Hypermikdash
440 YEARS
We would assume that the Bais Hamikdash (the Temple),
with all its permanence and beauty, would have been near the top of G-d's
"list of things to do." After all, wasn't King David himself (Samuel
II; 7, 2) bothered by the fact that he lived in a house of ceder while
the holy ark "dwelt" in curtains? Why didn't G-d command us to build
the Bais Hamikdash right away on entering Israel?
The answer lies in the words of the Gemara
(Sanhedrin 20b) "The Jews were commanded with three mitzvos on entering
the land, to appoint a king, to wipe out the nation Amalek and to build
a Bais Hamikdash." The order was all-important. Appointing
a king came first. In other words, until the Jews were properly settled
into their new home, the atmosphere for a Bais Hamikdash did not yet exist.
Ok. So why didn't King David himself
build the Temple? That's a good question. So good a question,
that David himself asked it of the prophet Nosson.
As recorded in Samuel, G-d answered that He had no need for a ceder house:
"In all (these years)...did I ever ask one of the Shoftim (Judges)...Why
didn't you build me a ceder house?" The time was not yet right.
There is,however, another way to look at this
question. The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Shmuel 2; 7, #145) tells us
of a conversation between G-d and David. It goes something like this:
"Why can I not build the Bais Hamikdash?"
"Your hands have spilt blood (in all your
many wars)."
"If I'm a murderer, am I not unfit to build the
Temple?"
"Every drop of blood you spilt is, in My eyes, like
the sweetest offering."
"So why can't I build the Bais Hamikdash?"
"Because if you (as great as you are) were
to build it, it could never be destroyed."
"What's wrong with that?"
"I see that in the future the Jews will sin.
If I can't exact revenge on the sticks and stones of their Temple, then
I will have to destroy the people..."
Ok. So we know why the Bais Hamikdash
couldn't be built earlier, because there was no king; and we know why David
couldn't have been the one to build it. But why couldn't there have
been a king before David (or, more accurately, before Saul)?
Although there are many opinions on the matter,
let's just say that the Jews were better off (at least in that period)
under Shoftim (Judges) than they would have been with kings
.
Now, what have we got? The Bais Hamikdash
couldn't have been built before their 440th year in the land because they
had no king. They could not have appointed a king before they did
because they were better off with the Shoftim. And the first king
(from the tribe of Yehuda) couldn't build it, either because it wasn't
yet time - Hashem didn't need it - or because he had spilt blood.
Hence, the 440 year wait.
NOSSON THE PROPHET'S ADVICE
It is interesting to note, that when King David
asked the prophet whether he could build the bais hamikdash (Temple), Nosson
gave his own opinion:
All that is in your heart, go and do; for
G-d is with you. (Samuel II; 7, 3)
That night, G-d appeared to Nosson and told him
Go tell my servant, David: "This G-d
said, are you the one to build Me a house within which to sit...?"
In other words, Nosson had told the King to do the wrong thing - Hashem
didn't want the Bais Hamikdash built right then.
By what right then, did the prophet - who,
after all, should have been little more than a mouthpiece for the word
of Hashem -speak out his own opinion; and a wrong one at that!
The Malbim (a Biblical commentator of the
last century) draws this point from the passage:
When a person's heart is completely good,
when he wants nothing for himself or for the world but good (what's good
for G-d and what's good for other people), then he has the right to venture
his own opinion.
Even if he might be "wrong" sometimes, such
a man should not hold back from helping others...
JUDGES AND KINGS
So what's wrong with (monarchy)? Let's look
at the record: From the beginning of David's reign until the destruction
of the first Temple and death of the last king of Yehuda, there were twenty
one kings (and one queen) in Jerusalem.
Spanning a period approximately half that
of the line of David, were ninteen kings of the breakaway ten
tribes. Every one of the northern kings was (to one degree or another)
corrupt in G-d's eyes, and many from the ten northern tribes followed their
leaders' example. Nearly half of the kings in Jerusalem were themselves
idol worshippers (Achaz, Menashe, Amon etc.), some
in a most disgusting and insane way.
But Jewish history is not just a story of
kings and their families, it's just that, to a large extent, the king was
responsible for the religious life of his people. When a king was
bad, most of the people went with him. When he was good, his people
could soar to majestic heights. A Jewish king was a leader in every
sense of the word - and in any direction.
And there lies the danger of monarchy.
For if everything rests on the shoulders of one man, it stands or falls
with him. If those shoulders should buckle under the weight, the
whole house can tumble. Under the Shoftim (the Judges) however, there
was much more room for an individual to move - the Shofet didn't enjoy
the all-powerful influence over the kingdom's daily life that the kings
would later inherit. Even if a shofet went bad, the nation wasn't
centralized enough to be drawn down with him.
