Pinnacle
PINNACLE
Literally a wing; probably some part of the battlements on the outer wall of the temple, perhaps of Solomon’s porch, accessible by stairs, Mat 4:5-6 . Josephus describes a gallery constructed by Herod to overhang the deep valley of the Kidron, and says that the beholder on looking down from it would become dizzy. See TEMPTATION.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Pinnacle
In the account of our Lord’s temptation (Mat 4:5), it is stated that the devil took him to Jerusalem, and set him on a [rather the] pinnacle of the Temple ( ). The part of the Temple denoted by this term has been much questioned by different commentators, and the only certain conclusion seems to be that it cannot be understood in the sense usually attached to the word (i.e. the point of a spiral ornament), as in that case the article would not have been prefixed. Grotius, Hammond, Doddridge, and others take it in the sense of balustrade or pinnated battlement. But it is now more generally supposed to denote what was called the king’s portico, which is mentioned by Josephus (A nt. 15:11, 5), and is the same which is called in Scripture Solomon’s porch. Of this opinion are Wetstein, Kuinil, Parkhurst, Rosenmller, and others. Krebs, Schleusner, and some others, however, fancy that the word signifies the ridge of the roof of the Temple; and Josephus (Ant. 15:11,:5) is cited in proof of this notion. But we know that iron spikes were fixed all over the roof of the Temple to prevent the holy edifice from being defiled by birds (Joseph. Was, v, 5, 6), and the presence of these spikes creates an objection, although the difficulty is perhaps not insuperable, as we are told that the priests sometimes went to the top of the Temple (Midcoth, ch. 4; T. Bab. tit. Taanith, fol. 29). Dr. Bloomfield asks: May it not have been a lofty spiral turret, placed somewhere about the center of the building, like the spire in some cathedrals, to the topmost lookout of which the devil might take Jesus ? (Recens. Synopt. in Mat 4:5). We answer, no: steeples do not belong to ancient or to Oriental architecture, and it is somewhat hazardous to provide one for the sole purpose of meeting the supposed occasion of this text. Lightfoot, whose opinion on this point is entitled to much respect, declares his inability to judge whether the part denoted should be considered as belonging to the holy fabric itself or to some building within the holy circuit. If the former, he can find no place so fitting as the top of the , or porch of the Temple; but if the latter, the royal porch or gallery ( ) is the part he would prefer. He adds that, above all other parts of the Temple, the porch thereof, and indeed the whole pronaos, might not unfitly be called , the wing (for that is the literal meaning) of the Temple, because like wings it extended itself in breadth on each side, far beyond the breadth of the Temple. If therefore the devil had placed Christ on the very precipice of this part of the Temple, he may well be said to have placed him upon the wing of the Temple; both because this part was like a wing to the Temple itself, and because that precipice was the wing of this part (Hot. Hebr. ad Mat 4:5). Against this interpretation, however, it stems decisive that Jesus, not being a priest, could not have gained admittance to the Temple proper; unless, indeed, we understand that he was transported thither and back again miraculously. With regard to the other alternative, it is only necessary to cite the description of Josephus to show that the situation was at least not inappropriate to Satan’s object: On the south part (of the court of the Gentiles) was , the royal gallery,’ that may be mentioned among the most magnificent things under the sun; for above the profoundest depth of the valley, Herod constructed a gallery of a vast height, from the top of which, if any one looked down, he would become dizzy, his eyes being unable to reach so vast a depth. The same Greek word is used in the Sept. version to render,
1. , kandah, a wing or border, e.g. of a garment (Num 15:38; 1Sa 15:27; 1Sa 24:4);
2. , senappir, the fin of a fish (Lev 11:9. So Arist. Anim. 1, 5, 14);
3. , katsdh, an edge; A.V. end (Exo 28:26). Hesychius explains as . Perhaps in any case means the battlement ordered by law to be added to every roof. It is in favor of this that the word kandph is used to indicate the top of the Temple (Dan 9:27; Hammond, Grotius, Calmet, De Wette, Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad Matthew 4). Eusebius tells us that it was from the pinnacle ( ) that St. James was precipitated, and it is said to have remained until the 4th century (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 2, 23; Williams, Holy City, 2, 338). SEE TEMPLE.
