The Temple of Solomon was defaced and destroyed and polluted by the Babylonians, but not until it had been polluted by the Jews themselves with the blood of prophets, by idolatries, by chambers of unclean imagery. It was rebuilt by a poor band of disheartened exiles to be again polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes, and ultimately to become the headquarters of a narrow, arrogant, and intriguing Pharisaism. It was rebuilt once more by Herod, the brutal Idumean usurper, and its splendour inspired such passionate enthusiasm that when it was wrapped in flames by Titus, it witnessed the carnage of thousands of maddened and despairing combatants. "As 'mid the cedar courts and gates of gold The trampled ranks in miry carnage rolled To save their Temple every hand essayed, And with cold fingers grasp'd the feeble blade; Through their torn veins reviving fury ran And life's last anger warm'd the dying man." Yet that last Temple had been defiled by a worse crime than the other two. It had witnessed the priestly idols and the priestly machinations which ended in the murder of the Son of God. From the Temple sprang little or nothing of spiritual importance. Intended to teach the supremacy of righteousness, it became the stronghold of mere ritual. For the development of true holiness, as apart from ceremonial scrupulosity, its official protectors rendered it valueless. We are not surprised that Christianity knows no temple but the hearts of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; and that the characteristic of the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband, is:-- "And I saw no temple therein."[376] Abundantly was the menace fulfilled in which Jehovah warned Solomon after the Feast of Dedication that if Israel swerved into immorality and idolatry, that house should be an awful warning--that its blessing should be exchanged into a curse, and that every one who passed by it should be astonished and should hiss.[377] FOOTNOTES: [329] He refers to Wünsche, _Die Leiden des Messias_. [330] Mark ix. 49. [331] Lev. vi. 17, vii. 1, xiv. 13. On this whole subject see Edersheim, pp. 79-111. [332] See Judg. vi. 19-21; 1 Sam. ii. 13, xiv. 35; 1 Kings xix. 21; 2 Kings v. 17. [333] LXX., ὁλοκαύτωμα.