Did YHWH Reside in the Temple?

The Consecration of the First Temple

King Solomon builds the First Temple in Jerusalem:

^{מלכים א ו:יד} וַיִּבֶן שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת הַבַּיִת וַיְכַלֵּהוּ.

^{1 Kgs 6:14} So Solomon built the house and finished it.^[1]

The passage describes the building of the frame, overlaying it with gold (vv. 15–22), then moves on to the accessories that will be included in the Temple (vv. 23–28). After further details,^[2] we read about the Temple’s dedication on Sukkot, which begins with the priests bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple, and placing it under the giant statues of the cherubim.^[3] Once the ark is installed, YHWH’s Presence, manifest in a cloud, enters the Temple:

^{מלכים א ח:י} וַיְהִי בְּצֵאת הַכֹּהֲנִים מִן הַקֹּדֶשׁ וְהֶעָנָן מָלֵא אֶת בֵּית יְ־הֹוָה. ^ח:יא וְלֹא יָכְלוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים לַעֲמֹד לְשָׁרֵת מִפְּנֵי הֶעָנָן כִּי מָלֵא כְבוֹד יְהֹוָה אֶת בֵּית יְ־הֹוָה.

^{1Kgs 8:10} When the priests came out of the sanctuary—for the cloud had filled the House of YHWH ^8:11 and the priests were not able to remain and perform the service because of the cloud, for the Presence of YHWH filled the House of YHWH.

Solomon then declares that he has built YHWH a home where the deity can dwell eternally among the Israelite people:

^{מלכים א ח:יב} אָז אָמַר שְׁלֹמֹה יְ־הֹוָה אָמַר לִשְׁכֹּן בָּעֲרָפֶל. ^ח:יג בָּנֹה בָנִיתִי בֵּית זְבֻל לָךְ מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ עוֹלָמִים.

^{1 Kgs 8:12} Then Solomon declared: “YHWH has chosen to abide in a thick cloud: ^8:13 I have now built for You a stately house, a place where You may dwell forever.”

Solomon then offers a long blessing and prayer, after which the Temple is consecrated by sacrificial offerings:

^{מלכים א ח:סג} וַיִּזְבַּח שְׁלֹמֹה אֵת זֶבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים אֲשֶׁר זָבַח לַי־הֹוָה בָּקָר עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁנַיִם אֶלֶף וְצֹאן מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים אָלֶף וַיַּחְנְכוּ אֶת בֵּית יְ־הֹוָה הַמֶּלֶךְ וְכׇל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.

^{2 Kgs 8:63} Solomon offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep as sacrifices of well-being to YHWH. Thus the king and all the Israelites dedicated the House of YHWH.

This order of operations, namely the building of YHWH’s house, YHWH inhabiting the house, and a consecration ceremony based on sacrifices, is also described with the Tabernacle in the Torah.

The Consecration of the Tabernacle

After Bezalel completes the design and building of the Tabernacle and its various accoutrements, it is finally assembled:

^{שמות מ:יז} וַיְהִי בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הוּקַם הַמִּשְׁכָּן.

^{Exod 40:17} In the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the Tabernacle was set up.

Moses then places all of the objects related to the Tabernacle in their proper places, after which YHWH’s Presence enters the tent in a cloud:

^{שמות מ:לג} ...וַיְכַל מֹשֶׁה אֶת הַמְּלָאכָה. ^מ:לד וַיְכַס הֶעָנָן אֶת אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וּכְבוֹד יְ־הֹוָה מָלֵא אֶת הַמִּשְׁכָּן. ^מ:לה וְלֹא יָכֹל מֹשֶׁה לָבוֹא אֶל אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד כִּי שָׁכַן עָלָיו הֶעָנָן וּכְבוֹד יְ־הֹוָה מָלֵא אֶת הַמִּשְׁכָּן.

^{Exod 40:33} … When Moses had finished the work, ^40:34 the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of YHWH filled the Tabernacle. ^40:35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of YHWH filled the Tabernacle.

