![]() Once we understand this ancient concept, we can understand that the temple would be seen as the control room of the cosmos from where God sustains creation and history. Walton, Genesis in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, forthcoming). ![]() It is evident, then, that Israel and her neighbors shared an ideology that understood the cosmos in temple terms and viewed the temple as a model of the cosmos or the cosmic temple. Ideas like these are also found in literature from Mesopotamia that compares temples to the heavens and the earth and gives them a cosmic location and function. Psalm 78:69 communicates a similar idea by indicating that the temple was built on the model of the cosmos. It is only a micro-scale representation of the cosmic temple. In Isaiah 66:1 the Lord indicates: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool, where is the house you will build for me, where will my resting place be?" Here God indicates that the manmade temple cannot be considered the true temple (cf. 48) and the place where his temple, a representation of Eden, was built. This concept is represented in Ugaritic literature as well as in the Bible, where Mount Zion is understood as the mountain of the Lord (e.g., Ps. In Syro-Palestine, the temple is the architectural embodiment of the cosmic mountain. This perspective can be seen in Gudea’s temple building text from early in the second millennium, in which the temple’s cosmic qualities are enumerated and show little change in the middle of the first millennium in Neo-Assyrian texts. In Mesopotamia, the primary imagery of the temple was that it was the center of the cosmos. This concept is represented even in the design of the temples. In short, the temple was considered deity’s cosmic domain. In Egypt the temple contained within its sacred precincts a representation of the original primeval hillock that emerges from the cosmic waters. The temple is considered the center of cosmos and in itself, a microcosmos. The temple on earth was considered only a type of the larger, archetypal cosmic temple, and there are many images and symbols that evoke the relationship between temple and cosmos. The following entry explores this matter: Furthermore, they would have understood the cosmos as a temple. In the ancient world, however, the Israelites, as well as all of their neighbors, would have been more inclined to think about the cosmos as a kingdom. When we think about the world and the universe in modern American culture, we are most inclined to think of it like a machine. For Students Pursue a deeper knowledge of God through self-paced college- and seminary-level online courses in Old and New Testament studies, theology, biblical Greek, and more.For Instructors and School Administrators Enhance your school’s traditional and online education programs by easily integrating online courses developed from the scholars and textbooks you trust.
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