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The Temple of Solomon
After King David captured the hill fortress of Jebus/Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant was installed in a sanctuary on Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount. It was there that David's son Solomon constructed the First Temple, completed in 957BC.
The building was not large. It had three rooms: a porch, the main
room of worship, and the Holy of Holies where the Ark was kept. A
storehouse surrounded three sides of the Temple. The first Temple in Jerusalem and its furnishings are described in three passages in the Old Testament:
Unfortunately, the only information we have comes from the Bible texts. Nothing remains of the actual building itself. The first two descriptions in the Bible are relatively the same; the fact that Chronicles gives more details than Kings is attributed by some authorities to the fact that documents which were almost contemporary with the time of construction were available to the Chronicler. Opinions are divided as to the description in Ezekiel. Some scholars regard it as purely fictitious, while others believe it to be an eye-witness description from the time of Zerubbabel. It is also possible that Ezekiel described the Temple as it was near the time of its destruction in 587 BC, after many alterations and improvements had been made after Solomon's reign. Archaeological evidence of other temples suggests the view that Ezekiel's description is a reminiscence of the Temple as remembered by him before his exile. The site of the Temple can be looked for on that part of the eastern hill of Jerusalem now occupied by the large platform (35 acres) known as the Haram-es-Sharif. A large number of scholars place the Temple in close proximity to the sacred rock (see below) which is enclosed in the Dome of the Rock.
The rock may have been the site of the altar of burnt offerings identified by I Chronicles 22:1 as the threshing floor of Ornan which would locate the Temple west of this rock. This view is not readily acceptable as the hill slopes away steeply from the rock, requiring the elevated Holy of Holies (debir) to be supported by an enormous substratum. Another old theory (confirmed to some extent by a rabbinical tradition that the surface of the rock broke through to the debir) places the great altar over the rock. The alternative solution, to regard the rock as the place of the debir, not of the altar, is also beset by insuperable difficulties. The rock was called "eben shtiyah" (foundation stone) and was considered the foundation stone of Heaven and earth. According to the Bible, the construction of Solomon's Temple took seven years, from the 5th to the 11th years of his reign (I Kings 6:37-38). He was assisted in his work by Phoenician artisans, lent for the purpose by Hiram, King of Tyre, who also supplied him, by contract, with timber from Lebanon. The Israelites were conscripted to provide the bulk of the labour force but the skilled workmen were Phoenicians (II Chronicles 2:7-14). Some of the materials, including the gold ingots which were to be used for the sacred objects, had been prepared by David (I Chronicles 22).
As far as we can tell, the Temple was an oblong structure consisting of three parts (see above):
These sections stood one behind the other in a straight line. The whole Temple was laid out with an east west orientation, the ulam or outer hall facing east. The Temple was constructed of hewn stone (at the base) and cedarwood, i.e. masonry locked together by beams, which stood on the stone base.
Debir: The third and inner section was the Holy of Holies. The room, measuring 20 cubits in each dimension, was designed to hold the Ark of the Covenant and the
Cherubim. According to Isaiah 6:1 its floor level was higher than the rest of the Temple and it was windowless. (In ancient oriental temples, the Cella stood somewhat higher than the level of the room, or if this were not the case, the symbol of worship itself stood on a raised platform.) A flight of stairs led to the Debir from the hekhal, and it was entered through a door 6 cubits wide. Some scholars believe that it was separated from the hekhal by a thin wall
(Ezekiel 41:3) or by a veil.
The Temple, like other Semitic sanctuaries, stood in the middle of a courtyard called the inner court, in contrast to the great court which included both the Temple and the palace. The inner court was later extended. Ark of the Covenant: The Ark of the Covenant,
stood in the Debir with the
Kapporeth and Cherubim, and represented the throne of Yahweh.
In the courtyard south east of the Temple stood an enormous molten sea of bronze "wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily". It was held up by four groups of sculptured bulls, three bulls in each group. According to I Kings, its capacity was 2000 "bat", while II Chronicles puts it at 3000 bat (Albright and R.B.Y. Scott reckoned a bat as 22 litres, or 5 gallons). The best parallels which have been found are the stone basins from Amathonte in Cyprus and from Megiddo.
The Bible also mentions ten wheeled pedestals ("machines"), each supporting a bronze laver used to wash the sacrificial victims. Such pedestals have also been found in Cyprus and Megiddo. Cups and braziers are listed among the Temple furnishings. In front of the Temple, before the vestibule, were placed two bronze columns called Jachin and Boaz. They were free standing and thus were purely decorative, with no functional purpose. They were elaborately decorated and crowned by bronze capitals, thought to be similar to the capital of a column found at Megiddo (see below), and were 23 cubits high and 12 cubits in circumference. R. de Vaux believes that they were traditional stele or "mazebot" which always had a place in the Old Canaanite sanctuaries. The name of the columns remains a riddle.
This description gives a general idea of the plan and contents of the First Temple, but how and where the plan originated is not clear. Scholars first sought its prototype in Egypt (which had maintained close relations with Solomon), in the Aegean cultures and in Mesopotamia (since many terms relating to the Temple were of Akkadian
origin). Nowhere was its actual prototype found until several scholars finally looked for it in Phoenicia, from where the Temple's artisans had come. The tripartite division into
ulam, hechal and debir was very common among the Canaanites, for example in the "Fosse temple" at
Lachish belonging to the pre-Israelite period. Several recently discovered sanctuaries follow the plan of the rooms standing one behind the other in a line.
God did not dwell on earth, yet he had chosen to be present in the "tabernacle" or "tent" in the people's midst. This gave rise in Israel to an awareness of the mystery of
God's presence within the people, which also created the Israelite nation. The problem of the distant transcendent God, the knowledge of and desire for his nearness, was solved in the Temple by means of a
rich symbolism which possessed deep meaning for those who understood it. God chose to live among his own, and he chose to live in this city and this Temple. Solomon's Temple, like other temples in the ancient Near East, was intended for ritual purposes. Only those who belonged to the priestly order were allowed-within its precincts. The lay worshipper could not enter the Temple. In this respect, it was quite different from the synagogues and Christian churches which replaced it. The First Temple was completely destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar in 586 BC.
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