Contemplative Bible Reading

Ezekiel 43:12 (New Living Translation)

And this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness! The entire top of the mountain where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the basic law of the Temple.

My eyes focus on verses like this one. Verses that proclaim things like

this is the basic law of the Temple

and

this is the sum of the law and the prophets

and

the Lord’s will is this

For His Temple, the LORD wanted absolute Holiness. So what is Holiness? There are several answers. One is that something that was Holy was set apart for the LORD. The Temple was set apart for the LORD. No thing else and no one else was to be honored at the Temple. Only the LORD was to be honored and worshiped there.

Well, the people didn’t quite hold to that. They put statues of other gods in the Temple. They put images of other gods in the Temple. They performed worship ceremonies of other gods in the Temple. The Temple was not set apart just for the LORD. It was not Holy.