Temple in Jerusalem

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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 was subsequently rebuilt twice, after the Babylonian Captivity and during Herod the Great's renovation. 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, was the center of ancient Judaism, and has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Orthodox and Conservative Judaism anticipate the Third Temple being built in the future. 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

Contents

1 Etymology
2 First and Second Temples
3 Physical Layout
4 Rebuilding the Third Temple
5 Modern controversy over location of the Temple site
6 Archaeological evidence
7 References
8 Further reading
9 Recent artifact controversy
10 See also
11 External links

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 Temple adjacent to the Shrine of the Book exhibit at the Israel Museum, 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 renovation 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.

Physical Layout

According to the Talmud, the Temple had an Ezrat Nashim (Women's Court) to the east and main area to the west. The main area contained the butchering area for the sacrifices and the Mizbaeach (Outer alter) on which portions of most offerings were burned and blood was poured or dashed. an edifice contained the Ulam (antechamber), the Haiechal, and the Kodesh Kodashim (Holy of Holies. The Heichal and the Kodesh Kodashim were separated by a wall in the First Temple and two curtains in the Second Temple. The Heichal contained the Menorah, the table of Showbread and the Incense alter.

The main courtyard had thirteen gates. On the south side, beginning with the southwest corner, there were four gates: Shaar Ha'Elyoun (the Upper Gate); Shaar HaDelek (the Kindling Gate), where wood was brought in); Shaar HaBichorot (the Gate of Firstborn, where people with first-born animal offerings entered and fathers and children entered for the Pidyon HaBen ceremony); Shaar HaMayim (the Water Gate, where the Water Libation entered on Sukkot). On the north side, beginning with the northwest corner, there were four gates: Shaar Yechonyah (The Gate of Yechonyah, where kings of the Davidic line enter and Yechonyah/Yehoyachin left for the last time to captivity); Shaar HaKorban (The gate of the Offering, where priests entered with kodshei kodashim offerings); Shaar HaNashim (The Women's Gate, where women entered into the main area to perform offerings); and Shaar Hashir (The Gate of Song, where the Levites entered witht their musical instruments). On the east side was Shaar Nikanor, the Nikanor Gate between the Women's Courtyard and the main Temple Courtyard, which had two minor doorways, one on its right and one on its left. On the western wall, which was relatively unimportant, there were two gates that did not have any name.

Rebuilding the Third Temple

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.

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.

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 Har HaBayit. 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.

References

Talmud Bavli (Schottenstein Edition), Masechet Shekalim, 6:2 (17a).

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.

External links

[Resources > Jerusalem]
[Resources > Second Temple and Talmudic Era > Second Temple Jerusalem] Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
[Emperor Julian the Apostate (r. 361-363 CE) 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.
[www.Tempelmodell.de] Reconstruction of the second Temple

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