent of meeting.' Both it and its 'screen' are referred to in Numbers iii. 26, as '
explained in chapter 1 of the history of the Tabernacle
the
name
It continued to bear this
(pp. 4, 177).
Babylon,
from
restoration
Zechariah,
until after
the son of
Meshelemiah, having been appointed, in David's time,
'Northward'
(1
arrangement the writer of he
'
was a porter of
Chron.
1
have not
21 writes that
Soreg oe Fence.
yet, however,
which the discovery of teaching. Placed where two squares (soon
ix.
this
the door of the tent of meeting.'
The Okigin of the
We
In re-recording
Chron. xxvi. 14).
to
learned
this north it
is,
at
all
gate
is
the lessons
capable of
the junction of the
become separate
courts), it afforded
entrance not only to the sacrificing laymen of the Jewish
Church, but also to the end of the
own
its priests.
From
the beginning to
sacrificial dispensation the priests
separate entrance into the
Temple
courts.
had their
The
laity
being forbidden to set foot within the inner square,^ there 1
The supplementary
court of the sanctuary Israel shall not
(Numbers
rule is
come nigh
xyiii. 22).
by
whicli the laity were excluded from the imier
given in the words, 'Henceforth the children of to the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin,
and die
THE TABERNACLE.
174 can be
little
doubt but tbat they were (when sacrificing)
given admission to the outer square by the eastern half of the entrance- way on the north.
At
comes into view, not
this point
through the haze of
clearly,
the
far-oflf centuries,
of the Soreg or fence,
but dimly
first
inception
which played so prominent a part
in the history of the later temples.
As
the Levites were forbidden to enter the sanctuary
building or to touch the vessels of
its service,
the inner court for service
(Numbers
enter
Ezekiel xliv. 11), so those
who were
but might xviii.
23;
neither priests nor
Levites might enter the outer or eastern court, but might
not go farther, or come near to the sanctuary of the
Permitted to throng around, and even to
Tabernacle.
on three of
touch, the altar
they were
its sides,
strictly
forbidden to pass the boundary-line which separated one
square or court from the other. necessary, line
of
from the beginning,
demarcation
It,
to
between
became
therefore,
make some upstanding
the
two,
which,
while
restraining the multitude, should allow the sons of Levi to pass to
and
fro
from one court
the duties of their
been found in a
Such
ofl&ce.
row
to another accomplishing
a line
would seem
young palm-tree
of
on the marching boundary of the two other one
(i.e.
formed was
filled
and had
pillars planted
courts.
with palm-branches interlaced.
having formed the
courts,
have
Every
every alternate one) of the spaces thus
evidence for this will appear later. as
to
its
Here only
it is
The noted
which divided the two termination at one end in the centre
of the north gateway.
*
fence
'
THE GATE OF WORSHIP. This
sacrificial
gate
frequently referred to in the
is
name
Pentateuch, always under the
Early instances
tent of meeting.'
Leviticus
i.
of meeting,'
From
12
xl.
;
'
which
is
quite another element of the design.
viii,
Aaron and
assembled without this
we
3, 4,
learn that at the con-
his sons all the congregation '
door
'
became the place of assembly
or north gate. for
all
ceremonial or state occasions (Numbers
From
Exodus
are,
;
Leviticus
secration of
of the 'door of the
Numbers vi. 10. It is to be carefully from The door of the tabernacle of the tent
3
distinguished
175
x.
Israel
3
;
was
It thus
on great
Josh. xix. 61).
the position of the Shiloh site of the Tabernacle,
these crowds would stand on gently rising ground, tier
above '
tier.
There was thus no attempt made
the thousands of Israel
outer court.
room
for
"WTien
'
crowd
to
into the narrow space of the
filled it
would not
aflGord
standing-
more than 5,000 persons.
The East Gate.
A
point of cardinal importance to be noted in the
reconstruction of the eastern side of the court
that
is
there were on that side fifteen cubits of 'hangings' in
each of
its
corners.
That
is,
there were three spaces
of five cubits each, involving the use of four piUars on
the right and four piUars on the
left.
These having been
accounted for in the drawing as separate
remains the construction of the gate for this
were not of
fine
itself.
entities,
there
The hangings
twined linen, as were
all
the
other curtains around the court, but of embroidered work in blue, purple, and scarlet, on a foundation of white.
THE TABERNACLE.
176
The hangings
for the gate of the court were thus similar
in appearance to the
'
screen for the door of the tent
opposite to them.
the fifty cubits of which the width of the court
Of
consisted throughout, thirty were taken
by the two lengths
side
To
remain. specified,
these
up
at its eastern
Twenty
of corner curtaining.
twenty
cubits
four
were
pillars
giving three spaces of 6f cubits, or exactly
ten feet to each.
Two
variations from the ordinary
enclosing curtains have
appearance of the
now been brought
view.
into
One, the embroidered appearance of the screen-of-the-
The other the
gate curtains themselves.
greater length
of each curtain.
A
third appears in the fact that
end
pillars of the court
as being socketed side by
we cannot imagine
and the end side,
pillars of the gate
and touching one another.
Such bad form in architecture was impossible art of
pattern
'
'
court to have been constructed after
its
of the Mount.
It is true that
no relative position
is
record to the screen of the east gate.
was
it
to be a certain
In
to
this
1
number
its
of
was answerable
a removable one.
it
is
to
be
line.
of the screen, in the
to the height in cubits of the
18), certainly implies that it
may have been
are not told
cubits eastward of that
not having been on the
The statement that the height
(Exodus xxxviii. such
We
very openness of the question
found the proof of
curtains,
given in the
be in the line of the hangings, or that
that
was
line.i
to the best
that day, leaving out of view the claim of the
Tabernacle and the
the
breadth of iia hangings of the court
was a separate
erection,
and as
VESTIBULE OF THE EAST GATE.
177
That first authority oa Eastern architecture, the- late James Fergusson, has observed that the word ' gate ' ia Eastern languages has not the meaning of passage-way, with enclosing door attached, which
When
languages. of
it ia
many) that Mordecai
has in Western
it
stated (to take one passage out sat in the
King's gate, we are
to understand that in the Persian palace there
was either
a separate hall or a well-defined space to which
the
name was
Old
The word gate (=
given.
Testament has generally,
if
shaar) in the
not universally, this meaning,
separate words being used for door
(=
deleth),
threshold
(z=saph), and opening {=^ pethach). It '
The
screen for the door of the gate of the court,'
understood. as the
'
It
closing
it.^
it,
That distance was
left it
be
gate was, in
fact,
to
be decided by
The screen
of the
a moveable item, so as to meet the
growth of the nation's numbers in the It was
indeterminate and
was
the necessities of time and place.
future.
at the gate of the people, thus understood, that
the elders
sat,
on lawful days,
for the administration of
and within sight of the
altar
the strangers and the foreigners (who were in
many
justice.
In
this
cases alien slaves)
1
to
so as to screen the opening without
unexpressed, for the reason that
afar
is
26,
door of the gate,' but placed at some convenient
away from
•
iv.
was a screen of exactly the same width
distance
fires,
Numbers
in this sense that the description in
is
off,'
space,
stood to worship the
God
of Israel
not being allowed to come within the court of
Josephue speaks of the east gate as having a 'vestibule
'
[Antiq. III.
N
vi. § 2).
THE TABERNACLE.
178
Hebrew people. "We thus obtain from when understood in its Eastern sense, a the
a single word, flood of light
on the early religious polity of the Jews, and as we proceed we shall find that, in later ages, the most unexpected results were evolved out of this factor of the Tabernacle construction.
We
may now,
however, return
Tabernacle when at Shiloh. this
was found
to
It will be
the
of the
site
remembered that
right width, but 262 feet
to be of the
longer than was requisite for the actual court, as curtained
In
off.
this excess
we have the
room
requisite
for the placing of the three embroidered curtains
was
it
which
marked the eastern extremity of the gate. Standing upon this spot, we may recall the judicial scenes of Joshua's later
life.
Here Eleazar, the son of Aaron, judged, and centuries later, Eli sat, and here died. also the
glory of Shiloh, the
site of
here,
With him which
died
adduced
is
to-day as a witness for these pages.
The Great Altar of
On
Sacrifice.
entering the Tabernacle court
openings,
we
distinguish
it
either
find ourselves opposite to the brasen
This
of sacrifice.
by
is
of ^
its
altar
so called in these pages in order to
from a small
altar,
within the holy chambers, and was
which had
known
its
place
as the golden
altar of incense.
(A)
Approaching the great '
This
is
altar,
we
find
it
the spelling of this word in the E.Y. passim.
raised
DIMENSIOI^S OF GEEAT ALTAR.
179
above the ground, by being placed on a platform of sods
unhewn
or
and
No specific
stone.
instructions as to the height
size of this platform are given, thus permitting
enlargement from time to time.
its
of
existence
is
involved in the directions given as to the material of
its
composition, and as to the
ascended.
Exodus
These
XX., the
may
word
'
Its
mode by which
be found in the altar
'
it
was
to be
last verses
of
in verses 24 and 25 being
understood of the altar-base, and in verse 26 of the altar itself.^
Steps were not to be used for the ascent to the
altar proper,
will
and
to the
end of the Mosaic economy
be found that the great altar was always reached
by an inclined plane or slope. Mounting this, the worshippers stood beside the of acacia-wood, overlaid with brass. of this
and
it
if
is
given
in.
the
first
A
altar
full description
eight verses of Exodus xxvii.,
the scale of the ordinary cubit be applied to this
specification it will be seen that the original altar of the
Tabernacle had the appearance of a large shallow box,
which, when placed upon level ground, required neither steps nor slope to reach its topmost ledge, or its
(= 1
receptacle for sacrificial meats. 3-|-
feet) in height,
The
altar proper
was a
and was
any part of
It was but three cubits
six feet in the square.^
'box of acacia-wood, ooTered with brass plates,
and could not, therefore, be the same as the altar of earth or unhewn stone. In Ezra iii. 3 we read, they set the altar upon its base.' If we suppose the altar to have stood upon a base of two cubits in height, '
'^
would then have the three dimensions of a cube, being six feet in height. the example of the cubic shape of the Holy of Holies before them, this was almost certainly the case. In the holy city seen by John the length and the breadth and the height of it were equal (Revelation xxi. 16), it
With
THE TABERNACLE.
180 It
thus seen tbat priests desirous of placing on
is
grating
sacrificial portions of offerings to
no need
to
do more than stand beside the
Its
be burnt had altar,
and upon
of the raised platform, the surface-level of
some portion
which had been reached by the slope seen in the drawing. It will be noticed that two such slopes are drawn.
for this reason
:
—The
the east; in like
altar
manner
was entered from the
And
was always approached from
as the court of the Tabernacle
It was the most highly valued
east.
privilege of every worshippiug Hebrew to stand beside
when the fat was being consumed upon it.^ The touch
the altar at the crisis of his devotions, or of his sacrifice
the brasen
of
altar
brought forgiveness and sanctity
to the sincere penitent.
him more '
No
passage of the
significantly dear than that
Whosoever toucheth the
xxix. 37). 2
We
have the
Law was
which proclaimed,
altar shall be holy
New
to
'
(Exodus
Testament complement
of this in the miracle of healing wrought on the
woman
who touched the hem of Jesus' garment, many other of His miracles.
as well as in
As, therefore, every son and daughter of
Abraham who
obtained permission to enter the court of the Tabernacle availed himself of the right to touch the brasen altar,
we
are to infer, on the great feast days of the Jewish Church,
'
'
I will
wash
my
Lord' (Psalms xxvi.
'The
hands in innocency
;
so will I compass Thine altar,
6).
altar that sanotifieth the gift'
(Matthew
19).
rxiii.
This was an
extension of the same principle, from persons to things inanimate. '
The same
sanctity attached to the tent of meeting
to the laver, and to
all
and
all its contents,
the vessels of the altar (Exodus xxx. 26-29).
however, neither Levites nor people were allowed to towh.
