The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries Ancient and Modern. James E. Talmage

to speak blasphemous words against this holy place."^[99] And Stephen was numbered with the martyrs. When it was claimed that Paul had brought with him into the temple precincts, a Gentile, the whole city was aroused, and the infuriated mob dragged Paul from the place and sought to kill him.^[100]

      For thirty or more years after the death of Christ, the Jews continued the work of adding to and embellishing the temple buildings. The elaborate design conceived and projected by Herod had been practically completed; the Temple was well-nigh finished, and, as soon afterward appeared, was ready for destruction. Its fate had been definitely foretold by the Savior Himself. Commenting on a remark by one of the disciples concerning the great stones and the splendid buildings on the Temple hill, Jesus had said, "Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down."^[101]

      This dire prediction soon found its literal fulfilment. In the great conflict with the Roman legions under Titus, many of the Jews had taken refuge within the temple courts, seemingly hoping that there the Lord would again fight the battles of His people and give them victory. But the protecting presence of Jehovah had long since departed therefrom and Israel was left a prey to the foe. Though Titus would have spared the Temple, his legionaries, maddened by the lust of conflict, started the conflagration and everything that could be burned was burned. The slaughter of the Jews was appalling; thousands of men, women and children were ruthlessly butchered within the walls, and the temple courts were literally flooded with human blood. This event occurred in the year 70 AD; and according to Josephus, in the same month and on the same day of the month as that on which the once glorious Temple of Solomon had fallen a prey to the flames kindled by the king of Babylon.^[102] Of the temple furniture the golden candlestick and the table of shewbread from the Holy Place were carried by Titus to Rome as trophies of war; and representations of these sacred pieces are to be seen on the arch erected to the name of the victorious general.

      Since the destruction of the splendid Temple of Herod no other structure of the kind, no Temple, no House of the Lord as the terms are used distinctively, has been reared on the eastern hemisphere. Sometime between 361 and 363 AD the Roman emperor Julian, surnamed because of his reversion from Christianity to paganism Julian the Apostate, attempted to reconstruct the Temple at Jerusalem. His purpose was not that of devotion to nor love for God; but that of controverting prophecy, and thus proving false the Christian belief.^[103] So ends the category of Temples reared to the name of the living God prior to the dispensation of the fulness of times.

      FOOTNOTES

       Table of Contents

      1. Exodus 3:5.

      2. Exodus 16:32–34.

      3. See Exodus 31:18; 25:16; 32:15; 34:28, 29.

      4. Exodus 33:7–11.

      5. In the Authorized Version of the Holy Bible this sanctuary is called the Tabernacle of the Congregation; in the Revised Version it is designated the Tent of Meeting; preponderance of authority is in favor of the latter reading.

      6. Exodus 24:9, 10, 18; read the entire chapter.

      7. Exodus 25:1–9. For details of the building and furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Congregation see Exodus chapters 25–31, more particularly chapter 25, which account is in part repeated in 36:8–38.

      8. Exodus 36:5–7.

      9. The cubit is an ancient measure of length, the value of which varied in different countries and at different times. As the term occurs in the Bible, it denotes varying lengths. In line with modern encyclopedias, Bible dictionaries, etc., the length herein adopted is one foot six inches. See Encyclopaedia Britannica. Smith's Bible Dictionary, etc.

      10. Exodus 37:1–9; compare 25:10–22.

      11. See Exodus 37:10–29; compare 25:23–40.

      12. Exodus 40:34–38.

      13. Exodus 25:8.

      14. See Exodus chapter 28.

      15. See Smith's Dictionary of the Bible (Barnum's ed.), art. "Tabernacle."

      16. Joshua 18:1–3; 19:51; see also 21:2; Judges 18:31; I Sam. 1:3, 24; 4:3, 4.

      17. See I Samuel 4:10–18.

      18. I Samuel 4:22.

      19. See I Samuel 21:1–6.

      20. See I Samuel 7:1, 2.

      21. See I Chron. 21:28–30; compare II Chron. 1:3–6.

      22. I Samuel 4:10–22; also chapters 5 and 6; and 7:1–2.

      23. II Samuel 6:1–12; see also I Chron. chapter 13.

      24. II Samuel 6:17; see also I Chron. 15:1, and 16:1.

      25. See I Kings 3:15 and II Chron. 1:3, 4.

      26. See I Kings 8:1–4.

      27. I Chron. 17:1; see also II Samuel 7:1, 2.

      28. I Chron. 17:4, 5.

      29. See I Chron. 22:8; compare 28:3; and I Kings 5:3.

      30. See I Chron. 22:1–5.

      31. II Samuel 24:15–25; see also I Chron. 21:15–17; and II Chron. 3:1.