Building the New Temple of Jerusalem (believe, Christians, Israel, prophecy)
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There are barriers to building a Temple on the Mount.
The Temple can only be rebuilt when the majority of Jews live in Israel (this is not the case, as there are Lost Tribes, in a number of places, including possibly the Japanese)
Second, the First Temple and the Second Temple were built according specifications in Ezekiel (because these are cryptic, it is somewhat unclear) and must be placed in an exact spot.
It is forbidden to enter the area without becoming ritually pure. To do this requires the sacrifice of a red heifer (which already requires some testing to make sure it is in fact all one color, and in fact has only been done like 9 times from Moses to the destruction of the 2nd Temple)
Then it needs to be staffed by descendants of Aaron. But much of the history of Judaism got lots in the shuffle of exiles, holocausts, etc. We may have no idea who would actually meet this standard. There is also the issue of the Sanhedrin.
To say nothing of the priestly robes.
So, impossible, right? Well...
Quote:
So How Is It Going to Happen?
As for how the Temple will ultimately get rebuilt, it is a matter of dispute between the classic commentators.
Maimonides teaches that the Temple will be built by Messiah himself, and in fact its construction will be one of the signs that he is indeed the Messiah.13 One of the Messiah’s first orders of business will be to use his spirit of prophecy to discern who is a priest, as well as the tribal affiliation of each Israelite.14 Additionally, we will have the ashes of the red heifer to purify those who are impure.15
Others are of the opinion that in the messianic era, the Temple will descend ready-built from heaven.16 So Is There Nothing We Can Do?
Despite the above complications, without even lifting a trowel, we can actually fulfill the mitzvah of building G‑d’s home. How so?
Our sages tells us that after G‑d revealed the dimensions of the future Temple to the prophet Ezekiel,17 Ezekiel turned to G‑d and asked, “Why should I tell this to the Jewish people, if they are in exile and will not build the Temple now? Let me wait until they are redeemed, and then I will tell them this prophecy.”
G‑d replied: “Just because My children are in exile, should there be no building of My house?! Learning about the description of My house is as great as the building of it. Go and tell the Jewish people to occupy themselves in learning about the Temple, and in that merit I will consider it as if they engaged in building it.”18
Here's my thought, and I am not a Jew, but well anyway...
If we are to build a Temple to God, we are to start by honoring God. So what is it we know about God?
When we are prepared to try it ourselves, God rewards our faith. Consider the lesson of Isaac's "sacrifice" where instead of killing his child, God waited until Abraham's faith had been shown. Before the temple is to be built, the start is preparing our faith.
God is primarily a being that is more spirit than physical. Therefore, it is likely a silly idea to keep rebuilding a physical Temple that Muslims, Romans, whoever else can just come knock down. It is therefore useful to think of the building itself as a metaphorical process, as in, to build the Temple, first we must make a world where it can safely exist. This actually follows, because in order for the Jews outside of Israel to see it as safe to return, we need an Israel free of strife, of conflict.
God is One. It is written, "Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world." If we are to rebuild the Temple, not just Israel, but the world at large must become more unified, to work to save the lives of the suffering. To build a better world, where all can live in peace. In fact, when this happens, I believe the Messiah will return, both for the Jews and the Christians.
So yea, I believe we can ignore the shopping list of seemingly impossible requirements, and work on creating a more ideal world. When we start on these, some of these requirements will either make themselves known, or as is said above, the Temple will come into existence in spirit if not in form.
You may not know this, but there's a Hebrew term that is central to many Jewish teachings: Tikkun Olam. It means to "repair the world". Much of what you posted is included in it, and many Jews believe that we need to make great strides in it before the world is ready for the messiah to come and for the third Temple to be rebuilt.
In Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of Our Fathers), it is written that Rabbi Tarfon said "it is not up to you to finish the task (of repairing the world), but you are not free to avoid it". It is the responsibility of every Jew to do his or her part to make the world a better a place in what ever way possible; we may not succeed in making the world perfect, but we all have to do our part.
You may not know this, but there's a Hebrew term that is central to many Jewish teachings: Tikkun Olam. It means to "repair the world". Much of what you posted is included in it, and many Jews believe that we need to make great strides in it before the world is ready for the messiah to come and for the third Temple to be rebuilt.
In Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of Our Fathers), it is written that Rabbi Tarfon said "it is not up to you to finish the task (of repairing the world), but you are not free to avoid it". It is the responsibility of every Jew to do his or her part to make the world a better a place in what ever way possible; we may not succeed in making the world perfect, but we all have to do our part.
This is the core for everything. It connects us. it allows us to bring others kicking and screaming into their future where they belong. But, they do not make it easy, I tell ya.
one particularly lovely teaching that is one of my favorites, is that every prayer we pray, and every mitzvah we do as individual Jews in our ordinary daily life, provides a stone for the third temple, and when all the stones are delivered and assembled and put in place and the third temple is then complete and assembled in the heavenly realms, then it appears in the physical realm here. Just like the Jews brought the individual elements to Moses for the Tabernacle, and Moses assembled and raised the Tabernace......so too will the 3rd temple be assembled and descend to earth.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 11-12-2015 at 07:25 PM..