Of note: perhaps because shoftim held
less power than kings, or perhaps because of the nature of the institution,
corruption and idol worship were not associated with the position.
THE TEN TRIBES
A short time after the death of King Solomon,
the Jewish nation was broken into two bitterly divided camps. The ten northern
tribes, led by Yeruvom ben Navot, broke all ties with Jerusalem and the
The Temple and turned to lives of religious corruption. Realizing
that their rule would be undermined by the people's three yearly pilgrimages
to Jerusalem, the Northern kings even blocked the roads, allowing no one
from the north into Jerusalem.
Only the tribes of Yehuda and Binyamim (to
the south) and Levy (who were the priests and officials of the Temple and
hence, were based near Jerusalem) remained loyal to G-d's Torah.
Now, add it up. The Kingdom of Yehuda
under the leadership of King David and his descendants stood for around
454 years. For the first 80 of those years the people of Israel were
united. The ten tribes were sent into exile at the hands of the Assyrian
King, Sancheriv, 135 years before the destruction of the first Temple.
Therefore, the Kingdom of the ten tribes lasted 215 years less than that
of Jerusalem...and yet had nearly the same number of kings.
Perhaps it was the evil of the Northern kings
that shortened their lives so consistently...
THE IDOL OF MICHA
One of the most bizarre episodes mentioned in
Shoftim (the Book of Judges) is the story of the Pessel Micha. There was
a Jew by the name of Micha who, just a few decades after the our nation
had entered Israel, stole some of his mother's money. His mother,
thinking a common thief was responsible, cursed the unknown culprit.
When she discovered who the thief really was,
she regretted her curse and, in an effort to cancel its effect, had the
entire amount of gold melted and formed into an idol (what she hoped to
accomplish with this, I don't know). Micha, the son, became the custodian
of the idol.
Wanting to attract more business, Micha advertised
for a priest (I guess he was looking for some kind of ritual director!)
to make sure things ran "right." When a Levy named Yehonason ben
Gershom ben Menashe showed up in search of a job, Micha had found his man.
Yehonason, the sages tell us, was the grandson of Moses.
The Pessel Micha stood - are you ready for
this? - for the next SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS! And for nearly all of those
years, Yehonason was in charge. In fact, King David discovered
Yehonason and offered him a civil service job to wean him away from the
idol. (see Gemara Bava Basra 110a and Rashi)
Why did the high priest of a notorious pagan
temple merit such a long life? Our sages tell us because he didn't
really believe in the idol and would turn people away at the door saying:
"You and I both know that this isn't real...'
And how did the temple manage to remain in
business for so long (after all, it stood throughout the reign of David,
not to mention two hundred years afterwards)? What else can we say
other than that the operation was hidden "underground," and was perhaps
portable enough to be able to move quickly if the authorities got close.
NOV AND GIVON
383 years after the Jews entered Israel, they
suffered a terrible military defeat at the hands of the Plishtim (Phoenicians).
The aron (holy ark) was taken by the enemy and many of the nation's finest
men were killed.
When he heard the dreadful news, Eli (who
was both high priest and Shofet), died, leaving the prophet Samuel to lead
the nation. A Mishkan (tabernacle) of curtains (yerios) was erected
in the city of Nov to replace that of Shilo.
But Nov was not destined to remain the site
of the Mishkan for long. And again, the prophet Samuel played a role:
Not long after the ascension of Shaul (Saul) to the throne of Israel, his
claim to the kingship was weakened and eventually broken (see I Samuel
15, 26). The youthful David was secretly anointed in his place by
Samuel and the clock began ticking on Shaul's reign.
Under a heavy cloak of guilt and jealousy,
Shaul suffered periods of terrible depression where he would seek to kill
his son-in-law, David. When the King heard from one of his
men (Doeg H'adomi) that the priests of Nov had given a starving David food
and a weapon (I Shmuel 21-22), he ordered the whole city to be put to death.
After only twelve short years, the Mishkan
was moved from Nov to Givon.
Whether or not Shaul was justified in ordering
the killings isn't the point (after all, from his perspective, the priests
had -at least unwittingly - disobeyed a royal order). What our sages
learn from the whole affair is the destructive power of slander.
"Loshon Horah kills three: the one who spoke it (in this case, Doeg), the
one who listens (Shaul) and those about whom it was spoken (the priests
of Nov). Doeg, incidentally, is listed among those who have no share
in the World to Come.
For the next forty-six years, until the building
of the Temple, the Mishkan rested in nearby Givon. It's interesting to
note that for most of that time, the holy ark was in a tent in Jerusalem,
to which King David had brought it near the beginning of his reign.
The temple service was centered around Givon, but the aron was waiting
in Jerusalem...