Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 42:1-20
1. And he led me to the gate, which looked toward the way of the East. 2. And behold the glory of the God of Israel came in by the way of the East: and His voice was like the voice of many waters, and the earth shone with His majesty. 3. And I saw the vision, according to the appearance which I had seen, when He came to destroy the city: and the appearance according to the aspect which I had seen beside the river Chobar: and I fell upon my face. 4. And the majesty of the Lord entered the temple by the way of the gate which looked toward the East. 5. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court: and behold the house was filled with the glory of the Lord. 6. And I heard One speaking to me out of the house, and the man who stood beside me, 7. said to me: Son of man, the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever: and the house of Israel shall no more defile My holy name, they and their kings in their fornications, and in the ruins of their kings, and in the high places. 8. They who have set their threshold by My threshold, and their posts beside My posts: and there was a wall between Me and them: and they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed: therefore I consumed them in My wrath. 9. Now therefore let them put away their fornication far from Me, and the ruins of their kings: and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. 10. But you, son of man, show the temple to the house of Israel, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the plan: 11. and let them be ashamed of all that they have done: Show them the form of the house, and of the building thereof, the goings out and the comings in, and the whole description thereof, and all its precepts, and all its order, and all its laws; and write it in their sight: that they may keep all the descriptions thereof, and the precepts thereof, and do them. 12. This is the law of the house upon the top of the mountain: All its border round about is the Holy of Holies: this then is the law of the house.
Verse 1: AND HE LED ME OUT INTO THE OUTER COURT.
1. AND HE LED ME OUT INTO THE OUTER COURT. — The Prophet, from the inner court, where he had contemplated its dimensions and ornamentation, was led by the Angel into the outer court, namely into its porticos, and small courts, and the ambulatory extending to the West, surrounded on this side and that by treasuries, that is exedrae. For he calls the whole row of all the treasuries a 'treasury.' So Vilalpandus. Others by the outer court understand the court of the women: for this was outer, in relation to the court of the men, which was inner. Others, like Maldonatus, think the court of men is called the outer. But I already said in chapter XL that the outer court is the court or temple of the laity; while the inner is that of the priests, because it was near the temple, namely the Holy Place.
OPPOSITE THE SEPARATE BUILDING.
OPPOSITE THE SEPARATE BUILDING. — In Hebrew, against haggizra, that is, against the separate: it signifies the temple, about which in the preceding chapter, verse 12.
AND OPPOSITE THE BUILDING INCLINING TO THE NORTH — that is against the treasury, or rather the treasuries adhering to the temple on the northern side.
Verse 2: IN THE FACE OF THE LENGTH, ONE HUNDRED CUBITS OF THE NORTHERN DOOR:
2. IN THE FACE OF THE LENGTH, ONE HUNDRED CUBITS OF THE NORTHERN DOOR: AND FIFTY CUBITS IN WIDTH — as if to say: This portico had one hundred cubits in length, and 50 in width.
3. OPPOSITE THE TWENTY CUBITS OF THE INNER COURT — that is, the pavilion, or square portico, which follows in this same verse, from which access opened both into the ambulatory and into the aforementioned exedrae, looked on the other side upon the open area of twenty cubits, which was between the vestibule and the court of the priests, and which surrounded the whole house on every side. Maldonatus and others explain these things differently. For various authors form various ideas for themselves of this structure.
And Opposite The Pavement Laid With Stone Of The Outer Court
AND OPPOSITE THE PAVEMENT LAID WITH STONE OF THE OUTER COURT — that is, it looked on the other side at the portico which was in the northern court on the western side.
Note: He calls the lower porticos 'pavement laid with stone'; for these were paved with solid stone, lest the footsteps of the priests be soiled by the dust of summer or the mud of winter, says St. Jerome. Who, explaining mystically, adds: "Whence also the Lord, about to ascend to the Father, washes the feet of the Apostles, so that, with their footsteps cleansed and purified, they might climb the kingdom of heaven; and He commands the Apostles, that in whatever city they enter and they are not received, they should shake off the dust of their feet, namely that they should not allow any of the earthly gifts from those people to remain attached to them."
WHERE THERE WAS A PORTICO JOINED TO A TRIPLE PORTICO.
