Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/557

 TEMPLE

499

TEMPLE

Jesus in the Temple) are a pre-Reformation founda- tion. They were established in London for educa- tional purposes at the time of the Crusades by a dean whose name has not come down to us. They spread widely in England in the following centuries, but were driven into exile at the Reformation. In 1860 Car- dinal Wiseman, with the generous help of the Abbe Roullin, re-established them in the Archdiocese of Westminster, whence they moved to Clifton. But it was not until a house was opened at Vernon, Nor- mandy, that they began once more to flourish; from Vernon they have opened six houses in France and Belgium, and now number 170 sisters. They have a home for invalid priests at Clifton, and the chief work of the sisters now is nursing among all classes of society. They are known as the Blue Nuns in England and France, from the blue habit they wear. Datin, Discours pour le cinquanteiiaire des SoEurs de Jesus au Temple (1910).

Fbancesca M. Steele.

Temple of Jerusalem. — The word " temple " is de- rived from the Latin IcDipItini, signifying an uncovered place affording a view of the surrounding region; in a narrower sense it signifies a place .sai-red to the Divinity, a sanctuary. In the Bible the sanctuary of Jerusalem bears the Hebrew name of Bet Yehdvdh (house of Jehovah). The sacred edifice consisted of two chief halls, one called he.kdl (the house or temple), or qodes (the Holy), and the other flSbir (that which is the oracle), or gddesh haggoddshim (the Holy of Holies). The New Testament speaks of it as oUos, "the house", ua6s, Latin cella, "the most holy place of the temple", and lepSv, "the whole of the sacred enclosure". The Temple which Solomon erected to the Lord about 966 B. c. was destroyed by Nabucho- donosor in 586 b. c. After the return from captivity Zorobabel raised it again from its ruins (.5.37 B. c), but in such modest conditions that the ancients who had seen the former Temple wept. In the eighteenth year of his reign, which corresponds to 19 B. c, King Herod destroyed the Temple of Zorobabel to replace it by another which would equal, if not surpass in splendour, that of Solomon.

Many writers admit three temples materially dif- ferent. Now as the Prophet Aggeus (Vulg., ii, 10) says of that of Zorobabel: "Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first", because of the coming of the JNIessias (v, 8-9), they claim that this prophecy was not fulfilled because Christ never entered the second Temple. Others assert that Zoro- babel's work was not completely destroyed but grad- ually replaced by a larger ami much richer temple (Josephus, "Ant. Jud.," ed. Dindorf, XV, xi, 2), and they consequently admit only two materially different temples. The whole difficulty disappears if we choose the Septuagint in preference to the Vulgate. The Prophet has already asked: "Who is left among you, that saw this house in its first glory?" (ii,4). Accord- ing to the Septuagint he afterwards says: "The last glory of this house shall be greater than its first glory." To the Prophet, therefore, there was but one and the same house of Jehovah from Solomon to the time of Messias, built always in the same place and according to the same plan, that of the Tabernacle. We may therefore admit three different temples, and this article will describe: I. that of Solomon; II. that of Zoro- babel; III. that of Herod.

I. Temple of Solomon. History. — Through a motive of pride David had commanded the number- ing of his people, in jiunishment of which God deci- mated the Israelites by a pestilence. One day the king saw near the threshing-floor of Oman (.\reuna) the .lebusite an angel .ibout to strike the people of the city, whereupon David humbled himself before (he Lord, Who forgave him and stayed the pl:igue. The king hastened to purchase the property of the Jebusite for jfif ty siclea of silver and built an altar on the thresh-

ing-floor, upon which he offered holocausts and peace- offerings (II Kings, xxiv). This hill, which is the Mount Moria (II Par., iii, I) of Genesis (xxii, 2), was thenceforth destined to be the site of the Temple of Jehovah, for which David had already amassed great treasures, but the building of which was reserved to Solomon. As hitherto the Hebrews had not culti- vated the arts, Solomon addressed himself to Hiram, King of Tyre in Phoenicia, to obtain builders and skil- ful workers in stone, brass, and the cedar and cypress wood of Lebanon. After seven and a half years of toil the kingwas able to dedicate solenmly (he Temple of the true God. Near the sacred precincts he after- wards built large buildings, among which the Bible makes special mention of the i)alnce of the king, that of the queen, Pharao's daughter, the house of the for- est, the porch of the throne, and that of pillars.

Site. — Movint Moria, which strclchcs from north to south, is a long spur, or promontory, (•onM(>c(ed at the north with Mount Bezetha and l)oun<led on the east and west by two deep valleys which are joined at (heir southern extremity (see Jbrdsalem, VIII, 345 d). Be- tween its two steep declivities the crest of the hill afforderl hut narrow space for buildings, and to secure an adequate site for (he Temple, (he courts, and royal palaces a ])la(form was formed by raising sustaining walls of carefully-hewn beautiful stones measuring eight or ten cubits (III Kings, v, 17; vii, 9-10). Ac- cording to Jewish tradition the Temple stood on the highest point of Mount Moria, while the royal quar- ters were built south of its enclosure and on a lower level.

It is generally admitted that the "sacred rock" in the centre of (he Mosque of Omar (see JerIjSalem, VIII, 360 d) formed thefoundalionof (he altar of holo- causts in (he Temple of Jerusalem. On this hill, ac- cording to an ancient tradition, Abraham made ready to sacrifice his son Isaac; here, near the threshing- floor of Oman, the exterminating angel restored his sword to its scabbanl; and on this threshing-floor, which according to custom was situated at the high- est point, David erected an altar to the Lord. If this prominent rock was constantly spared at the various rebuildings of the platform it must have been be- cause of its associations. Moreover, it corresponds to all the requirements of Exodus (xx, 24 sq.) for the altar of holocausts. It is a limestone rock, unhewn and irregular, fifty-eight feet long, by forty-five wide, and standing three or four feet above the grotmd. P'urthermore, in its upper aliuost level surface there is a hole whereby it is believed the blood and (he water of the ablutions flowed into the cavity beneaih to be carried off by a subterranean conduit to (he valley of Cedron. The Mishna (Yoma, II, i) asserfs (hat under the altar of holocausts there was a canal of this kind. This point admitted, the "sacred rock" will serve as a mark to discover the exact site of (he house of Jehovah, because (he latter opened [to (he east op- posite (he al(ar of holocaus(s and consequendy west of the court of the priests which contained (he altar.

Sources. — The chief sources of information concern- ing the plan, construc( ion, and adornment of the Tem- ple are, first III Kings, vi, vii; (hen (he parallel account in II Par., iii, iv, which tends to magnify the dimensions immeasurably. The Prophet Ezechiel described (heTeniple in the light of a heavenly vision, and though his description is symbolic it agrees in its essential features with that of the Book of Kings; to all appearances he describes the Lord's house as he saw it while he performed his priestly duties. The informa- tion supplied by Josephus and the Middoth treati.se of the MLshna in.spires less confidence; it seems based rather on the Temple of Herod than on that of Solo- mon. Indeed we pos.sess but a brief de.script ion of the first Temple and the technicnl terms used by the Bible are not always re.a<lily intelligible in modern times; hence there is great diversity of opinion among writers