<33>

Finally the very doors, the very victims and altars, the very ministers and priests among them (i.e. the Gentiles) wear crowns[Editorial Note 1] (Tertullian, bk. 15). They also had a custom at one time that not only priests but anyone who implored the aid of the gods should wear a crown while he prayed. The scholiast on Sophocles, Oedipus the King, ἔθος ἦν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐστεφανωμένους πρὸς ἱκετείαν Χωρεῖν, ἵν᾽ αἰδέσιμοι δοκοῖεν ἐν τοῖς οὓς ἱκέτευον: It was the custom of men of former times to proceed to prayers wearing crowns, so that they might app{ear} venerable to those to whom they made their supplications.[Editorial Note 2] Livy, Fourth Decad, bk. 10[Editorial Note 3]: The Decemviri proclaimed a supplication of two days for the sake of health in the city and throughout the market places and places of assembly; everyone over the age of twelve, all crowned and carrying laurels in their hands, made the supplication. Was not this custom derived from the high priest wearing a thin metal strip on his head? This metal strip is fastened to the tiara of the high priest by a blue headband. Hence some call it a diadem. For the Greeks called a band worn round the head a diadem. Plutarch in Lucullus[Editorial Note 4]: Snatching the diadem from her head [the wife of Mithridates] fitted it around her neck and hanged herself.

The following tradition of the house of Elias is preserved in the book of the Talmud called Sanhedrim, ch. 11 and in the book of Abida Zera, ch. 1. The world will exist for six thousand years, and the devastation a millenium, i.e. the Sabbath of the lord. Two thousand the void; two thousand the law; two thousand the day of the Messiah. The Talmudists added: And because of our sins, which have multiplied, there went out from these [years{]} more than 4000 who went out to the Messiah[Editorial Note 5].      In a verse cited by Plato in the Philebus, and in the book of Plutarch On the E at Delphi, Orpheus sings as follows:

ἑκτῆ ἐν γενεῆ κόσμον καταπαύσατ᾽ ἀοιδῆς, that is

In the sixth age (millennium) expect the destruction of the world.[Editorial Note 6]

Psalm 110: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool under your feet.[Editorial Note 7] In the Chaldaean Targum Jonathan rendered it thus: God said to his Word, Sit at my right hand. See the passage.

Isaiah 6: Holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts, etc.[Editorial Note 8] In the Chaldaic Targum Jonathan renders it{:} Holy father, holy son, holy holy spirit.

In the Jerusalem book of the Sanhedrim from the words of Rabbi Rahamon, we read as follows: when the Sanhedrim moved from the Council Chamber Garith, and the annual Court Sessions had been taken away from them, they sat upon their hide, a bald goat-hair rug[Editorial Note 9], imploring and saying: even to us because {illeg} from Judah, and the son of David has not yet come. This occurred {when}[Editorial Note 10] he captured Jerusalem.

{illeg} the [Bab{ylonian} Talmud Ioma, ch. 4: From the time when Simeon the just died, there {illeg} were no {illeg} {longer men} to bless in the name of the tetragrammaton. This Simeon is said {to have been} {one of those} of the great Synagogue in the Jerusalem Tal{mud} folio 68, column 1 {near the end} and elsewhere. Most people take this to mean that he was of the great Council of which Ezra was President, and indeed that he was the last one, who {survived} all the {others}, as Maimonides writes in the preface to his book Iad. He speaks differently about {him} a bit {below} when he writes in par 3, §5[Editorial Note 11], that Prophecy <34> lasted among the men of the temple for another 40 years; that after 40 years there were the men of the great temple; Simeon the just was after these. But others interpret these words to mean that Symeon was a member of the Synagogue, but as a younger man he outlived the others. Buxtorf. Hist. Thummim ch. 5, p. 325.

‘A.M. 3338 In the 11th year of Zedekiah the temple was burned down.

3408 In the second year of Darius[Editorial Note 12] the beginning of the building of the temple.

3413 In the seventh year of Darius (who was also Artaxerxes)[Editorial Note 13] Ezra went up to Jerusalem (Ezra 6.    ).[Editorial Note 14] The men of the great synagogue regulated prayers for the Jews, and were contemporaneous. – The last of them was Simeon the just (Mishnah, ch. 1, Avoth)

3426 In the 20th year of Darius (or Artaxerxes) the wall of Jerusalem was constructed by Nehemiah

3438 Eliasib constructed a chamber for Tobiah, and Nehemiah threw the chattels of Tobiah out of the chamber (Nehemiah, 13)

3442 Haggai, Zacharias and Malachi died, and it is called the time of the sealing up of vision or prophecy; because at that time prophecy ceased in Israel. Others refer this to the year 3448. However everyone puts their deaths in the 52nd year after the first year of Cyrus when the captivity ended.

