Temple

First used of the tabernacle, which is called “the temple of the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:9). In the New Testament the word is used figuratively of Christ’s human body (John 2:19, 21). Believers are called “the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17). The Church is designated “an holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:21). Heaven is also called a temple (Rev. 7:5). We read also of the heathen “temple of the great goddess Diana” (Acts 19:27). This word is generally used in Scripture of the sacred house erected on the summit of Mount Moriah for the worship of God. It is called “the temple” (1 Kings 6:17); “the temple [R.V., ’house’] of the Lord” (2 Kings 11:10); “thy holy temple” (Ps. 79:1); “the house of the Lord” (2 Chr. 23:5, 12); “the house of the God of Jacob” (Isa. 2:3); “the house of my glory” (60:7); an “house of prayer” (56:7; Matt. 21:13); “an house of sacrifice” (2 Chr. 7:12); “the house of their sanctuary” (2 Chr. 36:17); “the mountain of the Lord’s house” (Isa. 2:2); “our holy and our beautiful house” (64:11); “the holy mount” (27:13); “the palace for the Lord God” (1 Chr. 29:1); “the tabernacle of witness” (2 Chr. 24:6); “Zion” (Ps. 74:2; 84:7). Christ calls it “my Father’s house” (John 2:16).

There is perhaps no building of the ancient world which has excited so much attention since the time of its destruction as the temple which Solomon built by Herod. Its spoils were considered worthy of forming the principal illustration of one of the most beautiful of Roman triumphal arches, and Justinian’s highest architectural ambition was that he might surpass it. Throughout the middle ages it influenced to a considerable degree the forms of Christian churches, and its peculiarities were the watchwords and rallying-points of all associations of builders. When the French expedition to Egypt, int he first years of this century, had made the world familiar with the wonderful architectural remains of that country, every one jumped to the conclusion that Solomon’s temple must have been designed after an Egyptian model. The discoveries in Assyria by Botta and Layard have within the last twenty years given an entirely new direction to the researches of the restorers. Unfortunately, however, no Assyrian temple has yet been exhumed of a nature to throw much light on this subject, and we are still forced to have recourse to the later buildings at Persepolis, or to general deductions from the style of the nearly contemporary secular buildings at Nineveh and elsewhere, for such illustrations as are available. THE TEMPLE OF Solomon.—It was David who first proposed to replace the tabernacle by a more permanent building, but was forbidden for the reasons assigned by the prophet Nathan, (2 Samuel 7:5) etc.; and though he collected materials and made arrangements, the execution of the task was left for his son Solomon. (The gold and silver alone accumulated by David are at the lowest reckoned to have amounted to between two and three billion dollars, a sum which can be paralleled from secular history.—Lange.) Solomon, with the assistance of Hiram king of Tyre, commenced this great undertaking int he fourth year of his reign, B.C. 1012, and completed it in seven years, B.C. 1005. (There were 183,000 Jews and strangers employed on it—of Jews 30,000, by rotation 10,000 a month; of Canaanites 153,600, of whom 70,000 were bearers of burdens, 80,000 hewers of wood and stone, and 3600 overseers. The parts were all prepared at a distance from the site of the building, and when they were brought together the whole immense structure was erected without the sound of hammer, axe or any tool of iron. (1 Kings 6:7)—Schaff.) The building occupied the site prepared for it by David, which had formerly been the threshing-floor of the Jebusite Ornan or Araunah, on Mount Moriah. The whole area enclosed by the outer walls formed a square of about 600 feet; but the sanctuary itself was comparatively small, inasmuch as it was intended only for the ministrations of the priests, the congregation of the people assembling in the courts. In this and all other essential points the temple followed the model of the tabernacle, from which it differed chiefly by having chambers built about the sanctuary for the abode of the priests and attendants and the keeping of treasures and stores. In all its dimensions, length, breadth and height, the sanctuary itself was exactly double the size of the tabernacle, the ground plan measuring 80 cubits by 40, while that of the tabernacle was 40 by 20, and the height of the temple being 30 cubits, while that of the tabernacle was 15. [The readers would compare the following account with the article Tabernacle] As in the tabernacle, the temple consisted of three parts, the porch, the holy place, and the holy of holies. The front of the porch was supported, after the manner of some Egyptian temples, by the two great brazen pillars, Jachin and Boaz, 18 cubits high, with capitals of 5 cubits more, adorned with lily-work and pomegranates. (1 Kings 7:15-22) The places of the two “veils” of the tabernacle were occupied by partitions, in which were folding-doors. The whole interior was lines with woodwork richly carved and overlaid with gold. Indeed, both within and without the building was conspicuously chiefly by the lavish use of the gold of Ophir and Parvaim. It glittered in the morning sun (it has been well said) like the sanctuary of an El Dorado. Above the sacred ark, which was placed, as of old, in the most holy place, were made new cherubim, one pair of whose wings met above the ark, and another pair reached to the walls behind them. In the holy place, besides the altar of incense, which was made of cedar overlaid with gold there were seven golden candlesticks in stead of one, and the table of shew-bread was replaced by ten golden tables, bearing, besides the shew bread, the innumerable golden vessels for the service of the sanctuary. The outer court was no doubt double the size of that of the tabernacle; and we may therefore safely assume that if was 10 cubits in height, 100 cubits north and south, and 200 east and west. If contained an inner court, called the “court of the priests;” but the arrangement of the courts