These,
POSITION OF GREAT ALTAR. a constant stream of suppliants ascending
and descending by the south Temples the descent and exit were
slope
shown
selves always being of the
which they altar
^
now
be
the slopes them-
:
same width
as the altar to
was afterwards called the
'
bosom
merits a moment's attention.
hollow space in which the fat of
consumed by the
grating, in one or of this receptacle.
and rested upon
fire
more
of the
and the
were placed, so as
which burned below.
pieces,
'
This was the
all sacrifices,
sacrificial joints of all burnt-ofi'erings,
to be
the south will
to
led.
What
(B)
by the east That in the
slope.
in later pages of these volumes
181
A
formed the bottom or
This was placed half-way up the
interior ledges.
The
tire itself,
brass floor altar,
divinely
kindled and never allowed to go out, burned on the hearth,
i.e.
on the upper surface of the platform, which
was about 21 inches below the grating (Exodus xxxviii. 1-7) .2 (C) It
most desirable
is
to fix the exact position of
These two
the altar with relation to the Tabernacle.
divinely- ordered erections cannot rightly be said to occupy
Hence
first
and second places in regard
it is
improper to say either that the Tabernacle belonged
to each other.
to the altar or the altar to the Tabernacle.
own
court or square, and in that had the
1
Ezekiel
'
The
xliii.
between these
is
first place.
referred to in Ezekiel
the hearth, on the upper surface of the platform,
Lion of God, owing is
its
13, margin.
distinction
•stood above this
Each had
to its fiery
is
powers of destruction.
called Sarel, the
xliii.
15,
where
spoken of as Ariel, or the
Mountain of God.
The
actual altar that
THE TABERNACLE.
182
From Exodus
xl. 29,
and Leviticus
i.
5
;
iv.
there
7,
can be no doubt that the altar was brought as near to the Tabernacle as possible
other factors show that
;
its
western edge was placed on the Soreg, or boundary-line
which separated the two
of the platform on which
in the inner court, as
This involved that a part
courts.* it
is
stood should have been built
shown
in the outline-plan of
the court and Tabernacle already given
(p.
This
171).
arrangement was continued in the temples. Philo, an Alexandrian Jew,
that the two sides i.e.
who wrote 40
and the back
says
a.d.,
of the Tabernacle court,
the clear spaces, were all of equal width, whereas the
space in front was fifty cubits square.
This position for the Tabernacle within quite in
harmony with the
that would
mind
of
commend
the early
its
fitness of things,
itself to
and
Hebrew.
By
adopting
it
giving to each
the platform a length of 18
feet,^
we
find
was just room for the brasen laver in
^
The
line of the Soreg,
on each
The
is
is
one
the orderly and reverential
accompanying drawings, and
the court was 34| feet.
court
its
in side
the of
that there
appointed
side of the 6 feet altar, to the edge of
spaces,
alternately filled
and
unfilled,
were
conjecturaUy each 2^ cuhits ( = 3 feet) in width. Ten such were on either hand, leaving a apace of 4J feet on the platform where the priests might pass
and repass.
There was thus an indication of the Soreg, on the platform, of
eighteen inches. ^ As the platform had relations in size with the altar, which was medium cubits, and with the width of the court, which was measured
huilt in
in large
it is necessary to find a figure which is commensurate with both. This found in the identity of twelve large cubits and fifteen medium cubita, each being 18 feet. This gave a walk six feet wide on each of the four sides of
cubits,
is
the altar.
PRE-TABERNACLE TENT OF WOESHIP. place
'
between
(Exodu8 XXX.
tlie
tent
and the
of meeting
Tabernacle,^
a
fact
which
full
is
This was
significance to the devout mind. striking, as it
altar
18).^
There was thus no passage-way between the the
183
altar
and
of
profound
all
the more
was on the western corners of the altar
that the sacrificial and atoning blood was sprinkled, the
remainder being poured out into the drain at
The Tent
Any
its foot.
of the Tabernacle.
proposed delineation or model of the tent of
meeting, which does not allow of a distinction being
made
between the Tabernacle and the tent of the Tabernacle,
must
palmary importance.
err in a point of
It is to
be observed that there was, in the wilderness of Sinai, both an altar and a tent of meeting, before there was a Tabernacle.
Immediately
the covenant of the
after
Ten Commandments had been
ratified
by
their formal
popular acceptance, Moses built an altar under the Mount,
and
set up,
near
it,
twelve memorial
pillars,
one for each
of the Tribes of Israel (Exodus xxiv. 4). It was when standing beside this altar and these pillars that the
people were cleansed with the 'blood of sprinkling.' 1
A
section of the inner conrt, taken
from west to
Space beUnd of Tabernacle
Length
Space for laver Projecting portion of altar-base
east,
= 32 cubits = 1 cubit = 4 cubits = 13 cubits
Tabernacle
...
would give 19J 48
:
feet. ,,
IJ
,,
6
,,
50 75 some sacrifices was sprinkled upon the side of the altar That of others, round about upon the altar (Lev. i. 5). In (Leviticus v. 9) Temple. Iieither case would the priest require to stand between the altar and the *
'
of
The blood
'
.
'
THE TABERNACLE.
184
After the account of the
Mount (Exodus
xxiv. 18)
first forty
days spent in the
we have the curious statement
that Moses used to take the tent and to pitch
the camp, afar
from the camp, and he called
off
tent of meeting
without
it
(Exodus xxxiii.
the are
7).
it
By which we
to understand that the outspread covering
forming the
camp
tent proper was carried to and fro between the
and the
altar,
and was hung upon the twelve
pillars
standing there only on Sabbaths and at such times as the worship of Jehovah was in progress.
temporary
This
realization of the
arrangement vision
was
ended
by
shown to Moses during Mount (Exodus xxxiv.
second stay of forty days in the
when
the his 28),
the plan of the altar and of a permanent and
portable place of worship was showed to him, being the
pattern of things in the Heavens.
During the
five
or six
months
Tabernacle was being built first
(it
in
which the new
was reared up on the
day of the second year of the Exodus) the old
transition state of affairs remained,
and divine worship
continued at the altar and pillars which stood at the
nether part of the Mount.
We
cannot conceive, the twelve tribes remaining, that
the twelve memorial pillars of witness standing for them
and on any
their behalf, beside the altar, should have suffered
alteration of
names
number
of the tribes were
in the
new
erection.
As the
engraven on the twelve stones
of the breastplate, so the dedicated pillars of the
new
Tabernacle could not be other than twelve in number.
The
recognition of this principle of continuity brings
PILLARS OF THE TABERNACLE. into view the
which
first
element of the tent of the Tahernacle
claim our attention.
is to
It
which supported the ridge
pillars
185
that of the three
is -
of the tent.
pole
These are not expressly mentioned in the accounts given to
us of the Tabernacle, either in
its
description.
But their existence number of pillars
only to retain the as
and
twelve, four
necessary, not
is
in the Tabernacle
others being mentioned, but
five
also to support the ridge '
specification or
its
-
pole,
which
the middle-bar, passing through in
is
spoken of as
the midst of the
boards from the one end to the other' (Exodus xxxvi. 33).
These
being granted as essential to the support
pillars
of the tent (as distinguished from the Tabernacle),
have
to
consider
stretched across either side
by
'
Exodus
covering
which
curtains,
down on
is
referred to in the closing chapter
18-19) in the distinctive double record
(xl.
And Moses
the
tent-pegs, formed the outer covering of the
holy chambers, and of
next
the ridge-pole and, fastened
we
reared up the Tabernacle
....
and he
spread the tent over the Tabernacle and put the covering of the tent above
upon
it.'
The Eleven In the above
citation
Curtains.
we have brought
before us the
two elements of which the covering of the tent consisted, now no question of the Tabernacle, or any
there being
portion of
the
it,
woven
proper; and
within view.
fabric its
which
These two elements were
formed the
outspread
'covering' which, from the
tent
name given
THE TABERNACLE.
186 to
we know
it,
to
have been
vicissitudes of the
tlie
1
weather 1
J
f
its
outer protection against
—
and storm.
rain, hail, sun,
II
)
K'/»Mit!am,vw//MVfjum'.si'jmKt
; I •a///j:ki///M.\
I '
f
:[
r
4-
:f
^^ ^^^Av/Mh/zm^^ Thk Eleven {The shading shows
Cttrtains.
the portions of covering which overhang ends
and
sides.)
>o t-l
I
t
3°
2f»
±
M H hch:
Scale oi Medium Cubits.
hH
l4
H HE .
Scale or English Feet,
The former of these, the woven in eleven strips, and dyed in three '
colours.^
Five curtains were blue, three
tent-spread, to
It
was ordered
to
be
be composed of goat's hair,
is
scarlet,
the width given to these and three purple.
It
may
not be
altogether chimerical to give some traditions as to the shades of the colours
employed.
The
blue
was that of the wild hyacinth
flower, or that of the
THE ELEVEN CUETAINS OF THE TENT. eleven curtains which has hitherto been
block
to
restorers
all
James Fergusson, writing
in
is
he advances a theory, which, being based
as inadmissible as
Let us now proceed
we
late
then insoluble.
till
upon the assumption that there was but a length,
The
Smith's Bible Dictionary,
declares the problem to have been It is true that
a stumbling-
Tabernacle.
the
of
187
any that had preceded
it.
to state the conclusions to
by the new theory of the
are brought
single cubit-
which
triple-cubit, as
derived from Babylonia, and embodied in the erections described in the chapters of this volume. 80,
however,
it is
Before doing
necessary to deal with another factor of
the area to be covered in, hitherto unmentioned.
That
factor
Tabernacle.
porch
the
is
which stood before the
Here, again, we are met by the brevity and
ambiguity of the Hebrew records.
When
once the clue to
the structural meaning of the writers has been obtained, it is
not
difficult so to follow it as to find in
the pages of
abundant proofs of there having been
the Pentateuch
a porch, and to discover
many
references
terminology of the Old Testament.
From
our guide here.
to it in the
Josephus shall be
his Aixtiquities of the Jews
we
learn that the Tabernacle consisted of three parts, into
two of which the ministrations.
But
but occasionally.
of the later
their
into the third the High-priest
went
This we
colour of a sapphire stone.
Some
went daily in the course of
priests
Roman
know
to
The purple was akin
have
colour.
the
to that of porphyry.
royal statues have the heads of marble and the
dress of porphyry, as representing the actual colour of the robe.
was of a blood-red
been
The
ecarlet
THE TABERNACLE.
188
The middle one of the three spaces as the Holy Place, 'wherein were the
Holy of Holies. was that known
and the
candlestick,
and the shew-bread' (Hebrews was a third space, presumably of
table,
Outside of this
ix. 2).
the same area as the Holy of Holies, to which the
name
till
of the Porch, though this was not
usually spoken of as
it is
A
Tabernacle.'
designation
In Exodus, Leviticus,
the building of the Temple.
and Numbers,
its
given
is
previous section of
'
the door of the
chapter has
this
already shown to us the Eastern and archaic meaning
word
of the
gate,' as a defined space,
'
In harmony with
entrance -threshold or passage-way.
meaning
this
that of the
is
word 'door'
description of the Tabernacle,
The adoption will
One
'
door of the Tabernacle
'
is'
spoken
once relieve us of two great architectural
at
difficulties
as used in the
before us.
of this ancient signification as applied to
the texts in which the of,
now
and not a mere
which have
of these
is
till
now
baffled all reconstructions.
These
the allocation of the five pillars.
are spoken of as being the five pillars for the screen of the door of the tent, and as standing in five sockets
of brass.
It is not, however, necessary to suppose, as
does Fergusson, simultaneously door.
that
all
the
on which to
five
as, in
and
the
a portable structure, sometimes one pillar
fillets
changeability.
of
used
golden hooks for this
would be used and sometimes another. capitals
were
hang the screen
All were provided with
purpose,
pillars
gilded, with the
The
screen,
All had their
same object
of inter-
which had a requisite width
THE SCREEN OF THE TABERNACLE. of tvpelve feet only, was its
hung upon two
189
of the pillars at
two upper corners/ the centre of the screen being
supported
(if
by an attachment to one of the which stood in the same line as the two
necessary)
three tent-poles
inner pillars.
