Temple of Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or the Holy Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש, transliterated Bet HaMikdash) was built in ancient Jerusalem in c. 10th century B.C.E. and subsequently rebuilt several times. It was the center of Israelite Jewish worship, primarily for the offering of sacrifices known as the korbanot. It was located on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. It was the center of ancient Judaism and has remained as a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia.

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Temple was built by Solomon. It replaced the Tabernacle of Moses.

File:Secondtempleplan.jpg

A drawing of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem

Etymology

The English language word Temple is derived from the Latin word for place of worship, templum. The name given in Scripture for the building was Beit Adonai or "House of God" (although this name was also often used for other temples, or metaphorically). Because of the prohibition against pronouncing the holy name, the common Hebrew name for the Temple is Beit HaMikdash or "The Holy House", and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name.

First and Second Temples

A model of the Temples.

As many as five distinct temples stood in succession on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:

• King David's Altar was the first construction on the site of the temple. Second Samuel 24:18-24 only describes a sacrificial altar on the temple site, but it is possible that some preliminary version of a temple was already functioning at the time of David's death, before Solomon's construction began.
• Solomon's Temple, was built in approximately the 10th century B.C.E. to replace the Tabernacle. It was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.E.
• The Second Temple was built after the return from the Babylonian Captivity, around 536 B.C.E. (completed on March 12, 515 B.C.E.). This Temple was desecrated by the Roman general Pompey, when he entered it after taking Jerusalem in 63 B.C.E. According to Josephus, Pompey did not remove anything from the temple or its treasury.
• Herod's Temple was a massive rebuilding of the Second Temple including turning the entire Temple Mount into a giant square platform. Herod the Great began his expansion project around 19 B.C.E., dismantling the Second Temple in order to build a larger, grander version. Herod's Temple was destroyed by Roman troops under general Titus in 70 C.E.
• During the Bar Kochba revolt in the c.135 C.E., and during the early part of the Sassanid Persian occupation of most of the Byzantine empire from 610 to 620 the Kohanim priesthood began anew the temple service, including animal sacrifice, and small buildings were erected. However, these two temples are hypothetical, and their existence is contested.

By custom, Herod's Temple is not called the "Third Temple" because the Kohanim priesthood kept the animal sacrifices and other ceremonials (korbanot) going without interruption during the entire reconstruction project.

While Herod's temple itself was subsequently destroyed, the mammoth Temple Mount platform complex still exists and currently supports the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques.

Solomon's Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש, transliterated Beit HaMikdash), also known as the First Temple, was, according to the Bible, the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. It functioned as a religious focal point for worship and the sacrifices known as the korbanot in ancient Judaism. Completed in the 10th century B.C.E., it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.

File:Christian-van-adrichom JERVSALEM-et-suburbia-eius detail-solomon-temple 1-1497x1000.jpg

Artist depiction of the Temple (Drawing by Christian van Adrichom (1584).)

Biblical account of the Temple's construction

Building materials

Before his death, King David had provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chronicles 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chronicles 3:1), where he had purchased a threshing floor from Araunah the Jebusite (2 Sam. 24:21 et seq.), on which he offered sacrifice.

The Bible states that in the beginning of his reign, King Solomon of the united Kingdom of Israel, set about giving effect to the ideas of his father, and prepared additional materials for the building. From subterranean quarries at Jerusalem he obtained huge blocks of stone for the foundations and walls of the temple. These stones were prepared for their places in the building under the eye of Tyrian master-builders.

According to this account, Solomon also entered into a pact with Hiram I, king of Tyre, for the supply of whatever else was needed for the work, particularly timber from the forests of Lebanon, which was brought in great rafts by the sea to Joppa, whence it was dragged to Jerusalem (1 Kings 5).

According to tradition, Solomon also provided for a sufficient water supply for the temple by hewing in the rocky hill vast cisterns, into which water was conveyed by channels from the "pools" near Bethlehem. One of these cisterns, the "great sea," was capable of containing three million gallons. The overflow was led off by a conduit to the Kidron.