3448 Alexander of Macedon went up against Darius[Editorial Note 15]. Simeon the just was of the company of the men of the great synagogue, and his name was Iaddua son of Joshua son of Iehezedek the high priest (Ezra 3), and he served in the priesthood for forty years, as emerges from the Jerusalem schekelim and Iomah ch. 1 and Minchot ch. 13. – A tradition had been received from certain persons that Iaddua begat Onias and Onias begat Simeon the just. The author too of the Iuchasin, pages 137 and 138, writes that Onias was the son of Iaddua, the father of Simeon the just:

3448 In the time of the high priest Simeon the just, Alexander of Macedon departed from his own land in the sixth year of his reign – Simeon the just clothed in his sacerdotal vestments went out to meet him, and with him went the Elders of Israel. This action of Simeon’s you will find in the Jerusalem schekalim and in megalit Thaamit, ch. 9 and joma, ch. Balo, and at length at the end of 8, and elsewhere. Likewise in Josephus ch. 20, who calls Simeon Chanamas and Addua. And this event occurred in the 40th year after the building of the temple and 380 years before its destruction.

Eliezer the son of Cherson held the high priesthood for 11 years, as appears from Ioma, ch. 1. He sent [or some other Eliezar] sent 72 Elders to king Ptolemy[Editorial Note 16]

3515 In the 31st year of his reign Ptolemy commanded that the law be translated into the Greek language by the 72 Elders. 1’

These things from the Chronology of R. David Ganz

There was an altar in the middle of the Courtyard. Maimon {illeg} (See Buxtorf, the holy fire*, ch. 3, p. 259.

A palm contains four digits, a sacred cubit contains six palms. A lesser cubit was five palms. Rabbinic writers in Buxtorf, Hist, Ch. 7, p. 86. Likewise page ch. page 57

<35>

From the Codex Middoth in the Babylonian Talmud,
or, Of the measurements of the temple[Editorial Note 17].

Ch. 1, sec 3. They entered and left through the two southern gates and the one western gate. The gate on the north had no function. On the eastern Gate [by Command of the King of the Persians given to those who returned from Susa] an image of the City of Susa was carved, through which the Priest looked [as he stood on the mount of olives] while burning the [tawny] Heifer [there]. Also all who were his colleagues in this task and who were to assist him in burning the heifer, came out to the mount of Olives by this gate. These were the five gates on the perimeter of the temple

4 There were seven gates in the great courtyard, three on the North, three on the South, and one on the east. On the south[Editorial Note 18] was the gate of flaming [that is, the gate through which the wood was brought in for the Altar], next to this was the gate of offering [through which the first offerings were brought in, which were slaughtered on the south side], third in order [towards the east] was the gate of waters [where the house of washing had been built          ]. On the east was the gate of Nicanor, which had two chambers, one on the right and the other on the left. One was the chamber of Pinchas[Editorial Note 19], Guardian of the Wardrobe[Editorial Note 20], [where the priests put on their sacred vestments at the time of service and took them off, and they were stored there], the other chamber was dedicated to cooking the sartagines [Leviticus 6.21][Editorial Note 21].

5 On the north was the gate of projection [since it projected a fair way beyond the wall of the Courtyard] in the form of a kind of projecting porch, on which was constructed an attic room, so that the priests could keep vigil in the higher place and the Levites in the lower place. – Next to this was the gate of offering [through which they brought in the victims which were slaughtered on the northern side{]}. The third was called the place of fire [where a heap of logs was perpetually burning to warm the {superior}[Editorial Note 22] priests]

6. There were four chambers in the place of fire like so many bed-rooms[Editorial Note 23] open towards the palace or Basilica; two of them were in the holy place and two in the profane place; and the ends of the beams [projecting from the wall] divided the sacred and the profane. Viz.] At the south west was the chamber of the lamb offering; at the south east was the chamber of the shewbread[Editorial Note 24] [i.e. where it was made]; at the north east was the chamber in which the sons of the Hasmonaeans once piled the stones which the kings of Greece had profaned; and finally on the north west was the chamber by which one went down to the bathroom[Editorial Note 25] [and it was called the chamber of flaming]

8 The house {of fire} was vaulted and large and with stone couches [which were retractions set in the {wall} on all sides like steps] where the senior grades, those of the fathers [i.e. their own] slept, and kept the keys of the great court under their control. And each of the novices in the Priesthood had his own small pillow on the pavement, where they had a square space of one cubit.

