Editing Temple Mount (section)

==== The Temple ====
{{see also|Temple in Jerusalem}}[[File:Jerusalem Modell BW 2.JPG|thumb|The [[Holyland Model of Jerusalem]] depicts [[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period|Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period]]. The Temple Mount and Herod's Temple are shown in the middle. View from the east.]]According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], the Temple Mount was originally a [[threshing-floor]] owned by [[Araunah]], a [[Jebusite]].<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|24:18–25|HE}}.</ref> The Bible narrates how [[David]] united the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|twelve Israelite tribes]], conquered Jerusalem and brought the [[Israelites]]' central artifact, the [[Ark of the Covenant]], into the city.<ref>{{harvnb|Pruitt|2014|ps=. King David later took the Ark to Jerusalem.}}</ref> When a great plague struck Israel, a [[Destroying angel (Bible)|destroying angel]] appeared on Araunah's threshing floor. The prophet [[Gad (Bible prophet)|Gad]] then suggested the area to David as a fitting place for the erection of an altar to [[Yahweh|Yawheh]].<ref>II Sam. xxiv. 16 et seq.; I Chron. xxi. 15 et seq.</ref> David bought the property from Araunah, for fifty pieces of silver, and erected the altar. God answered his prayers and stopped the plague. David subsequently chose the site for a future temple to replace the [[Tabernacle]] and house the Ark of the Covenant;{{sfn|''Temple of Jerusalem''}}<ref name="eastons">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Moriah |encyclopedia=[[Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)|Easton's Bible Dictionary]] |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/easton/ebd2.html?term=Moriah |access-date=July 14, 2008}}</ref> [[God in Judaism|God]] forbade him from building it, however, because he had "shed much blood".{{sfn|Jonker|1990|p=656}}

The [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]] was instead constructed under David's son [[Solomon]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Yosef |last2=Mumcuoglu |first2=Madeleine |date=2019-03-15 |title=The Temple of Solomon in Iron Age Context |journal=Religions |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=198 |doi=10.3390/rel10030198 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref> who became an ambitious builder of public works in [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel]]:{{sfn|Stefon|2020}}

{{blockquote|Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where [the LORD] appeared unto David his father; for which provision had been made in the Place of David, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.|source=2 Chronicles 3:1<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Chronicles|3:1|ESV}}</ref>}}

Solomon placed the Ark in the Holy of Holies – the windowless innermost sanctuary and most sacred area of the temple in which God's presence rested;{{sfn|''Britannica: Holy of Holies''}} entry into the Holy of Holies was heavily restricted, and only the [[High Priest of Israel]] entered the sanctuary once per year on [[Yom Kippur]], carrying the blood of a sacrificial lamb and burning [[Incense offering in rabbinic literature|incense]].{{sfn|''Britannica: Holy of Holies''}} According to the Bible, the site functioned as the center of all national life – a governmental, judicial and religious center.<ref>Deuteronomy 12:5–26; 14:23–25; 15:20; 16:2–16; 17:8–10; 26:2; 31:11; Isaiah 2:2–5; Obadiah 1:21; Psalms 48.</ref>

The [[Genesis Rabba]], which was probably written between 300 and 500 CE, states that this site is one of three about which the nations of the world cannot taunt Israel and say, "you have stolen them," since it was purchased "for its full price" by David.<ref>[[Genesis Rabba]] 79.7: "And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent...for a hundred pieces of money." Rav Yudan son of Shimon said: 'This is one of the three places where the non-Jews cannot deceive the Jewish People by saying that they stole it from them, and these are the places: Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Temple and Joseph's burial place. Ma'arat HaMachpela because it is written: 'And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver,' ([[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], 23:16); the Temple because it is written: 'So David gave to Ornan for the place,' ([[I Chronicles]], 21:26); and Joseph's burial place because it is written: 'And he bought the parcel of ground...Jacob bought Shechem.' (Genesis, 33:19)." See also: [[Abraham Isaac Kook|Kook, Abraham Issac]], ''Moadei Hare'iya'', pp. 413–15.</ref>

The First Temple [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|was destroyed in 587/586 BCE]] by the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] under the second Babylonian king, [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], who subsequently [[Babylonian captivity|exiled the Judeans to Babylon]] following the fall of the [[Kingdom of Judah]] and [[Yehud (Babylonian province)|its annexation as a Babylonian province]]. The Jews who had been deported in the aftermath of the Babylonian conquest of Judah were eventually [[Return to Zion|allowed to return]] following [[Edict of Cyrus|a proclamation]] by the Persian king [[Cyrus the Great]] that was issued after the [[fall of Babylon]] to the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. In 516 BCE, the returned Jewish population in Judah, under [[Yehud (Persian province)|Persian provincial governance]], rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem under the auspices of [[Zerubbabel]], producing what is known as the [[Second Temple]].

During the [[Second Temple period|Second Temple Period]], Jerusalem was the center of religious and national life for Jews, including those in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]].<ref name=":62">{{Cite book |last=Levine |first=Lee I. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/698161941 |title=Jerusalem: portrait of the city in the Second Temple period (538 BCE – 70 CE) |date=2002 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society, published in cooperation with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America |isbn=978-0-8276-0956-3 |edition=1st |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |pages=15–20 |language=en-us |oclc=698161941 |quote=}}</ref> The Second Temple is believed to have attracted tens and maybe hundreds of thousands during the [[Three Pilgrimage Festivals]].<ref name=":62"/> The holiday of [[Hanukkah]] commemorates the rededication of the Temple at the beginning of the [[Maccabean revolt]] in the 2nd century BCE. During the first century BCE, the Temple was renovated by [[Herod the Great|Herod]]. It [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)#Destruction|was destroyed]] by the [[Roman Empire]] at the height of the [[First Jewish–Roman War|First Jewish-Roman War]] in 70 CE. [[Tisha B'Av]], an annual [[Ta'anit|fast day]] in [[Judaism]], marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which according to Jewish tradition, occurred on the same day on the [[Hebrew calendar]].