Was the Mercy Seat ever cleaned?

[Jig]

During the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would place the blood of the sacrifice on top of the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies. It is my understanding this is the ONLY time when someone actually entered into this area. My question is: Was this blood ever cleaned up? Or was the Mercy Seat continually adding on layers of dried blood annually? Wouldn't this end up becoming rancid if left unattended?

This ruins my mental image of a beautiful lid with perfect well-crafted golden cherubim. This thing was probably gross and putrid.

 

[Jig]

I re-posted this in another forum (GT). If you are a mod, feel free to delete this thread.

New thread is here: http://www.christianforums.com/t7512757/

 

[Codger]

I found this to be a very interesting practical question. The mercy seat was only in the Tabernacle and Temple of Solomon before the captivity in Babylon. It was said that the Spirit of God was a light between the two Cheribim on the lid of the Arc. If any housekeeping were done I am sure that God did it himself. Only the high priest was allowed in there once per year and there is no mention of any housekeeping being done.

In the Temple of Herod there was an identical sized room above the Holy of Holies used for maintenance. Small wooden elevators were placed around the wall so workmen could be lowered down into the Holy of Holies once every 7 years to do any maintenance. However they were positioned so they could only see the wall of the H of H. The Ark was not present in the Temple of Herod being traditionally hidden by Jeremiah in a cave on Mt. Nebo - never to be found again.

 

[Jig]

I found this to be a very interesting practical question. The mercy seat was only in the Tabernacle and Temple of Solomon before the captivity in Babylon. It was said that the Spirit of God was a light between the two Cheribim on the lid of the Arc. If any housekeeping were done I am sure that God did it himself. Only the high priest was allowed in there once per year and there is no mention of any housekeeping being done.

In the Temple of Herod there was an identical sized room above the Holy of Holies used for maintenance. Small wooden elevators were placed around the wall so workmen could be lowered down into the Holy of Holies once every 7 years to do any maintenance. However they were positioned so they could only see the wall of the H of H. The Ark was not present in the Temple of Herod being traditionally hidden by Jeremiah in a cave on Mt. Nebo - never to be found again.

This is interesting information, can you please list a source for it? I'd like to follow up on it. Thanks.

 

[Codger]

This is interesting information, can you please list a source for it? I'd like to follow up on it. Thanks.

About the elevators? It comes from the Mishnah. I'll have to look it up when I get time. Give me a day or two.

Larry

 

[Codger]

I found the reference. It is in the Artscroll commentary on the Mishna. Keep in mind that this commentary centers around the Mishnah but also adds in a lot of material from other credible Jewish sources.

If you are interesting in reading the details of the operation of the Temple I would invest in the Artscroll volume which contains the Tractates of Tamid; Middos; and Kinnim. The first two are the details of the Temple operation. Kinnim is about bird sacrifiices, which I couldn't get interested in. There are about 45 volumes in this commentary so it is almost exhaustive.

What I quoted was from the commentary of Middos Chapter 4 part 5. The little elevators were called "Crates" which were three sided.