Creation, Temple and the World

The Temple and the World by Jon D. Levenson

“The House of God is the whole cosmos”

“The Temple offers the person who enters it to worship an opportunity to rise from a fallen world”

“The Temple is to space what the Sabbath is to time”

“The Temple is the moral center of the universe”

The main argument presented by Jon D. Levenson in “The Temple and the World“^[1]See Jon D. Levenson, The Temple and the World, University of Chicago Press, The Journal of Religion, Vol. 64, NO. 3, July 1984, pages 275-298. is that the Temple in Jerusalem was not just a physical structure, but also a symbol of the world and its creation. Levenson argues that the connection between the creation of the world, the building of the Temple, and the enthronement of God was vital to the Israelite culture and theology. He also suggests that this connection sheds light on various biblical texts, including the Psalter, Ezekiel, Isaiah 6, and 1 Kings 8. Levenson’s paper contributes to the understanding of the intersection of religious and worldly concerns in ancient times. Levenson suggests that the Temple in Jerusalem was not just a religious institution, but also a symbol of the world and its creation.^[2]See also Jeffrey M. Bradshaw’s short paper “The Days of Creation and Temple Architecture,” where he briefly discusses how the architecture of the tabernacle and ancient Israelite temples is … Continue reading This implies that in ancient times, religious and worldly concerns were deeply intertwined, and the construction and function of the Temple were seen as reflecting and participating in the cosmic order. The study also highlights the importance of understanding the cultural and theological significance of religious structures in ancient societies, shedding light on the broader worldview and religious beliefs of the people of that time.

Levenson writes that “The construction of the temple is presented here as a parallel to the construction of the world in seven days (Gen. 1.1-2.4)” (p. 289), and “The connection between world building and Temple building sheds an intense light on P, on Ezekiel, and on texts that focus on the Temple explicitly, such as Isaiah 6 and 1 Kings 8.” (p. 291). Was this idea conceived during the time period when Judaism was influenced by Greek ideas after Lehi?

Levenson, though not LDS, addressed this question, specifically whether the Hellenistic period of Judaism was when these ideas developed. He wrote:

Was the idea of the Temple as a microcosm an innovation of Hellenistic Judaism, or is it, too, a legacy of more distant antiquity? Although  few modern scholars would be inclined to follow Jean Danielou in his  endorsement of some details of Josephus’s allegory,^[3]Jean  Daniélou, The Presences of God, Helicon Press, 1959, p. 19.the idea that the Temple was a representation of cosmic entities has been revived and from a source remote from rabbinic midrash and Hellenistic allegory. William Foxwell Albright, the dean of American biblical archaeologists, argued already four decades ago that a number of aspects of the Temple of Solomon must be understood as cosmic symbols. For example, the two free-standing pillars, Boaz and Jachin, “may have  been regarded as the reflection of the columns between which the sun rose each morning.” The copper Sea (yam) “cannot be separated,” according to Albright, “from the Mesopotamian apsu, employed both as the name of the subterranean fresh-water ocean … and as the name of  a basin of holy water erected in the Temple.”^[4]William Foxwell Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1956, p. 148. Albright saw the twelve  bulls, arranged in groups of three, supporting the sea, as a representation of the four seasons.^[5]Ibid., p. 150. I see these bulls, under the molten sea as symbols of fertility – both male and female fertility symbols representing rebirth to the ancient Israelites. The altar in the Temple envisioned in Ezekiel 40-48, which bears the name heq ha’ares, “bosom of the earth” (Ezek. 43:13-17), recalls similar terminology in Mesopotamian inscriptions,^[6]Ibid., p. 151. and the term har’el in the same passage (verse 15) is to be connected with Akkadian arallu,^[7]Ibid. a term for the netherworld, about which the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary remarks that it was inter alia, a “cosmic locality opposite of heaven,”^[8]The Assyrian Dictionary, Oriental Institute, 1968, p. 1, pt. 2:226-227. although we should note, as does Albright, that the ancient Israelites may have understood this term as “mountain of God” (har’el), which is a concept no less cosmic.^[9]Richard J. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain and the Old Testament, Harvard Semitic Monographs 4, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1972. Albright  connects the kiyor, upon which Solomon stands in 2 Chron. 6:13 as he gives his Temple-dedication speech, with Akkadian kiaru, which can indicate the earth or a sacred place.^[10]Albright, p. 153-154. In addition, we note Carol L. Meyers’s recent interpretation of the Tabernacle lampstand (menora) as “a cosmic tree,” “a symbol that contributed to the assurance of divine accessibility… [and participated] in the cosmic paradigm.”^[11]Carol L. Meyers, The Tabernacle Menorah, American Schools of Oriental Research Dissertation Series 2, Missoula, Montana, Scholars Press, 1976, p. 180.