he visit the temple frequently

The Temple in the New Testament

Jerusalem's temple, the restoration of which was begun under Herod the Great in 20 B.C. and finished in 65 A.D., is referenced at least 100 times in the New Testament. This magnificent building was the backdrop of several major events not only in Christ’s life and ministry but also in the early ministry of his apostles. The temple, dedicated to the worship of the true God, also played a pivotal role in the life of Paul.

Interactions with Jesus

Jesus' experience and interaction with God's house of prayer begins when he is less than two months old. His parents take him to Jerusalem in order to fulfill the purification requirement of Leviticus 12. In the temple Mary and Joseph make an offering of two young birds and present their newborn son to God (Luke 2:22 - 35).

Mary and Joseph, every year, travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem to keep the Passover and visit the temple. After observing the Feast, when Jesus is twelve, they leave the city thinking their son is with a group of relatives also leaving. Discovering this is not the case, they rush back to the city (Luke 2:41 - 45).

They find Christ engrossed discussing God's law with teachers at the temple. His response reveals that even at a young age he was aware of who his real Father was and had at least a basic understanding of His purpose and calling (Luke 2:46, 48 - 49).

The temple played a pivotal role during Jesus' ministry. Its outer court was the place where He, at the beginning and near the end of his ministry, drove out the "money changers" and others doing business in a place meant for prayer (John 2:13 - 16, Matthew 21:12). He healed many in its location (Matthew 21:14) and frequently taught there (Matthew 21:23, 26:55, etc.). While leaving the temple area for the Mount of Olives he prophesied its total destruction to his disciples (Matthew 24:1 - 2).

False witnesses at Jesus' trial, after his arrest, accused him of threatening to destroy the (Matthew 26:59 - 61). The veil separating the holiest part of the building with the rest of the edifice was miraculously torn in two the moment Christ died (Matthew 27:51).

The Early Church

The early New Testament church, including the ministry of the apostles, had many interactions with the temple. After the resurrection of the Lord, the early church met regularly within its confines (Acts 2:46). It is the place where Peter and John healed a well-known lame man and used the popularity of the act as a means to preach the gospel (Acts 3). In fact, "many signs and wonders" (Acts 5:12) were wrought by the twelve apostles within the walls of the temple.

The first mass arrest of the apostles came after God used them to perform miracles to confirm what they said (Acts 5:15 - 18). The Jewish religious leaders, wanting to quell the popularity of the gospel, threw all of them into a common prison. God, however, sent an angel to free them and give them a special message (Acts 5:19 - 20).

The Life of Paul

Paul's experience with Jerusalem's temple begins early in life. At the age of around twelve, he is taken from his hometown of Tarsus in Cilicia to Jerusalem to begin his religious studies. He attends a Rabbinical school of the Pharisees which is headed up by Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 5:34), who personally trains the young student of the law (Acts 22:3).

As he grew up Paul became one of the most zealous and devout followers of Judaism (Acts 22:3, Galatians 1:14), and as such visited the temple regularly even as its restoration was taking place.

In Ephesus, toward the end of his second missionary journey, Paul leaves Priscilla and Aquila in the city to travel to Jerusalem. He does this in order to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Acts 18:18 - 21), the celebration of which centers around the temple and its services.

The outer court of the temple is also likely the place where Paul's appearance in late spring of 58 A.D. stirred up the Jews who hated him and caused a riot (Acts 21:27 - 32). His arrest ultimately leads to him languishing in a Roman prison for more than two years and appealing his case directly before Caesar (see Acts 24 through 26).

The Significance Of The Temple In Jesus’S Life

The temple in Jerusalem played a pivotal role in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. As the center of Jewish worship and tradition, Jesus’s interactions with the temple shaped his mission and message in profound ways.

This article will explore the deep meaning behind Jesus’s experiences at the temple, from his presentation there as an infant to his teachings within its courts as an adult.

Jesus’s Presentation at the Temple as an Infant

The importance of the presentation ritual.

According to the Jewish law, 40 days after the birth of a firstborn male child, the parents were required to bring the child to the temple in Jerusalem to present him to God. This ritual was known as the redemption of the firstborn and involved making an offering to redeem the child as belonging to God (Luke 2:22-24).

This demonstrated the parents’ faithfulness in following the law. It also symbolized the consecration of the child to God’s service. Though Jesus was the Son of God, his earthly parents Mary and Joseph still observed this ritual in obedience to the law.

The presentation and redemption ritual originates from the time when God struck down the firstborn sons of Egypt but spared the Israelites during the final plague before the exodus (Exodus 13:2,11-16). God then claimed all firstborn sons and male animals as his own possession.

However, he allowed the firstborn sons to be redeemed or brought back to the family through an offering. This was a powerful reminder to the Israelites of God’s mercy and grace in sparing them and bringing them out of slavery.

Simeon and Anna’s Prophecies

When Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the temple, they encountered two devout elderly people, Simeon and Anna, who uttered prophecies about the child. The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died.

When Simeon saw Jesus, he took the child in his arms and praised God, saying that his eyes had seen God’s salvation (Luke 2:25-35). His prophecy highlighted that this child was the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes and the Savior for both Jews and Gentiles.

The prophetess Anna who served in the temple also recognized Jesus as the redeemer and praised God (Luke 2:36-38). She proclaimed the news about Jesus to all who were awaiting the Messiah’s coming. Both Simeon and Anna’s prophetic words affirmed that this infant was no ordinary child but rather the promised Messiah who would bring redemption and salvation.

Though Jesus was just a baby, his divine identity and purpose were already being confirmed.

The temple setting is significant here as it emphasizes Jesus’ Jewish heritage and his fulfillment of the Jewish law and prophecies even as a child. The revelation to Simeon and Anna also shows that the Holy Spirit was actively working to identify Jesus as the Christ.

Overall, this temple visit marks an important milestone in the early life of Jesus.

Jesus Teaching at the Temple as a Child

Amazing the religious teachers.

At the young age of 12, Jesus traveled with his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast (Luke 2:41-52). While there, Jesus slipped away to sit among the teachers in the temple courts, listening to them and asking insightful questions.

The teachers were astonished at His depth of understanding and ability to discuss complex theological issues (Luke 2:47). This early temple visit foreshadowed Jesus’ future ministry as a great teacher who would challenge religious assumptions and revolutionize theological thinking.

The teachers in the temple were likely blown away by Jesus’ grasp of the Torah and prophets at such a tender age. His incisive questions indicated that He already had an extraordinary comprehension of Jewish theology.

The rabbis probably realized they were witnessing an exceptionally gifted Child with immense promise as a religious leader. While they had devoted their lives to studying the sacred texts, this 12 year old boy matched and even surpassed their knowledge without any formal training.

Foreshadowing His Future Ministry

This childhood temple visit anticipates several key aspects of Jesus’ later public ministry. First, it shows Jesus stepping into the role of teacher, engaging religious leaders on theological issues. This foreshadows His future teaching ministry where great crowds would gather to learn from Him (Mark 10:1).

Second, it reveals Jesus as someone grounded in the Scriptures with an unusual ability to discern their meaning. This would continue as the basis for His powerful preaching (Luke 4:16-22).

Finally, this episode shows young Jesus affirming the temple as His “Father’s house,” becoming intensely preoccupied with its work (Luke 2:49). As an adult, He would zealously cleanse the temple courts rather than allowing inappropriate activities there (Matthew 21:12).

Just as His questions and answers amazed the rabbis, His authoritative words and actions as an adult teacher would astonish people and stir public controversy.

So this intriguing episode provides a brief preview of Jesus’ unfolding mission. His evident wisdom as an adolescent foreshadowed His profound teachings that would draw many to follow Him. The teachers’ astonishment anticipated the crowds’ reactions of awe and wonder at His message (Matthew 7:28).

Clearly, at just 12 years old, Jesus already exhibited an inkling of His divine purpose and stellar, world-changing destiny.

Jesus Driving Out Money Changers from the Temple

A bold act of zeal for god’s house.

Jesus took a bold stand for the sanctity of God’s house when he drove out the money changers and merchants from the temple courts (Matthew 21:12-13). This zealous act fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah’s cleansing of the temple (Psalm 69:9; Malachi 3:1-3).

According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus angrily overturned the tables of the money changers and demanded that merchants stop turning his Father’s house into a marketplace.

This confrontational episode reflects Jesus’ passion for proper worship of God. He would not tolerate the commerce and corruption that was taking place in the temple precincts. By disrupting business operations, Jesus made a statement that honoring God takes priority over profits and wealth.

His forceful ejection of merchants was also a symbolic cleansing of sin and impurity from the temple. Ultimately, Jesus’ protective love for his Father’s house cost him his life, but it showed where his priorities lay.

Fulfillment of Messianic Prophecy

Jesus’ cleansing of the temple powerfully fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. Well before Jesus’ ministry, the prophet Malachi foretold that the Lord would “suddenly come to his temple” and “purify the sons of Levi” as a “refiner’s fire” (Malachi 3:1-3).

Centuries later, Jesus abruptly entered the temple and zealously drove out corruption, just as Malachi had predicted. The money changers and merchants were part of the priestly tribe of Levi, so Jesus’ confrontation purified the Levites, again matching Malachi’s prophecy.

Additionally, Psalm 69 contains verses prophetically depicting the Messiah’s great devotion for God’s house and his zeal against those who defile it (Psalm 69:9). Jesus embodied these prophetic words when he overturned the merchant tables in righteous indignation for his Father’s house.

Thus, he powerfully declared himself as the long-awaited Messiah who would cleanse and restore proper worship in the temple, just as the ancient prophets had foretold so long ago.

Jesus’s Eschatological Temple Discourse

Prophecy of the temple’s destruction.

In the synoptic gospels, Jesus predicted the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. This prophecy is recorded in Matthew 24:1-2, Mark 13:1-2, and Luke 21:5-6. Jesus stated that not one stone of the Temple buildings would be left standing on top of another.

This prophecy was fulfilled around 70 AD when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and demolished the Temple. Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, provides details on how the Temple was burned and completely torn down by the Romans.

The total destruction shocked the Jewish people who could not imagine a world without the central place of worship. However, Jesus predicted this devastating event and used it to stress the temporary nature of the physical Temple.

His eschatological discourse points to himself as the true and greater Temple.

Promise of the Temple’s Restoration

While prophesying the Temple’s destruction, Jesus also promised its restoration. In John 2:19, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” Here he referred to his body as the true Temple.

After his crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, fulfilling this promise. Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of God’s presence and the place of worship for God’s people. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus became the everlasting Temple where people can meet God.

The book of Revelation depicts the glorious heavenly Temple in the New Jerusalem that comes down to earth (Revelation 21:22). This prophetic vision points to God’s presence dwelling eternally with his people through Christ. The physical Temple pointed to this greater spiritual reality found in Jesus.

As the Messiah, Jesus is the true meeting place between God and humanity. The destruction of the earthly Temple and the building of the eternal, heavenly Temple were pivotal to Jesus’s eschatological message.

Symbolic Connections Between Jesus and the Temple

Jesus as the new temple.

In the Gospels, Jesus is portrayed as the fulfillment of the Temple. He refers to himself as the new Temple, replacing the stone and mortar building that had long been the center of Jewish worship (John 2:19-21).

Just as God’s presence filled the Holy of Holies in the old Temple, Jesus embodied God’s presence in bodily form (John 1:14). His body served as the new meeting place between God and humans.

When Jesus cleared the money changers from the Temple courts (Matthew 21:12-13), He showed His authority over the Temple. As the Son of God, the Temple was rightfully under His jurisdiction. By asserting His control, Jesus further aligned Himself with the Divine presence that indwelt the Holy of Holies.

In a symbolic act, the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn in two at the moment of Jesus’ death (Matthew 27:51). This signified that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross had opened the way for all people to directly access God’s presence.

No longer would a human high priest need to intercede behind a veil on their behalf.

The Temple Veil Torn at Jesus’s Death

The Gospel writers emphasize the tearing of the Temple veil at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). This thick curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple complex.

Behind it resided the ark of the covenant, where the presence of God dwelt.

Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement. But the torn veil represented free access to God for all. Jesus’ sacrificial death provided welcome entry for anyone into the very throne room of heaven (Hebrews 10:19-20).

The timing of the veil-tearing underscored its connection to Jesus’ crucifixion. The intimate linkage between access to God and Christ’s death on the cross could not be more evident. Jesus’ sacrifice effectively removed the barrier to God’s presence that the Temple veil had represented.

