Web 2.0 → Homepage → Temple

Temple

Temple Tem"ple, n. [Cf. Templet.] (Weaving) A contrivence used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely. [1913 Webster]

Temple Tem"ple, n. [OF. temple, F. tempe, from L. tempora, tempus; perhaps originally, the right place, the fatal spot, supposed to be the same word as tempus, temporis, the fitting or appointed time. See Temporal of time, and cf. Tempo, Tense, n.] 1. (Anat.) The space, on either side of the head, back of the eye and forehead, above the zygomatic arch and in front of the ear. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

Temple Tem"ple, n. [AS. tempel, from L. templum a space marked out, sanctuary, temple; cf. Gr. ? a piece of land marked off, land dedicated to a god: cf. F. t[ e]mple, from the Latin. Cf. Contemplate.] 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. [1913 Webster]

2. (Jewish Antiq.) The edifice erected at Jerusalem for the worship of Jehovah. [1913 Webster]

Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon s porch. --John x. 23. [1913 Webster]

3. Hence, among Christians, an edifice erected as a place of public worship; a church. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

4. Fig.: Any place in which the divine presence specially resides. ``The temple of his body. --John ii. 21. [1913 Webster]

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? --1 Cor. iii. 16. [1913 Webster]

The groves were God s first temples. --Bryant. [1913 Webster]

5. (Mormon Ch.) A building dedicated to the administration of ordinances. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

6. A local organization of Odd Fellows. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

{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. [1913 Webster]

Temple Tem"ple, v. t. To build a temple for; to appropriate a temple to; as, to temple a god. [R.] --Feltham. [1913 Webster]

to spanish

temple [templ] sien
sien.idoneos.com templo
templo.idoneos.com

to french

temple [templ] tempe
tempe.idoneos.com
temple
temple.idoneos.com

to deutch

temple [templ] Schläfe, Tempel
schlafe.idoneos.com
tempel.idoneos.com

to italian

temple tempia
tempia.idoneos.com

to latin

temple [templ] delubrum; fanum; templum
delubrum.idoneos.com
fanum.idoneos.com
templum.idoneos.com

Bible Dictionary

Temple
There is perhaps no building of the ancient world which hasexcited so much attention since the time of its destruction asthe temple which Solomon built by Herod. Its spoils wereconsidered worthy of forming the principal illustration of oneof the most beautiful of Roman triumphal arches, andJustinian s highest architectural ambition was that he mightsurpass it. Throughout the middle ages it influenced to aconsiderable degree the forms of Christian churches, and itspeculiarities were the watchwords and rallying-points of allassociations of builders. When the French expedition to Egypt,int he first years of this century, had made the world familiarwith the wonderful architectural remains of that country, everyone jumped to the conclusion that Solomon s temple must havebeen designed after an Egyptian model. The discoveries inAssyria by Botta and Layard have within the last twenty yearsgiven an entirely new direction to the researches of therestorers. Unfortunately, however, no Assyrian temple has yetbeen exhumed of a nature to throw much light on this subject,and we are still forced to have recourse to the later buildingsat Persepolis, or to general deductions from the style of thenearly contemporary secular buildings at Nineveh and elsewhere,for such illustrations as are available. THE TEMPLE OF[1208]Solomon

It was David who first proposed to replace thetabernacle by a more permanent building, but was forbidden forthe 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. (thegold and silver alone accumulated by david are at the lowestreckoned to have amounted to between two and three billiondollars, a sum which can be paralleled from secularhistory

