Religious Spaces In The Bible

Now enters the city, New Jerusalem (21:1-22:5), the symbol of hope. Instead of presenting another worldly power, John brings God’s power to earth, an enormous city which only the worthy can access. Unlike the beast’s (Rome’s) wealth, New Jerusalem contains a bounty of wealth for all those worthy, everything from shelter found in the high walls built with strong foundations to food provided year-round from the tree of life, and yes even jewels are present in God’s city which knows no night. Just in case the community loses its sight on how they might arrive at such a divine city, God’s throne rests at the center of New

In Tweed’s definition of religious space, he argued that religious spaces were “differentiated” if it’s “imaginatively figured and/or sensually encountered locales that are deemed more or less ‘special,’ ‘singular,’ or ‘set apart’.” (Tweed 2011: 119) He further clarified the standard of spaces being “special” and “religious” as the extent they can appeal to “human and suprahuman forces to make homes and cross boundaries.” (Tweed 2006: 54) In addition, Tweed argued that “differentiated” spaces of religious are not static things, but “kinetic” processes. With the cultural and natural development, spaces would also change. Furthermore, Tweed claimed that spaces are also interrelated. According to Tweed, religious spaces are interrelated “with domestic spaces and childhood memories,” (Tweed, Space: 121) as well as the “converging cultural ‘streams’ – political, social, and economic.” (Tweed, Space: 121) In the Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem, the …… fit this characterization perfectly.

King David secured the beginnings of a prosperous Israelite empire; he made Jerusalem its capital and brought the

Religious spaces, characterized by Thomas Tweed, are “differentiated,” “interrelated,” and “kinetic.” As a sacred city with spiritual significance in three major religions, Jerusalem is depicted thoroughly in the Hebrew Bible and illustrated as one of the spaces Tweed defines. The Bible emphasizes that Jerusalem was chosen by God and honored by Israelites, which differentiates it as a special, singular space; the description of Solomon’s Temple shows that the Holy City was interrelated to economic power and involved in the judgment of civil cases. Moreover, the conquest, development and destruction of Jerusalem illustrate the city as a kinetic space, reflecting the unsettled history of the Iron Age. These characteristics all make Jerusalem a religious and political center from the ancient Near East time to present day, guiding the footsteps of believers around the world.

Thomas Tweed in his article Space claims that there is a deeper connection between space and religion than meets the ordinary eye. The article examines how Christianity, Islam, and Judaism describe, imaginatively figure, and construct Jerusalem as a religious space. According to Tweed, space, in a religious context, is defined by three different and distinguishable characteristics: differentiated, kinetic, and interrelated. As revealed throughout many of the books in the Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem is one of these religious spaces that Tweed is talking about. Various Biblical texts, like Genesis 22, 2 Samuel 5-7, 1 Kings, and the Psalms reveal the city of Jerusalem, its geography, and its people’s history as being differentiated, kinetic, and interrelated.

In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, one of the earliest depictions of the city of Jerusalem as the axis mundi is found, even before its establishment as a distinct city. God tells Abraham to take his “only son Issac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains” (Genesis 22:2). But right as he is about to reach out for the knife and kill his son, an angel of the Lord calls out to him from heaven and stops him

Comparable mercy was shown when David infuriated God by taking the census of Israel in 2 Samuel 24. God spread a plague upon the entire nation as His punishment. Nonetheless, He did not have the disease destroyed Jerusalem by telling the angel who was afflicting the residents of the city to “withdraw your hand” (2 Samuel 24) at the threshing floor of Araunah. It can be concluded from both punishment incidents that despite His powerful and omnipotent character, God always show mercy to people who follows Him, especially in the sacred land of Jerusalem. The parallels between the two incidents once again convey the comparison between Jerusalem and the Garden of Eden, indicating them both as extremely sacred locations. It also showed the unique

The Hebrew people would not be allowed back into Jerusalem until the end of the century when the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered the region and permitted them to leave Babylon. From that point, the Hebrews of Jerusalem existed as subjects of various empires, from the Persians to the Greeks to the Romans. Throughout this time, they maintained the dream of becoming an independent kingdom again, inspired by their memory of the Kingdom of Judah. The Temple of Solomon was rebuilt, but the Jews were again banished from Jerusalem after the Romans laid siege to the city in 70 CE. The Jews would be without a homeland for nearly 2,000 years, united in the dream and promise of a renewed Jewish state.

