NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

A.) TEMPLE OF ZERUBBABEL. cubits in height accords perfectly with the words which Josephus puts into

WE have very few particulars re- the mouth of Herod (xv. 11, § 1) garding the Temple which the Jews when he makes him say that the erected after their return from the l'emple built after the Captivity wantCaptivity, and no description that ed 60 cubits of the height of that of would enable us to realize its appear- Solomon. For as he had adopted, as ance. But there are some dimen- we have seen above, the height of 120 sions given in the Bible and else- cubits, as written in the Chronicles, where which are extremely interest- for that Temple, this one remained ing, as affording points of comparison only 60. between it and the Temples of Solomon and Herod after it.

The other dimension, of 60 cubits in breadth, is 20 cubits in excess of The first and most authentic are that of Solomon's Temple, but there those given in the Book of Ezra (vi. is no reason to doubt its correctness, 3), when quoting the decree of Cyrus, for we find both from Josephus and wherein it is said, "Let the house be the Talmud that it was the dimension builded, the place where they offer- adopted for the Temple when rebuilt ed sacrifices, and let the foundations or, rather, repaired by Herod. At the thereof be strongly laid; the height same time we have no authority for thereof threescore cubits, and the assuming that any increase was made breadth thereof threescore cubits, in the dimensions of either the Holy with three rows of great stones and a Place or the Holy of Holies, since we row of new timber." Josephus quotes find that these were retained in Herthis passage almost literally (xi. 4, od's Temple. And as this Temple § 6), but, in doing so, enables us with of Zerubbabel was still standing in certainty to translate the word here Herod's time, and was, more strictly called row as "story" (dóμoç)—as in- speaking, repaired than rebuilt by deed the sense would lead us to in- him, we can not conceive that any of fer-for it could only apply to the its dimensions were then diminished. three stories of chambers that sur- We are left, therefore, with the alterrounded Solomon's, and afterward native of assuming that the porch and Herod's Temple, and with this again the chambers all round were 20 cuwe come to the wooden Talar which bits in width, including the thickness surmounted the Temple, and formed of the walls, instead of 10 cubits, as a fourth story. It may be remarked, in the earlier building. This may in passing, that this dimension of 60 perhaps, to some extent, be accounted

for by the introduction of a passage the old Temple was than the one between the Temple and the rooms which on account of their poverty of the priests' lodgings, instead of they had just been able to erect each being a thoroughfare, as must certainly have been the case in Solomon's Temple.

(Ezr. iii. 12; Joseph Ant. xi. 4, § 2), it certainly was not because it was smaller, as almost every dimension This alteration in the width of the had been increased one-third; but it Pteromata made the Temple 100 cu-may have been that the carving and bits in length by 60 in breadth, with the gold, and other ornaments of Sola height, it is said, of 60 cubits, in- omon's Temple far surpassed this, and cluding the upper room, or Talar, the pillars of the portico and the veils though we can not help suspecting may all have been far more splendid, that this last dimension is somewhat so also probably were the vessels; and in excess of the truth. all this is what a Jew would mourn over far more than mere architectur al splendor.

As

(B.) THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE.

The only other description of this Temple is found in Hecatæus the Abderite, who wrote shortly after the death of Alexander the Great. quoted by Josephus (cont. Ap. i. 22), he says, that "In Jerusalem toward According to the traditions of Rab the middle of the city is a stone wall-binic writers, a great council was aped enclosure about 500 feet in length pointed on the return of the Jews (ús πevtáπλe0poç), and 100 cubits in width, with double gates," in which he describes the Temple as being situated.

