phillipgoodrich t1_jcjts3m wrote on March 17, 2023 at 10:49 AM

Reply to comment by JenorRicafort in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

Perhaps best-known, but little-known (huh?) is the the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. It was ordered to be built on the site of the "real" temple (of Solomonic legend and recorded by Ezra) in Jerusalem by Herod the Great, following his return from Rome. He had secured the title "King of the Jews" and wanted to show his magnanimity to his new subjects (Herod was not Jewish as is commonly thought, but was an "Edomite" from Iudemea). After his sparkling new temple was finished, it was looked upon by the most strict Jewish sects (such as the Essenes) as a "fake temple." (Kind of like the "Cathedral" of Monte Carlo, which was built by the Grimaldi family and meant to "look like" a medieval European cathedral). While the Essenes had little use for Herod and his "temple," it is indeed the western/"wailing" wall of this temple that is venerated by Judaism today. But it is by no means a part of Solomon's temple.

shantipole t1_jcmk8av wrote on March 17, 2023 at 10:34 PM

You oversimplified Herod and his relationship with the Jews right into inaccuracy.

The entire point of Herod renovating the Second Temple (built by Ezra, et al after the Baylonian Captivity--Solomon's Temple was destroyed) was to curry favor with the Jews by the raised Jewish and quarter-Jewish by blood but not considered a "real" Jew by hardliners Herod and solidify his power base. He was polishing his jewish bona fides.

He needed to keep the local populace quiet to keep his kingdom. Herod was constantly dealing with the other power cliques in Judea and Rome (look up his mother in law--you think you have it bad?) and was one good rebellion away from Octavius/Augustus deciding that someone else would be a better ruler of a fairly important border state, or at least less of a headache. Dude is not going to go and build a fake Temple on the site of the real Temple--that's what decided the Jews on overthrowing the king in that rather famous Maccabeean incident and would guarantee Rome would find someone better.

And the Essenes...that's like asking the Latter Day Saints their opinion of the Pope. The Essenes were a large sect, but they weren't exactly orthodox in their doctrine (to continue the analogy: it's asking hippy commune Mormons about the Pope). The fact is that the majority of the Jews (including the Maccabeeans, the two mainstream Jewish sects, and that Jesus guy and his followers) thought the Temple was the Temple, regardless of the rebuilding, so long as the proper rituals had been observed to consecrate it, etc.