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olden darics besides other gifts the people poured their gifts into the sacred treasury with great enthusiasm 13 first they erected and dedicated the altar of god on the exact spot where it had formerly stood and they then cleared away the charred heaps of debris that occupied the site of the old temple and in the second month of the second year 535 bce amid great public excitement and rejoicing the foundations of the second temple were laid a wide interest was felt in this great movement although it was regarded with mixed feelings by the spectators 14 12 the samaritans wanted to help with this work but zerubbabel and the elders declined such cooperation feeling that the jews must build the temple unaided immediately evil reports were spread regarding the jews according to ezra 4 5 the samaritans sought to frustrate their purpose and sent messengers to ecbatana and susa with the result that the work was suspended 12 seven years later cyrus the great who allowed the jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple died 15 and was succeeded by his son cambyses on his death the false smerdis an impostor occupied the throne for some seven or eight months and then darius became king 522 bce in the second year of his rule the work of rebuilding the temple was resumed and carried forward to its completion 16 under the stimulus of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets haggai and zechariah it was ready for consecration in the spring of 516 bce more than twenty years after the return from captivity the temple was completed on the third day of the month adar in the sixth year of the reign of darius amid great rejoicings on the part of all the people 2 although it was evident that the jews were no longer an independent people but were subject to a foreign power the book of haggai includes a prediction that the glory of the second temple would be greater than that of the first 17 12 while the temple may well have been consecrated in 516 construction and expansion may have continued as late as 500 bce 18 some of the original artifacts from the temple of solomon are not mentioned in the sources after its destruction in 586 bce and are presumed lost the second temple lacked various holy articles including the ark of the covenant 8 12 containing the tablets of stone before which were placed the pot of manna and aaron s rod 12 the urim and thummim 8 12 divination objects contained in the hoshen the holy oil 12 and the sacred fire 8 12 the second temple also included many of the original vessels of gold that had been taken by the babylonians but restored by cyrus the great 12 19 no detailed description of the temple s architecture is given in the hebrew bible save that it was sixty cubits in both width and height and was constructed with stone and lumber 20 in the second temple the holy of holies kodesh hakodashim was separated by curtains rather than a wall as in the first temple still as in the tabernacle the second temple included the menorah golden lamp for the hekhal the table of showbread and the golden altar of incense with golden censers 12 rededication by the maccabees following the conquest of judea by alexander the great it became part of the ptolemaic kingdom of egypt until 200 bce when the seleucid king antiochus iii the great of syria defeated pharaoh ptolemy v epiphanes at the battle of paneion in 167 bce antiochus iv epiphanes ordered an altar to zeus erected in the temple he also according to josephus compelled jews to dissolve the laws of the country to keep their infants un circumcised and to sacrifice swine s flesh upon the altar against which they all opposed themselves and the most approved among them were put to death 21 these anti jewish persecutions provoked the maccabean revolt led by judas maccabeus and his brothers from the priestly hasmonean family after several years of guerrilla warfare the maccabees succeeded in driving out the seleucid forces from jerusalem in 164 bce they recaptured the temple mount removed the pagan altar and undertook the purification and rededication of the second temple 22 this event is the origin of the jewish festival of hanukkah which begins on the 25th of kislev 23 24 the earliest accounts of the holiday appear in the books of the maccabees which both associate it with the 25th of kislev either as the date when sacrifices resumed following the cleansing of the temple according to 1 maccabees 25 or as the date of the cleansing itself according to 2 maccabees 26 22 hasmonean dynasty and roman conquest there is some evidence from archaeology that further changes to the structure of the temple and its surroundings were made during the hasmonean rule beyond physical changes to the sacred building itself archaeological evidence reveals that the hasmonean rulers extensively reshaped the economy and infrastructure of the surrounding countryside to directly support the temple s daily functions and religious laws to ensure a steady supply of ritually pure wine and olive oil for temple ceremonies the state developed a network of local farms equipped with rock cut ritual baths miqva ot built directly next to agricultural presses this allowed the crops to be processed under strict jewish purity laws from the very moment of harvest at several of these rural sites archaeologists discovered small specialized crushing stones that match ancient rabbinic descriptions of extracting the highest grade olive oil specifically for lighting the temple menorah furthermore many of these rural estates operated large dove raising installations columbaria to satisfy the massive daily demand for bird sacrifices brought by visitors to manage the heavy traffic of these pilgrims and their sacrificial livestock approaching the holy precinct the hasmoneans built wide stepped roads designed to control the massive crowds and guide them smoothly toward the temple gates 27 judas the essene a prophetic figure who lived under the hasmoneans is depicted by josephus as being in the temple with his followers 28 salome alexandra the queen of the hasmonean kingdom appointed her elder son hyrcanus ii as the high priest of judaea her younger son aristobulus ii was determined to have the throne and as soon as she died he seized the throne hyrcanus who was next in the succession agreed to be content with being high priest antipater the governor of idumæa encouraged hyrcanus not to give up his throne eventually hyrcanus fled to aretas iii king of the nabateans and returned with an army to take back the throne he defeated aristobulus and besieged jerusalem the roman general pompey who was in syria fighting against the armenians in the third mithridatic war sent his lieutenant to investigate the conflict in judaea both hyrcanus and aristobulus appealed to him for support pompey was not diligent in making a decision about this which caused aristobulus to march off he was pursued by pompey and surrendered but his followers closed jerusalem to pompey s forces the romans besieged and took the city in 63 bce the priests continued with the religious practices inside the temple during the siege the temple was not looted or harmed by the romans pompey himself perhaps inadvertently went into the holy of holies and the next day ordered the priests to repurify the temple and resume the religious practices 29 renovations under herod herod s temple as imagined in the holyland model of jerusalem east at the bottom in c 20 19 bce b 31 herod king of judaea