The Screen
of the Tabernacle.
2o
-TO
ao
'\:3J3S
^'
Scale of MEtirtrM Cubits.
|d
u
fcJ
^===3!
u urU
Scale or English Feet.
By
this
arrangement of the
the Tabernacle plan
(p. 171), we
five pillars, as figured
upon
avoid Fergusson's departure
1 Like the veU of the inner sanctuary, the screen of the door was hung on rectangular, and the inner or western face of its supporting pillars. As it was it passed upward between the eighth length, in feet eighteen or cubits fifteen single and ninth curtains of the tent. These being coupled together by a likewise coupling single This this. of permitted centre, at their
attachment
at different angles, permitted of the three and the eight curtains being hung of the tent portion The representations. as shown in the accompanying the view of from 'screened' thus was Tabernacle the covered which
worshippers while standing around the altar.
THE TABERNACLE.
190
from the text in having third space claimed § 4,
of
and
vii. § 7.
six
such
pillars.
by Josephus Thirdly, we
We
also gain the
in his Antiquities, III. vi.
requirements
satisfy the
the conjoined width of the
the text as to
eleven
curtains of goat's hair.
These requirements are that each of the eleven curtains should have a width of four cubits (=4|a total width,
when
conjoined, of
52-|- feet.
feet),
giving
Of the
eleven,
one was deducted from this extension by being hung, in
end of the
halves, over either
The
curtaining to deal with.
was a cube of 12
had a length
of
24
show that
and that the Holy Place To these we must now add the
feet.
feet,
area of the newly-recovered porch, which
have had a three areas
by the 48
when
its
medium the Holy
application of the
cubit to the Tabernacle boards will of Holies
leaving 48 feet of
tent,
floor-superficies of
we have the
we suppose
to
In these
12 feet square.
space required to be covered in
which the goats'-hair curtain consisted, component parts were placed side by side and feet of
coupled together, one width having been deducted for fl.ap-end8.
The Ram-skins dyed The eleven tent proper.
curtains of
to its preservation.
In the of the
goats' hair
formed the
This was spread over the Tabernacle, and
there was prepared for
stated in
woven
red.
Exodus
LXX.
it
a special
This was put
'
•
covering
'
in order
above upon
it,'
as
xl. 19.
Exodus xxvi. 7 the translation Thou shalt make for a covering
version of
Greek reading
is,
'
EXTERNAL COYEEINGS.
191
of the Tabernacle skins with the hair on.'
the ram-skins, dyed red, which
we
These were
are told the people
contributed for this purpose.
There
is
no reason
to conclude that these skins
those of sheep rather than those of goats.
were
probability
the other way, the inner ten curtains being woven of
is
wool, the outer eleven of goats' hair. is
The
The presumption
that the skins sewn together, with the hair unremoved,
which rested on the
latter,
were those of goats,
as the
Hebrew prejudice against commingling is well known. Not only are the skins of goats more durable than those of sheep, and therefore fitter for this purpose, but the fact of their being this
was done
dyed red would seem to indicate that
many
to avoid the exhibition of the
With
colours
common
to goat- skins.
making
up, these skins would form an outer covering,
impervious to
the hair turned one
way
in
rain.
Besides the outer covering to the tent of goat-skins
dyed
red, there
was
also a covering of porpoise hides
above
that {margin, Exodus xxvi. 14).
I apprehend this
to
have been merely a
series of these
waterproof skins which lay above the ridge-pole, and protected the central seam of the goat-skins.
I
am
confirmed in this view by a remark in the Jewish
on the Tabernacle, cited by Barclay {Talmud, p. 338), that the covering-above of the tent was 'like patchwork,' i.e. like a piece of cloth upon a garment. treatise
To of
this
may be added
the fact, recorded in the 4th chapter
Numbers, that on the removal of the Tabernacle from
THE TABERNACLE.
192 one
to be
six
furniture were
site to another, certain articles of its
:
wrapped in these porpoise-skins. the
Ark
They were
these
of the Covenant, the table of shew-bread,
the golden candlestick, the altar of incense, the brasen altar of sacrifice,
and
all
the vessels used in the sanctuary.
It is thus evident that these porpoise-skins
were not sewn
together, and that they were at least six in number.
Porpoise hides are the shores of the
still
Red
inscription states that
'
a valuable trade
Sea,
commodity on
and an ancient Cuneiform
skins of sea-calves
'
were amongst
the articles of tribute sent by Hezekiah to Sennacherib.
There
is
every reason, therefore, to infer that they were
used in the construction of the Tabernacle at Sinai, as porpoises have always abounded of
Akabah.
in.
the Gulfs of Suez and
193
CHAPTER
II.
THE TABERNACLE WITHIN THE TENT. rpHE
Tent
(
= ohel)
wMcli was the covering
having been shown
-*-
to
have been a secondary and
separate construction to the Tabernacle are
now
thereof,'
(=
mishkan),
we
in a position to deal with the fabric which was
the ordained place of meeting for Jehovah and His people, as represented in the person of their High-priest.
We
are thus at liberty to assume that the
*Let them make
Me
command
a sanctuary' (Exodus xxv. 8)
an entirely new idea to the
faithful,
and marked a
was
distinct
epoch in the religious history of the world.
The way in which this command was carried out is now to engage our attention, and it may be of advantage to know that no insuperable difficulties will be met with, either in the piecing together of its various parts or in
the placing of the whole within the limits of the tent built for its protection,
1.
As both
and
The Floor tent
seclusion.
of the Tabernacle.
and Tabernacle were constructed with
the idea of their removal from place to place,
it
may be
THE TABERNACLE.
]94
with the way in which
advisable to deal,
first,
was given
framework of the
to the
stability-
Each
latter.
of its
had two tenons morticed into every
forty-eight boards
These tenons, when in use, were placed in sockets
board.
of silver, there being ninety-six such sockets for the forty-
eight boards, and four others for the four pillars of the veil
a
— 100
talent
Each socket was
in
all.
of
silver,
and
was of
wrought
cast or
in
considerable weight.^
I do not think that these sockets were driven into the
ground, or even placed in holes dug for the purpose,
but that they were placed on carefully levelled ground,
and a stone pavement
built
up around them.
This form
of masonry was largely used in the Temples on Zion, and
Mount
it
was adopted
there from the usage of the Tabernacle,
In Exodus
xl.
I
incline
to
the belief that
18 the sockets are said to have been
A further consideration, is this
:
'
laid.'
looking in the same direction,
—In the vision of the God
of Israel given to the
seventy elders and others, described in Exodus xxiv., 'there was under His feet as
it
were a paved work of
sapphire stone.'
This revelation was given before that
of the Tabernacle,
and would be associated with
minds of the beholders.
It
is,
—a
in the
therefore, probable that
the floor of the Tabernacle and tent was at
paved with stone
it
all
times
precaution easy to be carried out
' Professor Petrie estimates the weight of a talent of gold at 135 lbs. troy, and to contain 160 cubic inches of gold (Hastings' Dictionary, art. Goldsmith). The same weight of silver would produce a brick of half-a-cubit (=7-2 inches) in length (which dimension, or some fraction thereof, is imperative), of the same height, and of half the same width, when the socket had been
allowed for.
THE WALLS OF THE TABERNACLE.
195
and necessary to the cleanliness of the The present paving on Mount Moriah may be
in the desert, building.
a
relic of this early
2. 1.
custom.
It
is five
acres in extent.
The Boarbs of the Tabernacle.
We have an
exact account of the forty-eight boards
or planks which,
when placed on
the four sides of the Tabernacle.
end, formed three of
Of
these,
twenty stood
on the north side and twenty on the south side of the Tabernacle.
Six others formed the west wall, and two
were the corner-pieces of the
These
erection.
last are
described^ as having been cut, in a single piece, out of
the trunk of a
tree,
and
so
adzed and hollowed as
an angle, not requiring the use of pegs or
to
form
This
nails.
is
taken to be the primary meaning of the rather laboured description in the 24th verse of
With
Exodus xxvi.
the secret of the cubit-length before
us, it
should
not be impossible to discover the exact size of the forty-
The
eight boards.
dimensions.
text informs us as to two of their
Josephus shall aid us as
cubits being stated to be the length of
take twelve
A cubit
English feet as
the
Ten each board, we
to their third.
equivalent
of
this.
and a half being the breadth of each board, we that it was 21-5- inches in width. These are
may know By
Hie words are, They made two other pillars, and which they placed in the eomers.' The meaning This was evidently is, that the tree-stem when squared was a cubit square. then cut out, on two of ita sides, so as to leave an angle of a palm in thick1
cut
JoBephus in
them out
ness.
The
'
loco.
of one cubit,
cubit here
measurements show.
is
thus one of three hand-breadths,
as
the total
THE TABERNACLE.
196
measures that are not impossible, when we remember that the Sinaitic peninsula
such planks
wooded
may
still
contains trees from which
be cut, and that
in ancient times than it is
it
was more thickly
now.
The Foett-eight Boards.
jr,
*r
o
m
HOLY CHAMBERS EXACT
SIZE.
197
such palms made a span or small cubit, which testimony is
in
harmony with
all
that
we
learn elsewhere on each
of these points.
2.
We
now come
importance in of the
an architectural point of some
to
bearing upon the internal measures
its
two holy chambers, which
that of the place
is
occupied by the veil which separated them, and of the screen which hid them. of IJ
:
—Six
boards, each
west end of the
width, stood at the
in
cubits
It is this
Together, they gave nine cubits of walling,
Tabernacle.
leaving the tenth to be
made
by the two
up, in halves,
corner-boards which held the
fabric
together.
It
is
obvious that to secure the ten cubits in width of which
the Holy of Holies consisted, this half-cubit
(
=2
palms)
must have been taken from the inner angle of each of the
corner -boards,
measurement.
and
Thus
not
been
have
far there is
no
their
outside
difficulty as to the
appropriation of the spaces created by the up-rearing of the corner-boards.
But one now comes either of the
two
into view.
It arises thus
sides of the Tabernacle, north
there stood twenty boards, giving 30 cubits
This
is
— On
and south,
(=36
feet).
the measure of the two chambers jointly, one
being 10 and the other 20 cubits Just
:
however, there was half- a- cubit in each of
as,
the corner
in length.
-
boards added to complete the west
side,
so
there must have been half-a-cubit to add to the length of each
of
the other sides, the angular shape of the
corner-boards being remembered.
This was, therefore,
THE TABERNACLE.
198
Half an ordinary
an 'excess' above what was required.
two palms width, was the measure of
or
cubit,
excess,
and
its
disposal
has been
of a model of the Tabernacle, in
creation
found that a space of one palm
(=
3" 6
supporting the
the four pillars
for
arrived
this
by the which it is at
inches) is required veil
between the
chambers, and another palm for the piUars of the screen
which closed
in the holy chambers.
The chambers themselves were thus of the exact interior measures given, and the whole account of supreme
wisdom guiding an
of a meeting
-
place
for
is justified
as that
architect to the creation
God and man,
utmost exactitude and simplicity are joined
in
which the
to the greatest
reverence and dignity.
3.
The Veil as
it
The Veil and
its
Four Pillars.
of the Tabernacle has for us a peculiar interest,
was the only part of the original structure which
remained unchanged while the sanctuary of God stood.
The first two Evangelists tell us that in the Herodian Temple it was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and Luke adds that this total separation of its parts was The writer of Hebrews x. 20, in a single 'in the midst,' line, fixes its symbolic meaning in the words, The veil, '
that
is to
Known
say.
His
flesh.'
unto God are
all
His works from the beginning,
and a singular sanctity attached to the curtain which divided the two holy chambers i'rom one another. The material of which
it
was composed was wool, dyed in the
THE YEIL OF THE SAIfCTUARY.
199
three sacred colours of blue, purple, and scarlet.^
formed the woof, the warp being composed of linen.^
To mark
its
fine
This
twined
separateness the whole nation was
forbidden to wear a mingled
stuff
— wool
and linen
together' (Deut. xxii. 11); just as they were forbidden
make any unguent composed
to
like the holy oil
with
which High-priests were consecrated.
