Tag: Temple

The Bible in a Year – 24 April

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

24 April. 2 Kings chapters 12-14

The next few chapters give a list of kings of Judah and Israel, many of whom only reigned for a short time before they were killed either in battle or by internal rivals. It was clearly a very unsettled time in the history of both kingdoms.

 

But at the start of this section is an extended story of how the money that was supposed to be set aside for repairing the temple in Jerusalem had not been used for that purpose for many years. Instead, it seems, it had been either used to make yet more silver and gold items (as if they did not have enough already) or simply taken by the priests for their own purposes.  So king Jeohash of Judah (confusingly, Israel had a king of the same name bout the same time) made a sealed chest to ensure that the money was set aside for the right purpose, and had the temple properly repaired.  The gold and silver, meanwhile, were used to pay off the Aramaeans and avoid another war for a while.

 

This interests me as my professional role involves repair of church buildings.  Local congregations are always advised to make sure their buildings are wind- and watertight and generally in good repair as a priority. In the Church of England they even have a legal obligation to have a surveyor or architect inspect the building every five years and make a list of repairs needed.  But it is all too common to find that a congregation goes for at least one, sometimes several five year period without carrying out any of the recommended repairs, while still finding money for other purposes.  Sadly, it often ends up with the church building needing hundreds of thousands of pounds spending on it, and being proposed for closure.

 

The worship of God, of course, does not require special buildings, and many Christians meet in people’s homes, hired halls, or conference centres depending on their numbers.  And if we do have church buildings, they should not be the prime focus of our activity – the work of the kingdom of God happens out in the community as much as in church.  But if we do have church buildings, God is interested in them being fit for purpose, be they great temples or tin shacks.

The Bible in a Year – 15 April

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

15 April. 1 Kings chapters 8-9

After completing the temple, there was (of course) a great week-long celebration to dedicate it. It’s a natural human instinct to celebrate the successful completion of anything, whether a course of study or the construction of a large building; or indeed a life well lived. The Jews seem to have a particular knack for celebrating well, and their festival of Hanukah in December still recalls the dedication of the temple (the later one, not Solomon’s).

 

But before the feasting starts (someone had to eat the meat of the 120,000 sheep and 20,000 cattle that were sacrificed!) the high point is Solomon’s dedication sermon recorded here in full. Although we are not told here what he was wearing, a look back at the provisions in the book of Leviticus will tell us about the finery of his robes – and remember he was king as well as high priest, for the people of Israel had demanded that their spiritual leader should also have the title and function of a king.

 

The speech alternates between addressing God and addressing the gathered people. Solomon kneels before the altar and the ark of the covenant, which symbolise the presence of God, though he acknowledges that God is everywhere, and asks God to bless those who keep his laws, and forgive those who repent when they have sinned. Then he turns to the people, reminds them of the promises that God keeps, and exhorts them to keep the laws.

 

That is essentially the role of a priest, or any minister of religion – to be an intermediary between God and humanity. From time to time, Christians have argued about what we should call the leaders of our communities and what their function should be – are they ‘priests’ fulfilling a Solomon-like function to which they have a special calling, or in recognition of the risen Christ’s role as a permanent high priest for us in heaven, should we just call them ‘ministers’ or ‘pastors’ and treat them as brothers and sisters on equal terms?

 

You can still find both attitudes, even within my denomination (Church of England). In one church you may find a ‘priest’ dressed in essentially Roman robes, standing before the altar conducting the ‘mass’ that (apart from translation) has changed little since Roman times and where Solomon might feel at home, in others a ‘pastor’ in contemporary clothes facilitating a joyful gathering in which people of all ages and genders share in the teaching and prayers.  But whatever you call your church leader, and however he (or she) dresses, their role is to assist you in worship and living God’s way, or as Jesus put it, in “loving God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and your neighbour as yourself”.

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 14 April (Good Friday)

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

14 April. 1 Kings chapters 6-7

In these chapters, Solomon arranges the building of his great Temple, which takes seven years, and his even bigger palace, which takes thirteen.  The furnishings of these, especially the Temple, are described in great detail.

 

The Temple in its three versions – this first one, the rebuilt one after the Exile, and finally Herod’s Temple that Jesus knew – would be the central focus of religious life in Israel/Judah for the best part of a thousand years.   There is no longer a central Temple for either Jews or Christians. But its symbolism continues in Christianity – for example the plan of many Catholic and Anglican churches with narthex, nave, chancel and altar sanctuary  deliberately echoes the plan of the temple, and some church fonts are made to resemble the “sea” or large basin of water in the nave of the temple.