So in rending the veil, God showed that Jesus’ death opened the way for reconciliation with Him. The old system of animal sacrifices and priestly rituals no longer applied. Jesus is the true and living Temple, and His cross serves as the only access point to salvation and relationship with God.

As we have seen, the temple was interwoven throughout Jesus’s life, from his infancy to his last week in Jerusalem. Its courts and colonnades echoed his footsteps and teachings. Its symbolic meaning pointed to his identity and mission as the Messiah.

Understanding the temple’s role sheds light on Jesus’s fulfillment of prophecy and the revolutionary nature of his message. Through his words and actions there, Jesus established a new covenant and phase of worship between God and humanity.

Amanda Williams is a dedicated Christian writer and blogger who is passionate about sharing Biblical truth and encouraging believers in their faith walks. After working as a youth pastor and Bible teacher for several years, she launched her blog in 2022 to minister to Christians online seeking to grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus Christ. When she's not creating content or connecting with readers, Amanda enjoys studying theology, being out in nature, baking, and spending time with family. Her goal is to provide practical wisdom and hope from a genuine Christian perspective. Amanda currently resides in Colorado with her husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs.

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12 Things To Know About the Temple in Jerusalem

On Tisha B’Av, Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple. But how much do you know about what it was really like?

By My Jewish Learning

All this came to a screeching halt in 70 CE when the Temple was destroyed in a devastating war with the Romans. In its wake, rabbinic Judaism (the Judaism practiced by virtually all Jews today) and its central text, the Talmud , laid the foundation for Jewish ritual and worship in a world without the Temple.

Though the Temple is long gone, it is far from forgotten. The construction of the Temple is described in great detail in the Hebrew Bible, and its practices are meticulously documented and parsed in the Talmud. An entire annual holiday — Tisha B’Av — is given over to mourning its absence from Jewish life. And a piece of the Temple — the western retaining wall of the platform on which it stood, called the Kotel or Western Wall — is today one of the holiest sites for Jews.

Even though remembering the Temple remains a central part of Jewish practice today, it can be difficult to grasp just how central the Temple was to ancient Jewish life. Here are 12 facts that help illustrate what the ancient Temple was really like, and what it has meant to Jews throughout history.

1. There were actually two Temples on the same spot

The first Temple, built by King Solomon in approximately 1000 BCE, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. When the Persians conquered the Babylonians almost a century later, they agreed to let the Jewish leaders who had been taken into exile return to the land of Israel where they would rebuild the Temple . This Second Temple stood for hundreds more years, then was thoroughly renovated and expanded by Herod the Great in the last few decades before the beginning of the Common Era. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

According to Jewish tradition, both Temples were destroyed on the ninth day of the month of Av . Tisha B’Av (literally: Ninth of Av) commemorates the destruction of both Temples, as well as other disasters in Jewish history, both ancient and modern.

2. The Temple was built on a mountain that goes by many names

Jerusalem is in the hill country. The Temple was situated on one particular rise that goes by many names in the Hebrew scriptures. The Torah never identifies the mountain, but simply talks about “the place God will choose to rest His name” (e.g. Deuteronomy 12).

The specific mountain is identified in Isaiah and the Book of Psalms as Mount Zion (e.g. Isaiah 60:14, Psalms 125:1). The biblical Book of Chronicles , however, calls it Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1). Micah 4:1 refers to it generically as Har Beit Adonai — meaning “The Mount of the House of the Lord.” Jeremiah 26:18 shortens this to Har HaBayit, “The Mountain of the House,” commonly translated as the Temple Mount. This last name, Temple Mount , is used frequently in the Mishnah and Talmud and other rabbinic literature.

3. The Temple stood on the spot where the world began

According to the Talmud, on the top of Mount Moriah is a foundation stone from which God created the whole world (Yoma 54b). This same foundation stone later lay under the Holy of Holies, the most sacred room of the Temple. Ancient interpreters also believed that more than a millennium before the Temple was built, the stone was the site of the Binding of Isaac .

4. The exact location of the Temple is still debated today

The Temple definitely stood on the Temple Mount — that has always been an agreed fact and has been confirmed by archaeologists. However, where exactly it stood is a matter of debate. Some believe that it was in the exact location of the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine (highly recognizable on the Jerusalem skyline) which houses the foundation stone. Another view agrees with a statement in the Talmud ( Berakhot 54a ) which says it was aligned with the Eastern Gate, which would place it slightly north of the Dome of the Rock. There is also a theory that it was situated slightly east of the Dome of the Rock.

5. After the First Temple was destroyed, the priests returned the keys to God

Taanit 29a describes a remarkable scene that took place as the First Temple was being destroyed by the Babylonians:

When the Temple was destroyed for the first time, many groups of young priests gathered together with the Temple keys in their hands. And they ascended to the roof of the Sanctuary and said before God: Master of the Universe, since we did not merit to be faithful treasurers, and the Temple is being destroyed, let the Temple keys be handed to You. ( Taanit 29a )

The priests ’ final act of divine service was to throw the keys up to heaven, where a divine hand reached out of the clouds to catch them. Then the priests threw themselves into the flames consuming the Temple.

6. The Temple was enormous

Picturing something the size of a synagogue? Not even close. In the first century, when Herod renovated the Temple, he began by building a retaining wall around the Temple Mount and then constructing a platform over the top, turning the mount into a four-sided plateau 37 acres in area.

Pictured: A 1:50 scaled model of the Second Temple and the Old City as it is believed to have looked in 66 CE. The model is located at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel.

The Temple complex itself contained a series of courtyards surrounding the central room, the Holy of Holies, which was only entered once a year, on Yom Kippur , by the high priest . In addition to the large courtyards and Holy of Holies, the Temple complex contained many other storage and administrative rooms, plus numerous ritual baths for purification. The whole system was fed by an aqueduct that brought water from 10 kilometers away , and it was protected by high walls and a series of gates.

To get a sense of the scale, consider that the Kotel, the famous Western Wall that is a central Jewish holy site, is what remains of just a piece of the western side of the retaining wall built around the Temple Mount.

7. The Temple was messy — and smelly

The primary purpose of the Temple and its staff ( the priests and Levites ) was to offer sacrifices to God. It was open for business 365 days a year. Many of these sacrifices were animals that were brought live into the Temple and slaughtered in the courtyard before some or all of their flesh and/or blood was offered on the altar. On pilgrimage festivals , all of Israel came from near and far to offer sacrifices. As a result, the courtyard of the Temple ran almost constantly with animal blood, while the smell of sacrifices on the fire probably pervaded most of Jerusalem. (The smell was largely the point — that fragrant smoke is what went up to God.)

Some sacrificial blood was carefully collected and sprinkled on the altar as part of the ritual. Much of it, however, was rinsed away via channels that were built into the floor and conducted it out to the nearby Kidron River. The water of this river, enriched by this blood, was sold to farmers as fertilizer (Mishnah Yoma 5:6). Despite this impressive ancient plumbing system, the Temple stones required regular deep cleaning. Mishnah Middot chapter 3 indicates that there was also a schedule for whitewashing the stones of the Temple, as well as the altar and ramp leading up to it.

8. The Second Temple was missing a few key items

In Tractate Yoma of the Babylonian Talmud, the Gemara lists significant items in the First Temple that were not in the Second Temple:

The Ark of the Covenant, and the Ark cover upon it, and the cherubs that were on the cover; fire; and the Divine Presence; and the Divine Spirit; and the urim v’tummim (the stones in the high priest’s breastplate). ( Yoma 21b )

Some of the most religiously charged items in the First Temple were apparently already lost to history in the time of the Second Temple. Whereas the first Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant that housed the Ten Commandments Moses had brought down from Sinai (both pairs: the one he smashed when he discovered the Golden Calf and its replacement), the second Holy of Holies stood empty. Likewise, the special stones the high priest used for divination purposes (urim v’tummim). Even God’s presence, this text suggests, which literally dwelt in the First Temple, was absent from the second.

There is a rabbinic legend ( Shekalim 16 ) that the Ark of the Covenant was not destroyed with the First Temple, but secreted away beneath one of the flagstones in the floor of the Temple. When a priest accidentally discovered it and tried to tell others, God smote him before he could get the words out. Clearly, it was meant to stay hidden.

9. The Temple was a party zone

Think Jewish Temple worship was all serious business? Not at all. Joy was an integral aspect of Jewish worship. On Sukkot in particular, the Temple became the site of a carnival that, according to the Talmud, was unlike anything else around:

One who did not see the festival of water-drawing never saw celebration in his days. ( Sukkah 51a )

The Talmud continues describing Simchat Beit Hashoevah , the water-drawing festival. During this nighttime celebration, golden candelabras hoisted onto poles burned so brightly they illuminated the entire city. The festival featured dancing, juggling, singing and a full orchestra of Levite musicians.

10. Synagogues are designed to mirror the Temple

Since it was destroyed for the second time in 70 CE, Jews have not been able to worship at the Temple. But elements of the Temple ritual are brought into Jewish practice, including in the architecture of the synagogue. The ark of the synagogue , which houses the Torah scrolls, mirrors both the Ark of the Covenant that held the original Ten Commandments and also the Holy of Holies, the chamber where it was stored — which was also screened by a curtain. The ner tamid, or eternal light, that hangs above the ark recalls the fire of the altar. And in synagogues where men and women sit separately , the women’s section is called the ezrat nashim , the courtyard of the women, as was the area of the Temple permitted to women.

As the synagogue mirrors the Temple, the prayers said inside it are explicitly linked to the sacrifices. In particular, the three traditional recitations of the Amidah each day — Shacharit (morning), Mincha (afternoon), and Maariv (evening) — parallel the sacrifices offered at those times in the Temple.

11. Real Temple treasures might still be in the Vatican

The Arch of Titus, a first-century monument built to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem, depicts the Romans marching back to Rome after having destroyed the Second Temple. Their hands are full of treasure, including vessels of gold and silver and the famous seven-branched menorah made entirely of pure gold that was lit at all times in the Temple. Though these treasures have never been recovered, some speculate they may remain locked in the vaults of the Vatican.

12. Jews don’t agree about whether a Third Temple should be built

For thousands of years, Jews have mourned the destruction of the Temple on Tisha B’Av and prayed for its reconstruction. But it has never happened, even now that a Jewish state exists in the land of Israel. There are many reasons for this.

First, the Temple Mount is under Muslim authority and home to a sacred Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock. A Temple could not be built on that spot without destroying it.

Second, not all Jews believe God has granted them authority to rebuild the Temple. Many hold that only God will build it.

Third, Judaism has flourished for thousands of years without a Temple. Since the rabbis say that Torah study and prayer can replace Temple service, there is less urgency to bring back a Temple. And many Jews agree with Maimonides that sacrifices are no longer the best way to worship God. Early leaders in the Reform movement even named their houses of worship temples to signify they had abandoned the traditional Jewish longing to rebuild the Temple.

There are, however, a minority of Jews who are preparing to build a Third Temple, by studying Temple worship practices and constructing implements to be used in the Temple when it is rebuilt.

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The Temple and its Destruction

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Tisha B'Av

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Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, is the major day of communal mourning in the Jewish calendar.

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Simeon blesses Jesus

Simeon, a right living and very devout man of faith, was frequently in the Temple meditating, and in a constant state of anticipation of the most significant foretold event in the Jewish faith – the arrival of the Jewish Messiah.

Joseph and Mary were in at the Temple in Jerusalem for the redemption of Jesus as the firstborn and the purification of His mother, Mary, as per the Law of Moses in the first five books of the Bible. Simeon met baby Jesus and blessed Him, in fulfillment of a promise to Simeon from God.

By this time Simeon was a very old man. He had been told by God, as a much younger man, that he would definitely see the Jewish Messiah before he died. When Simeon saw Jesus he took Him in his arms and praised God. Simeon made a prophetic and powerful predictive statement about Jesus and the purpose of His life. Also see the reading below from verses 29-32 and verses 34-35.

In Hebrew Simeon means: hearing or listening .

The word Messiah, in Hebrew, and the word Christ, in Greek, mean: Anointed One .

Background Reading: – Simeon blesses Jesus

2:25 Now a man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. This man was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the one who would comfort Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

27 Led by the Spirit, he went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the Law, 28 Simeon took the infant in his arms and praised God, saying,

29 “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace according to your promise, 30 because my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you prepared for all people to see— 32 a light that will reveal salvation to unbelievers and bring glory to your people Israel.”