The Inner
The 12
veil,
Veil.
being woven* in a single piece, to a
feet square,
which we now know was the
opening between the chambers, was
then,
size of
size of
the
embroidered in
gold thread with the forms of three or more cherubim.
The
materials
of
which the High-priest's ephod was
composed were the same as those of the inner veil, and it is in the description of this (Exodus xxxix. 2-3) that
'
Both wool and motiair were dyed in the bulk and spun, when presented
for weaving (Exodus xxv. 25, 26).
The warp is nothing but fine linen ' (Josephus, Ant. III. vii. ^2). This was permitted to the priests only (Josephus, Ant. IV. riii. § 11). ' Weaving was one of the arte used (Exodus xxxv. 35). The Bedaween women of to-day spin, dye, and weave wool and hair for their tents. The *
'
'
strips
when woven
are about a yard wide.
THE TABERNACLE,
200
an account of how the work of embroidering the Cherubs was effected. The artist is always spoken of as
we '
find
the cunning workman,' and his gold embroidery as the
work of the cunning workman. and cut
into thin plates, blue,
it
They did beat the gold wires, to work it in the
'
into
and in the purple, and in the
and in the
scarlet,
fine linen.'
Besides the High-priestly robes and the veil of the other fabrics so embroidered were
sanctuary, the only
the ten curtains which enclosed the Tabernacle in the
whole of
As
length.
its
to all
remark.
It
one feature which
these, there is
calls for
that the embroidery, and possibly the
is,
woven tapestry of which the whole set consisted, had no wrong or seamy side. In the subsequent days of the Judges we have, in the Song of Deborah, a description of the spoil which
Hebrews.
it
was hoped Sisera would take from the
was
Its last item
:
A
spoil of divers colours
a spoil of divers colours of embroidery
embroidered on both
(Judges
sides
;
of divers colours,
v. 30).
Such was the famous embroidery work of the Egyptians, where the
art of its creation, lost
survives.
Such
too, in
among
likelihood,
all
ourselves,
was the goodly
Babylonish mantle which Achan coveted and This veil or
curtain,
still
stole at Ai.
heavy with gold thread, but
having no measurable thickness, was hung upon the inner side of the four pillars
'
Exodus
clause.
xxvi. 33
The
'
veil
'
is
^
which
stood, in their silver
not to be literally understood, but generally, in
was 12
feet
from the west end, and the
'
clasps
'
its first
18
feet.
THE FIGUEED CFRTAINS. sockets,
between the two chambers.*
the curtain was
lifted,
robes of white linen,
201
Once in every year
and the High-priest, clothed in entered,
to
make atonement
for
himself and for the sins of the people.
rr^
j"--"!'^
The Ten
Curtains.
S^=T Scale op Small Cubits.
20
^o
3.C*
dbf*
Scale of English Feet.
1
These four
pillars
would give three inter-columnar
spaces.
If to each
of theee be given a width of three cubits (3f feet), one cubit remains, in which to place the bases of the pillars. As the cubit here used was one of four
palms,
36
it
inches.
is
inevitable that each pUlar should have stood in a square of
This was the width of the
as has been already
shown
'
eicess
(pp. 197-198).
'
in this part of the Tabernacle,
THE TABERNACLE.
202
4. 1.
The ten
The Ten Curtains. which overhung the Tabernacle
curtains
were of similar make and ornamentation
Holy
to the veil of the
We
of Holies, already described.
have, however,
in their case a factor given in the specification
have not in the case of the
which we
It is that of their
veil.
To them is given, 4 cubits and a length
Exodus xxvi.
measurement.
in
a width of
of 28 cubits.
2,
Being
embroidered with figures of cherubim worked in gold thread, they naturally
of
construction,
as
fell
we
under the goldsmith's measure cannot
measures were used in the article.
When
40 small
cubits, equal to
Thirty cubits
conjoined,
and
a
suppose that different
preparation their
of
width would thus be
(=36
30 medium cubits
half
being
the
length
Tabernacle boards when placed in position, seen that the ten curtains
upper
side.
The union
same
the
nearly
enclosed
it
it
feet).
of
the
will be
on
its
of the two sets of five curtains
in the middle would allow of the protrusion there
of
the second tent-pole of the three which supported the ridge-bar.
The diameter
of this tent-pole
we may
appropriately
suppose to have been that of a palm of 3 '6 inches, in
which case
it is
permissible to think that the 50 loops in
each selvedge of the two edge
-
curtains
^
were of this
1 The loops were of a blue colour (Exodus xxyi. 4), as also were the fiye non- embroidered curtains which overhung the Holy-of-HoKes. This we know from the fact that Jive such curtains are specified to be used in the remoyal of the Tabernacle furniture (Numbers iv.). These, of course.
VENTILATION OF THE CHAMBERS. length
when
joined together.
The
other palm
-
203
length,
requisite for the fitting of the curtains so as to wholly
cover the Tabernacle boards, was obtained by placing the front tent -pole and the two inner pillars of the
porch within the range of the upright boards forming the sides of the
accuracy
of
the
In
Tabernacle. text
is
preserved,
time, a reason for there being so
as
We
construction difficulties overcome.
way
this
many
the literal
well
gain, at the as
the
as
same
50 couplings in
the union of each of the two sets of curtains, they being 3'6 inches apart, while there was but a single one in all
other cases, which one was at the centre.
This
open
space,
overhead, in
the
middle
of
the
sanctuary, served another purpose than that of allowing
the passage of the tent-pole.
Not only was there the branched there
candlestick which
refuse air from the seven-
was
lit
every night, but
were the clouds of incense, which was burned
twice daily in the holy place, to get rid therefore
in
obedience
to
that
sanitary
of.
law
It
was
which
pervades the enactments by Moses, that there should be the means of thorough and constant ventilation in the Tabernacle.
2.
The use
of a single cubit-length in the conception
of the Tabernacle has
were the curtains of goate'
hitherto
rendered abortive
hair, three others being scarlet
all
and three purple.
probable that the purple curtains overhung the porch, as Joaephus, who It had seen them, tells us that the curtains of the porch in the Temple of Herod were 'purple' {War of the Jews, VII. Ti. § 7). is
THE TABERNACLE.
204 attempts at
encountered
difficulties
Two
reconstruction.
its
may be
illustrations of the
One
given.
English translation of the Bible, 1576 the Geneva or 'Breeches' Bible.
a woodcut of the *
Two
"While
the Rabbins
Shahat,
known
as
covering of the Tabernacle reads,
in
the
say
:
'
Take away 10
cubits.
A.D.,
marginal note to
and a half hung from the rear
curtains
Tabernacle.'
28
first
A
from the
is
of the
Gemara on the treatise The ten curtains were of
for the roof,
9 cubits to this side and 9 to that.
there remain
So that one cubit
of the boards was uncovered.' It
is
thus evident that while the Jewish authorities of
old days
had
lost sight of the short cubit as applicable
to the ten curtains, they did not, as did Mr. Fergusson,
hung directly over The recovery of the
suppose other than that they
boards of the Tabernacle. length of these curtains dealt with
—enables
—their
to
cover
us to see that of the length given to
side, rested
Of or
the
interior
Of the remainder,
chambers.
true
width has already been
each and every curtain of the ten, of taken
the
spaces
^
25^ of
feet,
the
12 were
two holy
of a foot, on
on the gilded boards of the Tabernacle
either walls.
the remainder of each curtain, exactly one-quarter,
6^^
feet of either end,
of the boards.
above the
As
outer side
these boards were 12 feet in length
floor, it is
to but little
hung down on the
easy to see that they were covered
more than one-half of
their length.
The
importance of this conclusion, so difierent from that of the Jewish Rabbis of old, will presently appear in the fact that the priests
on duty at the Tabernacle had their
THE TENT PORTABLE.
205
Had
resting-places beneath the eaves of the tent.
the
curtains fallen as low as has been generally supposed, this
would have been impossible, owing
to the liability
of their being soiled.
5.
The
Stability of the Tent.
The Tabernacle and its tent were for nearly three centuries the central home of Jewish monotheistic worship. 1.
During these centuries portions of to time, require repair
it
and renewal.
details there are naturally
no records,
would, from time
Of
these domestic
if
we except the
statement of the Mischna that the curtains of the last
Temple were renewed every
year,
and that the material
of the disused curtains was used as wicks for the lamps of the Temple.
What
is,
perhaps, of more importance for us to know,
as tendrug to the credibility of
during this long period, the structions of tent
is
how,
and portable
con-
the narrative,
frail
and Tabernacle, when once
maintained their stability against the
stress of
erected,
wind and
weather.
Regarding the former, there can be
little
doubt,
from
the silence of Scripture, that the three tent-poles on which the whole depended were placed in holes
dug
into the
They were simply a transfer to the new system of the old arrangement by which all twelve pillars stood beside the altar. Hence they were ground, and firmly planted.
neither placed in sockets of any kind, nor was gilding
THE TABERNACLE.
206
applied to any part o£ them.^
Their height above ground
required to be 18 English
and we may suppose them
to
feet,
have been of the not impossible length of 20
feet.
This length was the utmost tbat was required in any single piece of timber in the whole fabric, as neitber the
was in two
side-bars nor the ridge-bar (wbich
required to be of any more than 18
A
feet.
pieces)
fact such as
bring the whole account within the region
this tends to
of possibility,
and goes some way
to dispel doubts as to
the historicity of the whole narrative.
When
2.
position,
in
above them,
the three pillars of tbe tent were placed
and the middle, or ridge-bar, was placed its
junction resting on the centre-pole, the
eleven curtains would be stretched across
it.
Here comes
into view one of the previsions of the heaven-instructed
For these eleven curtains were not sewn together, It is but might be separately put into their places.^ true they were coupled together,' but this was probably plan.
*
A
done after their elevation.
single loop of one
placed within a single opposite loop of
its
was
neighbour,
and a peg of brass (gold for the inner curtains) inserted to
1
keep
it
As no
directions as to
want
in its place.
A
single button of this kind
them were
of an historic imagination has
requisite,
possible that there are extreme Uteralists
Their recovery
is
due to Fergusson, as
they are unmentioned.
long hid them from sight, and
is
who
still
was
The it
ia
refuse to accept them.
that of the centre-har or ridge-pole
which they supported. * This follows from the minute instructions given in Numbers iv. for the removal of the Tabernacle. Six articles were to have covering of porpoiseskins, five of curtains of blue, and one each of scarlet and purple.
THE CURTAIFS NOT SEWN. the attachment required.^
all
mid -
arrangement
also
shown
porch, as
This was uniformly placed
and hung above the ridge
centre,
made
in the
possible
drawing
Between the
one exception.
207
(p.
fifth
the
-
This
pole.
covering
To
166).
of
there was
it
and sixth curtains
such double loops were specified.
The reason
particular has not yet been discovered, unless
the
fifty
for this
it
were
to
In
allow of the escape of the carbonised air from below.
any case the vacant spaces of the two i.e.
sets
of curtains,
the ten and the eleven, were not directly above one
That of the lower
another.
In
was 18 feet from the west
and that of the upper
side of the tent,
the same.
set
this connection it will
from
set 21|- feet
be rememhered that
there were two outer coverings to the tent of goat's hair,
one of red goat- skins and another of porpoise hides.
These were, probably, put closing
of
Tabernacle
the
on every evening gates,
and
also
appearance of bad weather during the day.
at
at
the
every
The incon-
gruity of a narrow opening between the fifth and sixth outer curtain
3.
*
* is,
in this way,
We have seen that
These were the
'
taches
'
met and disposed
of.
the tent was formed of two sets
of the Authorized Version
and the
'
clasps
'
of
the Eevised Version. '
The requirements of the space to be covered in, as in the case of the demand that this opening should be of the width of one palm, a quarter of a cubit. The use of fifty loops in each of the two sets of
ten curtains, or
curtains
was intended
throughout.
to secure a ventilation-space, in each, of even width
It would, without these frequent regulators, have
had an irregular
appearance and been wider in some parts than in others. When this object had been gained, each of the eleven curtains would be kept in its proper place
by the
straining of the tent ropes.