After several chapters on the laws of sacrifices, the narrative picks up (in the following book of Leviticus) with the miluʾim, i.e., the consecration of the Aaronide priests, followed by Aaron’s inaugural sacrificial offerings:

^{ויקרא ט:כב} וַיִּשָּׂא אַהֲרֹן אֶת יָדָו אֶל הָעָם וַיְבָרְכֵם וַיֵּרֶד מֵעֲשֹׂת הַחַטָּאת וְהָעֹלָה וְהַשְּׁלָמִים. ^ט:כג וַיָּבֹא מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן אֶל אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וַיֵּצְאוּ וַיְבָרְכוּ אֶת הָעָם וַיֵּרָא כְבוֹד יְ־הֹוָה אֶל כׇּל הָעָם. ^ט:כד וַתֵּצֵא אֵשׁ מִלִּפְנֵי יְ־הֹוָה וַתֹּאכַל עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ אֶת הָעֹלָה וְאֶת הַחֲלָבִים...

^{Lev 9:22} Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he stepped down after offering the purgation offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being. ^9:23 Moses and Aaron then went inside the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the Presence of YHWH appeared to all the people. ^9:24 Fire came forth from before YHWH and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar….

The similarities between the consecration of the First Temple and the Tabernacle may be explained by assuming that one text is working with the model it found in the other. It is more likely, however, that this order of operations—establishing the temple, the god entering the temple, sacrifices offered—was standard in the ancient Near East, and both the Torah text and 1 Kings 8 partake in this pattern.

Temples and Their Gods in the ANE

In the ancient Near East, temples housed a statue of the god or goddess being worshipped, and the offerings served as their food. The priests would conduct an elaborate ritual called “the washing of the mouth” mīs pî, after which the deity was imagined to inhabit the statue.[4] For example, Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur (mid-8^th cent. B.C.E.),^[5] governor of the land of Sūḫu and Mari, notes how, after he built the town of Apla-Adad and settled people there,^[6] he built a temple, placing (a statue of) the god inside, and instituted offerings of bread and beer:

I built a temple to the god Apla-Adad and [(...)] I settled inside (it) [...] of the god Apla-Adad, who had (previously) dwelt in the city Anat. I established one sūtu of bread and fine beer [...] as regular offerings for him (and) presen[ted] (them) to those privileged to enter the temple and to the mayor.

This same governor also speaks of how he rebuilt the temple of Anat, placed the goddess inside—she had been removed and hidden previously by Assyrian conquerors^[7]—and instituted offerings:

I, Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur, governor of the land of Sūḫu and the land of Mari, the servant who reveres her great godhead, brought Anat out from (that) hidden place and [returned] (her) fine garment, [ṣār]iru-gold, and ... precious stones. [I] made her godhead complete (again) and caused her to reside in [...]. I (re-)established the regular [offerings (...) and] her [...] according to the wording (of the commands) of Ḫammu-rāpi, king of [Baby]lon, a king who preceded me.

Similarly, Nabonidus, the final king of the New-Babylonian Empire, declares in his Harran Stele that he brought several gods to his newly constructed temple to the moon god, Sîn, and celebrated with offerings:

I built Eḫulḫul, the temple of the god Sîn, anew (and) completed its construction. I took the deities Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna by the hand, (leading them out) of Šuanna (Babylon), the city of my royal majesty, and I had (them) enter (and) reside on their eternal dais(es) during joyous celebrations. I offered sumptuous offerings before them (and) presented (them) with my gifts. I filled Eḫulḫul with joy and made the heart(s) of his people rejoice.^[8]

Cyrus the Great of Persia as well, in the well-known Cyrus Cylinder, declares how he returned many gods to their home temples and even added to their required maintenance sacrifices:

I returned the (images of) the gods to the sacred centers [on the other side of] the Tigris whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned (to them) their dwellings. In addition, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I settled in their habitations, in pleasing abodes, the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabonidus, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon.