9. –Anyone who had an accident during the night, left and went down by way of the spiral staircase to a covered gallery, which descended beneath the sanctuary [from the spiral staircase] ({fires} [set][Editorial Note 26] on both sides were burning [constantly];), until it reached the Bathroom. [{For} the underground cellars were not sacred.]

Ch {2 2}[Editorial Note 27] {The Mountain of the House}[Editorial Note 28] was a square such that each of its sides was 500 cubits. The greatest space [outside the walls] was on the South; the next to it in size was on the east, the thir{d} on the North, and the smallest on the west. In that place where {the space} was bigger, its function {was} greater.

2 By the custom of the temple everyone {illeg} enters <36> by the road on the right and goes around and exits by the road on the left [i.e. by the opposite gate]

3 In the interior [of this great court] was a lattice work barrier[Editorial Note 29] [reticulated by means of assamentis[Editorial Note 30] of planks laid across each other or] ten palms high. Within it was the intermural space [flat and level in height with the ground of the outer court] ten cubits wide; here there were twelve steps; the height of each was half a cubit, and the retraction was the same. Thus the height of each one of the steps that were there was half a cubit and the retraction or projection was half a cubit, apart from those which were steps to the {porch} or portico. The same applies to all the doors and gates of the place, whose height was twenty cubits and their width ten cubits, with the exception of the gate of the porch [of the temple]. There were doors on all the gateways of that place except in the porch [of the Temple]

4 And all the [gateway] walls that were there, were high except for the eastern wall, where the priest who was burning the heifer stood on the highest point of mount Olivet, and directed his eyes that way and looked into the gate of the sanctuary, at the moment when he was sprinkling the blood [The eastern gate was therefore low, so that it would not obstruct the view of the temple. From the level ground of the mount one ascended by twelve steps to the Court of the women, from there by 15 steps to the court of Israel, from there there was a rise equivalent to five steps (if there were not actually five steps there)[Editorial Note 31] to the court of the priests, and all these steps are half a cubit, and make a height of 16 cubits, which that gate should not surpass.]

5 The length of the court of the Women was 135 cubits, with a width of 135; and there were four chambers in its four corners, each of forty cubits which were not roofed. And thus too they will be in the future, because it was said [Ezekiel 46]: And he led me out {into}[Editorial Note 32] the outer court, etc. – At the south-east was the chamber of the Nazaraeans[Editorial Note 33] – At the north east was the chamber of the wood – At the north west was the chamber of the lepers – At the south west was the chamber of the house of oil [where they stored the wine and the oil]. At the tops of its sides the court of the women was smooth and flat, but they surrounded it with an internal platform [a Gallery] so that the women could see over it, but the men below would not be mingled with them. And fifteen steps rose from the middle of it to {the court} of Israel (corresponding to the 15 steps which {occur} in the Psalms), on which the Levites sang. The steps were not straight but curved like half of a threshing-floor.

6 There were also chambers [or caves] beneath the court of Israel [their height was fifteen steps] which were open to the court of the women. There the Levites put their lyres and stringed instruments together with the cymbals and all their musical instruments. The court of Israel was 135 cubits long, eleven cubits wide. Similarly the court of the priests was 135 cubits long and eleven cubits wide. Ends of beams[Editorial Note 34] divided between the court of Israel and the court of the priests. Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, {said:} there was {a step} [{from} {the court of Israel to}[Editorial Note 35] the court of the Priests; see Psalm 134: Lift up your hands in holiness, a passage which the Paraphrast renders in Chaldaean[Editorial Note 36] as, Lift up your hands, o priests, to the holy {place}[Editorial Note 37], and its height[Editorial Note 38] was a cubit [a rise of two steps]; on this was set a dais, and on it were three steps, each one evidently of half a cubit [on this dais the priests {spoke} to[Editorial Note 39] the people, and the Levites made music at the time of offering, since they made Music <37> in two places, here and on the 15 steps.] The Court of the priests is found [because of those 5 steps] to be two cubits and a half higher than the court of Israel. The length of the whole Court [of Israel and of the priests] was 187 cubits [viz. the Court of Israel 11, that of the priests 11, the width of the Altar 32 to and the porch 22, the Temple 100, and 11 beyond; it therefore ignores the court of the women] with a width of 135. And there were 13 acts acts of obeisance[Editorial Note 40] [next to the thirteen breaches in the lattice work barrier] there.

