Did Early Christians Mourn the Destruction of the Temple?

For a detailed discussion, see Eyal Regev, The Temple in Early Christianity: Experiencing the Sacred, Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library (New haven: Yale University Press, 2019).

^{Κατά Μάρκον 13:1} Καὶ ἐκπορευομένου αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ λέγει αὐτῷ εἷς τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ· διδάσκαλε, ἴδε ποταποὶ λίθοι καὶ ποταπαὶ οἰκοδομαί. ^13:2 καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· βλέπεις ταύτας τὰς μεγάλας οἰκοδομάς; οὐ μὴ ἀφεθῇ ὧδε λίθος ἐπὶ λίθον ὃς οὐ μὴ καταλυθῇ.

^{Κατά Λουκάν 19:41} Καὶ ὡς ἤγγισεν ἰδὼν τὴν πόλιν ἔκλαυσεν ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν ^19:42 λέγων ὅτι εἰ ἔγνως ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ σὺ τὰ πρὸς εἰρήνην· νῦν δὲ ἐκρύβη ἀπὸ ὀφθαλμῶν σου. ^19:43 ὅτι ἥξουσιν ἡμέραι ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ παρεμβαλοῦσιν οἱ ἐχθροί σου χάρακά σοι καὶ περικυκλώσουσίν σε καὶ συνέξουσίν σε πάντοθεν, ^19:44 καὶ ἐδαφιοῦσίν σε καὶ τὰ τέκνα σου ἐν σοί, καὶ οὐκ ἀφήσουσιν λίθον ἐπὶ λίθον ἐν σοί, ἀνθ᾽ ὧν οὐκ ἔγνως τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς σου.

^{Κατά Λουκάν 21:24} …καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἔσται πατουμένη ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν, ἄχρι πληρωθῶσιν καιροὶ ἐθνῶν.

Compare Luke's hopes for the future redemption of Israel in Luke 2:38; 24:21; see Jacob Jervell, Luke and the People of God: A New Look at Luke-Acts (Philadelphia: Augsburg Fortress, 1972, repr. 2002), 41-74.

Editor’s note: For some discussion of Jesus’ rule as priest in Hebrews, see Joshua Garroway, “Who Assumed Melchizedek’s Priesthood?” TheTorah (2016).

At least not for some of the early followers of Christ and certainly not at this early stage of Christian thinking.

^{Κλήμεντος Προς Κορινθίους Α΄ 40:2} τάς τε προσφορὰς καὶ λειτουργίας ἐπιτελεῖσθαι καὶ οὐκ εἰκῆ ἢ ἀτάκτως ἐκέλευσεν γίνεσθαι ἀλλ᾽ ὡρισμένοις καιροῖς καὶ ὥραις…. ^40:4 οἱ οὖν τοῖς προστεταγμένοις καιροῖς ποιοῦντες τὰς προσφορὰς αὐτῶν εὐπρόσδεκτοί τε καὶ μακάριοι τοῖς γὰρ νομίμοις τοῦ δεσπότου ἀκολουθοῦντες οὐ διαμαρτάνουσιν ^40:5 τῷ γὰρ ἀρχιερεῖ ἴδιαι λειτουργίαι δεδομέναι εἰσίν καὶ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἴδιος ὁ τόπος προστέτακται καὶ Λευΐταις ἴδιαι διακονίαι ἐπίκεινται… ^41:2 οὐ πανταχοῦ ἀδελφοί προσφέρονται θυσίαι ἐνδελεχισμοῦ ἢ εὐχῶν ἢ περὶ ἁμαρτίας καὶ πλημμελείας ἀλλ᾽ ἢ ἐν Ἰερουσαλὴμ μόνῃ κἀκεῖ δὲ οὐκ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ προσφέρεται ἀλλ᾽ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ναοῦ πρὸς τὸ θυσιαστήριον μωμοσκοπηθὲν τὸ προσφερόμενον διὰ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως καὶ τῶν προειρημένων λειτουργῶν ^40:3 οἱ οὖν παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον τῆς βουλήσεως αὐτοῦ ποιοῦντές τι θάνατον τὸ πρόστιμον ἔχουσιν.

John 5:14; 7:14, 28; 8:2, 20, 59; 8:23; 18:20, in addition to overturning the tables on the Temple Mount, which John recounts in chapter 2.

Judith M. Lieu, “Temple and Synagogue in John,” NTS 45 (1999): 51-69.

Editor’s note: For some discussion of Jesus entering the Temple on festivals, see Shayna Sheinfeld, “Sukkot in the New Testament: From Lulav and Hoshana to Palm Sunday,” TheTorah (2018).

Only when he overturns the tables (John 2:17) does he relate to the Temple, and John adds that the disciples understood that he was zealous to the Temple.