May all the gods whom I settled in their sacred centers ask daily of Bel and Nabu that my days be long and may they intercede in my welfare… I increased the offerings [to x] geese, two ducks, and ten turtledoves above the former (offerings) of geese, du[cks and turtledoves…]^[9]

The Tabernacle and the Temple function similarly. While biblical texts insist that YHWH does not have a constructed image for worship, once the structure is built and the Ark of the Covenant is put inside, the Bible envisions YHWH’s Presence as descending upon it and entering it, evidenced by the cloud. At this point, the sacrificial offerings commence, ostensibly to feed the deity with their רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ “sweet smell,” minimally with a twice daily burnt offering (Exod 29:38–40).

Notably, this is not what we find in the biblical depiction of the establishment of divine worship in the post-exilic period.

Zerubbabel Builds an Altar and Later a Temple

When Cyrus announces that the Judeans may return to their country and rebuild their Temple, many of the leaders organize a first wave of return to Jerusalem:

^{עזרא א:ה} וַיָּקוּמוּ רָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת לִיהוּדָה וּבִנְיָמִן וְהַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם לְכֹל הֵעִיר הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת רוּחוֹ לַעֲלוֹת לִבְנוֹת אֶת בֵּית יְ־הֹוָה אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם. ^א:ו וְכׇל סְבִיבֹתֵיהֶם חִזְּקוּ בִידֵיהֶם בִּכְלֵי כֶסֶף בַּזָּהָב בָּרְכוּשׁ וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבַמִּגְדָּנוֹת לְבַד עַל כׇּל הִתְנַדֵּב.

^{Ezra 1:5} So the heads of the clans of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, all whose spirit had been roused by God, got ready to go up to build the House of YHWH that is in Jerusalem. ^1:6 All their neighbors supported them with silver vessels, with gold, with goods, with livestock, and with precious objects, besides what had been given as a freewill offering.

Even King Cyrus himself hands over the Temple vessels, pillaged by the Babylonian conquerors, to the Judean leader, Sheshbazzar, to bring back with him to Jerusalem:

^{עזרא א:ז} וְהַמֶּלֶךְ כּוֹרֶשׁ הוֹצִיא אֶת כְּלֵי בֵית יְ־הֹוָה אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיא נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר מִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וַיִּתְּנֵם בְּבֵית אֱלֹהָיו. ^א:ח וַיּוֹצִיאֵם כּוֹרֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ פָּרַס עַל יַד מִתְרְדָת הַגִּזְבָּר וַיִּסְפְּרֵם לְשֵׁשְׁבַּצַּר הַנָּשִׂיא לִיהוּדָה.

^{Ezra 1:7} King Cyrus released the vessels of YHWH’s house that Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem and had put in the house of his god. ^1:8 These King Cyrus of Persia released through the office of Mithredath the treasurer, who gave an inventory of them to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

After listing the families who return to the land, we are told that the leaders begin to contribute financially to the reestablishment of the Temple:

^{עזרא ב:סח} וּמֵרָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת בְּבוֹאָם לְבֵית יְ־הֹוָה אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם הִתְנַדְּבוּ לְבֵית הָאֱלֹהִים לְהַעֲמִידוֹ עַל מְכוֹנוֹ.

^{Ezra 2:68} Some of the heads of the clans, on arriving at the House of YHWH in Jerusalem, gave a freewill offering to erect the House of God on its site.

On the seventh month, ostensibly of the year of this arrival, people come to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage festival:

^{עזרא ג:א} וַיִּגַּע הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בֶּעָרִים וַיֵּאָסְפוּ הָעָם כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד אֶל יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם.

^{Ezra 3:1} When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one in Jerusalem.^[10]

The expectation would be for sacrificial offerings to take place during the festivals, so Joshua the high priest, and Zerubbabel the (new?) leader,^[11] have an altar constructed:

^{עזרא ג:ב} וַיָּקׇם יֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן יוֹצָדָק וְאֶחָיו הַכֹּהֲנִים וּזְרֻבָּבֶל בֶּן שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל וְאֶחָיו וַיִּבְנוּ אֶת מִזְבַּח אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְהַעֲלוֹת עָלָיו עֹלוֹת כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים. ^ג:ג וַיָּכִינוּ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ עַל מְכוֹנֹתָיו כִּי בְּאֵימָה עֲלֵיהֶם מֵעַמֵּי הָאֲרָצוֹת ויעל וַיַּעֲלוּ עָלָיו עֹלוֹת לַי־הֹוָה עֹלוֹת לַבֹּקֶר וְלָעָרֶב.

