² sn S. R. Driver suggests that they saw the divine Glory, not directly, but as they looked up from below, through what appeared to be a transparent blue sapphire pavement (<i>Exodusi>, 254).

² tn The meaning of the expression “mortar of the clay pavement” is uncertain. The noun translated “mortar” occurs only here, and the etymology is debated. Both BDB 572 s.v. <span class="hebrew">מֶלֶטspan> and KBL 529 s.v. <span class="hebrew">מֶלֶטspan> give the meaning “mortar.” The noun translated “clay pavement” is elsewhere used of a “brick mold.” Here BDB 527 s.v. <span class="hebrew">מַלְבֵּןspan> 2 gives “quadrangle,” and KBL 527 s.v. <span class="hebrew">מַלְבֵּןspan> 2 gives “terrace of bricks.” <i>HALOTi> 558 s.v. <span class="hebrew">מֶלֶטspan> and <span class="hebrew">מַלְבֵּןspan> 2 gives “loamy soil” for both words, seeing the second noun as a dittography or gloss of the first (see also note c in <i>BHSi>).

² sn The precise location of the place called <i>‘The Stone Pavement’i> is still uncertain, although a paved court on the lower level of the Fortress Antonia has been suggested. It is not certain whether it was laid prior to <span class="smcaps">a.d.span> 135, however.