began an ambitious renovation of the second temple the old temple built by zerubbabel was replaced by a magnificent edifice herod s temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century bce 32 the expanded sanctuary was the largest of its time 4 josephus records that herod was interested in perpetuating his name through building projects that his construction programs were extensive and paid for by heavy taxes but that his masterpiece was the temple of jerusalem 32 later the sanctuary shekel was reinstituted to support the temple as the temple tax 33 1st century bce relief with rosettes found beneath the temple mount s southern wall now on display at the davidson center according to josephus the construction of the temple itself took about a year and a half while the porticoes and outer walls required a further eight years 34 31 during the works herod was careful not to offend religious sensitivities 35 ten thousand laborers and a thousand priests were specially trained for the construction daily offerings continued uninterrupted 36 and modesty partitions were erected to shield sacred rituals from view 37 35 both rabbinic tradition and josephus preserve accounts reflecting popular views that herod s construction of the temple was divinely supported with miraculous signs symbolizing god s approval and guidance of the project 38 according to the babylonian talmud and thus we have from the days of herod that when they were working on the construction of the temple rains would fall at night on the morrow the winds would blow and the clouds dispersed and the sun would shine and the people would proceed with their work and they knew that they were doing god s work 39 38 josephus also writes and it is said that during the time when the temple was being built no rain fell during the day but only at night so that there was no interruption of the work and this story which our fathers have handed down to us is not at all incredible if that is one considers the other manifestations of power given by god 40 38 while the main structures were largely completed during herod s reign construction at the complex continued for decades possibly until the 60s ce as reflected in the new testament s mention of 46 years of work 41 and josephus reference to additions under the procurator lucceius albinus c 62 64 ce 35 under roman rule in 4 bce following the funerary ceremonies for his father herod archelaus the ethnarch of judea conducted hearings with his subjects while seated on a golden throne in the temple precincts 42 38 in the early 40s ce a major crisis erupted when the emperor caligula ordered that a statue of himself be installed in the temple a move that would have deeply violated jewish religious beliefs prohibiting idolatry 43 the jewish population in judaea and galilee responded with mass protests and passive resistance including a sit in to block the roman army from transporting the statue 43 jewish leaders also mobilized diplomatically philo in rome as part of a delegation representing the jews of alexandria appealed to caligula while agrippa i a herodian prince and confidant of the emperor attempted to dissuade him the crisis was ultimately averted with caligula s assassination in 41 ce 43 descriptions of jerusalem by non jews emphasize the temple as its central feature 28 the 2nd century bce greek historian polybius described the jews as a nation residing around a temple called jerusalem 44 while tacitus a roman historian from the first century ce wrote that jerusalem is the capital of the jews in it was a temple possessing enormous reaches 45 46 religious activities around the temple mount during this period have been preserved by ancient sources the mishnah provides an eyewitness account of yo ezer ish habirah who reports that pharisee leader gamaliel the elder responded to questions from the house of shammai while standing by the eastern gate of the temple 47 28 new testament accounts describe jesus and the apostles preaching at the temple 48 and indicate that the early christian community in jerusalem used to gather at solomon s portico in the eastern part of the compound 49 the babylonian talmud further states that rabban yohanan ben zakkai used to teach before the temple s destruction in the shadow of the sanctuary 50 28 in rabbinic literature see also missing years jewish calendar and traditional jewish chronology traditional rabbinic literature states that the second temple stood for 420 years and based on the 2nd century work seder olam rabbah placed construction in 356 bce 3824 am 164 years later than academic estimates and destruction in 68 ce 3828 am 51 c according to the mishnah 52 the foundation stone stood where the ark used to be and the high priest put his censer on it on yom kippur 8 the fifth order or division of the mishnah known as kodashim provides detailed descriptions and discussions of the religious laws connected with temple service including the sacrifices the temple and its furnishings as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service tractates of the order deal with the sacrifices of animals birds and meal offerings the laws of bringing a sacrifice such as the sin offering and the guilt offering and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property in addition the order contains a description of the second temple tractate middot and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the temple tractate tamid 53 54 55 according to the babylonian talmud 56 the temple lacked the shekhinah the dwelling or settling divine presence of god and the ruach hakodesh holy spirit present in the first temple herod s temple is praised in the babylonian talmud 4 in bava batra 4a it states he who has not seen the temple of herod has never seen a beautiful building 57 4 similarly in sukkah 51b he who has not seen the temple in its full construction has never seen a glorious building in his life which temple abaye or it might be said rabbi hisda replied the reference is to the building of herod 58 4 the babylonian talmud sukkah 51b provides a description of the stones used in herod s construction of the temple according to the text the 4th century amora rava said it was with stones of green gray marble and white marble marmara others said it was with stones of blue marble and white marble the rows of stones were set with one row slightly protruded and one row slightly indented so that the plaster would take better the passage adds that herod thought to plate the temple with gold but the sages said to him leave it as is and do not plate it as it is better this way as with the different colors and the staggered arrangement of the rows of stones it has the appearance of waves of the sea 59 architecture of herod s temple the second temple in jerusalem was remarkable for its sheer size surpassing typical temples in the roman empire 60 herod s temple from a practical commentary on holy scripture the writings of flavius josephus and the information in tractate middot of the mishnah had for long been used for proposing possible designs for the temple up to 70 ce 1 the discovery of the temple scroll as part of the dead sea scrolls in the 20th century provided another possible source lawrence schiffman states that after studying josephus and the temple scroll he found josephus to be historically more reliable than the temple scroll 61 temple structure the temple itself once stood on the location now occupied by the dome of...
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