The Binding of Isaac – the year of creation 2085 (1585 B.C.E.)

God tested the Patriarch Abraham and told him to bring his son, Isaac, to this place, which is called Mount Moriah (the Temple Mount), and offer him as a sacrifice.  Traditionally, the binding of Isaac occurred in precisely the same place as the Mizbeyach (Great Sacrificial Altar) in both the First and Second Temples.

 

Jacob’s Dream  – the year of creation 2185 (1485 B.C.E.)

The Patriarch Jacob spent the night in this place.  And he dreamed of a ladder reaching from the earth to the heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending the ladder.  And God was standing over him, atop the ladder.  When Jacob awoke, he exclaimed (Gen. 28:17), “How awesome is this place.  This is none other than the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven.” 

 

King David purchases the Temple Mount – circa 2920 (840 B.C.E.)

King David purchased the Temple Mount from Aravna the Jebusite, refusing to accept it as a gift.  He built an altar there and brought offerings to God upon it, and God accepted the prayers of the land and brought an end to a great pestilence.  (II Samuel 24:24,25)

 

The First Temple is inaugurated – 2936 (824 B.C.E.)

In the 12th year of the reign of King Solomon, the king and all the Children of Israel inaugurated the House of God.  The construction was begun 480 years after the Exodus from Egypt and took seven years.  At the inauguration of the First Temple, King Solomon offered a prayer and many sacrifices.  When he finished his prayer, the fire and glory of the Lord descended upon the Temple and miraculously consumed the sacrifices, and all the people bowed their faces to the ground and gave praise to the Lord (II Chronicles 7:2, 3).   The Ark of the Covenant rested upon the Foundation Stone in the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple.  From the place between the cherubim atop the Ark, God spoke to the Prophets of Israel.  This period was the zenith of Jewish history. The Temple was a place where miracles were constantly revealed.  All who came recognized that God had chosen Israel and peace reigned throughout the known world. This period lasted 28 years.

 

The Kingdom is split – 2964 (796 B.C.E.)

King Solomon reigned for 40 years.  Following his passing, the kingdom was split in two.  Rehoboam (Rechavam), Solomon’s son, became ruler of the Kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem with sovereignty over the Holy Temple.  Jereboam (Yeravam ben Navat), an Ephraimite, became ruler of the northern Kingdom of Israel.  That same year, Jereboam built temples of idol worship in Beth El and Dan, and then blocked the roads to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple.  For the next 300 years, the people of the northern kingdom were prevented from coming to the Holy Temple.  Afterwards, the northern kingdom was led into Assyrian exile and became the Ten Lost Tribes.  The shocking historical fact is that the Children of Israel, as a nation, had access to the First Temple for only 28 years!

 

The First Temple is destroyed – 3338 (422 B.C.E.) 

Archeologists and academic historians routinely give the date of the destruction of the First Temple as 586 B.C.E, 164 years earlier. The disparity between the dating of the Talmudic Sages and the academic world is a matter of great importance, but beyond the scope of this history.

Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon destroyed the First Temple, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem, and led many more into exile in Babylon.  Eleven years earlier, he had carried off King Jeconiah and a thousand sages, noblemen, and craftsmen in all fields to prepare the infrastructure for an enduring community in Babylon. 

 

Ezekiel has a prophetic vision of the Future Temple – 3352 (408 B.C.E.)

Fourteen years after the First Temple was destroyed, the prophet Ezekiel was shown a vision of a future Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  An angel led him through the chambers, courtyards, and gates, giving him their precise measurements.  Then God appeared to him and instructed him to teach the design to the House of Israel, promising that this Temple would be everlasting and through it God would dwell among the people Israel forever.  These events are recorded in the last nine chapters of the Book of Ezekiel and form the subject matter of the new illustrated book, The Messianic Temple.

 

The Returning Exiles build the Second Temple – 3412 (258 B.C.E.)