from Babylon to reorganize the religious life of the people. It consisted of 120 members, who were known as the men of the Great Synagogue, The last dimension is exactly what the successors of the prophets-themis obtained by doubling the width of selves, in their turn, succeeded by the tabernacle enclosure as applied to scribes prominent individually as Solomon's Temple (see p. 485), and teachers. Ezra was recognized as may therefore be accepted as tolera- president. Among the other mem bly certain, but the 500 feet in length bers, in part together, in part successexceeds any thing we have yet reach- ively, were Joshua the high-priest, ed by 200 feet. It may be that at this Zerubbabel, and their companions, age it was found necessary to add a Daniel and the three "children," the court for the women or the Gentiles, prophets Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, a sort of Narthex, or Galilee, for those the rulers Nehemiah and Mordecai. who could not enter the Temple. If Their aim was to restore again the this, or these together, were 100 cu- crown, or glory of Israel, i. e., to reinbits square, it would make up the "nearly 5 plethra" of our author. Hecatæus also mentions that the altar was 20 cubits square and 10 high. And although he mentions the Temple itself, he unfortunately does not supply us with any dimensions.

state in its majesty the name of God as Great, Mighty, Terrible (Deut. vii. 21, x. 17; Neh. i. 5, ix. 32; Jer. xxxii. 18; Dan. ix. 4). To this end they collected all the sacred writings of former ages and their own, and so completed the Canon of the Old TesFrom these dimensions we gather, tament. Their work included the that if the Priests and Levites and revision of the text, and this was setElders of families were disconsolate tled by the introduction of the vowel at seeing how much more sumptuous points, which have been handed down

E E

to us by the Masoretic editors. They some critics to reject the whole stateinstituted the Feast of Purim. They ment as a Rabinic invention, resting organized the ritual of the synagogue. on no other foundation than the exTheir decrees were quoted afterward istence, after the exile, of a Sanheas those of the elders (the pɛσBUTɛpo drim of 71 or 72 members, charged of Mark vii. 3, the apxaior of Matt. v. with supreme executive functions 21, 27, 33), the Dibrê Sôpherim (=The narrative of Neh. viii. 13 clearly words of the scribes), which were of more authority than the law itself.

implies the existence of a body of men acting as councilors under the presi dency of Ezra, and these may have been an assembly of delegates from

Much of this is evidently uncertain. The absence of any historical mention of such a body, not only in the all provincial synagogues -a synod

Old Testament and the Apocrypha, but in Josephus and Philo, has led

(to use the terminology of a later time) of the National Church.

APPENDIX L

THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

$ Language of the Old Testameut. § 2. Collection of the books of the Old Testament Jewish arrangement under the three heads of the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. §3. Names given to the collected books of the Old Testament. § 4. Arrangement of the books in the present Appendix.-I. THE PENTATEUCH. § 5. NameObject-Authorship. § 6. The Book of GENESIS. §7. The Book of EXODUS. §8. The Book of LEVITICUS. $9. The Book of NUMBERS. § 10. The Book of DEUTERONOMY.—II. THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. § 11. The Book of JoSHUA. § 12. Authorship of the Books of Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and Kings. § 13. Books of JUDGES and of RUTH. § 14. The Books of SAMUEL. § 15. The Books of KINGS. 16. The Books of CHRONICLES. 17. Relation of the Books of Chronicles to those of Kings. § 18. The Book of Ezra. § 19. The Book of NEHEMIAH. § 20. The Boo of ESTHER.-III. THE PROPHETS.

21. The Prophetic Order. (A.) The Four Grea. Prophets. § 22. ISAIAH. § 23. JEREMIAH. The Book of LAMENTATIONS. § 24. EZEKIEL. § 25. DANIEL. (B.) The Twelve Minor Prophets. § 26. HOSEA, § 27. JOEL. § 28. AMOS. § 29. OBADIA II. § 30. JONAII. §31. MICAH. HAGGAI. § 36. ZECHARIAH. The Book of PSALMS. § 39. § 1. WE have thus carried down the History of the Old Testament from the earliest times to the close of the Jewish Canon. But our task would be incomplete without giving a brief account of those books which form the chief and, during the greater period, the sole authority for this history.