These accounts in the Bible are also the basis for much of the legend and lore of Freemasonry, which uses the construction of the Temple as a backdrop and metaphor for moral instruction.

Construction

A sketch of Solomon's Temple based on descriptions in the Tanakh.

According to tradition, in all these preparatory undertakings a space of about three years was occupied; and now the process of the erection of the great building began, under the direction of skilled Phoenician builders and workmen, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign. The building followed the Phoenician model, which makes the Bible's description an important source for historians regarding the layout of Phoenician temples, and vice versa. David provided Solomon with a large amount of gold and silver with which to build the temple. The Biblical account reports that this amounted to 100,000 talents (3,000 tons) of gold (an amount exceeding the current annual global production ^[1]) and 1,000,000 talents (30,000 tons) of silver^[2].

According to biblical tradition, many thousands of labourers and skilled artisans were employed in the work. Some of them were non-Israelite slaves—survivors of the wars of conquest in Canaan:

This was the purpose of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed: It was to build the House of the Lord ... All the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were not of the Israelite stock—those of their descendants who remained in the land and whom the Israelites were not able to annihilate—of these Solomon made a slave force, as is still the case. But he did not reduce any Israelites to slavery ... –I Kings 9:15-22a (1985 Jewish Publication Society Tanakh translation)

Stones prepared in the quarries underneath the city (1 Kings 5:17, 18) of huge dimension were gradually placed on the massive walls, and closely fitted together without any mortar between, till the whole structure was completed. The building was most likely 60 cubits (27 m) long, 20 cubits (9 m) wide, and 25 (in the Greek text) or 30 (in the Hebrew) cubits (14 m) high. According to another account, however, the temple was about 120 cubits high. This would have placed the structure at about 20 stories.

Completion

At length, in the Autumn of the eleventh year of his reign, seven and a half years after it had been begun, the temple was completed. For thirteen years there it stood, on the summit of Moriah, silent and unused. The reasons for this strange delay in its consecration are unknown. At the close of these thirteen years preparations for the dedication of the temple were made. The Temple remained empty for only eleven months, until the month of Tishri in the year following its completion. Thus the Temple was dedicated at the autumnal new-year festival.^[3]

Ark of the Covenant

According to biblical tradition, the Ark of the Covenant was solemnly brought from the tent in which David had deposited it to the place prepared for it in the temple. Then Solomon ascended a platform which had been erected for him, in the sight of all the people, and lifting up his hands to heaven poured out his heart to God in prayer (1 Kings 8; 2 Chr. 6, 7). The feast of dedication, which lasted seven days, followed by the feast of tabernacles, marked a new era in the history of Israel. On the eighth day of the feast of tabernacles, Solomon dismissed the vast assemblage of the people..

Description

File:Solomon'sTempleEast.png

Due to the extensive rebuilding of the Second Temple in later centuries, no remains of the First Temple are extant (however, certain remains from the First Temple have recently been discovered in the refuse from an extensive construction project performed on the Temple Mount by the Islamic Wakf in November of 1999); the detailed descriptions provided in the Tanakh and educated guesses based on the remains of other temples in the region are the sources for reconstructions of its appearance. Technical details are lacking, since the scribes who wrote down the books were not architects or engineers^[4]. Reconstructions differ; the following enumeration is largely based on Easton's Bible Dictionary and the Jewish Encyclopedia:

1. The Debir: the oracle or Most Holy Place (1 Kings 6:19; 8:6), called also the "inner house" (6:27), and the "Holy of Holies" (Heb. 9:3). It was 20 cubits in length, breadth, and height. The usual explanation for the discrepancy between its height and the 30-cubit height of the temple is that its floor was elevated, like the cella of other ancient temples^[5]. It was floored and wainscotted with cedar (1 Kings 6:16), and its walls and floor were overlaid with gold (6:20, 21, 30). It contained two cherubim of olive-wood, each 10 cubits high (1 Kings 6:16, 20, 21, 23-28) and each having outspread wings 10 cubits from tip to tip, so that, since they stood side by side, the wings touched the wall on either side and met in the center of the room. There was a two-leaved door between it and the holy place overlaid with gold (2 Chr. 4:22); also a veil of blue purple and crimson and fine linen (2 Chr. 3:14; compare Exodus 26:33). It had no windows (1 Kings 8:12). It was considered the dwelling-place of God.
2. The Hekal: the holy place, 1 Kings 8:8-10, called also the "greater house" (2 Chr. 3:5) and the "temple" (1 Kings 6:17); the word also means "palace"^[6]. It was of the same width and height as the Holy of Holies, but 40 cubits in length. Its walls were lined with cedar, on which were carved figures of cherubim, palm-trees, and open flowers, which were overlaid with gold. Chains of gold further marked it off from the Holy of Holies. The floor of the Temple was of fir-wood overlaid with gold. The door-posts, of olive-wood, supported folding-doors of fir. The doors of the Holy of Holies were of olive-wood. On both sets of doors were carved cherubim, palm-trees, and flowers, all being overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:15 et seq.)
3. The Ulam: the porch or entrance before the temple on the east (1 Kings 6:3; 2 Chr. 3:4; 9:7). This was 20 cubits long (corresponding to the width of the Temple) and 10 cubits deep (1 Kings 6:3). 2 Chr. 3:4 adds the curious statement (probably corrupted from the statement of the depth of the porch) that this porch was 120 cubits high, which would make it a regular tower. The description does not specify whether a wall separated it from the next chamber. In the porch stood the two pillars Jachin and Boaz (1 Kings 7:21; 2 Kings 11:14; 23:3), which were 18 cubits in height and surmounted by capitals of carved lilies, 5 cubits high.
4. The chambers, which were built about the temple on the southern, western, and northern sides (1 Kings 6:5-10). These formed a part of the building and were used for storage. They were probably one story high at first; two more may have been added later^[7].

According to biblical tradition, round about the building were:

1. The court of the priests (2 Chr. 4:9), called the "inner court" (1 Kings 6:36), which was separated from the space beyond by a wall of three courses of hewn stone, surmounted by cedar beams (1 Kings 4:36).
2. The great court, which surrounded the whole temple (2 Chr. 4:9). Here the people assembled to worship God (Jeremiah 19:14; 26:2).

Furnishings and treasures

The inner court of the priests contained the altar of burnt-offering (2 Chr. 15:8), the brazen sea (4:2-5, 10), and ten lavers (1 Kings 7:38, 39).

From 2 Kings 16:14 it is learned that a brazen altar stood before the Temple; 2 Chr. 4:1 gives its dimensions as 20 cubits square and 10 cubits high.

The brazen sea, 10 cubits wide and 5 deep, rested on the backs of twelve oxen (1 Kings 7:23-26). The Book of Kings gives its capacity as "two thousand baths"; the Chronicler inflates this to three thousand (2 Chr. 4:5-6) and states that its purpose was to afford opportunity for the ablutions of the priests.

The lavers, each of which held "forty baths" (1 Kings 7:38), rested on portable holders made of bronze, provided with wheels, and ornamented with figures of lions, cherubim, and palm-trees. These vessels especially excited the admiration of the Jews. The author of the books of the Kings describes their minute details with great interest (1 Kings 7:27-37).

Josephus reported that the vessels in the temple were composed of Orichalcum in the Antiquities of the Jews.

According to 1 Kings 7:48 there stood before the Holy of Holies a golden altar of incense and a table for showbread. This table was of gold, as were also the five candlesticks on each side of it. The implements for the care of the candles—tongs, basins, snuffers, and fire-pans—were of gold; and so were the hinges of the doors.

The site

The Temple was probably situated upon the more easterly of the two hills which form the site of the present-day Noble Sanctuary, in the center of which area is the Dome of the Rock. Under the Jebusites the site was used as a threshing floor. 2 Sam. 24 describes its consecration during David's reign.

