{"id":79034,"date":"2020-08-19T17:06:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T14:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79034"},"modified":"2020-08-19T17:06:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T14:06:57","slug":"latter-latest-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/latter-latest-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Latter, Latest, Last"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"79034","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"550","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Will this Second Temple be the end of the line?\r\n\r\n","content":"

The prophet Haggai urges the people to rebuild the second Temple. Those Jews who returned to the Land of Israel from the exile in Babylon had reason to be discouraged. Their living conditions were poor, and they didn\u2019t have the resources to make a building that could compare to Solomon\u2019s temple, which many of them remembered. But Haggai promised that things would improve, and building a new Temple was a necessary step.<\/span><\/p>\n

And as far as the comparison between the first Temple and the one they were to build, he says: \u201cThe glory of this latter House shall be greater than that of the former one, said the LORD of Hosts; and in this place I will grant prosperity\u2014declares the LORD of Hosts.\u201d (Haggai 2:9)<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hebrew word translated here as \u201clatter\u201d is <\/span>acharon<\/span><\/em>. For most speakers of Hebrew, this may be a surprising translation. <\/span>Acharon<\/span><\/em> typically means \u201clast,\u201d not \u201clatter.\u201d\u00a0 So could it be that Haggai\u2019s prophecy meant that the Second Temple was also meant to be the final one?<\/span><\/p>\n

This question came up in a dispute between Rabbi Shlomo ibn Aderet (known as Rashba), a leader of Spanish Jewry in the 13<\/span>th<\/span> century, and a Muslim cleric, who denied that the Jews were destined for redemption in the future. Rashba writes that this cleric claimed that after the destruction of the Second Temple, a third will not be rebuilt, because of Haggai\u2019s prophecy, where he referred to \u201cthe last house.\u201d How could this be if another house will be built after it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashba replied: It is called \u201clast\u201d only in relation to the first (that is, it is later than the first one, but not last in an absolute sense). This is similar to, \u201cHe put the maid-servants and their children first, and Leah and her children next (<\/span>acharonim<\/span><\/em>), and Rachel and Joseph last (<\/span>acharonim<\/span><\/em>)’ [Genesis 33:2]. Leah and her children are called <\/span>acharonim<\/span><\/em>\u00a0even though Rachel and Joseph came after them.<\/span><\/p>\n

He then gave another example: God said to Moses, \u201cAnd if they do not believe the first sign, they will believe the second sign (<\/span>acharon<\/span><\/em>). And if they are not convinced by both these signs, take some water from the Nile… And it will turn to blood on the dry ground\u201d (Exodus 4:8-9). As you see, the second sign was called <\/span>acharon<\/span><\/em>, even though the sign of the water (the blood) came after it.<\/span><\/p>\n

While there are examples of <\/span>acharon<\/span><\/em>\u00a0meaning \u201clast\u201d (see Samuel II 2:26, 19:12), Rashba\u2019s linguistic argument was correct, and <\/span>acharon<\/span><\/em>\u00a0has more than one meaning. In addition to \u201clast\u201d and \u201cnext,\u201d it can also mean \u201cbehind.\u201d The Mediterranean Sea is called <\/span>Yam HaAcharon<\/span><\/em> (for example in Deuteronomy 11:24), since it is behind you when you face forward, to the east.<\/span><\/p>\n

Haggai\u2019s prophecy did eventually come true. In Herod\u2019s time, the Temple was even greater than Solomon\u2019s. As to the Third Temple? For now, we need to wait and see\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

image:\u00a0The Second Jerusalem Temple. Model in the Israel Museum \/ wikipedia<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":79035,"id":79035,"title":"hag2-second temple","filename":"hag2-second-temple.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/latter-latest-last\/hag2-second-temple\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hag2-second-temple","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79034,"date":"2020-08-19 14:06:33","modified":"2020-08-19 14:06:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":347,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple-300x130.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":130,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple-768x333.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":333,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":347,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":347,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":347,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":347,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","home_baner-width":800,"home_baner-height":347}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Latter, Latest, Last","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Will this Second Temple be the end of the line?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":79035,"id":79035,"title":"hag2-second temple","filename":"hag2-second-temple.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/latter-latest-last\/hag2-second-temple\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"hag2-second-temple","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79034,"date":"2020-08-19 14:06:33","modified":"2020-08-19 14:06:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":347,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple-300x130.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":130,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple-768x333.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":333,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":347,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":347,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":347,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":347,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/hag2-second-temple.jpg","home_baner-width":800,"home_baner-height":347}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79034"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79036,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79034\/revisions\/79036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}