lange.) Solomon, with the assistance of Hiram king ofTyre, commenced this great undertaking int he fourth year ofhis reign, B.C. 1012, and completed it in seven years, B.C.1005. (there were 183,000 jews and strangers employed on it--ofjews 30,000, by rotation 10,000 a month; of canaanites 153,600,of whom 70,000 were bearers of burdens, 80,000 hewers of woodand stone, and 3600 overseers. the parts were all prepared at adistance from the site of the building, and when they werebrought together the whole immense structure was erectedwithout the sound of hammer, axe or any tool of iron. (1 kings6:7)--Schaff.) The building occupied the site prepared for itby David, which had formerly been the threshing-floor of theJebusite Ornan or Araunah, on Mount Moriah. The whole areaenclosed by the outer walls formed a square of about 600 feet;but the sanctuary itself was comparatively small, inasmuch asit was intended only for the ministrations of the priests, thecongregation of the people assembling in the courts. In thisand all other essential points the temple followed the model ofthe tabernacle, from which it differed chiefly by havingchambers built about the sanctuary for the abode of the priestsand attendants and the keeping of treasures and stores. In allits dimensions, length, breadth and height, the sanctuaryitself was exactly double the size of the tabernacle, theground plan measuring 80 cubits by 40, while that of thetabernacle was 40 by 20, and the height of the temple being 30cubits, while that of the tabernacle was 15. [The readers wouldcompare the following account with the article[1209]Tabernacle] As in the tabernacle, the temple consisted ofthree parts, the porch, the holy place, and the holy of holies.The front of the porch was supported, after the manner of someEgyptian temples, by the two great brazen pillars, Jachin andBoaz, 18 cubits high, with capitals of 5 cubits more, adornedwith lily-work and pomegranates. (1 kings 7:15-22) The placesof the two "veils" of the tabernacle were occupied bypartitions, in which were folding-doors. The whole interior waslines with woodwork richly carved and overlaid with gold.Indeed, both within and without the building was conspicuouslychiefly by the lavish use of the gold of Ophir and Parvaim. Itglittered in the morning sun (it has been well said) like thesanctuary of an El Dorado. Above the sacred ark, which wasplaced, as of old, in the most holy place, were made newcherubim, one pair of whose wings met above the ark, andanother pair reached to the walls behind them. In the holyplace, besides the altar of incense, which was made of cedaroverlaid with gold there were seven golden candlesticks instead of one, and the table of shew-bread was replaced by tengolden tables, bearing, besides the shew bread, the innumerablegolden vessels for the service of the sanctuary. The outercourt was no doubt double the size of that of the tabernacle;and we may therefore safely assume that if was 10 cubits inheight, 100 cubits north and south, and 200 east and west. Ifcontained an inner court, called the "court of the priests;"but the arrangement of the courts and of the porticos andgateways of the enclosure, though described by Josephus,belongs apparently to the temple of Herod. The outer courtthere was a new altar of burnt offering, much larger than theold one. [[1210]Altar] Instead of the brazen laver there was "amolten sea" of brass, a masterpiece of Hiram s skill for theablution of the priests. It was called a "sea" from its greatsize. [[1211]Sea, Molten, MOLTEN] The chambers for the priestswere arranged in successive stories against the sides of thesanctuary; not, however, reaching to the top, so as to leavespace for the windows to light the holy and the most holyplace. We are told by Josephus and the Talmud that there was asuperstructure on the temple equal in height to the lower part;and this is confirmed by the statement in the books ofChronicles that Solomon "overlaid the upper chambers withgold." (2 chronicles 3:9) Moreover, "the altars on the top ofthe upper chamber," mentioned in the books of the Kings, (2kings 23:12) were apparently upon the temple. The dedication ofthe temple was the grandest ceremony ever performed under theMosaic dispensation. The temple was destroyed on the capture ofJerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 586. TEMPLE OF[1212]Zerubbabel

