Miscellanies 6.11.87

The ratios contained in them are sixfold, as three hundred to fifty; tenfold, as three hundred is ten times thirty; and one and two-thirds, for fifty is one and two-thirds of thirty. There are some who say that the three hundred cubits are a symbol of the Lord's sign; the fifty, of hope and of the forgiveness at Pentecost; and the thirty, or, as in some sources, twelve, they report as signifying the preaching, because the Lord preached in his thirtieth year and the apostles were twelve; and that the structure is finished off in one cubit because the progress of the righteous man ends in the unit and in the unity of the faith. The table in the temple was six cubits, and its four feet a cubit and a half each. So they make twelve cubits in all, in keeping with the revolution of the twelve months in the yearly cycle, in which the earth, adapting itself to the four seasons, brings all things forth and to maturity. The table, I think, shows an image of the earth, resting on four feet, summer, autumn, spring, and winter, through which the year makes its way. That is why it says that the table has twisted wave-mouldings: either because all things revolve in the cycles of the seasons, or perhaps it indicated the earth encircled by the ocean.