Temple(porch)
“Royal residence or palace”
Summary
The Temple was the permanent sanctuary in Jerusalem that succeeded the portable Tabernacle, serving as the center of Israelite worship and the dwelling place of God's presence among His people.
☩Names and Terminology
The Hebrew term heykal properly denotes a royal residence, reflecting the Temple's purpose as God's palace. The phrase 'house of the Lord' (beyth yehovah) was commonly used, along with 'sanctuary' (mikdash). In Greek, naos refers specifically to the sanctuary itself—the Holy Place and Holy of Holies—while hieron encompasses the entire Temple complex including the surrounding courts. Jesus called the Temple 'My Father's house' and 'a house of prayer,' while later referring to it as 'your house' when pronouncing judgment on Jerusalem.
☩Solomon's Temple
David first proposed building a permanent sanctuary to replace the Tabernacle, but because he had been a warrior and shed blood, the task was reserved for his son Solomon. Construction began in the fourth year of Solomon's reign and took seven years to complete. The Temple followed the pattern of the Tabernacle but with doubled dimensions: sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The building was constructed of stone prepared in quarries so that no hammer or tool was heard at the building site. The interior was lined with cedar overlaid with gold, and the furnishings included the Ark of the Covenant, golden lampstands, tables of showbread, and the altar of incense.
☩Zerubbabel's Temple
After the Babylonian exile, a second Temple was built under Zerubbabel beginning around 520 BC. Though the dimensions in Ezra suggest it was actually larger than Solomon's Temple, the elders who remembered the first Temple wept at its dedication, mourning the comparative simplicity of its ornamentation. This Temple lacked the Ark of the Covenant, which had been lost during the destruction of Jerusalem, and there is no record of God's glory filling it as with Solomon's Temple.
☩Herod's Temple
Herod the Great began reconstructing the Temple in 20 BC on an expanded platform, doubling the available area through massive vaulted substructures. The Jews told Jesus it had been forty-six years in building, and construction continued until shortly before its destruction in AD 70. This was the Temple of the Gospels, where the disciples marveled at its magnificent stones and Jesus predicted that not one stone would be left upon another. The Temple complex included the Court of the Gentiles (where Jesus drove out the merchants), the Court of Women, the Court of Israel, and the Priests' Court surrounding the sanctuary.
☩Spiritual and Prophetic Significance
The Temple symbolized God's dwelling among His people and was the place where heaven and earth met in worship. Jesus spoke of His body as a temple that would be destroyed and raised in three days. Paul taught that believers are now the temple of God, individually and corporately, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The book of Revelation speaks of a heavenly temple and prophesies that in the eternal state there will be no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Related Verses432 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Temple," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. X (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Hastings (ed.), "Temple," in Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, vol. II (T. & T. Clark, 1906–1908).
- 3.George Morrish, "Temple," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Temple," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 5.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Temple," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).