The tables. These were twelve in number, of which eight were used for slaughtering purposes, i.e. either for slaying the sacrifices or for laying upon them the carcasses of the slaughtered victims; and the remaining four for depositing thereon the instruments employed in killing the animals.
Of the eight, four stood within the porch of the gate, two on each side, and four without—two on the side as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate; rather, at the shoulder to one going up to the gate opening towards the north, i.
e. on the outside of the porch north wall; and two on the other side or shoulder, i.e. on the outside of the porch south wall. This determines the gate in question to have been, not the north gate, as the Authorized Version has conjectured, but the east gate, whose side walls looked towards the north and south.
The third quaternion of tables appears to have been planted at the steps, presumably two on' each side, i.e. if with Kliefoth, Keil, and Schroder, לָעוֹלָה be translated "at the ascent," or "going up," i.
e. at the staircase (comp. Ezekiel 40:26). If, however, with the Authorized and Revised Versions, Ewald, Hengstenberg, Smend, and others, לָעולָה be read "for the burnt offering," then the exact position of the tables is left undetermined, though in any case they must have been near the slaughtering-tables.
As they were designed for heavy instruments, they were constructed of hewn stones a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; from which it may be argued the eight previously mentioned were made of wood.