33 Jesus’ father and mother kept wondering at the things being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and told Mary, his mother, “This infant is destined to cause many in Israel to fall and rise. Also, he will be a sign that will be opposed. 35 Indeed, a sword will pierce your own soul, too, so that the inner thoughts of many people might be revealed.” Luke 2:25-35 Also read Numbers 8:17 and Numbers 18:14-19.

A Pictorial explanation of the Bible

Matthew 21:12-13 New American Standard Bible

Cleansing the temple.

12 ( A ) And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds , and He overturned the tables of the ( B ) money changers and the seats of those who were selling ( C ) doves. 13 And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘ ( D ) My house will be called a house of prayer ’; but you are making it a ( E ) den of robbers .”

Cross references

Matthew 21:12 : Matt 21:12-16: Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-47 ; Matt 21:12, 13: John 2:13-16
Matthew 21:12 : Ex 30:13
Matthew 21:12 : Lev 1:14; 5:7; 12:8
Matthew 21:13 : Is 56:7
Matthew 21:13 : Jer 7:11

Mark 11:15-17 New American Standard Bible

Jesus drives money changers from the temple.

15 ( A ) Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds , and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling [ a ] doves; 16 and He would not allow anyone to carry [ b ] merchandise through the temple grounds . 17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written: ‘ ( B ) My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations ’? ( C ) But you have made it a den of robbers .”

Mark 11:15 Lit the doves
Mark 11:16 Lit a vessel ; i.e., a receptacle or implement of any kind
Mark 11:15 : Mark 11:15-18: Matt 21:12-16; Luke 19:45-47 ; John 2:13-16
Mark 11:17 : Is 56:7
Mark 11:17 : Jer 7:11

Luke 19:45-46 New American Standard Bible

Traders driven from the temple.

45 ( A ) And Jesus entered the temple grounds and began to drive out those who were selling, 46 saying to them, “It is written: ‘ ( B ) And My house will be a house of prayer ,’ ( C ) but you have made it a den of robbers .”

Luke 19:45 : Luke 19:45, 46: Matt 21:12, 13; Mark 11:15-17 ; John 2:13-16
Luke 19:46 : Is 56:7; Jer 7:11; Matt 21:13; Mark 11:17
Luke 19:46 : Jer 7:11

John 2:14-16 New American Standard Bible

14 ( A ) And within the temple grounds He found those who were selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables . 15 And He made a whip of [ a ] cords, and drove them all out of the temple area , with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling ( B ) the doves He said, “Take these things away from here; stop making ( C ) My Father’s house a [ b ] place of business!”

John 2:15 Or pieces of rope
John 2:16 Lit house
John 2:14 : John 2:14-16: Matt 21:12ff; Mark 11:15, 17; Luke 19:45f ; Mal 3:1ff
John 2:16 : Matt 21:12
John 2:16 : Luke 2:49

New American Standard Bible is made available by The Lockman Foundation

Bible Gateway Recommends

NASB, The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, Large Print: Large Print Edition

Mission Bible Class

Young Jesus Visits the Temple_Family Bible Time

Scripture References: Luke 2:40-52

Suggested Emphasis: As Jesus grew, he continued to develop mentally (wisdom), physically (stature), socially (favour with men), and spiritually (favour with God.) We should also grow in these areas.

Group Share Time

Attach a long thin strip of paper to the wall. Mark off measurements in feet and inches or centimetres. In your family or as others arrive measure each and mark the heights on the paper. As children arrive measure them and mark their heights on the paper. Show them how they are taller than children younger than them. Point out how much they will probably grow by the time they reach the age of the older children or adults you have measured.

You could do the same thing with scales and weigh everyone but adults might revolt!

Use this activity to encourage the group to begin talking about other ways in which we grow. We grow in how much we learn and how much we know. We grow in our understanding of God and Jesus. We grow in the way we get along with other people.

Jesus was a baby but then he grew. Today we are going to learn about something that happened to Jesus when he was twelve years old.

Story from the Bible

An adult or young reader can read the words below as the slides are shown.

Cover:Boy Jesus Visits the Temple (Luke 2:40-52)
When Jesus was a little boy his family moved to the town of Nazareth. Jesus grew up doing the things that little boys do. He played games with his friends and he went to school. Joseph was a carpenter so Jesu learned how to help him make things from wood.
Every year Jesus travelled to Jerusalem to attend the Passover Feast. This was a religious holiday and a special ceremony. Joseph always took part in the celebration. Jesus knew that someday he would be a grown man like Joseph. Someday he would go to Jerusalem and visit the temple where the teachers were.
Finally, the time had come. Jesus was twelve years old. This meant that he could go to the temple and take part in the Passover Feast like the other men. Jesus and his family travelled all the way to Jerusalem. It took many days to get there. Sometimes there were robbers on the roads so Jesus’ family travelled along with lots of other families to be safe. Jesus probably liked walking with his friends and cousins. He might have played games and talked with them as they walked along the way to Jerusalem.
Joseph and Mary would have seen many of their friends in Jerusalem to. It was a beautiful city and everyone was there to worship God. After the festivities it was time to go back home to Nazareth.
But as they headed home Joseph and Mary began to notice someone was missing. At first they probably thought he was walking with his friends because they had been travelling a whole day when they finally realised he was not there. After looking everywhere, they knew that he must still be back in Jerusalem. Where was their son, Jesus? They searched for him and finally found him. Can you guess where Jesus was?
Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the temple courts. He was with the teachers of the Law and he was asking them questions. It seems Jesus had enjoyed learning and listening so much that he had stayed to hear more. Everyone there was amazed at how much this boy understood God’s word.
Mary told Jesus they had been searching and searching. She wanted to know why he was still there at the temple. Jesus surprised them with his answer. “Why were you searching for me?” he asked, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Jesus knew that God was his father and that the temple was God’s special house.
When Mary and Joseph heard this they knew that Jesus was growing up. They knew that it would not be long before he was a man. But he was not a man yet! He was only twelve years old.
Jesus travelled back to Nazareth and he obeyed his parents in everything they said. Jesus helped the family and was a good son.
Jesus worked along with Joseph and learned to be a carpenter. He made his mother and Joseph very happy.
Jesus was indeed growing but not just in his body. Jesus grew in four ways: 1) He grew in wisdom. That meant that he learned things at school and from studying. 2) He grew physically. That means he ate good food and exercised so he could grow big and strong. 3) He grew spiritually. That means in the way he knew and loved God. 4) He grew socially. That means he learned how to make friends and how to treat people nicely. Jesus grew in all of these ways because he knew that someday he would do a special job for God.

Verse(s) to Think About

“Jesus continued to learn more and more and to grow physically. People liked him, and he pleased God.” Luke 2:52 (ICB) “But you should continue following the teachings that you learned. You know that these teachings are true. And you know you can trust those who taught you. You have known the Holy Scriptures since you were a child. The Scriptures are able to make you wise. And that wisdom leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:14-15 (ICB) “We will speak the truth with love. We will grow up in every way to be like Christ, who is the head. The whole body depends on Christ. And all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part of the body does its own work. And this makes the whole body grow and be strong with love.” Ephesians 4:15-16 (ICB) “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him now and forever! Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18 (ICB)

Choose Activities and Learn Together

Select activities that suit your family or group. Consider ages and abilities and how to involve everyone present in at least one of the activities.

AT HOME Search closets or drawers and find something that used to fit but no longer does. For children this means they have grown. For adults this may be a good or bad activity 🙂 Talk about how our bodies grow and mature and compare this to how our spiritual life also grows and matures.
EXPLORE: List all of the different types of chores Jesus might have done as a child. Compare that with the chores your students do.
View this Video: Jerusalem Temple at the Time of Jesus (1 minute and 51 seconds) from Youtube.
View this video: Virtual Reconstruction Of Second Temple Temple Mount (7 minutes 46 seconds) from youtube
EXPLORE: Use Google Maps or a Bible atlas to trace Jesus’ trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem.
IN THE WORD: Talk about what life is like for a 12 year old. How might life be different now and in Jesus’ time? How does Proverbs 22:6 relate to Jesus’ childhood?
Jesus ( Luke 2:52 ) and
Samuel ( 1 Samuel chapters 2-3 but in particular ( 2:26 and 3:19-21 )
IN THE WORD: Use a fun memory verse method to memorise 2 Peter 3:18.
GAME/ACTIVITY: Play “hangman” using words from the story.
CREATIVE: Draw a growth chart for Jesus from infancy to adulthood.
LIFE APPLICATION: If you have done the opening activity in measuring heights then add another paper alongside it recording growth in other ways. Record on the paper various skills and attitudes individuals in the group have matured in. For example, at the bottom of paper write “used to get angry and say mean things”. Then, higher on the paper write “started keeping my anger under control”. Then on the highest level write “learned to say encouraging words to people even though I don’t agree with them.”
LITTLE ONES: For younger children hide a picture of Jesus and play “hide and seek” and search for Jesus.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Any snack but decorate the table with measuring tape, rulers and/or growth charts. For more excitement blindfold a volunteer and serve them a variety of baby foods and let them guess the flavour. Talk about how we grow and mature and don’t eat baby food any more.

Song Suggestions:

Singing does not have to be a performance. Don’t take yourself too seriously. In the privacy of your own home or within a small group allow yourself to just be genuine and enjoy the experience together.

Singing songs yourself is more reliable than viewing them online. If you are viewing published videos online on forums such as YouTube be sure and preview them first to make sure there are not unhelpful advertisements. To avoid long pauses due to internet speed issues play the song through once before you begin and then hold it paused and ready to go at the beginning of the song.

Read Your Bible Pray Every Day
Crayon Song
I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N (Song)
Growin’ Up in the Lord (Song video on YouTube by Acapella)
More songs to choose from

Additional Mission Bible Class Resources

Instructions for Family Bible Time and Intergenerational Groups here.
More teacher information and additional ideas for today’s lesson here.
How to Plan a Bible Class for Children
How to Teach Children at Various Ages
Ideas for Teachers
Songs for Bible Class
Praying With Children
Movement and Dance

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The Interpreter Foundation

Supporting the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints through scholarship.

Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture

Jesus’ First Visit to the Temple

Article Formats:

Abstract: In this rich and detailed description, S. Kent Brown paints an evocative, historically contextualized account of Jesus Christ’s first visit to the Jerusalem Temple since his infancy, when at age twelve he traveled with his family to attend Passover.

[ Editor’s Note: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the Latter-day Saint community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.

See S. Kent Brown, “Jesus’ First Visit to the Temple,” in The Temple: Symbols, Sermons, and Settings, Proceedings of the Fourth Interpreter Foundation Matthew B. Brown Memorial Conference, 10 November 2018, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2021), 235–66. Further information at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/the-temple-symbols-sermons-and-settings/ .]

Inside Jerusalem and Its Temple

When they reached the fork in the road, Joseph and Mary trudged ahead up the ever steeper incline towards the top of the Mount of Olives. 1 Their breathing grew more labored as did that of their twelve-year-old son. But he was taking the climb easier than they were. Young, nimble legs. Their destination lay to the west, the city of Jerusalem with its spectacular temple. At the fork, the other road led southward toward the town of Bethany where Jesus would raise from the dead a family friend named [Page 332] Lazarus more than twenty years later. On this occasion, Jesus was coming to the temple for the first time since being carried there as an infant (see Luke 2:22). 2

He and his parents went with the companionship of others, of course, in “the company” noted in Luke 2:44. No one traveled singly or in small groups in those days. 3 Too many bandits inhabited the travel route from Nazareth to Jerusalem, especially in the wilds of the Jordan Valley and Judean Desert, as is illustrated in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. We cannot discount the possibility that Jesus began to formulate this parable in his mind during the long hours walking between Jericho and Jerusalem either on this occasion or a later one. Further, it appears this story rested on a real occurrence that he had learned about, thus underscoring its authenticity. 4 He surely would have learned from the adults that bandits beat up their victims only if they put up any kind of resistence: the “thieves … wounded him, … leaving him half dead,” as Jesus would later say (Luke 10:30). 5

On a happier note, it is possible that some of Jesus’ siblings or childhood friends were in the traveling company. If not, he surely made friends readily with the boys and girls his same age, making the trip more pleasant and a whole lot shorter. This observation is made sure when Luke wrote that Jesus’ parents supposed “him to be in the company” as they began the return trip to Nazareth. Where would he have been if not with young friends? 6 In my opinion, a person would [Page 333] have a difficult time making a case that his parents thought he was with the forty- and fifty-year-old travelers. We can imagine these children playing games with each other and telling stories to one another about adventures while riding donkeys bareback and mishaps. What is more, the traveling group was large, most likely a couple hundred or more. Jesus’ parents would not have lost track of him if their group consisted of two or three dozen people.

