the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Lexicons
Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old Testament Girdlestone's OT Synonyms
Temple
The identification in name between a building set apart for sacred purposes and the worshippers who meet there in may be traced back to the days of Moses, perhaps to an earlier period. The people of Israel were to be a spiritual house, and God was to dwell among them, as in a tabernacle in the N.T., Christians are described in almost the same terms.
The ordinary Hebrew name for the temple was Haical (היכל , Ass. ekallu, 'palace'); this word, however, does not necessarily denote a sacred edifice. It is translated palace [The word palace is derived from the name of one of the seven hills on which Rome was built.] in 1 Kings 21:1; 2 Kings 20:18; Psalms 45:15; Isaiah 13:22; Isaiah 39:7; Isaiah 44:28, al. It ought also to have been so translated in Hosea 8:14, where we read in the A. V., 'Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples;' the context shows that palaces are here referred to. (See R. V.) in these passages the LXX usually adopts the rendering οἰ̂κος, house. The Haical was evidently regarded as the Ring's house, the dwelling-place of One who is highly exalted. The more general word for a palace (ארמון ) is never used of the temple, as it rather signifies a fortress than a dwelling-place. this word first occurs in 1 Kings 16:18 and 2 Kings 15:25, where the palace, i.e. the fortified part of the King's house, is referred to. before the temple was built the tabernacle was regarded as God's Haical (1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Samuel 3:3; 2 Samuel 22:7), though a curtained tent might seem unworthy of such a title. The general Greek rendering for the word Haical, when applied to the temple, is ναός.
Another word rendered temple is Beth (בית , Ass. bitu), a house. this is the only word used for a house in the O.T., except in Psalms 83:12, where we find the word Naoth (נאות ), which signifies pastures or pleasant places; and in Job 1:3, where not a house, but a household of servants (עבדה ), is really spoken of. BeThis rendered temple in 2 Kings 11:10-11; 2 Kings 11:13; 1 Chronicles 6:10; 1 Chronicles 10:10; 2 Chronicles 23:10; 2 Chronicles 35:20.
The sanctuary is literally that which is holy (קדשׁ ), or, in other words, that which is set apart for sacred uses; see chap. xv.
