Between the House of the Father and the House of the Lord: Privacy and Purity in the Israelite Dwelling and the Israelite Temple

Longitudinal four-spaces houses were one of the main characteristics of the Israelite society, and both reflected many of the society's values and shaped them. Among the many messages transmitted by the house's plan are (1) a message concerning the ideology of egalitarianism and simplicity, as well as (2) one concerning the practice of privacy and the regulation of contact between household's members, and probably the separation of the pure and the impure. The (rare) Israelite temple(s) transmit the complete opposite messages: (1) Hierarchy is the main message reflected by the plan, and (2) since movement from one space to another is essential for anyone who wishes to move forward, separation inside the building is clearly impossible, and the house of the Lord therefore conveys a clear message that in contrast to the typical house, no impure individuals could enter. The temple, therefore, stands in clear distinction to the longitudinal fourspaces dwelling. That the temple would reflect hierarchy is probably inevitable, but the contrast with the dwelling allows us a better articulation of the messages, and beyond "just" hierarchy we can now realize that (1) in contrast to the house, in the temple there is no room for impure individuals and, more importantly, (2) in contrast to the house, in the temple there is no ideology that presents all as equal. For some Israelites this meant that while the ideology of simplicity and egalitarianism is fine for humans, God is not part of it - he is above all others, and his dwelling reflects this rigid hierarchy. Thus, when viewed against the context of the period's dwellings, the architecture of the temples is transmitting clear social and ideological messages, which distinguish the sacred from the profane and the house of the Lord from the domestic dwellings, or in other words from the house of the father. Simultaneously, however, the dwelling and the temple also reflect two opposing perspectives of the common order, and although some Israelites most likely harmonized them, for many the two represented different understanding of the cosmic order.