There is perhaps no building of the ancient world which has excited so much attention since the time of its destruction as the Temple which Solomon [Shlomo -- from Shalom] built at Jerusalem, and its successor temple as rebuilt by Herod. Its spoils were considered worthy of forming the principal illustration of one of the most beautiful of Roman triumphal arches, and Justinian's highest architectural ambition was that he might surpass it. Throughout the Middle Ages it influenced to a considerable degree the forms of Christian churches, and its peculiarities were the watchwords and rallying-points of all associations of builders. Since the revival of learning in the 16th century its arrangements have employed the pens of numberless learned antiquarians, and architects of every country have wasted their science in trying to reproduce its forms.

Solomon's Temple was set upon the "rock" of Mount Moriah, Jerusalem's highest mountain, looking east over the Valley of Kidron. It took seven years to build, was built with huge gangs of forced labor, and was constructed without the sound of a hammer or axe or any tool of iron. Though relatively small, even intimate, in size, there was a manifest magnificence and other-worldly grandeur to it. It must have been stunning and ever beautiful in the sunlight, with its snowy marble and glittering gold. Its three parts were the porch or hall [elam], the holy place or shrine [hekal], and the holy of holies -- the inner sanctum [devir]. Its notable twin pillars are something of a mystery. Free-standing, covered with brass, the pillars had names Jachin and Boaz.

The dimensions were small by any imperial scale. There was an intimacy or almost homeyness, given the divine character of the ordination. Translating to modern American measurements, the Temple was roughly 87 by 30 feet, East and West. Correcting the textual misprint on height, the Temple must have been some 43 feet high. The walls were cedar, overlaid with gold, and the floor was cypress.

Surprisingly, the white limestone temple that glistened on Jerusalem's hilltop like a jewel in the sun was in fact a prefabricated building. "The stones used in the construction of the Temple were finished at the quarry, so there was no sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site." (I Kings 6:7) This was out of respect for the holiness of the site. The children of Israel and other Semites had been worshiping there for decades.

It is said that when the Temple had been constructed, Solomon insisted upon its dedication by [tetragrammaton] the mystic holy deity of Israel. Gathering the priests of the Levitical tribe (or family), Solomon invoked the deity with rites known to the Hebrews. The Lord answered Solomon in a dramatic way. The Glory of the Lord so filled the temple, the entirety of it, that not even the priests, the Levites could enter -- so powerful was the Glory of the Lord. In later ages, the "Glory of the Lord" would dwell between the Cherubim in the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest entered, and then only once per year, on the Day of Atonement.
The Shekhinah Glory :

שכינה
The Shekhinah [S-K-N]
Double doors led to the Holy of Holies. It was within the Holy of Holies that the Ark of the Covenant was preserved, and the Mercy Seat. This was the treasure of Israel. The Ark and its sanctuary were considered "the beauty of Israel" (Lamentations 2:1). And here, it is said, the very Shekhinah, the very Presence of God, was known to dwell [or inhabit]. The holy of holies was a perfect cube, twenty cubits by twenty cubits by twenty cubits. Between this innermost sanctum and the holy place was a double veil of finest material, elaborately embroidered. The outer of the veils was open at the north, the inner at the south. The high priest entered at the appointed time, once a year, on the day of atonement. God was said to have communicated with Moses "from between the two cherubim" on the Ark's cover.

'Tabut E Sakina' (the casket of Shekhinah)

