Читать книгу A Class-Book of New Testament History онлайн

104 страница из 159

In the 20th year of Herod’s reign, or B.C.18, the erection of the new structure began. The foundations of the Temple of Zorobabel were removed, and on those laid by Solomon the new pile arose, built of hard white stones of enormous size. The Porch, Holy Place, and Holy of Holies, were completed in a year and a half114; the rest of the pile, with the courts and cloisters, in eight years more, so as to be fit for the actual services of religion, but the whole structure was not finally completed115 till A.D. 65116.

On the highest level of the rocky platform stood the Temple itself, divided as in the days of Solomon, and covered with plates of gold, which shone like a meteor under the rays of the sun, so that the eye could hardly bear to rest upon them. Twelve steps below was a second level, occupied by the Court of the Priests, with the Great Laver, and the Altar of Burnt-offering. Three flights of steps below this was the Court of the Israelites, with the houses of the priests, the various offices, and hall of the Sanhedrin. Fourteen steps more led down to the Court of the Gentiles, which was hardly regarded as a part of the Temple, and was open to men of all nations and became a kind of exchange and market-place.