TEM'PLE, the sacred edifice erected at Jerusalem upon Mount Moriah. See Jerusalem. In its general form it resembled its prototype, the tabernacle, after which it was modelled. There are three temples mentioned in the Bible. We shall treat them in their historic order. The Temple of Solomon. - The idea of building a temple to take the place of the tabernacle as the permanent place of worship for the Jewish Church was first, it would seem, the idea of David. 1 Chr 17:1. And, although forbidden by the Lord from beginning the work, he ever held it in mind, and joyfully accumulated from the spoils of his enemies and from the revenue of his kingdom a fund for this purpose. In 1 Chr 22:14 the amount is thus given in the chronicler's report of David's speech to Solomon: "I have prepared for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and of brass and of iron without weight." Reckoning the talent of silver at 3000 shekels of silver, and the talent of gold as worth sixteen times that of silver, this amount of money, put into our coinage, would be, according to Lange (Commentary, in loco): Silver, $1,710,000,000; gold, $2,737,500,000: total, $4,447,500,000- "a sum incredibly high for the requirements of worship at that time." But, reckoning the shekel after the king's weight, or half the value of the shekel of the sanctuary, then the above sum is cut down one-half, and we can parallel it from secular history. Besides gold and silver, David collected immense quantities of brass (bronze or copper), iron, stone, timber, etc., and he secured skilful mechanics and artificers for every branch of the work. 1 Chr 22; 1 Chr 29:4, 1 Chr 29:7. He also furnished the design, plan, and location of the building; in all which he was divinely instructed. 1 Chr 21-22; 1 Chr 28:11-19. He was not permitted, however, to see a single step taken in its erection. 1 Kgs 5:3. The superintendence of the building was committed to Solomon, the son on and successor of David, who commenced the work in the fourth year of his reign. There were 183,600 Jews and strangers employed on it - of Jews 30,000, by rotation 10,000 a month; of Canaanites, 153,600, of whom 70,000 were bearers of burdens, 80,000 hewers of wood and stone, and 3600 overseers. The parts were all prepared at a distance from the site of the building, and when they were brought together the whole immense structure was erected without the sound of hammer, axe, or any tool of iron, 1 Kgs 6:7, and at the end of seven and a half years it stood complete in all its splendor, the glory of Jerusalem, and the most magnificent edifice in the world, b.c. 1005. Level of the Temple-Platform. (After Beswick, 1875.) Like the tabernacle, it had its front toward the east. All the arrangements of the temple were identical with those of the tabernacle, and the dimensions of every part exactly double those of the previous structure. We shall give an idea of the temple of Solomon by condensing the account in Stanley's History of the Jewish Church, Lecture 27. On the eastern side was a cloister or colonnade. The later kings, however, continued it all around. This portico opened on a large quadrangle, surrounded by a wall, partly of stone, partly of cedar, and planted with trees. Within this quadrangle was a smaller court, on the highest ridge of the hill, which enclosed the place of David's sacrifice - the rocky threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. This rock was levelled and filled up, so as to make a platform for the altar, which was a square chest of wood, plated outside with brass, filled inside with stones and earth, with the fire on a brass grating at the top, the whole placed on a mass of rough stone. South of the altar was the brazen laver, supported on twelve brazen bulls. This was used for the ablutions of the priests as they walked to and fro barefooted over the rocky platform. On each side were the ten lesser movable vessels of brass, on wheels, for the washing of the entrails. Round about the lesser court, in two or three stories raised above each other, were chambers for the priests and other persons of rank. 2 Chr 31:11; Jer 36:10. In the corners were the kitchens and boiling-apparatus. Eze 46:20-24. Each had brazen gates. 2 Chr 4:9. In the court was the "temple" properly so called. In front towered the porch, in height more than 200 feet. Behind it was a lower edifice, lessening in height as it approached its extremity. On the sides were small chambers, entered only from without through a sandalwood door on the south, and gilded chambers above them accessible to the king alone. 