1 Kings 8:14–61; 2 Chronicles 6:3–7:3

The Dedication of the Temple

Commentaries by Christopher Irvine

Works of art by Antony Gormley, El Greco and Richard Long

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Antony Gormley

Transport, 2010, Iron nails, 210 x 63 x 43 cm, Canterbury Cathedral, England; © Antony Gormley; Photo courtesy of PA Images

The Body as Temple

Commentary by Christopher Irvine

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Antony Gormley is well known for his body cases, frequently moulded from his own body, cast in plaster, and then finished in lead, or sometimes in steel, or even in concrete. The body, he once averred, was a temple of being (Hutchinson 2000: 34).

These sculpted forms appear in various postures. Some of them are standing, some sitting, and others crouching, and each of these postures articulates a particular attitude. The Chronicles account of Solomon’s prayer at the Dedication of the Temple not only tells of the bronze platform that Solomon installed in the outer court, but also adds the detail that it was there that he knelt to pray (2 Chronicles 6:13). Both the location and posture recorded here point to the question of our place, or of how we occupy sacred space.  

Antony Gormley’s Transport is currently displayed in the Eastern Crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, where the body of Thomas Becket was buried after his brutal murder in 1170. The outline shape of the sculpture is undoubtedly that of the human body, but it is not a cast. It is fabricated by 210 nails welded together, and so there is no ‘skin’. The sculpture is perceptually open, and the viewer can see the whole, both inside and outside. Transport seems to defy gravity as it is suspended from the vaulted ceiling by a single steel wire. Further, because of the natural airflow caused by the fluctuating temperature of the environment in which it is set, the sculpture is often seen to rotate slowly. This gentle motion and the passing of air through the sculpture evoke a living, ambulant body that in-breathes the very breath of life.

Visitors are often surprised to see a contemporary sculpture in this resonant space of the cathedral, and some may question its congruence in the space. But returning to the image of Solomon at prayer, a more critical question is how we place ourselves before God. Every living person is embodied, and as such occupies and moves through space. And when an embodied person occupies the place where prayer is offered, the physical body itself can become a ‘laboratory of the spirit’ and our bodily posture an expression of unarticulated prayer.

 

References

Hutchinson, John. 2000. ‘Return (The Turning Point)’, in Antony Gormley, ed. by John Hutchinson, et al (New York: Phaidon), pp. 32–95

 

Richard Long

Tame Buzzard Line, 2001, Stones, New Art Centre, Roche Court, England; © Richard Long. All Rights Reserved, DACS, London / ARS, NY; Photo: ArtImage

Marking the Place

Commentary by Christopher Irvine

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Whether it is the trace that is left through the grass of a field, or a line, a circle, or an ellipse of slate, or flint arranged in patterns on a gallery floor, the art of Richard Long is about marking and moving through space. Long’s Tame Buzzard Line is constructed with local flint stones and marks the straight flight path of a raptor to a fence from a tree standing alone in a field.

As Tame Buzzard Line traces a movement (however transient) through space, it also delineates space. Space is boundless and indeterminate, and it reaches out towards an ever-extending horizon. But in delineating space, the artist is indicating—even helping to create—the particularity of a place.

Likewise, in offering his prayer of dedication, Solomon is delineating the spaces of the Temple complex in Jerusalem to be a place: a place of prayer. And in the retelling of this incident in 2 Chronicles, the point is made that the Temple is not only a place where prayer is offered, but where it is received by God (2 Chronicles 6:39; 7:15).

Tame Buzzard Line records something specific, something that occurred in time and space: the buzzard flew here, in this direction, and between these two points. A buzzard can fly in all directions and at various heights, but in marking this flight in a line, Long is making a sacrament of stone, making visible the invisible flight path of the buzzard on one specific occasion.

King Solomon acknowledged that the divine cannot be contained, and that the divine Spirit roamed freely over the whole face of the earth (Genesis 1:2b; John 3:8 ‘the Spirit moves where it wills’). But God is here and there, and as a line marks a certain place and a circle creates a zone, so in the delineation and dedication of its different spaces, the Temple built of stone became a holy place. For although God is ubiquitous—a God who is everywhere and may be encountered anywhere—he is known in the place where his name is invoked, where the weight of his presence is felt, and where his glory is seen.

 

References

Wallis, Clarrie (ed.). 2017. Stones Clouds Miles: A Richard Long Reader (London: Ridinghouse)

El Greco

Christ driving the Traders from the Temple, c.1600, Oil on canvas, 106.3 x 129.7 cm, The National Gallery, London; Presented by Sir J.C. Robinson, 1895, NG1457, Photo: © National Gallery, London / Art Resource, NY

Space for the Holy

Commentary by Christopher Irvine

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Solomon’s dedication of the Temple was the designation of sacred space, and what El Greco shows in this painting is the reclaiming of space as holy place. It is a subject to which he returned throughout his career. In this canvas the scene is sharply focused, and the extraneous references are reduced.