Ch. 3 sect 1. The Altar[Editorial Note 41] was 32 cubits on all sides [at the bottom]. Rising [perpendicularly] for a cubit, it was reduced by a cubit, which was the foundation or base. It was [at that point] seen to be 30 cubits on all sides. It rose [from there] five cubits and was reduced by a cubit, which is the perimeter. It was seen [at that point] to be 28 cubits on all sides. The place of the horns is one cubit in every direction; so that there remained 26 cubits on every side. The place for the priests to walk was one cubit on each side; so that the place for the hearth was 24 cubits all around. Rabbi Joshua said. In the beginning the altar did not extend more than 28 cubits on all sides. It receded and rose in accordance with that measure until the hearth place came out at* 20 cubits on all sides. But when those who had survived the captivity arrived, they added 4 cubits to it on the north and four cubits on the west like the letter Gamma, because it was said in Ezekiel 43.[Editorial Note 42] Ariel[Editorial Note 43] is a square twelve cubits in length and twelve in breadth [as they put it, four times six from the centre to the four sides] –

2 The horn between the West and the south had two holes like two narrow nostrils, through which the spilled blood descended both over the western base or foundation and over the southern foundation, and both streams of blood mingled in a gutter and flowed out into the torrent of the Kidron. –

3 In addition there was an ascent from the south of the altar of 32 cubits whose width was 16 cubits [that slope had no steps, Exodus 20    ][Editorial Note 44]

4 The stone for both the ascent and the altar came from the valley of Beth-Cerem – They scrub them twice annually, once at the time of the Passover and again at the feast of Tabernacles, but the temple once just before the Passover itself.

5 To the north of the altar [Leviticus 1.1] there were six rows of rings, Figure each containing four [rings], to which they tied the victims [which were made to kneel and tethered to them]. Figure The Repository of the Priests’ Attendants was to the north of the Altar, and in it or by it there were eight low pillars, on which were set beams of squared cedar, and iron hooks were attached to these in such a way that each beam had three {illeg} rows, on which the sacrifices were hung, and they stripped them of their skins at the {marble}[Editorial Note 45] {tables} {illeg} which were between the pillars.

6 The laver was between the propylaea or porch and the altar and it extended towards the south. There was a space of 22 cubits between the Altar and the Porch, where there were 12 steps. The height of a step was half a cubit and the retraction a cubit [but the retraction of the fourth and eighth {steps} was two cubits, and of the top one 4 or 5 cubits]

7 The doorway was 40 cubits high, 20 wide [without the doors]

<38>

3[Editorial Note 46] There were 38 small rooms, 15 on the north, 15 on the south [5 at the bottom in both cases and 5 in the middle and 5 at the top], 8 on the west [3 at the bottom, three in the middle and 2 at the top.] Each had three doors, one to the room on the right, the second to the room on the left and the third to the room at the top. And in the corner between the east and the north there were five gates, one to the room on the right, the second [in it] to the room above it, the third to the spiral stairs [                  ], the fourth towards the little door [which led from the porch into the sanctuary], the final one [from there] to the sanctuary itself.

4 The lowest plemoma[Editorial Note 47] [room on the side] was of 5 cubits and the flooring above [the joists, etc.][Editorial Note 48] was six, the middle one after that was six cubits and the flooring above it was seven, the top one finally was seven cubits, Iob 1 Kings 6.6.

5 [One ascended by a spiral staircase to the roofs of the rooms. From there they went along the perimeter to the end of the southern side where was the door to the upper story[Editorial Note 49]. From there they ascended by means of two cedar beams to the roof of the upper story. There they distinguished by the ends of the beams[Editorial Note 50] between the holy place and the holy of holies, and beyond the beams in the upper chamber[Editorial Note 51] there were holes through which they let workmen down by means of chains into the coffers, etc]

6 The Temple was 100 cubits in length and breadth [at the facade of the Porch], and its height was 100. Its surface was 6 cubits [above the Court of the Altar]

7 From east to west, 100 cubits: [viz.][Editorial Note 52] the wall of the pronaus[Editorial Note 53] was 5, the pronaus 11, the wall of the temple 6, the holy place 40, the veil 1, the innermost Shrine 20, the wall of the temple 6, the chamber 6, and the wall of the chamber 5. From North to South, 70 cubits: [viz.] the wall of the perimeter itself 5, the perimeter [or rain channel] 3, the wall of the chamber 5, the chamber 6, the wall of the temple 6 and the holy place itself 20 cubits, the wall of the temple 6, and the chamber 6, and the wall of the chamber five, and the rain channel three cubits, finally the wall five cubits. The porch or pronaon was larger and wider than the shrine by fifteen cubits on the north and by sixteen cubits on the south. The name given to them [i.e. the chambers or perhaps chests on both sides] was the repository of the sacrificial knives, because it was there that they stored the sacrificial knives [i.e. sacred knives. A chest (riscus)[Editorial Note 54] is a niche[Editorial Note 55] or casket built into a wall. On these words Sal. Iar. notes: The place is called חחלופות chillophoth, because there there were 24 חלון, chests, one for each company of custodians; and here they stored the sacrificial or sacred knives, and a sacred knife is called chilloph in Arabic. That is, the Jews mean that the 24 Companies (on whom see 1 Chronicles 24), whose custom was to perform their duties by turns, withdrew their knives for the sacrifices each from their own chest.]

