(a) _The Holy Place_, 20 cubits in length and 10 in height and width, was divided from the _Holy of Holies_ by a veil of the most costly materials and the most splendid colours. Without any opening to admit the light from above, it was illumined only by a _Golden Lamp_ or _Candlestick_, with _seven_ lights, fed with pure olive oil, kept burning day and night, and trimmed each morning by a priest with golden snuffers, who carried away the snuff in golden dishes. From the base, on which the lamp rested, rose a shaft dividing itself on either side into three branches, so that it had seven arms, each adorned with calyxes of almond flowers, apples, and buds of pomegranates or lilies (Ex. xxv. 31; xxxvii. 17–25; Heb. ix. 2). Opposite the Golden Lamp was the _Table of Shewbread_ (Ex. xxv. 23–29), made of acacia-wood, overlaid with gold, 2 cubits in length, 1 in breadth, and 1½ in height, and standing on 4 feet. It had a border to prevent the loaves from falling off, and was furnished with rings and staves for removal. Belonging to it were cups or spoons for incense, bowls for wine, dishes for bringing and removing the loaves, all of gold. These loaves, called also _bread of the face_, being set _before the face of the Lord_ (Levit. xxiv. 5–9), were twelve in number, according to the number of the tribes. Baked of the finest meal, flat and thin, they were placed every Sabbath on the Table in 2 rows, 6 in each, and sprinkled with incense, and accompanied with libations of wine in the golden bowls. Here they remained till the next Sabbath, when they were taken away and replaced by twelve fresh loaves, and eaten by the priests[78] in the Holy Place, out of which they might not be carried, the frankincense having been burnt as an oblation on the Altar of Sacrifice. Between the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lamp and immediately before[79] the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was the _Golden Altar of Incense_ (Ex. xxx. 1–11). Made of acacia-wood, in shape a square, 1 cubit in length and breadth and 2 in height, and ornamented round the middle with a golden wreath, it was furnished, like the Altar of Burnt-offering, with horns, rings, and staves; but unlike it was wholly overlaid with _gold_. On it incense, carefully prepared of four different ingredients (Ex. xxx. 34–38), was placed by the officiating priest morning and evening, with live coals taken from the Altar of Burnt-offering, that the smoke of the incense might perpetually ascend before the Lord. Once a year its horns were sprinkled with the blood of the sin-offering of the Atonement, and on no other occasion, except when a sin-offering was presented for the High-priest or the congregation.