The Knights Templar were a Catholic military order founded around 1118 AD in Jerusalem, initially to protect Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. They took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and were renowned for their piety and discipline. The Templars became very influential and amassed great wealth through donations and banking. They established a banking system that allowed pilgrims to deposit assets in their home countries and withdraw funds in Jerusalem, enabling safer pilgrimages.
The Knights Templar expanded rapidly throughout Europe and the Holy Land. At their peak, they had around 15,000 members. They erected churches and fought alongside kingdoms threatened by Muslim invasion. The Templars played a key role in many battles during the Crusades. Their organization, discipline and martial skills made them renowned warriors.
The Templars aroused envy due to their privileges and growing wealth. In 1307, King Philip IV of France accused them of heresy, since this enabled him to seize their assets. Under torture, some Templars confessed to heretical practices. Pope Clement V reluctantly suppressed the order in 1312 under pressure from King Philip. Many Templars were arrested, tortured and burned at the stake. The remaining Templars went underground or joined other orders.
Various legends arose about the Templars, such as being guardians of the Holy Grail or Ark of the Covenant, having occult practices and knowledge, or being ancestors of the Freemasons. However, modern historians tend to dismiss such legends and view the Templars as devout soldiers and bankers, although they generated controversy through their autonomous power and secretive practices.
The Bible does not directly mention the Templars, since they emerged almost a millennium after the latest biblical texts were written. However, some aspects of the Templars align with biblical themes:
- Taking vows of poverty – Jesus encouraged giving up material wealth to follow him (Matthew 19:21). The Templars aimed to detach from worldly goods.
- Military defense of the faith – The Old Testament describes holy wars led by kings like David against pagan enemies. The Templars saw fighting infidels as a righteous cause.
- Financing through donations – Biblical giving was meant to support the church and aid the needy (2 Corinthians 9:7). The Templars relied on gifts to fund operations.
- Autonomous power – The Templars answered only to the Pope, similar to sole allegiance being owed to God (Acts 5:29). This led to lack of oversight.
- Accusations of heresy – Jesus and prophets often encountered false accusations from worldly authorities (Mark 14:56-59). The charges against the Templars served political ends.
In many ways, the Templars aimed to model piety, courage and charity as extolled in the Bible. Their eventual demise illustrated human flaws like greed, abuse of power and persecution of the righteous. The Templar order was a complex historical phenomenon that reflected both noble and ignoble aspects of human nature found throughout the biblical narrative.
The Knights Templar were established to protect pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem, which is considered a holy city in Christianity. The Bible contains many references to Jerusalem, both in the Old and New Testaments.
In the Old Testament, Jerusalem was originally called Salem (Genesis 14:18) and was conquered by King David, who made it his capital (2 Samuel 5:6-9). His son Solomon built the first holy Temple there, having received detailed instructions from God (1 Kings 6). Jerusalem was the spiritual center of Judaism and the site of religious practices and animal sacrifices.
The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC, destroying the Temple and forcing Jews into exile (2 Kings 25:8-11). Eventually, they returned and rebuilt the Temple. Jerusalem then came under the control of successive empires like the Greeks and Romans.
In the New Testament, Jerusalem is where Jesus preached and was ultimately crucified. The early Christian church began in Jerusalem after Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2). Many key events in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles took place in the city or its vicinity.
Given Jerusalem’s religious significance, it was a prime destination for medieval pilgrims. The Knights Templar established their headquarters there and sought to protect this sacred city and the pilgrims who journeyed to it. This aligned with biblical ideals of guarding the holy sites and enabling safe access for worshippers.
The Knights Templar arose within a broader context of military orders during the Crusades. There are a few potential connections between these holy wars and the Bible:
- Crusades as pilgrimages – Jesus spoke of carrying one’s cross to follow him (Matthew 16:24). This was interpreted as a call to suffer hardships in pursuit of the faith.
- Holy war – The Israelites engaged in divinely sanctioned military campaigns against Canaanites and Philistines. Some saw crusades as similar battles against God’s enemies.
- Retaking the Holy Land – Crusades sought to recapture places associated with the Bible and Jesus’s life from Muslim control.
- Expanding Christianity’s reach – Jesus commanded spreading the Gospel globally (Matthew 28:19-20). Crusades extended the faith’s influence through conquest.