8[Editorial Note 56] The length of the whole Court was 187 cubits, and the breadth 135. The length from the east to the west is 187 cubits – this is how it was arranged: [the Court of Israel 11], the walking place or ambulatory of the priests was 11 cubits. And the Altar was 32, the space between the porch and the Altar 22 cub. {The Sanctuary or} holy place with the innermost Shrine was 100 cubits, then eleven cubits from the rear of the place of atonement itself. From the North to the south 135 in this manner: From the ascent [to the Altar] to the farthest point of the altar was 62 cubits, from the Altar to the rings 8 cubits: the remaining cubits [25] were partly between the ascent [to the altar] {illeg} [south {illeg}], and partly were the space occupied by the pillars [towards {the wall}[Editorial Note 57].

9[Editorial Note 58] There were six chambers in the Court, three on {the north}, three on the south. Those on the north were called the chamber of Salt, the cham{ber of Hipparva and}[Editorial Note 59] the chamber of the washers. In the chamber of salt they stored the salt for the offerings in {illeg}, there they <39> treated the skins of the victims, and in that building was the room for bathing for the great priest at the festival of atonement. The chamber of the washers was where they washed the intestines of the victims, and from there a spiral staircase rose to the roof of the Hipparva. Those[Editorial Note 60] on the south were the chamber of wood [perhaps of stones, and it was the chamber of the great priest], the chamber of the bubbling spring, and the chamber of cut stone. – The roofs of these three were level. As for the chamber of the bubbling spring, there was a well there, either implanted or excavated, and a pulley wheel was erected over it; from this they drew a supply of water for the whole court [sweet water for drinking, but {a stream} of water or a conduit bubbles up for washing]. In the chamber of cut stone [half of which was in the holy place, half in the profane place and which {had} two doors, one door towards the sacred place, the other towards the {profane} place] the great court of Israel sat, and also tried priests. A priest who was found to be guilty put on black [clothes] and veiled himself in black, and went out and went away; but anyone in whom there was no guilt, put on white clothes and veiled himself in white, and going in [to the Court of the temple] performed the service with his brothers. END.[Editorial Note 61] [The Court[Editorial Note 62] of the 71 Judges sat in the chamber of cut stone, and elsewhere there were two courts of 23 judges, so organised that one sat at the gate of the temple mount, the other at the gate of the Courtyard, and other courts of 23 Judges sat in all the cities of the Israelites. If anyone needed to consult about a matter, he consulted the court of his city. Here if the judges had been instructed by their predecessors on that matter, they gave a response to them about the law. In this case they did not proceed to the court next to their city, where if they had received a teaching from their predecessors, they gave them a response. In this case they did not proceed to the court which was at the gate of the temple mount, where if they had been instructed, they gave them a response. So they did not proceed to the court which was at the gate of the Courtyard, and he who came to consult said: This opinion I have drawn forth (from S. L.),[Editorial Note 63] and so have my colleagues, thus have I taught, and so have my colleagues taught. If they had received a teaching, they gave it in response; if not, both parties finally had resort to the chamber of cut stone. [These things are in the Mishnah, folio edition, venet 88. Cf. 2 Chronicles 19.10 and I. Coch. in his Sanedrim where these things are fully discussed.]

He who has overcome shall be clothed in white robes, Revelation,[Editorial Note 64] i.e. on the day of judgement he will be acquitted and will enter into the Court of the heavenly temple.

The mount of the temple was to the north of Jerusalem, and the mount was indeed much too large to be contained in five hundred cubits all around, but its sanctity did not extend further. Capit cod. Middoth. in Constantius L’Empereur in the Preface.[Editorial Note 65]

When anyone left the temple after completing his ritual, he departed in such a way that he did not turn his back on the holy place, but walked backwards for a little while as he went out and moved gradually sideways until he was clear of the Court. This is from Maimonides in Const. L’Emp. in the Preface.

Josephus, Jewish War, bk. 5, ch. 14[Editorial Note 66] calls the outer court the δεύτερον ἱερὸν διὰ τούτου προιόντων ἑπὶ τὸ δεύτερον ἱερὸν for those proceeding through this {illeg}[Editorial Note 67] etc, and thus the first ἱερον was the temple with {the inner}[Editorial Note 68] court.