Many scholars incorrectly interpret Jesus’ speeches in these scenes as reflecting a theology in which Jesus replaces the Temple. See, e.g., Raymond E. Brown. An Introduction to the Gospel of John (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 302–305; Alan R. Kerr, The Temple of Jesus’ Body: The Temple Theme in the Gospel of John (London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002).

A similar emphasis on Temple attendance as a means of taking part in the Jewish religious center is found in Luke's birth narrative, in which Jesus’ parents visit the Temple when Jesus is born, and in the Passover pilgrimage, when the young Jesus stays at "his father's house." Also, in Acts of the Apostles, Peter and the apostles preach in the Temple and Paul is said to visit it several times. See Regev, Temple in Early Christianity, 153-179; idem, “היהדות של לוקס: בית המקדש כמעצב את זהותם של הנוצרים בסוף המאה הראשונה” [Luke's Judaism: The Temple as Shaping Early Christian Identity], Zion 83.1 (2018): 5–32.

^{Κατά Ιωάννην 18:20} …ἐγὼ πάντοτε ἐδίδαξα ἐν συναγωγῇ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, ὅπου πάντες οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι συνέρχονται…

Many scholars agree, as translated here, that the didrachma refers here to the so-called Temple tax which almost every adult Jew paid to the Temple instead of the Roman tax. E.g., David E. Garland, “Matthew's Understanding of the Temple Tax (Matt 17:24-27),” SBLSP (1987), 190–209, esp. 200, 204; William Horbury, “The Temple Tax,” in Jesus and the Politics of His Day eds. Ernst Bammel and Charles F. D. Moule (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 265–286, here 277. On the half-shekel tax, its date, halakhic reasoning, and religious meaning see Eyal Regev, הצדוקים והלכתם: על דת וחברה בימי בית שני [The Sadducees and their Halakhah: Religion and Society in the Second Temple Period] (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak ben Zvi, 2005) 132–139; idem, The Hasmoneans: Ideology, Archaeology, Identity, Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements 10 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013) 73-78.

^{Κατά Μαθθαίον 17:24} Ἐλθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ προσῆλθον οἱ τὰ δίδραχμα λαμβάνοντες τῷ Πέτρῳ καὶ εἶπαν· ὁ διδάσκαλος ὑμῶν οὐ τελεῖ [τὰ] δίδραχμα; ^17:25 λέγει· ναί. καὶ ἐλθόντα εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν προέφθασεν αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγων· τί σοι δοκεῖ, Σίμων; οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τίνων λαμβάνουσιν τέλη ἢ κῆνσον; ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῶν ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων; ^17:26 εἰπόντος δέ· ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων, ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἄρα γε ἐλεύθεροί εἰσιν οἱ υἱοί. ^17:27 ἵνα δὲ μὴ σκανδαλίσωμεν αὐτούς, πορευθεὶς εἰς θάλασσαν βάλε ἄγκιστρον καὶ τὸν ἀναβάντα πρῶτον ἰχθὺν ἆρον, καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ εὑρήσεις στατῆρα· ἐκεῖνον λαβὼν δὸς αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ.

After the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., the Romans replaced this tax with the fiscus Iudaicus, “the Jew tax,” that all the Jews in the Roman empire were forced to pay to the Roman pagan cult.

Specifically,

• Why is the question raised to begin with, and why does Matthew have Jesus respond with a positive answer?
• What are the reasons for not paying it, and why does Matthew ultimately recommend paying it?
• Who are “the children of the kings of the earth” who are not obliged to pay their father? Does this refer to all the Jews or only to the Christ believers?
• Why should Peter pay with a coin (a double didrachma) found in the mouth of a fish? This is not a practical possibility for Matthew's readers.

Garland, "Matthew's Understanding of the Temple Tax," 192-193. M. Shekalim 1:3-5 notes that not all of the priests accept the requirement to pay the tax. For the view that the original parable concerns all Jews as children of the king(s), see David Flusser, “מחצית השקל באוונגליון ואצל כת מדבר יהודה” ]Matthew XVII 24-27 and the Dead Sea Sect], Tarbiz 31.2 (1962): 150–156.

In the Temple Scroll 39:8 and 4Q159 Ordinances^a the half shekel payment is established as a once in a lifetime “ransom” (cf. Exod 30:12-13), perhaps because the cessation of payment is not described in Scripture. See Flusser “Matthew XVII 24-27,” 153-155. Note that the half shekel tribute is established by the Hasmoneans in conformity with the views of the Pharisees: every Jew can and should be involved in the Temple tax and finance it, but of course, one might regard it as a tax even though it is voluntary. The Sadducees probably object to the involvement of the masses in the cult; see Regev Sadducees and their Halakhah, 132-139.

Neil J. McEleney, "MT 17:24-27 – Who Paid the Temple Tax? A Lesson in Avoidance of Scandal," CBQ 38.2 (1976):178-192, here 189-190. Graham. N. Stanton, A Gospel for a New People: Studies in Matthew (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1992), 141–142 regards it as a mere legacy concerning past relations.