We have very few particulars regarding thetemple which the Jews erected after their return from thecaptivity (about b.c. 520), and no description that wouldenable us to realize its appearance. But there are somedimensions given in the Bible and elsewhere which are extremelyinteresting, as affording points of comparison between it andthe temple which preceded it and the one erected after it. Thefirst and most authentic are those given in the book of Ezra,(ezra 6:3) when quoting the decree of Cyrus, wherein it issaid, "Let the house be builded, the place where they offeredsacrifices and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid;the height thereof three-score cubits. and the breadth thereofthree-score cubits, with three rows of great stones, and a rowof new timber." Josephus quotes this passage almost literally,but in doing so enables us to translate with certainty the wordhere called row as "story"--as indeed the sense would lead usto infer. We see by the description in Ezra that this templewas about one third larger than Solomon s. From thesedimensions we gather that if the priests and Levites and eldersof families were disconsolate at seeing how much more sumptuousthe old temple was than the one which on account of theirpoverty they had hardly been able to erect, (ezra 3:12) itcertainly was not because it was smaller; but it may have beenthat the carving and the gold and the other ornaments ofSolomon s temple far surpassed this, and the pillars of theportico and the veils may all have been far more splendid; soalso probably were the vessels and all this is what a Jew wouldmourn over far more than mere architectural splendor. Inspeaking of these temples we must always bear in mind thattheir dimensions were practically very far inferior to those ofthe heathen. Even that of Ezra is not larger than an averageparish church of the last century; Solomon s was smaller. Itwas the lavish display of the precious metals, the elaborationof carved ornament, and the beauty of the textile fabrics,which made up their splendor and rendered them so precious inthe eyes of the people. TEMPLE OF [1213]Ezekiel

The vision ofa temple which the prophet Ezekiel saw while residing on thebanks of the Chebar in Babylonia, in the twenty-fifth year ofthe captivity, does not add much to our knowledge of thesubject. It is not a description of a temple that ever wasbuilt or ever could be erected at Jerusalem, and canconsequently only be considered as the beau ideal of what aShemitic temple ought to be. TEMPLE OF [1214]Herod

Herod theGreat announced to the people assembled at the Passover, B.C.20 or 19, his intention of restoring the temple; (probably astroke of policy on the part of herod to gain the favor of thejews and to make his name great.) if we may believe Josephus,he pulled down the whole edifice to its foundations, and laidthem anew on an enlarged scale; but the ruins still exhibit, insome parts, what seem to be the foundations laid by Zerubbable,and beneath them the more massive substructions of Solomon. Thenew edifice was a stately pile of Graeco-Roman architecture,built in white marble gilded acroteria . It is minutelydescribed by Josephus, and the New Testament has made usfamiliar with the pride of the Jews in its magnificence. Adifferent feeling, however, marked the commencement of thework, which met with some opposition from the fear that whatHerod had begun he would not be able to finish. he overcame alljealousy by engaging not to pull down any part of the existingbuildings till all the materials for the new edifice werecollected on its site. Two years appear to have been occupiedin preparations--among which Josephus mentions the teaching ofsome of the priests and Levites to work as masons andcarpenters--and then the work began. The holy "house,"including the porch, sanctuary and holy of holies, was finishedin a year and a half, B.C. 16. Its completion, on theanniversary of Herod s inauguration, was celebrated by lavishsacrifices and a great feast. About B.C. 9--eight years fromthe commencement--the court and cloisters of the temple werefinished, and the bridge between the south cloister and theupper city (demolished by pompey) was doubtless now rebuiltwith that massive masonry of which some remains still survive.(the work, however, was not entirely ended till a.d. 64, underherod agrippa ii. so the statement in (john 2:20) iscorrect

