high, from the bottom to the top of thein: and five
cubits broad; two yards and a half, one foot and three
inches; and which very probably were the breadth of
the steps that came up to thetn: none of these arches
were in the second temple, as Lipman = observes.
Ver. 81. And the arches thereof were toward the out-
ward court, &c.] And so not within the gate of the
inward court, but on the outside of it, towards the
outward court, at the front of the gate as you went in:
and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof; of the gate,
or of these arches or porticos; signifying that none
should enter here but righteous persons; this is the
gate of the righteous, Psal. cxviii. 19, 20. Isa. xxvi. 2.
see the note on ver. 16: and the going up to it had eight
steps; one more than the ascent to the outward gates;
some say eight more, and make these to be tifteen,
answerable to the fifteen steps by which the Levites
went up from the court of the women to the court of
Israel {}, and sung upon them tlre fifteen songs of de-
grees, mentioned in the Psalms: but here are only
eight; and denote the gradual progress of. believers in
filth and holiness; and that the nearer they come to
the holy of holies, the greater their proficiency should
be, and more advances made in the knowledge of
divine things.
Vet. 32. And he brought me into the inner court to-
ward the east, &c.] Into that part of it which lay to
the east, having gone through that which lay to the
south: and he measured the gate according to these
measures; that is, the eastern gate of the innercourt;
for the eastern gate that led to the outward court he
measured first, vet. 6. and this was according to the
measure of that, and of the rest.
Vet. 33. And the little chambers thereof, &c.] These,
and what follow in this verse, are exactly the same
with those of the south gate of the inner court, ver. 29.
Vet. 34. And the arches thereof were toward the out-
ward court, &c.] As those of the south gate, ver. 31.
and the palm-trees on the posts, and the steps up to
it, the same as there.
Ver. 35, 36, 37. ,4nd he brought me to the north gate,
&c.] That is, of the inner court, for he had measured
before the north gate that led to the outward court,
ver. 20. and here the little chambers, posts, arches,
and steps, in all things agree with those of the other
gates: what were observed in it different from the
reSt, an account is given of it in the following verse.
Vet. 38. And the chambers, and the entries thereof,
were by the posts of the gates, &c.] Of the north gate;
the plural for the singular; for not at the other gates,
only at the north gate, were the sacrifices slain and
washed; as under the law, only on the north side of
the altar, Lev. i. 11. now, by the posts of this gate, or
at the entrance of it on one side, stood a cell or chamber,
and a door into it ø,. as the words may be rendered; for
they are singular in the text: where they washed the
burnt-offering; its legs and inwards, Lev. i. 9. accord-
ing to the law, there were layers in Solomon's temple,
to wash the sacrifices in, 2 Chron. iv. 6. but there was
no such cell or chamber there for such a purpose as
here: and as      this refers to Gospel times, and to the
church in the     latter day, no legal sacrifice can be in-
tended here, which are all abolished; but this must be
mystically and spiritually understood, and designs no
other than the sacrifice of Christ, a sweet-smelling
sayour to God: that this kind of offering was typical
of the sacrifice of ChriSt is clear from Hob. xiii. 11, 12,
13. which whether of the herd, a bullock, represented
Christ in ,his strength and laborioushess; or of the
flock, and was either a sheep, an emblem of the inno-
cence and patience of Christ; or a goat, which pointed
him out as in the likeness of sinful flesh, traduced as
a sinner, and made so by imputation; or of foWls,
turtle-doves, denoting his meekness and modesty; and
all without spot or blemish signified the purity of hi,
nature and life; and these being burnt with fire were
expressive of the pain and shame he endured when he
bore our sins, and the wrath of God was poured. on him
as fire; the washing of the burnt-offering denotes the
purity of Christ's sacritice, being offered. up without.
spot. Some, as Polanus, have thought the ordinance.
of baptism is here designed, as the Lord's supper is by
the tables next mentioned; and it is a note of Starchins
upon the passage, that, "he who is washed in the
"divine layer may be regaled with the heavenly feast."
Ver. 39. And in the porch of the gate were two tables
on this side, and two tables on that side, &c.3 This is
still the north gate of the inward court, which had a
porch that reached from the outward to the inner gate
of it, in which were three little chambers on each side,
, ver. 36. between each of which were a space of live
!cubits, ver. 7. so that there were two such spaces on
each side; and in these spaces,. as Starckius well con-
jectures, these tables were placed, two on one side,
and two on the other: the use of them was, to stay
thereon the burnt-offerirtg, and the sin-offering, and the
trespass-offering; all typical of the sacrifice of Christ:
concerning the burnt-offering, as such, see the note on
the preceding verse; and as for the sin-offering and
trespass.offering, which in the Hebrew language sig-
nify sin and guilt itself, they represented Christ, who
had no sin in his nature, nor ever did any in his life,
yet was made sin for his people; having all their sins
laid upon him, with all that belong unto them, or are
deserved by them: these were, the one for errors,
straylags, sad sins of ignorance; the other for known
and wiiful sins; and both show that Christ is a sacri-
fice for all sorts of sin, even for the most vile and
enormous: now these tables were for those sacrifices
to be slain upon them, or to be laid upon them, being
slain; and signify in Gospel times the table of the Lord,
1 Cor. x. 21. or the ordinance of the Lord's supper; in
which there is not a reiteration, but a commemoration
of the sacrifice of Christ; here he is evidently set forth
as crucified and slain; his death as a sacrifice is shewn,
and held forth to the faith of the Lord's people, for
their joy and comfort, Gai. iii. 1.1 Cot. xi. 26.
Ver. 40. And at the side without, as one goeth up to
the entry of the north gate, were two tables, &c.] Or,
the door of the north gate {p}; not the first, upon coming

{m} Tzurath Beth Hamikdash, sect. 22.
{n} Misna Succa, c. 5. sect. 4. Lipman. Tzurath Beth Hamikdash,
sect. 24.
{o} \^hxtpwhkvlw\^ et cubiculum, et ostium ejus, Pagninus, Montanus;
caeterum fuit cella, et ostium ejus, Tigurine version.
{p} \^hnwpuh revh xtpl\^ ad ostium portae aquilonaris, Junius &
Tremellius. So Cocceius and Starckius.