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The Holy Place
At its west side stood the sanctuary proper, comprising (from east to west)
the porch, the holy place, and the cubical holy of holies. Into the holy place
the priests entered to discharge various duties, in particular to offer incense
on the golden-incense altar, as Zechariah did on the occasion when an angel
appeared to him and announced the forth coming birth of his son John the Baptist
(Luke 1:8-23). No ordinary priest could hope that the lot for offering the
incense would fall to him on more than one day in his lifetime (if that); the day
when Zechariah received the angelic announcement was in any case the red-letter
day of his whole priestly career.
The above image is a photo of a model of the Second Temple based on the
reconstruction made by Professor Avi-Yonah, and is now in the Holy Land Hotel in
Jerusalem.
Inside the Holy Place there was the Porch, the Hall and the Holy of Holies, just as in Solomon’s Temple. The back wall of the porch was overlaid with gold and a golden lamp
was hung on it. In the center of the facade (face) was the main entrance, over
the top was hung a golden bunch of grapes.
The Porch
The only two pieces of furniture in the porch were the two tables, one of gold
and the other of marble, on which the showbread was placed. This entrance was
covered by a veil.
The Hall
In the Hall stood the Golden Altar, the Golden Table for the showbread, on
which were two frankincense cups and the Golden Lampstand.
The Veil
A double veil separated the Hall from the Holy of Holies, which only the High
Priest could access, once per year on the Day of Atonement. There was no
furniture at all in the Holy of Holies.