Pastor Steve Paulus

The Second Temple Period

Introduction

1.1 Introduction

For serious students of the Bible a course on the second temple period is designed to provide a link between the world at the close of the Old Testament canon with the world at the opening of the New Testament period. For this reason, such a course explores knowledge covered by several disciplines. A knowledge of Old Testament Studies, New Testament studies, the history of Israel and the ancient world are integral for starters. Events at the close of the Old Testament period deeply influence the intertestamental period. In the same fashion, events of the intertestamental period shape the world of the New Testament. Each of these eras themselves were shaped by a long history. In order to understand these influences, we go back to the pre-exilic times in Israel.

1.2 Solomon’s Temple

Solomon’s temple was a crowning achievement of the Davidic monarchy. Solomon’s father, David, had made preparations for the temple and had determined its location (I Chron. 21:15-2:1; Ps. 132). He was its designer (I Chron. 28:12,19) and had hoped to be its builder. He spent many years making material provision for the magnificent building which was to be the sanctuary of the Lord (I Chron. 22:2 ff.., especially v. 14). Because of David’s life as a warrior he was informed by the prophet Nathan that his son Solomon, a man of peace would build the temple (I Chron. 17:12; 28:2-3).

The central place in the Temple, the Holy of Holies and its furniture were based on the pattern which had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The tent of meeting which had housed the tabernacle and its furniture including the ark of the covenant (Ex. 25:10 – 27:21) had been the visible dwelling place of God with the children of Israel since the exodus.

The ark and the tabernacle (or tent) had several stopping places with children of Israel before coming to rest on Mount Zion (Shiloh, I Sam. 1, Kiraith Jearim, I Sam. 7: 1-2, Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, II Sam. 6:16) The ark of the covenant and the Holy of Holies were the central place of God’s presence in the temple and among the people of Israel. It was transferred from Mount Zion to the temple mountain Jerusalem (I Kings 8:1 ff.).

The dedication of the temple was a solemn occasion and one of the high points for the people God in the Old Testament (I Kings 8).

1.3 The Fall of Judah and the Exil

After a long history of over 350 years as the central place of worship for Israel and Judah (930-586 B.C.) the people, the temple and their political system fell under judgment. Events surrounding the fall of Judea helped create some institutions and collective experiences that remained influential through New Testament times.

It is important first to recognize certain constitutional and prophetic aspects of Israel’s history before examining the fall of Jerusalem. Two statements from the Old Testament are significant. First, Moses warned in Deuteronomy concernng the consequences of disobedience:

“And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known” (Deut. 28:64 ESV).

Later Solomon in the prayer of the dedication of the temple,

If they sin against you – for there is no one who does not sin – and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart iin the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if they repent with all their mind and all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city you have chosen, and the house that <I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them” (I Kings 8:46-50 ESV).

The first attack against Jerusalem was during the reign of Rehoboam, son of Solomon. Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem and carried away some of the treasures of the temple, but it did not result in the fall of Jerusalem ( II Chron. 12:1 ff.). That event would take place centuries later.

So we see that the possibility of captivity and exile were expressly stated at earlier stages of Israel’s history, and served as a warning to the generations to come. In fact, an earlier dislocation of the northern tribes was a prelude to the later captivity of Judea and the fall of Jerusalem. The scriptures describe this event as follows:

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharoah king of Egypt . . .

The kin gof Assyria brought people from Babylon, Chutah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. At the beginning of their dwelling they did not fear the Lord (II Kings 17:6-7, 24-25a ESV)

The remainder of this passage tells how the people who inhabited Samaria came to fear the Lord Yahweh, and also continued to worship and serve their idols in a syncretistic religious expression. This occured in 722-1 B.C. Over a century later the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians.

One of the great events to affect the people of Israel was the invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar in the year 605 B.C., and then later in 597 B.C. and again in 586 B.C. In 605 some of the inhabitants of Judah were taken captive to Babylon, the seat of King Nebuchadnezzar’s empire. These events are recorded in the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah, and in II Kings.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god (Daniel 1:1-2).