In the fo{rt}y years {illeg} {since} the temple was laid waste, the supreme senate moved and [from the chamber {illeg}] and[Editorial Note 69] held its sessions {illeg} {at the Booths}[Editorial Note 70]: Gemara Babylonian Talmud. in Const. L’Empereur Middoth, p. {48}. From {the Booths} [which were near the Temple] they moved to Jerusalem, ibid.

Though the Jews celebrated the feast of the tabernacles during the day in accordance with the law, they themselves spontaneously added {an evening}[Editorial Note 71] or rather nocturnal festival; and they dedicate it with so much rejoicing in סוכה {above} ch. 5, sect. 1 [{illeg} of the Tabernacles, bk. 5, sec. 1, Babylonian Talmud][Editorial Note 72]. He who has not seen the rejoicing {illeg} of the thing named[Editorial Note 73] {by experiencing it} has never seen rejoicing. The place <40> assigned for this solemnity was the Court of the women, where the things which the chapter cited tells us about, were seen and heard by the women from the platform[Editorial Note 74] and by the men from the actual stands on the pavement. In section 4 of that chapter the pious are said to have sung songs and hymns, while dancing and carrying torches in their hands before the eyes of the spectators; similarly the Levites are described as playing on a large, or rather an infinite, number of instruments; and the priests are described as making the horns blare. This kind of thing went on all night long. Furthermore they kept up this rejoicing every night of the feast of tabernacles (unless you exclude the instruments which were forbidden, ch. 5, sect. 1 סוכה, on the holier day; on this consult the Gemara of that section;), and they caught some sleep in such a way that most of them did not leave the place, but, as Gemara says in fol. 53, they took naps leaning on each other’s shoulders. Moreover, the name given to that celebration was derived from the drawing of Water, because as soon as the water had been drawn with great rejoicing, and they had poured a libation on the altar with it, and also with wine, they immediately gave themselves up to that nocturnal festival, where the rejoicing they had begun was prolonged. Hence Rabbi Joshua, son of Chanaja, in Gemara folio 53 cited above, tells us that he left and went straight to another sacrifice within two evenings after that, and then on to the rejoicing of the place which is named from the drawing of water. On this water, see ch. 4 סוכה and צלוחית טל והב מחוק towards the end[Editorial Note 75]: a certain man filled a golden phial [or rather urn or large pot] which would contain three heminae[Editorial Note 76] from Siloam (a spring near Jerusalem), it was carried down to the gate of the waters (which was in the court), and they received it there with trumpet blasts and shouting. The following is more or less what we hear about this libation (for the commentators on Maimonides, On the Work of Offering, part 3 חוקהיד, ch. 2, do not give us the same procedure on every point). On the western side of the altar towards the south there were two libation vessels or pitchers, one of which contained wine, the other the water which was the object of the ritual; this was so that the priest, after pouring water from the vessel of water into the vessel of wine and vice versa, might let the liquid escape through the lower holes of the libation vessels into the two nostrils or holes in the altar, and go by a kind of conduit down into certain deep cavities beneath it. Here Maimonides observed that certain mysteries {are signified}; and hence they commonly derive this festival from Moses himself. See 1 Samuel 7, verse 3 ff., where on an occasion of rejoicing {illeg} Samuel ordered them to draw water and pour it out before the Lord {as if} {in order to express} joy. See also Isaiah 12.3. These things from Constantinus l’Empereur in Middoth, ch. 2, sect. 5, page 68.

Everywhere the Church is assailed, both by others for errors and also by those who surreptitiously strive to introduce the detestable causes of the Arians and Socinians and palliate them with their ambiguous language. Constantinus l’Empereur in the dedicatory Letter to the Middoth.

מנ 2 Chronicles 25 {illeg}

Psalm 12.6 {illeg} with groaning {illeg} מנ in {illeg} until. after.

תשרקצפזסנמלכיטחעוהדגבא
תשרקץףסןםליטחעוהדגבא
ץןם
ם
ע

{Rev 21.}

[Editorial Note 1] Or ‘wreaths’.

[Editorial Note 2] The text of this scholion will presumably be found in O. Longo, Scholia Byzantina in Sophoclis Oedipum Tyrannum (Padova 1971), but I have not been able to see a copy of this book. In his commentary on the Oedipus Tyrannus (p. 11) Jebb notes that the scholiast misunderstands Sophocles’ words here (line 3), which refer to the suppliants carrying olive or laurel branches wreathed with wool to deposit upon the altar, and do not mean the suppliants themselves were crowned.

[Editorial Note 3] Livy, History of Rome, 40.37.3.

[Editorial Note 4] Plutarch, ‘Life of Lucullus’ 18.4 in Plutarch, Lives.

[Editorial Note 5] I am not sure I’ve got this sentence right.

