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[222]
Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that
was likely to surprise either men's minds or their eyes; for it was covered
all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising
of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced
themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would
have done at the sun's own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers,
when they were coming to it at a distance, like a mountain covered with
snow; for as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding
white. On its top it had spikes with sharp points, to prevent any pollution
of it by birds sitting upon it. Of its stones, some of them were forty-five
cubits in length, five in height, and six in breadth. Before this temple
stood the altar, fifteen cubits high, and equal both in length and breadth;
each of which dimensions was fifty cubits. The figure it was built in was
a square, and it had corners like horns; and the passage up to it was by
an insensible acclivity. It was formed without any iron tool, nor did any
such iron tool so much as touch it at any time. There was also a wall of
partition, about a cubit in height, made of fine stones, and so as to be
grateful to the sight; this encompassed the holy house and the altar, and
kept the people that were on the outside off from the priests. Moreover,
those that had the gonorrhea and the leprosy were excluded out of the city
entirely; women also, when their courses were upon them, were shut out
of the temple; nor when they were free from that impurity, were they allowed
to go beyond the limit before-mentioned; men also, that were not thoroughly
pure, were prohibited to come into the inner [court of the] temple; nay,
the priests themselves that were not pure were prohibited to come into
it also.
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