After the House of the Lord was dedicated, according to the traditions of the Jews, the Sanctuary of the Congregation was kept in a guarded and sealed area below the Temple premises, in a virtual museum as the guarded treasure of the heritage of the Israelite people. When the House of the Lord was finished by Solomon (Shlomo), the Glory of HaShem (the Shekinah) filled the entire House (see above). The Glory of the Lord filled the gold enclosed Inner Shrine called the Holy of Holiest, this Glory was with a manifestation that was greater than the Glory that filled the Holy Place in the Wilderness Tabernacle of the Congregation (the Mishkhan) with Moshe (Moses) at the base of Mount Sinai. (1 Ki. 8:6-10) There beneath the two giant golden cherubim with arching wings shielding it for twenty cubits from one wall to the other, the Ark of the Covenant was placed. The walls of the shrine were radiant as the Glory of God flashed with a golden aura, dancing off the silhouettes of the carved relief images of cherubim, palms and calyxes on the walls and ceiling of the golden lined Inner Shrine. (1 Ki. 6:27-36) Within the Ark was contained only the Tables of Stone that the Lord of host had given to Moshe (Moses). The Lord of hosts had now placed or anchored His Sefirot, or His Image, of the World of the Divine and as the ancients described, dwelled within the Temple of Solomon. Here the Lord of hosts literally brought the 'Kingdom' of the Lord, called the Malkhut in the mystical traditions of Judaism, in the Shrine of the Holy of Holiest. In Hebrew, the root word for Shekhinah is Shakhan, which literally means "He dwelt." The Mishkhan or Tabernacle actually meant "The Dwelling Place of the Divine Presence." Here the Shekhinah came home and the Lord dwelt within the Temple built for Him. Upon the dedication of the Temple, after the Ark of the Covenant had already been placed in the Holy of Holiest, the Divine Presence moved from the Mishkhan, the Tabernacle of the Congregation in Gibeon to the Inner Shrine in the Temple. Solomon then sent the Levites to the High Place in Gibeon, where King Solomon had initially offered sacrifices to the Lord of hosts. It was there that he asked the Lord for 'wisdom' to rule God's people. (1 Ki. 3:2-15). There the Levites disassembled the Tabernacle and brought it also to Jerusalem and placed it in the quarry beneath the Temple complex. www.biblesearchers.com/temples/jeremiah2.shtml

Why Solomon?

Islamic Traditions

According to Islamic tradition, Solomon was able to converse freely with animals and birds, understanding their languages. Because of his wisdom and the grace and favor with which God endowed him, was able to converse with the spirits of the underworld who Solomon used as servants. The Moslem historian al-Siuti gives the following mythical description of how Solomon built the Temple:

When God revealed unto Solomon that he should build him a Temple, Solomon assembled all the wisest men, genii and Afrites of the earth, and the mightiest of the devils, and appointed one division of them to build, another to cut blocks and columns from the marble mines, and others to dive into ocean-depths, and fetch therefrom pearls and coral. Now some of these pearls were like ostrich's or hen's eggs. So he began to build the Temple . . . the devils cut quarries of jacinth and emerald. Also the devils made highly-polished cemented blocks of marble.

from lambert dolphin

The Wind in Solomon's Hands
The Qur'an says (21:8 and 27:16) the winds were at Solomon's beck and call and he understood the speech of birds.

The Qur'an (Surah 27 again) mentions the bird of Solomon, which is said to be the hoopoe bird, and leads the other birds on their pilgrimage.

The ring of Solomon apparently was inscribed with the "Supreme Name" (ism-i a`zam in Persian) of God. Compare Hebrew and other Shemitic tradition. It was my means of this Supreme Name that a mystic has the world under his sway. It is said that Solomon dominated the world by the power of that ring. [From Robert Bly "Hafez"; p109]

In Muslim traditon, much lore regarding biblical and extra-biblical prophets and patriarchs has been preserved. According to these traditions, Solomon was a prophet and a magician as well as Israel's glorious king. He possessed a marvelous cup or goblet (jam-i jam in Persian), by gazing into which he could behold all the affairs of his kingdom, and even the secrets of darkness. This cup was also known as the "world-revealing goblet" (jam-i jahan-nama), and it seems to have been a kind of magic mirror that worked as a crystal ball.

See King Jamshid (a mythological) Iranian King of the Pishdadian dynasty, whose legend contains an almost identical chalice, imbued with magical powers.

After the Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel [587 BC] the holy of holies was empty except for the large stone on which the high priest sprinkled the sacrificial blood once a year, on the day of atonement. What had become of the sacred contents. Where was t he Ark of the Covenant, the Tables of Stone, placed their by the family of Moses and Aaron. Their disappearance had to have occurred prior to the Babylonian plundering, for they are not listed in the catalog of the Temple spoils.

But let's go back to the First Temple and its building, in those early days of Israel's monarchy.

