The Third Temple

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jan 22, 2015 at 04:48

Hello, Tovey

I am looking for prophecies concerning the Third Temple, in post-Exilic books. Those books in the OT are: Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi, in that chronological order. Malachi was apparently the only prophetic book written after the completion of the Second Temple, so I would expect mention of the Third Temple to be found there:

"rebukes the priests for treating with contempt the law of sacrifices, a corruption which grew out of their avarice (Malachi 1:6-11,14). He next predicts the coming of the Messiah to the temple, and the work of purification and separation which he will execute (Malachi 2:17-3:6)."

-- http://www.biblestudytools.com/resources/guide-to-bible-study/post-exilic-books.html

Malachi 3 (JPS):
[1] Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall clear the way before Me; and the L-rd, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, saith HaShem of hosts.
[2] But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap;
[3] And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and there shall be they that shall offer unto HaShem offerings in righteousness.
[4] Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto HaShem, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.
[5] And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers; and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, saith HaShem of hosts.

Malachi 4 (KJV):
[5] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
[6] And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

I used the JPS for Chapter 3, because it makes a clear distinction between "the L-rd" (Yahweh) and "the messenger of the covenant", whoever that refers to. The temple is mentioned in that chapter, in the KJV as well as the JPS. Christians interpret the chapter as refering to Jesus' visits to the (second) temple; and Jews, who do not acknowledge Jesus as being "the messenger... whom ye delight in", must believe this refers to a third, future temple.

The rest of the passage speaks of the coming "judgment" of God against the wicked, a day the KJV refers to as "the great and dreadful day of the LORD (i.e. of Yahweh). No reference is made to any temple on that day; but if it is to be supposed that both incidents (God's coming into the temple with the messenger, as well as the day of judgment) are to occur at the same time, as Jews might believe and Christians do not, then the Jews might believe that the Temple must be rebuilt before Messiah returns.

Ezekiel prophesied before the Second Temple was built; in fact, he began his prophesying while the First Temple still stood. He speaks of a temple in Ch. 39:

Yechezkel 40 (JPS):
[2] In the visions of G-d brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south.
[3] And He brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.
[4] And the man said unto me: 'Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall show thee, for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought thither; declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.'
[5] And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long, of a cubit and a hand-breadth each; so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and the height, one reed.
[6] Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the steps thereof; and he measured the jamb of the gate, one reed broad, and the other jamb, one reed broad...

As you continue the chapter and beyond, you can see that the temple described is one that has never been built; indeed, its dimensions are so large, it could not fit on the existing Temple Mount.

Yechezkel 42 (JPS):
[7] And He said unto me: 'Son of man, this is the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more defile My holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their harlotry, and by the carcasses of their kings in their high places;
[8] in their setting of their threshold by My threshold, and their door-post beside My door-post, and there was but the wall between Me and them; and they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have committed; wherefore I have consumed them in Mine anger.
[9] Now let them put away their harlotry, and the carcasses of their kings, far from Me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
[10] Thou, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure accurately.
[11] And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known unto them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof, and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
[12] This is the law of the house: upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house...

Yechezkel 44 (JPS):
[9] Thus saith the L-rd GOD: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, even any alien that is among the children of Israel.
[10] But the Levites, that went far from Me, when Israel went astray, that went astray from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity;
[11] and they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

This seems to refer back to Malachi, which I will quote now in the KJV because the passage is part of Handel's "Messiah":

Malachi 3 (KJV):
[3] ...and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

It continues,

Yechezkel 44 (JPS):
[15] But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister unto Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the L-rd GOD;
[16] they shall enter into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My charge.

This seems to clearly speak of a third temple, on earth (note the blood animal sacrifices). So far, Ezekiel has spoken of the "Levites", but they are clearly performing the office of priests:

[21] Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

I think it's interesting, that the priestly clans survive intact to this day, and can be verified by DNA -- which is not the case of the rest of the Jews, especially the Ashkenazi Levites (who largely descend from Khazars or some kindred people). Jesus may have done away with the Cohenic priesthood in the eyes of some Christians; but they are with us, and the Bible speaks of an end-times ministry for them.

Is this the "Temple" you referred to?

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