Subsequently, in 1 Chronicles 9, the people of Judah were told they lost Jerusalem and its Temple because of their unfaithfulness to God (1 Chronicles 9:1 & Murphy 113). God had sent king Nebuchadnezzar to take the Jews because God’s people were mocking His “messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets” (2 Chronicles 36:16). The Jews were in exile until Cyrus became the king of Persia, in which many Jews returned from Babylon and a new temple was built.

To begin with, the Bible illustrates that Jerusalem is a special space due to God’s residence in the city. Tweed argues that “differentiated” religious space is sensually experienced locales that are “more or less ‘special’, ‘singular’ or ‘set apart’” in that it can “orient daily life” (Tweed 2011:119). In that sense, Jerusalem in the Bible is differentiated, since God’s presence in the city indeed affected Israelites’ life. With the Ark of the Covenant in the city, people’s life in Jerusalem had been changed as they felt a sense of safety being in a center connecting heaven to earth, and thus being close to the deity; they could from then on

Around 1800 BCE is when Judaism or Jewish religion began with Abraham in Israel. Then 2,436 years in 636 AD the Arabs came to Israel and conquered it and destroyed a Jewish temple and built the Dome of the Rock. The Jewish people were there 2,436 years before the Arabs yet thy still are persecuted for being there ridiculed for “stealing” the Arabs “Holy Land”. That isn’t the end of it either because after that the Jewish were from 636 to 1948 by other countries. During those times it was the Persians, Roman, Babylonian, and Hellentheistic peoples, all who tormented them causing them to scatter all over the world. The Jewish people had nothing since 636 AD and during biblical times people have the tendency to dismiss that fact like the Arabs today. Jerusalem was once the direction for all Muslim people to look to when they prayed because Muhammed had wanted it to be an important land mark in the religion. Yet, he changed his mind in the end for some reason. One of the reasons it is also Holy because Muhammad had lived there for a short amount of time Jerusalem would not be there only holy land if they had kept it, they would have 3 Holy sites leaving the Jewish with none. The Dome of the Rock is in Jerusalem so that would be a reason to keep it and call it the Holy Land. Yet the Arabs still have more land unlike the Jewish. They still have Mecca and Medina, it is also a belief

God dealt with a physical building in the time of Moses but in present time God deals with the whole man. God told us to present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God. You are the Temple of God! "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). From the moment you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior He came by His Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart. He now wants to settle down and make Himself at home (Ephesians 3:14-19). The apostle Paul uses a word for "dwell" meaning to settle down in a dwelling, to dwell firmly in a

The Christian religion views Jerusalem of importance because it is the location of “His crucifixion, burial and ascension” and it “symbolizes the new people of God redeemed by the Messiah, Jesus Christ.” Christians view this location as a place of worship because of the important sacrifices and events that occurred within Jerusalem. Judaism believes that Jerusalem is significant because God “spoke of the place that He would choose for His people”. The place that he spoke of was Jerusalem also known as Zion. Two Temples were built and both of them were destroyed, which caused major devastation to the Jews. They continue to pray for those Temples and have a holiday in honor of the destroyed Temples. For Jews, Jerusalem is not just a city of importance “the city itself is holy”. It is prominent and significant to the Jews and it is more than just a city to them. Islam views Jerusalem as an important location but the Mecca is a more significant location to them. Jerusalem is important because the Prophet of Mohammad visited location in Jerusalem such as the Prophet of Ibrahim and the Church of the Nativity. The Prophet of Mohammad is a strong, important figure to the Muslims. Mount Moriah, located in Jerusalem, is one of the holiest locations to the Muslims. It is the “Rock where the as-Aqsa Mosque stands”. Each religion has important landmarks throughout Jerusalem which is a major reason of its importance to each of them. Jerusalem has definite importance among these three religions and remains a holy place for worship for all of

Like most religions Judaism has experienced a share of turmoil and renewal or adaptation over it’s existence. One of the most critical turning points throughout Jewish history was the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The destruction took place during the First Jewish–Roman War, in the historic and consequential Siege of Jerusalem during 70 C.E.. The Roman army stormed the Jewish sacred city, led by the future Emperor and young fearless leader, Titus. Over a short period of time, the Roman force overpowered and out manned the Jewish defenders. This force allowed the army the opportunity to set fire to the religious temple, causing havoc throughout the Judaism community and defeat amongst the defenders. The situation was portrayed by

The fall of Jerusalem happened around 70 AD. This happened due to the Jewish Revolt in 66 AD against Roman leaders. The Romans did not let this happen, this resulted in the mass slaughtering in Jerusalem. The sacred relics in the temple were taken to Rome as victory trophies. The Temple was destroyed; this affected the Jewish population more than any. The Christians were also affected by the destruction.