FREE ESSAY ON SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

Solomon's temple was constructed around 966 BC, at Mount Moria, out of the finest wood and
metals. The temple remained there for almost four hundred years when it was destroyed by
the army of Nabuchodonozor in 586 BC. In Hebrew, it is called Bet Yehovah, meaning house
of Jehovah, the New Testament calls it oikos, meaning the house, and in Latin it was
called cella, meaning the most holy place of the temple. The temple was constructed on
the highest point in the land, surrounded by courts and royal palaces.
The story of the temple begins with King Solomon's father, King David. He commanded that
all of his people should be counted. One day, he saw an angel, sent by God, to strike
down all of the people as a punishment for David's pride. King David repented and bought
the land where he saw the angel. He gathered treasures from foreign lands and his people
to build a great temple to God, but his son Solomon did the actual construction. He went
to Hiram, King Tyre in Phoenicia to hire workers since the Jews were not skilled in the
arts. He hired experts in masonry, brass working and carpentry. The measurement used to
construct the temple was the cubit. Even though there are many different translations of
exactly how long a cubit is, my research shows that it was roughly one foot, five and
three fourth inches. Construction of the temple was finally completed seven and a half
years after it started with a dedication from King Solomon.
The interior of the temple had two chambers, which were not equal in length. The height
of both chambers was twenty cubits, however the first chamber was longer by twenty
cubits. The first one was called the hekal, which means Holy Place. Inside this room was
a golden table that priests would place the loaves of proposition on every Sunday. There
were also five candles on both sides of the room. These candles were made of pure gold
and were each fueled by seven oil lamps. To the East was a pentagonal door six cubits
wide, which entered into the second chamber called the debir, which means Holy of Holies.
This room contained the sacred, Ark of the Covenant. Inside the ark was a vessel of mana,
the rod of Aaron and the two tablets, which had the ten laws given to Moses by God in the
desert, written on them. The walls of both chambers were lined with cedar wood, coated
with gold. The floor was made of fur wood, covered with gold chains. Above these chambers
was another area, ten cubits high, but no record says what this was used for.
The flat roof was made of beams and planks of cedar wood. Some archaeologists believe
that it may have been arched since such a surface would have easily leaked, but records
say that it was flat. Both chambers had windows, but they were not made to let light into
the rooms, rather, they were made to bring fresh air in and take smoke from the burning
incense out.
The entire temple sat on a large stone platform, which stuck out five cubits around the
base. At the front of the building were ten steps that led up to the door. On both sides
of the stairs were two large brass pillars. The pillar to the right was called Jachin,
meaning, he will establish, and the pillar on the left was called Booz, meaning, in
strength. The pillars did not support the temple but were for decoration.
Outside the temple was a courtyard called the court of the priests. On each side of the
temple, the courtyards were twenty cubits wide and in front, the courtyard was one
hundred cubits square. The grounds of the courtyards were made of large stone slabs. 
In the front courtyard, right before the steps entering the temple was the altar of
holocausts. This was a layered structure used to burn goats and other animals for
sacrifice. The courtyard also had something called the sea of molten. It was a large
basin used by priests for ritualistically washing themselves before they performed
sacrifices.
When Solomon constructed the temple, there wasn't any wall to surround the temple, but
later one was constructed by Judas Machabeus to wrap around the entire building and
courtyards. It had one door entering into each courtyard.
Many attacks on the temple were made, but most just damaged the structure and did not
make it unusable. Antiochus Eupator destroyed the walls, but Jonathon and Simon rebuilt
them. The people of Pompay overtook the city in 63 BC and tried to break the Jews spirits
by gaining control of the temple. During a nine year span, Crassus, the procurator, took
all of the riches out of it. In 586 B.C., King Nabuchodonozor completely destroyed the
temple except for the table of proposition and a few other small sacred objects. After
many years, King Herod finally retook the city and had the temple rebuilt. By this time,
they Jews did not have the ability to get skilled foreign workers and precious metals, so
the temple was no where near the glory of its predecessor. It has been said that the
elders who had experienced the Solomon's spectacular temple wept when they saw the new
temple.
Solomon's temple was probably one of if not the greatest architectural accomplishment of
the ancient Jewish people. After all of the attacks on the temple, the only thing still
standing is one of the walls. The Ark of the Covenant, which was kept in the holy of
holies, has moved to many different locations and its whereabouts are currently unknown.
In ancient times it was a magnificent sight, being made out of rare metals and woods that
most of the people had never seen before or ever saw again.
Bibliography
www.newadvent.org/cathen/14499a.htm
www.solomonstemple.com