altar and the ark of GOD to mount Nebo, and hid them in a cave there, and ftopped the door so close, that it could not afterwards be found. The Talmudifts give a different account of it, namely, that Jofiah, having been admonifhed by fome prophets, that all the precious veffels of the fanctuary would be carried away to Babylon, depofited the holy fire, the ark, the pot of manna, Aaron's rod, and the breaft-plate of urim, and this altar of incenfe in a fubterranean place, which Solomon, from the fame forecaft, had caufed to be built, with fuch extreme care and privacy, that, at the return from the captivity, they could never be found, nor ever will be, if we believe the fews, till the coming of the MESSIAH. One thing, indeed, feems reafonable to fuppofe, that if they had been carried to Babylon, with the reft of the facred utenfils of the temple, they would have been also restored to them; but we find, on the contrary, that they were forced to make them new ones at their return, whatever became of the old P. 2. THE Candleftick was by far the richest piece in the whole fanctuary, feeing it weighed a talent, not the com‐ mon, but that of the fanctuary; and was made from top to bottom of pure beaten gold, all of a piece, without joint or folder q. Its bafe, or foot, or, as the original words it, its thigh, because it probably resembled an inverted one, had a trunk over it, out of which proceeded fix branches, three on each fide, and this laft made the feventh in the middle. These branches were adorned with cups, knops, and flowers, alternate and equidiftant; and on the top of each was fixed a lamp, fhaped like an almond, which might be taken on or off, as occafion ferved r, and in them were put the oil, and the wick, or cotton. Thefe had their tongs, or fnuffers, to draw the cotton in or out, and snuffdifhes, to receive the sparks and filth that fell from the lamps. All these were of pure gold alfo. It was the priest's business in waiting every evening, at the time of incenfe, to go in and light them, and about the fame time in the morning to put them out, to clean and replenish them s(Z). 3. THE Ch. ii. 1, & feqq. P Vid. BUXTORF de arc. c. 21, 22. R. JACKUT. PRID. conn. part. i. lib. iii. CUNE. BASNAG. & al. Exod. xxv. 31, & feqq. Comp. Exod. xxv. 37, with Num. iv. 9. s Comp. ver. 16, with Exod, xxx. 8. Levit. xxiv. 2. 1 Sam. iii. 3. (Z) As to the height of it, Mofes has not mentioned any thing about it; so that, whilft fome have lowered it to the level of the altar of incense, which would have caft but an imperfect Table of fbewbread. 3. THE table of fhew-bread. We have fpoken of the bread elsewhere: as for the table on which it was fet, it was made of the fame wood, and covered with gold like the ark: it was two cubits long, one cubit broad, and one and half high it had a golden border, or crown, which may be fuppofed to be a kind of rim round it, like that of our tea-tables w. It was alfo of pure gold, and might have an ogee, or fome fuch ornament, about it (A). w Exod. xxv. 23, & feqq.. imperfect light, especially on the table of thew-bread, where the loaves flood one upon another; others have carried it up to the height of five cubits, which is a worse extreme, fince it maft not only have required a ladder, or fteps, to have reached it, but, it being the half of the height of the place, the fmoke of it would foon have fullied and spoiled the rich curtains over head: it is therefore more reasonable to fuppofe it of fuch an height, that a man might eafily reach the top of it, that is, about fix feet high. We are likewife left to guefs at its fhape, breadth, fituation, and feveral other particulars; in which every commentator thinks he has hit better than his brethren (1); for which reason we fhall follow, them no longer in the dark. It may not, however, be amifs here, to fay fomething of the oil that entertained thefe lamps; and this, the text tells us, was to be the pureft virgin oil of olives, with which the land of Canaan abounded very much, as we have feen in the geography of it and indeed, none but fuch would have been fit 4. THE to burn in that place, where the furniture was fo exquifitely rich. We shall only add, that, after the building of the temple, Solomon, inftead of one, placed ten candlesticks in the holy place, all of the same metal, with their other appurte nances (2); but whether that of Mofes was one of the number, or made the eleventh, is not certain; the latter feems the more probable of the two, because the holy place here being confiderably larger than that of the tabernacle, and all the veffels being made so accordingly, it is likely that the candlesticks did bear the fame proportion; in which cafe the old one would not have been uniform with the reft. But whether it was new caft, or repofited in the treasury of the temple, or what became of it, is uncertain. (A) Mofes feems to intimate, in another verfe, fomething like a fecond crown, or rim, though fome take it to be the fame with the former; but it is more likely that it was a lower one, which went round the four feet near the bottom, and kept them fteady. To (1) Vide int. al. Jofeph. ubi fup. Hieron. Arr. Mont. Villalpand. Cun, Baftag, Villet, & al. (2) Į Kings vii. 49. 