This was Jerusalem.
=Jerusalem.=--Compared with Babylon or Thebes, Jerusalem was a poor
capital. The Hebrews were not builders; their religion prevented them
from raising temples; the houses of individuals were shaped like cubes
of rock which may be seen today on the sides of Lebanon in the midst
of vines and fig-trees. But Jerusalem was the holy city of the
Hebrews. The king had his palace there--the palace of Solomon, who
astonished the Hebrews with his throne of ivory; Jehovah had his
temple there, the first Hebrew temple.
=The Tabernacle.=--The emblem of the covenant between God and Israel
was a great chest of cedar-wood furnished with rings of gold, which
contained the tables of the Law. This was borne before the people on
high feast-days; it was the Ark of the Covenant. To preserve this ark
and necessary objects of worship, Moses is said to have made the
Tabernacle--a pavilion of wood covered with skins and hangings. It was
a portable temple which the Hebrews carried with them until they could
erect a true temple in the promised land.
=The Temple.=--The Temple of Jerusalem, built at last under Solomon,
was divided into three parts:
1.
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