Figure 1. View of the Temple looking from the southeast toward the northwest. The Court of Women sits on the right, the Nicanor Gate rises in the center, and the Sanctuary itself towers on the left.

The traveling party probably left Jericho early in the morning, where they had been able to secure a place to eat and sleep the evening before. Preparing such places was an important dimension of the hospitality offered within cities and towns for hosting Passover pilgrims. 7 Just out of Jericho, after passing Herod’s winter palace, their journey turned upward and westward almost immediately. They began climbing the Roman road that generally followed the course of the stream running down the Wadi Qilt. About eight miles up, they came to a depression that allowed the company to walk and ride on somewhat level ground for a couple of miles before the road turned upward again. Their trek from Jericho took them about sixteen miles. 8

At the top of the climb up the east side of the Mount of Olives, stunning scenes came into view, both behind and ahead. Behind, Jesus and his parents could take in the vast sweep of the Jordan Valley, where they had been at the beginning of the day, with a glimpse of the northern part of the Dead Sea overshadowed by a shimmering haze of water vapor visible in the sunlight. In front, Jesus beheld the city of Jerusalem surrounded by a wall. But his eye, like everyone else’s, would have been drawn to the bright, glistening temple facade covered with gold leaf 9 that perched high above the surrounding buildings. King Herod, called “the Great,” had begun renovating the temple in 20–19 bc . Work on the temple and its grounds would continue for more than fifty years after Jesus’ visit until they were completed in ad 62, representing more than eighty years of construction.

Before Jesus’ visit, most of the visible parts of the renovation had been completed, including the massive foundations; the roomy southern extension of the temple platform that rested on high arches; the finely honed inner porticoes that ran along the western, southern, and eastern sides of the largest courtyard; the 150-foot high facade of the sanctuary, decorated by a gold overlay; and the great altar that stood in front of it. 10 When the pilgrims arrived at the city, it was a week before Passover.

Jesus, his parents, and the traveling party had arrived early not only to pay the half-shekel temple tax levied each year on all Jews 11 but [Page 334] especially to participate in the purification activities required of those who came from afar. As they descended the west side of the mount, they headed first for a mikvah ritual bath as the first step in their cleansing. Then they looked for one of the priests who, holding a hyssop branch and standing outside the Golden (or Shushan) Gate that led to the temple courtyard, flicked water on the suppliants so that they could enter the temple grounds. Suspended in this water were the ashes from the sacrificial burning of an unblemished red heifer on the Mount of Olives for a sin offering for all worshipers (see Numbers 19:1–10). 12 Although an ancient debate was ongoing whether children needed to undergo this purification rite, 13 we safely assume that Jesus received the sprinkling. This was the first time he had undergone purification in this manner.

It is a matter of conjecture whether the traveling party approached the Golden Gate by crossing a causeway that ran across the Kidron Valley and had been built specifically for bringing the ashes of the red heifer to the temple. Why? Because of the lack of archaeological evidence. But the Mishnah affirms its existence, and many accept its claim. 14

Following each party member’s initial purification, he or she entered the city. Then, “on the seventh day after the sprinkling, the individual would then immerse himself [or herself] in the waters of the mikvah ,” completing the purification ceremonies. 15 Mikvah baths ringed the city. Jesus and his parents probably went to one close to where they were staying, a bath linked either to the pools that sat north of the city walls or to those outside the Golden Gate on the east side of the holy mount. They may even have gone to the one on the Mount of Olives where the priest who sacrificed the red heifer bathed himself. 16 There they cleansed themselves by walking down steps into the bath until the water reached their chins. At that point, they turned and ascended other steps to exit the purifying waters. 17

The rule was that any Jew coming to Jerusalem from a distance farther than the town of Modiin—that is, “a like distance in any direction”—was considered unclean. 18 Modiin lay about seventeen miles west and north of the capital city inside the territory of Judea. Why were people from farther than Modiin considered unclean? Because all territories beyond the land of Israel, defined here as the area of Judea at a radius of seventeen miles from Jerusalem, were thought of as unclean, as among the “fathers of impurity” that transmitted uncleanness to those who resided in them. 19

In the Old Testament, expressions such as “a polluted land” in Amos 7:17 and land considered “unclean” according to Joshua 22:19 refer to [Page 335] land outside ancient Israel. In contrast, but tied closely to these ideas, we meet the expression “the Lord’s land” in Hosea 9:3 that feeds the notion that purity was attached to a defined region closely identified with the temple, as the next verse in Hosea’s record shows by speaking of “wine offerings [and] … sacrifices” (Hosea 9:4). By Jesus’ day, people from regions outside Judea were required to come to celebrations in Jerusalem well in advance, as we are reminded in John 11:55 about those who traveled to the city at Passover time: “many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.” 20

Where did they stay? They likely did not take up temporary residence in a hired room or on a rented rooftop in the city, though such places were available for lease at festival times, like the “loft” in the widow’s home where Elijah resided for a time (1 Kings 17:19, 23) and the “upper room” mentioned in the gospels as the place of the Last Supper (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12). It is possible that the family and others abode in the cave at the bottom of the Mount of Olives close to the Kidron brook and Gethsemane, introducing Jesus to the spot where it is likely that he stayed with his disciples during some nights of the last week of his life. For Luke recorded that Jesus “at night … abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives” (Luke 21:37). Archaeology has disclosed that the place served as an olive press in the fall of the year. 21 The family may also have camped in the open outside the city walls with a lot of other people as was customary. 22 A third possibility is that, after a night’s rest outside the city walls from the long climb out of Jericho, the family sauntered to Bethlehem, a five-mile trip to the south, where they may have had property and certainly had relatives with whom they could stay. 23 After all, the families of Joseph and Mary originally hailed from Bethlehem.

That said, no hint exists that the family stayed in Bethlehem. And if Jesus was going to take in events in and around the temple, it made more sense that he and his parents camped out in the neighborhood of the city and its walls, passing inside in the mornings to experience events associated with the festival, retreating outside only at the going down of the sun, although the full moon at Passover gave ample light if departure from the city was delayed.

One of the curiosities about this trip was the presence of Mary, Jesus’ mother. For starters, throughout the account, she remains unnamed (see Luke 2:41–51). She, of course, is present in the term “his parents” that we find in Luke 2:41. More than that, she is three times called “his mother” (Luke 2:43, 48, 51). Still, her attendance on this long trip sparks curiosity. As a woman, especially one still in her child-bearing years, [Page 336] she was under no obligation to go to Jerusalem for the Passover. The Mosaic law exempted women in general (for example, Exodus 34:23 says “all your men” and Deuteronomy 16:16 says “all thy males”), as did contemporary law. 24 Yet Luke wrote that “his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover,” employing the imperfect tense of the verb poreuomai , which bears the sense of repeated and customary action (Luke 2:41). 25

In this context, the notion that Mary remained a perpetual virgin and therefore was able to go to Jerusalem each year will not do. We know of at least six other children born to her, four sons and no fewer than two daughters. It was Matthew who added a brief notice in his account of Jesus’ birth that Joseph “knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son” (Matthew 1:25), opening the door to identifying her children later in his narrative, as Mark did. These two gospels name Jesus’ four brothers: “James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas” plus “his sisters” (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3). Importantly, the Greek nouns for “brother” and “sister” ( adelphos and adelphē ) occur in these passages, not the usual terms for relatives or cousins.

It seems that, in Luke’s presentation of the story of the Jerusalem trip, we gain a glimpse into Mary’s deep devotion, a devotion that impelled her to attend the temple on as regular a basis as possible, whether she was nurturing children or not. How she managed the care of her children during her absences is unclear. She evidently took them [Page 337] with her when they were old enough, as Jesus was on this occasion. Her time away from home for the Passover would have exceeded two weeks if we add her travel time to and from Jerusalem, her early arrival a week before the festival for purification, and her observance of at least the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread before returning home, a typical stay for pilgrims. 26 The feast of Unleavened Bread lasted another seven days beyond the Passover celebration (see Exodus 23:15; 34:18; Leviticus 23:5–8; etc.), though worshipers often did not stay in the city that long. 27 It also appears that she intended to be in the temple with her son when he experienced Passover events there for the first time.

Figure 2. The Great Altar, the entry into the Sanctuary, and the places of slaughter, skinning, and preparation of the animal parts to be sacrificed and consumed by the worshipers. The Bronze Sea stood between the Altar and the Sanctuary.

On the morning after the ritual purification by sprinkling, before sunrise when the temple gates were opened, 28 Jesus’ family likely joined others in their traveling company and entered the temple grounds that stretched a quarter of a mile from north to south. The throngs that had come long distances presented a cacophony of languages in addition to the familiar Aramaic of natives (compare Acts 2:4–11). What would have caught everyone’s attention were the three trumpet blasts at the opening of the gates, particularly the Nicanor Gate that connected the Court of Women to the Court of the Israelites. 29 The two priests who blew the trumpets stood facing eastward between the great altar and the holy sanctuary with a view into the Court of Women through the Nicanor Gate. The trumpeters played three short notes, then a series of [Page 338] eight quickly tongued sounds, and lastly the three notes again. 30 These tones Jesus was hearing for the first time.

Figure 3. The Court of Women and Nicanor Gate. All Jews were welcome inside the Court of Women whereas only men and boys were allowed to step through the gate into the narrow Court of the Israelites.

But those were not the only musical sounds that reached his ear that morning. About sunrise, 31 after the offering of the incense and the blessing of the people by the five priests involved in the incense service, 32 when the morning sacrificial service began with the sacrifice of a year-old ram and the pouring of wine at the base of the great altar for a drink offering (see Exodus 29:38–44; Numbers 28:3–7), 33 the all-male Levitical choir began to sing as they stood on the fifteen steps that led up through the Nicanor Gate. These men faced eastward, looking into the Court of Women and away from the great altar and the tall facade of the sanctuary. 34 By that moment, the early sun had begun to touch the facade’s golden face. As the smoke of the whole burnt offering rose into the open sky, at a cue, this mens choir sang the set psalm for the day. 35 Their rich, deep voices made an impression on all who heard them sing these well-known lines. A third of the way through the psalm, the choir stopped singing, the two priests again blew three sounds from their trumpets, and the gathered worshipers prostrated themselves onto the temple flag stones “in adoration.” The singing resumed, voicing the next third of the psalm, followed by three trumpet blasts from the priests and another prostrating of the people. 36 After that, the choir finished singing the psalm, ending the service. 37 All these rites Jesus was witnessing for the first time, taking in their spiritual beauty.

Surely, during the days preceding the Passover, Jesus came into the temple and witnessed this grand, sacred pageant of singing and trumpet playing and offering of sacrifice, whether in the morning or the afternoon during a repeat of the morning sacrifice (see Exodus 29:41; Numbers 28:8; 2 Chronicles 31:3). 38 For just beyond the Nicanor Gate, on its west side, was a space enclosed by a low barrier about twenty inches (or a cubit) high. There any Jewish male could stand and listen to and watch what was happening in the sacred area next to the altar and in front of the temple facade. 39 A person could see the place of slaughter of the sacrificial animals; the place of hanging the carcasses before preparing them for skinning and burning; the place of the drain that took the sacrificial blood and the wine of libations into the Kidron Valley far from the temple walls; the place of the huge bronze basin where priests washed their hands and feet; the place where the priests kept bowls for catching the blood of sacrificial animals to sprinkle at the base of the altar below its red line; and the place where three priests began to climb [Page 339] the stairs into the sanctuary, one of whom, chosen by lot, would light the incense. 40 All these holy actions were new to the youthful Jesus.

Figure 4. The Nicanor Gate with its fifteen steps on which stood the Levitical Choir when it sang as the Temple was opened.