Two slightly different sites for the Temple have been proposed: one places the bronze altar on the rock which is now beneath the gilded dome, with the rest of the temple to the west; the Well of Souls was, in this theory, a pit for the remnants of the korbanot. The slope of the terrain in this area would require massive supporting structures for the Temple, what Easton's Bible Dictionary describes as "a huge wall of solid masonry of great height, in some places more than 200 ft (60 m) high. . .raised across the south of the hill, and a similar wall on the eastern side, and in the spaces between. . .many arches and pillars. . . ." The other places the Holy of Holies atop this rock, thus explaining its elevation. The traditions of this rock were sacred; probably the site was the same as that of the temple which Hadrian erected to Jupiter, which in turn was on the site of Herod's temple, which would naturally be on that of Solomon's—an example of the persistency of sacred sites in the East.

Comparison with other temples

The Temple has recognizable similarities to other temples of its time and region. Syro-Phoenician, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian influences are visible. A plaza or courtyard surrounding the sacred residence of the god, marked with stones, is a feature common throughout ancient Semitic religions. Earlier evidence of this practice among the Hebrews survives in the twelve stones that Joshua placed at Gilgal (Joshua 4:20) and the marking of Mount Sinai by Moses (Ex. 19:12), and in the forbidden zone surrounding the tent which was the predecessor of the Temple. Even today the Muslims designate certain areas, especially that surrounding Mecca, as inviolate haram ^[8].

Phoenician and Canaanite

The Biblical text makes it clear that Solomon received aid from Hiram, the King of Tyre, in the construction of his buildings. This aid involved not only material (cedar-wood, etc.), but architectural direction and skilled craftsmen. Amongst them was the coppersmith Hiram (the son of a Tyrian father and Israelite mother, not to be confused with the king). Its tripartite division is similar to that found in 13th century B.C.E. temples at Alalakh in Syria and Hazor in the upper Galilee; a 9th century B.C.E. temple at Tell Tayinat also follows this plan^[9]. Phoenician temples varied somewhat in form, but were similarly surrounded by courts.

Among the details which were probably copied from Tyre were the two pillars Jachin and Boaz. Herodotus (ii. 44) says that the temple at Tyre contained two such, one of emerald and the other of fine gold. In the same way the ornamentation of palm trees and cherubim were probably derived from Tyre, for Ezekiel (28:13, 14) represents the King of Tyre, who was high priest also, as being in the "garden of God." Probably both at Tyre and at Jerusalem the cherubim and palm-tree ornaments were survivals of an earlier conception—that the abode of God was a "garden of Eden." The Tyrians, therefore, in their temple imitated to some extent the primitive garden, and Solomon borrowed these features.

Similarly, the bronze altar was a Phoenician innovation; and probably the same is true of the bronze implements which were ornamented with palm-trees and cherubim. The Orthodox Israelitish altar was of earth or unhewn stone. The Decalogue of Ex. 20 prohibited the making of graven images, while that of Ex. 34 prohibited the making of molten gods; and the Deuteronomic expansions prohibited the making of any likeness whatever. All these are, to be sure, later than Solomon's time; but there is no reason to believe that before that time the Hebrews had either the skill or the wealth necessary to produce ornamentation of this kind.

Other Near Eastern temples

Several temples in Mesopotamia, many in Egypt, and some of the Phoenicians are now known. In Babylonia the characteristic feature was a ziggurat, or terraced tower, evidently intended to imitate the mountains on which the gods resided. The chamber for the divine dwelling was at its top. The early Egyptian temples consisted of buildings containing two or three rooms, the innermost of which was the abode of the deity. A good example is the granite temple near the sphinx at Giza. The Middle Kingdom (12th dynasty) added obelisks and pylons, and the New Kingdom (18th dynasty) hypostyle halls. Solomon's Temple was not a copy of any of these, nor of the Phoenician buildings, but embodied features derived from all of them. It was on the summit of a hill, like the altar of Ba'al on Mount Carmel and the sanctuaries of Mount Hermon, and like the Babylonian idea of the divine abode. It was surrounded by courts, like the Phoenician temples and the splendid temple of Der al-Bakri at Thebes. Its general form reminds one of Egyptian sanctuaries and closely matches that of other temples in the region, as described above.