^{Ezra 3:2} Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brother priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers set to and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it as is written in the Teaching of Moses, the agent of God. ^3:3 They set up the altar on its site because they were in fear of the peoples of the land, and they offered burnt offerings on it to YHWH, burnt offerings each morning and evening.

The altar is ready for Sukkot, after which all offerings, including the daily burnt offerings, can be offered:

^{עזרא ג:ד} וַיַּעֲשׂוּ אֶת חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת כַּכָּתוּב וְעֹלַת יוֹם בְּיוֹם בְּמִסְפָּר כְּמִשְׁפַּט דְּבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ. ^ג:ה וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן עֹלַת תָּמִיד וְלֶחֳדָשִׁים וּלְכׇל מוֹעֲדֵי יְ־הֹוָה הַמְקֻדָּשִׁים וּלְכֹל מִתְנַדֵּב נְדָבָה לַי־הֹוָה.

^{Ezra 3:4} Then they celebrated the festival of Tabernacles as is written, with its daily burnt offerings in the proper quantities, on each day as is prescribed for it, ^3:5 followed by the regular burnt offering and the offerings for the new moons and for all the sacred fixed times of YHWH, and whatever freewill offerings were made to YHWH.

All this takes place, the text of Ezra explicitly states, before they rebuild the Temple:

^{עזרא ג:ו} מִיּוֹם אֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי הֵחֵלּוּ לְהַעֲלוֹת עֹלוֹת לַי־הֹוָה וְהֵיכַל יְ־הֹוָה לֹא יֻסָּד.

^{Ezra 3:6} From the first day of the seventh month they began to make burnt offerings to YHWH, though the foundation of the Temple of YHWH had not been laid.

Thus, the Judeans build an altar and establish sacrificial worship service first, and only later build the Temple. As we saw above, this does not follow procedure for ANE temples or what we find in the Bible regarding the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple. It fits well, however, with what we know about how the Greeks established their worship sites.

Greek Altars and Greek Gods

The sanctuary most common throughout the ancient Greek world consisted simply of an altar with a surrounding fence marking out the “temenos,” the sacred district, with no temple structure present at all.^[12] Approximately twenty sanctuaries included both temples and a statue of the god, compared to the thousands of the simpler kind consisting of an altar only.

The altar was the only essential ingredient in the Greek cult, and sacrifice the only essential form of worship. In the ANE, the animal was cooked at the altar outside the temple, but then brought inside and laid before the god. In contrast, even when the Greek temple was built, the altar table remained in its original site outside of it. The offering was not food, but a gift, and the Greek supplicant is requesting the god/ess to receive the gift. While in this case it is food, in other cases, it could be jewelry, bows and arrows, saddles, anything of value.

On the occasion of a sacrifice, the Greek worshipper would begin with a prayer inviting the god to enter the sacred grounds of the temenos, not the sanctuary itself. This was needed because, unlike in the ancient Near East, the Greek deities were not imagined to permanently dwell in their worship sites. Indeed, the gods did not require a house to live in, since most lived in the sky or on Mount Olympus.

In cases where temple was built later, its main function was to shelter the many votive offerings dedicated to the god, including in some cases a statue of the god or goddess him/herself. But the temple was not built to house the gods, who were not considered present in their houses or their statues; the Greeks had no rite akin to the Mesopotamian washing of the mouth ceremony (mentioned above), and no ceremony was needed to induct the god into the temple.^[13] Instead, if a statue was present, they were generally the work of famous artists, known by name, and were gifts in which the god delighted, much like distinguished people in later times might delight in their self-portraits.

