15. The Entrance Of The Oracle Or Temple
BOOK ONE
14.3 (6:30) And he also overlaid the floor of the house with gold both inside and outside. Inside and outside mean in the oracle and in the temple itself. Now we have said aboveg that the evenness of the floor denoted the humble harmony of the holy brotherhood where, though there are Jews and gentiles, barbarians and Scythians, freeborn and slaves, high-born and low-born,1° they all boast of being brothers in Christ, all boast of having the same Father who is in heaven, for no one may doubt the perfectly harmonious humility of the heavenly citizens. The reason why Solomon overlaid the floor of the house with gold inside and outside is that our king of peace" has filled the angels and the souls of the righteous in heaven perfectly and fully with the gift of love and has set apart the citizens of the same heavenly homeland who are in pilgrimage in this world from the baseness of the rest of mortals by the hallmark of love, saying,
By this shall all know that you are my disciples, ifyou have love one for another:
15. THE ENTRANCE OF THE ORACLE OR TEMPLE
15 (6:31-32) And in the entrance to the oracle he made little doors of olive-wood and five-cornered posts and two doors of olive-wood.
As regards the first part of his statement, namely, he made little doors of olive-wood, he seems to have wanted to explain this more clearly when he added: and two doors of olive-wood. For there was one entrance to the oracle but this entrance was closed by two doors and was opened again when they were unlocked, just as the temple and the portico before the temple no longer had an entrance, which gives rise to a certain mystery because (since there is) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God,' we must hope for one entrance into the present Church after baptism and one entrance into the heavenly lungdom through works of faith. For that the oracle had one entrance is attested by the fact that further on it is written of the ark And as the shafts protruded, the ends of them were seen outside the sanctuary supra 9.1 ** lo cf. Col3:lI l1 cf. 1 Paralip 22:9 l 2 Jn 13:35
Ep4:5-6
BEDE: O N THE TEMPLE
in front of the oracle, but were not to be seen further out. Here, unless I am mistaken, it is clearly shown that there was one entrance to the oracle and this was made opposite the ark which was in the middle of this oracle. And the little doors of this entrance can be interpreted in many different ways. For as well as designating very aptly the angelic spirits by whose assistance we are introduced into the dwelling of our heavenly homeland, they equally prefigure the apostles and apostolic men to whom were given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and who, by the power of binding and loosing received from the Lord,3 both admit the worthy ones inside the gates of the hngdom, and debar by excommunication or anathema the stubborn, the unclean and the arrogant from entering eternal life. The works of righteousness also, whereby one merits to attain the heavenly kingdom can rightly be typified by the gates through which one entered the Holy of Holies according to what is written in the Book of Wisdom: And giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality, and immortality brings one near to God; so the desire for wisdom leads to an everlasting kingdom.4
In harmony with all this is the fact that these doors were made of olive-wood, because, of course, both angels and perfect human beings prove themselves glorious in the house of God by the fruit of mercy and the works of light. Indeed all the elect open for themselves a way to the heavenly homeland by the armour of light and godliness.
[286] Now the reason why there are two little doors is either that angels and holy people alike love the Lord and their neighbours, and no one can enter the gate of life except through this twofold love, or that this gate of life is unlocked to the faithful of both peoples, i.e.
Jews and gentiles. They have five-cornered posts because the court of heaven not only admitted the souls of the elect but also opened its doors to bodies endowed in the judgement with immortal glory. For there are five senses of our body which we mentioned above,5 sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, or if you like, each of the two posts of the oracle was five cubits, because the entrance to the heavenly homeland lay open only to those who strove to serve the Lord with all the senses of their body and heart: that is, of their body, when they do something for him through these senses, and of their heart
3 K a:a cf. MI 16:19
Ws6:19-21 supra 8.4 **; 13.7 * *