WHERE THERE WAS A PORTICO JOINED TO A TRIPLE PORTICO. — There was a pavilion, or square portico, which was in the middle of the porticos, namely of the three: Western, Northern and Southern.
4. OF A WAY OF ONE CUBIT — a space of one cubit: so the Hebrew; but the Roman edition and others read: looking toward the interior, of a way of one cubit. The meaning is, as if to say: The middle walkway was ten cubits wide for the main part, but beyond that on either side it still had a passage space of one cubit, or it still projected by one cubit. So Vilalpandus.
5. WHERE THERE WERE TREASURIES IN THE UPPER PARTS, LOWER. — The exedrae, or upper rooms, were lower than the lower ones. For they had to be reduced from these; just as a tree, says Vitruvius in his book,
chapter 1, the higher it grows, the more slender it always becomes. So tropologically, the more exalted one becomes, the more humble one ought to be, so as to say with Paul: "For I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle," 1 Corinthians 15:9. So St. Jerome.
Because The Porticos Which Projected From Them Supported The Lower And Middle Parts Of The Building
BECAUSE THE PORTICOS WHICH PROJECTED FROM THEM SUPPORTED THE LOWER AND MIDDLE PARTS OF THE BUILDING — that is, because the southern columns, which the lowest porticos themselves supported and propped up, projected from them, or beyond the doorposts of the porticos, that is they rose more contracted than the lower posts, and the highest columns rose still more slender than the middle ones: such as can be seen in the Roman College of the Society of Jesus built by Gregory XIII, in which there is a wonderful symmetry of the upper peristyles with the lower. So Vilalpandus. For the lower ones were like the foundations of the upper: and foundations are usually wider; but what is built upon them narrows upward.
Verse 6: FOR THEY WERE THREE-STORIED
6. FOR THEY WERE THREE-STORIED — that is there were as it were three stories with a triple order of columns: or there were three rows of beams, architraves and columns from a triple series of columns, one placed beneath another, subordinate and substructed.
AND THEY DID NOT HAVE COLUMNS — namely the upper chambers.
THEREFORE THEY PROJECTED. — The Hebrew reads: Therefore something was cut off from the highest, compared to the lower and middle from the ground, as if to say: It was necessary for the upper rooms to be lower than the lower, because their columns or piers were more contracted than the lower columns; and therefore just as something was taken away from the upper ones in the thickness of the lower columns, so it was necessary to take away something from the height in the second order, and the third. Therefore these three orders of columns seem to have been arranged so that although the lower order of columns had no treasuries, but was entirely allocated to posts and columns, and open to the air on every side: yet the upper orders, namely the middle and the highest, had their fronts furnished with colonnades, with the highest symmetry and beauty, and with that proportion which Vitruvius, Book V, chapter I, requires, "that the upper columns be established one-fourth smaller than the lower." Moreover these seem to have been the "three rows of polished stones" mentioned in 3 Kings 6:36, or, as the Chaldean translates, "three rows of fine stone," that is precious, namely of the whitest Parian marble, sawn, most polished and most closely fitted, says Pineda, Book V On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter V.
FIFTY CUBITS.
FIFTY CUBITS. — This is not in the Hebrew nor in the Septuagint, but was added by our translator paraphrastically.
7. And the outer enclosure wall. — 'Enclosure wall' is what the wall or partition is called, as if to say: The eastern wall of this building was 50 cubits long, just as the treasuries themselves were 50 cubits long, although Maldonatus denies this.
Verse 8: And the length before the face of the temple
8. And the length before the face of the temple — He passes from the northern exedrae to the southern. He measures therefore the width of the inner court from the northern building to the opposite southern one, at one hundred cubits.
Verse 9: These Treasuries
9. THESE TREASURIES — the southern ones.
10. IN THE WIDTH OF THE ENCLOSURE WALL OF THE COURT, WHICH WAS OPPOSITE THE WAY OF THE EAST BEFORE THE SEPARATE BUILDING, AND THERE WERE TREASURIES BEFORE THE BUILDING. — He speaks of the enclosure wall, or wall of three cubits, as Josephus asserts, which surrounded the court of the priests, and distinguished it from the court of the laity. He speaks moreover of the southern wall, as if to say: The width of this portico, and of the southern wall surrounding the court of the priests, whose inner chamber and door I said faced the East, proceeded toward the West before the right side of the separate building, that is the temple; and before that southern side of the building or temple, there were treasuries, just as on the northern side.
