Temples of God

The first temple was built by Solomon, although it had been the ambition of David to build it himself (I Chronicles 22.7-8). This temple was located where now the Dome of the Rock stands.  Solomon enlarged the temple mount, and it was enlarged still more by Herod. The Oxford Companion describes this first temple:

The general plan of the Temple was similar to that given for the tabernacle: rectangular, with a porch or vestibule (<�lŒm, m, 1 Kings 6.3) facing east, a nave (h�kŒl), and an inner sanctuary (dŽb�r,b�r, 1 Kings 6.5) or holy of holies (1 Kings 8.6). The dimensions were double those of the tabernacle: 60 cubits by 20 (1 cubit = 0.5 m [19.7 in]), but triple its height (30 cubits). The building was of hewn stone, dressed at the quarry (1 Kings 6.7). The porch was 10 cubits deep (1 Kings 6.3) and 120 cubits high (2 Chronicles 3.4)—a numeral that may have suffered textual corruption. Two columns, Jachin and Boaz, made of hollow bronze, 35 or 40 cubits high, stood at each side of the entrance (2 Chronicles 3.15–17). The inner walls of the h�kŒll were lined with cedar brought from Lebanon (1 Kings 5.6–10; 1 Kings 6.15–16), and the entire structure was lined with gold (1 Kings 6.22). The holy of holies was overlaid with "pure" gold (1 Kings 6.20). The skilled work was done by Tyrian artisans supplied by King Hiram (1 Kings 5.1) and under the supervision of a person also named Hiram (1 Kings 7.13) or Huram-Abi (2 Chronicles 2.13).

The holiest place contained the ark of the covenant (1 Kings 6.19) and two winged figures (cherubim) of olive wood overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6.23) that stretched from wall to wall. Doors of olive wood, covered with gold, separated the holy of holies from the nave (1 Kings 6.31), and similar doors separated the nave from the porch (1 Kings 6.33). The nave contained the golden altar (1 Kings 7.48, to distinguish it from the bronze altar in the courtyard) made of cedar (1 Kings 6.20) or the "altar of incense" (1 Chronicles 28.18), which stood before the holy of holies; the golden table for the bread of the Presence ("showbread"); the golden lampstands and other items (1 Kings 7.48–50).

The building was surrounded by two courts, the inner one constructed of three courses of stone and one of cedar beams (1 Kings 6.36; also called the court of the priests, 2 Chronicles 4.9), and the great court (1 Kings 7.9), which probably also enclosed the royal buildings. The size of the inner court is not given, but if it was double the size of the court of the tabernacle, it would have been 200 by 100 cubits. The inner court contained the bronze altar (2 Chronicles 4.1) where sacrifices were offered, the ten bronze basins on ten stands, five on each side of the house, and the great sea (the molten or bronze sea) on the southeast corner of the house. The bronze work was cast in the Jordan valley (1 Kings 7.46), the most impressive being the great sea, 10 cubits in diameter and 5 cubits high, with a capacity of 2,000 baths (approximately 40,000 liters [10,000 gal]). The water was used for supplying the lavers for washing the parts of the sacrificial victims and for the priests’ ablutions (2 Chronicles 4.6).

...The First Temple, having been plundered several times, was finally destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar in 587/586 bce (2 Kings 25.8–17; Jeremiah 52.12–23).

What needs to be remembered here is that the tabernacle as the abode for God was a traveling structure, designed to be carried about by a migrant or unsettled people.  By the time of the monarchy, a settled people seek a centralized temple and place of worship.  Its location in Jerusalem is the result of David's moving the center of the nation of Israel to Jerusalem.   The point of entry of the Divine into the earthly has moved from high places to a moving tabernacle to a stationary temple.  In time, this symbolic entry is to become the human heart.  In the interlude, we come to know other temples: Ezekiel's, Zerubbabel's, Herod's. Ezekiel's temple is a visionary and symbolic (40-48). Zerubbabel's temple is a rebuilding, the work beginning in 520 BCE and finishing under Dariusm, encouraged by Haggai and Zechariah. The second temple no longer contains the ark, the sacred fire, the shekinah, the holy spirit, or the Urim and Thummin according to the Talmud. According to Oxford notes, Herod used the standing second temple: What is to be noted here is that the ark containing the Word of God, the presence of God and Holy Spirit, and the symbols of entering into Divine Presence are missing.  This would seem to suggest that the work of God is moving elsewhere already as early as the second temple.

Herod did not tear down the Second Temple—that would surely have instigated a revolt, as Herod recognized (Josephus, Ant. 15.11.387). He rebuilt and refurbished it by preparing materials for parts, using priests as carpenters and masons in the sacred areas, and doing the work by sections. The building was made new without ever destroying the old and without interrupting the sacred offerings and sacrifices. Begun in Herod’s twentieth year (20 bce), it was finished in a year and a half (Ant. 15.11.420).

Destruction of the Temple. There is a full account of the capture of Jerusalem in War 5–6, according to which Titus commissioned Josephus to urge the Jews to surrender in order to spare the Temple, but to no avail. The Antonia was razed to the ground in August 70 ce, and the continual sacrifice ceased to be offered. Josephus made a second appeal. Titus then decided to destroy the Temple. This occurred on the tenth day of the fifth month (Ab; according to Jewish tradition, the ninth of Ab), the same day on which the First Temple had been burned by the king of Babylon. Josephus portrays the Romans as trying to extinguish the fire that had been started by the insurgents. Widespread plundering, murder, and finally the burning of all structures on the Temple mount ended the history of the Temple.