1 Kgs 6:8. The two elaborate pillars called Jachin and Boaz stood immediately under the porch. Within, another pair of folding-doors led into the holy place. It would have been almost dark were it not that, in place of the original single seven-branched candlestick, ten now stood on ten tables, five on each side. 1 Kgs 7:49. Within the chamber were the table of shew-bread and altar of incense. The holy of holies was separated from the holy place by a "wall of partition," penetrated, however, by folding-doors of olive-wood, over which hung a party-colored curtain embroidered with cherubs and flowers. 1 Kgs 6:31. The holy of holies was a small square chamber, absolutely dark except by the light received through this aperture. In it were two huge golden figures, standing upright on their feet, on each side of the ark, which rested upon a protuberance of rough rock. Above the ark the wings of these cherubim met. The wails of the chambers which ran round the rest of the building were not allowed to lean against the outer walls of this sanctuary. The quarries of Solomon have recently been discovered under the present city of Jerusalem, near the Damascus-gate. They are very extensive, and to-day exhibit, in partially-excavated blocks of stone, the evidence of the monarch's architectural tastes and requirements. The temple of Solomon stood, altogether, four hundred and twenty-four years, but it was plundered by Shishak, king of Egypt, during the reign of Rehoboam. 1 Kgs 14:25-26. After this it was frequently profaned and pillaged, and was at last broken down and destroyed by the king of Babylon, and the nation itself carried into captivity, 2 Kgs 25:8-9, 2 Kgs 25:13-17; 2 Chr 36:18-19, b.c. 598. The Temple of Zerubbabel. - In b.c. 536, Cyrus the Persian, conqueror of Babylon, gave permission to the Jews to return. Many availed themselves of the opportunity, and returned in a great caravan under Zerubbabel. The latter, as Jewish governor, and Joshua, the high priest, superintended the people in rebuilding the temple. Cyrus permitted and encouraged them to do this work, and in the second year after their return They laid the foundation. Ezr 3:8. Owing to the opposition of their enemies, it was not, however, completed until twenty years had gone by, b.c. 515. The story of this long struggle and trouble is told in the book of Ezra. This second temple, though inferior in many respects to the first - having no ark, no mercy-seat, no visible revelation of the divine glory, no sacred fire, no Urim and Thummim, and no spirit of prophecy, Ezr 3:12-13 - still was in breadth and height, in almost every dimension, one-third larger than Solomon's. In three particulars the general arrangements differed from those of the ancient sanctuary: (1) There were no trees in the courts; (2) At the north-western corner was a fortress-tower, the residence of the Persian, afterward of the Roman, governor; (3) The court of the worshippers was divided into two compartments, of which the outer enclosure was known as the court of the Gentiles or heathens. It furnished a fixed place of worship for the nation, and ultimately became the theatre of far more glorious illustrations of the divine attributes than the first temple ever witnessed. Hag 2:6-9; Mal 3:1; Col 2:9; 1 Tim 3:16. The Temple of Herod. - The temple of Zerubbabel had stood nearly five hundred years and was much decayed when Herod the Great, with a view to secure the favor of the Jews and obtain to himself a great name, undertook to rebuild it; so that it was not a new edifice, strictly speaking, but rather a complete repair of the second temple. He began the work twenty years before the birth of Christ, and completed the main building in one year and a half, and the Reconstruction of the Temple. According to Wilkinson; 2. According to Fergusson; 3. According to Porter; 4. According to Lewis. adjoining buildings in eight years. But the work was not entirely ended till a.d. 61, under Herod Agrippa II. So the statement in John 2:20 is correct. We shall describe the temple as it stood in the days of our Saviour, condensing in the main the statements of F.R. and C.R. Conder in the Handbook to the Bible (N. Y., 1879). The temple was located in the