Verse 11: And The Way Before The Face Of Them Was Like The Treasuries Which Were In The Way Of The North
11. AND THE WAY BEFORE THE FACE OF THEM WAS LIKE THE TREASURIES WHICH WERE IN THE WAY OF THE NORTH — as if to say: The middle walkway and the lateral southern exedrae were constructed in the same manner, with the same measurement, as the northern ones which I described above.
ACCORDING TO THEIR LENGTH, SO ALSO THEIR WIDTH. — Not that the width was equal to the length, but, as if to say: The length of this southern building was equal to the length of the other northern one; and the width of this was equal to the width of that. It is a Hebraism.
Every entrance. — The Septuagint translates 'exit.'
Note: 'Entrance' and 'exit' in Hebrew is the same as form, arrangement, disposition, measurement.
AND THEIR LIKENESSES — namely of the treasuries, which he had first measured in the north. Then join these with the next verse, as if to say: Just as their likenesses, and just as their doors, so were the doors of the treasuries which were in the way looking to the south, that is the south, that is, the southern ones were similar to the northern.
Verse 12: WHICH WAY WAS BEFORE THE SEPARATE VESTIBULE FOR THOSE ENTERING BY THE
12. WHICH WAY WAS BEFORE THE SEPARATE VESTIBULE FOR THOSE ENTERING BY THE WAY OF THE EAST. — For 'vestibule' the Hebrew has geder, that is an enclosure, or wall separating the priests from the laity, as if to say: This southern building had an ascent from the eastern front, and its steps led into the upper middle walkway, which ran westward along the length of the elegant enclosure, separating the people from the clergy.
Verse 13: Before The Separate Building
13. BEFORE THE SEPARATE BUILDING — So he calls the temple, or Holy Place and Holy of Holies, because it was separate from the courts: for in Hebrew it is gizra, as I have already often said.
14. THEY APPROACH THE LORD IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES — that is in the court, and the most holy temple; because namely they enter the Holy Place, and thus approach the Holy of Holies.
THERE THEY SHALL PLACE THE HOLY OF HOLIES — that is the most sacred meats sacrificed to God, namely those portions which by the law are assigned by God to the priests consecrated and sanctified to God.
But When They Have Entered
BUT WHEN THEY HAVE ENTERED — as if to say: The priests in the Holy of Holies, that is in their most holy court, namely in their treasuries, shall eat the meats offered to God, and so shall complete the sacrifice, and then in the same place they shall lay aside their sacred vestments, and put on their ordinary garments, in which they will go out to the people in the outer court of Israel.
Note how God willed that the priests be distinguished from the people by their place and devotion, and be honored!
Verse 16: AND HE MEASURED TOWARD THE EAST WIND.
16. AND HE MEASURED TOWARD THE EAST WIND. — He measures the outermost wall of the court of Israel four times, along the four sides, beginning from each side, and asserts that each side had in length five hundred reeds. So St. Jerome, Lyra, Maldonatus and others. Vilalpandus thinks the contrary, namely that the Angel here measures not each side separately, but all, or the whole circuit together, and this four times; because he begins to measure it from each side in turn. He therefore judges that the whole circuit of the wall was only five hundred reeds. The last verse favors this, where the whole seems to be concluded at five hundred reeds. Moreover he calculates these reeds in parts on page 380. But the plain text of the letter requires otherwise, which measures each side in order by parts. And why, I ask, would the same thing be measured four times? So commonly the Interpreters.
Moreover this wall divided the sacred from the profane, as is said in the last verse. For it formed an enclosure around the temple, which was itself sacred, just as today the cemeteries which are attached to churches, says Maldonatus.
OF THE MEASURING REED — that is the largest reed, which had six cubits, whereas the common one had only five cubits: this was therefore the sacred reed.
FIVE HUNDRED REEDS — that is each side of the square had three thousand cubits; therefore the whole wall, or the whole square, had in its circuit two thousand reeds, that is twelve thousand cubits. So Maldonatus.
