Today’s Scripture Reading (January 24,
2014): Micah 4
One of the
most contested religious sites in our world is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Currently three of the world’s faith groups claim it as sacred ground –
Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
For Judaism,
Temple Mount is the very place where Abraham brought Isaac intending to sacrifice
him at the request of God, only to be stopped by God himself and a ram was presented
to be offered in place of Abraham’s beloved son. It then became the home of
Solomon’s Temple, and after the exile it was the site of Zerubbabel’s Temple or
the Second Temple and the restoration of that Temple that was started by Herod.
The ruins on Temple Mount are of the Second Temple – no sign remains of
glorious Temple built by Solomon.
For the
Christian, Temple Mount is the site of many of the stories of Jesus. It is the
place of christening when the baby Jesus was only eight days old. On two
occasions, Jesus cleared the temple maintaining that it was designed to be a
House of Prayer, but that people had made it a den of thieves. And for some, Jesus
clearing of the temple was a foreshadowing of the destruction of the Temple by
the Romans
For the
Muslim, Temple Mount is third most sacred site of the faith. And it is the very
place where Mohammed ascended into heaven. Conflict between the faiths exist
because currently the Al Aqsa Mosque rests on the
far southern side of the Mount, facing Mecca – and The Dome of the Rock currently sits in the
middle, occupying the area (or close to the area) where the Jews and Christian
believe that the Third Temple (Ezekiel’s Temple) needs to be rebuilt. And
obviously the sacred site of the Jews and the Christians cannot be rebuilt on
the site while the sacred site of the Muslims still stands. And there is no end
to the controversy over the problem, or over how the three faiths could share
what is a very sacred space for all three religions.
Micah speaks of the temple
being rebuilt on Temple Mount. Some commentators place this prophecy in the
“already fulfilled category.” Since Micah was writing in a time when Solomon’s
Temple was still standing, the understanding is that the rebuilding of the
Temple Micah describes is the building of the Second Temple (Zerubbabel’s
Temple.) But for some, Micah’s words expressing the exalted nature of the
temple and the people that would stream to it does not seem to really fit.
Zerubbabel’s temple was a bit of a disappointment for some of the Jews
precisely because it did not measure up to Solomon’s Temple.
For this group of people, it
seems that Micah could only be talking about Ezekiel’s Temple – the Temple we
have described in the writings of Ezekiel but that has never been built. And
for this group of people, the future building of Ezekiel’s Temple is and event
that is prayed for and actively sought after – for it is believed that the
Messiah will not come (for the Jews) or return (for the Christians) until the
temple has been built – and according to Micah, that temple will need to be
built on Temple Mount.
But another Christian interpretation
of the Micah passage is that the temple has already been rebuilt in the person
of Jesus Christ, and people from many races and creeds have already streamed to
him. Under this interpretation, there is no need for a rebuilding of the temple
on Temple Mount, the Messiah has come and will come again. And when he stands
on Temple Mount, it really won’t matter what other structures are there. All
the eyes of the world will be only on him.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Micah 5
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