Court

an entrance into a palace or house (See House.) The great courts belonging to the temple of Jerusalem were three; the first called the court of the Gentiles, because the Gentiles were allowed to enter so far, and no farther; the second was the court of Israel, because all the Israelites, provided they were purified, had a right of admission into it; the third was that of the priests, where the altar of burnt-offerings stood, where the priests and Levites exercised their ministry. Common Israelites, who were desirous of offering sacrifices, were at liberty to bring their victims as far as the inner part of the court; but they could not pass a certain line of separation, which divided it into two; and they withdrew as soon as they had delivered their sacrifices and offerings to the priests, or had made their confession with the ceremony of laying their hands upon the head of the victim, if it were a sin-offering. Before the temple was built, there was a court belonging to the tabernacle, but not near so large as that of the temple, and encompassed only with pillars, and veils hung with cords.

An enclosed space or yard within the limits of an oriental house, 2Sa 17:18 . For the courts of the temple, see TEMPLE. The tabernacle also had a court. All oriental houses are built in the form of a hollow spare around a court. See HOUSE.\par

Court. (Hebrew, chatser). An open enclosure surrounded by buildings, applied, in the Authorized Version, most commonly to the enclosures of the Tabernacle and the Temple. Exo 27:9; Exo 40:33; Lev 6:16; 1Ki 6:36; 1Ki 7:8; 2Ki 23:12; 2Ch 33:5, etc.

an open enclosure, applied in, the A.V. most commonly to the enclosures of the Tabernacle and the Temple. 1. The Hebrew word invariably used for the former is חָצֵר, chatser’, from. חָצִר, to surround (Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 512). (See, e.g., Exo 27:9 to xl, 33; Lev 6:16; Num 3:26, etc.) The same word is also most frequently used for the “courts” of the Temple, as 1Ki 6:36; 1Ki 7:8; 1Kings 23:12; 1 Chronicles 33:5; Psa 92:13, etc. SEE TABERNACLE; SEE TEMPLE. The same word is very often employed for the enclosures of the “villages” of Palestine, and under the form of Hazer or Hazor (q.v.) frequently occurs in the names of places in the A. V. SEE VILLAGE. It also designates the court of a prison (Neh 3:25; Jer 32:2, etc.), of a private house (2Sa 17:18), and of a palace (2Ki 20:4; Est 1:5, etc.). In Isaiah 34:19, “court for owls,” the cognate חָצַיר, chatsir’, is found. 2. In 2Ch 4:9; 2Ch 6:13, however, a different word is employed, apparently, for the above sacred places oratoria עֲזָרָה, azarah, from a root of similar meaning. This word also occurs in Eze 43:14; Eze 43:17; Eze 43:20; Eze 45:19 (A. V. “settle”), but apparently with reference to the ledge or offset of the altar (q.v.) 3. In Amo 7:13, where the Hebrew word is בֵּית, beyth, a “house,” our translators, anxious to use a term applicable specially to a king’s residence, have put “court.” 4. In the Apocrypha αὐλή is rendered “court” with respect to the Temple (1Es 9:1; 1Ma 4:38; 1Ma 9:54), or the palace (1Ma 11:46), which latter is expressed also (1Ma 13:40) by a periphrasis (τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν). 5. In the N.T. the word αὐλή designates such an open court (as it is once rendered, Rev 11:2, referring to the temple; elsewhere “hall” or “palace”); and βασίλεια, a palace, is once (Luk 7:25) rendered “kings’ courts.” SEE PALACE.

The term תָּוְךְ, ta’vek (fully תּוֹךְ הִבִּיַת, middle of the house, 1Sa 4:6), also designates in Hebrew the quadrangular area in Eastern houses, denominated in the New Testament τὸ μέσον, the center or “midst” (Luk 5:19). This court is sometimes paved with marble of various kinds, and in the center there is usually a fountain, if the situation of the place admits of it. The court is generally surrounded on all sides, but sometimes only on one side, with a cloister or covered walk, called מוּסָךְ, musak’, over which, if the house have more than one story, is a gallery of the same dimensions, supported by columns. Large companies were received into the court on particular occasions (Est 1:5; Luk 5:19). At such times, a large veil of thick cloth was extended by ropes over the whole of the court, in order to exclude the heat of the sun. This veil or curtain of the area may be that termed in the New Testament στέγη, covering, or “roof” (Mar 2:4; Luk 7:6). SEE HOUSE.

COURT (αὐλή, translation ‘court’ in Rev 11:2, ‘sheepfold’ or ‘fold’ in Joh 10:1; Joh 10:16, and ‘palace’ [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘court’] in Mat 26:3; Mat 26:69 etc.).^{* [Note: ‘In kings’ courts’ of Luk 7:25 represents ἑν το͂ις βκσιλυοις [only occurrence of this Gr. word in NT].]} —The ‘court’ is an essential part of the typical Oriental house. The Eastern house represented on the monuments of Egypt and Assyria is much like that now found, and doubtless found in the time of Christ, in Palestine. It is built around an open square called ‘the court,’ into which each room opens, seldom one room into another. Sometimes the house has more than one ‘court,’ if the wealth or the official station of the owner warrants it.

In the richer private and public houses the ‘court’ is fitted up with great magnificence. In Damascus we find several courts connected with a single house, in some cases of rare richness and beauty. The houses of two or more storeys have chambers on each floor opening on to a common balcony running round the inside of the court, with a staircase in a corner of the court open to the sky. This type of ‘court’ is usually paved with marble or flagging, and has a well or fountain in the centre (2Sa 17:18), with orange and lemon trees and other shrubs around it. Some of them are planted with choice tropical trees, and the walls, verandahs, staircases, etc., are covered and adorned with creepers and vines of untold varieties.

In Mat 26:69 it is said that ‘Peter sat without, ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ,’ i.e. in the ‘court’ of the high priest’s house (Mat 26:58). It was during the trial of Jesus; and ‘without’ is used in contrast with an implied ‘within’—the interior of the audience-room in which Jesus was appearing before the authorities. Peter was not allowed into this room, but was out in the open air of the ‘court’; and this was ‘beneath’ (Mar 14:66), i.e. on a somewhat lower level than the audience-chamber.

The ‘court of the Gentiles,’ which was ‘without the temple’ (Rev 11:2), was on the lowest level or terrace of the Holy Mountain, and separated from the ‘Sanctuary’ or ‘Mountain of the House’ by a stone wall four or five feet high, called ‘the Soreg.’ All Gentiles were warned to remain outside of this sacred enclosure under penalty of death (cf. Act 21:28-29; Act 24:11; Act 26:21). See also artt. Door, House.

Geo. B. Eager.

COURT.—See House, § 2; Justice; Tabernacle; Temple.

kōrt. See HOUSE.

Psa 84:2-10 (b) This refers to the presence of the Lord in which the Christian delights to live. It also refers to the beautiful place CHRIST has gone to prepare for the eternal home of the soul.

Psa 92:13 (b) The term is used to describe the throne room of GOD where the believer presents petitions for himself and for others, and prospers in his heavenly ministry of prayer.