The spatial composition and bold colouring of Christ’s robe place him centre stage. His eyes are fixed on the traders, and his taut body captures a moment before there is another lash of the whip of cords. In the foreground is the upturned table of one of the money changers. To the left is a group of traders. They flinch and raise their arms and hands to protect themselves. To the right a group of Christ’s disciples are puzzled and amazed in equal measure. The painting crackles with emotional energy, and, as such, contrasts with the scene evoked in the account of Solomon offering his prayer of dedication in the first Temple. Solomon is humble and suppliant; Jesus is strident and insistent. He forcefully clears space for an encounter with the divine. But this was not to be, as it was at the Dedication of Solomon’s Temple, in the form of fire and cloud (2 Chronicles 5:14; 7:1).

The painting shows a woman carrying a basket on her head, walking through a clear architectural space on the far right. This graceful figure moving purposefully through an uncluttered space may well be a personification of grace. For in the compositional arrangement, the woman balances the figure of Christ (they seem almost to walk in step), and contrasts with the basket carriers of the left who assert a transactional relationship with God.

In this portrayal of the driving of the traders from the Temple, Christ signals a new divine economy of grace, a currency that is minted through the fate of his body, crucified and raised on the third day. For when Christ referred to the Temple in speaking of it being destroyed and rebuilt, he referred, according to John’s Gospel, to his body (John 2:21).

 

References

Lopera, Jose Alvarez (ed.). 1999. El Greco: Identity and Transformation (Skira: Madrid)

Antony Gormley :

Transport, 2010 , Iron nails

Richard Long :

Tame Buzzard Line, 2001 , Stones

El Greco :

Christ driving the Traders from the Temple, c.1600 , Oil on canvas

God’s Dwelling Place

Comparative commentary by Christopher Irvine

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A contemporary artist setting out to walk through a wild landscape might evoke in our imaginations the shadowy figures of the Hebrew Patriarchs, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who set out across an expansive wilderness.

Richard Long often walks with a map to hand; the Patriarchs could only mark the journey they had made by erecting, here and there, stone altars to hallow those places where they were encountered by the God who could meet them at any time and in any location (Genesis 12:7). Once God’s people had settled in the land of promise, the monarchy was eventually established, and a Temple built.

There then followed the long succession of the kings of Israel, the division of the nation into Judah and the Northern Kingdom, and after that the sad displacement of the people and the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem in 585 BCE. These historical vicissitudes provide the narrative arc for the books of Samuel and Kings. But following the return from exile and the challenge to rebuild the Temple, a different perspective emerged. And as El Greco could paint the same subject in fresh compositional arrangements, so Israel’s history was retold from a different angle and with new emphases. The new narrative of the post-exilic period was 1 and 2 Chronicles (so named by Jerome), and the new emphasis was on the Temple—the physical building and its cult.

Given this emphasis, it is not surprising that some new material was woven into the story of King Solomon’s dedication of the Temple. As a parallel reading shows, the writer of Chronicles closely followed the earlier source, but the fact that so much material is carried over from Kings makes the editorial interest even more prominent. Two verses from Psalm 132 are included to herald what is presented as God’s answer to Solomon’s prayer at the Dedication of the Temple, the coming of God’s glory to dwell in the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1–3). Acknowledgement is made that God cannot be contained in any built structure, and yet, God not only gives his name, but comes to occupy the Temple’s holy of holies.

The coming of God to his Temple is recalled by the dramatic action of Jesus entering and reclaiming the sacred space of the Temple precincts. As El Greco shows with such vigour and vibrancy, the action of Jesus in ‘cleansing the Temple’ demonstrated what the prophet had declared: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’ (Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17 and parallels). And the violent nature of the incident indicates the instability of the intended reciprocity between sacred architecture and the serious business of worship.

Despite the monumental scale of its architecture, there is a tension in what the Temple represented. It could all too easily be compromised, and, worse, contaminated. Historically its fabric did not automatically protect the people from calamity (e.g. Jeremiah 7:4), and so, unsurprisingly, the ambiguity about what constitutes a sacred place persists (2 Samuel 7:5–6; 2 Chronicles 6:18).

It was the rebuilt Temple of the returned exiles, further enlarged in 20 BCE by Herod the Great, in which Christ demonstrated his messianic status. Through this action, Christ can be seen as metaphorically making space for a new meeting between humanity and God’s grace, and it is this that El Greco shows in his depiction of the expulsion of the money changers from the Temple. In the new dispensation, as the first Christians understood it, there could be nothing transactional in the relationship between God and humankind. As foreshadowed by the account of the answer to Solomon’s prayer of dedication, it depends on the condescension of God becoming present for all people in the transforming beauty of the Spirit.

The installation of a contemporary sculpture in sacred space may surprise and possibly unsettle the viewer, with the question of where and how God dwells with humankind. God comes to his Temple in the embodied form of Jesus, the incarnate Word. And as St Paul transfers the trope of ‘the Temple’ to both the social body of the church and to the individual bodies of its members (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), so the sense of the Spirit meeting and merging with the human spirit is most intensely felt on those occasions when Christians gather together ‘as stones being built into a spiritual temple’ (1 Peter 2:4; Ephesians 2:19–22) for shared corporate prayer.

Can God dwell in a temple? God has, and God also deems the human body a fit place to indwell through the Spirit.

