Reviewing Solomon’s Temple

The Temple in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus was no longer Solomon’s Temple.  and it was no longer the Second Temple built by Zerubbabel after The Captivity in Babylon. An inspiration from the arch-angel Michael (known then as Marduk in those Persian times) had moved Cyrus the Great to free the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple.

Was it a third temple built by Herod the Great who had been selected by Rome to be King of Judea or did Herod merely fix-up the second Temple? The question is important to some concerning prophecy of the third temple. Thus it was either new construction or reconstruction by King Herod that the Romans would tear down after the defeat of Jewish Revolt in the year 70 CE.

This raises the questions:

• Was Herod’s Temple the Third Temple?
• Was Jesus-Christ the Third Temple? (recall John 2:19 where “Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ “)
• Is there to be a new temple in Jerusalem where currently the mosque Dome of the Rock exists?

We will examine these questions in a later post to this blog.

For now, let’s examine Solomon and Hiram and the First Temple.

 

The Biblical version of Solomon goes like this:

1 Kings 4:29 -34 (for more see Bible Gateway)

The Wisdom of Solomon

²⁹ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.

³⁰ And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

³¹ For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.

³² And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.

³³ And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

³⁴ And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

Then 1 Kings 7:

Dimensions of Temple and Adjoining Buildings

It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. ² He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. ³ It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. ⁴ Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. ⁵ All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other.^[b]

⁶ He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide.^[c] In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof.

⁷ He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. ⁸ And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

⁹ All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on their inner and outer faces. ¹⁰ The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight.¹¹ Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. ¹² The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico.

Solomon sends for Hiram

¹³ King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Hiram, ¹⁴ whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Hiram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.

¹⁵ He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. ¹⁶ He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. ¹⁷ A network of interwoven chains adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. ¹⁸ He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. ¹⁹ The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high.²⁰ On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. ²¹ He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz. ²² The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.

²³ He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it. ²⁴ Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

²⁵ The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. ²⁶ It was a hand-breadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

²⁷ He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high.²⁸ This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. ²⁹ On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. ³¹ On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit deep. This opening was round, and with its base work it measured a cubit and a half. Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. ³² The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.

³⁴ Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand.³⁵ At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. ³⁶ He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.

³⁸ He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths^[v] and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. ⁴⁰ He also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls.

So Hiram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the Lord:

All these objects that Hiram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸ Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the Lord’s temple:

⁵¹ When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.

Now comes the Queen of Sheba to visit Solomon (1 Kings 10):

10 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.² Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built,⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

⁶ She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. ⁷ But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. ⁸ How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”

¹⁰ And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones. ¹² The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)

¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

[thanks to www.biblegateway.com for the above text from 1 Kings]

Some important points from above are:

• Hiram was the son of a widow
• Hiram came with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work
• The Temple Legend contains much more about Solomon, Hiram, and the Queen of Sheba – we’ll explore this more in another post.