However, many aspects of the Crusades were unbiblical. Christians faced critique for cruelty, greed and intolerance during the campaigns. Jesus rejected force as a means of conversion and instead taught love of enemies (Luke 6:27-36). Overall, crusading ideology took biblical themes like pilgrimage and holy war out of context to justify violent expansionism inconsistent with Christ’s teachings.
The Knights Templar illustrated both positive and negative traits that align with various biblical principles:
Positive
- Courage – Templars were renowned as fierce warriors similar to champions like David (1 Samuel 17:32-51).
- Discipline – They submitted to strict rules and rigorous training, embodying principles like self-control (Proverbs 25:28).
- Charity – Donations supported their philanthropy and protection of the helpless (Psalm 82:3-4).
- Humility – Templars wore plain clothes and rejected extravagance, heeding warnings against pride (Proverbs 16:18).
- Devotion – Their religious zeal mirrored that of biblical figures like the Psalmist (Psalm 119:10).
Negative
- Greed – Over time, the order became obsessed with material gain against biblical teachings (1 Timothy 6:10).
- Secrecy – Templars were tightly guarded about certain practices, whereas Jesus taught openly (John 18:20).
- Arrogance – Their independence and power defied cautions against self-exaltation (Luke 14:11).
- Violence – Some grew addicted to force, though Jesus rejected physical means (Matthew 26:52).
- Abuse – Accusations arose of moral corruption and exploitation of members, despised by God (Ezekiel 34:2-4).
The dramatic rise and fall of the Templars illustrates biblical themes of righteousness and judgment. God empowers the faithful but will punish corruption and excess. The order began with noble aims but saw its ideals undermined by the very earthly failings scripture warns against.
While the Knights Templar sought to model virtues and duties encouraged in the Bible, their eventual persecution also mirrored the suffering of righteous figures in scripture:
- Jesus – Accused of blasphemy by religious authorities and put to death, though innocent (Matthew 26:57-68).
- Stephen – First Christian martyr, stoned after being falsely charged with blasphemy (Acts 6-7).
- Paul – Beaten and imprisoned many times for preaching the Gospel, despite his rights as a Roman citizen (2 Corinthians 11:23-26).
- Peter – Crucified in Rome under persecution of Christians ordered by Emperor Nero. Tradition holds he requested upside-down crucifixion out of humility before Christ.
- Polycarp – Early bishop burned alive after refusing to recant his faith when ordered to worship Roman gods.
Many believers have endured injustice and death on false pretences, following the example of Jesus. The Templars’ dissolution echoes this biblical theme of the persecution faced by the godly at the hands of the secular powers of the world.
While the Knights Templar left a complex legacy, their original mission had merit in biblical values:
- Protecting pilgrims – Honoring the call to care for travelers and strangers (Leviticus 19:33-34).
- Defending the faithful – Bravely shielding the community of believers (Nehemiah 4:13-14).
- Resisting godless powers – Standing against the tyranny of pagan armies, similar to the Maccabees against Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
- Guarding holy places – Preventing the defilement of sites like the Temple, as modeled by Jesus driving out merchants (Matthew 21:12-13).
For nearly two centuries, the Templars aspired to lofty biblical ideals. Sadly, over time corruption set in. The order’s dissolution served as a morality tale about the wages of sin. This aligns with scriptural warnings that the love of money is “a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10) and pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18). The Templars arose from noble faith but fell prey to earthly temptation.
In conclusion, while the Templars were not mentioned directly in scripture, various aspects of their history and character intersected with major biblical themes:
- They sought to emulate virtues like courage, charity and devotion to Christ.
- Their faults reflected pride, greed and secrecy condemned in biblical teachings.
- Their defense of Jerusalem and pilgrims aligned with scriptural values.
- Their persecution echoed the suffering of righteous martyrs portrayed in the Bible.
- Their dramatic rise and fall reinforced biblical warnings against excess and sin.
For students of history and the Bible alike, the story of the Knights Templar offers edification through its mixture of righteousness and iniquity, faith and power, nobility and tragedy. Their legacy lives on as both an inspiring and cautionary tale rooted deeply in the themes of the scriptures.