This lecture was a continuation about sacred space and time in Jerusalem. One main place in Jerusalem that is central is Mt. Zion. This is the spot where the first temple, known as Solomon’s temple, gets built around 950 BCE. Solomon’s temple gets destroyed around 586 BCE. After the first temple is destroyed, around 515 BCE, the second temple is built. When the second temple is built, Herod the Great builds a wall around it. This is spot, is a holy spot.
This spot becomes sacred due to the founding of a structure, the temple, where people can worship God. The temple is a place where God dwells and comes down from the heavens to the earth. In the Hebrew bible, the passage says that god instructed the building of the tabernacle and the temple. The temple becomes a permanent structure in which the Hebrews can worship God in.
This lecture different construction myths and ideas about temples. The Mesopotamia temple myth was that their temple was brought down from the heavens into the earth. The Babylonian myth is that the temple is the place where God will come down from the heavens to earth. In the Hebrew bible, God gives instructions on how to build the temple and the tabernacle.
This lecture gave new meaning to what is considered sacred time and space. The temple was always this idea of sacred for me, but it was interesting for me to see how scholars defined the temple as sacred and the reason for it.
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