THE TABERNACLE.
208 of
woven
We
and the other
curtains, one containing five
six.
have now to see how these eleven curtains were This
extended horizontally, and kept in their places.
was done by the familiar method
having tent-pegs
of
method which owes its early origin and to the fact of its ease and simplicity. a
late survival
In one passage (Exodus xxxv. 18) we have a reference to
'
....
the pins of the Tabernacle,
cords,'
and
their
and in another (xxxviii. 29-31) we learn that
these 'pins,' as well as those that supported the pillars of the court round about, were
As
it
made
of brass.
was a matter of the utmost importance that
these curtains should be
—neither
an angle of 90°
some querist
to
know
hung over the more nor
The
having been selected and
site of
levelled, it
when into
By marking
so extended,
the
ground
it
pole at
may
satisfy
this
the future Tabernacle
was but necessary
to lay these eleven curtains outspread
of the ground.
—
-
method by which
of a simple
could have been done.
less
ridge
upon the surface
their north
and south
lines
and by driving the tent-pegs deeply at
the
marked, the tent
lines
would have a right angle
at
its
itself
apex, the height
of
the ridge being 18 feet above the ground, and the tent-
pegs being 36 feet apart.
when
The
similarly marked, would
would give the other
limits
east
and west
lines,
of
be 52-| feet apart, and the area requiring to
be paved.
4.
The use of the expression already
referred
to,
'all
the pins of the court round about,' leaves no option but
TENT ROPES AND PEGS. to think that each of the sixty
had
its
own
209
7^ feet pillars of the court* and cords, to keep it in
stay of brass pins
position, as it stood in its brass socket.
There could be
here no question of a supporting pavement, so that these sockets were probably buried in the ground.
Fergusson
has represented these standards as supported in this way.
5.
While the length
was 30 cubits
(=36
of each of the eleven curtains
feet),
we
are not at liberty to suppose
that the whole of this length was extended horizontally in
order to form the tent.
It
was not
so,
and
this
introduces us to one of the most fruitful facts about
the Tabernacle in
relation to the
its
Temples which took
its place.
From Exodus
xxvi. 13
we
learn that the cords which
attached the curtains to the tent-pegs were placed in eyelet-holes at the distance of a single cubit from the ends of the curtains,
A
relationship of 28 cubits
was thus
established with the 28 cubits of which the ten curtains consisted, the fact of the cubits in each of these cases
being of different lengths notwithstanding.
There was thus produced the mathematical
result that
the line at which the one-cubit flap of the eleven curtains • It is not certain what was the height of the hangings of the court. It was either five medium or five large cubits (Exodus xxvii. 18 and xiiviii. 18). In favour of the former is the fact that the medium cubit was that Bsually employed in weaving stuffs. In favour of the latter, the fact that in each
case above referred to the
'
five cubits
'
is
associated with other measures
which were undoubtedly those of large cubits. The height of the JRdmef enclosure wall is sii medium cubits, and is in favour of the greater height of the Tabernacle hangings, as is the fact that they were woven in lengths of five large cubits.
THE TABERNACLE.
210
hung down
marked one-half
at the eyelet-holes,
of the
ground-space between the Tabernacle boards and the rows
In other words, there were on either
of tent-pegs.
(=6
of the Tabernacle five cubits
overshadowed by the
tent,
which the tent cords were In
to the sky. to carry it
ojff
It
and which was open
this latter space it is
probable that drains
the surface-water were arranged, but whether
is
to
is
no evidence
to show.'
the other covered -in space,
attention
is
now
directed.
a narrow strip of tent-shadow, Tabernacle.
hung
over
five cubits of space
w^hich lay
without the Tabernacle and within the tent, reader's
and
strained,
was paved or not there
6.
and
side
feet) covered in
in part
form one of
We
that the
have
here
on either side of the
The gilded boards of the Tabernacle, overby the ends of the curtains of the sanctuary, its sides on either hand. Below are the
paving-stones supporting the silver sockets of the boards.
Above
is
the extension of the goats'-hair curtains, and
towards the horizon, on either
side, is
the fringe of the
down to the extent of 1^ feet. we now know to have been each of the
outer curtains hanging
These two spaces
length of 36 feet and of the width of six
feet, less
palm of which the thickness of the boards
1
The aroMtectuial requirements
same general
demand
that the
whole area.
If this
of the case, however,
level of flooring should be observed in the
the
consisted.
were not done the apex-angle of the tent would not be a right angle. The whole area of 36 x 52f feet covered by the curtains when used as a measuring carpet,
was probably
laid with paving-stones.
This need not have prevented
there being a depression on either side of the tent, to carry off the surface-
drainage.
DOEMITORIES OF THE TENT. Each
side
square
— twelve
priests
on duty in the Tabernacle regularly
would thus give in
six
In
all.
little
areas of six feet
without doubt, the
these,
formed the precedent for the were so marked a feature of the
211
priests'
and they
slept,
chambers, which
Temples, and which
later
ultimately gave rise to the anchorites' cell and the monastic
system of the Middle Ages.
The recognition
of this use of a portion of the Tabernacle
many
will serve to illustrate
these one of the earliest
Aaron's elder sons.
is
passages of Scripture.
Of
the account of the death of
These had spent seven days and
nights at the door of the tent of meeting, as a part of their ceremonial induction to the High-priesthood.
their death the
two younger sons were instructed
On
to repass
the same period of time in meditation, prayer, and sacrifice
and not
to
go out from the door of the tent of meeting
under penalty of death. their hours of sleep
It seems natural to suppose that
were spent in those recesses of the tent
which flanked the Tabernacle, and which may have been, from its earliest use, the dormitories of the priests who guarded the sacred shrine (Lev.
An
acceptance of this theory
viii.
is
35-36
x. 7).
;
alone wanting to
make
the touching history of the child Samuel's call to the
ministry intelligible and doubly impressive.
one of these
little
doubtless screened off from all around
hung around
as walls.
awakened by the Voice, laid
down
by mats
or rugs
In another compartment, possibly
on the other side of the
was
Here, in
stone-floored cubicles, the aged Eli lay,
tent, little
Samuel
slept,
thrice repeated.
to sleep in the
Temple
of the
'
and was
For Samuel Lord, where
THE TABEENACLE.
212 the
God was'
ark of
within
to
is
iii.
The
3),
only-
one of
suppose that both Eli and Samuel slept the
Tabernacle proper. are
Samuel
the plan here suggested as having been
alternative to
adopted,
(1
imbued with the
whicb formed the
holy chambers
To anyone whose mind and memory facts
and traditions of early Mosaism,
such a contingency as this will be impossible of acceptance.
7.
Thus
far
we have found
that the
means taken
to
secure the stability of the court of the Tabernacle and of the tent of the Tabernacle, were such as to increase their usefulness as well as to ensure their continuance.
We
now come
method by which tbe boards
to the
of
the Tabernacle themselves were preserved in their align-
ment, and kept in an upright and symmetrical position. It
wiU be
plain, even to those
the building
art,
who have no knowledge
that rows of 12 feet planks stood
of
upon
end, each of the width of 21 '6 inches, would require more
support than two tenons could give them, to keep them in a perfectly perpendicular line of 36 feet from end to end.
Let
it
be here noted that specific instructions were
given to Moses that the tenons were not to be parts of the boards themselves.
Exodus xxvi.
They were
be
to
*
morticed
17) into the boards, separately.
'
[margin,
This would
allow of harder wood being used for this purpose than that of the acacia or
shittim,
and by
this
means the
holding power of the tenons would be greatly increased.
But even
this provision
was not
sufficient.
Fifteen bars
of acacia-wood were ordered to be made, five for each of
tbe three sides of tbe Tabernacle.
These bars were run
GILDING OF THE TABERNACLE. through rings of gold, by which we are that they were
evidence for which
is
this
;
understand
to
and had an appearance
gilt,
213
The
of gold.
—Of the 48 boards, 24 had two
rings in each and 24 three rings in each, giving a total
Each
of 120 rings.
ounces of metal,
which
is
must have contained several
indeed they were not cut out of wood,
Yet we do not find any appropriation the purpose of making these 120 rings. The
possible.
of gold for
inference
boards into which they were
that, like the
is
and like the bars which they were
fixed,
were
if
of these
'
overlaid with gold
There can be
'
^
to contain, they
(Exodus xxvi.
little difference
32).
way
of opinion as to the
in which the five bars on each side were placed with
regard to one another.
run into
their rings,
Four
bars, of 18 feet each, being
two above and two below, the
fifth
was used between the upper and lower sets to strengthen This would give the required break of joint. the '
'
stability to the
whole of each
The
side.
five bars for
the west side of the Tabernacle would be shorter, and
were probably 6 feet in length.
It
is
possible here to
gain a ray of light on the obscurity in which the two stand in Exodus xxvi. 24 and xxxvi. 29.
corner-boards
The mention
of the
'
one ring
'
in each of these passages
lends itself to the explanation that, the entire,
each of
its
two
sides should
board being
have a ring for each
of the two end-bars that supported that side.
This was aU
that was necessary to the security of the whole
(cf. p.
1
The
195).
gilding would be done by the usual Egyptian method of sticking wooden basis. Plates of gold beaten
rather thick gold-foil firmly on to the
thin would form the
the medium.
foil,
and gum-arabic, which
is
abundant in the
desert,
PAET
lY.
THE TRIPLE CUBIT IN BABYLONIA
AND
IN PALESTINE.
217
THE TRIPLE CUBIT m. BABYLONIA
AND rV^
^
m
PALESTINE.
the behalf of Part II. of this book, that
been three
it is
claimed
has established the fact of there having
it
or cubits of the lengths given.
ells
With
the
application of these measures to Babylonian antiquities
we do This
not now, except incidentally, concern ourselves.
is
a work which
necessarily left
is
to
others
to
accomplish.
On is
the behalf of Part III., in which the triple cubit
applied to the specification of a single structure in
the Arabian desert, already have
key
of
earlier
it is
hoped that several points
made themselves
clear.
will
If the long-lost
an architectural enigma has been forged in our pages, it has been
elucidation literature,
of
some
applied
practically
portions
of
the
world's
to
the
earliest
with the result that we have recovered, not
only the actual size of the Tabernacle in the wilderness (and this surely accessories
(A)
named
is
much
!),
but also that of
its
true
and adjuncts.
Amongst
these additions to our knowledge
may
be
the restoration of the north gate in the court of
the Tabernacle.
It is true that this result does not arise
immediately out of the application of any
specific
measure
THE TABERNACLE.
218
But
to the case.
it
has been arrived at by the more
and thorough examination of the documentary evidence before us, which has been made possible owing certain
to the possession of such a measure.
(B)
Akin
to this discovery is that of the place at the
east gate for the
*
stranger that
now appearing that this Commandment applied solely who joined in the worship of
it
within thy gates/
is
injunction to
of the
^
fourth
those aliens of Israel
the true God, without the
court, at the eastern space set apart for their use.
(C)
The placing
the Soreg
of the Altar of Sacrifice
entitled to
is
mention in
on the
line of
this connection, as
it
not only allows us to differentiate between the altar and the slope by which
it
was approached, but enables us
of-the-altar
and the porch-of-the-tent.
(D) In the tent of the Tabernacle additions to our knowledge.
One
of Josephus, enables us to see that
meeting
'
(1
Samuel
we have two main
of these, '
with the aid
the door of the tent of
was not a mere threshold or entrance- way, but
a clearly defined space,
to Eleazar
to
between the platform-
locate the laver as filling the space
ii.
