Temple

Temple “was the name given to the whole sacred precincts of Mount Moriah, including the ‘ fane ’ erected by Solomon on the summit, the various ‘courts’ of Israelites and women, each on their separate platforms below it, and the great area, ‘ court of the Gentiles,’ at the foot of this pyramid of ‘ courts ’ and steps. The ‘ fane ’ was a permanent copy of the temporary tabernacle, so far as its ground-plan was concerned, having its ‘Holy of Holies’ (through whose floor projected for a few inches the time-honored apex of Mount Moriah), its ‘ Holy Place,’ in which, however, there were ten tables of shewbread and ten golden candlesticks (five of each on each side), and the great brazen 1 laver ’ standing on twelve brazen oxen, with their faces outwards. It occupied only one-third of the uppermost platform, the rest being the ‘court of burnt-offering,’ in which was the great altar. Below the first series of steps (extending round three sides) was the ‘ court of Israel;’ below the next flight, the ‘ court of women;’ and at the base of the succeeding flight of steps was a trel-lised fence, on which were ‘notices’ in various languages, warning none but the circumcised to pass within the sacred enclosures. Then came the great area, ‘ court of the Gentiles,’ extending 600 feet each way, but nearly doubled in its extent by Herod the Great. This area was reached by a succession of terraces or steps, cut in the face of the mountain on its eastern and southern sides.” — “Oxford” Bible Helps. Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to their country in the year 536 B. C., and rebuild the temple. This was completed 516 b. c. Herod began the building of a new temple, 20 or 21 B. C., which was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. See Jerusalem, pp. 471-72.