 

References

Barker, Margaret. 1991. The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem (London: SPCK)

Rae, Murray A. 2017. Architecture and Theology: The Art of Place (Waco: Baylor University Press)

Next exhibition: 1 Kings 8:62–66 Next exhibition: 2 Chronicles 7:4–22

1 Kings 8:14–61; 2 Chronicles 6:3–7:3

Revised Standard Version

1 Kings 8

14Then the king faced about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 15And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 16‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city in all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ 17Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart; 19nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 20Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise which he made; for I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21And there I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; 23and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to thy servants who walk before thee with all their heart; 24who hast kept with thy servant David my father what thou didst declare to him; yea, thou didst speak with thy mouth, and with thy hand hast fulfilled it this day. 25Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father what thou hast promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a man before me to sit upon the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ 26Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word be confirmed, which thou hast spoken to thy servant David my father.

27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! 28Yet have regard to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, hearkening to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee this day; 29that thy eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which thou hast said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that thou mayest hearken to the prayer which thy servant offers toward this place. 30And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant and of thy people Israel, when they pray toward this place; yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place; and when thou hearest, forgive.

31 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and comes and swears his oath before thine altar in this house, 32then hear thou in heaven, and act, and judge thy servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct upon his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

33 “When thy people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, if they turn again to thee, and acknowledge thy name, and pray and make supplication to thee in this house; 34then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gavest to their fathers.

35 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place, and acknowledge thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them, 36then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, thy people Israel, when thou dost teach them the good way in which they should walk; and grant rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people as an inheritance.

37 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in any of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; 38whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by any man or by all thy people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house; 39then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render to each whose heart thou knowest, according to all his ways (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men); 40that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest to our fathers.

41 “Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of thy people Israel, comes from a far country for thy name’s sake 42(for they shall hear of thy great name, and thy mighty hand, and of thy outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, 43hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to thee; in order that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

44 “If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way thou shalt send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name, 45then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

46 “If they sin against thee—for there is no man who does not sin—and thou art angry with them, and dost give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47yet if they lay it to heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to thee in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have acted perversely and wickedly’; 48if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to thee toward their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name; 49then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause 50and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions which they have committed against thee; and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51(for they are thy people, and thy heritage, which thou didst bring out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace). 52Let thy eyes be open to the supplication of thy servant, and to the supplication of thy people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to thee. 53For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thy heritage, as thou didst declare through Moses, thy servant, when thou didst bring our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

54 Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven; 55and he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56“Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he uttered by Moses his servant. 57The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; may he not leave us or forsake us; 58that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. 59Let these words of mine, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires; 60that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. 61Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

2 Chronicles 6

3Then the king faced about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 4And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 5‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city in all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; 6but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’ 7Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 8But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart; 9nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 10Now the Lord has fulfilled his promise which he made; for I have risen in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and I have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 11And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord which he made with the people of Israel.”

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands. 13Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court; and he stood upon it. Then he knelt upon his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven; 14and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to thy servants who walk before thee with all their heart; 15who hast kept with thy servant David my father what thou didst declare to him; yea, thou didst speak with thy mouth, and with thy hand hast fulfilled it this day. 16Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father what thou hast promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a man before me to sit upon the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, let thy word be confirmed, which thou hast spoken to thy servant David.

18 “But will God dwell indeed with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! 19Yet have regard to the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, hearkening to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee; 20that thy eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where thou hast promised to set thy name, that thou mayest hearken to the prayer which thy servant offers toward this place. 21And hearken thou to the supplications of thy servant and of thy people Israel, when they pray toward this place; yea, hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place; and when thou hearest, forgive.

22 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and comes and swears his oath before thy altar in this house, 23then hear thou from heaven, and act, and judge thy servants, requiting the guilty by bringing his conduct upon his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

24 “If thy people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, when they turn again and acknowledge thy name, and pray and make supplication to thee in this house, 25then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gavest to them and to their fathers.

26 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place, and acknowledge thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them, 27then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, thy people Israel, when thou dost teach them the good way in which they should walk; and grant rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people as an inheritance.

28 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in any of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; 29whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by any man or by all thy people Israel, each knowing his own affliction, and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house; 30then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each whose heart thou knowest, according to all his ways (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men); 31that they may fear thee and walk in thy ways all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest to our fathers.

32 “Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of thy people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of thy great name, and thy mighty hand, and thy outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, 33hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to thee; in order that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

34 “If thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way thou shalt send them, and they pray to thee toward this city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name, 35then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

36 “If they sin against thee—for there is no man who does not sin—and thou art angry with them, and dost give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near; 37yet if they lay it to heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to thee in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have acted perversely and wickedly’; 38if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity, to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name, 39then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee. 40Now, O my God, let thy eyes be open and thy ears attentive to a prayer of this place.

41“And now arise, O Lord God, and go to thy resting place,

thou and the ark of thy might.

Let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,

and let thy saints rejoice in thy goodness.

42O Lord God, do not turn away the face of thy anointed one!

Remember thy steadfast love for David thy servant.”

7 When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,

“For he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.”

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