Day 50. Origins and Structure of the Temple

Go about Zion, walk all around it, note the number of its towers. Consider the ramparts, examine its citadels, that you may tell future generations: “Yes, so mighty is God, our God who leads us always!
Psalm 48:13-15

What was the temple? Where did it come from? What did it look like? If we’re going to order our relationships to the model of the temple, we must be familiar with this great shrine.

Most of what we know about the temple is found in the pages of scripture. There the structure of the holy place is described in great detail. We discover its origins in the tabernacle that was built as a mobile sanctuary during the wilderness journeys of the Jews. The book of Exodus lays out the pattern of the tabernacle as a tent within a tent surrounded by an outer court marked off by hanging cloths. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, the altar of holocausts, and the vessels and tools for offering sacrifice. Moses directed its construction based on the design revealed to him on Sinai. “You shall erect the dwelling” God commanded him, “according to the pattern shown you on the mountain” (Ex. 26:30). The design, as we have already observed, was “a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary” (Heb. 8:5).

The tabernacle was a meeting place – a point of contact between God and his people. Moses and his brother Aaron served as the mediators, seeking God’s direction, interceding for the Israelites, and reconciling the community to God by making sacrificial offerings according to the precepts of the Law.

When Moses went to consult with the Lord, the glory of the Lord would appear as a cloud over the entrance to the tabernacle. In this way, the Lord made it clear that he dwelt, in a unique way, in this structure (Ex. 29:45). Here was the place of worship; the privileged point of contact for God and man. Here was the heavenly design; the floor plan for intimacy between Creator and created; between divinity and humanity.

Years passed and the conquest of the lands of Canaan (the Promised Land) yielded a new nation populated by the descendants of these wandering peoples, the nation of Israel. Throughout the early history of Israel, in the days when God raised up judges to lead his people, the tabernacle remained the center of life and worship for the new nation. Whether its location was Gilgal or Shiloh or Gibeon, the original model of the wilderness sanctuary remained the archetype for the proper worship of the Lord. Preserving the rites and directives laid out in the desert, the Jews continued to come before the Lord in the tabernacle to offer sacrifice in atonement for sin, to remember and celebrate God’s deliverance of his people and to gratefully acknowledge God’s bountiful provision with first fruits from the harvest and the flock.

It was King David, the second king of Israel, who conceived the idea of a permanent structure for the tabernacle on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. At the peak of his power, he observed, “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” (2 Sm. 7:2). So he set out to build a sanctuary for the God of Israel. Surprisingly, the Lord said “no,” or more accurately, “not yet.” Further, God responded to David’s plan by revealing a plan of his own. “Should you build me a house to dwell in?” said the Lord (7:5). Rather, God was to build David an eternal house (7:16). That “house” was a symbolic reference to a kingly dynasty among David’s descendants that the Lord promised would remain secure forever. Though subsequent kings in the Davidic line fell away from the covenant, God’s promise was finally fulfilled in the person of Jesus. As a descendant of David, Jesus is “the King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Rev. 19:16) and his reign is everlasting.

We have already read that Jesus referred to his own body as the “house of God.” “Destroy this house and in three days I will raise it,” he prophesied to the Pharisees about himself (Jn. 2:19-21). We see here a good example of the multiple meanings a single word or phrase can have in scripture. David’s “house” is a building, and a dynasty and a living person, Jesus. In Jesus the temple is raised to its full meaning. It is a place of worship, it is a kingly house and a kingly dynasty, it is a place of perfect communion of divinity and humanity.

Returning to the origins of the temple, it was David’s son Solomon who built the first permanent sanctuary of the Lord in Jerusalem. We read that it was a magnificent structure. At the entrance to the temple stood the altar of holocausts, a massive table made of uncarved stone on a high platform approached by a ramp. Here the priestly descendants of Aaron offered the daily sacrifices. On either side of the main entrance were two great bronze pillars that, interestingly, had names: Jachin and Boaz (2 Chr 3).

The floorplan of the temple was tripartite: ‘ulam (portico, or vestibule), hekal (main hall), and debir (inner sanctuary). Entering the structure through two great doors made of wood covered in gold, priests passed through the vestibule into the long, enclosed main hall. The far end of the hall was framed by another doorway. Distinctive six-armed gold lampstands illuminated the hall – similar in design to the menorahs we still see today during the Jewish feast of Hanukkah. The showbread was arranged on tables along the hall. At the far end was another smaller altar called the altar of incense. Beyond this stood the great golden double doors that led to the holy of holies. Ordinarily left open, they revealed a great curtain or veil that hung in front of the entrance to the inner sanctuary so that no one but the One, the High Priest on the Day of Atonement, could see what lay within the veil.

