A day in the temple

Preface

An accurate acquaintance with the sacrificial services and the Temple-rites at the time of Jesus Christ serves a double end. First it illustrates a considerable part of the New Testament history in a precise and striking manner. The Virgin Mother at her purification and the presentation of her First-Born, the Christ-child among the Rabbis, the Lord Jesus teaching in the Temple-courts, walking in Solomon's porch, sitting in the treasury, disputing with the scribes and the chief priests on the Feast of Tabernacles and finally denouncing their greed and hypocrisy, are a few of the events which will assume a new meaning when viewed in the light of the daily Temple-life.

But beside its historical interest our study has also a dogmatic and hermeneutic value. "The end of the Law is Jesus Christ, unto justice to every one that believeth" writes St. Paul to the Romans.* The exact knowledge of the Law, of which the daily sacrificial services form no small or unimportant part, will beget a deeper knowledge and more devoted love of its fulfillment, the sacred person of the Word Incarnate. For here we shall see plainly " that the way into

4 PREFACE.

the Holies was not yet made manifest, whilst the former tabernacle was yet standing." *

This is the twofold purpose of the present work and at the same time the apology for its manifold shortcomings. Whilst the ancient sources and the modern literature bearing on the subject, make this work possible, the remoteness of the former and the abundance of the latter render it extremely laborious and irksome. Without pretending to have overcome all difficulties on historical and topographical questions, or to have settled all discrepancies concerning the same points, we refer the reader to those authors whose works have been especially consulted. While thus furnishing every one with the means to acquire a more detailed information, the author expresses his own obligation for the manifold assistance he has derived from the able works of so many industrious students in Jewish and Biblical Antiquities.

The foremost place among the sources belongs to the Bible, especially the Books of Kings, Paralipomenon, Esdras and the Gospel of St. Luke. The Talmudic tracts Tamid, Middoth and Bechoroth too deserve special mention. In the measurements of the Temple, Middoth has been followed exclusively, while Tamid has been the final authority on the daily service. In questions of profane history, the works of Josephus have been used extensively.

* Heb. IX, 8.

PEE FACE. 5

These names and works are not mentioned as if they were supposed to constitute a complete bibliography on the present topic — this may be found in almost every one of the most recent works — but merely to acknowledge that they have been used very extensively. Not as if all could be recommended indiscriminately to every reader; but the careful student who knows how to distinguish between fact and fancy, will find in

PBEFACE.

them a fruitful source of information on the most recondite points of Biblical Antiquity.

While reading this book it must be kept in mind that all we really know of Samuel, so often mentioned in the course of the narrative, is taken from the Protevangelium of James according to which he ministered in Zachary's place when the latter was afflicted with the miraculous dumbness. While therefore the general events supposed by and connected with the story are historical facts, the details of Samuel's life are fiction. Finally, the author will consider his labor repaid a thousandfold if his production assists even one soul to " grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." *

* II. Pet. III. 18.

Chapter I. Going Up To Jerusalem. II. About The Cockcrowing

III. The Sky Lit Up As Far As

Hebron.

IY. About The Third Hour.

V. Among The Rabbis.

VI. The Sanhedrin.

VII. About The Sixth Hour.

VIII. The Evening Sacrifice.

JEWISH MEASURES AND MONEY.

L. Long Measures.

Ft. In.

A digit — 0.912

4 digits = I palm — 3.648

3 palms = 1 span — IO-.944

2 spans = I cubit I 9.888

4 cubits == 1 fathom 7 3.552

1.5 fathoms = I reed 10 11.328

N. B. 1° 400 cubits = I furlong ; 5 furlongs = I Sabbath day's journey; 10 furlongs = I mile; 24 miles == 1 day's journey.

2°. According to other authorities, a cubit = 19.05 15 inches; others again maintain that a cubit is equal to about 18 inches.

77. Liquid Measure.

Gals. Pts.

2 hins = 1 seah 2 4

3 seahs = 1 bath, or ephah . . 7 4.5 10 ephahs = I kor, or homer . . 75. 5.25

• (9)

JEWISH MEASURES AND MONEY.

III. Dry

Measure.

Pecks.

Gals

Pts.

A gachal

. . —

—

0.1416

20 gachals = 1 cab

—

—

2.8333

1.8 cab = 1 omer . .

. —

—

5-1

3.3 omers = 1 seah

3 seahs = 1 ephah .

5 ephahs = 1 letech .

. 16

2 letechs = 1 kor, or homer 32

IV. Money.

Dols. Cts.