In ancient Jerusalem, the High Priest in the temple making his rounds each night to make sure the other priests were doing their duties. One of those duties was keeping the fire burning on the bazen altar at all times. The commandment in was to never allow this fire on the altar to go out (Leviticus 6:13).
If a priest was on duty to watch the fire by night, he was not allowed to fall asleep on the job, for if he did, the fire would not stay stoked and the fire could go out, thereby bringing judgment on the entire nation of Israel. The priests were also commanded not to have wine or strong drink while serving in the temple (Leviticus 10:9). Alcohol in their blood stream would defile their worship and cause them to become drunk, lazy and sleepy. Because the High Priest came at an hour when they were least expecting him to show up, the priests began to nick-name him “the thief in the night.”
If the priest on duty fell asleep and was not watching the fire on the brazen altar, the High Priest would show up and find him sleeping on the job. The High Priest would then take some hot coals from the altar, and scoop them up with a shovel. He would then dump some of these hot coals onto the priest’s garment who had fallen asleep. The priest who had fallen asleep would be suddenly awakened by the smell of hot burning coals and his garment on fire. He would immediately strip off his clothes as fast as he could in order to prevent from being burned. At the end of his shift, the other priests would see him naked without his garment, and he would be ashamed because all of the other priests would know that he was caught falling asleep on the job.
This reminded me of being on Fire Guard in the Military.
I learned to be a light sleeper. Even learned to nap standing up.
The Officers would come very late at night, or early in the morning to catch us off guard.
There are barriers to building a Temple on the Mount.
Second, the First Temple and the Second Temple were built according specifications in Ezekiel (because these are cryptic, it is somewhat unclear) and must be placed in an exact spot.
No, the first and second Temple have nothing to do with Ezekiel's design. Ezekiel's temple cannot be built, and it's design is not like the first design, it's laws are changed and it's design is changed.
No, the first and second Temple have nothing to do with Ezekiel's design. Ezekiel's temple cannot be built, and it's design is not like the first design, it's laws are changed and it's design is changed.
From what I heard, Herod's temple was based in general on the description in Ezekiel which was taken (fingers crossed) as a memory of what the first temple looked like.
From what I heard, Herod's temple was based in general on the description in Ezekiel which was taken (fingers crossed) as a memory of what the first temple looked like.
No, Ezekiel's temple can never be built because it is an ever expanding temple, It simply doesn't work or look like Solomon's.
There was one way to approach the Temple and this from the East side through a veil into an outer court which proceeded to the next veil into the Holy place, and through the third veil into the Holy of Holies.
But Ezekiel's Temple has people coming in through the south and exiting through the north and visa versa, it's flow was completely changed and it's laws different than Solomon's laws, it's furnishing are different until you begin seeking out all the differences to see what has changed and much has. Nobody can have the measurements of this Temple and thus, it cannot be built. Ezekiel changed the length of a cubit and nobody knows how long a cubit is in this temple and a temple of God cannot be built without extremely accurate measurements and so many would wait on Messiah to come and give those measurements.
I didn't mean to write a book but Ezekiel's Temple looks and works nothing like Solomon's or Herod's temple.
Still, a whole lot of differences I didn't mention.
That's not what I gathered. The East had an important entrance through Solomon's porch, but I understand that there was a city entrance from the south, up a flight of stairs, When you think of it, how many prople are expected to leave the city, cross the Kedron and re -enter over Herod's viaduct? There was another entrance on the west, reached along the Hasmonean wall - or so I read. I will be astonished if there wasn't a northern gate, also.
Btw you seem to be confusing the sanctuary with doors and the veil separating the east part of the sanctuary from the Holy of Holies, which was God's personal space, with the temple as a whole. The sanctuary was surrounded by an area accessible only to Jews and another surrounding area open to Gentiles. The veil was nothing to do with that.
p.e you might mention specific features of Ezekiel's temple description that you think is unlike the layout of the 2nd temple. I am happy to consider them.
You may not know this, but there's a Hebrew term that is central to many Jewish teachings: Tikkun Olam. It means to "repair the world". Much of what you posted is included in it, and many Jews believe that we need to make great strides in it before the world is ready for the messiah to come and for the third Temple to be rebuilt.
In Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of Our Fathers), it is written that Rabbi Tarfon said "it is not up to you to finish the task (of repairing the world), but you are not free to avoid it". It is the responsibility of every Jew to do his or her part to make the world a better a place in what ever way possible; we may not succeed in making the world perfect, but we all have to do our part.
I can relate to that. How similar to the atheist view that there is only us. Only we are responsible. It is up to us to do our bit to make the world as good as we can to live in, for us and those who come after.
We don't believe in gods and messiahs, of course, but that's just our opinion.
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