present Haram enclosure, the wall of which has been most carefully and elaborately surveyed. See Quarterly Statement for January, 1880, of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The building stood upon the top of Mount Moriah. but not in the middle of the area, which was 500 cubits square (cubit = 16 in.). Along the ramparts of the temple-hill ran double cloisters or arcades, and there the money-changers sat. Matt 21:12. The royal cloister was triple, and was on the south side; Solomon's Porch was on the east. The pillars could hardly be spanned by three men; two of them still exist. The enclosure was entered through five gates. The gate Shushan was directly opposite to the temple proper. There were several courts about the temple which were upon different levels. The outer court, or court of the Gentiles, came first, then the court of the women, the court of Israel, the court of the priests, and then the temple itself. Between the first two came the "soreg" ("interwoven"), or "middle wall of partition." Eph 2:14. It had thirteen openings; upon it, at intervals, were square pillars with Greek inscriptions, threatening death to the uncircumcised intruder. The charge that Paul had brought such a Greek into the enclosure aroused the Jerusalem mob. Acts 21:28. The court of the women, had 4 chambers, and was so called, not because it was set apart exclusively for their use, but because they were not allowed to come any nearer the temple. There were three gates, of which the eastern, covered with gold, was the larger. The women had a gallery above the cloister, erected in order to avoid the crowding at the feast of tabernacles. In this court were probably the thirteen money-chests, Mark 12:41. The court of Israel, 10 cubits by 135, was fifteen steps higher up, and upon them the fifteen Songs of Degrees (Ps 120-134, inclusive) were sung. The musical instruments were kept there. It was merely a platform, and had no cloisters or columns. Only men especially purified could enter it. The court of the priests, or sanctuary, 135 by 176 cubits, was 2 1/2 cubits higher than the court of Israel, the wall being 1 cubit high, with three steps above it. On the wall there was a platform, from which the priests blessed the people. There was no communication between this court and the lower, except through the side-chambers of the gate Nicanor, which stood above the fifteen steps already mentioned. The court of the priests had seven gates. The south-eastern gate was called the Water-gate, because the water used in the feast of tabernacles was brought through it. There were no cisterns within the court, and the altar was joined to the earth, having no excavations under it. The north-western gate was called Moked ("hearth"), and was the guard-house of the priests who kept watch round the fire, whence the name. The north-eastern gate was called Nitzotz ("prominence"), because it was a kind of outstanding tower. Above the Water-gate was a room called Aphtinas, in which the incense was made. The Sanhedrin, which see, sat in the so-called Pavement, or chamber of hewn stone, which opened on this court. In this court, directly before the temple, was the altar, which was built of solid stone, cemented, whitewashed at intervals, and had a line of red paint drawn round it. See Altar. Lieut. Conder points out that the Talmudic description indicates a much ruder structure than is usually supposed. There were holes in the foundation through which the blood flowed into drains, and a man-hole to facilitate the examination of the drains. To the left was the laver. We come now to the temple, and, continuing to take the guidance of the Handbook, give the following facts: The facade of the temple was a square of 100 cubits, and was gilded. The entrance of the temple was 20 cubits wide and 40 high. Over it hung the golden vine, supported, probably, by nails. The temple was of two stories; in the lower there were thirty-eight chambers in three tiers; in the upper, none. The holy house was entered from the porch by a gate 20 cubits high and 10 broad, with double doors, opening out and in; before it hung a veil of equal width with the doors. Before the entrance to the holy of holies hung two veils or two curtains, 1 cubit apart, and, inasmuch as the opening of the outer curtain was upon the north, while the inner was on the south, no glimpse of the holy of holies could be obtained by any one but the high priest. (See Handbook to the Bible, p. 123.) The allusions to the second (third) temple are neither many nor important. The scene of the purification of Mary, Luke 2:22, must have been at the gate Nicanor, since here it took place. The Child Jesus was found amid the doctors of the Law, who sat on the steps of the Plan of Herod's Temple. 