[Editorial Note 6] Plato, Philebus, 66c8, quotes this as: ἕκτῃ δ᾽ἐν γενεᾷ καταπαύσατε κόσμον ἀοιδῆς, which may be translated ‘in the sixth generation cease the order/beauty of your song’. The version in Plutarch On the E at Delphi, 391D, is slightly different again. Newton’s translation differs widely from the usual understanding of this verse in either version, but kosmos can certainly mean mundus, ‘world’, universe’, and I wonder whether Orpheus’s line was intended to have or had been given a cosmic significance.

[Editorial Note 7] Psalm 110.1.

[Editorial Note 8] Isaiah 6.3.

[Editorial Note 9] This is a bit of a guess. Cilicium is a goat-hair or goat-skin rug, and calvum means ‘bald’, but I could not find the word calvicium.

[Editorial Note 10] guessing quando or cum for {illeg}

[Editorial Note 11] The words from Aliter to scribit make no sense as they stand, so I have reconstructed them conjecturally.

[Editorial Note 12] Darius I, king of Persia 522-486 BC.

[Editorial Note 13] Artaxerxes II, king of Persia 465-24 BC.

[Editorial Note 14] This seems to be Exra 7.1 ff.

[Editorial Note 15] Darius III, reigned 336-30 BC; he was assassinated after being defeated by Alexander.

[Editorial Note 16] Ptolemy II Philadelphus, king of Egypt 282-46 BC.

[Editorial Note 17] I have consulted Joseph Barclay, The Talmud (London: John Murray 1878), pp. 255-66, ‘Treatise XIV, Measurements’. Newton is here summarising, paraphrasing and amplifying selections from this treatise. Where, as often, the two versions disagree, of course I follow Newton.

[Editorial Note 18] With this passage compare Babson 434, f 21r and Yahuda 2.4, f 2r.

[Editorial Note 19] Cf. Yahuda 2.4, f 3r.

[Editorial Note 20] Perhaps ‘vestment keeper’ would be more appropriate, as in Barclay 256, but I use ‘Guardian of the Wardrobe’ in my translations of Babson 434 and Yahuda 2.4.

[Editorial Note 21] Leviticus 6.21: ‘the baken pieces of the meat offering (AV); ‘a grain offering of baked pieces’ (NRSV); simila … quae in sartagine oleo conspersa frigetur (Vulgate). Cf. Babson 434 f 23r and Yahuda 2.4, f 3r. The translation in AV suggests it was taken to be a meat offering at that time; perhaps Newton accepted this. Barclay 256 calls the official who made them ‘the pancake maker’.

[Editorial Note 22] 'Superior' supplied for 'undipedes'

[Editorial Note 23] In Greek: κοιτῶνες.

[Editorial Note 24] Cf. Exodus 25.30.

[Editorial Note 25] Or possibly ‘room for bathing’, i.e. ritual ablution. See p. 39 below.

[Editorial Note 26] Clearly some word for ‘candles’ or ‘torches’ is concealed under {illeg}, and I would think it would be torches rather than candles. The difficulty is that both candelae and faces are feminine and would require dispositae rather than dispositi. That is why I have suggested ignes (`fires`), which is masculine, but I am not sure if used alone it can really mean something like `torches`. Is it possible that dispositi could be read as dispositae?

[Editorial Note 27] This paragraph is section 1 of ch. 2 in Barclay, 257.

[Editorial Note 28] reading Mons Domus for {illeg} {Ptosis} {illeg}. I take this from Barclay, 257. Cf. Babson 434, f 6r.

[Editorial Note 29] Cf. Babson 434, ff. 18r-19r.

[Editorial Note 30] I could not find this word, and I can’t think of an emendation.

[Editorial Note 31] My translation of this clause is interpretive: literally: ‘there was an ascent by a rise (at least if not in number) to the court of the priests’. I think Newton is expressing a doubt that there were actually steps leading from the court of Israel to the court of the priests. I could well be wrong.

[Editorial Note 32] Reading in for at, following the Vulgate of Ezekiel 46.21: Et eduxit me in atrium exterius.

[Editorial Note 33] Presumably Nazarites.

[Editorial Note 34] Barclay translates the Aramaic phrase corresponding to capita trabium by ‘pointed rails’ (p. 259). Solomon translates the same phrase as ‘a mosaic’, but adds a footnote ‘Or “blocks”’ (The Talmud, A Selection, ed. Norman Solomon (London: Penguin Books 2009).

[Editorial Note 35] Reconstruction based on Barclay, 259.

[Editorial Note 36] But could it be Chaldaeus Paraphrastes, ‘the Chaldaean Paraphrast’? I think his name was Jonathan.

[Editorial Note 37] This reconstruction is based on Psalm 134.2

[Editorial Note 38] i.e. the height of the ‘step’ mentioned a few lines before.

