ארבעה מקדשים
From a tent to a House
The Mishkan, Solomon's Temple, the Second Temple and the future Temple, on one scale. Choose one and watch the outline change.
Mishkan
Torah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.| Era | The wilderness and the early settlement | About 960 to 586 BCE | About 516 BCE to 70 CE | The future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobility | Portable: taken apart and carried by the Levites | Fixed, in Jerusalem | Fixed, in Jerusalem | Fixed, in Jerusalem |
| Scale | Courtyard 100 x 50 cubits | House 60 x 20 cubits, 30 high | Sanctuary 100 x 100 x 100 amot; Mount 500 x 500 | Unknown; the site uses Middot |
| The Ark | Present, in the Holy of Holies | Present, under the cherubim | Absent, in rabbinic tradition | Open question |
| Architecture | Boards, curtains and coverings | Stone, cedar and gold; no iron tool at the site | Rebuilt on a vast scale by Herod | Described by Ezekiel, 'not clearly or completely' in Rambam's words |
| Priesthood | Aaron and his sons | Descendants of Aaron, in watches | Twenty-four watches | Kohanim, descendants of Aaron |
| Central service | Offerings, incense, Menorah and showbread | The full Temple service | The service the Mishnah records | Rambam: the offerings resume |
| Destruction or status | Replaced by permanent sanctuaries | Burned by Babylon | Destroyed by Rome in 70 CE | 'For ever', in Ezekiel's vision |
| Source basis | Torah text, in detail | Kings and Chronicles; archaeology is limited | Mishnah Middot and Tamid, Josephus, archaeology | Prophecy, Rambam, and reconstruction |