The two pillars Jachin and Boaz had their parallel not only at Tyre but at Byblos, Paphos, and Telloh. In Egypt the obelisks expressed the same idea. The Jewish Encyclopedia stated that "All these were phallic emblems, being survivals of the primitive Hamito-Semitic 'maẓẓebah'"^[10], Jachin and Boaz were really isolated columns, as Schick has shown^[11], and not, as some have supposed, a part of the ornamentation of the building. Their tops were crowned with ornamentation as if they were lamps; and W. R. Smith supposed (l.c. p. 488) that they may have been used as fire-altars. This assumes that they contained cressets for burning the fat.

A miniature world

The chambers which surrounded the Holy Place in Solomon's Temple are said in 1 Chr. 28:12 to have been storehouses for the sacred treasure. These are paralleled in Babylonian and Egyptian temples by similar chambers, which surrounded the naos, or hypostyle hall, and were used for similar purposes. The "molten sea" finds its parallel in Babylonian temples in a great basin called the "apsu" ('deep'). As the ziggurat typified a mountain, so the apsu typified the sea. The Temple thus became a miniature world. This apsu was used as early as the time of Gudea and continued in use till the end of Babylonian history; it was made of stone and was elaborately decorated. In Solomon's Temple there was nothing to correspond to the hypostyle hall of an Egyptian temple; but this feature was introduced into Solomon's palace. The "house of the forest of Lebanon" and the "porch of pillars" remind one strongly of the outer and the inner hypostyle hall of an Egyptian temple.

Raids and destruction

According to the Bible, the temple was pillaged many times during the course of its history:

1. by king Shishak of Egypt (1 Kings 14:25, 26);
2. by king Jehoash of Israel (2 Kings 14:14);
3. by king Ahaz of Judah (2 Kings 16:8, 17, 18);
4. by king Hezekiah of Judah to pay king Sennacherib of Assyria (2 Kings 18:15, 16).
5. by king Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon who pillaged and destroyed it (2 Kings 24:13; 2 Chr. 36:7). He burned the temple, and carried all its treasures with him to Babylon (2 Kings 25:9-17; 2 Chr. 36:19; Isaiah 64:11).

These sacred vessels were, at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, restored to the Jews by Cyrus (Ezra 1:7-11).

Artifact controversy

On Monday, December 27, 2004 it was reported that the Israel Museum in Jerusalem has alleged that the ivory pomegranate that everyone believed had once adorned a sceptre used by the high priest in Solomon's Temple may not be related to the Temple. This artifact was the most important item of biblical antiquities in its collection; it had been part of a travelling exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 2003. The report described the thumb-sized pomegranate, which is a mere 44 millimetres in height, as being inscribed "... with ancient Hebrew letters said to spell out the words "Sacred donation for the priests in the House of YHVH." The Israel Museum now believes that the artifact actually dates back to the 14th or 13th century B.C.E., and that the inscription is modern. Experts fear that this discovery is part of an international fraud in antiquities; Israeli authorities have charged five people^[12].

Jewish views

Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, by Francesco Hayez

Ever since its destruction in 70 C.E., Jews have prayed that God will allow for the rebuilding of the Temple. This prayer is a formal part of the thrice daily Jewish prayer services.

Not all rabbis agree on what would happen in a rebuilt Temple. It has traditionally been assumed that some sort of animal sacrifices would be reinstituted, in accord with the rules in Leviticus and the Talmud. However there is another opinion, beginning with Maimonides, that God deliberately has moved Jews away from sacrifices towards prayer, as prayer is a higher form of worship. Thus, some rabbis hold that sacrifices would not take place in a rebuilt Temple.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first chief rabbi of the Jewish community in pre-state Israel, holds that animal sacrifices will not be reinstituted. However, this is a view not shared by most Haredi rabbis. Rav Kook's views on the Temple service are sometimes misconstrued. A superficial reading of a passage in Olat Ri'iah indicates that only grain offerings will be offered in the reinstated Temple service. To properly understand Rav Kook's position on the matter, it is necessary to read a related essay from Otzarot Hari'iah.