Indeed, it was with new friends made during the journey to Jerusalem that Jesus explored both the temple and the city. After all, they had almost ten days on site. The big prize for youthful visitors, of course, was the temple. To be sure, the majestic beauty of the place was impressive during their first visits with their parents. But what captured the most interest were the activities associated with sacred sacrifices. Entering one of the five gates into the extensive temple area, 41 they made for the gate that led into the Court of Women, called the Beautiful Gate (see Acts 3:2, 10). 42 In my mind’s eye, I see them passing the stone signs that warned Gentiles from going farther 43 and the phalanx of beggars who were stationed next to the Beautiful Gate (see Acts 3:2–9). Then they almost raced as they strode toward the fifteen steps that took them up to the Nicanor Gate. 44 Here the girls in the group stopped, being allowed to observe what was happening only from the east side or outside of the gate. It was from here, presumably, that Mary had witnessed the sacrifice of the two birds for her cleansing a dozen years before (see Luke 2:22–24). Stepping through this gate, the boys found themselves in the small, rectangular enclosure framed by the low barrier where the curious could stand and watch what was happening at the great altar and beyond. This area was called the Court of the Israelites. 45

What they experienced was wondrous and fascinating. It was the smell that assaulted their noses first, a combination of blood and urine [Page 340] and dung. The burning of a sacrificial animal’s dung, of course, was a part of certain temple offerings (see Exodus 29:14; Leviticus 4:10–11; 8:17; etc.). But the number of sacrificial offerings that Passover worshipers from outside Judea had brought to the temple was enormous because it was the one time in the year that they would be able to offer a sacrifice. 46 And animals, when slain, immediately lost control and their bodies allowed the discharge of urine and dung, adding a distinctive tang to the pervasive smell of blood.

When the boys stepped inside the gate, almost directly in front of them (but slightly to the left) rose the great altar, the top of which was fifteen feet above their heads. 47 From where they stood, they could see the officiating priests, chosen that morning by lot, walk about both on the top of the altar and on the twenty-inch wide platform, called “the circuit,” that ran around the top of the square altar and that allowed them to tend to the fires and sacrifices—not only those required of them but also those required of the gathered throng. 48 Farther to their left and south they could see the ramp that led to the top of the altar. 49 Both the ramp and altar itself were undergirded by uncut stones (see Exodus 20:25) which had been cleansed of blood in anticipation of the Passover celebration. 50 Directly to their left was the large door that led into the Chamber of Hewn Stone. 51 This large room was divided into two parts. In the part closest to the sanctuary, priests were physically examined for blemishes that would disqualify them from temple duties and lots were drawn daily to determine who would perform certain acts that day. 52 In the other part sat the Sanhedrin from whose numbers would come “the doctors” who would listen to and interact with Jesus in coming days (see Luke 2:46). 53

Directly in front of them they could see the twelve-step staircase that led up to the golden doors of the sanctuary where the priests who had to do with the incense service, also chosen by lot that morning, ascended to enter the sacred enclosure that stood before the temple’s veil. 54 Two groups of priests were chosen, one for the morning incense lighting and one for the afternoon service. It seems certain that the time of day when Zacharias lit the incense was afternoon because of the gathered crowd (see Luke 1:21). What Jesus and his friends could not see looking that direction was the large bronze basin filled with water. The altar blocked their view. 55 This basin was said to be lifted into place every morning by a giant pulley, the noise from which was said to be heard in Jericho and signaled that the service of the daily sacrifice would commence. 56 In the [Page 341] basin the priests rinsed their hands and feet in acts of purification (see Exodus 30:17–21).

To their right the group could see the open area dotted with twenty-four metal rings anchored in the flag stones where sacrificial animals were tied up. Here a priest chosen by lot brought two yearling rams that were to be slain, one at the time of the morning sacrifice and one at the time of the evening (see Leviticus 1:11). The blood of the rams was caught in a special gold basin. Next to these rings stood eight upright pillars on top of which were affixed cedar wood blocks that held iron hooks. Onto these hooks the carcases were hung when being skinned and flayed. While suspended from these hooks, the parts of the animal that would be burned on the altar were cut off by the first priest and handed to other priests to be carried to the top of the altar. The parts of the animal that would go respectively to the priests and to the worshipers, of course, were cut off here. Nearby sat marble tables for washing the inward parts of the carcass (see Leviticus 1:13). 57

Because these young people were all raised in a society that daily dealt with animals and because they had seen and participated in the slaughter of animals for food and leather products, they were not squeamish about what was occurring in front of them. The priest who was assigned to perform the ritual slaying of the sacrificial ram for one of the twice-daily offerings brought the yearling to the rings where, after tying it up, saw to the butchering of the animal and hanging it on one of the hooks where he expertly cut off parts of the body and gave them to other priests who were to carry them to the altar for burning. 58 The priest who had caught the blood carried the filled basin to the different corners of the altar where he sprinkled the sides with blood below the red line before pouring out the excess at the southwest corner of the altar where it drained down a long pipe into the Kidron Valley. 59 Because Jesus and his friends were standing on the east side of the great altar, they could not see the ritual pouring of the blood that drained away because it was hidden by the ramp where it connected to the south side of the altar. But they surely caught sight of the priest’s head moving about as he sprinkled the southwest corner of the altar with the ram’s blood.

Other explorations, naturally, would have taken them outside the temple walls to the Antonia Fortress perched outside the temple area at its northwest corner. This imposing building and the surrounding area were decidedly different from the rest of the city, for it was a place frequented by Gentiles, particularly the soldiers stationed in the fortress. Years later, in this area, a disabled Jewish man would come seeking relief from his [Page 342] decades-long illness at the pool of Bethesda and its accompanying baths. Here Jesus would find him, probably surrounded by a number of sick Gentiles, and grant him unexpected relief (see John 5:1–16).

Figure 5. The Antonia Fortress looking from the north. Down the hill to the left (eastward) was the Pool of Bethesda and its accompanying baths where Jesus came upon the Jewish man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, and healed him (John 5).

Another attractive place to visit consisted of the Citadel, renovated into the late King Herod’s three towers and palace that stood side by side in the northwest corner of the city. 60 (One of the towers still stands inside Jerusalem’s Old City at Jaffa Gate, known as David’s Tower. 61 ) At that Passover season, none of the youths could get inside the series of buildings because they were used for official purposes. Just over two decades from this moment, Jesus would be dragged into “the hall of judgment,” or Praetorium (John 18:28), within Herod’s palace (where Pilate was in temporary residence) and be subjected to the cruelty of a farcical trial and a scourging before being led away to his crucifixion. 62

A third spot of high interest was the long stair case that ran from the stone platform at the south end of the temple grounds down to the Hulda Gates. From these gates the youths could explore the lower city as far down as the pool of Siloam. Almost two decades later, Jesus would exit these gates with his disciples and come upon a man born blind. In an act of generosity, Jesus would give this man his sight by asking him to wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam and thereby add an important witness to the power of his divine mission (see John 9:1–7).

Figure 6. The lit interior of the staircase that led down from the temple area to the Hulda Gates, pictured here, where Jesus came upon the man born blind and healed him (John 9).

Perhaps with his parents, Jesus wandered the main commercial road in the city that ran outside the temple’s massive western wall. Sitting in the Tyropean Valley were shops and kiosks and animal pens that offered all sorts of wares for local citizens and visitors alike, including animals for sacrifice. 63 Fewer than twenty years later, Jesus would stand on the southwest corner of the temple wall and be tempted by the devil to jump onto that busy street in an act guaranteed to draw public attention to his divine powers (see Matthew 4:5–7; Luke 4:9–12). 64 As we know, he rejected this showy approach to his messiahship.

The Passover Preparations and Celebration

Finally the long-awaited day arrived, the eve of Passover. Although the holiday rested on an ancient family experience in Egypt, the celebration was not considered complete without a number of others sharing the ceremony. 65 Hence, we envision Jesus and his parents joining a group consisting of about ten persons from their traveling company for the ritual and meal. This was the round number of celebrants per group. 66 According to Jewish law, the meal was to begin after sundown, the only such food law of its kind. 67 Otherwise, people customarily ate their main meal about two o’clock in the afternoon. For eating the Passover, they reclined. 68

Although the shopping for the meal had taken place earlier in the week, acquiring and preparing the lamb for the Passover meal occurred [Page 344] during the daylight hours before the evening feast. The date in the Jewish calendar was the fourteenth day of Nissan. Customarily, one or two persons from a celebrating group would go to the temple to purchase a lamb and then remain for the ritual slaughter. 69 We cannot be certain that Joseph and Jesus were the ones from their group who went to the temple that afternoon to purchase and sacrifice a lamb. But it is a reasonable possibility that they did. After all, Jesus may well have been the youngest in the group of pilgrims and the adults would have wanted him to experience the wonders of going to the temple on that occasion. Keeping this in mind, we see Joseph and Jesus walking toward the temple, seeing shop keepers closing their businesses which they were allowed to keep open until early afternoon, an unusual occurrence because in Galilee all shops remained closed on the day before Passover. 70 On the other hand, vendors inside the temple grounds were still doing a brisk business during the early afternoon before the celebration, 71 an activity that Jesus would challenge two decades later (see Matthew 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46; John 2:13–17). Importantly, all Passover lambs consumed within the city and its environs had to be dealt with at the temple because they were considered sacrifices (see Exodus 12:27; 34:25; Numbers 9:7, 13). 72

In this light, after purchasing a lamb born just days or weeks before the Passover, 73 Joseph and Jesus carried it up through the Nicanor Gate where they joined approximately 6,000 other persons crammed into the narrow Court of the Israelites. 74 These people had also come to sacrifice lambs for the feast. 75 It was now about three o’clock, the usual time of the evening sacrifice which, because of the Passover, had been moved to a time one hour earlier. 76

When the court was full of men and boys, the Nicanor Gate was closed. In fact, three groups of 6.000 men and boys would be allowed into this space during the afternoon, one group after the other. 77 All brought lambs and they were allowed to slay their own animals. 78 People went briskly to the twenty-four rings where they slew the lambs. 79 When space allowed and it was their turn, Joseph and Jesus quickly took their lamb, cut its throat, and then were assisted by a priest who caught the blood in a gold or silver basin. A double line of priests passed these basins to other priests who, standing next to the altar, splashed the blood against the bottom course of stones where it would run into the drain on the southwest corner. 80 Along with the other worshipers, they hung the lamb’s carcass on one of the available hooks nearby and, because they had done this before, deftly cut off the lamb’s hide. 81 Later they gave the [Page 345] hide to the owner of the space where their group was setting up to eat the Passover meal. Those hides, sometimes demanded by the owner, were the payment for the rent, as were the vessels used for the supper itself. 82 The body parts to be burned on the great altar were left behind with the priests (see Leviticus 3:3–4). 83

During all this frantic activity of slaughtering 6,000 lambs in less than an hour, the Levite choir, with instrumental accompaniment, began to sing the Hallel psalms, numbers 113 through 118 in the Bible. The gathered men and boys joined the singing by repeating the first line of each psalm and by responding to certain lines in the psalms by singing or saying Hallelujah. 84 During the stay of the first group inside the enclosure, the choir and gathered worshipers would try to sing all six psalms. Tradition has it that during the afternoon activities the choir would sing the psalms completely twice and partially a third time. 85

If Joseph and Jesus were in the first group, they would have left through the Nicanor Gate as soon as they finished so that the next group could enter. The second and third groups were waiting on the hel of the temple, a raised platform that surrounded the sanctuary building on the south, west, and north. 86 A similar scene ensued with the second group. 6,000 or so worshipers carrying lambs piled into the narrow Court of the Israelites, awaiting their opportunity to prepare their sacrificial animals. As each of the 6,000 took their turns, the Levitical choir began to sing again the six Hallel psalms, with the gathered men and boys adding their voices. The music was heard all over the city and outside the walls, adding a warm, sacred dimension to the Passover that was about to begin.