Wherefore it seems that here another wall (more exterior) is described, different from the wall which surrounded the court of Israel in Solomon's temple. For that court was only 500 cubits: but this enclosure is said to have been 500 reeds, and this on each side. And the sacred reed (which is spoken of here) contains six cubits. The same seems to be clear from the next chapter, verse 12, where concluding the whole circuit of the temple and this structure, he says: "This is the law of the house on the summit of the mountain: all its border round about is the Holy of Holies;" for which the Septuagint translates from the Hebrew: "Thus is the description of the house on the top of the mountain, and all its borders round about are the Holy of Holies." More clearly Vatablus says: "The law of this house is this: its whole boundary shall be on the top of the mountain, and the surrounding areas in every direction are most sacred." Therefore this outermost enclosure surrounded not only the summit of the mountain, but also the surrounding areas in the four directions of the world.
In a similar way, in chapter XLV, 3, he assigns to the temple a much larger enclosure and circuit. For he says that the place of the priests is encompassed by twenty-five thousand reeds; and that the temple is built within it. For he says: "And from this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a width of ten thousand, and in it shall be the temple and the Holy of Holies."
Verse 20: ON THE FOUR WINDS, etc., A LENGTH OF FIVE HUNDRED CUBITS.
20. ON THE FOUR WINDS, etc., A LENGTH OF FIVE HUNDRED CUBITS. — Note: Here in the Hebrew it does not say 'cubits,' but from the preceding it must be understood and repeated as 'reeds.' So St. Jerome, Lyra, Maldonatus and others; whence the text of the Bibles in the Ordinary Gloss, and in some other codices, omits the word 'cubits,' and reads only 'five hundred,' supply, 'reeds,' which preceded. Therefore 'cubits' seems to need to be omitted, or corrected to 'reeds.' For in this verse there is a repetition, a sort of general summary of the four preceding measurements, comprehended in the four preceding verses.
Vilalpandus explains differently, twisting himself here, that I may grasp his meaning. For he wants to defend the commonly used reading of 'cubits,' which the Septuagint also has, and therefore in verses 15 through 19, he thinks one wall of 500 reeds is described, while in this last verse another of 500 cubits, which to one examining the text seems hardly probable. So also Pineda, Book V On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter V, thinks that here the outermost court of the Gentiles is measured, not the inner court of Israel.
But let us hear St. Jerome, honestly and candidly confessing thus: "But that which, through the simplicity of the translation (while we paid little attention in the haste of dictation) both the Septuagint has and our translation: 'Its wall on every side round about in a length of five hundred cubits, and a width of five hundred cubits,' the Hebrew text does not contain; but simply, 'a length of five hundred, and a width of five hundred:' so that 'reeds' is to be understood: just as it was said above four times, to the east wind, and to the north, and to the south, and to the west, five hundred reeds, each of whose individual parts was measured by the one who held the reed." What could be clearer? Then mystically St. Jerome relates the number fifty to the remission of all sins, namely to Pentecost.
Symbolically therefore the number five hundred signifies the perfection of rest, because it is produced by the number fifty multiplied by ten. And fifty signifies rest, ten perfection. Listen to St. Gregory, Book I of the Moralia, chapter IV, on that passage of Job 1, "Job had five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses:" "In the number fifty, he says, which is completed by seven weeks with a unit added, rest is designated, while by ten the highest perfection. Because therefore the perfection of rest is promised to the faithful, as if by fifty taken ten times, one arrives at five hundred."
Furthermore that the number five hundred holds the mystery of remission and indulgence, not only the Old Scripture teaches, but also Christ who, in Luke 7, when teaching the parable of remission and indulgence, introduces debtors, one of 50, the other of 500 denarii.
BETWEEN THE SANCTUARY AND THE PLACE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE.
BETWEEN THE SANCTUARY AND THE PLACE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE. — That is between the court of Israel, which was sacred, as being the temple of the people, "and the place of the common people," that is of the Gentiles, which was profane, or, as Maldonatus says, "the place of the common people," that is the city, so that this wall would divide the sacred place from the Gentiles, and from the city. He declares the use of the wall, that it surrounded the temple on all sides for this purpose, to distinguish and separate the sacred place from the profane. For whatever was within that wall was sacred: whence it is sometimes called the temple, as when Christ is said to have cast the buyers and sellers out of the temple, John 2:15: for He was not in the temple, that is in the Holy Place, but in this outer enclosure, namely the court, not of the priests, but of the laity. So Maldonatus.
Mystical Exposition of the Entire Structure of Ezekiel from Lyra.