A few, very small, Jewish groups support constructing a Third Temple today, but most Jews oppose this, for a variety of reasons. Most religious Jews feel that the Temple should only be rebuilt in the messianic era, and that it would be presumptuous of people to force God's hand, as it were. Furthermore, there are many ritual impurity constraints that are difficult to resolve, making the building's construction a practical impossibility.

Additionally, many Jews are against rebuilding the Temple due to the enormously hostile reaction from Muslims that would likely result— even were the building to be complementary to those holy to Islam currently present on the Temple Mount site, there would be high suspicion that such a building project would ultimately end with the destruction of these and the rebuilding of the Temple on its original spot.

Rebuilding the Third Temple

The question surrounding the status of The Third Temple is compounded by much mystery, uncertainty, controversy, and debate, but it does have roots in Hebrew Biblical texts and in both Judaic scholarship and the traditional Jewish prayers.

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism believes and expects that the Temple will be rebuilt and that the sacrificial services, known as the korbanot will once again be practiced with the rebuilding of a Third Temple. The article on korbanot outlines many of the references. See the section about prayers calling for the restoration of the Temple.

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism has modified the prayers; their prayerbooks call for the restoration of Temple, but do not ask for resumption of animal sacrifices. Most of the passages relating to sacrifices are replaced with the Talmudic teaching that deeds of loving-kindness now atone for sin. In the central prayer, the Amidah, the Hebrew phrase na'ase ve'nakriv (we will present and sacrifice) is modified to read to asu ve'hikrivu (they presented and sacrificed), implying that animal sacrifices are a thing of the past. The petition to accept the "fire offerings of Israel" is removed.

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism call neither for the resumption of sacrifices nor the rebuilding of the Temple, although some new Reform prayerbooks are moving towards calling for the latter as an option.

Julian's Roman "Third Temple"

There was an aborted project by the Roman emperor Julian (361-363) to allow the Jews to build a "Third Temple", part of Julian's empire-wide program of restoring/strengthening local religious cults. There is reason to believe that Julian wanted the rebuilt "Third Temple" to be for the purpose of his own apotheosis, rather than the worship of the Jewish God. Rabbi Hilkiyah, one of the leading rabbis of the time, spurned Julian's money, arguing that gentiles should play no part in the rebuilding of the temple. [13].

Christian views

According to the Gospels, Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival, and created a disturbance in the Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers and driving them out.

Protestant view

The dominant view within Protestant Christianity is that animal sacrifices within the Temple were a foreshadowing of the sacrifice Jesus made for the sins of the world, through his death. As such they believe there is no longer a need for the physical temple and its rituals.

Those Protestants who do believe in the importance of a future rebuilt temple (viz.,some dispensationalists) hold that the importance of the sacrificial system shifts to a Memorial of the Cross, given the text of Ezekiel Chapters 39 and following (in addition to Millennial references to the Temple in other OT passages); since Ezekiel explains at length the construction and nature of the Millennial temple, in which Jews will once again hold the priesthood; some others perhaps hold that it was not completely eliminated with Jesus' sacrifice for sin, but is a ceremonial object lesson for confession and forgiveness (somewhat like water baptism and Communion are today); and that such animal sacrifices would still be appropriate for ritual cleansing and for acts of celebration and thanksgiving toward God. Some dispensationalists believe this will be the case with the Second Coming of Christ when Jesus reigns over earth from the city of Jerusalem.

