열왕기상 8:41의 유대 사상

Rav Yitzchak Abarbanel writes:²²Rav Yitzchak Abarbanel, Yechezkel 40:5. The first outer courtyard: Our Sages said that during the Second Beis HaMikdash, this courtyard was called “The Women’s Courtyard,” and they built a balcony for it. I saw in Christian sources that this first courtyard was designated for non-Jews who come to pray in the House of God, as Shlomoh said in his prayer,²³I Melachim 8:41; this prayer was recited at the dedication of the Beis HaMikdash. “And also a foreigner who is not of Your people will come….” There are grounds for those concepts in our sources, because our prophets have foretold that in the Future, many people shall go up to the mountain of God, to the House of the God of Yaakov²⁴Cf. Yeshayahu 2:3; Michah 4:1. to receive His Torah. Therefore, it is appropriate that there be an outer place dedicated for them, one that is furthest removed from holiness. Perhaps, this courtyard will also have a balcony for women, as our Sages taught. The women will then observe from above and the non-Jews will be in the courtyard below.

Nevertheless, the above concepts are not in contradiction with King’s Shlomoh’s prayer, “And also a foreigner who is not of Your people will come…,” since it can be explained that there was a place for non-Jews on the Temple Mount. That place, however, was before the Soreg.³¹Significantly, in 5632 (1871), an archeological expedition led by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau found a stone (seemingly from the Soreg) with an inscription forbidding non-Jews to enter beyond it. The stone is presently located in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. Such an inscription is also mentioned in Josephus’ Wars of the Jews.