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23
2.1.1.1. bayith
The primitive Semitic bait is quite prevalent in the Semitic languages. The word bait was probably a primary noun. It cannot be derived from any known verb. On the contrary, denominative verbs (like Akkadian Biatum/ batu and Arab Bata, both meaning to spend the night) were derived from the noun bait. Since the uses of Hebrew bayith were so diverse and varied, it is impossible to state any adequate synonym for it. Here we mention only approximately synonymous words ohel, tent, meant more than a movable dwelling. Frequently it has to be translated home, dwelling or family. It would hardly be possible to show that bayith had an earlier original meaning other than house. If the primitive Semitic word bait was used in the period of the cave dwellers, there hardly remains a trace of bait in the sence of cave. Instead the ordinary Hebrew word for cave is mearah1. Bayith is a building made of wood and stone in which a man and his family live (house). If the main occupant of the building was the king, the building was called beth hammelekh, the kings house, the palace. When a building to receive the deity or his servants, it was called a beth haelohim, house of god, temple. The concept of temple is also expressed simply by beth before the divine name: beth yhwh, temple of Yahweh. And finally if the house (that is palace or temple) was very large and was composed of several buildings, each building in the complex could be called a bayith2. Bayith is used in the Bible for the temple of a god, the house of god, in shiloh, and at Jerusalem, and Ezekiels vision of the temple3.
2.1.1.2. Hekal
Hekal is derived from the Sumerian, meaning a great house, and used for a palace and also the temple, the building at Shiloh, Yahwehs abode, and the temple at Jerusalem. It is used of Ezekiels vision, of the temple buildings generally. The expressions hekal qodsha, thy holy temple and hekhal qodsho, his holy temple, occur in the Old Testament4. In the OT, hekal has three meanings: palace, temple, and the middle
1 2
Cfr. Hoffner, bayith, in: Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, II, Michigan, 1975, 107-108. Cfr. Ibid., 111-113. 3 Cfr. W. von Meding, naos, in: Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, III, Michigan, 1992, 786. 4 Cfr. Ibid.
24 area in the temple of Solomon, also called the holy place. The word hekal is often used interchangeably with bayith; it refers primarily to royal palaces. Since a temple is often considered a gods dwelling place, the distinction between palace and temple is only minor. In the OT, hekal in the sense of temple refers to the temple of Yahweh. The phrase hekal yhwh alternates with beth yhwh, but never occurs in parallel construction. Several temples are referred to as the temple of Solomon and the temple of Zerubbabel. In the accounts of the building of the temple during Solomons reign, the word hekal never refers to the temple as a whole, but to the area that is also called the holy place, qodhesh. The same is true in Ezekiels temple vision. In these texts, the word bayith is always used for the temple5.
2.1.1.3. qodesh
The noun qodesh connotes the concept of holiness, the essential nature of that which belongs to the sphere of the sacred and which is thus distinct from the common or profane. It can be used almost as a synonym of deity. His holy name is the name of god. The inner room of gods dwelling is called the holy of holies. But the Biblical viewpoint would refer the holiness of god not only to the mystery of his power but also to his character as totally good and entirely without evil. A basic element of Israelite religion was the maintenance of an inviolable distinction between the spheres of the sacred and the common or profane. That which was inherently holy or designated so by divine decree or cultic rite was not to be treated as common. That which was dedicated to god was conceived of as entering the sphere of the holy. The holy god came to man in redeeming love within the context of regulations and proscriptions that were designed to maintain the purity of holiness that characterized Gods essential nature. The cults also affected the holiness of those who participated in it. Because of His holiness, God is above the weakness and imperfections of mortals and thus can accomplish the deliverance of mortal. Thus the maintenance of the integrity of the holy was a function of the Israelites6.
2.1.1.4. miqdash
5 6
Cfr. Ottosson, Hekhal, in: Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, II, Michigan, 1975, 383. Cfr. Thomas E. Mccomiskey, Miqdash and Qodesh, in: Harris R. Laird et al. (Eds.), Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, II, Chicago, 1980, 787-788.
6
25 The noun miqdash is used most frequently in the OT as designation of the tabernacle and the temple. It is frequently translated sanctuary. Miqdash denotes that which has been devoted to the sphere of the sacred. When it refers to the sanctuary, it connotes the physical area devoted to the worship of god. This area was sacred because it was the place where god dwelled among the people and its sanctity was not to be profaned. The word also designated sanctuaries that were devoted to false worship, to the abode of God and metaphorically to a place of refuge7.
