THE COMING LAST DAYS TEMPLE
by Randall Price
Harvest House Publishers, 732 pages, $14.99

A book of this caliber is indeed rare. I do not think I have ever seen this much information for so little a cost — even by yesterday’s standards. While not agreeing with everything in the book, the overall value and the massive amount of information make that a minor issue.

Randall Price’s book is everything you ever wanted to know about the Temple and Temple Mount, as well as things you never even thought of asking. He brings his archaeological background and his times spent in Israel to this study. He presents a sweeping and comprehensive treatment of the Jewish Temple, past, present and future.

The complex issue of Islam’s ownership of the Temple Mount is discussed as well as the history of Muslim commitment to the site. The Temple Mount’s status as a political tinderbox is thoroughly analyzed. His chapters on “The Hunt for the Holy Heifer” and “Preparing a Priesthood” are insights into the Orthodox Jewish obsession with building a Temple and their present-day dilemmas and roadblocks. The story of the foundation stone for a rebuilt temple is fascinating. The preparations of harps and vessels are elaborated upon.

Though the book is decidedly dispensational and pretribulational, the history of the Temple and Temple area and the information on the current climate with modern-day Jewish organizations pushing to rebuild will be an education for all prophetic persuasions. The recent re-emergence of the right wing in Israel gives this book more timeliness and immediacy than ever.

The book includes many charts and illustrations as well as a 23-page chronology of the Temple’s history from 2,000 B.C. to a projected millennial Temple. Price provides 60 pages of endnotes and a “Directory of Temple Organizations,” complete with phone numbers and e-mail addresses. There is a 22-page listing of resources for further Temple study along with a subject index, a Scripture index and a Jewish text index. This book is a mini-dictionary and encyclopedia of Temple studies. These sections alone are worth the price of the book.

This reviewer owns a number of books on the Temple Mount written from various persuasions but none has the scope and range of this new volume. It is a treasure showing enormous time and research.

Seldom do books bring together biblical understanding and archaeological savvy, along with a balanced, well-documented understanding of current events, without being sensationalistic. Price does well as he weaves past history with current political tensions in Israel.

If this future Temple — the Jewish right says not “if” but “when” — is going to be built for the evil Antichrist, why would anyone be interested in helping or even want to see it built? Are the Christian groups involved in this really off the mark? Price has some interesting answers to this and other thorny questions that may surprise the readers.

Regardless of your prophetic persuasion, this book is a worthwhile read.

—GRF

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