Questions on temple history

[jwithnell]

My boys and I are in the era of the second temple in school, and I've always had such an unclear picture of this time. I don't understand why it was not a complete outrage when Herod built the third temple -- surely he wasn't going by the prophecies in Daniel. Most histories give vague descriptions calling Herod's work a "renovation" or "expansion." But we know so little about the appearance of the second temple even though extensive archaeology has been conducted on the temple mount. (Though I understand it's been severely limited by Islam.) It seems that the second temple had to be destroyed before it was rebuilt by Herod. Once again, this would have been an outrage, wouldn't it?

 

[KMK]

It is my understanding that the Herods, from the very beginning, had invented legends about their origins that hoodwinked the Jews into believing that they were of Jewish descent. If I understand the dynamics correctly, the Jews kind of looked up to the Herods to a certain extent which might explain the lack of outrage.

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Most of what we know about the original second temple comes from the book of Ezra. When the foundation was laid, the young people rejoiced but the old people wept, presumably because they remembered Solomon's temple and this one was not nearly as large. Because of its smaller size, it is possible that Herod simply built his temple on top of the old one, thus preventing outrage that would surely have come had he completely demolished the previous temple.

 

[KMK]

My memory is somewhat flawed apparently.

From Koester; Introduction to the New Testament; Vol 1; pg 693

Nevertheless, Herod [the Great] never succeeded in his attempts to become reconciled with the Jewish people. The splendor and cruelty of his rule combined to establish his image as a tyrant. Although he eagerly supported the institutions of the Jewish religion, it was never forgotten that he was an Idumean...and that his kingdom relied upon the favor of the Romans, whose rule remained a hated foreign dominion for the Jewish people.

However, the fact that Herod was able to generate the revenue to build a new Temple shows just how economically successful his government was. When people are making good money they often overlook their scruples.

From the same page in Koester:

Finally, Herod spent large sums of money for buildings in Jerusalem, most importantly for the erection of a new temple...Herod also attended to the other holy shrines of Israel, like the shrine of Abraham in Mamre...

These extensive building projects demonstrate not only that Herod was capable of exacting large sums of money from his country, but also that there was an unusual prosperity and considerable economic growth in Palestine during his rule. After many years of war and unrest, peace had finally returned to the land of Israel, and all its inhabitants could profit from the blessing of the new age.

As we know from our own country, if people have peace and good wages they are more apt to overlook the misconduct of the government.

 

[jwithnell]

Thanks for the research --that would explain why I had vaguely in mind a tenuous relationship between Herod and the Jews. Bill, are you suggesting that Herod might have built the larger temple as a kind of shell around the second temple? The second was, to my understanding, built on the foundation of the first.

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Thanks for the research --that would explain why I had vaguely in mind a tenuous relationship between Herod and the Jews. Bill, are you suggesting that Herod might have built the larger temple as a kind of shell around the second temple? The second was, to my understanding, built on the foundation of the first.

Possibly, but it is also possible that he did tear down the original and just rebuild on the foundation. Unfortunately we don't have as much information about things that occured during the intertestamental period as we would like to.

 

[jwithnell]

I'm seeing that I shouldn't refer to 3 temples, but 2. When you have one built by Solomon and another after captivity and then an edifice that often carries Herod's name, that adds to 3 in my math. But I'll bow to historical accuracy.