So Judah went into captivity, away from her land. This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:

in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;

in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;

in his twenty-third year, 745 Jews were taken into exile by Nebuzaradan

the commander of the imperial guard. There were 4,600 people in all” (Jer. 52:27-30).

Though the number of exiles was relatively small, many were the most influential members of the population in Jerusalem and Judah. Their bitter experience is commemorated in the Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept

when we remembered Zion.

There on the poplars we hung our harps,

For there our captors asked us for songs,

Our tormentors demanded songs of joy;

They said, ‘Sing for us one of the songs of Zion!’

How can we sing the songs of the Lord

While in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand forget its skill.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,

If I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy (Ps. 137:1-6).

1.3.1 Prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel

The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and the exile had been prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel:

Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says: Reform your ways and actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!’ If you really change your ways and actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods, to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place in the land I gave your forefathers forever and ever. But look you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless...

Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you but you did not answer. Therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did to all your brothers, the people of Ephraim (Jeremiah 7:2-8,12-15).

Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them you will know that I am the Lord. I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful declares the Sovereign Lord (Ezekiel 15:6-8).

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’(Jeremiah 29:10-11).

1.3.2 Destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem

The destruction of the temple and its environs in Jerusalem is recorded in the prophet Jeremiah:

On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the command of the imperial guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem…The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings – all that were made of pure gold or silver” (Jer. 52:12-19).

These events were lamented by Jeremiah in the Lamentations:

The Lord has swallowed

up without mercy

all the inhabitants of Jacob;

in his wrath he has broken

down

the strongholds of the

daughter of Judah;

he has brought down to the

ground in dishonor

the kingdom and its rulers.

The lord has become like

enemy;

he has swallowed up Israel;

he has swallowed up all its

palaces;

he has laid in ruins its

strongholds,

and he has multiplied in the

daughter of Judah

mourning and lamentation (Lamentations 2:2,5 ESV).

Another lament is declared in the Psalms:

O God, the nations have

Come into your

inheritance;

they have defiled your holy

temple;

they have laid Jerusalem in

ruins.

They have given the bodies of

your servants

to the birds of the heavens for

food,

the flesh of your faithful to the

beasts of the earth.

They have poured out their blood

like water

all around Jerusalem,

and there was no one to bury

them.

We have become a taunt to our

neighbors,

mocked and derided by those

around us.

Let the groans of the prisoners

come before you;

according to your great power,

preserve those doomed to

die! (Psalm 79:1-4, 11 ESV).

Nebuchadnezzar’s army left Judah a shambles. As archaeological evidence eloquently testifies, all, or virtually, all of the fortified towns in the heartland of Judah were razed to the ground, in most cases, not to be rebuilt for many years to come . . . The population of the land was drained away. Aside from those deported to Babylon, thousands must have died in battle or from starvation and disease (Lam. 2:11f., 19-21; 4:9 f.) some – and surely more than we know of (II Kings 25:18-27) – had been executed, while others (Jer.chs. 42 f.) had fled for their lives…Judah’s population , which probably exceeded 250,00 in the eighth century and was probably half that figure even after the deportation of 597, was scarcely above 20,000 even after the first exiles returned, and must have been sparse indeed in the intervening years (John Bright, A History of Israel,4^th Edition, Louisville, John Knox Press, 2000, p. 344).

As is recorded in Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah as governor of the province of Judah. After his assassination, many Jews emigrated to Egypt against the counsel of the prophet Jeremiah who accompanied them (Jer. 41 f).

At some unknown point the Jews who migrated to Egypt were formed into a military colony (possibly under Pharaoh Apries, Bright, p. 347) at Elephantine on the first cataract of the Nile. Subsequent archaeological discoveries reveal that these exiles built and maintained a temple there and practice a syncretistic form to the Jewish faith. Year later, a large Jewish community in Alexandria formed a world center for Hellenistic Judaism.

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