Zerubavel (Zerubbabel), Governor of Judea and the direct descendant of King Jeconiah, and Joshua the High Priest completed construction of the Second Temple on the 3rd day of the Hebrew month of Adar.  The project was supervised by Ezra the Scribe and supported by King Darius of Persia.  The Returning Exiles included prophets, among them were Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi.  These men knew, even before it was built, that the Second Temple was destined for destruction.  Therefore, they did not build according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, but followed Solomon’s design with several elements from Ezekiel.  The Second Temple was a humble structure compared to Solomon’s Temple, but its builders were great saints and sages and it was beloved by God, as it says (Haggai 1:8), “Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the Temple.  I will be pleased with it and I will be honored, says the Lord.”   Nevertheless, the Talmud tells us that the Divine Presence (Shechina) did not dwell in this Temple and the Second Temple period was considered a continuation of the Babylonian Exile since Israel remained under the domination of foreign rulers and Jewish tyrants.  Persia ruled when the Second Temple was built, then Alexander defeated Persia and Greece ruled over Israel.

 

The Miracle of the Chanukah – 3597 (163 B.C.E.)

185 years after the Second Temple was completed, the miracle of Chanukah took place.  On the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, the priestly Maccabees entered the Holy Temple, exactly three years to the day that the Syrian-Greeks had desecrated it by erecting an idol in the Holy of Holies.  For three years, the Temple of Ezra and Zerubavel had remained in darkness, overrun by Greeks who defiled it and stole its treasures.  Wondrously, when the Maccabees searched for undefiled oil to light the Menorah as commanded in the Torah, they found one cruse of oil with the seal of the High Priest still intact.  The oil, enough to burn for one day, miraculously lasted eight days, long enough for messengers to reach the Galilee, press new oil and return to the daily service of lighting the Menorah uninterrupted.  The next year, the sages instituted the 25th of Kislev as the beginning of the eight day Festival of Lights known as Chanukah as in Numbers 7:84, “This is the dedication (Chanukah) of the Altar on the day that it was anointed.” After this, Zerubavel’s Temple would stand for another 145 years.

 

Herod’s Temple is completed – 3750 (10 B.C.E.)

The Second Temple had fallen into disrepair.  Herod, a non-Jewish descendant of slaves, had vanquished the Hasmonean dynasty (Maccabees) and rose to the throne of Judea.  He removed Zerubavel’s Temple and built one of his own, far larger and more beautiful than the original Second Temple. This is the Temple described in the Mishna (Tractate Middoth) and later in the Rambam.  Yet, this Temple rebuilt by Herod was arguably an illegal structure according to Torah Law.  Herod had enlarged the Azora (Inner Courtyard), which was forbidden unless done through the agency of a Jewish king, the Sanhedrin, and a High Priest with the fully-functioning Breastplate (Urim and Tumim).  Herod had none of these.  But Herod, a insanely ruthless monarch, the murderer of hundreds of sages and his own wife and three Jewish sons, acted upon his own initiative.  No one could say no to him and live to tell about it.  The 80-year period of Herod’s Temple was a corrupt and tyrannical slide to destruction.          

 

Rome destroys the Second Temple – 3830 (70 C.E.)

On the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, after many years of war against its vassal state, the legions of Rome entered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple built by Herod.  The destruction of the Temple swept away the cultural, communal, and spiritual center of Jewish life.  The four-fold government of Israel, consisting of king, priest, prophet, and judge became reduced to the single surrogate office of the rabbis.  Survival and growth through the dark and bitter exile that lay ahead fell to their hands and trust in God Himself.

 

Israel Defense Forces conquer the Temple Mount – 5717 (1967 C.E.)

On the 28th day of Iyar, the State of Israel captured the Temple Mount, returning it to Jewish sovereignty for the first time since the Maccabees.  Fearing an attempt to rebuild the Holy Temple, the government of Israel gave custody of the Temple Mount to the Moslems.  It was the first time in Jewish history that the Temple Mount had been voluntarily placed under foreign control.

 

Today

Five times a day religious Jews pray for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.  This prophesied Temple will be incomparably greater in holiness and glory than either the First or Second Temples, as it says (Isaiah 40:5), “And the glory of God will be revealed and all flesh will see.” The Third Temple will bring peace and healing to the entire world.