Lyra, at the end of his Commentary on Ezekiel, notes that St. Gregory in his mystical exposition of this temple, which I reviewed in chapter XL, takes the same thing through various and different meanings. For both by the mountain upon which the Prophet was led, he understands Christ, and by the man measuring the building, likewise by the gate, and many other things he understands the same Christ. For it is more fitting, says Lyra, that the vision be explained if different things are understood by the different parts and likenesses. Wherefore he, applying different things to different elements individually, explains this entire structure described from chapter XL up to here as follows:
"In the Church," he says, "which is the congregation of the faithful, there is a twofold kingdom. One with respect to spiritual things, and this is designated by the building of the temple; the other with respect to temporal things, and this is designated by the division of the land and the building of the city near the end of the book; yet both kingdoms are from God. Therefore I say with Blessed Gregory, as to this, that by the mountain on which the Prophet is said to have been placed above, in chapter XL, Christ is understood, of whom it is written in Daniel 2: The stone which had struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth: which is explained of Christ by the Hebrew and Latin doctors. Upon this mountain the Church is founded, just as He Himself says in Matthew 16: Upon this rock I will build My Church, that is upon Me, and this with respect to the twofold governance of the Church mentioned above. And as is clear from the preceding, first we must deal with the spiritual building, because the temple itself is first described in the preceding: about whose building a triple wall is described, namely outer, middle and inner. By the outer wall which surrounds all the buildings, is understood the divine protection or guardianship embracing all things; about which wall it is said, Isaiah 26: The city of our strength is Zion, the Savior shall be placed in it as a wall, etc. By the middle wall is understood the angelic guardianship or protection, which is included under the divine, whence it is said, Psalm 124: Mountains round about it, that is Angels, as the Gloss says
of the Augustinian type, who are around the Church in the manner of a wall. By the inner wall, which is of lesser circumference, is understood the human protection or guardianship through the prelates of the Church and their ministers, which is of lesser efficacy than the Angelic. About this wall against bad prelates it is said above in chapter XIII: You have not set yourselves as a wall for the house of the Lord. Within these walls there is entrance from three parts, by which are understood the three parts of the habitable earth, Asia, Africa and Europe, from which many have entered the Church through the reception of the Faith and the Sacraments, and are entering at present, and will enter in the future. About these three parts of the earth it is said in Jeremiah 22: Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. From which three parts of the earth many heard the word of the Apostles and other disciples of Christ with the effect of believing. From each of the three said parts there are three gates in the three walls looking at each other from opposite sides: by which are signified three degrees or states of those coming to the faith, namely beginners, who are designated by the outer or first gate; those advancing, who are signified by the middle or second; the perfect, who are designated by the third or inner. About these gates it is said in Psalm 86: The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. By the tabernacles of Jacob is understood the state or degree of the faithful in the time of the Mosaic law, by the gates of Zion the state or degree of the faithful in the time of the Evangelical law, which is called the law of love, while the old law is the law of fear: for which reason the gates of Zion are rightly called beloved.
In the outer gates there are no great buildings, but only small structures built upon them, as was said above: by which is designated that the state of beginners is still notably imperfect. But in the middle and inner gates there are beautiful buildings, to designate that those advancing and the perfect have greater perfection; the perfect already in act, those advancing in a potency close to act, to designate which the ascent to the middle gates is only through seven steps, but to the inner or third gates the ascent is through eight steps.
Moreover each of the six gates has a vestibule, a portico, two fronts, and six chambers. By the vestibule preceding the portico is understood prevenient grace, about which it is said in Psalm 58: His mercy shall come before me. For God's mercy and His grace are the same. By the portico is understood subsequent grace, about which it is said in Psalm 22: His mercy shall follow me. Or alternatively it can be said that by the vestibule and the portico are designated good will and holy action, about which Augustine says on John: The willing shall precede, the accomplishing shall follow.
By the two fronts, which are for the decoration and strength of the gates (for which reason they were made in the manner of two small towers on each side of each gate), is designated patience in adversity, which stabilizes a person lest he be broken by impatience: and modesty in prosperity, which holds a person lest he be elevated by pride. About these two small towers it is said in Psalm 121: Let there be peace in your strength, and abundance in your towers; for through patience in adversity and through modesty in prosperity, the abundance of all divine benefits in us is acquired and preserved.
