Every category of structure, furniture, ritual, and human attendants is arrayed in a continuum, from the profane territory outside the sacred precinct, to the somewhat holy and pure character of the courtyard area with its bronze implements and its access to the public, to the holier and hence more pure and precious gold-adorned hêkāl, to which only certain priests had access, and finally to the inner sanctum, the place where God’s glory rests. The innermost room was the essence of holiness and thus off-limits to all but the chief priest, only once a year and only after he attained an
...more