22),
making the
sin of Eli's sons possible
and accounting for the
and Ithamar not
to trespass
In the elegant addition of a porch The presence
restriction given
beyond
of strangers, both in courts of
it.
to the ordinary
law and at the worship of and their conversion to the faith of Israel is contemplated in 1 Kings viii. 41-43, and Isaiah Ivi. 3-7. They were to be allowed to make offerings by fire to Jehovah, which comprised burnt sacrifices, votive offerings, and free - will offerings. A stringent rule forbad any distinction being made between these ofierings and those of Hebrews (Numbers xv. 14-16). >
Jehovah, was recognised in Exodus xx. 10 and
xxiii. 9,
NEW
LIGHT ON THE TABERNACLE.
Bedaween tent we have, otherwise
insoluble
the solution of the
further,
problem
the
of
219
eleven
curtains,
a problem so old that the Talmud, in the Gemara on the treatise Shabaf, thus states
—
The eleven curtains Take away 30 for the roof. Fourteen remain. Take away 2 for the doubling. There remain 12, which trailed upon the ground behind, as a lady who went into the market and the ends of it
:
'
were 44 cubits broad.
her dress followed her.' (E) Even more important than this recovery of the
porch in
its
being
crown of evolution
its
bearing upon the future
—
is
that of the twelve side-
chambers, under the eaves of the architectural ceU.8 in the
—Solomon's Porch
tent.
These were the
germs out of which grew the
Temple of Solomon, the
planned by Ezekiel
(twenty
thirty priestly
sixty in the
of which
Temple
were Levitical
chambers), and the thirty-eight in the Temple of Herod.
Nothing more
clearly
shows the intense conservatism
of the later Jewish hierarchy
that concerned their
and people in
national faith
which these two cardinal points, dormitories of
their
i.e.
all
things
than the way in the porch and the
sacred buildings,
were developed
from the model of the Tabernacle, and were not superadded
to
it,
as creations for use
and ornament.
2. These five principal discoveries will
and manifold are the
results
show how great
which accrue
from
the
transfer to Mosaic architecture of the linear measures of
Babylonia,
Abraham,
Taken from an age
it is
far anterior to that of
necessary to ask ourselves
if
the adoption
THE TABERNACLE.
220
and preservation of these measures was, in every cassj complete and entire, and if no modifications were made in
them during the existence There
(«)
which, while
one measure,
is it
of the theocracy ?
held
its
the fundamental one,
i.e.
place in the Tabernacle and the
Temples unaltered in length, was yet subjected
a
to
have seen,
by the Jews. from the second column of the Senkereh
tablet, that there
were originally three digits or fingers in
different division, in its largest fraction,
We
every 'palm.'
It
was a natural and almost inevitable
new home
result that in their
beside the Mediterranean
the Hebrews should collate the fingers and the palm (Ezekiel xl. 43), and decide that four fingers were the
We
equivalent of the palm-breadth. that the hand-breadth '
border
'
find, accordingly,
was repeatedly used, as in the
given to the table of shew-bread in the Taber-
nacle (Exodus XXV. 25), and in the thickness given to
the casting (1
Kings
vii.
of
the
26).
brazen sea
in
Solomon's
This likewise was, in
a probability amounting to certainty in
the thickness of the castings
and Boaz, which Jeremiah
and had a thickness
made
tells
us
of four fingers.
all
Temple
probability
my own
mind,
for the pillars Jachin (lii.
21) were hollow
Evidence has already
been given that Josephus reckoned four fingers as a palm.
In the description of the
{b)
the Temple of Solomon, margin, that
placed
As
'
it
we
colossal sea or laver in
are told in 1
Kings
vii.
24,
was ornamented with open flower-buds
ten in a cubit.'
the cubit for brass-work was the one ordinarily in
use, of 14'4 inches,
we here obtain
spaces, in
which the
THE SMALL CUBIT AS A SPAN. flowers were placed, of 1*44 inches.
221
This was a natural
but altogether unique measure, as the digit of Babylonia
was
and that of Palestine
1*2 inches,
measure does not appear elsewhere,
The
'90 inch.
so far as is
This
known.
10'8 inch Measure.
It will be within the reader's cognisance that no
3.
name
given to either of the three central measures in
is
the Senkereh tablet or on the scale of Gudea.
have been called
'
ells
as
'
matter
a
They
of convenience,
but this name has no warrant in either of the documents before us.
The
smallest of these three measures has, however,
been referred to as a
'
span.'
which
a cuneiform tablet in
Khorsabad were 24,740
was a royal suburb
spans
'
of
Sargon the Second, who .722 to 705
This name
is
taken from
stated that the walls of
it is
in length.
'
Nineveh,
and
reigned
over
Khorsabad
by Assyria from
was
built
B.c.i
The suburb was enclosed by its own walls, which formed a parallelogram of more than a mile, and are still '
standing
!
The
inscription
of
the tablet
reads
Three ners-and-a-third, one stadium, one fathom-and-
a-half,
this is the
two spans:
dimension of the wall.'
This capital inscription for the restoration of Assyrian measures has been thus wrought out by Oppert :
1
He
is
mentioned in Isaiah xx.
succeeded him.
Khorsabad
is
pp. 278-294.
A
1,
and was the father of Sennacherib, who
popular account, with illustrations, of Sargon's palace at
given in the
'
Assyria
'
volume of
Thb Stoky
or the Nations,
THE TABEENACLE.
222 31
ner, of 7,200 spans each
1 stade, or tenth of ner ^
= =
24,000
=
18
.
.
2
.
.
720
IJ fathoms of 12 spans, each
fathom being -^ of stade 2 spans
.
.
.
.
.
Total circuit of walls
24,740 spans.
walls themselves have been repeatedly measured,
The
with the result that they are known to contain 7,422 yards of masonry
;
there being exactly 6,000 spans or
1,800 yards in each of the shorter sides, and rather more in the longer ones.
If,
length of the wall by
22,266 feet by 24,740,
i.e.
each
'
span
(a) It is
'
we divide the total number of units recorded,
therefore,
the
we
arrive at the result that
was 10'8 inches in length.
unfortunate that the word 'span ' has associations
of physical
measurement in our language which have led
to a very general idea that a span of 9 inches
of a cubit of 18 inches.
it is
This idea has no foundation in
Where
Eastern metrology.
the half of a cubit
so stated, as in eight passages in
Ezekiel.
was the half
half of any cubit-length.
TUs
line is a striking
sub-column (No.
shows a
Exodus and two
in
6)
of
was the
it
It was, in fact, nothing less
commentary on, and confirmation
the second column of the
total of twelve small ells of the
referred to.
meant,
These ten instances should lead us to seek for
another meaning to the designation than that
'
is
of,
the result
Senkereh tablet, which
same length as the
'
spans
'
here
It was, therefore, a table of the fractions of a small fathom, as
well as of the fractions of a small eU.
TESTIMONY OF THE TALMUD. than anotter way of defining the short in
cubit.
We
have
the
two
13
the
43rd chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy
the
measures placed
in
In
juxtaposition.
223
verse
prophet states the width of the masonry which carried the grating of the altar as
'
a span
(=
'
j^^
of a foot).
In
the next sentence but two he gives the width of the altar-
drain as being half-a-cubit in width is
(i.e.
ordinary), which
equivalent to f of a foot, this being the exact space to when all the other measurements of the court and of
spare
the altar have been accounted
This should be decisive
for.
as to the distinction between the span and the half of
any
one of the three cubits derived from Babylon. It has already been
(6)
shown
(p.
three-fourths the length of another
202) that a cubit of is
the only possible
explanation of the ten curtains of the Tabernacle being
being that they alone,
fitted into their places, the reason
the veil excepted, were decorated with figures worked in
gold thread.
Ark
It follows that the
Golden Table
of the Covenant were designed
* The Jerusalem Talmud amehs or cubits
states
^
and the
by the same measure.
(Menakhoth. 97a) that there were three
(2)
The smallest, of 5 hand-breadths, measured the vessels of the Temple. The medium, of 6 hand-breadths, measured the buildings, and consisted
(3)
of two spans. (The length of the third
(1)
is
not given.)
we give * width of 3-6 inches, the small cubit and the medium 21-6 inches, the half of which was
If to these hand-breadths
will have 18 inches
a span.
when
These
written,
details
modem
were those of the Egyptian cubits, and were thus, on foundations of historical truth. We may be
glosses
grateful for the general support they give to these pages, as to the difference of a palm between one cubit and another, and of the uses to which two of
them were
put.
THE TABERNACLE.
224
was an oblong box of 2| cubits (=27 inches) length, its height and breadth being each 1| cubits
The in
latter
(= 162
These measures are given by Josephus
inches).
and
as being respectively five
much
root of
Greek
scribes
three
Here
spans.'
'
the
is
misapprehension, caused probably by the
employed by Josephus
to translate his
work
being familiar with the Egyptian cubit of 21 "6 inches,^
which the span was exactly one-half.
of
Instead of
dividing these figures, or giving them in cubits, as
is
done with regard to the Golden Altar of Incense, this error, arising
come down (c)
(1
to us,
with widely misleading
effects.
Elsewhere the language of Josephus
able, as in :
from mental indolence or confusion, has
irreproach-
Samuel
the case of the height of Goliath.
xvii, 4) tells us that his
a span.'
is
height was
'
These being commensurated thus
6 cubits, each 14*4 inches
.
.
=
1 span
..
.
.
=:
.
.
.
..
..
give us a total of
.
six cubits
and
:
864 108
inches.
97-2
„
„
In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament,
which dates from the
close of the third century B.C.,
and
in the Antiquities of Josephus, belonging to the close of
the
first
century
a.d., Goliath's
height
is
given at
'
4 cubits
^ Edersheim has remarked that the representation of the Shew-hread Table on the Arch of Titus is less in size than we should expect from its description. His cubit was one of 18 mches. It is to be hoped that some future visitor
to
Eome
will test its dimensions
the result.
by a cubit
of 10-8 inches,
and make public
THE STATURE OF GOLIATH. and
a
span.'
There
however, no real discrepancy
is,
here with our English Bibles,
when once the metrology
of the subject is understood in
chronological relations.
The
word
itself
the Greeks
(the
225
its
'cubit,'
geographical and as understood
ammah
being the
by
of the
Hebrews, and the ammatu of the Assyrians), was that of the Egyptians, with
whom
relations than with the Jews.
one of 21 "6 inches,
the
they had more intimate
The Egyptian
height
expressed, for Greek readers, in
cubit being
of Goliath
its
length.
was
Not
to
best
have
done so would have been to mislead, and to excite ridicule
Hence we have
and doubt.
commensuration
4 cubits, each 21'6 inches
.
1 span, or half-cubit
.
..
.
. .
Total as before
The
{d)
several
span
'
•
short measure before us
Scripture names, being
description *
this
of
the
.
is
= = =
;
86'4 inches.
108
„
97-2
„
^
thus seen to have
called
'
cubit
'
in
the
golden furniture of the Tabernacle,
in the size of the High-priest's breastplate and
in the height of Goliath.
It has also a third designation
Book of Judges (iii. 16), where Ehud is said to have made a dagger of a cubit or span in length. The word gomed occurs here only in the Hebrew scriptures, and is taken to mean a short cubit, as in the Greek in the
translation of the 1
less
LXX.
the translation gives 'span or
of Goliath was thiis %-^ English feet, which is somewhat than that of the Chinese giant, Chwang, lately exhihited in Europe,
The height
whose height was 8
ft.
6 ins.
THE TABEENACLE.
226
half-cubit,' in accordance
fact
he made
that
consecrated
patriotic purpose, as
was
this
is
said above.
length
this
of
it
what he deemed
to
it
with what
to
The
shows that he highest
be the
the most sacred cubit of
the Jews, being that of the vessels of the sanctuary.
The 4. This
Measuke.
14"4 inch
was the common measure, by which everything
not excepted in the goldsmith's and surveyor's depart-
ments was measured.
We
have seen that
It was that
'
cubit of a
it
applies to the height of Goliath.
man
'
by which we are
to read the
size of the sarcophagus of Og, king of Bashan.
four cubits in width, in length,
it
was
it
was
10|- feet.
4-|-
feet,
Being
and being nine cubits
These measures are large, but
are not marvellous, and they are not given as those of his
physical proportions.