By the chambers, in which men sleep and rest, is understood peace. Whence Psalm 4: In peace, in the self-same, I will sleep and rest. But there is a twofold peace, namely internal and fraternal; therefore the chambers are said to be on this side and that on each side of the gate, and three on one side, because three things make internal peace. The first is a clean conscience, Sirach 44: Men rich in virtue, having the study of beauty, making peace in their houses, that is in their own consciences. The second is divine friendship. Augustine, in the Confessions: Our heart is restless, O Lord, until it rests in You. And Psalm 118: Much peace to those who love Your law, which is the law of divine love. The third is modest sufficiency, through which one is content with what he has, and thus at peace within himself; about which can be explained what is said in Matthew 5: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. For such children of God in a way resemble God, who needs nothing outside Himself, but is most sufficient unto Himself.
Similarly on the other side of the gate there are three chambers, because three things make fraternal peace. The first is true humility, which is so peaceable that it makes one dwell peacefully with his opposite: and this is special to this virtue; for the chaste man does not dwell peacefully with the lustful, nor the just man with the wicked: but the humble man dwells peacefully with the proud, because just as the proud man wants to dominate, so the truly humble man wants to be subject, and thus each has what he seeks, and consequently is at rest. Therefore it is said in Psalm 119: With those who hated peace, I was peaceable, that is with the proud, of whom it is said in Proverbs 13: Among the proud there are always quarrels. The second is just equity, without which no society can be peaceable, as is evident from a band of robbers, who are adversaries of justice: for unless they divided the spoils justly among themselves, discord would immediately arise among them; therefore it is said in Isaiah 32: The work of justice shall be peace. The third is due silence, which keeps the mouth closed, lest it burst forth in words sowing discord. Whence by contrast it is said in Sirach 28: The whisperer and the double-tongued is accursed, for he shall trouble many who have peace.
About each of the said chambers it can be said what is written in Deuteronomy 33: The most beloved of the Lord shall dwell confidently in Him, as in a chamber he shall abide all the day: for he who truly loves God, abides constantly in the said chambers. After the exposition of the gates we must proceed to the exposition of the treasuries, which are described above as being around the eastern pavement, and are said to be 30, by which is designated the fulfillment of the ten commandments, necessary in three times, namely the time of the law of nature, and the time of the Mosaic law, and the time of the Evangelical law. And the number ten multiplied by three produces thirty. And they are well called treasuries from gaza (treasure) and phylake (to guard): for by the fulfillment of the ten commandments the riches of virtue are preserved.
After the exposition of the treasuries follows the exposition of the tables, which are said above to be eight: by which are designated four parts of the Old Testament and four of the New, from which as from spiritual tables the whole Christian people is nourished, according to what is said in Deuteronomy 8: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That the Old Testament is divided into four parts I said more fully at the beginning of Genesis. For it is divided into legal, historical, prophetical and sapiential books. And similarly the New Testament is divided. For to the legal books correspond the Gospels, to the historical the Acts of the Apostles, to the sapiential the Epistles of Paul and the canonical Epistles, and to the prophetical the Apocalypse. About each of the said tables it can be said what is written in Proverbs 9: Wisdom has built herself a house, she has hewn out seven pillars, she has slain her victims, she has mingled her wine, and set forth her table. For Sacred Scripture is the table of wisdom.
After the exposition of the tables follows the exposition of the inner court, in which according to the Hebrews four things are placed, namely the altar of holocausts, the treasuries of the weekly priests, and the treasuries of the weekly singers, and the passage of waters beside the altar. And since the building of the spiritual Church does not consist only in morals and nourishment from the table of Sacred Scripture, but also in Sacraments; therefore by the altar of holocausts is understood the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in which daily the Lamb who takes away sins is immolated, whence Augustine says in the Book of Prosper's Sentences: Christ was once immolated in Himself, and yet He is daily immolated in the Sacrament, inasmuch as
through this Sacrament we daily become partakers of the fruit of the Lord's Passion. Whence also in a certain Sunday secret prayer it is said: As often as the commemoration of this sacrifice is celebrated, the work of our redemption is accomplished. About this altar it is said in Hebrews 13: We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no power to eat, that is those observing the ceremonies of the old law. And since the Sacrament of the Eucharist must be confected with divine praises, therefore near the altar, namely in the inner court, are placed the treasuries of the weekly priests, and likewise of the singers: by which are designated the merits of those celebrating, and those ministering to them. By the waters flowing out of the temple and running past the side of the altar is signified the Sacrament of Baptism, about which it is said in Joel 3: A fountain shall go forth from the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns. Moreover these waters are said to flow out of the temple: by which temple are signified the two principal articles of our faith, namely the article of the Holy Trinity, and the article of the incarnation, as will be said more fully later: because baptism according to the common form of the Church is conferred in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, according to what is said in Matthew, the last chapter: Going, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And because in the primitive Church it was conferred in the name of Christ, as is found in the Acts of the Apostles in many places, which is the name of the Person in whom the divine and human natures are united.
