Have you noticed? In the scriptures it's always 'up' to the Temple. No-one ever went 'down' or even 'over to' the Temple!
Cambridge and Oxford students always 'go up' to their respective schools. Here the word 'up' has nothing to do with geography or altitude. It refers rather, to the status accorded these fabled institutes of 'higher' education. To be expelled from these centers of learning was to be 'sent down.'
In like manner, the temple (the site known from antiquity as The Place or HaMakom in Hebrew) was always 'up'. In 2 Chronicles 5:2 ff. the Levites took the ark out of the City of David and 'up to the temple'--because the temple is always 'up'. This does not mean, as some conclude, that the Temple was remote from the City of David and up the hill. Solomon brought the ark and the furnishings 'out of' the secular, unsanctified environment of the City of David and up to their separated and holy environment within the temple.
In any case, the temple had steps leading up into it that the Levites did indeed have to ascend. The same status can be seen throughout scripture: in Jesus' parable in Luke 18:10 the two men 'went up to the temple to pray' and in Acts 3:1 'Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer'.
Cambridge and Oxford students always 'go up' to their respective schools. Here the word 'up' has nothing to do with geography or altitude. It refers rather, to the status accorded these fabled institutes of 'higher' education. To be expelled from these centers of learning was to be 'sent down.'
In like manner, the temple (the site known from antiquity as The Place or HaMakom in Hebrew) was always 'up'. In 2 Chronicles 5:2 ff. the Levites took the ark out of the City of David and 'up to the temple'--because the temple is always 'up'. This does not mean, as some conclude, that the Temple was remote from the City of David and up the hill. Solomon brought the ark and the furnishings 'out of' the secular, unsanctified environment of the City of David and up to their separated and holy environment within the temple.
In any case, the temple had steps leading up into it that the Levites did indeed have to ascend. The same status can be seen throughout scripture: in Jesus' parable in Luke 18:10 the two men 'went up to the temple to pray' and in Acts 3:1 'Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer'.
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