House Of God

The house of God is the place Yahweh chooses for his name to stay, the place where Israel comes near to hear and to worship. Across the canon it takes successive forms — the wilderness tent, Solomon's temple, the rebuilt sanctuary after the exile, the Herodian courts of Jesus' day, and finally the gathered people of God in whom the Spirit dwells. The same vocabulary runs through all of them: house, sanctuary, holy place, dwelling-place of the name.

A Place Yahweh Chooses

Before any house was built, Deuteronomy already binds Israel's worship to a single chosen site: "to the place which [the Speech of] Yahweh your⁺ God will choose out of all your⁺ tribes, to put his name there to stay, you⁺ will seek, and there you will come" (De 12:5). That place is the destination for the burnt-offerings, sacrifices, tithes, heave-offerings, vows (De 12:11), the firstborn of herd and flock (De 14:23; De 15:20), the Passover (De 16:2), and the hardest legal disputes (De 17:8). At the conquest, Joshua sets the tent of meeting at Shiloh, and "the land was subdued before them" (Jos 18:1); the Gibeonites are made cutters of wood and drawers of water "for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place which he should choose" (Jos 9:27). David finally identifies the chosen site: "This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel" (1Ch 22:1). The choice is sealed in the Psalms, which name the tribe and the mountain — "the mount Zion which he loved" (Ps 78:68) — and confirmed in Yahweh's own word at the dedication: "now I have chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually" (2Ch 7:15-16). Approach to it is a serious thing: "Keep your foot when you go to the house of God; for to draw near to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools" (Ec 5:1).

The Tent of Meeting

The earliest house of God in Israel is portable. Yahweh tells Moses, "let them make me a sanctuary, that I may stay among them" (Ex 25:8), and the tabernacle is built with ten curtains of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim worked into them (Ex 26:1). When the work is finished according to all that Yahweh commanded (Ex 39:32), "the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle" (Ex 40:34). It is anointed and sanctified along with all that is in it (Le 8:10; Nu 7:1). On the move, the Levites alone may take it down and pitch it: "the stranger who comes near will be put to death" (Nu 1:51). The tent of meeting goes in the middle of the camps as Israel marches (Nu 2:17). After the conquest it stays at Shiloh (Jos 18:1), and even in the days of David and Solomon "the tabernacle of Yahweh, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon" (1Ch 21:29; 2Ch 1:3). Sirach remembers the same scene: "In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him, Moreover, in Zion I was established" (Sir 24:10), with "the smoke of incense in the Tabernacle" (Sir 24:15).

The Pattern Shown on the Mountain

The tabernacle is not Israel's invention. Each section of the building order ends with the same charge: "as it has been shown to you in the mount, so they will make it" (Ex 27:8; cf. Ex 25:40; Ex 26:30). Even the lampstand is made "according to the pattern which Yahweh had shown Moses" (Nu 8:4). The same principle reappears with the temple: David hands Solomon "the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of Yahweh, and for all the chambers round about, for the treasuries of the house of God" (1Ch 28:12), and David affirms, "I have been made to understand in writing from the hand of Yahweh, even all the works of this pattern" (1Ch 28:19). Hebrews reads this as a deliberate signal: the priests "serve [that which is] a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses is warned [of God] when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown to you in the mount" (He 8:5).

Holy Place and Most Holy

Inside the house there is a graded holiness. A veil hangs under the clasps to "separate to you⁺ between the holy place and the most holy" (Ex 26:33). The outer chamber is the holy place, where Aaron carries the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate "for a memorial before Yahweh continually" (Ex 28:29) and where the anointing oil and incense are kept (Ex 31:11). Priestly portions of the offerings must be eaten there: "in the court of the tent of meeting they will eat it" (Le 6:16). The Levites keep the charge of the holy place "for the service of the house of Yahweh" (1Ch 23:32), and when reform comes the order is to "sanctify the house of Yahweh" and "carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place" (2Ch 29:5). Behind the second veil lies the most holy: "the tabernacle which is called the Holy of holies" (He 9:3). There Solomon sets the ark "into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim" (1Ki 8:6; cf. 1Ki 6:19). The most holy house in Solomon's temple is twenty cubits square and overlaid with six hundred talents of fine gold, with inner doors of gold (2Ch 3:8; 2Ch 4:22). Aaron and his sons offer at the altars "for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel" (1Ch 6:49). When priests defile their office, Yahweh declares through Ezekiel that they "will not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy" (Eze 44:13).