This was emphatically the builders' cubit, and after
having
through
gone
every
item of
every building
specification in the Bible, I can state that it requires
modification, nor,
excepted, does
it
if
no
a single clerical error in Ezekiel be
fail
to yield
good and true results in
every case. {a) (i.
Some
walls
of
Babylon, described by Herodotus
178), were possibly built by
from
late
German
this measure.
We know,
researches, not yet concluded, that the
walls in question were not those of the city, but of the citadel.
He
does not say more than that
been raised to the height of two hundred
'A
wall has
cubits,
with
THE CUBITS OF HERODOTUS. a width of
fifty.
Now
the royal cubit
the average cubit by three fingers.' If a cubit of
is
227
longer than
^
an English foot-and-a-fifth be understood,
the measures will be 240 feet and 60 feet.
If the cubit
of a foot-and-a-half be used, they will be 300 feet and
75
Neither of these
feet.
results
was impossible of
attainment for an inner fortress, but the smaller
What
likelier.
walls of the
alone at present
citadel
is
certain
is
the
is
that the
were not built with the span of
Ehorsabad, and that these through measures were not those of the famous walls of the city of Babylon, but of its
central citadel.
The 18 inch Measure. 5.
Certain portions of Ezekiel's specification are written
in large cubits, the fact being in every case notified.
In
addition to the ground-areas of the courts of the Temple
being uniformly given in 18 inch cubits, the measure-
ments of the Great Altar of
Sacrifice
Likewise those of the outer wall, entrance-gate and
its lodges.
large cubit, in his pages,
This fact
is
one which
the demonstration
is
is is
are
its steps,
With
so
given.
and the
east
these exceptions the
invariably one of open spaces.
capable of demonstration, but
involved with that of other lengths
referred to in these pages, and with some not mentioned,
but which were used in the building of the Herodian '
This
is
independent testimony as to the primary division of the palm into
shown in Part II. of this volume (pp. 124, 148). It may be an aid to the memory to know that each of these fractions or ' fingers was one-tenth of an English foot in length.
three fractions, as
'
THE TABERNACLE.
228 Temple.
but
if
The proof
opportunity
may judge
is
one that will
oflFers it
is
be made public, so that
Turning
we
find
to Babylon,
all
upon the use
of the case as a whole, as bearing
of this family of measures in the (ffl)
too long for these pages,
Holy Land.
from which they were derived,
an incontrovertible embodiment of the large cubit
in the Great
of Babylon.
Tower
of
Nebo, at Borsippa, near the ruins
This ancient temple
is
now known
as the
fci
S
I
iS! I
•3
71
I
I
TjOOcuLIU
Reconstruction Plan of the Birs-Nimroud. Scale,
mound
50
feet to half
of Birs-Nimroud,
an inch.
1 cubit
1J
feet.
and has been more carefuUy
examined than any other Babylonian Rawlinson's account of
=
it is
ruin.
Sir
Henry
contained in the eighteenth
volume of the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal
{old style).
From
tower had
this it appears that the partially- erected
stood for 600 years,
determined on It
is
its
when Nebuchadnezzar, about 600
B.C.,
completion.
possible to deduce
from tbe data arrived
proportions as they were originally designed.
at, all its
Tbese are
THE BIRS-NIMROUB. most
229
briefly stated in a series of tables of distances
the cubits used being of
length of 18 inches
the
accompanied by a drawing of the tower, as appeared in outline when completed.
The
tables are as follows
1.
it
Height
2. 3.
Width Width
4.
Height of upper stages
6.
Width
6.
Height of lower stages.
7.
Width
of
:
basement
of rear terraces
6 cubits ,
of basement side-terraces
of upper side-terraces
of front terraces
,
.
,
.
all
—
must have
Measures of Stages and Terraces.
1.
—
THE TABERNACLE.
230
immediately below
it,
tte
foundation
basement being
18 cubits larger than the stage immediately above it. The top of the tower was a plain surface of 21 feet each way.
Geometric Principle of the Tabernacle Tent. {The shaded portion represents the proportions of the Tent oj the Tahernacle.y '
The diameter
of this circle
is
3"6 inches, and is
drawn
so as to act as
human pahn, which is believed Each reader may test its to be the fundamental of all length-measures. correctness, as an average, by placing his own hand over it. a standard of measure for the breadth of the
INFLUENCE OF BABYLON IN (b)
Measures apart, the point
at
ASIA.
which
231
ancient
this
structure touches the architecture of the Jews lies in this fact
:
— The
been 100
200
total height of the JBirs is estimated to
150 feet
cubits, or
cubits, or
300
feet.
have
the total width to have been
;
It is in exactly these proportions
that the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was erected,
height being 15 cubits and
The predominance its fractions,
its
of the Babylonia cycle of 60
the length of
is
and
in the constituents of the Tabernacle, is too
The one
apparent to have escaped the reader's notice. exception
its
width being 30 cubits.
'
an hundred cubits ' given to
the court.
It is now, however, apparent that the court
consisted of
two squares of
fifty cubits each, so
exception to the rule of sixties
By
is
the form of the specification, attention
fact that all parts of the court
Not
less significant
is
had an equal
recalling to three, four,
mind the
three, four,
allocation of
and five hand-breadths. ^
real.
called to the
sanctity.
than these coincidences
that the twelve uprights of the Tabernacle,
were arranged in groups of
that this
more apparent than
is
the fact
i.e. its pillars,
and
Jive
;
thus
palms in cubits of
The discovery
of this
last-mentioned fact has led to the conclusions of these pages.
Other,
and
still
more important
ones,
are to
follow in subsequent volumes from the same premises.^
'
These figures being multiplied together give the cycle of 60.
far-reaching influence of Babylonian supremacy in Asia
is
The
seen in the fact
that the Chinese and the Hindoos of to-day reckon the passage of their years The native Chinese also have three in periods of 60, and not in hundreds.
yard measures in »
common
use.
Cf. footnote to p. 168.
232
INDEX. AAKON,deathof,ll,13,14. genealogy of, 102. death
of
his
elder
sons, 211. Aaronites, 89. Abiathar, 84, 99. Abinadab, 66. Abishag, 98. Adasa, 55. Adonijah, request of, 98. Aher, 91. Ahijah, 33, 81. Ahimelech, 52, 103, 199. Ahitub, 30, 33, 34. Ai, 54. Aijalon, 92, 96. Ain Kadis, 6.
Ain K&rim, 32. Ain Mdhil, 95. Ain Surdh, 49. ,
Amariah, 33. Amorites, battle with, 9.
Andta, 54, 56. Anathoth, 56. 94, 96.
Aner, 92, 96. Aniii, 94.
Aphek, battle at, 27. Apostacy of Israel, 27. Arad,
9.
destruction of, 15.
king
of, hostility of,
15. Ariel, 181.
Arimathsea, 51. Aristobulus, 103.
at Ebenezer, 28.
atEarjath-Jearim,33. at Ophel, 77. removed to Jerusalem, 65, 72. moved to Moriah, 101 Arnon, the, 88.
Asaph, Psalm
of,
quoted,
29. sons of, 6 8; duty of, 70. Ashtaroth, 93. Assyrians, approach of, to
Baalath-bbbk,
37.
Babylonians, notation 119, 230. Badiet et-Tth, 6.
Bamoth, 17. Barclay, on tent
Bethlehem, 49. Bezalel, 30.
Bezer, 88. Bileam, 96. Bir-el-Ozeiz, 62.
Birs-Nimroud, 228 sq. Boards of Tabernacle, 4, 194 sq. Bowls of Tabernacle, 5. Bozrah, 89. Brasen altar, dedication of, 5.
construction of, 30.
moveable, 74. description of, 78 sq.
approach
bosom
Jerusalem, 54.
Atonement-money, the, 73 Azariah V., 34,
Aith, 54. Altar of burnt- offering 74 Altar of sacrifice, the, 178. position of, 181.
Anem,
Arithmetic, ancient system of, 125. Ark, position of, 21. size of, 224.
of,
of,
to, 180.
181.
position of, 181. platform of, 182. Brasen sea, the, 220. BreechesBible.on curtains,
204. Buttons (taohes), 206.
Caleb, 23. curtains,
191.
Canaanites, destruction of, 16.
Be-eshterah, 93. Beer, 17.
Causeway, the, 77. Census of the people, 72.
Beer-lahai-roi, 9. Beeroth, 59.
Chambers of theprieste,80.
Beeroth-bene-Jaakan, 9. Bene-Jaakan, 8, 9. Benjamin, cities of, 59. Benjamites, migration of, 63. Bered, 9.
Beth-Car, 32. Beth-Shemesh, 27. Bethhoron, 92.
of the Temple, 210,
219.
Chenaniah, 68, 87. Cherubs, the, 200. Christ,therockatypeof,13. Cities, number of, 97. Cities of refuge, the, 88. City of David, 64.
Clasps, 206. Cloud, the guiding, 6.
INDEX. Colours
of the curtains, 187, 188. Cords, the, 209.
Courses
of priests and Levites, 84. Court of Tabernacle, 167. Courts of justice in Israel, 35, 41. Cubits, three in number, 161. Curtains, the, 175, 185,
187, 188, 202, 208.
233
Egyptian cubit, 225. Ehud, dagger of, 225. Eleazar, duty of, 4. Eleph, 58.
Gershonites, turns of, 70. towns of, 93. Gibbethon, 92, 93, Gibeah, 60. Gibeah-of-God, 60. Gibeah of Saul, 66. Gibeon, 55, 61.
El-Jeib, 19. El-Jib, 55, 59, 60. Eli, 27 death of, 178. EU, the, 121, 135. Ell&r, 92. Elteke, 92. Embroidery, 200. En-gannim, 94, 96. ;
Cuts of Eule of Gudea, 147 sq.
En-Mishpat, 9.
Dan, removal
Ephod, the, 199. Ephraim, conduct towns of, 91.
Tabernacle
Gibeomtes,war against, 59.
Enclosure of the Tabernacle, the, 169.
towns
of,
91.
of, 91.
David, 55 sq. genealogy
of, 57. elected king, 64. his house, 64.
at
Oman's threshingfloor, 73.
hands pattern of the Temple toSolomon, 83. his revision of Church property, 97.
Dedication, week of, 5. Defilement of High-priest, 103.
Deir Abdn, 33. Deir Man, 33. Deir el-Sawa, 32. Digit, the, 148, 220. Dimnah, 95. Door of the tent, 173,188. screen of, 189. Doorkeepers, courses of, 76, 86. Drawings of the plans for the Temple, 78.
Er
Mm,
of, 23.
55.
Er-Sdmeh,
38, 42 sq., 94.
Erech, 118.
Es Sanamein,
89. Eshcol, 48. Et Tell, 54. Ezekiersspeciflcation,227.
Ezion-Geber, 10.
Father
of a city, meaning of, 67. Fence, see Sobeo. Fergusson, Mr. J., on
on cur-
177;
'gate,'
ttuns, 187. Finger, the, 148, 220. Floor of the Tabernacle, 193. Forty days in the Mount, the, 184. Forty years' wanderings,
the, 7 sq.
Fractions
of
Senkereh
Gallih,
;
conduct
of, 17.
of,
177.
Gath-rimmon, 92, 96.
144 sq. Gudea, scale of, restoration of, 140 sq. Guest-chambers, 47. Halasah, 9.
Eammon,
93.
Hammoth-dor, 93. Hand, the, use of, 125. Hangings, the, 169, 175. Hantna, 54. Sarel, 181. Haupt, Professor P., on Eule of Gudea, 145. Hazeroth, 7. Hebron, 38 sq. ruins near, 43.
Babylon, 226. High-priest, transference of office, 26.
Geba, 54, 63.
Gebim, 55. Genealogies
;
sons of, 68. clan of, 71. Herodotus, on the cubit, 148 ; of on walls
55.
Gate, meaning
abandoned, 52. Gittaim, 67. Gold, value of, 73. Goliath, height of, 225. Great reed, the, 137. Greek cubit, the, 225. Grove, G., quoted, 22. Guards of the sanctuary, of the Temple, 82. 76 Gudea, king, statue of,
Heman,
table of, 154.