Ovens for roasting lambs had been set up all over the city. 87 We can imagine Joseph and Jesus hurrying to an oven close to the rented place where they were to enjoy the Passover service and meal with their group. Carefully threading the carcass onto a pomegranate-wood skewer—not a metal one—they suspended the lamb over the coals and fire of the oven. 88 Nothing was to touch the cooking lamb. It was to remain pure, undefiled by any external contact, even water. This concept of a pure sacrifice was to undergird the surrender of the Savior to his own sacrificial death after he shared the Passover lamb with his beloved disciples more than two decades later. 89 At this moment, we suspect, the women of the party, including Mary, became involved in seeing that the lamb was cooked properly. We can infer a similar scene more than twenty years later, after Jesus assigned Peter and John to make preparations for Jesus’ last Passover meal (see Luke 22:8). In that case, the women disciples who [Page 346] had followed Jesus from Galilee must have taken charge of the meal, certainly before the roasting of the lamb. 90

The Passover Service and Meal

In accord with Jewish law, the group of ten or so gathered after sundown (see Leviticus 23:5, “at even”). No one had eaten since the evening sacrifice, that is, since about two o’clock that afternoon. 91 With Mary in the mix, the women had prepared the meal with its symbolic foods that would tie the minds and hearts of the participants back to their forebears’ Exodus from Egypt. The idea was that “a man [or woman] must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of Egypt.” 92 The members of the party were under obligation to end the service and meal by midnight. Beginning at that late hour, the remaining pieces of the Passover meal were thought to make a person’s hands ritually unclean. 93

Before the meal was cooked and served, the head of the house or, in this case, the main host for the group, with a lit candle, undertook a search of the place where the meal was to be prepared and eaten. He was looking for anything that might have leaven or yeast in it. The rule was that “whatsoever is made from any kind of grain must be removed at Passover.” 94 In homes, this search took place the evening before the feast. But it could also occur the next morning 95 which must have been the case in Jerusalem because the group was in a rented facility. Because the earliest Israelites baked unleavened bread so that they could leave quickly, all subsequent generations made bread without leaven so that it could not rise (see Exodus 12:8, 14–15).

Around a low table the guests reclined. Why? Because reclining was said to be the dining position of a free person. 96 During the original Passover, when the Hebrew slaves were still in Egypt, they prepared the meal to be eaten “in haste” because their departure into freedom was imminent (see Exodus 12:11; Deuteronomy 16:3). In later times, the meal was eaten at a more leisurely pace.

Onto the table the women placed platters with the food and the cups or mugs for each person for the four cups of wine, specifically red wine, that were to be served during the festivities. Even the poorest person was to receive four cups of wine. In a basket or on a platter sat three loaves of the unleavened bread, prepared and cooked fresh that day by three women, certainly including Mary. 97 The bread was wrapped in a piece of fabric. It was this bread that Jesus would transform into an emblem of his own sacrificial death during his last supper on earth (see 1 Corinthians 11:23–24).

[Page 347] The earliest instructions about the foods to be eaten during the Passover meal came from the Lord in Egypt and were simple: “They shall eat the flesh [of the lamb] in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs” (Exodus 12:8). To blunt the bitterness of the herbs, another dish called haroseth was added to the table. The haroseth was a concoction of “nuts and fruit pounded together and mixed with vinegar.” 98 Celebrants also added uncooked food items like “lettuce, chicory, pepperwort, snakeroot, and dandelion” to the table. 99 We can easily imagine such dishes spread out on the table before the reclining participants. The only foods that had been cooked, that had received heat, were the lamb and the unleavened bread. All else was fresh or dried. In addition, no milk product was introduced into the meal.

Each participant was to receive four cups of wine, mixed with water. 100 The wine was poured throughout the evening at fixed times during the meal. The first cup came quickly, for with it the supper began. The host held his cup in his hand and offered words of thanks that had come to him and the others through tradition. We hear some of his words: “Blessed art thou, Jehovah our God, King of the Universe, who hast created the fruit of the vine. … Blessed art thou, Jehovah, King of the Universe, who has preserved us alive and sustained us and brought us to this season!” Then all at the table drank the first cup and rinsed their hands. 101 Of course, Jesus had participated in the Passover service and its meal while growing up in Nazareth. Here, in the Holy City, he reclined with new acquaintances. There the head of the house was Joseph; here it was possibly someone else. Here the fresh, shared feeling of fellowship and comradery with total strangers surely put a stamp on his perceptions of others as people who, with him, shared a long history of God’s involvement in their lives. But that is not the whole story.

It was likely this first cup that, later, Jesus asked his disciples to share with one another during their Last Supper together, an act far in the future that presented to him and the disciples an evening of unity and common purpose. On that occasion, we read, he “took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves” (Luke 22:17). Each disciple, of course, had his own cup sitting on the table in front of him. So it was an unusual request that they all share a single cup, each drinking from it, an act that underscored their shared fellowship as members of the Twelve. It would be the third cup of wine, “the cup after supper,” that Jesus would turn into the pointer to his own coming suffering (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25, “when he had supped”). 102

[Page 348] All this lay two decades in the future. At this moment, the youthful Jesus saw Joseph in a new light. In Jerusalem, Joseph was working cooperatively with others to make the Passover celebration a happy occasion. Back home, it was mainly Joseph’s responsibility to make foods ready for the Passover and, away from the temple, to take care of the lamb by the time-honored traditions inherited from his own family. By contrast, in Jerusalem sat a temple organization that kept all preparations running in a specific channel, making needed foods available in the markets, placing ovens throughout the city, and providing lambs for sale both inside and outside the temple area.

And his mother? She shown in a new light too. Back home she was the main person to see that the unwanted leaven was no longer in her home, beginning to expel it weeks before, and to bring in the needed condiments for the meal. In the city, she joined her efforts and skills with those of other women. Dignified, bright, nurturing, she added a shine to what was happening and lent a spirit of deepened devotion to the other women in the group. With her, they shopped in the markets of the city, looking for spices and other seasonings that she and they had rarely encountered in rural Galilee, let alone been able to purchase. From her, they took a sweet veneration for God that was both sure on its feet and unwavering in its intent.

Everyone having rinsed and dried their hands, the women now brought all the food and laid it out on the table in their containers. The host of the feast then took a sprig of the bitter herbs and dipped it in a dish of salt water. He took a bite, then offered the herbs and salt water to the other guests. As soon as they partook, all the foods on the table were whisked away, likely by the women and older children. 103 The second cup of wine was poured but remained untouched on the table.

Next came one of the more important events of the evening. Scripture enjoins the father to impress on everyone the importance of God’s rescue of their ancestors from Egypt: “Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way” (Deuteronomy 6:7). At Passover, this teaching was to be offered to the youngest child as a reminder to all. According to custom, the child was to ask: “Why is this night different from other nights?” 104 If no younger child was a part of the group, then surely Jesus was invited to ask the question of the meal’s host, whether that host was Joseph or another man. Jesus had done this before, but not in the presence of strangers.

[Page 349] What the adult said in response to the question was taken directly from the book of Deuteronomy and originally formed the ceremonial words of bringing an offering of first fruits to the sanctuary (see Deuteronomy 26:1–4). The adult recited these lines: “A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous” (Deuteronomy 26:5, rsv ). To this point, the host of the meal was speaking about a common ancestor to those in the room. Now the language switched and made everyone present into a person living in Egypt and witnessing the unspeakable experience of the Exodus: “And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. Then we cried to the Lord the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:6–9, rsv ). What no one in the room knew was the fact that the youthful Jesus reclining in their midst was the architect of that long-ago Exodus experience of their forebears. In this little group was sitting the God of Abraham, the God of Moses.

This interaction between an adult and a child preceded the return of the dishes to the table. Thereupon, the host took up the explanation of the meaning of three things—the Passover lamb, the bitter herbs and the unleavened bread—ending with the invitation, “let us say before [God] the Hallelujah ,” therewith inviting all to sing together the first of the two Hallel psalms, numbers 113 and 114. 105 At the close of the singing, all drank the second cup of wine. Rinsing their hands a second time, all in the group watched the host break the first of the unleavened bread loaves and utter a prayer of thanksgiving. 106 Each person in the group now received a sandwich of sorts made up of two pieces of unleavened bread with bitter herbs stuffed between them and dipped in the haroseth , the mixture of nuts and fruit. It was this sandwich, or “sop,” that Jesus would give to Judas on that fateful night more than twenty years in the future before Judas “went immediately out” into the “night” (John 13:30). As a result, Judas did not partake of the Passover lamb, the principal emblem of God’s deliverance, with his fellow members of the Twelve that evening. 107

All in the youthful Jesus’ group had by now received a taste of everything except the lamb itself. The gathered guests turned their attention to consuming the meat of the lamb. It was the only meat of the [Page 350] meal. By Jesus’ day, Jews had come to allow the Aphikomen , a dessert-like sweet that included the unleavened bread as one of its parts. When an adult, Jesus took the unleavened bread from this part of the meal and turned it into the substance of his own sacrifice which lay only a few hours from that moment: “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19; also 1 Corinthians 11:24). 108

The third cup of wine followed the eating of the Aphikomen , the dessert. In this case, too, Jesus would make the third cup into a symbol of remembrance, this time of his blood: “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped , saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25, emphasis added; also Luke 22:20). 109 As if to underscore the messianic links to the third cup, worshipers then opened the door to allow the great forerunner, the prophet Elijah, into the room. 110

The fourth cup was poured and the group members joined their voices in singing the remaining Hallel psalms, numbers 115 through 118. After the singing, they all drank the last cup of wine together, bringing the celebration to a close. As noted earlier, at midnight, the elements of the meal would render a person’s hands ritually unclean and were to be burned the next day. 111 Everyone in the group made their way out of the city to the place of their respective camp sites.

The “Father’s Business”

It is impossible to say where Jesus stayed when his parents left town with “the company” and he remained three days in and around the city and temple. Whether he accepted an invitation of a family friend or whether he slept not far from his parent’s encampment we do not know. A young teenager can be very resourceful in how he or she solves such challenges. But remain behind he did, evidently with a source of food and drink and some sort of sleeping blanket. Nights at this time of year could be “cold,” as John’s gospel reminds us when recounting the story of Peter’s denial, also at Passover time (John 18:18).

We learn from Luke’s report that Joseph and Mary traveled “a day’s journey” before they missed Jesus (Luke 2:44), probably as far as Jericho. From this notice we can surmise that the encampment area that Jesus’ parents shared with others outside the walls of Jerusalem was rather extensive and that Jesus was not sleeping close to them during the last [Page 351] nights of their stay. It was at their first stop that “they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance,” expecting to find him with playmates. Luke recorded that “they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him” (Luke 2:45), doubtless retracing their steps through much of the night.

Figure 7. The Chamber of Hewn Stone is the large building sitting on the right (east) atop the hel, the platform that ran around the south (shown here), west and north sides of the inner temple complex. Presumably, it was on the hel, just outside the Chamber of Hewn Stone, that Jesus was meeting with the Jewish savants when Mary and Joseph found him (Luke 2:43–51).

Where they looked and how they missed him for “three days” we are not told. Evidently, he was not spending his nights in or near the city at their former encampment, for they surely would have looked there. They may have spent part of the time in Bethlehem where they had relatives. But that is unlikely. Because the temporal expression “after three days” is ambiguous, it is possible to understand that Joseph and Mary searched for Jesus all that time. It is also possible, even preferable, that they traveled away from Jerusalem the first day, returned to the city the second day, and found him on the third. 112

Christian art has regularly portrayed Jesus and his questioners sitting under a roof of sorts, as if he and they were under one of the porticos that ran along the west, south, or east sides of the large temple area. The artists may also have had in mind that the meeting which Joseph and Mary stumbled upon was in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, the regular meeting place of the Sanhedrin. 113 For “the doctors” noted by Luke were likely Pharisaic members of the Sanhedrin noted for their learning. The Sadducee members rarely bore any such reputation. 114 But it is unlikely [Page 352] that Jesus was meeting with this impressive group of men inside the space dedicated to the official business of the Sanhedrin. Rather, a public space sits just outside the south door of this chamber. It was called the hel , and was a long, flat, stone terrace that ran along the outside of the south, west and north walls that surrounded the sanctuary. 115 It was also open to the sky. Here, on the south hel , the second and third groups of worshipers gathered on the afternoon before the feast to await their turn to prepare their Passover lambs for roasting.

Because the south door of the Chamber of Hewn Stone opened onto this large surface, the hel appears to be the most natural place for Jesus to have met members of the Sanhedrin and to have engaged them in conversation. 116 After all, it was customary for Sanhedrin members to teach Passover visitors from the scriptures on this terrace. 117 Open and accessible, this space is the most likely place where Joseph and Mary spotted Jesus who was among Sanhedrin members “both hearing them, and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). The Joseph Smith Translation of this passage indicates that the conversation was not one way, with Jesus as the only learner. Rather, “the doctors … were hearing him, and asking him questions” ( jst Luke 2:46). This change helps us to understand Luke’s note that “all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2:47).