§ 32. NAHUM. §33. HABAKKUK. § 34. ZAPHANIAII. § 35. § 37. MALACHI. IV. THE POETICAL BOOKS. § 38. SONG OF SOLOMON, PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, JOB.

All the books of the Old Testament are written in the Hebrew language, with the exception of the following passages-Daniel, ii. 4-vii., Ezra, iv. 8-vi. 18, and vii. 12-26, Jeremiah, x. 11-which are in Chaldee. Both Hebrew and Chaldee are sister dialects of a great family of languages, to which the name of Semitic is usually given, from the real or supposed descent of the people speaking them from the patriarch Shem. The dialects of this Semitic family may be divided into three main branches:-1. The Northern, or Aramaan, to which the Chaldee and Syriac belong. 2. The Southern, of which the Arabic is the most important, and which also includes the Ethiopic. 3. The Central, which comprises the Hebrew and the dialects spoken by the other inhabitants of Palestine, such as the Canaanites and Phoenicians.

§ 2. The collection of the books of the Old Testament into one body, and the formation of the Canon, probably by Ezra, after the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, has been already narrated.' The arrangement of the books into the three classes, which was adopted by the later Jews, and is still retained in the printed Hebrew Bibles, is indicated even before the completion of the Old Testament Canon. When the Canon was looked on as settled, in the period covered by the books of the Apocrypha, it took a more definite form. The Prologue to Ecclesiasticus mentions "the law and the prophets and the rest of the Books." In the New Testament there is the

1 See p. 644 sq.

2

2 Zech, vii 12.

same kind of recognition. "The Law and the Prophets" is the shorter.' "the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms," the fuller statement of the divis ion popularly recognized. The arrangement of the books of the Hebrew text under these three heads requires however a further notice.

i. The Law, called Torah in the Hebrew, contained the Pentateuch, the five books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These titles are those of the LXX. In the Hebrew the titles are taken from the initial words, or prominent words in the initial verse.

ii. The PROPHETS, called Nebim in Hebrew, were thus arranged:-

1. The former

2. The latter

6

The Hebrew titles of these books correspond to those of the English Bibles. The grounds on which books simply historical were classed under the same name as those which contained the teaching of prophets, in the stricter sense of the word, are not at first sight obvious, but the Old Testament presents some facts which may suggest an explanation. The Sons of the Prophets," living together as a society, must have occupied a position as instructors of the people, even in the absence of the special calling which sent them as God's messengers to the people. A body of men so placed become naturally historians and annalists. The references in the historical books of the Old Testament show that they actually were so. Nathan the prophet, Gad, the seer of David, Ahijah and Iddo,' Isaiah," are cited as chroniclers. The greater antiquity of the earlier historical books, and perhaps the traditional belief that they had originated in this way, were likely to co-operate in raising them to a high place of honor in the arrangement of the Jewish Canon, and so they were looked on as having the prophetic character which was denied to the historical books of the Hagiographa. The greater extent of ne prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, no less than the prominent position which they occupied in the history of Israel, led naturally to their being recognized as the Greater Prophets. The exclusion of Daniel from this subdivision is perhaps to be explained on the ground that, though the utterer of predictions, he had not exercised, as the others had done, a prophet's office among the people.

9

iii. The HAGIOGRAPHA, called in Hebrew Cetubim (from a Hebrew word, to write), included the remaining books of the Hebrew Canon, arranged in the following order, and with subordinate divisions:

(a.) Psalms, Proverbs, Job.

(b.) The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, called the five Megilloth, or the five rolls, as being written for use in the synagogues on special festivals on five separate rolls.

(c.) Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles.

8 Matt. xi. 13, xxii. 40; Acts xiii. 15, etc.

4 Luke xxvi. 44.

1 Sam. x. 5; 2 K. v. 22, vi. 1.

61 Chron. xxix. 29. 72 Chron. ix. 29 82 Chron. xxvi. 22, xxxii. 82.

Αυτόγραφα