King David had been a pragmatic soldier-king, conquering troublesome neighbors, eaxting recompense, expanding trade. Within David's reign alone the Israelites acquired an empire, a navy and a huge trade -- all stuff of power (and trouble). To match this worldly grandeur, it fell to David's son, Solomon, to build a Temple whose opulence and beauty so amazed the people, and who fame spread to all parts of the world.

Solomon was a royal voluptuary, veiled in wisdom and splendour. But it was during his reign that Israel attained its zenith of terrestrial glory, one brief shining moment of brilliance. Following the wishes and vision of his father David, he proceeded with the construction of the Temple. David had chosen its site before his death, a threshingfloor that overlooked the city, and that the Israelites came to know as Mount Moriah -- "The Vision of God."

According to John LeKay (hEyOkA mAgAzInE), there is some evidence that King Solomon was learned in astronomy. According to the "Midrash Kohelet" King Solomon was considered to be a great and accomplished astronomer and astrologer. In the "Book of Ecclesiastes", it is also believed that he was making reference to the cycles of life contained within the Zodiac wheel of astrology, but appears to be more about astronomy than astrology.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 7:17-19, Solomon says, "For He, [God] hath given me certain knowledge of the things which are, namely to know how the world was made, and the operation of the elements: the beginning, ending, and midst of the times: the alterations and turning of the Sun, and the change of the seasons: the circuits of years, and the position of stars." For more, see hEyOkA mAgAzInE.

On Mount Moriah Solomon raised a shrine of jointed limestone, cedarwood and gold. The awe of the semi-nomadic Israelites can still be sensed in the Bible, as they watched the Temple's parts created one by one at the hands of foreign craftsmen: walls, ceilings, and folding doors gilded with palms and flowers, great brass oxen whose backs upheld the ablution pool outside, and enormous cherubim that touched their wings above the Ark in the dark of the inner sanctuary -- the Holy of Holies. Mystery surrounds the colorful embellishments embroidered within this secret inner sanctum. The Israelites were excluded from participation. They (Solomon knew) were ignorant of such artistry. Unskilled in visual arts, their king turned to Phoenician draughtsmen who came down from Lebanon.

Dionusios tecne
Dionysian Artificers (Strabo)
According to Hippolyto Joseph da Costa, there was a craft of what was know as Dionysian artificers anciently located in Byblos. These adepts were learned in the mysteries of Eleusis, famed in the worship of Apollo. According to da Costa (see Manly Palmer Hall), the Latin Translator of Strabo renders the Dionysian Artificers "scenicos artificers" (from the Greek technos) ... from the Hebrew shakan, to inhabit. This is recognizable as cognate with the Kabbalists' shekinah. [Dionysian artificers by Hippolyto Joseph da Costa.]

The Temple's chief craftsman and designer-architect was a mixed blood Israelite named Hiram Abiff, truly a man of mystery, gifted with occult skills and esoteric knowledge. He it was who cast the bronze furnishings and ornate decorations for the new temple of Solomon. Biblically, the little we know or the rest we can infer, Hiram's mother was Israelite (of Naphtali), his father a man of Tyre. History knows him as the widow's son, an artificer in brass and copper. Hiram lived or at least temporarily worked in clay banks in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarthan.

The builders made lavish use of the gold of Ophir and Parvaim. From the east it glittered in the morning sun like the sanctuary of an El Dorado. The accumulated gold and silver available to Solomon from his inheritance from David must have been (in present value) in the billions of dollars. Along with the Temple -- with its crenellated battlements -- as well as government buildings -- his palace and court and harem, Solomon was turning Jerusalem into a veritable show-case throughout the ancient world, much of its style along Punic-Phœnician lines.

Solomon embarked on vast commercial enterprises, created a merchant navy which plied the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean -- including, we are told, India herself. His port was Elath, by Ezion-Geber, with its rich copper deposits nearby, which he exploited on a large scale. On land his merchants monopolized the caravan trade in horses between Syria (Aram) and Egypt and the kingdoms of the Nile.

