The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.

SECT. IV. The Cherubims and Ark.

AS there were two Cherubims upon the Ark it self, so also did Solomon cause two Cherubims besides, to be made to stand over the Ark, it standing between them: they are so plainly and facilely described, in 1 Kings VI. 23. that I shall refer the Reader thither for the story of them, and say no more concerning them but only this, that as the two Cherubims upon the Mercy seat, may very well be resembled to Christs two natures, so these two that stood by, to the two Testaments; which in their beginning and end reach the two sides of the World, The Creation, and the last Judgment, and in the middle do sweetly join one to another.

The Ark (the strength and presence of the Lord, Psal. CV. 4. and the glory of Israel, 1 Sam. IV. 22. the most pregnant and proper resemblance of our Saviour, in whom God dwelleth among men) described, Exod. XXV. 10, &c. and XXXVII. 1. &c. a 1.1 was set upon a stone, up toward the West-end of the most Holy place, even under the middle wings of the two tall Cherubims that stood besides it: For the Cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the Ark, and the Cherubims covered the Ark, and the staves there∣of above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the Holy place before the Oracle; and they were not seen without, 1 King. VIII. 7, 8. 2 Chron. V. 8, 9. For before the Temple was built, while the Ark was in a moving posture, the staves whereby the Ark was born, were of an equal length on either side it, ready for the Priests shoulders when there was occasion for the Ark to flit; but now when they had brought it into Solomons Temple, where it was to fix and remove no more, they drew out the staves towards that side that looked down the most Holy place. b 1.2 Levi Gershom is of opini∣on, that these staves were not the same that were made by Moses, but of a longer size, and that they raught down to the very Door; and that though there were Doors betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, yet those Doors could not shut because of these staves. c 1.3 And Kimchi, and Jarchi come up very near to the same supposal, conceiving that the Ark stood not up near the Western Wall of the House, but more downward, towards the Door, and that the staves raught down to the Door; and on the day of Expiation, when the High Priest went into the Holy place, he went up to the Ark between these staves, and could not go off to one hand or other.

But that that hath strained from them this conception is, 1. Because they have strictly taken the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Text in the Book of Kings, for the Holy place without the Veil, whereas the Book of Chronicles doth expresly render it by the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The Ark; for whereas the one place saith, that the heads of the staves were seen, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the other

hath it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 And so the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 meaneth not the whole room, either of the Holy or most Holy place, but that singularly Holy place that was under the wings of the Cherubims; for of that place had the Text spoken immediately before, when it said, The Priests brought the Ark into the most Holy place, under the wings of the Cherubims. For the Cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the Ark, &c. and then he comes on and saith, And they drew out the staves, so that the ends of the staves appeared out of that holy place, meaning under the wings of the Cherubims. And 2. The Authors alledged have strictly taken 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to mean so, as one standing at the Door betwixt the Holy and most Holy place, had the most Holy place before him; whereas it signifieth in the same sense that it doth in that clause, in Gen. I. 20. Let the Fowl flie upon the Earth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which our English hath well rendred, in the open Firmament of Heaven. And so is it to be taken here, and the verse in hand may be properly understood thus; And they drew out the staves at length, so that the ends of the staves were seen from that Holy place in the open face of the Oracle: but they were not seen without. The staves were the same that were made by Moses, and their length not great, but only so much as to fit a Mans shoul∣der on either side of the Ark; and now when they had set the Ark between the two standing Cherubims on the Floor, the Cherubims inner wings covered the Ark, and the staves that were above at the ends of the Ark, but the rest of the staves drawn out down∣ward toward the Oracle Door, shot out from under the Cherubims wings, and appear∣ed in the open Face of the most Holy place, and the High Priest when he came to offer Incense at the Ark on the day of Expiation, he stood before the Ark between the staves.

d 1.4 It is fancied by the Jews, that Solomon when he built the Temple, foreseeing that the Temple should be destroyed, he caused very obscure and intricate Vaults under ground to be made, wherein to hide the Ark when any such danger came, that howsoever it went with the Temple, yet the Ark which was as the very life of the Temple might be safe. And they understand that passage in 2 Chron. XXXV. 3. Josiah said unto the Levites, Put the Holy Ark in the House which Solomon the son of David did build, &c. e 1.5 as if Joah having heard by the reading of Moses his Manuscript, and by Huldahs Prophesie, of the danger that hung over Jerusalem, he commanded to convey the Ark into this Vault, that it might be secured, and with it, say they, they laid up Aarons Rod, the pot of Manna, and the anointing Oil: For while the Ark stood in its place, upon the Stone mentioned, they hold that Aarons Rod and the pot of Manna stood before it, but now were all con∣veyed into obscurity, and the Stone upon which the Ark stood, lay over the mouth of the Vault. But Rabbi Solomon, which useth not ordinarily to forsake such Traditions, hath given a more serious Gloss upon the place; namely, whereas that Manasseh and Amon had removed the Ark out of its Habitation, and set up Images and abominations there of their own, Josiah speaketh to the Priests to restore it to its place again: what became of the Ark at the burning of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar we read not, it is most like it went to the fire also. How ever it sped, it was not in the second Temple, and is one of the five choice things that the Jews reckon wanting there. Yet had they an Ark there also of their own making, as they had a Breast-plate of Judgment; which though they both wanted the glory of the former, which was giving of Oracles, yet did they stand current as to the other matters of their Worship, as the former Breast-plate and Ark had done.

And so having thus gone through the many parts and particulars of the Temple it self, let us but take account of the several parcel measures, that made up the length of it an hundred cubits, and so we will turn our Eye and survey upon the Courts.

• f 1.6 1. The Wall of the Porch was five cubits thick.
• 2. The Porch it self eleven cubits broad.
• 3. The Wall of the Temple six cubits thick.
• 4. The Holy place forty cubits long.
• 5. The space between Holy and most Holy place one cubit.
• 6. The length of the most Holy place twenty cubits.
• 7. The Temple Wall six cubits thick.
• 8. The breadth of the Chambers at the end six cubits.
• 9. The Wall of the Chambers five cubits thick.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Maym. in beth babbech. per. 4.
• b 1.2

  R. Lev. Ger. in 1 King. VIII.
• c 1.3

  Kimch ib. & K. ••ol. ibid.
• d 1.4

  Maym. ubi sap.
• e 1.5

  Kimch. in 2 Chron. XXXV.
• f 1.6

  Mid. per 4▪