The Temple in Jerusalem or the Holy Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש,
transliterated Bet HaMikdash) was built in ancient Jerusalem in c. 10th
century BCE 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.
A drawing of Ezekiel's Visionary Temple from the Book of Ezekiel 40-47
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 Herod's(2nd) Temple at the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem.
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 BCE to
replace the Tabernacle. It was destroyed by the Babylonians under
Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE.
The Second Temple was built after the return from the Babylonian
Captivity, around 536 BCE (completed on March 12, 515 BCE). This Temple
was desecrated by the Roman general Pompey, when he entered it after
taking Jerusalem in 63 BCE. 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 BCE, 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 CE.
During the Bar Kochba revolt in the c.135 CE, 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.
Jewish views
Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, by Francesco Hayez
Ever since its destruction in 70 CE, 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 are some modern opinions, that sacrifices would not take
place in a rebuilt Temple. Sometimes these opinions are mistakenly based
on the scholar Maimonides's book "A Guide for The Perplexed", where he
states "that God deliberately has moved Jews away from sacrifices
towards prayer, as prayer is a higher form of worship". However, this
must be understood as purely a philosophical idea, in light of the fact
that he not only clearly states in his book "The Mishnah Torah" that
animal sacrifices will take place in the third temple, but also goes
into great detail explaining how they will be carried out.
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.
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. [1].
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.
Latter-Day Saint Restorationist view
Joseph Smith, Jr. believed that not only would the Temple in Jerusalem be
rebuilt, but that its counter-part would be constructed in Independence,
Missouri. This temple is also referred to as the temple of New
Jerusalem, or Zion. Originally the temple was planned to be constructed
in the 1830s, but this date was postponed. One LDS sect, Church of
Christ (Temple Lot), attempted to build the temple in the late 1920s,
but it was not completed due to the Great Depression.
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 Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Scotland, or 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 concluded 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 thumb-sized pomegranate, which
is a mere 44 mm in height, bears an inscription incised around the
shoulder of the pomegranate in small paleo-Hebrew script. Only 9
characters remained complete, and were incomplete - if any sense were to
be made of the inscription, it seemed likely that several more were
missing. The surviving part of the inscription was transcribed לבי...ה
קדש כהנם (Only the lower horizontal stroke of the yod and the upper
horizontal stroke of the ה he remain).
The following restoration of missing letters was proposed: לבית יהוה קדש
כהנם
This reconstruction resulted in the following transliteration, now
accepted by the vast majority of scholars: lby[t yhw]h qdš khnm, which
led to the translation: "Belonging to the Temp[le of Yahw]eh, holy to
the priests." 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.
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On the site today-
Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock in the center of the Temple Mount
The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: قبة الصخرة Qubbat As-Sakhrah) is a famous
Islamic shrine in Jerusalem. It was built between 687 and 691 by the 9th
Caliph, Abd al-Malik. It is sometimes called the Mosque of Umar (though
it is not a mosque), as 2nd Caliph Umar prayed at the site after the
Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 637.
Located in what Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary — which Jews and
Christians call the Temple Mount — it remains one of the best known
landmarks of Jerusalem, and is sacred to all three faiths. The rock in
the center of the dome is believed by Muslims to be the spot from which
Muhammad ascended through the heavens to [Allah] accompanied by the
angel Gabriel, where he consulted with Moses and was given the (now
obligatory) Islamic prayers before returning to earth (see Isra and
Mi'raj.) Though the location is not historically certain, a Qur'anic
verse says that Muhammad took a night journey from a sacred mosque
(probably Mecca) to the farthest mosque (al-Masjid al-Aqsa), which later
came to be associated with Jerusalem, although Jerusalem itself is never
mentioned in the Qur'an.
While Muslims also consider this to be the site where Abraham almost
sacrificed his elder son Ishmael, the Jews and Christians believe this
to have occurred on Mount Moriah (the location where Jacob saw the
ladder to heaven), and to have involved Abraham's younger son Isaac,
rather than Ishmael. Other, extra-Biblical Jewish traditions say it is
the spot where the first stone was laid in the building of the world.
The Dome of the Rock was built for Caliph Abd al-Malik by Byzantine
craftsmen from Constantinople sent to the Caliph by the Byzantine
Emperor. It is in the shape of a Byzantine martyrium, a structure
intended for the housing and veneration of saintly relics and is an
excellent example of middle Byzantine art.
Interior view
Exterior View
Essentially unchanged for more than thirteen centuries, the
octagonally-shaped Dome of the Rock remains one of the world's most
beautiful and enduring architectural treasures. The gold covered dome
stretches 20 metres across the Noble Rock, rising to an apex more than
35 metres above it. The Qur'anic surah, or chapter, 'Ya Sin' is
inscribed across the top in the dazzling tile work commissioned in the
16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent. The sura al-Isra'a (The Night
Journey), is inscribed above YaSin. In 1993, the golden dome covering
was replaced, courtesy of King Hussein of Jordan, due to rust and wear.
During the Crusades, the Knights Templar, who believe the Dome of the Rock
to be near the ruins of the Temple of Solomon, made their headquarters
in the Al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Dome for much of the 12th century.
They called it the "Templum Domini", and it was the location from which
they took their name "Templar". It appeared in some of the seals of the
Order's Grand Masters (such as Evrard de Barres and Regnaud de Vichier),
and its architecture was a model for Templar churches across Europe.
The Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement wish to relocate the
Dome to Mecca and replace it with a Third Temple. Since the Dome is on
sacred ground to the Muslims this is highly unlikely. The majority of
Israelis also do not share the movement's wishes. 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. However,
some Christians would consider this a prequisite to Armageddon and the
Second Coming.
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