Temple and Contemplation brings together for the first ... - ImagoMundi

THE IMAGO TEMPLI IN CONFRONTATION
3. II Maccabees was originally a five-volume work written by a certain
Jason of Cyrenia, of which we only possess a shortened version in one
volume (second century B.C.). Its theme has been defined as the glorification
of the Temple, which in this dramatic history functions as the
central pivot of the action. It has also been said that it is a history in which
the archetype of the event assumes more importance than the factual
reality of the event itself. 83 In connection with this, we should bear in
mind the observations made above about the necessity for a concept of
hierohistory as parabolic (parahistoric) in contrast to profane, exoteric
and literalist history. Here the drama of hierohistory consists of two acts,
symmetrical in structure. 84 In Act I, the Temple is threatened by Heliodorus
(3:9-39), desecrated by Antiochus (5:11-20), and finally reconquered and
purified by Judas Maccabeus (10:1—8). In Act II, the Temple is threatened
by Lysias (11:1—21), and Nicanor (14:31-15:27), and finally rescued by
God (15:28—35). The two acts culminate in the establishment of a new
solemn festival (10:5—8).
The two cycles of the drama are thus concerned with the threats against
the Temple and its preservation by God himself. One can, it is true,
distinguish certain features to be found also in Ezekiel's prophetic image
of the mountain of the Temple, but the difference here is that the author is
thinking essentially of the exaltation of the existing Temple (the second
Temple, that of Zerubbabel). Moreover, there is as it were an adherence
to Jeremiah's warning against all magical belief in the Temple: "Trust ye
not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the
Lord, The temple of the Lord [is here] . . ." (Jer. 7:4). Here, the Temple is
not the end in itself, but merely the sign of the Presence of God among his
people. 85 In accordance with the line of thought which is that of Philo and
83 Ibid., p. 193. D. Arenhoevel (quoted in ibid., note 4) speaks of a "geschichtslose
Geschichtschreibung", a non-historical historiography. We thus appear to come
back, in one way or another, to the concept of "subtle history", which we have
emphasized here.
84 Following the analysis provided in ibid, pp. 193 ff. In relation to section VI below,
we should point out the existence in the Scottish rite of a grade of "Knight of the
East", which tradition traces back to the Maccabean period. At the time of initiation,
the candidate is seeking for the sacred Treasure, after the profanation of Antiochus
Epiphanes. Cf. A. E. Waite, Emblematic Freemasonry (London, 1925), p. 106.
85 Cf. these lines by F. M. Abel, quoted by Shozo Fujita: "The Temple is not an end in
itself, but merely a means whereby to attain a higher end. But the fate of the people
was conditioned by its behaviour with regard to God, and the fate of the Temple
was conditioned by the fate of the people". For his part, D. Arenhoevel remarks,
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THE IMAGO TEMPLI IN CONFRONTATION
is common to the literature of the Diaspora, we find here in the Imago
Templi that the form of the spiritual presence takes precedence over all
physical and local limitations. This line of thought goes back, to be sure,
to Ezekiel (11:16): in the time of exile, God himself is the Temple (cf.
above). In any case, we for our part believe that the opposition between
the vision of the material Temple "localized" on earth, and the vision of
the ideal spiritual Temple, is somewhat artificial, since in fact the Imago
Templi as such is always perceived on the level of the in-between, of the
imaginal—the level which we have already designated as that of "the
meeting-place of the two seas".
4. The temple of Leontopolis. This would also appear to be the way in which
the high priest Onias IV perceived the temple that he built at Leontopolis
in Egypt, 86 during the exile imposed upon him by the advent of the
Hasmonean dynasty. There is no doubt that he intended, as far as was
possible, to make the temple he was building into an image of the Temple at
Jerusalem. To the extent to which an eschatological meaning is assigned
to the verses from Isaiah (19:18—19) in the letter that Onias addressed to
Ptolemy Philometer and Cleopatra, quoted by the historian Josephus, the
Imago Templi would have been an eschatological Imago for the community
grouped around him. To this extent his perception of the Temple is in line
with that of Ezekiel and of Qumran, with the difference that Qumran did
not build a physical temple at all, but remained in expectation of the final
Temple, to be built by God himself. 87
5. The Sibylline Oracles.88 Book III refers to Cyrus and then to Joshua ben
Jehozadak, the high priest of the community which had returned from
with reference to 2 Macc. 5:19—20: "Die eigentliche Geschichte des Buches ist die des
Volkes; der Tempel ist wesentlich Symbol; in seinem Zustande offenbart sich der
Zustand des Volkes"; quoted in ibid., p. 200 note 2. [The book's real story is that of
the people; the Temple is essentially a symbol; in its situation, the situation of the
people is made manifest.]
86 Ibid., p. 205. Whether the temple was built by the high-priest Onias IV, or
previously by his father Onias III, has no bearing on the question. Cf. also S. H.
Steckoll, 'The Qumran Sect in relation to the Temple of Leontopolis', in Revue de
Qumran, no. 21 (Feb. 1967), pp. 55-70.
87 Shozo Fujita, op. cit., p. 211.
88 Ibid., pp. 211 ff. "The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of Jewish and Christian
oracles of which twelve books have survived, namely, books I—VIII and XI-XIV."
Cf. Annie Jaubert, op. cit., pp. 329 ff. See also Edgar Hennecke, Neuiestamentliche
Apokryphen, vol. II (Tubingen, 1964), pp. 500 ff.
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