Lishkas Ha'eitzim - Chamber of the Wood

The Lumber used for the service of the Beis Hamikdosh (i.e. for the altar and the "Beis Hamoked") was stored in this room.

In addition, elderly priest (or priests otherwise unfit for the temple service) would examine the wood for worms here. If any were found, the wood would be deemed unfit for temple use. [Rotting wood would also be disposed of.]

The Talmud records the following incident:s It once happened that priests were sitting and sorting wood in this Chamber, when one of them noticed that a floor tile was loose. He realized that this led to the secret tunnel in which the Holy Ark was hidden.

[The Ark had been hidden during the time of Yeshayahu (Josiah) towards the end of the First Temple era. When the Jews returned from the seventy-year exile, the Ark could not be found. Tradition says that there was to be no Ark during the Second Temple era.]

The priest, who had discovered the hidden place of the Ark, sought to crack open the tile with his hatchet, when suddenly fire issued forth and consumed him. This was taken as an omen that the Ark should remain hidden.