Don't Know Much About the Bible - Kenneth C. Davis [86]
Solomon had grandiose plans for his empire. Besides building the first Temple in Jerusalem, he wanted palaces for himself and his wives along with their numerous shrines. Solomon’s lavish plans required two things: labor and taxes. Ancient Israel was no different from most places. People don’t like taxes and they don’t like forced labor. A conscription program, essentially no different from the one used by the Pharaohs to build the pyramids, required Israel’s men to work one month out of three for Solomon and was especially unpopular. In other words, while Solomon enjoyed himself at court in Jerusalem, antagonism was building throughout the country toward the Jerusalem regime with its wealth, excess, and blasphemous disregard for God’s rules. He may have been “Wise” but Solomon wasn’t very smart.
What did Solomon’s Temple look like?
While it wasn’t the largest building built during Solomon’s reign, the Jerusalem Temple was probably the most important. Seven years in the making—Solomon’s palace took thirteen to build—the Temple construction job was let out to an outside contractor, King Hiram of Phoenicia, who supplied materials and labor. That meant the great Temple, center of Judaism and dwelling place of Yahweh, was probably designed in the style of a Phoenician or Canaanite temple. A clear picture of King Solomon’s Temple is somewhat difficult because some of the descriptions of it in the Bible are obscure. But its plan followed that of the portable Tabernacle described to Moses by God in the wilderness, and the Tabernacle had been with the Israelites ever since. David had brought it to Jerusalem, where Solomon planned to convert it into a permanent building.
The building was rectangular, with an open “porch” facing east and an inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, believed to be the actual dwelling place of Yahweh. The overall dimensions of the building were 60 by 20 cubits (roughly 100 by 33 feet, or 30 by 10 meters) and rose to a height of 30 cubits (about 50 feet, or 15 meters). The Temple was built of quarried stone, but the inner walls were lined with cedar and the entire structure was lined with gold. The Temple was building had two sections. The large exterior room contained candelabra, two altars, and a golden table on which twelve new loaves of bread were placed each week. At the back of the Temple, a set of steps led to an inner room, the cube-shaped Holy of Holies whose sides were each 20 cubits. It was the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, the chest holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments. This room was entered by the high priest only once each year on the Day of Atonement.
The Temple building was surrounded by two open-air court-yards. The inner one—the court of the priests—was enclosed by a wall constructed of three courses of stone and one of cedar beams. Inside this enclosed courtyard was the outdoor altar where animals were sacrificed and a large metal basin—10 cubits in diameter—called the “sea,” supported by twelve bull statues, an animal that was typically associated with the Canaanite god Baal. A larger, outer great court probably also enclosed the royal buildings.
Daily temple worship included prayers and sacrifices made by the priests. Sacrifices were made for a variety of reasons, including gratitude, ritual purification, and the expiation of sins. In keeping with the requirements laid out in Leviticus, the Temple priests performed