DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8#0148
( 147 )
CHAPTER, XL
IN the three preceding chapters the description is
confined within the bounds limited by the sacred text ;
including only such passages of Josephus's history, as
either accord with the Scriptural narrative, or, at least,
no ways furi counter to it. But several observations
occurred to me¿ as I proceeded, the insertion of which
would have incumbered the description too much ; ana
might, in thé minds of some readers, have tended to
weaken the authority ¿ rather than illustrate the mean-
ing of the sacred text. It appeared, therefore, more
expedient to offer those reflections to the consideration,
öf my readers in a separate chapter.
The first observation I have to make, is, that the
Scripture teaches hot the perfect form and manner in
which, we may imagine, the exterior of the roof and
pediment Were finished. All we can gather from Scrip-
ture is, that the whole Temple was covered with deals;
but the inside was lined with cedar, and gilt thnmghout.
Whether these deals formed all the outward covering
appears not. It Was not the custom amongst the ancients,
in hot countries, to cover their houses, or even palaces,
With pitched roofs, but perfectly flat; and at Rome,
Julius Cesar is said to be the first who ventured to imi-
tate temples, by a pediment-roof on his house: and it is
well known that at Athens and Rome, temples had al-
ways pediments.
But whether all the first Egyptian Temples ha¿
toofs in the pediment form, is more than I can take upon
me to assert. Yet, as mention is made in the new
Testament, of the pinnacle of the Temple, then at Je-
rusalem, we may presume the first Temple also had the
same form ; which I conceive means the ridge, or the
Τ »croteç
CHAPTER, XL
IN the three preceding chapters the description is
confined within the bounds limited by the sacred text ;
including only such passages of Josephus's history, as
either accord with the Scriptural narrative, or, at least,
no ways furi counter to it. But several observations
occurred to me¿ as I proceeded, the insertion of which
would have incumbered the description too much ; ana
might, in thé minds of some readers, have tended to
weaken the authority ¿ rather than illustrate the mean-
ing of the sacred text. It appeared, therefore, more
expedient to offer those reflections to the consideration,
öf my readers in a separate chapter.
The first observation I have to make, is, that the
Scripture teaches hot the perfect form and manner in
which, we may imagine, the exterior of the roof and
pediment Were finished. All we can gather from Scrip-
ture is, that the whole Temple was covered with deals;
but the inside was lined with cedar, and gilt thnmghout.
Whether these deals formed all the outward covering
appears not. It Was not the custom amongst the ancients,
in hot countries, to cover their houses, or even palaces,
With pitched roofs, but perfectly flat; and at Rome,
Julius Cesar is said to be the first who ventured to imi-
tate temples, by a pediment-roof on his house: and it is
well known that at Athens and Rome, temples had al-
ways pediments.
But whether all the first Egyptian Temples ha¿
toofs in the pediment form, is more than I can take upon
me to assert. Yet, as mention is made in the new
Testament, of the pinnacle of the Temple, then at Je-
rusalem, we may presume the first Temple also had the
same form ; which I conceive means the ridge, or the
Τ »croteç