2 bekahs = 1 shekel — 54-74

A gold shekel 8. 76

A kikkar of gold 26280. o

N. B. A shekel would probably purchase ten times as much as the same nominal amount will now.

A DAY IN THE TEMPLE.

CHAPTER I.

GOING UP TO JERUSALEM.

It was after the sixth hour on an early Ellul-day in the year of Rome 748, that two lonesome travelers were journeying eastward, from Ain-Karim to Jerusalem. One was an old man, well stricken in years, while his companion had hardly reached the age of the early oriental manhood. Though not clad in any distinctively priestly dress — for such was worn only in the Temple at actual service — Zachary and Samuel may be recognized at first sight as belonging to the sacerdotal caste. Had all Jehovah's priests been as just and faithful to their duty as Zachary had been all the days of his life, Malachy would have had no reason to upbraid the priestly generation of his time, for turning aside from the way and causing many to stumble in the law.

Their journey may be divided into three parts of nearly equal length. For the first two miles the road ascends and winds over a high plateau, past the village Beit-Masmile. Then follows an undulating road, nearly three miles in length, across the Wadys Diab, Badawieh and Madineh. An easy walk of two miles more would have brought them

(ii)

to the northwestern corner-gate of the Holy City, had they been willing to avail themselves of the straight road.

Zachary is so wrapped up in his own thoughts, that he is alike insensible to the heat of a Syrian September sun, to the luscious fruits of the extensive vineyards at both sides of the road, and to the view of the Holy City, with its surrounding hills and mountains. It is, however, a glimpse rather than an impressive view of Jerusalem, which presents itself to the eye of the traveler on the high plateau — more than two thousand feet above the Mediterranean — across which our friends pass in silence. All this and much more is seen and enjoyed by the youthful Samuel, Zachary's ward and presumptive heir. He notices in the vineyards especially all the particulars which he has often read in Isaiah's description of them : " My well beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill ; and he made a trench about it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein."

On the hill-tops, he compares the extensive western view with the limited eastern one. The former extends over the Mediterranean and suggests the world-embracing power of the Romans ; the latter offers only a part of Jerusalem, and is cut off by the blue mountain ranges of Moab, most potent reminders of Egypt and Babylon. The questions concerning Daniel's seventy weeks and

Jacob's prophecy that until the Messiah's coming the scepter should not pass from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants, naturally revive with new vigor in Samuel's active and ardent mind.

One thought, however, overpowers all his other reflections. In that city lives Herod, the murderer of hLs grandfather Josiah, the deadly enemy of his father Ananiah, and the destroyer of his family. He himself would not have been allowed to return to Jerusalem, had not Matthiah pleaded for him at Herod's court. The old question, too, over which he has so often pondered, comes back to his mind: Why had his father Ananiah to flee to Babylon, while Zachary, his father's brother, was left unmolested ?

" Son," replies Zachary, " when my father lost his life soon after Herod's accession, I was already known among my friends and acquaintances as the childless. Herod intended to disgrace and blot out our family forever ; all its members who had hope of offspring were slain, unless they saved themselves by flight. I was spared, not through mercy, but through hatred. My childlessness was to be the final disgrace of our ruined house."

Now another object invites our attention. Close by the road Zachary points to the Upper Pool and the Fuller's Field, places hallowed by Isaiah's renowned prophecy given to Ahaz : " Behold the virgin is with child, and beareth a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

" Mar," says Samuel, " why do our people consider virginity a reproach ? Will not the Messiah be a virgin's son ? "

" In Judea," interrupts Zachary, " we are not called ' Mar,' but ' Rabbi ; ' it is not expedient to betray thy Babylonian origin and training to every master in Israel."

" With others," replies Samuel, " I shall be most careful about the choice of my words. As to thee, Mar, I cannot change my life-long habit of speech and thought. Thou shouldst seem a stranger to me, were I to call thee Rabbi. But thou hast not yet answered my question."

" In the Messiah," answers Zachary, " the Lord will create a new thing on the earth : a woman shall encompass a man. Yet, all this will be accomplished in such a way, that the Messiah will be as the dew of heaven, the offspring of the heavenly mother."

."If the Messiah is not to be the offspring of wedlock, the barren should not be despised as they are," interposed Samuel ; " nor should Elizabeth thy wife consider ' barren ' a name of opprobrium. It afflicts my very soul to see how she shortens her days by grief over her childlessness."