2 Chron. iv. 7. the 4. THE Court of the tabernacle, with its utenfils, is the Court of laft thing we have to speak of. The court was an oblong the taber quare, 100 cubits long, and 50 broad, inclofed on all nacle. but the eaft fide, which had an opening of 20 cubits for the priests and Levites, and people, to go in and out with their offerings. This inclofure was not defigned to conceal what was done in the court, fince the curtains, that surrounded it, were made of a kind of net, or point-work, through which even the heathens might have a view of it. Thefe curtains, which Mofes therefore calls by a particular name (C), to diftinguish them from those of the tabernacle, whofe ufe was of a different nature, were fupported by four flights of pillars, probably of fhittim-wood, with the upper rim were fastened four gold rings, two on each fide, through which the bars were put that ferved for its carriage. On the top there were, befides the two rows of fhew-loaves, fome pots, or chafing-dishes, of gold, in which the incenfe used to be burnt, with feveral other fmaller utenfils, which ferved for inferior ufes in this holy place (3); but we shall not dwell on them, there being almost as many different opinions about the fignifications of their names, their forms and uses, as there are interpreters. This table was afterwards changed for another by Solomon (4). Jofephus tells us (5), that it was larger than the old one, probably to anfwer the largenefs of the place. The author of the book of Chronicles adds, that he made ten more, five on the north, and five on the fouth fide of the holy place, which served to fet all the other utenfils upon (C) The word here used is i Kings vii. 48, & feqq. (s) Ant. (3) Exod. xxv. 29, & alib. pa. (4) lib. viii. c. 2. (6) 2 Chron. iv. 8. thefaur. & Arr. Montan, fub voc. Jun, Okseft, & al, (10) Kimb. in rad, E3 al. קלע brafs brafs pedestals, or fockets; and adorned with filver fillets, or rather chapiters, for fuch they were (A). THUS the whole court had a circuit of 300 cubits Those therefore who suppose that the curtain, which furrounded it, was one intire piece, feem not to confider what a laborious task it would have been to the Gershonites to have folded or rolled it up; befides, the text, speaking all along of them in the plural number, fhews that there were more than one or two f. However, though. this court bore the fame proportion with the tabernacle, and the four fides ran parallel to it, yet is not the tabernacle to be fuppofed to have ftood in the centre of it. There was no neceffity for the area on the weft end to be of the fame extent with that on the east, because we do not read of any confiderable utenfils placed in it; whereas this latter had the altar of burnt-offerings, the laver, and seve ral other things, of which we are going now to fpeak; fo that, though Mofes has not left us the dimenfions of either, this laft is fuppofed to have been of equal length with its breadth, that is, fifty feet fquare; and, indeed, lefs than that space could hardly fuffice for all the work that was done there, and the multitude of utenfils that were ufed in it, fince it was the only place in which all the victims were flain, and both they, and all other kind of offerings, were brought and offered up (B). THERE • Vide Exod. xxxviii. 28. f Ibid. xxvii. ver. 9, 10, 12, & feqq. (A) As for their height, as Mofes has faid nothing of it, authors have conjectured it variously, from ten to five cubits; but as the defign of them was only to fupport the curtains, and to hinder the approach, and not the view of the tabernacle, the last seems the moft rational, it being the height that fofephus affigns, as well as that of the curtains; only we may reasonably fuppofe, that the filver chapiters did rife above the curtain. We are likewife left to guess at their figure, only a fquare one may reasonably be fuppofed fitter both for carriage, and for holding the hangings tight, than a round one. They were fifty-fix in number, twenty on each fide, ten at the weft, and fix at the east end, befides thofe which fupported the blue curtain which covered the entrance of the court, which was of a fine fky-blue, flourished, and was made either to draw on either fide, or to lift up; the text doth not fay which, but the Jews believe the latter (1). (B) For this reafon it is dif puted, both among the Jews. and Chriftians, whether the people who brought the victims were fuffered to enter in (11) Exod. xxvii. 9. ad fin. to |