6. What Its Dimensions Were
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
chifdren of God. l9 Therefore, while Ornan still held sway in this city it was called Jebus, but when he sold the site of his threshing-floor together with his oxen and threshing-sledges to king David, it took the name Jerusalem because the gentiles who still persisted in their obstinacy were trampled upon as worthless and contemptible by the wicked spirits; but when they learned to sell all they had and offer it to the true king they could no longer be trampled upon by the demons and vices, but were given a greater share of inner peace which they possessed with their creator.
6. WHAT ITS DIMENSIONS WERE
6.1 (6:2) And the house which king Solomon built to the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.' The length of the house stands for the long endurance of the holy Church, whercby in thc exile of this sojourn of endurance she bears with all adversities until she reaches her country which she looks forward to.2
The breadth suggests the charity whereby she is happy to open wide the bosom of her soul and for God's sake to show her love not only to her friends in God but also to her enemies until the time comes when either they are converted to her peace or else are completely dead and she rejoices with her friends alone in God.3 The height denotes the hope of a future reward in view of which she gladly despises all things here below whether attractive or trying, until, having risen above both, she merits to see the good things of the Lord in the land ofthe living4 Hence the length of the house is fittingly expressed by the figure of sixty cubits. For the number six whereby the world was made,5 conventionally denotes the perfection of good works.6 And it is necessary that we should endure the trials of our sojourn with forbearance so that we may deservedly be able to enter the promised land of good works when it appears. The breadth is determined by the number twenty because of the twofold dimension of the same
" MI 5:9
I .
' cf. Greg., Horn. in Ezech. PL 76:957C; 963A-B infra 22.3 ** infra 9.3 * * Ps26:13 cf. Gn 1 3 1 supra 3.4 **
BOOK ONE
charity wherewith we love both God and neighb~ur;~ the height is determined by the number thirty because of belief in the holy Trinity which is one God in the vision of whom all our hopes and desires
/Z6Z/ have their fulfilment. So six has to do with the perfection of the work, two with the love of God and neighbour, and three with the hope of the vision of God. Each number is rightly multiplied by ten because it is only through faith and the observance of the decalogue of the law that our patience gets salutary exercise or our charity bums profitably or our hope is rapt aloft to yearn for the things of eternity.
Here it must be noted that the thirty cubits of height did not reach as far as the roof of the temple but as far as the lower supper-room.
For in the Book of Paralipomenon it is clearly written that the height was a hundred and twenty cubits.* It will be more appropriate to treat of the mysteries of this matter in what follows, where the course of the reading takes us as far as the middle and third supper-r~om.~
6.2 (6:3) The portico in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. The same is not written about this in the Book of Paralipomenon: The portico in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits longlo It is obvious, therefore, that this portico was built on the east side of the temple. For the temple faced eastwards just as the tabernacle did, and had the vestibule door on the east opposite the temple door according to what Josephus the Jewish historian quite explicitly tells us, so that the equinoctial sunrise could shed its rays directly on the ark of the covenant through the three doors, namely, that of the portico, the temple and the oracle." But because the temple designates the holy Church, what could be more aptly typified by the portico which was in front of the temple and used to be the first to receive the light of the sun than that part of it which preceded the times of the Lord's incarnation?I2 And in it are the patriarchs and prophets who were the first to welcome thc sun rising on this world and bore witness by their lives and preaching, their infra 9.3 * * * 2 Paralip 3:4 infra 8.2 * * lo 2 Paralip 3:4 l 1 cf. Josephus Ant. 8.3.2 l2 infra 11.3 **
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
birth and even their death, to the Lord who was born in the flesh.
The reason why the door of the temple is the Lord is that no one comes to the Father except through him,13 and as he says elsewhere,
I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved.14 The door of the portico is prophetic speech which led as if by a straight path those going in at the door of the temple by the grace of the Lord the saviour whereby he proclaimed that he was to redeem the world.
The whole structure of the portico, therefore, signifies the faithful of that time, but the door in the portico stands for the teachers who shone the light of life for the others and held the door open for them to enter into the presence of the Lord. And rightly was there one door because of the harmony of faith and love of the truth in all the saints. That is to say, this portico was twenty cubits long to correspond with the breadth of the temple, because, of course, the just of ancient times awaited with much patience and forbearance the time when the Lord would appear in the flesh and bring to the world the new grace of the Gospel though they themselves did not receive the promises but beheld and greeted them from a distance. By their length they equalled the breadth of the temple because through the forbearance of their devoted spirit they longed for the coming of the expansion of the Church in the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord15 for, although still separated in time from the mysteries of the Lord's incarnation, nevertheless by their faith and preaching they were very near. In the forefront of this most sacred portico were the blessed martyr, Abel, and Seth and Enos and the other just men of the world's beginning. On the other hand, in its inner sanctum and, as it were, near the mystical wall of the temple were placed the parents of the blessed forerunner of the Lord, Simeon and Anna and the others who, though they were privileged to see his birth, nevertheless were unable to get to hear his teaching and partake in his mysteries. And this portico was fittingly ten cubits wide because fine people such as these, even though they had not yet received the words or mysteries of the Gospel which were handed down by the Lord, nevertheless observed the precepts of the decalogue which they received with the perfect love of a heart which was open to the Lord. l 3 Jn 14:6 l 4 Jn 10:9 l 5 Rm 839