It should be noted, however, that the book of Daniel states that the end of the world will occur shortly after sacrifices are ended in the newly rebuilt temple. (Daniel 12:11)

However, in contrast to both the dominant Protestant view and the view of many dispensationalists just mentioned, many evangelicals (especially those who call themselves Messianic) believe that there will be a full restoration of the sacrificial system in Ezekiel's temple and that it will be more than just a memorial of the cross. These sacrifices, according to this Messianic view, will be just as expiatory as those under the Mosaic Law. According to that view, while the so-called Antichrist will put an end to the sacrificial system during the Tribulation (Dan. 9:27, 11:31, 12:11), the arrival of the true Messiah will inaugurate the building of Ezekiel's Temple (see Ezekiel 40-44). This view holds that the Prince of Israel (the human descendant of David who will rule in the Kingdom) will provide the regular sacrifices (Ezek. 45:17), including sin offerings for himself and the people (Ezek. 45:22). In this view the Prince of Israel is parallel in many ways to the hoped-for messiah of traditional Judaism. Also, this view (like Orthodox Judaism) looks for and encourages both the rebuilding of the Third Temple and the resumption of animal sacrifices. It sees no conflict between claiming Christ as the final sacrifice for sin and at the same time participating in animal sacrifices for sin in the temple of the Messianic Kingdom, since the sacrifice of Christ brings spiritual cleansing, while animal sacrifices have dealt and will deal only with the cleansing of the flesh. While this view shares much in common with dispensationalism, it is at its core not dispensationalist.

Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox view

The Catholic and Orthodox churches believe that the Eucharist, which they believe to be one in substance with the one self-sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, is a far superior offering when compared with the merely preparatory temple sacrifices, as explained in the Epistle to the Hebrews. They also believe that the Christian church buildings where the Eucharist is celebrated are the legitimate successors of the temple; going so far as to call their church buildings "temples". Therefore they do not attach any significance to a possible future rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.

LDS Restorationist view

The neutrality of this article or section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Joseph Smith, Jr. taught that not only would the Temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt, but that its counter-part, another temple, would be built in the United States. This belief is held by more than 12 million members of the various churches of the Latter-day Saint movement, the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ("LDS Church"). The land where the temple was prophesied to be built is in Independence, Missouri, where it is cared for by the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). Thus, the land on which the LDS Church would presumably build this Temple is not currently owned by the LDS Church. Originally the Temple in Independence was planned to be constructed in the 1830s. The building of that Temple by the LDS Church was postponed for a more suitable time. A later attempt to build this temple by one of the LDS offshoots in the late 1920s did not come to completion, as the Great Depression began then. This temple is known also as the temple of New Jerusalem, or Zion around which a magnificent city is to be developed.

Rebuilding the Temple today

The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque were built on the site of the destroyed Jewish Temples several centuries after the destruction of the Jewish Temple. The Temple Mount is believed by Muslims to be the place where the prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven.

Any attempt to demolish the Muslim shrines and replace them with a Jewish temple would be dangerous in today's political and religious climate. Nevertheless, the idea of rebuilding the Temple somewhere else is impossible according to accepted Jewish legal opinion, including the preeminent Jewish legal authority, the currently reconstituted Sanhedrin.

Modern controversy over location of the Temple site

A stone (2.43×1 m) with Hebrew inscription "To the Trumpeting Place" excavated by Benjamin Mazar at the southern foot of the Temple Mount is believed to be a part of the Second Temple.

In 1999 Dr. Ernest L. Martin published a controversial book called The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot based upon the idea of Ory Mazar, son of Professor Benjamin Mazar of Hebrew University. In 1995 Dr. Martin wrote a draft report to support this theory. He wrote: "I was then under the impression that Simon the Hasmonean (along with Herod a century later) moved the Temple from the Ophel mound to the Dome of the Rock area."

However, after studying the words of Josephus concerning the Temple of Herod, which was reported to be in the same general area of the former Temples, he then read the account of Eleazar who led the final contingent of Jewish resistance to the Romans at Masada which stated that the Roman fortress was the only structure left by 73 C.E. "With this key in mind, I came to the conclusion in 1997 that all the Temples were indeed located on the Ophel mound over the area of the Gihon Spring". This theory implied that Judaism was fighting to preserve the wrong location, which in turn sparked reactions from Muslims.

The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot by Dr. Martin was made even more controversial due to the fact that he had previously spent five years engaged in excavations near the Western Wall in a joint project between Hebrew University and Ambassador College, publisher of The Plain Truth magazine edited by Herbert W. Armstrong.