 

Today (as I write this) is Good Friday 2017, the most solemn day of the Christian year when Jesus died for our sins.  One of the ‘crimes’ for which he was condemned was the blasphemous claim that he would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.  What he meant was that in his death, he would instantly put an end to the the purpose of the Temple (indeed its curtain that kept ordinary people away from the holiest part of the shrine was miraculously torn down at the moment of his death), and on the third day when he rose from the dead he himself would become the temple for us.

 

The Christian understanding is that Jesus replaced the temple, a central place of prayer by priests on behalf of the people, as the way to God, for he was God incarnate, and he “lives for all time to make intercession for us”. He replaced it as the location where God can be encountered, for we can know his presence at any time. He replaced the function of its altars for making sacrifice for sin, for he himself became the ultimate sacrifice.

 

This week, Jews have celebrated the Passover and Christians prepare to celebrate Easter – these are really two versions of the same story of God’s saving love.  But one led, after over five hundred years, to a man-made temple in which God’s love for Israel could be remembered and kept sacred.  The other instantly opened up God’s love to the whole world for ever.

 

May you have a blessed day and look forward to the celebration on Sunday.

The Bible in a Year – 13 April

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

13 April. 1 Kings chapters 3-5

What do you give the man who has everything?  Here we read of the vision in which God offers Solomon anything he wants.  Instead of anything material, he asks for wisdom to make him a good ruler.  That was to be the foundation for an astonishing kingship.  Almost immediately (if the stories here are in their right order) he gives what is perhaps his most famous judgement, ruling that of two women who argue who is a child’s mother, the one willing to part with him rather than see him come to harm is the right one. Sadly, as we all know from the tragedies of “Bay Peter” and others like him, there are still those parents who are willing to let their children be harmed, or even abuse them themselves.

 

Solomon’s wisdom, we are told, extends beyond wise law-giving, as he was a great naturalist, philosopher and song writer. Such polymaths (people who excel in many aspects of human knowledge and experience) are rare, but greatly to be valued.

 

Solomon then begins his life’s great work – the building of a great temple in Jerusalem as a permanent replacement for the tabernacle tent of the Exodus years.  Much of the rest of the book will be taken up with it, just as the great cathedrals of Europe took a lifetime or more to complete. Like them, construction required vast numbers of masons, joiners and other craftsmen.  Interestingly,  although this is to be the great place for worship for the Israelites, Solomon not only accepts but seeks the skills of foreign workers, in this case the Sidonians and Lebanese.  Let those who seek to reduce immigration in our own day take note!

 

The Bible in a Year – 19 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

19 February. Numbers chapters 18-20

The implications of the attempted rebellion against God and his appointed leaders in yesterday’s reading went further than the immediate death of many of the people.  “From now on the Israelites shall no longer approach the tent of meeting, or else they will incur guilt and die” (18:22) represents a permanent exclusion of the ordinary people from the very place – the tent of meeting – in which they were supposed to meet with God.  From now on only the priests and Levites could enter it.  In the later days of the stone Temple this was replicated as a series of courtyards for gentiles, women, lay men and priests before getting to the most holy place that only the high priest could enter.

 

What a change is represented by Christian worship: although the layout of large churches and cathedrals still bears echoes of this (narthex, nave, chancel and sanctuary) nowhere is actually “out of bounds” to ordinary people, and all are welcome to enter and seek God.  That is why the charging of fixed admission fees by some of the more popular cathedrals is controversial: many people think they should only request donations and not charge for what should be an opportunity to encounter holiness.

 

Chapter 19 includes a further purification ceremony:the sacrifice of a red heifer whose ashes when mixed with water would be used to purify people from ritual uncleanness. The nearest we see to that is Christian practice is probably the Ash Wednesday ritual when palm crosses from Holy Week the previous year are burned and their ashes mixed with oil and used to make a mark on the foreheads of those who come to make their Lenten confession.

 

In chapter 20 another miracle occurs when God provides water from the rock in a dry place.  Moses and Aaron make the mistake of failing to credit God for the miracle, so that it looks as if they themselves can make magic. As a result they are condemned to die before reaching the promised land.  It is always important to distinguish between natural talent and God-given gifts, though not always easy to do so.