'•Alas, my son, there are more reasons than the one thou allegest for considering barrenness an evil and a reproach.. The barren do not fullfil the creator's wish : ' Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth ; ' they do not share God's blessing promised to Moses on condition of Israel's fidelity to Jehovah : ' There shall none cast her young, nor be barren in the land ; ' on the barren to® rests Isaiah's curse hurled against Babylon : ' These two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood.'"

Samuel is deeply moved by Zachary's sigh of grief. Only once before has he seen his father by adoption in such a state of sorrow, when a few days ago an inconsiderate chiefpriest spurned the old man's services asking : " How canst thou, childless though thou be, presume to stand among those blessed with offspring ? Thy works are an abomination before the Lord, since he has deemed thee unworthy of fatherhood ; for cursed is every one who has not begot a male or female in Israel."

" Am I not thy brother's son," Samuel suggests as another motive of consolation, " and the offspring of Elizabeth's sister Ismeria ? In every Levirate marriage one's brother's seed is considered as one's own; and similar legal adoption has taken place in our own priestly family."

Zachary has meanwhile regained his habitual composure of manner. " When God hath tried me,'' he repeats after holy Job, " I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held fast to his steps ; his way have I kept, and turned not aside. I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips ; I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him ? And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth that which he appointed for me. But, my son," Zachary continues, *' I am greatly perplexed at thy great ignorance of our priestly ancestry. Knowest thou not that no son of Aaron can minister in the Temple*. of Jehovah, unless he produces the proof of his sacerdotal pedigree ? The children of Habaiah, of Hakkoz and of Barzillai who returned from Babylon, were deemed polluted and put from the priesthood, because they sought their registers among those that were reckoned by genealogy, and they were not found."

Our travelers have now reached the immediate vicinity of the western gate, corresponding to the Joppa Gate of to-day. A line of camels takes up for the moment all its available space. They meekly follow their leader striding on before them in white headdress and byssus shirt, with bare legs, carrying a bundle on his back, and holding a cord from the nose of the foremost camel in one hand, and a water bottle in the other. Several grave turbaned figures rest in the shade of a solitary olive tree, seated on the ground, and reclining in all the delight of idleness on their crossed legs. Roman soldiers and palace guards stand at the gate or lean against the city wall, jesting and conversing in a barbarous tongue.

To the right of the gate, in full view of the new arrivals, there stands the magnificent palace of Herod, on the very site of David's royal castle. Situated on the northwestern angle of Mount Zion, it is sheltered by the towers Hippicus, Phasaelus and Mariamne, all compactly built of immense marble blocks, square, strongly fortified, and defended by battlements and turrets. The towers have been erected by Herod, and named after his friend and his brother lost in battle, and after his favorite wife killed through jealousy.

This gentile portion of the Holy City has been the repeated theme of Pharisaic complaint. Jerusalem must be Levitically purer than any other city of the promised land ; the paschal lamb, the thank-offerings, the second tithes may be eaten only in Jerusalem. No dead body may remain in the city overnight ; no sepulchres are within, except those containing members of the house of David and that of the prophetess Hulda. No domestic fowls may be kept, no vegetable gardens planted, no furnace built. A favorite saying of the Rabbis has it : " The world is like unto an eye. The ocean surrounding the world is the white of the eye, its black is the world itself, the pupil is Jerusalem, but the image within the pupil is the sanctuary."

We cannot blame Zachary and his youthful companion for avoiding the western gate and the gentile quarter of the city. Turning to the right, they pass along the western side of the city, by the Lower Pool and enter, south of Jerusalem, the pleasant valley of Hinnom, now the figure of the place of future torment. This southern valley meets another and a deeper ravine which sweeps around the eastern side of the city, and separates it also on its northern side from the rocky plateau of which it forms a part. Well might the old inhabitants of Jebus look proudly 2

18 A DAT m TEE TEMPLE.

down upon David and his host appearing under their walls ; well might they exult in the strength of their everlasting gates, as they sent to David the mocking message : 4< Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither." What followed is well known. Joab first climbed that steep ascent, and won the chieftainship of David's hosts, and the everlasting gates lifted up their heads, and Israel's kings dwelt in the stronghold of Zion, and called it the " City of David."

But it is not the verdure of Hinnom nor the darkness of the Kedron valley that interest Zachary and Samuel on their roundabout way into Jerusalem. The point they have last touched in conversation, is too vitally connected with the young Aaronite's immediate future to be dismissed without further discussion. Samuel is about to assume the regular duties of the priesthood, and must therefore above and before all else produce evidence of his priestly descent.