180.
Gilding, mode of, 213. Gilgal, 22 sq.
Helkath, 94, 96.
tablet, 123.
East, the, approach from, East Gate, the, 175. Ebenezer, 27, 32. Edersheim, on Temple on shewmusic, 88 bread table, 224. Edom, message to, 16.
at, 56.
supercession of, 90. closing services at, 100.
of chiefs
choirs, 72.
Gershonites, duty of, 4.
of
duty of, 99. genealogy of, 102. reserved, 103.
THE TABERNACLE.
234 Hobab, 35. Holy of Holies, the, Holy Place, the, 79.
Hommel, tablet,
79.
Senkereh on 119; on Rule of
Gudea, 145. Hophni, death of, 28. Hor, Mount, 8, U. Hor-haggidgad, 8, 14.
Hormah,
Josephus, on the Tabernacle, 187 sq. Joumeyings of Israel, the start, 6.
Paran,
Length-measures,
Kadesh, 6
first
;
stay
at, 7; first departure
from, 10
second
;
arrival at, 11
Horse Gate, Jerusalem, 64. Hosah, 70. Hosea, on Gibeah, 61. Houses of the Temple, 79. Hukok, 94, 96. Hujiin, pass of, 7. Hushim, 91.
;
last
journey from, 13. itinerary, 7.
year of, 9 defeat by Amorites, 9. murmurings, the, 12. first
arrival at Jordan, 13.
Mount Hor,
tablet,
132
Senkereh
sq.
Ime, 21. Incense, offering of, 99, 100. on Isaiah, march of Assyrians, 54. Ish-bosheth, 65. Igshiah, 87.
Ithamar,
6, 33.
Itinerary of wanderings, 7. lye-abarim, 21. Izim, 21.
Jahzah,
94.
Jarmuth, 93. Jeba, 54, 59. Jebel Moderah, 15, 18. Jebus, 50. Jeduthun, sons of, 68. Jehdeiah, 87. Jeiel, 57. Jenin, 94.
Talmud
Jerusalem
cubits, 223.
Jethro, 35. Jibia, 59.
Joab, death
Jokmeam,
of, 99.
92.
Jokneam, 92, 95. Jordan, arrival at, 13. crossing of, 21.
turn from Edom, 17. stages of, 18 sq. Judges,appointmentof,87.
Lifta, 58. Line, the, 121. Loftus, Mr. W. K., discovery of, 118. Loops, the, 202. Lubban, 24.
Maachah,
57. 55. Maisleh, 93. Makhrun, 54. Mamre, 48.
Jutta, 38.
Mashal, 93. Massah, murmuring at,
Kad^s, 89.
Matri, 68.
Kadesh-Bamea,
Israel's
stay at, 7. situation of, 8.
names
of, 9.
second stay Kadis, first stay
Kdna,
at,
at, 7.
95.
Kartah, 95, 96. Kartan, 93. Kattath, 95. Kedesh, 93. Kedesh-in- Galilee, 89. Eh6.n Haiy&n, 64. Khorsabad, 221. Kibroth-hattaavah, 7. Kibzaim, 92, 96. King's House, Jerusalem, Kiriathaim, 93.
Kirjath-Arba, 38. Kir]ath-Jearim,ark at,33. Kish, 57. Kishion, 93. Kohath, children of, duty of, 3, 24, 71.
Korahites, the, 82. Kusur BeshaSr, 88.
1 2.
Mattanah, 17. Matthew on Eamah, 50. Measure of 10-8 inches, 14-4 inches, 221 sq. 226 18 inches, 227. ;
11.
64,
on
census of, 98. Levitical cities, 96.
Madmenah,
15.
Ichabod, 33. Ideographs of
Baby-
lonian, summary of, 155. Levites, courses of, 84.
14.
destruction of Arad,
Ibleam, 92.
or Lagas, 141.
Lebonah, 24.
6.
Zin, 6.
9, 16.
La&ash
Laish, 91. Laishah, 65. Larsam or Larsa, 118.
;
Merarites, duties of, 4, 71. cities of, 94.
Meribah-of- Kadesh, 9.
murmuring
at, 12.
Meriboth-Kadesh, 9. Mesopotamia, lengthmeasures of, 161. Michmash, 54. Migron, 54. Misapprehension, a, 13. Mishal, 93. Mizpah, assembly of Tribes at, 31,
61.
Moab, 13 conduct of, Moriah, Mount, 64. ;
17.
Moserah, 14. Moseroth, 14. Moses, death
of, 13,
Mukayyar, 118.
Mukhm&s, 54. Murmuring of Israel, 12.
the,
INDEX. Music, giiildfi of, 68. Musicians, appointment of,
87.
Nabal,
6.
Samuel, 27, 30.
Phinehas, death of, 28. Pillara of Tabernacle, 169. Pinches, Dr., on the great reed, 137 onideographs,
as judge, 35. builds an altar, 40. his interview with
Saul, 46. call of,
Nahalal, 95, 96. Nahaliel, 17. Nahshon, 49. Naioth, 48.
Nebo, Tower of, 228 Neby Samwtl, 31.
Negeb, the, 15. Ner, 57. Nob, Tabernacle massacre
North Gate,
Obed-Edom,
at,
at,
sq.
52
sq.
61.
the, 170.
67.
Oboth, 20. Og, king of Bashan, sarcophagus of, 226. Omri, 93. Ophel, 64. Oppert, Dr., on Assyrian span, 145; onAssyrian measures, 221. Oman's threshing - floor becomes the site of the
Temple, 73.
Pahath-Moab,
99. Palestine cubit, the, 161. Palm, the, 122, 134. table of fractions of, 154. Paran, wilderness of, 6. Parbar, the, 77. Parenthesis in Deut.x., 15.
Parthenon, the, plan of, 79. Pashhur, 34. Passages of the Hebrews, 21.
Petra, 16. Petrie, Professor, talente, 194. Phalti, 55. Fhanon, 19.
Screen of Tabernacle, 4,
Procession bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, 66,68. Psahn of Asaph quoted, 29 of David, 69.
173. Sea-calves, skins of, 192. Sebaita, 16. Secu, well of, 48.
Punon, 19.
SeMn,
Eabbins on
platform at, 168. Senkereh, 118.
219. Eachel,
curtains, 204,
tomb
Sargon II., 221.
Sayce, Professor, on hieroglyphs, 137, 139.
contents of, 120 sq.
B&met
el-Khulil, 42, 49. Eamoth, 93. Eamoth-in-Gilead, 89. Ras-el-Ain, 93.
Eawlinson, Sir H., 119, 138.
Riimun, 89. Eemeth, 94. Eeuel, 35. or
Eimmono,
war with, 27
tablet, glossary sq.
reconstraction, 1 1 8sq. description of, 120.
sq.
Jiamathaim-Zophim, 39.
Eimmon
25.
Senkereh of, 107
of, 49.
de, discovery
141 sq. Saul, journey of, 46. death of, 65. genealogy of, 67. of,
Eam-skins, the, 190.
Eamah, 36
M.
Sarzeo,
95,
96.
fractions of, 123. signs used in, 126 sq. reverse of, 151.
Sennacherib, march of, 54. Sentence on Israelites, 11. Sentinels of the altar, 82. Sexagesimal system of Babylonia, 161. ShaUum, 103. Shebuel, 81.
Shechem, 39, 89.
Eobinson, Dr. E., on Sdmet, near Hebron, 42 Eock, the, a type of
Shekel, value of, 73. Shelah, 81. migration of descendants of, 99.
Christ, 13. of the Temple, 79. Eule of Gudea, 144 sq.
Shelomoth, 81. Shen, 33.
Rummdnth,
Shiloh, site of the tent at,
95.
24 on
211.
Pins, 208, 209. Plus, the sign of, 138. Porch, the, 79, 187. Porpoise hides, covering of, 191. Porters of the Temple, duty of, 86. Priests, clans of, 70. courses of, 84.
Eooms
Pattern of the Temple, 78. Paul, quotation of, 13.
8q., 31.
Philo, 182.
;
Nadab, 93.
Philistines,
235
Sacrifices discontinued, 10.
slaughter of, 71, place of, 172. Salma, 49. Salt Sea, the, 14.
sq.
history of, 25.
platform
Shuham,
at,
168.
91.
Signs of Senkereh tablet, 126 sq. Silver, value of, 73,
THE TABERNACLE.
236
and
Singers, courses of, 86. Sirah "Well, 49.
adjuncts
systemof 151 ,231. Sockets, the, 194. Solomon, wife of, 64. anointed king, 84. reign of, 98. Song, service of, 71. Soreg or fence, the origin of, 173. position of, 182. &«s«ji,the, 119,121, 132. Span, the, 221.
date of, 164. court of, 167. enclosure and hangings of, 169 sq. pillars of, 169. the North Gate, 170. place of sacrifice, 172. the door of, 173. screen of, 173. theSoreg or fence, 173. the East Gate, 175. hangings of, 175. the brasen altar, 1 78sq. position of, in its court, 182. measurements of, 183. the tent, 183 sq. section of inner court, 183. the ten curtains, 202. the eleven curtains,
Sixties,
sories of,
,
Spies, the, journey of, 7. Spoons of Tabernacle, 5.
of the nacle, 205.
Taber-
- chambers Temple, 80.
of
Stability
Store
the
Strangers in the gate of the Tabernacle court, 218.
Summary
of
conclusions,
217 sq. Sar&r, 28.
acces-
159
sq.
Taanach,
185 sq. the porch, 187. parts of, 187. the door, 188. the ram-skins, 190. covering of porpoise
Taberah,
floor of, 193.
Suiveinit, 54.
Sword
of Goliath given to David, 56.
92, 96. Taanath-Shiloh, 26.
hides. 191.
7.
Tabernacle, set up, 3. parts of, 3 sq. vessels of, 5. of, at Jiljilieh, 22. erection of, 22. at Shiloh, 24. re - erection of, at Gilgal, 30. taken from Gilgal, 52. at Nob, 52 sq. site
removed to Gibeon, 56, 58, 61. David'8,at Jerusalem,
65 sq.
two in
Israel, 69.
service of song in, 71. sacrifices in, 71.
furniture
carried
to
Jerusalem, 100. worship in,ceases, 101,
places of the veil and screen, 197. the veil, 198. the tent-poles, 202,
TeUoh, 141. Temple, the plans
for, 78. dedication of, 100. building begun, 100. Tenons, the, 194, 212. Tent, the site of, at Jiljulieh, 22. Tent of Tabernacle, 183. Tent-poles, the, 202, 205. Threshing-floor of Oman, becomes site of brasen altar, 73 sq. Treasuries of the Temple, 79, 80, 81.
Fmr-sAiiiM, 64. Uzzah, death of, 66. Veil, the, 198. Vessels of Tabernacle, 5.
Wady-el-Arish, 66. Wady Ohurdb, 28.
Wady Wady Wady
Sessi, 18, 21. Ismail, 33. Qadees or Kadis,
Walled
of,
203,
and
''
unwall
cities, 39. "Walls at Hebron, 43 sq. Warka, 118. Weaving, 199, Wilderness of Wandering,
6.
Wiseman,
205. ventilation
Tell JilJAlieh, 22. Tell KeimUm, 92.
Mr.
S.,
on
cubits, 161.
207. stability of, 205.
TaMk,
how
Yarm4k,
the curtains were hung, 208. the pins, 209. the cords, 209. the priests' chambers, 210. Table of squares, 119. Tablet of Khorsabad, 221. Tabor, 98, 96. Taches, 20G. Tell Arad, 9. Tell 'Ashterah, 93. Tell el-FAl, 63.
94. 94. Yehla, 92. Terka, 94.
Zadok, 34. Zalmonah, 19, Zechariah, 76, 77, 173. Zelah, 58. Zephath, destruction of ,1 6. Zered, 10. Zin, 7, 9. Zophai, 39 sq. Zuph, 39 sq., 60.
