a.  The Temple changed the character of Judaism by making the faith more institutional, centralized and regulated.
          b.  Foreigners were granted limited access to the Temple, so that God might be known among all peoples.
          c.  Building the Temple was a joint project of Israelite and foreigner, and as such was a sign of the future rule of God over the earth.
          d.  Israel went from being the recipient of God's blessings to the target of His judgment.
          e.  When Israel behaved like the Canaanites, God inflicted on them the same punishments for their misbehavior.
           f.  The first steps were taken towards dispossessing the Israelites of the Promised Land and sending them into exile.
          g.  God began stirring up other nations as instruments of His discipline of Israel.
          h.  The Holy Nation was forever split in two.
           i.  There was a progressive breakdown in the sense of national identity through inter-marriage with Canaanites, and through idolatry.
           j.  Yet God maintained an active Presence among His people, even at the worst of times, through His messengers.
          k.  God did not forget the righteous few, who refused to bow to the dominant cultural forces of their day.
           l.  The heart of the Hebrew religion, which is the faith of Abraham, was ultimately found, not in the Temple, but in the act of a Phoenician woman who gave her son's last meal to Elijah in response to his promise that God would provide.