Commentaria in III Regum
34. AND TWO DOORS OF FIR TREE ON EACH SIDE: AND EACH DOOR WAS DOUBLE, AND OPENED BY FOLDING ONE UPON the other. Of the Holy he made square posts of olive, and to them he joined two doors of fir, “on each side,” so namely that one door was on one side, the other on the other, answering to the first and facing it.
AND EACH DOOR WAS DOUBLE, AND OPENED BY FOLDING,—as if to say: Each door was folding, and had hinges by which one part held the other, and in them were as it were two foldings, as the Septuagint translate. The Hebrew: they were two, geliLim, that is revolving or folding leaves.
Josephus adds that to this door of the Holy a veil was also hung, like the veil which hung before the Holy of holies. The porch, however, which was before the Holy, had no veil, but lay open in front throughout, and without any floor rose to a height of 120 cubits, which was the height of the temple: only walls closed its sides. For this porch was as it were a vestibule added to the temple for its decor, and to increase its majesty and veneration.
Note: There were three chief parts of the temple. The first was called debir, or, as the Septuagint express it, dabir, that is oracle, namely the Holy of holies. The second in Hebrew was called hechal, that is temple, namely the Holy. The third ulam, that is court, of which verse 36. The first two had a roof not pointed but flat, so that one could walk on it: for so the other houses in Palestine were flat, but had round about a low fence or wall, according to the law of Deuteronomy 22:8, lest anyone walking on the roof should incautiously fall from the roof to the ground and be dashed. Into the Holy of holies the pontiff alone entered, and that once a year, namely at the feast of Atonement, Leviticus 16; into the Holy the other priests; into the court the people, whence in it Christ and the Apostles taught. The Holy of holies, then, was the last, innermost and most sacred part of the temple, after which came the Holy, after the Holy the porch, after the porch the court of the priests, after this the court of the clean laity, after this the last was the court of the unclean and of the Gentiles.
36. AND HE BUILT THE INNER COURT WITH THREE ROWS OF POLISHED STONES, AND ONE ROW OF BEAMS OF CEDAR.—The ulam, or court, was, as already said, twofold, namely the inner one near the Holy, which was the court of the priests and Levites, and in it was the altar of holocausts, on which the priests immolated the victims. The other court was the outer, in which the people and laity stayed, prayed and watched the sacrifices which were made in the priests’ court, and therefore it was very ample, and embraced several stadia in its circuit, to hold so great a multitude of people: whence in 2 Paralipomenon 4:9 it is called “a great court.” Each court was open to the sky, both that the smoke of so many victims might exhale into the air, and because it was very ample, so that it could not be roofed; it had, however, at the sides covered porches, that the people might withdraw to them in time of rain and heat.
This court of the laity, or of the people of Israel, surrounded the priests’ court not only on the front side, as Ribera thinks, but on three sides or quarters of the world, namely the east, south and north: for on the west the priests’ court was closed by the Holy and the Holy of holies. So Josephus, Theodoret, Serarius, Salianus, Vilalpandus. Hence the court of the laity was divided into seven squares or square areas, as Vilalpandus and Salianus say; wherefore in them was a place for women separated from the men, for the sake of decency and chastity, as is done at Rome in most churches. Moreover to no Gentile, but only to Jews, and these clean, was it lawful to enter the court of the laity. Wherefore for the unclean Herod, or Solomon himself, as Vilalpandus holds, page 206, added a third court, or porch of the Gentiles; because Josephus teaches that Solomon filled up the chasm of Mello, and surrounded it with an outermost wall, for otherwise they could have fallen from there into the chasm. This wall, then, was the wall of the court of the Gentiles, of which also Ezechiel chapter 40, verse 5. From which it is plain that this wall was square and was in each side 600 cubits long, that is, as Josephus says, had a stadium and a half. For a stadium contains 400 cubits: but the wall of the court of Israel, separating it from the court of the Gentiles, was 500 cubits in length on each side.
From this third court of the Gentiles one ascended by steps to the second court, of Israel or of the Jews, and the intermediate barrier of stone lattices was three cubits high, on which was inscribed: “Let no Gentile pass it under pain of death.” So Josephus. Hence we understand Acts 21:28, how and why the Jews murmured against St. Paul, because they thought he had brought Trophimus his companion, who was a Gentile, into the temple, that is into the court of Israel. These courts had many gates, among which one was named the Beautiful, Acts 3:2.