Only a few passages describe what was found in the holy of holies. Tomorrow we will ask the Lord to show us what lies within the veil.

Make it My Own

Daily Discernment Workbook

BREAK OPEN YOUR BIBLE

1. Within the Temple

The temple figures prominently in several familiar Bible stories. Using the floor plan below, try to guess what part is being described in the following stories. Write the letter of each passage on the underlined place in the temple it describes (note that this floor plan is from Herod’s Temple which was standing when Jesus taught there – the passages may refer to prior temples, but all followed the same basic blueprint).

King Josiah Reads from the Rediscovered Book of the Law.

The unexpected discovery of a book of Scripture leads to a renewal of the Covenant.

The king then had all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem summoned before him. The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: priests, prophets, and all the people, great and small. He read aloud to them all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. The king stood by the column and made a covenant in the presence of the LORD to follow the LORD and to observe his commandments, statutes, and decrees with his whole heart and soul, and to re-establish the words of the covenant written in this book. And all the people stood by the covenant.
2 Kings 23:1-3

Babylonian Armies Destroy the House of God.

In this lament, the Psalmist describes in detail what invaders did to a certain part of the temple.

Your foes roared triumphantly in your shrine…they hacked away like foresters gathering boughs, swinging their axes in a thicket of trees. They smashed all your engraved work, pounded it with hammer and pick. They set your sanctuary on fire; the abode of your name they raised and profaned.
Psalm 74:4-7

The Announcement of John the Baptist’s Birth

An angel appears to Zechariah in the temple sanctuary.

In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Once when he was serving as priest… he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid…”
Luke 1:5,8, 10-13

Jesus Dies on the Cross.

Dramatic signs accompany the death of the Lord.

…Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
Matthew 27:50, 51a

Peter and John meet the crippled beggar.

The apostles go up frequently to the temple in the early days of the Church. Like Jesus before them, they bring miraculous powers of healing as a sign of the Kingdom.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple area for the three o'clock hour of prayer. And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the temple called "the Beautiful Gate" every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms.
Acts 3:1-3

2. Going Up

What was it like to go up to God’s temple? What were the blessings? What was required for entry? The Psalms instruct us in the proper attitudes of the pilgrim who wanted to worship on God’s holy mountain; in his temple. Look up the following passages and write the characteristics of a true worshipper.

a. Psalm 15

b. Psalm 24:3-6

c. Psalm 84:2-5

d. Psalm 84:11

e. Psalm 122:1

f. Psalm 150:1, 2

(Suggested answers below)

A QUOTE TO NOTE

3. Blinding Beauty

Even non-biblical authors knew what wonder the temple inspired, something noted in the Gospels (Mk. 13:1). Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived in the days of the early Church. He described the astonishing beauty of the temple prior to its final destruction by the Romans.

Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprise either men’s minds or their eyes, for it was covered all over the plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for, as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceedingly white [1].
The temple had doors also at the entrance, and lintels over them, of the same height with the temple itself. They were adorned with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars interwoven: and over these, but under the crown work, was spread out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height, the largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great skill the workmanship was done [2].

The beauty and ornamentation found in some churches today is sometimes criticized as wasteful. Others say it honors God and fills the worshipper with awe. What do I think?

GOING DEEP

4. Mass Attendance

Consider this passage from St. Paul describing the way Christians should approach the Eucharist.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1 Cor. 11:26-29

Based on what I’ve learned about the way a faithful Jew approached the temple, how can I improve my approach to Mass?

End with this prayer, or something similar in your own words:

Lord, deepen my understanding of what it means to worship you. Grant me grace to understand the joy and the privilege of coming into your presence. Teach me deeper reverence for your holiness and awe in your saving work in my own life.

Thank you, Jesus. All that I have and all that I am is from you.

[1] Wars of the Jews, Book 5, Ch. 6, 222,223

[2] Antiquities of the Jews, Book 15, Ch. 11, 394, 395

Tabernacle and temple illustrations by Hugh Claycombe, from the New International Version Study Bible, 1981

All Scripture quotes from the New American Bible, unless otherwise specified

Day 50. Origins and Structure of the Temple

Novena Prayer

Make it My Own

Day 49. Access in the Spirit

Day 51. Inside the Veil