Page 90 - Satan in the Sanctuary

92 Satan in the Sanctuary

Possessing the gate and erecting a temple are quite dif-
ferent matters, however, as we shall see.
Some four centuries after Abraham, Moses was prepar-
ing the wandering Jewish nation to conquer the promised
land. They had enjoyed divine deliverance from slavery in
Egypt, but had wandered forty years in the desert enroute
to Israel. They had worshiped and sacrificed, not always
to God's liking, as they traveled.
But now God gave to Moses specific directions concern-
ing the first temple: "There shall be a place which the
LORD your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell
there" (Deu 12:11).
God's mind was made up. There was to be a ban on
sacrificial worship at any other location once the Jews held
the chosen site: "Take heed to thyself that thou offer not
thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest: but in
the place which the LORD shall choose" (Deu 12:13-14).
Like their father, Abraham, they waited. The Jews took
the promised land, but there followed the enormous task
of creating a nation before a Temple could be built. Cen-
turies passed while the former slave-nomads cultivated the
arts of trade and commerce, agriculture, and self-govern-
ment. Borders were defended, wars were fought, and the
Jews praised their God, ever mindful that somewhere in
their hard-won land was the site of their future Temple.
The rule of judges gave way to the rule of kings. The
young nation was blessed with a succession of capable
monarchs, the second of whom—the great King David—
captured the city of Jerusalem, then held by the Jebusites.
Now the Temple stage was set. David, a national hero
as a boy when he slew Goliath, a marvelously talented poet
and musician, the composer of the Psalms, a dancer of
exotic dances to God, and an able king of the Jews for