PINNACLE is an architectural term used to designate a small turret or tall ornament, usually tapering towards the top, and much used in Gothic architecture as a termination to buttresses, etc. Pinnacles are not used in the Norman style, though there exist a few small turrets, of late date, with pointed terminations, which appear to be their prototypes, as at the west end of Rochester Cathedral, and the north transept of the church of St. Stephen at Caen.
In the Early English style they are not very abundant; they are found circular, octagonal, or square; some are perfectly plain, as at the east end of Battle Church, Sussex; others are surrounded with small shafts, as at Peterborough and Wells; and in some instances the tops are crocketed. Towards the latter part of this style the system of surmounting each face of the shaft with a small pediment was introduced, and about the same period the shafts began to be occasionally made of open-work, so as to form niches for statues.
Decorated pinnacles are very numerous; they have the shafts sometimes formed into niches, and sometimes paneled or quite plain, and each of the sides almost invariably terminates in a pediment; the tops are generally crocketed, and always have finials on the points: in form they are most usually square, but are sometimes octagonal, and in a few instances hexagonal and pentagonal; occasionally, in this style, square pinnacles are placed diagonally.
In the Perpendicular style they do not in general differ much from those of the Decorated; polygonal forms are not very frequently found, and square pinnacles are very much oftener placed diagonally on buttresses, etc.; they are also in rich buildings abundantly used on the offsets of buttresses, as well as at the tops: instead of the small pediments over the sides of the shaft, it is sometimes finished with a complete molded cornice or capping, out of which the top of the pinnacle rises, and sometimes in the place of a top of this kind the figure of an animal holding a vane, or some other device, is used: there are a few examples of pinnacles in this style with ogee-shaped tops. In the fine Perpendicular towers the pinnacles are often the most striking feature. Examples are seen on Merton and Magdalen towers in Oxford, and many of the towers in Somersetshire.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Pinnacle
a little wing, (Matt. 4:5; Luke 4:9). On the southern side of the temple court was a range of porches or cloisters forming three arcades. At the south-eastern corner the roof of this cloister was some 300 feet above the Kidron valley. The pinnacle, some parapet or wing-like projection, was above this roof, and hence at a great height, probably 350 feet or more above the valley.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Pinnacle
Mat 4:5, “the pinnacle of the temple,” the summit of the southern portico, rising 400 cubits above the valley of Jehoshaphat (Josephus Ant. 15:11, section 5, 20:9, section 7). Tregelles translated Dan 9:27, “upon the wing (kenaph) of abominations shall be that which causeth desolation,” namely, an idol set up on a wing or pinnacle of the temple by antichrist, who covenants with the restored Jews for the last of the 70 weeks of years (Joh 5:43) and breaks the covenant in the midst of the week, causing the daily sacrifices to cease. The pinnacle of the temple restored may be the scene of Satan’s tempting Israel by antichrist as it was of his tempting Jesus. James the Lord’s brother was precipitated from the pinnacle (Eusebius II E. 2:23).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Pinnacle
PINNACLE occurs only in Mat 4:5 || Luk 4:9. The word () so rendered means a little wing, and refers to some lofty point about the Temple, from which Jesus is said to have been invited by the tempter to cast Himself down. The word used for temple in both passages () denotes the whole enclosure, and not merely the Temple building proper (). The pinnacle may therefore be sought for anywhere within the Temple precincts. It is evident, from the use of the phrase the pinnacle of the temple, that there was a definite point well known by this name when the Evangelists wrote; but now we are in some uncertainty as to where it was situated. Some understand the apex of the roof of the Temple building to be meant. Others suggest the roof of Solomons Porch, on the east side of the Temple area. But if the pinnacle was not the summit of the Temple proper, the most likely position for it is the battlement of the Royal Portico, which ran from east to west across the south end of the enclosure, on the precipitous edge of a deep valley. Josephus (Ant. xv. xi. 5) says of this portico: While the valley was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen if you looked from above into the depth, this further vastly high elevation of the cloister stood upon that height, insomuch that if any one looked down from the top of the battlements, or down both these altitudes, he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth. By both these altitudes, it need hardly be said, Josephus means the height of the precipice plus the height of the portico which crowned it. As the top of the portico, according to Josephus, was 100 feet above the pavement, the drop from this elevation to the bottom of the Kidron Valley would be about 300 feet; and if the pinnacle, as some suppose, was a turret or spire at the eastern end, marking the south-east corner of the enclosure, then its height would have to be added to this vertical distance.