[Editorial Note 39] Supplying 'spoke' [locuti sunt for {illeg} sunt], in which case the ‘dais’ would be a place for preaching or ‘pulpit’.

[Editorial Note 40] This sentence seems to be unrelated to what goes before. I have translated it with the help of Barclay, 257-58: ‘Inside of (the Mountain of the House) was a reticulated wall, ten hand-breadths high; and in it were thirteen breaches, broken down by the Greek kings. The (Jews) restored, and fenced them, and decreed before them thirteen acts of obeisance.’

[Editorial Note 41] Cf. Babson 434, f 13r.

[Editorial Note 42] Cf. Ezekiel 43.16.

[Editorial Note 43] ‘Ariel’ apparently means ‘the altar hearth’. See Vulgate of Ezekiel 43.16: Et Ariel est duodecim cubitorum in longitudine per duodecim cubitus latitudinis, quadrangulatum aequis lateribus. The New Revised Standard Version reads: ‘The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve wide’.

[Editorial Note 44] Cf. Exodus 20.26.

[Editorial Note 45] I take ‘marble’ from Barclay, 261.

[Editorial Note 46] This is ch. 4, section 3.

[Editorial Note 47] This seems to mean ‘set’ of rooms; Barclay, 263 has ‘row’; 1 Kings 6.6 reads ‘The lowest story’, but adds a note that this is a translation from the Greek and that the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

[Editorial Note 48] A contignatio is the arrangement of joists, floor boards, etc, that supports the storey above it.

[Editorial Note 49] In Greek, ὑπερώου

[Editorial Note 50] Barclay translates the Aramaic equivalent of trabium capitibus as ‘rails’: ‘On its summit rails separated between the Holy and the Holy of Holies’.

[Editorial Note 51] ὑπερώῳ

[Editorial Note 52] Cf. Babson 434, f 26r and Yahuda 2.4, f 4v.

[Editorial Note 53] The porch. Alternative spelling is pronaon. Newton also uses the Greek word propylaea for the porch in this text. He does not use either, so far as I remember, in Babson 434 or Yahuda 2.4.

[Editorial Note 54] ‘Chest’ is a normal translation of riscus, but Newton seems to be using it here in a distinctive way.

[Editorial Note 55] More literally fenestella is a ‘little window’ or ‘windowpane’.

[Editorial Note 56] This is ch. V, sects. 1-2 in Barclay, p. 265.

[Editorial Note 57] I fill this in from Barclay, p. 265: ‘From the pillars to the wall of the court eight cubits.’

[Editorial Note 58] This is ch. V, sect. 3 in Barclay, p. 265.

[Editorial Note 59] Supplied from Babson 434, f 35r. Hipparva is either a Persian word or related to the Hebrew for ‘animal skin’ (Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 19, p. 615).

[Editorial Note 60] This is ch. V, sect. 4 in Barclay, p. 266.

[Editorial Note 61] This is the end of Treatise XIV, Barclay, p. 266.

[Editorial Note 62] Some of the punctuation is missing in the rest of this paragraph. I have supplied what seemed to make most sense, but there were points where I was in doubt where to divide the sentences.

[Editorial Note 63] I think this stands for ex sanctis literis, ‘from Holy Scripture’.

[Editorial Note 64] Cf. Revelation 7.13-14.

[Editorial Note 65] This looks like Talmudii Babylonici codex Middoth, de Mensuris Templi, ed. C. L’Empereur, Heb. and Lat., (Lugduni Batavorum: Elzevir, 1630). No record of this book in Harrison.

[Editorial Note 66] Josephus, Jewish War, 5.193 (Loeb edition). The quotation from Josephus starts at διὰ. I have placed a semi-colon after ἱερὸν

[Editorial Note 67] Could {illeg} be atrium, ‘court’?

[Editorial Note 68] inferring interiore for {illeg}e

[Editorial Note 69] Repetition of ‘&’ is in the text.

[Editorial Note 70] I am not certain of the meaning of Tabernis.

[Editorial Note 71] guessing vespertinam for {illeg}nam

[Editorial Note 72] This is comparable to Barclay, Talmud, Treatise VI, ‘Of Tabernacles’, ch. 5, pp. 145-48 and Solomon, p. 218 ff.

[Editorial Note 73] I can’t make much sense of denominati. The comparable sentence in Barclay, p. 145 is; ‘he who has not seen the joy of the water-drawing, has never seen joy in his life’.

[Editorial Note 74] Glossed by Newton above (f 36) as ‘a Gallery’.

[Editorial Note 75] Cf. Barclay, p. 145.

[Editorial Note 76] A liquid measure – apparently half a pint.

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