Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/245

 Bk. II. Ch. VI. TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM. 213 Semitic nations, it was more in the character of a shrine or of a treasury intended to contain certain precious works in metal. The principal ornaments of its fayade were two brazen pillars, Jachin and Boaz, which seem to have been wonders of metal work, aud resrardino; which more has been written, and it may be added, more nonsense, than regarding- almost any other known architectural objects. The trutli of the matter ai)i)ears to l»e that the translators of our Bibles in no instance were architects, and none of the architects who have attempted the restoration were learned as Hebrew scholars; and consequently the truth has fallen to the ground between the two. A brazen pillar, however, 18 cubits high and 12 cubits in circumfer- ence — 6 ft. in diameter — is an absurdity that no brass-founder ever could have perpetrated. In the Hebrew, the 15th verse reads: "He V. 1 l.ii;. .Soiith-Kust iev of the Tabenuicle, as restored by the Autbor. cast two ]iillars of brass, 18 cubits was the height of the one pillar, and a line of 12 cubits encom])assed the other pillar." ^ The truth of the matter seems to be that what Solomon erected was a screen (chapiter) consisting of two parts, one 4 cubits, the other 5 cubits in height, and sui)ported by two pillars of metal, certainly not more than 1 cubit in diameter, and standing 12 cubits apart : nor does it seem difficult to perceive what purpose this screen was designed to effect. As will be observed, in the restoration of the Tabernacle (Woodcut Xo. 106), the whole of the light to the interior is admitted from the front. In the Temple the only light that could penetrate to the Holy of Holies was from the front also ; and though the Holy place was jxartially lighted from the sides, its principal source of light must have been through the 1 "Speaker's Commentaiy on the Bible," vol. ii. p. 520; note on verse 15, chap. vii. 1 Kings.