Schaff.) The temple or holy "house" itself was indimensions and arrangement very similar to that of Solomon, orrather that of Zerubbabel--more like the latter; but this wassurrounded by an inner enclosure of great strength andmagnificence, measuring as nearly as can be made out 180 cubitsby 240, and adorned by porches and ten gateways of greatmagnificence; and beyond this again was an outer enclosuremeasuring externally 400 cubits each way, which was adornedwith porticos of greater splendor than any we know of asattached to any temple of the ancient world. The temple wascertainly situated in the southwest angle of the area now knownas the Haram area at Jerusalem, and its dimensions were whatJosephus states them to be--400 cubits, or one stadium, eachway. At the time when Herod rebuilt it, he enclosed a space"twice as large" as that before occupied by the temple and itscourts--an expression that probably must not be taken tooliterally at least, if we are to depend on the measurements ofHecataeus. According to them, the whole area of Herod s templewas between four and five times greater than that whichpreceded it. What Herod did apparently, was to take in thewhole space between the temple and the city wall on its eastside, and to add a considerable space on the north and south tosupport the porticos which he added there. As the templeterrace thus became the principal defence of the city on theeast side, there were no gates or openings in that direction,and being situated on a sort of rocky brow--as evidenced fromits appearance in the vaults that bounded it on this side--ifwas at all later times considered unattackable from theeastward. The north side, too, where not covered by thefortress Antonia, became part of the defenses of the city, andwas likewise without external gates. On the south side, whichwas enclosed by the wall of Ophel, there were notable gatesnearly in the centre. These gates still exist at a distance ofabout 365 feet from the southwestern angle, and are perhaps theonly architectural features of the temple of Herod which remainin situ . This entrance consists of a double archway ofCyclopean architecture on the level of the ground, opening intoa square vestibule measuring 40 feet each way. From this adouble funnel nearly 200 feet in length, leads to a flight ofsteps which rise to the surface in the court of the temple,exactly at that gateway of the inner temple which led to thealtar, and is one of the four gateways on this side by whichany one arriving from Ophel would naturally wish to enter theinner enclosure. We learn from the Talmud that the gate of theinner temple to which this passage led was called the "watergate;" and it is interesting to be able to identify a spot soprominent in the description of Nehemiah. (nehemiah 12:37)Toward the west there were four gateways to the externalenclosure of the temple. The most magnificent part of thetemple, in an architectural point of view, seems certainly tohave been the cloisters which were added to the outer courtwhen it was enlarged by Herod. The cloisters in the west, northand east sides were composed of double rows of Corinthiancolumns, 25 cubits or 37 feet 6 inches in height, with flatroof, and resting against the outer wall of the temple. These,however, were immeasurably surpassed in magnificence by theroyal porch or Stoa Basilica, which overhung the southern wall.It consisted of a nave and two aisled, that toward the templebeing open, that toward the country closed by a wall. Thebreadth of the centre aisle was 95 feet of the side aisles, 30from centre to centre of the pillars; their height 50 feet, andthat of the centre aisle 100 feet. Its section was thussomething in excess of that of York Cathedral, while its totallength was one stadium or 600 Greek feet, or 100 feet in excessof York or our largest Gothic cathedrals. This magnificentstructure was supported by 162 Corinthian columns. The porch onthe east was called "Solomon s Porch." The court of the templewas very nearly a square. It may have been exactly so, for wehave not the details to enable us to feel quite certain aboutit. To the eastward of this was the court of the women. Thegreat ornament of these inner courts seems to have been theirgateways, the three especially on the north end south leadingto the temple court. These according to Josephus, were of greatheight, strongly fortified and ornamented with greatelaboration. But the wonder of all was the great eastern gateleading from the court of the women to the upper court. It wasin all probability the one called the "beautiful gate" in theNew Testament. immediately within this gateway stood the altarof burnt offerings. Both the altar and the temple were enclosedby a low parapet, one cubit in height, placed so as to keep thepeople separate from the priests while the latter wereperforming their functions. Within this last enclosure, towardthe westward, stood the temple itself. As before mentioned, itsinternal dimensions were the same as those of the temple ofSolomon. Although these remained the same, however, there seemsno reason to doubt that. the whole plan was augmented by thepteromata, or surrounding parts being increased from 10 to 20cubits, so that the third temple, like the second, measured 60cubits across and 100 cubits east and west. The width of thefacade was also augmented by wings or shoulders projecting 20cubits each way, making the whole breadth 100 cubits, or equalto the length. There is no reason for doubting that thesanctuary always stood on identically the same spot in which ithad been placed by Solomon a thousand years before it wasrebuilt by Herod. The temple of Herod was destroyed by theRomans under Titus, Friday, August 9, A.D. 70. A Mohammedanmosque now stands on its site.