2.1.1.5. maqom
This noun represents the physical location where something is or ought to be i.e. its station. So, it is translated place, home, or room. Infrequently it applies to that where nothing is hence open space. In particular it is used of gods place; Jerusalem as Gods place; Shechem where God appeared to Abraham promising to give the land to his descendants; holy places the places of the name of the Lord of hosts; the place which Yahweh chooses8.
2.1.2.1. naos9
The noun naos is derived from naio, to dwell, and is attested since Mycenean Greek. Originally it meant simply a dwelling, particularly the dwelling of a god, temple, or the innermost area of the temple. In the Hellenistic period, heaven as the dwelling of a god could also be described as naos.
7 8
Cfr. Ibid, 789. Cfr. W. von Meding, Op. Cit., 786. 9 Cfr. Ibid., 781-784.
26 Naos must consequently be distinguished from the term temenos which is older in terms of religious history, but not found in the New Testament. This latter means a space fenced in, or at least clearly marked, as being an area where a theophany has once occurred and is expected again on the ground of tradition. It is usually a place marked out by nature. In the special place, not made by human hands, the god appears as the revealer, the healer, or the giver of fertility; but he does not dwell there. For the sake of clarity naos is therefore translated temple. In the LXX naos is used 55 times (out of a total 61 instances) to translate the Hebrew hekal, palace, temple. As a building constructed as a dwelling for the gods, it is used for the sacrifice, worship of the gods, and oracles, and hence requires of necessity a local priesthood. In the Old Testament used the Hebrew term hekal to distinguish the true worship from the false, the LXX cut out all passages where hekal meant palace, by rendering it such instances simply by house. The result of this limitation is that naos becomes purely a cultic term, referring exclusively to the true temple of God. In the new Testament naos is found most frequently in Revalation (16 times) and Paul (7 times; neither used the greek term hieron ). The Synoptic Gospels use it almost only in the passion narrative (Mathew 9 times, Mark 3 times, Luke 7 times; Luke prefers hieron, 39 times), and the Johannine writings (apart from the saying in Jn. 2:19-21, which comes from the Synoptic tradition.), like the other writings of the New Testament, do not use it at all.
2.1.2.2. heiron10
The expression to heiron contains the neutral form of the adjective hieros, holy, used as a noun. In Classical Greek to hieron and its plural ta hiera, the holy things, can denote sacrifice. The plural can also refer to public objects. To hieron can mean the consecrated grove, or any place of sacrifice or the inner part of the place of worship, the temenos. In the LXX translation of the canonical writings of the Old Testament, to hieron occurs only rarely to denote the Jerusalem temple. The reason for general absence
10
Cfr. C. Brown, to hieron, in: Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, III, Michigan, 1992, 785-794.
27 from the canonical writings is doubtless its associations with idolatry, coupled with the fact that the Hebrew Old testament uses more general terms to denote the temple that we already dealt with it in the above section- bayit, hekal, qodesh miqdas, and maqom. As the focal point of Jewish religion, the temple figures prominently in the New Testament, especially in the light of Jesus associations with it. It is the place of Gods presence, glory, revelation and meeting with his people. Jesus action in connection with the temple, have a parabolic character signifying the presence of God with his people for those who have eyes to see. The destruction of the temple epitomizes Gods Judgment on the Jewish people in their rejection of himself in the person of Jesus. At the same time it signifies the end of the old covenant and its super session by the new.
2.1.2.3. oikos11
The noun oikos is common in Greek and it means house or dwelling. Sometimes specific houses are meant, e.g., a temple. Very often it means temple. It is common in Egyptian practice to call the temple the house of the deity. In the LXX oikos refers to the house which wisdom has built for itself and the similar house of the Torah and the permanent house. It is the fixed term for the sanctuary. This is obviously connected in some way with the NT understanding of the community as the house of God. In the NT, too, it is used in honour of the earthly sanctuary of Israel. No other sacred or ecclesiastical structure is called by this term in the NT sphere. It may be supposed that this usage was very common to primitive Christianity and became a permanent part of the preaching tradition. Jesus at the cleansing of the temple taught: Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves (Mk 11:17). Jn 2:16 the rebuke of Jesus runs: Take these things hence; make not my Fathers house an house of merchandise.