" I meant to say, Mar," resumes Samuel, " that our family has been substituted in place of Abijah's family, and that we are, therefore, legally considered the offspring of Abijah."

u My son," replies Zachary, " thou only showest more clearly that thou dost not fully understand the history of the priestly families. The Book of Days * gives us the first clear outline of our genealogical divisions. The courses of the sons of

Aaron were these : the sons of Aaron, Nedab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. But Nedab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children ; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priestly office. And David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service. And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus were they divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen heads of fathers' houses; and of the sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers' houses, eight. Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another ; for there were princes of the sanctuary and princes of God, both of the sons of Eleazar and of the sons of Ithamar."

" Do our genealogical records reach back to the period of David?" here inquires Samuel.

" Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was of the Levttes," answers Zachary, "wrote them in the presence of the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the priests and of the Levites ; one father's house being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar. Now the first lot came forth to Jehojarib, the second to Jedajah, the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jes-

20 A BAY IN THE TEMPLE.

hebeab, the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, the nineteenth to Petahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, the one and twentieth to Jachin, the two and twentieth to Gamul, the three and twentieth to Delaiah, the four and twentieth to Maaziah. This, my son, was the ordering of them in their service, to come into the house of the Lord according to the ordinance given unto them by the hand of Aaron their father, as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded him."

" Before David's time our genealogical registers must have been greatly confused," observes Samuel.

" My son," patiently corrects Zachary, " king David was not the first to divide the priests into definite courses; the tradition of our fathers traces a similar division up to Moses, who is variously supposed to have arranged the sons of Aaron into eight or sixteen courses, to which on the one supposition, Samuel and David each added other eight courses, or, on the other, Samuel and David in conjunction the eight needed to make up the twenty-four which I mentioned a moment ago."

" Thou hast as yet said nothing of the Botte- Aboth or subdivisions, Mar," interrupts Samuel, " into which each of the twenty-four main divisions seems to be split up."

"The twenty-four courses," explains Zachary, " were at first called Machlekoth or divisions, Botte-Aboth or houses of fathers, Mishmaroth or watches. The first name merely indicates the generic idea of division ; the second signifies that the division is made according to families; the third name denotes the office or service which each division is obliged to render in the Temple for a week at a time, whenever its turn of ministry demands it. The week of service, now as formerly, extends from Sabbath to Sabbath, the outgoing course offering the morning sacrifice, the entering course renewing the shew-bread and performing all the subsequent duties. On the Sabbath itself the whole course ministers ; on feast-days any priest belonging to any of the twenty- four courses is admitted for service ; on the Feast of Tabernacles all the twenty- four courses are on duty."

" Great, indeed," exclaims Samuel, " and impressive to behold must be the solemnity sustained by the sacerdotal functions of so many thousand priests. Truly may our Doctors say that he has never seen joy who has not seen the gladness of the Feast of Tabernacles." After this reflection Samuel draws Zachary's attention to the fact that he has not yet explained the priests' division into families.

" The service of the week is divided," resumes Zachary, " among the various families which constitute a course or Mishmar. If the course on duty consists of five families, three serve each one day of the week, and two each two days; if of six families, five serve each one day, and one two days ; if of eight families, six serve each one day, and the other two jointly on one day, or if lastly of nine families, five serve each one day, and the four others serve in pairs on two days. All the particulars regarding the weekly service are arranged by the Sarim or princes of the courses, and the Rashim or heads of the families. For as Mishmar denotes a whole course, and Beth-Ab a single family belonging to the course, so Rosh-Hammishmar and Rosh-Beth-Ab signify the chief of a course and of a family respectively."

" Malachy's command," observes Samuel, " that the priests' lips should keep knowledge, and that all should seek the law at his mouth has not been neglected by thee ; being about to enter the number of messengers of the Lord, I must endeavor to follow thy good example not less than thy verbal instructions. But it pains me exceedingly to see thee so weak and feeble. Thy illhealth seemed to all of us a sufficient excuse for not going up to the Temple."