Solomon's House

The transition from tent to temple is announced in Yahweh's word to David: "He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (2Sa 7:13). Solomon takes up that word — "I purpose to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh spoke to David my father" (1Ki 5:5) — and begins building "in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv" (1Ki 6:1). At its dedication he confesses, "I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever" (1Ki 8:13). The whole assembly comes up to Jerusalem to bring "the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion," the priests carry it "into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place," and "the cloud filled the house of Yahweh"; Solomon stands before the altar, blesses Yahweh "who has given rest to his people Israel," offers twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep as peace-offerings, and the king and all Israel "dedicated the house of Yahweh," holding the feast "seven days and seven days, even fourteen days" (1Ki 8:1-66). Sirach, looking back, summarizes: "Solomon reigned in days of peace, And God gave him rest round about. He prepared a house for his name, And established a sanctuary forever" (Sir 47:13).

The Psalms echo a worshipper's love for the house: "in the abundance of your loving-kindness I will come into your house: In your fear I will worship toward your holy temple" (Ps 5:7); "I will worship toward your holy temple, And give thanks to your name" (Ps 138:2). Ezekiel's vision puts the matter most absolutely: "This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit of it round about will be most holy. Look, this is the law of the house" (Eze 43:12), and Isaiah names the courts as the place of harvest praise: those who gather "will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary" (Isa 62:9).

Maintaining the house is itself an act of devotion. Joash directs the priests to "repair the breaches of the house, wherever any breach will be found" (2Ki 12:5), and Josiah sends silver to the workmen "who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh" (2Ki 22:5).

Plundered, Burned, Lamented

The same house can be desecrated. Nebuchadnezzar carries out "from there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh" (2Ki 24:13), and finally "burned the house of Yahweh, and the king's house" (2Ki 25:9; cf. 2Ch 36:19). The Psalmist mourns, "They have set your sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name" (Ps 74:7), and "O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled" (Ps 79:1). Isaiah laments: "Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has burned with fire" (Is 64:11). Micah pronounces the judgment that brought it: "Therefore will Zion for your⁺ sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest" (Mi 3:12).

The Second House and Its Dedication

After the captivity the work begins again. Heads of fathers' houses come up to "the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem" and offer willingly "for the house of God to set it up in its place" (Ezr 2:68). Adversaries hear that "the sons of the captivity were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel" (Ezr 4:1); against opposition the Persian crown decrees that expenses for "the building of this house of God" are to be paid "with all diligence" (Ezr 6:8), and through Haggai's preaching — "It is not the time [for us] to come, the time for Yahweh's house to be built" (Hag 1:2) — and Zechariah's, "the elders of the Jews built and prospered" and "built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezr 6:14). Ezra brings further "freewill-offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God" (Ezr 7:16), praising Yahweh "who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem" (Ezr 7:27). Sirach honors the rebuilders and renovators by name — "Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, Who in their days built the House, And set up on high the Holy Temple" (Sir 49:12), and "Simeon, the son of Jochanan, the priest. In whose generation the house was renovated, And in whose days the temple was fortified" (Sir 50:1). The same dedicatory pattern is kept at Nehemiah's wall: Levites are gathered to "keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps" (Ne 12:27). Sirach prays, "Fill Zion with your majesty, And your temple with your glory" (Sir 36:14).

