A reflexion about the Temple Scene of the 7w and Trento, and a great conversation in Gouda -in front of Crabeth work- with Wim:

The Bible said in two differents places:

1) I Kings 3, 2-4: "Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord,walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar."

2) II Chro 1, 3-6: "So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. But the ark of God had David brought up from Kirjathjearim to the place which David had prepared for it: for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. Moreover the brasen altar, that Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put before the tabernacle of the Lord: and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it. And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it." (Then, Solomon ask Got for a "prudens" heart, to discern between good and bad, II Chron 1, 10-12)

That's why the hebrew have two different ways to "pray": the tribes of the South (Juda, where Jerusalem was) went to "high places" and burnt offerings to the Lord in a brasen altar. But the 12 tribes of the North (Israel) thought that God lives in the Ark of the Covenant. Then, Solomon have a great idea: he had to build a House (whith the proportions of the tabernacle) for God in a high place where the Ark can be, and he put on it a basen altar to burn offerings to God.
(I think this is the idea of the 7w: you can see the brasen altar and the tabernacle with the ark, the two differents way to adore God. This is what Reginald Poole said in Whitehall: "Si may it be thought, that the appeasing of Controversies of Religion in Christianity is not appointed to this Emperor, but rather to his Son, who shall perform the Building that his Father had begun. Which Church cannot be perfectly builded, unless universally in all Realms we adhere to one Head, and do acknowledge him to be the vicar of God, and to have power from above". I´m sure he was talking of Trento Council).

And God likes the idea, because he went from Heaven to Hearth to live (in his Real Form) in the Temple: That's the meaning of the words: "Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever." (II Chron 7, 1-3). I think that's exactly the moment represented in the 7w.
(This is the second message of the 7w: the Temples are more then places of cult; they are real houses of God. That's why in the catholics church the priest put the Sacred Forms in a tabernacle, cause they think the "Hostias" are the Real Body of Christ, and I think that's the relation between the two parts of the 7w Last Supper-Temple).

What do you think 'bout this reflexions?
Bye
Juanra (jota@arquired.es)
(And excuse me for my horrible english)

Wednesday, September 26, 2001