A Brief History of the Temple of God
When the children of Israel first entered the Land of Israel, the Sanctuary (the Mishkan) was erected in Gilgal, then at a later time it was moved to Shilo where it stood for 369 years. After the destruction of Shilo in the days of the Priest Eli, the Philistines captured the Holy Ark (1 Samuel 4). Then they came to Nob where they erected a Sanctuary (which stood there for another thirteen years). After Nob was destroyed during the reign of King Saul (1 Samuel 21-22), the Sanctuary was transferred to Giv’on (1 Kings. 3:4). The Sanctuary remained there forty-four years. Next it was moved to Jerusalem. According to 1 Kings 6 and 7, King Solomon built the first Temple of God and the Palace Complex on Mount Moriah. The exact same place where God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac that is in Genesis 22:2. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587–586 BCE. Years later after the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, the second Temple was built in the very same place. The building of the second Temple is explained in Ezra 3.
Years later after the second Temple was built, the Hasmoneans who were descendants of the Maccabee, renovated and expanded the second Temple. There was a civil war between the Hasmonean brothers which caused Pompey, who was a military leader and politician, to get involved. He was in office during the fall of the Roman Republic. The Romans launched their attack on the second Temple from the Antonia Fortress located on the Temple Mount and then destroyed it in 70 CE.
An interesting fact that is not a coincidence, is the First and Second Temple were destroyed on the same day on the Jewish Calendar that is known as Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av) which is the same day the spies came back with a bad report detailed in Numbers 13:25-14:10. According to Jewish tradition, the Second Temple, like the first Temple, was destroyed at the conclusion of the Shabbat – on Saturday night – in the beginning of August.
Our Responsibility To Know About The Temple
On June 7th 1967 when Israel acquired sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the very beginning of the Third Temple Era began. The commands that are given to us in Ezekiel 43:1-12 are to know about the Temple. The key commands are to:
- Measure the Temple plans (to understand them).
- Build a model.
- Know the form of the Temple exits, entrances, and all its forms. Understand all the laws and teachings, to keep them, and do them.
There is much information about the Temple in the Mishnah, which is a written collection of the Oral Torah. We encourage you to start to learn as much as you can about the Temple.
Another great resource to start your learning is from cryforzion.com that explains more about the Temple Mount, and where it was located. There is some very interesting archaeological evidence from the southern steps on the Temple Mount that Doron Keidar (from CryForZion) and Joe Good (JerusalemTempleStudy.com) discuss.
John Enarson from CryForZion also has a very good article called ‘What About the Temple of Antichrist?’ that speaks to the concerns some Christians may have where they object to the thought of the Jewish People having sovereignty over the Temple Mount. It is a very good 5-minute read.
The Temple Mount & Archeology
Below is a discussion and direct questions about the archeology of the Temple Mount. Chris Mitchell from CBN leads a Q&A panel with Joseph Good, AnaRina Heymann (from AlignWithZion), and Rabbi Hirschel Moskoff (A.R.K. Report) from the Temple Mount Jerusalem Convention 2018.
It is time for our generation to get to work and start to learn more about the Temple of the Lord!
Second Temple App
Experience the first century temple period like never before with this in-depth, interactive 3D re-creation of the temple based on historical archaeology, and Jewish sources.