There are even more controversial theories that claim that the Temple was not in Jerusalem at all, but in Jericho, somewhere in Saudi Arabia, in Scotland, in South America, etc. However, none of these theories is taken seriously by the vast majority of archaeologists, historians or theologians.

Archaeological evidence

Archaeological excavations have found one hundred mikvaot (ritual immersion pools) surrounding the area known as the Temple Mount or Haram as-Sharif. This is strong evidence that this area was considered of the utmost holiness in ancient times and could not possibly have been a secular area. However, it does not establish where exactly within the area was the Temple located.

Further reading

Important Articles on the subject of the location of the Jerusalem Temple are found in the magazine Biblical Archaeology Review, in the following issues: July/August 1983, November/December 1989, March/April 1992, July/August 1999, September/October 1999, March/April 2000, September/October 2005. Several of these articles support the theory of Professor Asher Kaufman that the Temple was located on the Temple Mount, but a bit to the north of the Dome of the Rock (which actually was "The Stone of Losses" in the days of the Second Temple).

Recent artifact controversy

On December 27, 2004, it was reported in the Toronto-based The Globe and Mail that the Israel Museum in Jerusalem discovered that the ivory pomegranate that everyone believed had once adorned a scepter used by the high priest in Solomon's Temple was a fake. This artifact was the most important item of biblical antiquities in its collection. It had been part of a traveling exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 2003. Experts fear that this discovery is part of an international fraud in antiquities. The report described the thumb-sized pomegranate, which is a mere 44 mm in height, as being inscribed with ancient Hebrew letters said to spell out the words "Sacred donation for the priests in the House of YHVH." Some archaeologists contend that this artifact really belongs to the Late Bronze period. However, there is a school of thought that Solomon and his Temple belong in the Late Bronze period, which would make the controversy an unnecessary and spurious one.

Notes

1. ^  The Yearly Gold Production at www.goldsheetlinks.com
2. ^  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
3. ^  The notes in the New Oxford Annotated Bible - New Revised Standard Version
4. ^  De Vaux, 1961
5. ^  De Vaux, 1961
6. ^  De Vaux, 1961
7. ^  De Vaux, 1961
8. ^  De Vaux, 1961
9. ^  De Vaux, 1961
10. ^  W. R. Smith, "Rel. of Sem." 2d ed., p. 208, and Schmidt, "Solomon's Temple," pp. 40 et seq.
11. ^  "Die Stiftshütte, der Tempel in Jerusalem," etc., pp. 82 et seq.
12. ^  The New York Times, December 30, 2004 (subscription required)

External links

• "Solomon's Temple". Phoenicia.org.
• Badillo, Tony, "Solomon's Temple".
• Telushkin, Joseph, "The Temple". Jewish Literacy (Jewish Virtual Library).
• Magickal Temple of Solomon
• Larkin, George, "Solomon's Temple Spiritualized". London, Two Swans without Bishopgate. 1688.
• Nat, Arnold vander, "The Temple of Jerusalem".
• Wells, Steve, "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible".
• The model of temple of Solomon
• Emperor Julian the Apostate (r. 361-363 C.E.) plan to rebuild the Temple
• Julian the Apostate and the Holy Temple
• Location of Temples
• Haaretz article describing contemporary Muslim views
• The Temples of Jerusalem in Islam Qur'anic and other references analyzed, by Martin Kramer
• Paul,The Temple And New Covenant Sacrifices
• Seek Out the Welfare of Jerusalem Analytical studies by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson on the Rambam's rulings concerning the construction and the design of the Beis HaMikdosh.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Jewish Encyclopedia Temple of Solomon
• De Vaux, Roland (tr. John McHugh), Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions (NY, McGraw-Hill, 1961)

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897. This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

See also

• Western Wall
• Al-Aqsa Mosque
• Dome of the Rock
• Solomon's Temple, or First Temple.
• Second Temple
• Summary of Christian eschatological differences
• Temple Mount
• Most Holy Place
• "Solomonic column"

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