WITH THREE ROWS OF POLISHED STONES, AND ONE ROW OF BEAMS OF CEDAR,—as if to say: Solomon built between the priests’ court and the court of the laity a wall three cubits high, as Josephus testifies, lest the laity should be able to enter the priests’ court, but might see beyond the wall the sacrifices which were made in it: and this wall had three rows of polished stones, one laid upon another, and over all the rows of stones he laid one row of beams of cedar.
The priests’ court was higher than the court of the laity, that they might be treated with fitting reverence: so also the court of the laity was higher than the court of the Gentiles, wherefore from the court of the Gentiles one ascended to the court of Israel by seven steps: from the court of Israel to the priests’ court by eight steps, thence to the Holy by ten steps, as Vilalpandus teaches, page 248, and it is plain from Ezechiel 40:6. Wherefore from the court of the Gentiles to the Holy the ascent was 25 steps, but to the priests’ court fifteen, on which they sang the fifteen psalms of degrees or Gradual psalms, as the Hebrews, St. Jerome and others relate.
Within these courts, namely in the porches themselves of the courts, at their walls or sides, were exedrae, 1 Paralipomenon 26:16. An exedra was a chamber supported by columns and several architraves, in which were open spaces, with a prospect on the road. In these exedrae the priests partly lived during the time in which they ministered in the temple, who here put on and put off the sacred vestments; partly were kept the furniture, offerings and gifts of the temple: whence they were also called “gazophylacia,” because in them was kept the gaza, that is the wealth of the temple, and in them were chests into which the people cast the money which they offered to the temple. Hence we understand John chapter 8, verse 20: “These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, teaching in the temple”: for gazophylacium signifies now an exedra, now a chest or box which holds the treasure.
These exedrae were also called pastophoria, as the Septuagint translate, from pastos, that is a chamber, because the priests dwelt in them while they served the temple, who were therefore called pastophori. So St. Jerome, book 7 on Isaias.
Allegorically, the court represents the life of beginners in the service of God, the Holy the life of those making progress, the Holy of holies that of the perfect: whence in the court was the altar of holocausts, which signifies the mortification of desires, and the brazen sea or laver, which is a symbol of penance. See what was said at Exodus 27, at the beginning of the chapter.
37. IN THE FOURTH YEAR (of the reign of Solomon) THE FOUNDATION OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD WAS LAID.—To the foundations of the temple, says Vilalpandus, book 4, chapter 71 and the following, belong very many subterranean places built of most solid work, and corresponding accurately to the works above, where were covered cloisters, and kitchens, and treasuries, granaries, wine and oil cellars, exedrae, workshops, and places of that kind, which were so ample and capacious that all the first fruits and tithes of all Israel could be brought into them and kept, so that in their seasons they might be distributed to many thousands of priests and Levites.
We see like things at Rome in the ancient crypts of Martyrs, Pontiffs and the faithful, so that subterranean Rome is a wonder not only of the City but of the world.
38. AND IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR (of Solomon), IN THE MONTH BUL (so it must be read with the Hebrew, Septuagint and the Roman editions; wrongly, therefore, the Royal edition has Elal), WHICH IS THE EIGHTH MONTH,—which corresponds to our month partly October, partly November. For the Hebrews used lunar months, we solar. October is called bul from nabal, that is to fall away, because in October leaves fall and rains descend. So Serarius: the Chaldee translates, the month in which the new fruits are gathered.
AND HE BUILT IT IN SEVEN YEARS.—Add, and seven months, as is plain to one reckoning from the second month of the fourth year of Solomon to the eighth month of his eleventh year: but Scripture records the whole numbers of years, and omits the small parts.
Allegorically, Radulphus in the Preface to book 17 on Leviticus: The temple of Solomon, he says, was built in seven years and seven months, because from the advent of Christ to his return to judgment the Church is built through the sevenfold grace of the Spirit, until at the end she is completed; and this will be done in this whole age, which is run through in the course of seven days, says Eucherius; so also Angelomus.