Defiled and Reclaimed in 1 Maccabees

Under foreign rule the second house is again profaned. The aggressor "proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the lampstand of light, and all the vessels of it, and the table of proposition, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke them all in pieces" (1Ma 1:22). Innocent blood is shed "round about the sanctuary, And defiled the holy place" (1Ma 1:37; cf. 1Ma 1:36; 1Ma 1:46). The lament that follows is bitter: "The holy places have come into the hands of strangers: Her temple has become as a man without honor" (1Ma 2:8); "the sanctuary was trodden down. And the foreigners were in the castle, There was the habitation of the nations. And joy was taken away from Jacob" (1Ma 3:45). Resistance gathers around the cry, "Let's fight for our people, and our sanctuary" (1Ma 3:43). When Judas and his men come up, "they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned, and shrubs growing up in the courts as in a forest" (1Ma 4:38), and "they built up the holy places, and the things that were within the temple: and they sanctified the courts" (1Ma 4:48). The priests' own appeal turns the language of Solomon's dedication into a plea: "You, O Lord, have chosen this house for your name to be called on in it, that it might be a house of prayer and supplication for your people" (1Ma 7:37; cf. 1Ma 7:36). Pagan rulers court the temple's protection in their decrees — "Ptolemais, and the confines of it, I give as a free gift to the holy places, that are in Jerusalem" (1Ma 10:39); whoever flees to it "in all the borders of it, being indebted to the king for any matter, let them be set at liberty" (1Ma 10:43); "we will glorify you, and your nation, and the temple, with great glory" (1Ma 15:9). Even hostile generals, when they target Jerusalem, target "the mountain of the temple" (1Ma 16:20). Other temples — Carnaim's (1Ma 5:44), the rich temple in Persia (1Ma 6:2), and Dagon's at Azotus (1Ma 10:84) — are burned by various armies, but the holy house at Jerusalem keeps a distinct status. Internal rivalry can also threaten the courts: Alcimus orders "the walls of the inner court of the sanctuary to be thrown down, and the works of the prophets to be destroyed" (1Ma 9:54).

Herod's Temple in the Gospels

In the Gospels the building is a Herodian construction project still in progress: "Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days?" (Jn 2:20). It is admired for its stones and offerings — "as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings" (Lu 21:5) — but Jesus enters it and "began to cast out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves" (Mr 11:15), pressing the prophetic word: "Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you⁺ have made it a den of robbers" (Mr 11:17; cf. Lu 19:46). The vocation of Yahweh's house — a place of prayer — is asserted against its commercial occupation.

A House Made of People

The New Testament carries the vocabulary of the house of God across to a new building. Paul presses the question on the Corinthians: "Don't you⁺ know that you⁺ are a temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you⁺?" (1Co 3:16); the warning follows: "If any man destroys the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are you⁺" (1Co 3:17). The same is said of the body: "your⁺ body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you⁺" (1Co 6:19). The contrast with idols is total: "what agreement has a temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people" (2Co 6:16). Ephesians describes the construction: "being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone; / in whom each building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; / in whom you⁺ also are built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Ep 2:20-22). Peter pictures the same building: "you⁺ also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1Pe 2:5). Hebrews names the household plainly: "Christ as a son, over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope" (He 3:6). And Hebrews names the better sanctuary in which all of this comes to rest: "Christ having come [as] high priest of the good things that have come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation" (He 9:11).

Christ Dwelling in His House

The indwelling that makes believers a temple is itself the indwelling of Christ and the Spirit. "In that day you⁺ will know that I am in my Father, and you⁺ in me, and I in you⁺" (Jn 14:20); "I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one" (Jn 17:23). Paul says the same: "if Christ is in you⁺, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness" (Ro 8:10); "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Ga 2:20). Ephesians prays "that Christ may dwell in your⁺ hearts through faith; to the end that you⁺, being rooted and grounded in love, / may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, / and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you⁺ may be filled to all the fullness of God" (Ep 3:17-19). Colossians names the mystery — "Christ in you⁺, the hope of glory" (Cl 1:27) — and John gives the test: "he who keeps his commandments stays in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he stays in us, by the Spirit whom he gave us" (1Jn 3:24). The risen Christ closes the canon with the same image of approach: "Look, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Re 3:20).