" Son," says Zachary, " the time of our Templeservice is a sacred time. The Law enjoins that priests come up to Jerusalem at the due seasons, properly washed and attired. While actually on service in the Temple, we are not allowed to drink wine, either by day or by night. The families of the course in attendance at Jerusalem which are not actually on duty, are also prohibited the use of wine except by night. Those priests who stay away, or are prevented from going up to Jerusalem at the time prescribed, must meet in the synagogues of their district, and pray and fast each day of their week of service, except on the sixth, the seventh and the first. For the

Sabbath-joy prevents a fast not only on the day itself but also on the day preceding and following it. How then can I exempt myself from Jehovah's special service, when the whole course of Abijah fills the holy places of the Lord, and sings morning and evening the canticles of our fathers? "

"Ezra tells us," here interrupts Samuel, "that only four courses of priests returned from the Babylonian captivity : the children of Jedajah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three ; the children of Immer, a thousand fifty and two ; the children of Pashur, a thousand two hundred forty and seven ; the children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.* Thou didst tell me a short while ago that our priestly clan has not been legally adopted instead of Abijah's course which did not return from Babylon. How then can we belong to the course of Abijah? "

" Only the children of Jedajah, Immer, Pashur and Harim, numbering in all four thousand two hundred and eighty-nine men returned with Zerubbabel from Babylon," explains Zachary. " But Nehemiah f mentions as many as twenty-two chiefs of the priests at the time of Zerubbabel and Jeshua. The same classes of divisions are met with at the time of Jeshua's successor Jojakim the high priest.J; Even some eighty years later the above four families comprised the whole body of the priesthood, as we learn from

X Nehemiah XII. 12-21.

24 A DAY IiV THE TEMPLE.

"Ezra. * who is believed to have brought two more courses of priests with him from Babylon. Shortlyafter, Nehemiah f enumerates twenty-one heads of priests, but only fourteen of these names are identical with the names of the previous lists. The organization of the priestly courses must, therefore, have undergone certain modifications in those times, so that the tradition of our fathers regarding this matter is in keeping with the records of the Ketubim."

"What thou sayest, Mar," interrupts Samuel, " renders it still more evident that without adoption the members of our course could never have been said to belong to Abijah. Or must I assume that Abijah's return from Babylon is one of the modifications delivered to us by the tradition of the fathers?"

" Only four courses of service came back from the exile, my son," eagerly responds Zachary, "viz.: Jedajah, Harim, Pashur and Immer. But the prophets that were among them arose and made twenty-four lots and put them into an urn. And Jedajah came up and drew five lots, which, including himself, would make six. And Pashur came and drew five lots, which, including himself, would made six. And Immer came and drew five lots, which, including himself, would make six. And Harim came and drew five lots, which, including himself, would make six. Then heads of the courses of service were appointed.

And the courses were divided into houses. And there were courses consisting of five, six, seven, eight or nine houses.* The ancient names were also given to the twenty-four new courses thus formed ; thus we are only in name of the course of Abijah, though really we do not belong to that family, even by legal adoption."

While thus discussing their priestly pedigree, Zachary and Samuel reach the lower part of Mount Olivet. The first impression Jerusalem makes on one coming from the north, west, or south, may be summed up in the simple expression of a modern traveler : " I am strangely affected, but greatly disappointed." But the approach to Jerusalem from the east is really grand. By this way came sixty years before the period now under consideration, the first western army that ever confronted the Holy City, under the leadership of Pompey ; by this way too Jesus will enter in triumph on that celebrated tenth day of Nisan, some thirty years from now.

" Great is the Lord," breaks out Zachary, "and highly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion ; on the sides of the north, the city of the great king." f

" Let Mount Zion be glad, let the daughters of Jerusalem rejoice," responds Samuel ; " walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the tow-

* Jer. Taanith, IV. fol. t Ps. XLVII. 1, 2.

ers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death."*

" I was glad when they said unto me," re-echoed Zachary, " let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem ; Jerusalem, thou art builded as a city that is compact together : whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, for a testimony unto Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." f

" Mar," says Samuel, " how do these thy words apply to the Holy City? "

" How canst thou fail to understand their meaning, when their practical application is before thy very eyes ? Thou seest the deep ravines of Hinnom and of the Kedron encircling the city on three sides, like a natural fosse. Only over yonder, at its northwestern side, is the city bound as it were to the mainland. Thou seest also the four hills on which Jerusalem is built : the deep Tyropceon, -first runs from south to north, separating Mount Zion to the west, from Mount Moriah to the east ; then turning sharply westward, it separates Mount Zion to the south from Mount Acra to the north ; the Hasmonsean valley similarly divides Mount Acra to the west from Bezetha to the east, while an artificial fosse separates Mount Moriah to the south from Bezetha to the north. Truly then might the royal

* Ps. XL VIII. 11-14. t Ps. CXXII. 1-4.