Hypermikdash
WHY THE SECOND BAIS HAMIKDASH?
When you hear someone speak about "The Temple,"
he could be referring to any one of nine structures: There was the
Mishkan (Tabernacle) that Moses built in the desert. That was dismantled
and carried by the Jews on all their journeys until the nation reached
Shilo in Israel proper - see the timeline.
In Shilo, a house with stone walls was built, but instead of a roof,
it was covered by the same curtains that had covered the tabernacle.
Then, with the death of Eli HaKohen, the tabernacle
in Shilo was destroyed. replacing it was a more temporary tabernacle,
first in Nov, then in Givon. So that's four so far...
Givon was followed by the Temple of King Solomon.
Five. Koresh, king of Persia allowed Ezra and Nechemiya to
build
the Second Temple (just a few years after all the action of Purim).
Three hundred and seventeen years later, that building was torn down
by the quasi-Jewish king, Herod, and
was replaced by a magnificent building that, too, was doomed to destruction
at the hands of the Romans. Seven. There is an opinion that during
the rebellion of Bar Kochba that followed
the destruction of the Second Temple, a third Temple was built - only to
be destroyed in turn two and a half years later. That's eight.
And then, when G-d sees fit, there will be
a third Temple. Nine.
Each of these manifestations of the place in which
G-d chose to dwell was different in appearance and purpose from the
others. Each played a different role in preparing the Jewish people and
the world in general for their higher calling. To completely
describe the long and complex history of the Temples would be way beyond
the scope of this project (even electronic books have limits!).
So I had to limit myself to one. Why,
then, was it the Second Temple - the one that Ezra and Nechemiya
built? I would need no better excuse than the fact that this was
the house on which Chazal (the rabbis)
themselves concentrated. If the rabbis of the Talmud - who were renowned
for never wasting words - dedicated one whole tractate (Midos) to a straightforward
description of this particular bayis, then there must be something there
to justify our attention.
Part of the attraction comes from the fact
that many of the measurements and attributes of the Second Temple reflected
those of both first (Solomon's) and the third (to be built in the
time of the Messaiah). Learning about the Second Temple, therefore,
is not simply an historical exercise (as interesting and important as that
might be) but has practical relevance to us today.