About these two Sacraments Ezekiel the prophet speaks especially, because they are in a special way Sacraments of the new law, inasmuch as Christ Himself instituted them, and used them Himself, and this is clear about the Sacrament of Baptism in the four Gospels, with respect to both, namely institution and use; and similarly about the Sacrament of the Eucharist, with respect to its institution. But with respect to its use, this is not found expressly in the Gospels, but the common
through the portico there is entrance to the other parts, and therefore by it is understood the article of the unity of the divine essence, and the article of His providence with respect to the rewarding of good and the punishment of evil. For faith in these articles has always been necessary for salvation, and is the first step toward believing the others; whence it is said in Hebrews 11: For he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. By the Holy of Holies is understood the article of the Holy Trinity according to the three dwelling-places, one above another existing therein. For although there is no proper superiority or inferiority there; yet the Son is from the Father and the Holy Spirit from both: and according to this Hilary says that authority is in the Father, and subordinate authority in the Son. By the part of the temple which is called the Holy Place is understood the article of the blessed incarnation, through which natures are united in the Person of the Son, namely the divine nature, the rational soul, and the most pure flesh of Christ: which is signified by the three dwelling-places existing one above another. For the divine nature is higher than the soul, and the soul higher than the flesh. About these two parts of the temple it can be understood what is said in Apocalypse 21: And I saw no temple in it, namely a material one; because according to that last mode of exposition, by the vision of Ezekiel no material building is understood, but only a spiritual one; therefore it follows in the same place: For the Lord God Almighty, three in Persons, is its temple, with respect to the Holy of Holies; and the Lamb, that is the incarnate Son, with respect to that part of the temple which is called the Holy Place." So Lyra.
I explained these things differently with Ribera on Exodus 26, at the beginning, namely that the court signifies penitents; whence in it was the basin of penance and the altar of holocausts on which victims are slain, that is the senses and desires are mortified: the Holy Place signifies the just: the Holy of Holies the blessed, etc.; and this seems more fitting. Lyra continues:
"By the pillars of the temple are signified the miracles
of cold, on account of which the northern building signifies the gift of filial fear: for fear is productive of chilling and trembling, as is evident to the senses. But it was said above that in these two buildings is the habitation of the priests, because priests ought to be in continual fear lest they offend God, and in the fervor of love, so that they may devoutly serve Him. About these northern and southern buildings can be applied what is written in Song of Songs 4: Arise, north wind, and come, south wind, blow through my garden, and let its aromas flow. For through the spirit of fear and love, the aromas of charisms flow in the garden of the Church Militant. By the four small courts can be understood the four cardinal virtues, about which courts it is said in Psalm 83: One day in Your courts is better than a thousand. For to abide in the exercise of the cardinal virtues is best. By the kitchens or cooking places can be understood the doctors of Sacred Scripture
devoted, who by their meditations cook the food of Sacred Scripture so that others may be nourished from it, according to Psalm 38: My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall burn. But these kitchens are situated in the small courts, because doctors of sacred eloquence must first be trained in the four cardinal virtues. For it is said in Ethics I that the one who is a follower of passions is not a fitting hearer of moral philosophy; and much less is he a fitting hearer of theology; and still much less a fitting teacher of it, on account of which in the doctors of Sacred Scripture prior exercise in the moral virtues is required: whence the Philosopher says in Physics VII that by sitting still the soul becomes knowing and prudent; because by calming the disturbances of the passions, and resting from their impulses, which is done through the exercise of the moral virtues, knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures is acquired."