Temple of Jerusalem
Temple of Jerusalem, either of two temples that were the centre of worship and national identity in ancient Israel.
Jerusalem: Western Wall, Second TempleThe Western Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem, all that remains of the Second Temple.AbleStock/Jupiterimages
In the early years of the Israelite kingdom, the Ark of the Covenant was periodically moved about among several sanctuaries, especially those of Shechem and Shiloh. After King David’s capture of Jerusalem, however, the Ark was moved to that city. This action joined Israel’s major religious object with the monarchy and the city itself into a central symbol of union of the Israelite tribes. As the site for a future temple, David chose Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount, where it was believed Abraham had built the altar on which to sacrifice his son Isaac.
The First Temple was constructed during the reign of David’s son, Solomon, and completed in 957 BC. Other sanctuaries retained their religious functions, however, until Josiah (reigned c. 640–609 BC) abolished them and established the Temple of Jerusalem as the only place of sacrifice in the Kingdom of Judah.
The First Temple was built as an abode for the Ark and as a place of assembly for the entire people. The building itself, therefore, was not large, but the courtyard was extensive. The Temple building faced eastward. It was oblong and consisted of three rooms of equal width: the porch, or vestibule (ʾulam); the main room of religious service, or Holy Place (hekhal); and the Holy of Holies (devir), the sacred room in which the Ark rested. A storehouse (yaẓiʿa) surrounded the Temple except on its front (east) side.
The First Temple contained five altars: one at the entrance of the Holy of Holies, two others within the building, a large bronze one before the porch, and a large tiered altar in the courtyard. A huge bronze bowl, or “sea,” in the courtyard was used for the priests’ ablutions. Within the Holy of Holies, two cherubim of olive wood stood with the Ark; this innermost sanctuary was considered the dwelling place of the Divine Presence (Shekhina) and could be entered only by the high priest and only on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
The Temple suffered at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia, who removed the Temple treasures in 604 BC and 597 BC and totally destroyed the building in 587/586. This destruction and the deportations of Jews to Babylonia in 586 and 582 were seen as fulfillments of prophecy and, therefore, strengthened Judaic religious beliefs and awakened the hope for the reestablishment of the independent Jewish state.
Cyrus II, founder of the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia and conqueror of Babylonia, in 538 BC issued an order allowing exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. Work was completed in 515 BC. There is no known detailed plan of the Second Temple, which was constructed as a modest version of the original building. It was surrounded by two courtyards with chambers, gates, and a public square. It did not include the ritual objects of the First Temple; of special significance was the loss of the Ark itself. Ritual, however, was elaborate and was conducted by well-organized families of priests and Levites.
During the Persian and Hellenistic (4th–3rd century BC) periods, the Temple generally was respected, and in part subsidized, by Judaea’s foreign rulers. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, however, plundered it in 169 BC and desecrated it in 167 BC by commanding that sacrifices be made to Zeus on an altar built for him. This final act touched off the Hasmonean revolt, during which Judas Maccabeus cleansed and rededicated the Temple; the event is celebrated in the annual festival of Hanukkah.
During the Roman conquest, Pompey entered (63 BC) the Holy of Holies but left the Temple intact. In 54 BC, however, Crassus plundered the Temple treasury. Of major importance was the rebuilding of the Second Temple begun by Herod the Great, king (37 BC–AD 4) of Judaea.
Construction began in 20 BC and lasted for 46 years. The area of the Temple Mount was doubled and surrounded by a wall with gates. The Temple was raised, enlarged, and faced with white stone. The new Temple square served as a gathering place, and its porticoes sheltered merchants and money changers. A stone fence (soreg) and a rampart (ḥel) surrounded the consecrated area forbidden to Gentiles. The Temple proper began, on the east, with the Court of Women, each side of which had a gate and each corner of which had a chamber. This court was named for a surrounding balcony on which women observed the annual celebration of Sukkoth. The western gate of the court, approached by a semicircular staircase, led to the Court of the Israelites, that portion of the Court of Priests open to all male Jews. Surrounding the inner sanctuary, the Court of Priests contained the sacrificial altar and a copper laver for priestly ablutions. This court was itself surrounded by a wall broken with gates and chambers. The Temple sanctuary building was wider in front than in the rear; its eastern facade had two pillars on either side of the gate to the entrance hall. Within the hall, a great gate led to the sanctuary, at the western end of which was the Holy of Holies.
The Herodian Temple was again the centre of Israelite life. It was not only the focus of religious ritual but also the repository of the Holy Scriptures and other national literature and the meeting place of the Sanhedrin, the highest court of Jewish law during the Roman period. The rebellion against Rome that began in AD 66 soon focused on the Temple and effectively ended with the Temple’s destruction on the 9th/10th of Av, AD 70.
All that remained of the Second Temple was a portion of the Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall), which continues to be the focus of Jewish aspirations and pilgrimage. Made part of the wall surrounding the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqṣā Mosque in AD 691, it returned to Jewish control in 1967.
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