Sacrifices were not conducted twice daily in the sanctuary to provide the gods with food, as the gods are not present and sacrifices were not their nourishment. Instead, offerings were brought on festival days, or at special times of the worshipper's personal need or thanksgiving.

The Great Temple of Asclepius

The presence of a large number of inscriptions found in the great temple of Asclepius—god of medicine and healing—helps us to understand the temple building process in the Greek world.^[14] The sanctuary was established toward the end of the sixth-century B.C.E. at a site three-and-a-half miles west of the city of Epidaurus. It unfolded in three stages:

1. First, an altar was dedicated to Asclepius (end of 6^th)^[15]
2. A roofed building was built east of the altar around the time when a plague broke out in Athens (430 B.C.E. and again in 427). The building was closed on three sides, but open on the west facing the altar. It is thought that it contained an upper story on the three closed sides with galleries for the sick to sleep.
3. Only around 375 B.C.E., was it decided to build a temple to Asclepius, whose foundations were laid around 370 B.C.E.^[16]

Thus, the altar was erected two and one-half centuries before the temple. While the delay between the altar and the Second Temple’s construction is much less time, the developmental order is the same, and likely for similar reasons: the text does not partake in the idea that YHWH lives in the Temple or consumes offerings as nourishment.

In other words, the theological conception underpinning the story of the rebuilding the Temple (Ezra 1–6) is more similar to that of the Hellenistic world in this regard than it is to the ancient Near East or even to the Priestly text of Exodus and the Deuteronomic book of Kings. This Greek concept is found elsewhere in the Bible in the stories of the patriarchs in Genesis.

The Patriarchs and Their Altars

As I noted in my “Who Wrote the Story of Noah, and When?” (TheTorah 2023), the J text of Genesis consistently depicts acts of spontaneous offerings. These appear in the story of Cain and Abel, and again in the story of Noah. Abram builds multiple altars in Canaan when he arrives, starting at Shechem and moving south:

^{בראשית יב:ז} וַיֵּרָא יְ־הוָה אֶל אַבְרָם וַיֹּאמֶר לְזַרְעֲךָ אֶתֵּן אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת וַיִּבֶן שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַי־הוָה הַנִּרְאֶה אֵלָיו.

^{Gen 12:7} YHWH appeared to Abram and said, “I will assign this land to your offspring.” And he built an altar there to YHWH who had appeared to him.

^{בראשית יב:ח} וַיַּעְתֵּק מִשָּׁם הָהָרָה מִקֶּדֶם לְבֵית אֵל וַיֵּט אָהֳלֹה בֵּית אֵל מִיָּם וְהָעַי מִקֶּדֶם וַיִּבֶן שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַי־הוָה וַיִּקְרָא בְּשֵׁם יְ־הוָה.

^{Gen 12:8} From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to YHWH and invoked YHWH by name.

^{בראשית יג:יח} וַיֶּאֱהַל אַבְרָם וַיָּבֹא וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא אֲשֶׁר בְּחֶבְרוֹן וַיִּבֶן שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַי־הוָה.

^{Gen 13:18} And Abram moved his tent, and came to dwell at the terebinths of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and he built an altar there to YHWH.

His son Isaac follows suit, building an altar in Beersheba:

^{בראשית כו:כה} וַיִּבֶן שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ וַיִּקְרָא בְּשֵׁם יְ־הוָה וַיֶּט שָׁם אָהֳלוֹ וַיִּכְרוּ שָׁם עַבְדֵי יִצְחָק בְּאֵר.

^{Gen 26:25} So he built an altar there and invoked YHWH by name. Isaac pitched his tent there and his servants started digging a well.

The account of the construction of the altar in Ezra 1–6 follows the same basic concept as the J texts in Genesis, both of which are more akin to Hellenistic thinking about the worship of a god who does not live in the temple and is not fed by sacrifices.

In contrast, Priestly and Deuteronomic texts agree with the ancient Near Eastern belief about the presence of the god in the temple and the need for sacrifices to provide their nourishment. The Greek and the ancient Near East present two completely different notions of god and these can/should be used to date the biblical texts.