1. The Holy of Holies. 2. The Holy Place. 3. The Court of the Priests. 4. Altar of Burnt-Offering. 5. Inner Gate of Temple. 6. Court of the Women. temple-courts. Luke 2:46. The Beautiful Gate, Acts 3:2, was probably the entrance from the Tyropoeon bridge to the beautiful southern cloister built by Herod. The castle of Antonia, from which, by a secret passageway, the Roman soldiery could be poured down into the temple-area to preserve order - as notably to rescue Paul, Acts 21:31-32 - was situated upon the north-western corner of the outer cloister, and had four towers with a large interior space. It was arranged by John Hyrcanus for a residence, and enlarged by Herod. This third temple was destroyed by the Romans on Friday, 9th day of Ab (August), a.d. 70, and the prophecy of Jesus was literally fulfilled. Matt 24:2. The emperor Julian endeavored to rebuild it, a.d. 363. To this end he advanced funds from the public treasury and applied the contributions from the Jews, who were enthusiastic over the proposition. But the work met with a check from an unexpected quarter. God used Nature to defeat the plan: "As the workmen dug down to the foundations terrific explosions took place: what seemed balls of fire burst forth; the works were shattered to pieces; clouds of smoke and dust enveloped the whole in darkness, broken only by the wild and fitful glare of the flames. Again the work was renewed by the obstinate zeal of the Jews; again they were repelled by this unseen and irresistible power, till they cast away their implements and abandoned the work in humiliation and despair." - Milman: History of Christianity, vol. iii. p. 27. There stands to-day, upon the site of the temple, a Mohammedan mosque, the Dome of the Rock, so called from the famous Sakhrah, or Holy Rock, which, according to Mohammedan tradition, attempted to follow Mohammed on his memorable night-journey to heaven, but was held back by the hand of the archangel Gabriel: in proof, both the "footprint of Mohammed" and the "handprint of Gabriel" are shown. Some consider that this rock was the site of the great altar of burnt-offering. In confirmation is adduced the hole in the rock, and the cave under it, which, upon this hypothesis, was the cesspool. Up to quite recent times the Haram, as the enclosure containing the site of the temple is called, was closed to all non-Mohammedans, but the pressure brought to bear after the Crimean war (1856) was too great, and now travellers find no difficulty in gaining admittance.

TEMPLE, CAPTAIN OF. See Captain of the Temple.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

A contrivence used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The space, on either side of the head, back of the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch and in front of the ear.

2. One of the side bars of a pair of spectacles, jointed to the bows, and passing one on either side of the head to hold the spectacles in place.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A place or edifice dedicated to the worship of some deity; as, the temple of Jupiter at Athens, or of Juggernaut in India. "The temple of mighty Mars." Chaucer.

2. The edifice erected at Jerusalem for the worship of Jehovah. Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. John x. 23.

3. Hence, among Christians, an edifice erected as a place of public worship; a church. Can he whose life is a perpetual insult to the authority of God enter with any pleasure a temple consecrated to devotion and sanctified by prayer Buckminster.

4. Fig.: Any place in which the divine presence specially resides. "The temple of his body." John ii. 21. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. iii. 16. The groves were God's first temples. Bryant. Inner Temple, and Middle Temple, two buildings, or ranges of buildings, occupied by two inns of court in London, on the site of a monastic establishment of the Knights Templars, called the Temple.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; as, to temple a god. [R.] Feltham.