Soon after the moment of discovery, after his parents’ astonishment had passed, apparently Jesus approached them so that they did not have to make their way through the gathered crowd. One hears a bit of pique in Mary’s voice when she whispered loudly, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing” (Luke 2:48). With a firmness that goes beyond his youth, Jesus responded, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). The expression “about my Father’s business” poses problems and has led some interpreters to understand the meaning to be “in my Father’s house” or “among my Father’s people.” 118 The two elements to appreciate in this scene are the frightful worry expressed by Mary at not knowing where her son was and the divinely directed need of Jesus to be in the temple whether engaged in his Father’s affairs or being among his Father’s people. In any event, Mary and Joseph drew blanks. For, as Luke recounted, “they understood not the saying which [Jesus] spake unto them” (Luke 2:50).

After the obviously tense moment wherein both Mary and Jesus expressed themselves, Jesus remained the obedient son, “and went down with them, and came to Nazareth.” The three of them must have joined [Page 353] another traveling company that was leaving in the middle of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. From this point on, the young Jesus “was subject unto them” (Luke 2:51).

But he had made an impression on his parents, particularly his mother. For, as Luke summarized, “his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.” Yet Jesus’ words or “sayings” were not the only parts of their shared experience to savor. Jesus the youth had gone to the temple for the first time as an excited and impressionable twelve-year-old to witness the grand moments associated with the Passover as they were conducted in the city. By the time he departed, he had taken up residence as a teacher of sorts inside the temple grounds and next to the Chamber of Hewn Stone where significant decisions about religious life were made for all Jews. Moreover, and more importantly, he had taken up residence close to the sanctuary itself. Adding them together, it becomes clear that he had made the heart of the temple his base of operations. He had made it into his “house”—specifically, as he called it in a later scene, a “house of prayer” (Mark 11:17, quoting Isaiah 56:7).

Acknowledgments

Our deep appreciation to Daniel Smith for providing the images of the temple used in this chapter. Figure 2 is from the model of the late Alec Garrard, as published in William J. Hamblin and David Rolph Seely, Solomon ’s Temple: Myth and History (London, England: Thames & Hudson, 2007), 46.

This study is not like Robert Graves’ King Jesus which was openly a work of historical fiction, though he wrote that he took “more than ordinary pains to verify [Jesus’] historical background” (420). In my mind, the present study is much more and comes tantalyzingly closer to the truth insofar as it can be grasped.

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In Jerusalem, the Temple that Jesus visited

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MAYFIELD, Ky. (BP) — Viewing the remains of the Jewish Temple complex that Jesus visited on many occasions remains the favorite aspect of both trips I’ve made to Israel. After nearly 2,000 years, the Temple still inspires the many Jewish and Christian visitors to the old city of Jerusalem.

In the New Testament, the term “Temple” is used for both the sanctuary/shrine as well as for the whole Temple complex site that includes its many courts and retaining walls. The Temple that Jesus visited was started by King Herod beginning around 20-19 B.C. Under Herod, the sanctuary itself was completed in a year and a half, but construction on the various courts, gates and retaining walls continued on and off until just a few years before the Jewish revolt in A.D. 66.

In the early ministry of Jesus, the most recent terminus of construction to that point had occurred 46 years after Herod began the project, according to the biblical record in John 2:20. It was the third Jewish Temple built on the site. Solomon and Zerubbabel had earlier sponsored Temple complexes there, but the historian Josephus related that Herod even removed the foundation stones of the earlier Temples to construct his Temple (Antiquities of the Jews, 15,391; 15,421).

Herod’s Temple complex was impressive. Largely constructed of local white meleke limestone from the Jerusalem area with a veneer of marble and gold on the shrine itself, the huge ashlars (finely cut and dressed rectangular blocks designed to fit together without mortar) were polished to reflect the sunlight. Josephus tells us that visitors seeing the Temple from a distance may have thought it a snow-covered mountain (Jewish War, 5,223). Even a disciple of Jesus marveled at the beautiful and massive stone work of the Temple (Mark 13:1).

Nevertheless, the Lord knew that Herod’s great Temple would be destroyed — particularly the buildings and shrine at the site. Jesus replied to His disciple: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down” (Mark 13:2 HCSB). His prediction came true in A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed all the buildings on the Temple Mount, including the magnificent sanctuary.

So, what remains of the Temple that Jesus visited? Although the buildings on the Temple Mount were destroyed, one can still find a good deal of the Temple complex that Jesus, the disciples and the apostle Paul would have recognized. Specifically, the following features still can be viewed today: portions of the massive retaining walls, some special features and even some signage that once was posted in the Temple complex.

The retaining walls

Today we know that the lower courses of Herod’s retaining walls are found on all four sides of the Temple Mount (or the “Haram al-Sharif” to Muslims who currently possess the Temple Mount platform). Most of the north side retaining wall is under the present ground level, but on three sides — the west, south and east — portions of the retaining wall exist above ground. We can identify the Herodian masonry because of the huge stone ashlars in the lower courses of the present old city wall around the Temple Mount. The upper portions, containing smaller stones from later centuries, were not present in New Testament times.

One of more imposing parts of the Herodian retaining walls is at the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount (the “pinnacle of the Temple” — the highest point of the Temple complex above the Kidron Valley). Here the Gospels record that Satan unsuccessfully tempted Jesus (Matthew 4:5; Luke 4:9). Below-ground portions of the “pinnacle” platform extend another 75 feet or so underneath the present ground level.

Nevertheless, the most famous above-ground portion of the retaining wall is the Western Wall (the so-called “Wailing Wall”). Here 21st-century Jews pray at the most impressive surviving portion of the wall above ground. Like the stone courses of the “pinnacle” platform, many layers of the Western Wall continue underneath the present ground level. A tunnel adjacent to another portion of the Western Wall reveals the Herodian ashlars set on massive foundation stones.

Special features

Other aspects of the Temple that Herod built and Jesus visited still are extant today. These include some paving stones and floor tiles that match tiles found at Herodian palaces at Masada and other locales, a sundial for perhaps determining the time of day for prayers (Acts 3:1) and sacrifices, geometric and floral designs on the column capitals and facings of the stone work (no animal or human likenesses have been found among these) and, just outside the Temple complex on the south side, there are a number of Jewish “mikvot.” A “mikveh” (singular) was a baptismal pool for Jews undergoing ceremonial cleansings. Many Jewish pilgrims to the Temple made use of these before ascending the steps into the Temple complex on the south side.

In addition, some surviving architectural features can still be viewed today. Among these is Wilson’s Arch on the Western Wall (named for the archeologist who rediscovered it). The arch once was part of a bridge over the Tyropoeon Valley (the misnamed “Valley of the Cheesemakers”) into the Temple. A part of the arch is the original Herodian structure or a later rebuilt arch constructed with Herod’s huge building blocks. Archeologists remain divided on the origin of the current structure. Not disputed are the nearby partial remains of Robinson’s Arch (named for another archeologist) also on the Western Wall. Here pilgrims could enter the Temple from the valley below on a staircase supported by the arch.

On the south side of the retaining wall for Herod’s Temple are a number of interesting features. These include the stairs to the Double and Triple Gates. Both gates functioned as the entrance way for most Jews entering the Temple Complex in the New Testament era (Mishnah, Middoth, 1,3) but today, no one can enter the Temple Mount in the vicinity of these gates. Some of the stair steps have been reconstructed and restored while other original steps reveal their 2000 years of wear and tear. The lintel piece atop the walled-up Double Gate is partially visible today but the rest of it is covered by a Crusader era structure. The Triple Gate also is walled-up but contains some of the original stones at the bottom and below the ground level. It is not known if this was a “Triple Gate” in antiquity; the modern Avi-Yonah model of the Temple shows it as another Double Gate.

Around and under the Temple Mount are a number of other surviving features. Highlights include some of the cisterns and water courses that served the Temple and the Fortress Antonia (some still carry water), storerooms and the massive Herodian structures misnamed as “Solomon’s Stables.” These huge pillars supported the massive works above ground near the south side. Some of these features have only recently been accessible to tourists by the opening of tunnels under and adjacent to the Temple Mount.

Like most public structures in the 21st century, the Temple that Jesus visited possessed signage. Only a few years ago, archeologists recovered a sign in Hebrew letters announcing “to the place of the trumpeting.” At the original site somewhere atop the southwestern part of the Temple complex, Jewish priests blew the shofar to announce the beginning of the Sabbath and other special days. The sign either was a deliberate permanent sign to designate where the priests would trumpet or a temporary sign that remained to point construction teams to the site of the “place of the trumpeting.”

Josephus acknowledged that special signs in both Greek and Latin warned Gentiles not to go beyond the Court of the Gentiles into those courts reserved for Jews (Jewish War, 5,194). Although no Latin signs have been recovered, today we possess two stone signs in Greek that caution Gentiles not to go any further into the Temple Complex. The signs warn: “No foreigner [Gentile] is to enter within the forecourt and balustrade around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his subsequent death” (ABD 2.963). That the Jews of this period took the warning seriously can be gleaned from Acts 21:27-33.

Aspects of the first-century Temple fascinate both Jews and Christians. One can still view some of the sights that Jesus saw when He ministered at the Temple. Archeologists continue to uncover both artifacts and even structures (largely underground today) connected to the Temple of this era.

Although Christians are not commanded in the New Testament to make pilgrimages, Southern Baptists can learn much about their faith by touring Israel and Palestine and visiting places like the Temple Mount. Having returned from my second trip shortly after the tensions with Gaza last fall, I found the experience inspirational, safe and problem-free. My two visits to the Holy Land have positively impacted my faith. –30– Stephen Douglas Wilson is dean emeritus and chair of the history department of Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, Ky., and a member of the SBC Executive Committee.

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Correct Answer : He visits the temple frequently.

Correct Answer : has

Correct Answer : cost

Correct Answer : Present indefinite tense

Correct Answer : simple future

Correct Answer : simple present

Correct Answer : had been reading

Correct Answer : has been exercising

Correct Answer : past perfect

Correct Answer : future perfect

“Questions and Answers: Making the Temple Part of My Life,” New Era, Feb. 2014, 42–43

Questions & Answers

“The temple is so far away that I don’t get to attend very often. How can the temple be a bigger part of my life today?”

If you do your best to attend as often as you can, the Lord will be pleased with your efforts. When you can’t attend the temple, there are many things you can do to make the temple a bigger part of your life:

Live worthy to enter the temple. Living up to the standards needed to enter the Lord’s house means we are always ready to be in His presence.

Plan to receive your own endowment and be married in the temple. Setting a goal to receive these essential ordinances will keep you focused on the temple.

Dress modestly. This will help prepare you to receive your own endowment.

Study scriptures relevant to the temple (for example, Exodus 26–29 ; Leviticus 8 ; D&C 97 ; 109 ; 110 ; 124:25–42 ; Moses 2–5 ). The October 2010 Ensign was all about the temple too.

Learn about your ancestors (visit FamilySearch.org ) and see that temple ordinances are performed for them.

Ask others what the temple means to them and share your testimony that the temple truly is the house of the Lord.

Help make your home like the temple: “Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” ( D&C 109:8 ).

You could prayerfully choose one or two of these ideas to try this month. They will help you feel the Spirit and learn more about the temple.

Think How Temples Bless Your Life

If we take temples for granted, they are far from our hearts. We need to think of the blessings the temple can bring us and go when we can. Even if you are only able to make a few visits a year, you can make them more meaningful by bringing family names or fasting. The Spirit in the Lord’s house is special—you want to make your visit count.

Benjamin S., 18, Utah, USA

Remain Pure and Worthy

The temple brings happiness in my life today. As I go to the temple, I learn more about our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. My labors in the temple strengthen and refine my spirituality. I gain a better understanding of our purpose in life. The temple brings me courage in handling trials and temptations and gives me strength to overcome my weaknesses. The temple is the only place where we can be sealed together as eternal families, so I will prepare to enter the temple and remain pure and worthy.

Mickaella B., 16, Philippines

Keep the Spirit of the Temple

It takes seven hours for me to get to the Frankfurt Germany Temple, so my family and I can go only twice a year for one week at a time. But when I have an additional opportunity to go, I take it because I know that it will be a great blessing. I keep the spirit of the temple by reading my scriptures every day. I use my temple recommend as a bookmark. Each time I see my recommend, I ask myself questions to make sure I am worthy of attending the temple. This strengthens me and helps me feel the Spirit. Even though the temple is far from home, I can still strive to live as if I could enter every day.

Lise G., 17, France

Prepare Yourself

Attending the temple two or three times a year is good, so long as we do so with a sincere and pure heart. We can encourage our Church leaders to organize trips to the temple. When we are not able to attend, let’s try to prepare ourselves so that when the time comes, we can go with great joy. Our lives are busy, but prophets have promised that if we go to the house of the Lord, we will be blessed.

