The Jerusalem Temple

The story of the once magnificent Temple in Jerusalem, the city God chose for Israel’s capital.

Introduction

All that remains of the Temple in Jerusalem is a 187ft section of the western wall, after the rest was destroyed during a rebellion against the Roman Empire in AD 66-74; the heart of the ruined Temple Mount is now occupied by a mosque. The Temple’s history reaches back to the tenth century BC and King Solomon, who first built a House for Israel’s God to dwell among his people.

by Clay Lane

THE first Temple in Jerusalem was founded in 957 BC upon a hill in the heart of his capital by King Solomon, son of the legendary King David. It was painstakingly patterned after a heavenly sanctuary glimpsed by Moses himself, on the cloud-capped summit of Mount Sinai some three hundred years before.*

Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586; but the Persians, conquerors of the Babylonian Empire, gave Zerubbabel permission to rebuild it, and a second Temple was consecrated on the same spot in 516.

Alexander the Great left it untouched on a brief visit to Jerusalem as he swept the Persians aside in the late 330s, but in 167 Antiochus, King of Syria, declared Judaism illegal, and ordered that the Temple be dedicated to Zeus.

An unexpectedly successful revolt led by Judas the Maccabee allowed the Jews to cleanse and re-consecrate the Temple in 164,** and for the next hundred years Jerusalem enjoyed a period of self-government.

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See Exodus 24:9-25:9. Traditional dates are followed in this account. When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, the Pharaoh had them build a city named ‘Raamses’ (Exodus 1:11), so it has traditionally been assumed that the Pharaoh was Rameses II (Nineteenth Dynasty, reigned 1279-1213 BC), who built Pi-Ramesses at Qantir in Egypt shortly after his accession.

** The date the 25th of Chislev, 164 BC, which that year fell on December 14th. See 1 Maccabees 4:36-59 and 2 Maccabees 10:5-8.

Précis

The first Temple in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in 957 BC, on a plan given to the Israelites by Moses. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th century, but rebuilt seventy years later. After it was desecrated by the Syrians in 167, Judas the Maccabee led a revolt, and the Temple was restored once more.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What happened to Solomon’s Temple?

Suggestion

The Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Solomon founded a Temple in Jerusalem in 957 BC. The Baylonians destroyed it in 586 BC.

Clay Lane The Copybook