Sanctuary Cleansing, History

[Hanseng]

The following is a study paper on the OT history of the sanctuary cleansing:

The temple was polluted and cleansed at different times in the Old Testament. During the ascendence of Ahaz (735-715), the temple  doors were shut (2 Ch. 28:24), The daily sacrifices were stopped, no incense was burnt, the lamps in the temple were put out (2 Ch 29:7). In other words, the daily was taken away. His son, Hezekiah (715-686) opened the doors and cleansed the temple during his reign. In this account, the word translated “cleansed” is taher. Hezekiah ordered the priests to sanctify the house and “Carry the filthiness out of the holy place” (2 Ch. 29:5). The priests came together to “cleanse the house of the Lord” (2 Ch 29:15). They went into the inner part of the Lord’s house and carried out all the uncleanness they found (2 Ch 29:16).  Three things were done to the temple at this time. The doors were repaired (2 Ch 29:3) The temple was sanctified (2 Ch. 29:5,17). The temple was cleansed (taher) (2 Ch. 29:15). This was not ritualistic cleansing. Actual filth inside the temple was carried out and disposed of at the brook Kidron (2 Ch. 29:16).

The work of cleansing the temple during Hezekiah’s reign was undone by his son Manasseh (696-642). He built altars and placed a graven image in the house of the LORD (2 Ki. 21:4, 7). A graven image in the temple is described as the “desolating sacrilege” in the RSV of 1 Maccabees 1:54. The Greek translated as “desolating sacrilege” is the same as that used in Daniel 9:27, 12:11, Matthew 24:15, and Mark 13:14. Luke, in a similar passage does not mention the abomination of desolation. Instead, Luke says that Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies (21:20). The Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v., “abomination of desolation”  identifies the exploits of Antiochus Epiphanes as fulfilling these references in Daniel. “Some rabbis, however, see in it [the Hebrew expression translated as abomination of desolation]an allusion to Manasseh, who, as related in II Chron. xxxiii. 7, set up "a carved image . . . in the house of God."

Manasseh did more evil than the nations around him. 2 Kings 24:1-4 says that the evils of Manasseh brought about the destruction of Judah. He was taken captive by the king of Assyria. As a prisoner in Babylon, he realized his sin. He was eventually released. Upon returning to Jerusalem, he removed the image from the temple, as well as the altars he had built, calling upon the people to serve the Lord (2 Ch. 33: 5-13).

Manasseh’s son Josiah (reigned 640-609) began his work with the repair of the temple (2 Ki. 22:5). Together with Hilkiah the high priest, they removed all the items used in the worship of Baal, Astarte, and the host of heaven. Also destroyed were the houses of the cult prostitutes connected to the temple (2 Kings 23:7). Chariots and horses to the sun were also removed from the entry way into the temple (2 Kings 23:11).

The word translated “cleansed” in the KJV of Daniel 8: 14 is translated as s appears as “rightful state, “reconsecrated,” “restored,” in other versions. It is a form of the Hebrew trigram ts d q. The Hebrew word “nitsdaq,” to which we refer, is also used in a different form in KJV Daniel 12:3: “And they that turn many to “righteousness” shall shine as the stars forever.” Young’s Literal Translation of Daniel 12: 3 says “…and those justifying the multitude…”

It’s the same word used in Isaiah 53:11 when it says the righteous servant will “justify” many. Isaiah 45:25 says that all Israel will be “justified” in the Lord. Same word. Psalms 19:9 uses the word to describe the “righteous” judgments of God. All the other appearances of the word refer to the righteousness or justification of people or God. Daniel 8:14 uses it to refer to the justification of the sanctuary. The Greek Old Testament, known as the LXX, translates the word in Daniel 8: 14 with a word that means “cleansed” as in the KJV.

 

[Hanseng]

12 hours ago, Hanseng said:

The word translated “cleansed” in the KJV of Daniel 8: 14 is translated as s appears as “rightful state, “reconsecrated,” “restored,” in other versions.

Obvious mistake. Should read,  the word translated “cleansed” in the KJV of Daniel 8: 14  appears as “rightful state, “reconsecrated,” “restored,” in other versions.

[Hanseng]

The temple was plundered, defiled, closed by different kings at different times in the OT

Ahaz: 2 Ch 28: 24  And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

2 Kings 16: 1-20 describes in greater detail the evil Ahaz did. He rearranged the  sea and its supports, changed the lavers and altar. He had a new altar built, patterned after one he had seen in Damascus. He gave silver and gold stored in the house of the Lord to the king of Assyria.

This action was reversed by his son Hezekiah: 

2 Ch 29: 3  He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
]4  And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
5  And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy [place.] [
]6  For our fathers have trespassed, and done [that which was] evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned [their] backs.
7  Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy [place] unto the God of Israel.

[Hanseng]

טהר [taher] Strong's number 2891/02891 [online Bible]

This is the word used in Leviticus 16 to describe the ritual service which took place each year on the Day of Atonement:
Le 16:19  And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse <02891> it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
Le 16:30  For on that day shall [the priest] make an atonement for you, to cleanse <02891> you, [that] ye may be clean <02891> from all your sins before the LORD.

Taher is also the word used to describe the cleansing of the temple during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah:

Hezekiah

2Ch 29:15  And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse <02891> the house of the LORD.
2Ch 29:16  And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse <02891> [it], and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took [it], to carry [it] out abroad into the brook Kidron.
2Ch 29:18  Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed <02891> all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.

Josiah

2Ch 34:8  Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged <02891> the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.

The word taher is used in 2 Kings 5 to describe the healing of Naaman from his leprosy:

2Ki 5:14  Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean <02891>

During the times of Nehemiah, a "chamber" was prepared for Tobiah in "the courts of the house of God":

Neh 13:7 And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.
8  And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.

9  Then I commanded, and they cleansed <02891> the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.

Taher is not the word translated as "cleansed" in Daniel 8:14.