Krista L., 16, Paraguay

Display a Picture of the Temple

Try framing your favorite picture of the temple with the words “I will go inside someday!” Put it in your room so you can see it every day. Make a list of things you will do and not do so you can be worthy to enter the temple. Put the list next to the picture.

Christian J., 13, Idaho, USA

Read in Your Journal about Past Temple Visits

Write in your journal about your time at the temple and then read these pages when you are home. This will help you remember the feelings you had. It is especially important to record personal revelation. When I was attending the temple, I tried to listen to the Spirit very carefully because He is always ready to help us learn. Every time I listened, I discovered new truths about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father as well as about temple work. When I focus on spiritual things while in the temple, I value it even more and the temple becomes very meaningful in my life.

Ol’ga Z., 18, Belarus

Do Family History

I think that doing family history work is about as close as you can get to being in the temple without being in the temple. You can give the names that you find to people in your family or ward to take to the temple. If you do family history and keep your house a holy place, you are going to be close to the temple while you are still miles away from it.

Katelyn B., 13, Utah, USA

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President Biden Announces Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Today, President Biden named nineteen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. President Biden often says there is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together. These nineteen Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better. They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service. The awards will be presented at the White House on May 3, 2024. The following individuals will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor Michael Bloomberg is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and three-term mayor. He revolutionized the financial information industry and transformed New York City’s education, environment, public health, and the arts. Gregory J. Boyle Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit Catholic priest who is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang-intervention and rehabilitation program. He has helped thousands of Angelenos turn their lives around. James E. Clyburn Representative Jim Clyburn is the former Assistant Democratic Leader and Majority Whip in the United States House of Representatives. Through three decades in the House, Representative Clyburn has transformed the lives of millions of Americans and created a freer country. Elizabeth Dole Senator Elizabeth Dole has served her country as a trailblazing United States Senator, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Labor, and President of the American Red Cross. She leads by example through her Foundation’s support for military caregivers and their families. Phil Donahue Phil Donahue is a journalist and television pioneer who pioneered the daytime issue-oriented television talk show. Donahue was the first daytime talk show to feature audience participation and one of the most influential televisions programs of its time. Medgar Wiley Evers (posthumous) Medgar Evers (d. 1963) fought for his country in World War II and returned home to lead the fight against segregation in Mississippi. After he was murdered at his home at age 37, his wife Myrlie continued the fight to seek justice and equality in his name. Al Gore Al Gore is a former Vice President, United States Senator, and member of the House of Representatives. After winning the popular vote, he accepted the outcome of a disputed presidential election for the sake of our unity. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his bold action on climate change. Clarence B. Jones Clarence B. Jones is a renowned civil rights activist and lawyer who helped draft Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Jones was instrumental in preserving Dr. King’s legacy and remains an outspoken force against hate. John Forbes Kerry Secretary John Kerry is a former Secretary of State, United States Senator, and the first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. His bravery in combat during the Vietnam War earned him the Silver Star and Bronze Star, and history will remember his public service career that has spanned seven decades. Frank R. Lautenberg (posthumous) Senator Frank Lautenberg (d. 2013) was a five-term United States Senator and New Jersey’s longest-serving Senator. He is remembered for his critical work on environmental protection and consumer safety across a number of fields. Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky Katie Ledecky is the most decorated female swimmer in history. An athletic prodigy, she has won seven Olympic gold medals and twenty-one world championship gold medals so far. She will continue to compete for the Nation who watches her in awe. Opal Lee Opal Lee is an educator and activist known for her efforts to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. More than 150 years after that day in Texas, she joined President Biden to officially make Juneteenth a national holiday in 2021. Ellen Ochoa Ellen Ochoa is the first Hispanic woman in space and the second female Director of NASA’s renowned Johnson Space Center. Dr. Ochoa has flown in space four times, logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit, and continues to inspire young generations of scientists. Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi Nancy Pelosi served as the 52nd Speaker of the House and has represented San Francisco in Congress for more than 36 years. A staunch defender of democracy, she has shaped legislative agendas and Democratic priorities for decades. Jane Rigby Jane Rigby, an astronomer who grew up in Delaware, is the chief scientist of the world’s most powerful telescope. A prolific researcher, Dr. Rigby embodies the American spirit of adventure and wonder. Teresa Romero Teresa Romero is the president of the United Farm Workers and the first Latina to become president of a national union in the United States. She has secured key victories to improve the lives of the workers who feed and fuel our Nation. Judy Shepard Judy Shepard is the co-founder of the Matthew Shephard Foundation, an organization created in honor of her son who was murdered in one of the nation’s most notorious anti-gay hate crimes. Her work has driven tremendous progress in our fight to give hate no safe harbor. James Francis Thorpe (posthumous) Jim Thorpe (d. 1953) was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal. The country’s original multi-sport superstar, he went on to play professional football, baseball, and basketball while breaking down barriers on and off the field. Michelle Yeoh Michelle Yeoh is an actress known for her groundbreaking work in a number of blockbusters over four decades. Recently, she became the first Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. Yeoh continues to shatter stereotypes and enrich American culture.

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IMAGES

Jesus Visiting the Temple in Jerusalem at the Age of Twelve
Jesus in the Temple at age 12
Jesus in the Temple as a Boy Bible Activities on Sunday School Zone
Understanding Why Mary and Joseph took the Babe Jesus to the Temple
GOOD NEWS!: The Baby Jesus Presented at the Temple
Jesus Cleansed the Temple: Respect for Sacred Things?

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Laxmi Narayan Temple Malad East

COMMENTS

29. Choose the correct sentence a) He visit the temple frequently
He visits the temple frequently is the correct answer. Explanation: The given sentence is in the simple present tense. Also note that when there is an adverb of frequency [=frequently] used, the sentence should be in the simple present tense. Example; The boys play tennis frequently. Michelle talks on the phone always. His sister helps them ...
Tenses MCQs for Class 10, 9, 8, 11| Tenses MCQ Test Question
A He visit the temple frequently. B He visits the temple frequently. C He had visiting the temple frequently. D He have had visited the temple frequently. Q96. Fill in the blank with the future perfect tense form of the verb given in the bracket. "Mary _____ seats for us." (save) A ought to save.
Luke 2:41-52 GW
Mary and Joseph Find Jesus with the Teachers in the Temple Courtyard - Every year Jesus' parents would go to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When he was 12 years old, they went as usual. When the festival was over, they left for home. The boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn't know it. They thought that he was with the others who were traveling with them. After ...
Young Jesus Visits the Temple
Joseph always took part in the celebration. Jesus knew that someday he would be a grown man like Joseph. Someday he would go to Jerusalem and visit the temple where the teachers were. Finally, the time had come. Jesus was twelve years old. This meant that he could go to the temple and take part in the Passover Feast like the other men.
The Temple in the New Testament
In the temple Mary and Joseph make an offering of two young birds and present their newborn son to God (Luke 2:22 - 35). Mary and Joseph, every year, travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem to keep the Passover and visit the temple. After observing the Feast, when Jesus is twelve, they leave the city thinking their son is with a group of relatives ...
The Significance Of The Temple In Jesus'S Life
Overall, this temple visit marks an important milestone in the early life of Jesus. Jesus Teaching at the Temple as a Child Amazing the Religious Teachers. At the young age of 12, Jesus traveled with his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast (Luke 2:41-52). While there, Jesus slipped away to sit among the teachers in the temple ...
12 Things To Know About the Temple in Jerusalem
1. There were actually two Temples on the same spot. The first Temple, built by King Solomon in approximately 1000 BCE, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. When the Persians conquered the Babylonians almost a century later, they agreed to let the Jewish leaders who had been taken into exile return to the land of Israel where they would rebuild the Temple.
Simeon blesses Jesus
Simeon, a right living and very devout man of faith, was frequently in the Temple meditating, and in a constant state of anticipation of the most significant foretold event in the Jewish faith - the arrival of the Jewish Messiah. ... He had been told by God, as a much younger man, that he would definitely see the Jewish Messiah before he died ...
Matthew 21:12-13,Mark 11:15-17,Luke 19:45-46,John 2:14-16 NASB
Cleansing the Temple - And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He *said to them, "It is written: 'MY HOUSE WILL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a DEN OF ROBBERS."
Young Jesus Visits the Temple_Family Bible Time
Cover:Boy Jesus Visits the Temple (Luke 2:40-52) When Jesus was a little boy his family moved to the town of Nazareth. Jesus grew up doing the things that little boys do. He played games with his friends and he went to school. Joseph was a carpenter so Jesu learned how to help him make things from wood.
Jesus' First Visit to the Temple
On the morning after the ritual purification by sprinkling, before sunrise when the temple gates were opened, 28 Jesus' family likely joined others in their traveling company and entered the temple grounds that stretched a quarter of a mile from north to south. The throngs that had come long distances presented a cacophony of languages in addition to the familiar Aramaic of natives (compare ...
In Jerusalem, the Temple that Jesus visited
The Temple that Jesus visited was started by King Herod beginning around 20-19 B.C. Under Herod, the sanctuary itself was completed in a year and a half, but construction on the various courts, gates and retaining walls continued on and off until just a few years before the Jewish revolt in A.D. 66. In the early ministry of Jesus, the most ...
Why does Jesus clear the temple so early in John's gospel?
Second, it says something about what John thinks about Jesus. The Temple was classically understood as the dwelling-place of God on earth. In the Gospel of John, that is changed: God comes to dwell in the person of Jesus Christ (cf. 1.14), who takes on the role of the Temple. We see this in the narrative from John 2:
PDF What Five Things Did Hugh Nibley Teach Us About the Temple?
And the words of the initiatory [part of the endowment] — I thought those were the most magnificent words I have ever heard spoken."2 Admitting that his first visit to the temple had left him "in something of a daze," his return to the temple after his mission was an overwhelming experience: "At that time I knew it was the real thing.
Choose the correct sentence
Choose the correct sentence., He visit the temple frequently., He had visiting the temple frequently., He visits the temple frequently., He have had visited the temple frequently. Examples HTML HTML5 CSS CSS3 JavaScript jQuery AngularJS Articles Articles Tech Articles Blog. Interview Questions. Computer Science; Civil Engineering ...
Acts 3:1 Commentaries: Now Peter and John were going up to the temple
Acts 3:1. Now Peter and John, &c. — We are not informed when the fact here recorded took place; but it is probable it was during the days of the feast of pentecost, and while the city was still full of people; went up to the temple — Probably to seek an opportunity of preaching to the people, as well as to offer up their prayers and supplications there before God; at the ninth hour — One ...
How should we understand the "Cleansing of the Temple"?
Mark 11:11: And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. Jesus is clearly not using appropriate force to correct an injustice, because if that were the case, he would have acted immediately on his first visit.
English Tenses Quiz, Tenses Verbal Ability Questions and Answers
He visit the temple frequently. B) He had visiting the temple frequently. C) He visits the temple frequently. D) He have had visited the temple frequently. Correct Answer : Option (C) - He visits the temple frequently. Show Answer. 2 . The Council _____ made its decision. A) has. B) have. C)
Questions and Answers: Making the Temple Part of My Life
Help make your home like the temple: "Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" ( D&C 109:8 ). You could prayerfully choose one or two of these ideas to try this month. They will help you feel the Spirit and learn more about the ...
Luke 24:53 Commentaries: and were continually in the temple praising God
Luke 24:53. διὰ παντὸς ( χρόνου understood), continually, i.e., at the hours of worship when the temple was open. By frequenting the temple the disciples remained faithful to the programme "beginning at Jerusalem". To the Jew first, and with the Jew as far and as long as possible: such was Lk.'s habitual attitude ...
Ceremony Information for Graduates and Guests
Yes. Temple University Television (TUTV) will go on the air live at 9:45 a.m. EDT. TUTV airs throughout Philadelphia on Comcast channel 50 and Verizon channel 45. Temple's Main Campus cable is channel 103. Temple University's 137th Commencement ceremony livestream can be seen anywhere by visiting temple.edu/commencement. The program will ...
Once an Owl, always an Owl
Through TUportal, alumni retain access to many of Temple's online and software resources, including Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud and your Temple email, for one year after you graduate! Campus Rec keeps your healthy lifestyle on track by offering cost-effective memberships for alumni, spanning from single semester, summer or annual access.
President Biden Announces Recipients of the Presidential Medal of
He is remembered for his critical work on environmental protection and consumer safety across a number of fields. Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky Katie Ledecky is the most decorated female swimmer in ...