The Glory of the Second Temple

When the second Temple rose, it seemed quite poor beside that of Solomon. Yet God promised it a glory greater than that of the first. This promise pointed to a presence to come, and it found its fulfillment in Christ.

The two Temples

The first Temple, built by Solomon around 960 before Jesus Christ, was magnificent: dressed stone, cedar paneling, gold spread over the walls. It housed the ark of the covenant, the sacred chest that held the tables of the Law, and the presence of God had shown itself there the day Solomon consecrated it: a cloud had filled the sanctuary, a sign that God came to dwell in his house. The Babylonians destroyed it in 587 before Jesus Christ. The second, raised by Zorobabel, was modest, and no longer housed the ark: according to the second book of Maccabees, the prophet Jeremiah had hidden it before the destruction, with the tabernacle and the altar of incense, in a cave on Mount Nebo. He had announced that it would remain undiscoverable until the day God gathered his people and made his glory appear again, this gathering being the union of all believers that the Messiah would bring about and that will be completed at the end of time. That day not having come, the hiding place was not found, and the second Temple rose without the ark. The elders who had known the first wept at the sight of this one. Yet it was to this stripped Temple that God promised a glory surpassing that of old. How could a more modest sanctuary receive a greater glory? The answer lies in what makes the glory of a house of God.

A greater presence

The glory of a Temple lies in the presence of God who dwells in it. The first had known it under the veil of the cloud. To the second, God promises to come himself, in person. This promise is fulfilled when Christ, God made man, entered this Temple to teach there: the presence of God appeared in his flesh. And Christ revealed where the true Temple now stood. When he was asked for a sign of his authority, he answered: “Destroy this temple; and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19. They thought he spoke of the building; “But he spoke of the temple of his body.” John 2:21. The house of stone announced the true Temple, the body of Christ, in whom God dwells among men.

The Desired of the nations

The second oracle announces a coming: “And I will move all nations: and the Desired of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:8. The Hebrew word behind this phrase, ḥemdat (חמדת), means what is precious, the object of desire. It can be understood as the treasures the nations bring, or, in the singular, as a person: the Desired. The Latin tradition kept this last sense, reading “the Desired of all nations shall come,” and recognized in him the Messiah, the one the peoples await without knowing him. It is toward Christ that the nations flock, and his coming is the glory with which God fills his house.

The signet and the line of David

The last oracle was addressed to Zorobabel, made by God his signet ring, his chosen one. The exile had interrupted the kingship that came from David; in raising up Zorobabel, governor and descendant of the king, God renews the thread of that line. The Gospel of Matthew names Zorobabel in the genealogy of Jesus. The thread renewed in him reaches Christ, son of David, the promised king whose reign has no end.

The unshakeable Kingdom

Haggai announced a shaking, repeated from one oracle to the next: “Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.” Haggai 2:7. The letter to the Hebrews takes up this word and shows its end: on the last day, this shaking will carry away all that is passing, and there will remain only what cannot be shaken, the Kingdom of God. “Receiving an immoveable kingdom, we have grace.” Hebrews 12:28. This unshakeable kingdom is that of Christ. And Haggai’s call to rebuild the house of God reaches even to us: “Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house.” 1 Peter 2:5. To build the house of God, now, is to build up the Church.