Cfr. Michel, oikos in: Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, V, Michigan, 1992, 119- 122.
28 understand the temples and sanctuaries in the ancient world of the Bible. Specifically focuses on the cultural background of the temples in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, in Syria and Palestine, and Greco- Roman temples during the Biblical Period.
12
Cfr. R.A. Tomlinson, Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Temples, in: The Encyclopedia of Religion, XIV, New York, 1987, 383. 13 Cfr. John Ruffle, Egyptian Temples: Houses of prayer, in: R. Pierce Beaver et. al. (Eds.), A Lion Handbook The worlds Religions, Herts, 1985, 75.
29
Cfr. Ibid. Cfr. Willam A. Ward, Temples and Sanctuaries, Egypt, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 369. 16 Cfr. John Ruffle, Op. Cit., 75. 17 Cfr. Willam A. Ward, Op. Cit., 370.
30 The wide range of religious and secular functions of the temples required a variety of personnel to carry them out. The number of people attached to a temple varied from a single priest to many thousands of priests and lay workers, depending on the size of the sanctuary and the extent of its property. In the larger temples, the lay persons are appointed for caring for fields and crops, gardens, animal herds, granaries, house keeping, and the copies written records of daily life18.
31
Cfr. John F. Robertson, Temples and Sanctuaries, Mesopotamia, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 372-373.
32 3000 BCE witnessed the appearance of several different types of temple ground plans. The basic elements of the ground level temple were rectangular, with a door in one of the long sides and a brick altar in one end and it is called bend-axis approach. By about 2000 BCE, however, the bent-axis configuration was now, for the most part, replaced in Mesopotamia by the direct-axis approach, a more symmetrical layout that resulted in a n aligned vista from a paved courtyard.
2.2.2.2.1. Ziggurat
From the end of the 3rd millennium BCE on, the staged towers known as ziggurats became an essential feature of Mesopotamian temple complexes. There arose about the intended function of these multi-staged towers many hypotheses. They were the thrones of the gods- cosmic mountains that served as tombs of a dying /resurgent god. They were identified as the stairways connecting heaven and earth, thereby allowing the deity to descend from heaven. The ziggurat came to be a characteristic feature of religious architecture in Mesopotamia as well by the early 2nd millennium BCE22.
33 granting small interest free loans of grain. The temple might perform services such as administering oaths and ordeals in judicial proceedings. The temples most crucial function was to provide for the citys patron deity a secure, permanent residence of appropriate spaciousness and luxury23.
Cfr. Ibid., 375-376. Cfr. Martin Noth, The History of Israel, London, 1976, 141-142. 25 Cfr. Willam G. Dever, Syria- Palestine, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 376. 26 Cfr. Ibid., 377-378.
34
27 28
35 female chastity. There were also multiform Baal worship who was also the givers of life and fertility29.
Cfr. Martin Noth, Op. Cit., 143- 144. Cfr. Willam G. Dever , Op. Cit., 379- 380. 31 Cfr. R.A. Tomlinson, Op.Cit., 384.
36 At Athens, Athena as the protector of the city had her temple in the acropolis. Other temples and shrines were located in the agora, or commercial and political center of the city. Demeter, as goddess of agriculture, however, often had her sanctuary out side the city walls. The small temples for Dionysos were found near the theater.32
Conclusion
A temple may be defined as a building in which public worship is performed, erected on a holy place35. The older Semitic language had no special word for temple. They were called simply the house, or the palace of the god, the holy place or the sanctuary. Sometimes the same words are used for the palace of the King and for the abode of the god. In the Semitic religion the temple were considered as the dwelling place of the god. When we
32
Cfr. Susan Guettel Cole, Greco-Roman temples, in: David Noel Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, VI, New York, 1992, 380-381. 33 Cfr. R.A. Tomlinson, Op.Cit., 386. 34 Cfr. Susan Guettel Cole, Op. Cit., 381. 35 Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel Its life and Institutions, London, 1978, 282.
37 come to discuss the temple of Jerusalem in the next chapter, we shall see how these same ideas are found, in a purified form, in the religion of Israel. Though the lawful worship of Yahweh forbade the images, the temple was still referred to as the house of Yahweh.