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What is the Temple of Herod?
        THE TEMPLE OF HEROD
        The temple of Zerubbabel had stood nearly five hundred years and was much decayed when Herod the Great, with a view to secure the favor of the Jews and obtain to himself a great name, undertook to rebuild it; so that it was not a new edifice, strictly speaking, but rather a complete repair of the second temple. He began the work twenty years before the birth of Christ, and completed the main building in one year and a half, and the adjoining buildings in eight years. But the work was not entirely ended till a.d. 61, under Herod Agrippa II. So the statement in John 2:20 is correct. We shall describe the temple as it stood in the days of our Saviour, condensing in the main the statements of F.R. and C.R. Conder in the Handbook to the Bible (N. Y., 1879).
        

         The temple was located in the present Haram enclosure, the wall of which has been most carefully and elaborately surveyed. See Quarterly Statement for January, 1880, of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The building stood upon the top of Mount Moriah. but not in the middle of the area, which was 500 cubits square (cubit = 16 in.). Along the ramparts of the temple-hill ran double cloisters or arcades, and there the money-changers sat. Matt 21:12. The royal cloister was triple, and was on the south side; Solomon's Porch was on the east. The pillars could hardly be spanned by three men; two of them still exist. The enclosure was entered through five gates. The gate Shushan was directly opposite to the temple proper. There were several courts about the temple which were upon different levels.
        

         The outer court, or court of the Gentiles, came first, then the court of the women, the court of Israel, the court of the priests, and then the temple itself. Between the first two came the "soreg" ("interwoven"), or "middle wall of partition." Eph 2:14. It had thirteen openings; upon it, at intervals, were square pillars with Greek inscriptions, threatening death to the uncircumcised intruder. The charge that Paul had brought such a Greek into the enclosure aroused the Jerusalem mob. Acts 21:28. The court of the women, had 4 chambers, and was so called, not because it was set apart exclusively for their use, but because they were not allowed to come any nearer the temple. There were three gates, of which the eastern, covered with gold, was the larger. The women had a gallery above the cloister, erected in order to avoid the crowding at the feast of tabernacles. In this court were probably the thirteen money-chests, Mark 12:41. The court of Israel, 10 cubits by 135, was fifteen steps higher up, and upon them the fifteen Songs of Degrees (Ps 120-134, inclusive) were sung. The musical instruments were kept there. It was merely a platform, and had no cloisters or columns. Only men especially purified could enter it. The court of the priests, or sanctuary, 135 by 176 cubits, was 2 1/2 cubits higher than the court of Israel, the wall being 1 cubit high, with three steps above it. On the wall there was a platform, from which the priests blessed the people. There was no communication between this court and the lower, except through the side-chambers of the gate Nicanor, which stood above the fifteen steps already mentioned. The court of the priests had seven gates. The south-eastern gate was called the Water-gate, because the water used in the feast of tabernacles was brought through it.
        

         There were no cisterns within the court, and the altar was joined to the earth, having no excavations under it. The north-western gate was called Moked ("hearth"), and was the guard-house of the priests who kept watch round the fire, whence the name. The north-eastern gate was called Nitzotz ("prominence"), because it was a kind of outstanding tower. Above the Water-gate was a room called Aphtinas, in which the incense was made. The Sanhedrin, which see, sat in the so-called Pavement, or chamber of hewn stone, which opened on this court. In this court, directly before the temple, was the altar, which was built of solid stone, cemented, whitewashed at intervals, and had a line of red paint drawn round it. See Altar. Lieut. Conder points out that the Talmudic description indicates a much ruder structure than is usually supposed. There were holes in the foundation through which the blood flowed into drains, and a man-hole to facilitate the examination of the drains. To the left was the laver.
        

         We come now to the temple, and, continuing to take the guidance of the Handbook, give the following facts: The facade of the temple was a square of 100 cubits, and was gilded. The entrance of the temple was 20 cubits wide and 40 high. Over it hung the golden vine, supported, probably, by nails. The temple was of two stories; in the lower there were thirty-eight chambers in three tiers; in the upper, none. The holy house was entered from the porch by a gate 20 cubits high and 10 broad, with double doors, opening out and in; before it hung a veil of equal width with the doors. Before the entrance to the holy of holies hung two veils or two curtains, 1 cubit apart, and, inasmuch as the opening of the outer curtain was upon the north, while the inner was on the south, no glimpse of the holy of holies could be obtained by any one but the high priest. (See Handbook to the Bible, p. 123.)
        

         The allusions to the second (third) temple are neither many nor important. The scene of the purification of Mary, Luke 2:22, must have been at the gate Nicanor, since here it took place. The Child Jesus was found amid the doctors of the Law, who sat on the steps of the temple-courts. Luke 2:46. The Beautiful Gate, Acts 3:2, was probably the entrance from the Tyropoeon bridge to the beautiful southern cloister built by Herod. The castle of Antonia, from which, by a secret passageway, the Roman soldiery could be poured down into the temple-area to preserve order - as notably to rescue Paul, Acts 21:31-32 - was situated upon the north-western corner of the outer cloister, and had four towers with a large interior space. It was arranged by John Hyrcanus for a residence, and enlarged by Herod.
        

         This third temple was destroyed by the Romans on Friday, 9th day of Ab (August), a.d. 70, and the prophecy of Jesus was literally fulfilled. Matt 24:2. The emperor Julian endeavored to rebuild it, a.d. 363. To this end he advanced funds from the public treasury and applied the contributions from the Jews, who were enthusiastic over the proposition. But the work met with a check from an unexpected quarter. God used Nature to defeat the plan: "As the workmen dug down to the foundations terrific explosions took place: what seemed balls of fire burst forth; the works were shattered to pieces; clouds of smoke and dust enveloped the whole in darkness, broken only by the wild and fitful glare of the flames. Again the work was renewed by the obstinate zeal of the Jews; again they were repelled by this unseen and irresistible power, till they cast away their implements and abandoned the work in humiliation and despair." - Milman: History of Christianity, vol. iii. p. 27.
        

         There stands today, upon the site of the temple, a Mohammedan mosque, the Dome of the Rock, so called from the famous Sakhrah, or Holy Rock, which, according to Mohammedan tradition, attempted to follow Mohammed on his memorable night-journey to heaven, but was held back by the hand of the archangel Gabriel: in proof, both the "footprint of Mohammed" and the "handprint of Gabriel" are shown. Some consider that this rock was the site of the great altar of burnt-offering. In confirmation is adduced the hole in the rock, and the cave under it, which, upon this hypothesis, was the cesspool.
        

         Up to quite recent times the Haram, as the enclosure containing the site of the temple is called, was closed to all non-Mohammedans, but the pressure brought to bear after the Crimean war (1856) was too great, and now travellers find no difficulty in gaining admittance.


Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'temple of herod' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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