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Josephus thus expresses himself...." Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprise either men's minds or their eyes; for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight; and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendour, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it, to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun's own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were coming to it, at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for, as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceedingly white. On its top it had spikes with sharp points ;...of its stones, some of them were forty-five cubits in length, five in height, and six in breadth."-WHISTON'S JOSEPHUS, vol. iv. p. 144.

This holy building was divided into the Portico, the Sanctuary, or Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. In the portico were placed any splendid offerings that had been presented by great men, such as the spoils which Herod had taken in war, &c. These gifts, probably, were what the disciples pointed to when sitting with their Master on the mount.

The Sanctuary corresponded with the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. In it were placed the Golden Candlestick, Altar of Incense, and the Table of Shew-bread.

The Holy of Holies was separated from the holy place by a double veil. Into it the high-priest alone was permitted to enter once a year, on the great day of atonement, with the blood of bulls and of goats. It was a type of heaven, that holiest place; and the Jews not being permitted to enter it, was to shew that the way to heaven was not yet made manifest; but when Jesus, our Great High Priest, by the offering of himself purged our sins, then the veil was rent in twain, for he had opened for us a new and living way, and given us boldness to enter even into the holiest by his own most precious blood. See HORNE, on the Scriptures, LEWIS' Hebrew Antiquities, and JOSEPHUS.

CAVES USED

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AS HABITATIONS IN MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRIES BEDOUIN ENCAMPMENT-EXCAVATIONS AT PETRA-CAVES IN JUDEA-CAVES USED AS PLACES OF CONCEALMENT-FORTRESS IN GALILEE-ROBBERS' CAVES THE Kнuzneн.

GENESIS XIX. 30.

“And (Lot) dwelt in the mountain, in a cave.”

EXODUS XXXiii. 22.

"And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by...."

NUM. xxiv. 21.

"And he looked on the Kenites,... and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock.”

JOSH. x. 16, 18.

"But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah...And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them..."

JUDGES Vi. 2.

"Because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds."

1 SAM. xiii. 6.

"...Then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits."

1 SAM. xxii. 1—5.

"David... escaped to the cave Adullam; and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And every one that was in

distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them and there were with him about four hundred men...And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah."

1 SAM. xxiii. 14, 29.

"And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph... and David...dwelt in strongholds at En-gedi..."

xxiv. 2-8.

"Then Saul...went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in. ...And David and his men remained in the sides of the cave... But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king!"

2 SAM. xxiii. 13, 14.

"And (they) came to David... unto the cave of Adullam....And David was then in an hold."

1 KINGS Xviii. 4.

"For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water."

xix. 8, 9, 13.

"And he... went...unto Horeb the mount of God. And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there...And ...he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.”

JOB XXIV. 8.

"They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter."

JOB XXX. 6.

"To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks."

PSALM 1xxi. 3.

"Be thou to me for a rock of habitation (margin), whereunto I may continually resort."

CANT. ii. 14.

"Oh, my dove! that art in the clefts of the rock." ISAIAH ii. 10, 19—21.

"Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty... And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. ...In that day a man shall cast his idols...to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks..."

xxxiii. 16.

"He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.'

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xlii. 11.

"Let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.”

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JEREMIAH Xvi. 16.

...They shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks."

xlviii. 28.

"O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth."

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xlix. 16.

Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; though thou shouldest make thy nest as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord" (Obad. 3).

EZEK. Xxxiii. 27.

"They that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence."

HEBREWS xi. 38.

"They wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."

REV. vi. 15-17.

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?"

AMONGST the various kind of dwellings used in the early ages of the world, were the caves of the rocks. It is not uncommon, at the present day, to see these used as habitations in mountainous countries, and even in some parts of England. At Hastings, in Sussex, many of the fishermen's families live in dwellings of this description.

The larger and more retired caves often served as secure retreats from an enemy. Sometimes they were strongly fortified, and, when situated among precipitous rocks, formed the most powerful houses of defence imaginable. To these secure retreats the Psalmist doubtless alludes, when he calls God his rock, and his fortress,—his refuge his rock of habitation,-his house of defence. Isaiah describes the servant of the Lord as dwelling in

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