The sea trade with India is a tantalizing mystery. Even 1000 years BC, India was the wealthiest nation on earth. Fabulous jewels were stowed there; there were caves full of them, gold and treasures horded in cold, underground vaults (reputedly guarded by dragons and other real or mythical creatures); there were jewels glittering in temples and on every image. Jewels, spices, silks -- even in the days of Marco Polo, even in the times of Vasco da Gama and Christopher Colombus, the vast wealth of the East inspired the imagination of seekers whose quests would turn the world upside down.

And evidence exists that Solomon made contact with this. Stephen Van Eck notes that "It is axiomatic that influence follows trade, and the vibrant culture of India could not help but impact on anyone exposed to it." Rabbis and biblical scholars have known some of these hints from scripture. Note the reference to spikenard in the Song of Solomon (1:12 ; 4:13-14 ) and in the Gospels (Mark 14:3 ; John 12:3 ). This is an aromatic oil-producing plant (Nardostachys jatamansi) that the Arabs call sunbul hindi and obtained in trade with India. for more.

The Biblical Hebrew account of Solomon [Shlomo -- from Shalom] gives us the following glimpse.

• And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
• And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
• 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.
• And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
• 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.
• And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
• And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
• And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,
• Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.
• But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.
• And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name.
• Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.
• And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said,
• Blessed be the LORD this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.

History gives us a background to reigns of these mighty kings.
(Will Durant's "Our Oriental Heritage" )

foinikh

Phœnicia - land of palm trees (and also land of Tyrian purple)
Nourished by trade and skillfully governed by a mercantile aristocracy too clever in diplomacy and finance to waste their fortune in war, the cities of Phœnicia rose to a place among the richest and most powerful in the world. Byblos thought itself the oldest of all cities; the god El had founded it at the beginning of time. Because Papyrus was one of the principal articles of its trade, the Greeks took the name of the city as their word for book - biblos - and from their word for books named our Bible - ta biblia.

It was Cadmus the Phœnician who, according to the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, invented the original alphabet (or proto-alphabet) from which all other alphabets whether Greek and Latin or the Shemitic alphabets (like Arabic, Hebrew, etc) were derived. See Phoenician Alphabet, Mother of Modern Writing

Greatest of the Phœnician cities was Tyre -- i.e, the rock -- built upon an island several miles off the coast. It, like Sidon, began as a fortress, but its splendid harbor and its security from attack soon made it the metropolis of Phœnicia, a cosmoplitan bedlam of merchants and slaves from the whole Mediterranean world. It was in the style of Tyre's Melqart Temple that King Solomon's great Temple was built by Phoenician artisans using the Cedars of Lebanon.

The uniqueness of Jerusalem - Long before the time of David and Solomon, the patriarch Abraham traveled to the Land of Moriah and built an altar on one of the mountains of Salem (Ierushalayim). Tradition tells us that it was on this Rock, the Rock of Abraham, that he led his son to be sacrifice to God. The Bible (and Jewish tradition) asserts that it was his miracle son Isaac, the son of promise, whom he prepared to offer in sacrifice. Islamic tradition says it was Abraham's eldest, his firstborn Ishmael, whom he prepared to sacrifice. More on Abraham, Friend of God.

But in both traditions, that Rock is holy, as is its city. Jews call Jerusalem Ir Ha-Kodesh - the Holy City. From the Bible, we know it as the holy Zion, the City of David, the site of Solomon's Temple, and the eternal capital of the Israelite nation.

The most ancient discernable reference to this site is also found in the same Patriarchal period. The king of Salem, Melchizidek, met Abrahmam and blessed him, serving a kind of "communion" of bread and wine. In the Qumran Scrolls Melchizidek is an enormously exalted divine being to whom are applied names generally reserved for God alone, the Hebrew el and elohim.

But Why Moriah (a reflection) -

Abraham Joshua Heschel writes: Why was Mount Moriah chosen to be the site on which to build the Temple and the Holy of Holies rather than Mount Sinai on which the Ten Commandments were given? The answer offered is that Mount Moriah was the site where Abraham sacrificed his beloved son and the sanctity of sacrifice transcends the sanctity of the Commandments.

Infinitely greater than the sacrifice of Isaac was the martyrdom of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Treblinka, and others. The State of Israel was built on that martyrdom; its people are, to use a phrase of the prophet Zechariah (3:2), "a brand plucked from the fire."