,.

\7'SWER IN DETAIL: ( IO Mar~s )

E,plain the habitations of God in the Old Testament, with
references. (Any three)
i) Garden of Eden:
God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden until
they fell into sin (Gen. 3:8). God wanted man to eat of the
tree of life and grow in life in this fellowship and close
communion with God, till he reached a place where he could
also cat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evi I
and be like God himself. But man disobeyed God's
lurai Centre

commandment and ato of tho fruit of the trco of knowled&o

of aood and evil before the time appointed and ruined the C.
beautiful plan of Ood for him. However, unchanalna In his
purpose, Ood In His lmmouurablo love and mercy seeks
after man to dwell with him.
(
H> De tabemacle lo the wHderncs5:
After the Israelites were delivered from the bondage of
Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea and came Into the r
wilderness. God told Moses, "... let them make me a
sanctuary that I may dwell among them" (Exo. 25:8).
According to the plan that God hnd shown him on Mount
Sinai, Moses made a tabernacle and all its vessels, with lhe
willing offerings of the people. This tabernacle was a
shadow of Heaven. God dwelt in the Most Holy Place in the
tabernacle. Whenever the camp of Israel moved, they would
dismantle the tabernacle and carry with them. When the
Israelites entered Canaan, this was set up at Shiloh by Joshua
(Josh.18:1).
iii) Solomon's temple:
This was built upon Mount Moriah, several times larger than
the tabernacle (II Chron. 3:1). This was the· mountain, on
which Abraham offered Isaac. Many years later, in 588 B.C.
this temple was destroyed by the Babyloni~n king and the
Jews were taken captive.
iv) Zerubbabel's temple:
Then the Babylonian empire came under the Persian kings.
About fifty-two years after Solomon's temple was destroyed
during the time of king Cyrus, many Jews joined together
under the leadership of Zerubbabel, came to Jerusalem and
rebuilt the temple according to the decree of the king. In the
midst of much oppositions, Zerubbabel's temple was
completed in 515 B.C. which is seventy-three years alter the
Jews were taken captive (Ezra 6: 15).
v) Herod's temple: .
Zcrubbabel's temple, which had broken in course of time,
was rebuilt by Herod. He started the work about forty years
before the birth of Jesus. It took aJtogether forty-six years to
complete it (Jn. 2;20). This is the temple, which existed
when Jesus was on the earth. But in A.O. 70, during the time
of Titus Caesar, this was razed to the ground by the Romans
(Matt. 24:2).
Sunday Sthool Central Organisation (201 5-20 16)