Spiritual Role of the Jerusalem Temple in History and Tradition

Spiritual Role of the Jerusalem Temple in History and Tradition

WONG Fook Kong

This article investigates the spiritual role of the Jerusalem temple from the perspective of creation and temple building. On the one hand, the creation story in Genesis does not mention divine temple building activity like some other ancient Near Eastern creation stories. On the other hand, the importance of the Jerusalem temple for Jewish spirituality is undeniable. Thus the question of whether or to what extent it was important during the period of its existence arises. It is the thesis of this paper that while the Jerusalem temple has always been important, it was more important in traditions than in the history of its existence. As early as the period of the Pentateuch and some of the psalms, there arose a notion of the temple that went beyond that of a local shrine in Jerusalem. This probably corresponded to a more universal concept of YHWH than that of a local god. As YHWH was understood as the God of the world, the world became his temple. From this perspective the creation story in Genesis does not lack temple building activity; creation itself was the temple. It is this cosmic vision of the temple that became important in Jewish spirituality, especially after the destruction of the Second Temple.