The Church historian Hegesippus (a.d. 160), as quoted by Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica ii. 23), gives an account of the death of James the Lords brother, who, he says, was cast down by the Jews from the pinnacle of the Temple (the Temple proper). If this statement were reliable, it would be decisive in favour of the first supposition mentioned above; but the accuracy of the whole story is doubtful, and it may be questioned whether Hegesippus, writing nearly a century after the destruction of the Temple, knew any better than we do where the pinnacle really was. There is still, therefore, a choice of views. On the one hand, the apex of the Temple proper would undoubtedly be the loftiest point of the whole group of buildings. On the other hand, the battlement of the Royal Portico would afford the deepest and sheerest fall, and, on the whole, it is most probable that the pinnacle was situated here.
James Patrick.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Pinnacle
PINNACLE.This word has been adopted by our EV [Note: English Version.] from the Vulgate of Mat 4:5 (pinnaculum) to indicate the spot within the Temple enclosure from which the devil tempted our Lord to cast Himself down. The precise nature and location of the pinnacle of the temple (Mt. l.c., Luk 4:9 [both RV [Note: Revised Version.] ]), however, are nowhere indicated. The context and the use of the word usually employed for the whole complex of buildings as opposed to that which denotes the Temple proper (see plan in art. Temple, 12) rather favour the view that the pinnacle is to be sought in the neighbourhood of the S.E. corner, where the royal porch met that of Solomon. Here, as Josephus informs usand the excavations corroborate his testimonya spectator looking down into the valley of the Kidron would turn giddy, while his sight could not reach down so such an abyss (Ant. XV. xi. 5). Many authorities, on the contrary, favour some part of the roof of the Temple building itself.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Pinnacle
pina-k’l (, pterugion (Mat 4:5; Luk 4:9, the Revised Version margin wing)): The pinnacle of the temple is named as the place to which the devil took Jesus, and there tempted Him to cast Himself down. It is not known what precise elevated spot is meant, whether a part of the roof of the temple itself, or some high point in the adjacent buildings overlooking the deep ravine. It was more probably the latter.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Pinnacle
In the account of our Lord’s temptation (Mat 4:5), it is stated that the devil took him to Jerusalem, ‘and set him on a pinnacle of the temple.’ The part of the temple denoted by this term has been much questioned by different commentators, and the only certain conclusion seems to be that it cannot be understood in the sense usually attached to the word, i.e. the point of a spiral ornament. Grotius, Hammond, Doddridge, and others, take it in the sense of balustrade or pinnated battlement. But it is now more generally supposed to denote what was called the king’s portico, which is mentioned by Josephus (Antiq. xv. 11. 5), and is the same which is called in Scripture ‘Solomon’s porch.’
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Pinnacle
The word has the article, and refers to some elevated part of the temple that is now unknown. Mat 4:5; Luk 4:9.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Pinnacle
Of temple
Mat 4:5
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Pinnacle
Pinnacle. (of the Temple). Mat 4:5; Luk 4:9. The Greek word ought to be rendered not “a pinnacle”, but “the pinnacle”. The only part of the Temple, which answered to the modern sense of pinnacle was the golden spikes erected on the roof, to prevent birds from settling there. Perhaps, the word means the battlement ordered by law to be added to every roof. (According to Alford, it was the roof of Herod’s royal portico of the Temple, “which overhung the ravine of Kedron from a dizzy height” — 600 or 700 feet. — Editor).
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Pinnacle
denotes (a) “a little wing” (diminutive of pterux, “a wing”); (b) “anything like a wing, a turret, battlement,” of the temple in Jerusalem, Mat 4:5; Luk 4:9 (of the hieron, “the entire precincts,” or parts of the main building, as distinct from the naos, “the sanctuary”). This “wing” has been regarded (1) as the apex of the sanctuary, (2) the top of Solomon’s porch, (3) the top of the Royal Portico, which Josephus describes as of tremendous height (Antiq. xv. 11.5). It is used in the Sept. of the fins of fishes, e.g., Lev 11:9-12; of the part of a dress, hanging down in the form of a wing, Rth 3:9; 1Sa 24:5.