0 years after the creation of the world
Creation of the world
History of the Temple
2449 Years after the creation of the world
Tabernacle in the desert
2928 years after the creation of the world
The First Temple
The Third Temple--coming soon in our time!
Tabernacle in Shiloh
The Binding of Isaac
2085 years after the creation of the world
2502 years after the creation of the world
The Second Temple
3410 years after the creation of the world
The establishment of the State
5708 for the creation of the world
Mount Moriah from the Creation of the World
Until the time of the fathers
The first Adam was created 'from the dust of the earth', from the soil on Mount Moriah. The Sages say about this: "Adam was created from the place of his atonement." On the second Rosh Hashanah of the creation of the world, Cain and Abel offered their offerings on the altar that the first Adam built on Mount Moriah. When Noah and his sons leave the ark after the flood, they build an altar and offer a sacrifice to God on Mount Moriah. Our father Abraham arrived on Mount Moriah at the tying of Isaac, and later he sacrificed the ram there as a burnt offering. Our father Isaac goes out to pray on Mount Moriah, and our father Jacob dreams there the 'dream of the ladder' and discovers that the place of the Temple is the "gate of heaven."
The Tabernacle in the Desert
On the first day of the month of Elul, Moses ascends Mount Sinai for 40 days for the second time.
On the 12th of Tishrei, Moses descends with the second tablets.
And with the command: "And let them make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among you."
The people of Israel begin to donate - gold, silver, copper, fabrics and wood,
And on the 25th of Kislev, the construction of the Tabernacle is completed.
On the first day of the month of Nissan, almost a year after the Exodus from Egypt,
The dedication of the Tabernacle was held.
The people of Israel, during their journeys in the desert, dismantled and rebuilt the Tabernacle.
Wherever they went.
The incarnations of the Mishkan
After the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 39 years, the Tabernacle stood in Gilgal for 14 years while Joshua led the people of Israel in conquest of the land. At the end of the days of Joshua, the Tabernacle was built of stones and canvas in Shiloh: “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and pitched there the Tent of Meeting.” The Tabernacle stood in Shiloh for 369 years. With the destruction of Shiloh, it was moved to Nebo and Gibeon for an additional 57 years. The total number of years that the Tabernacle stood is 479.
Shiloh Tabernacle
There is not much information in the sources about the Tabernacle of Shiloh, except for the stories about Elkanah, Hannah and Peninnah, and Eli the Priest at the beginning of the Book of Samuel.
According to the Midrash, Elkanah would go up to Shiloh each time using a different route, in order to attract the people to come to Shiloh. There, Hannah prayed the "Prayer of Hannah,", and the prophet Samuel grew up and received his first prophecy. From there, the Ark of the Covenant was taken into the Philistine field and never returned to Shiloh again. The walls of the Tabernacle of Shiloh were built of stones, and its roof was made of the tent cloths of the Tabernacle, signifying its makeshift nature. The Israelites were to awaken and seek out the site of the Temple, but they had not yet done so.
King David and the Temple
"If I enter the tent of my house, if I go up to my bed of mourning; if I give my eyes a year, a slumber with my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob; behold, her voice is heard in Ephrathah: her voice is in the fields of the forest" (Psalm 112).
King David dreamed about the Temple for all of his life, even back in Bethlehem, Ephrathah, before he knew Jerusalem.
David met with the prophet Samuel, while being pursued by Saul, and together they studied and discovered the desired location for the Temple. They found the site of the temple on Mount Moriah, which was then in the hands of the Jebusites. After seven years of ruling over the tribe of Judah in Hebron, David conquers Jebus, and makes it the capital city of the entire nation.
King David brought the Ark of the Covenant (Aron HaBrit) to Jerusalem, dug the foundations of the Temple, consecrated the floor of the sanctuary, divided the priests into twenty-four divisions, and divided the Levites into gatekeepers and singers, and more.
The First Temple
The First Temple was built by King Solomon, the son of King David. During Solomon's reign, there was peace and quiet in the world. To show how much financial and material abundance there was, King Solomon built ten lampstands and ten tables, in addition to the utensils that were in the tabernacle. Material abundance enters the world through the work done at the table of showbread (Lechem HaPanim), and spiritual abundance enters through the work of the Menorah. In the Holy of Holies, King Solomon built a pair of giant cherubim ten cubits high, and they covered the Ark of the Covenant with their wings. A description of the construction and structure of the First Temple appears in the Book of Kings.
The Second Temple
The Second Temple was built by the immigrants from Babylon who came to the land after 70 years of exile, under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. The structure was simple, according to their abilities. After about 300 years, Herod, an Edomite who was then king of Judah, renovated the envelope of the Temple Mount and the Temple building, turning it into a magnificent and impressive structure that had never been as beautiful as it had been before. The structure of the Second Temple is the structure that we are most familiar with. There is a lot of detail about it in the Mishnah and the Gemara. There is also an extensive description of the structure of the Second Temple in external writings, such as Josephus.
The Third Temple
The prophet Ezekiel prophesied about a "Temple" in Babylon after the destruction of the First Temple and its resulting exile. The Babylonian builders did not actualize the fullness of Ezekiel's magnificent visions in the building of the Second Temple, leaving us to believe that it was not the fulfillment of that particular Prophecy. Jews have long hoped and dreamt of the a Third Temple with its magisterial Divine Presence and total illumination. The details of the Prophecy are explicit, and so we await the building that fulfills the Prophecy in its entirety.
