SANCTUARY

A sanctuary was a sanctified place, a place set apart for God and therefore considered to be holy (see SANCTIFICATION). Heaven, being God’s dwelling place, could be called God’s sanctuary (Ps 102:19; 150:1). Usually, however, the sanctuary referred to God’s earthly dwelling place, the tabernacle, and later the temple (Exod 25:8; 1 Chron 28:10; Ps 68:24-26; see TABERNACLE; TEMPLE). The inner shrine, or Most Holy Place, was in particular known as the sanctuary; for there, over the ark of the covenant, God symbolically dwelt (Lev 4:6; Ps 96:6; Heb 13:11). Since Israel trusted in God and God dwelt in the sanctuary, to trust in God was to trust in the sanctuary. A sanctuary therefore came to have a secondary meaning as a place of refuge (Isa 8:14; Ezek 11:16; cf. Exod 21:12-14; 1 Kings 2:29; Num 35:6; see CITY OF REFUGE). Other gods had their sanctuaries also. These were usually places where altars had been set up for the worship of false gods. The Baal sanctuaries, which Israelites often took over and used in their own form of false worship, were known as high places (Amos 7:9; see BAAL).