Solomons Temple-by Lambert Dolphin Part3 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 ostrichs or hens 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. (Ref. 1) An even more fanciful Jewish legend states, When King David began to dig the foundation of the Temple, the waters of the abyss burst forth and hastened to cover the whole world. David took a fragment of pottery and wrote on it the divine Name, then threw it into the abyss. Immediately the abyss receded sixteen thousand cubits into the depths. When David saw this he said the closer the abyss is to the earth, the more the earth drinks of its waters and is blessed thereof. What did he do? He sang the fifteen Songs of Degrees of the Book of Psalms, and the abyss rose again fifteen thousand cubits. And it remained one thousand cubits beneath the surface of the earth. (Ref. 2) Dedication After the completion of the Temple it was dedicated by King Solomon in 953 BC Solomons speech to the people and his marvelous prayers were followed by an enormous offering of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. A great public feast followed: So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days. On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people. (l Kings 8:65, 66) The account in 2 Chronicles tells us that fire from heaven ignited the offerings on the altars as Solomon finished praying: When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORDs house. When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement, and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the LORD. King Solomon offered as a sacrifice twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. The priests stood at their posts, the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the LORD which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORDfor his steadfast love endures for everwhenever David offered praises by their ministry, opposite them the priests sounded trumpets; and all Israel stood. (2 Chronicles 7:1-6) A Temple without an Idol The feature that set apart the Solomonic Temple from other Temples in the ancient world is that there was no idol in it. It contained only the Mercy Seat over the Ark and the Cherubim overshadowing the Mercy Seat. This declared to the world that idols are unnecessary for God to be present. The God of Israel was not localized in any sense. Neither was He bound to any other form such as the Ark. The Temple therefore was not necessary because of Gods nature. He did not need it. One thousand years later, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, said to an unruly crowd: ...Solomon built God a house. However the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord or what is the place of My rest? Has not My hand made all these things? (Acts 7:47-50, quoting Isaiah 66:1-2). The Temple was built to meet the limitations and needs of Gods people. It emphasized the way of salvation to the those who asked His forgiveness and represented the believers assurance of the grace of God for their joy and blessing. (1 Kings 8:27-30). But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! (V. 27) The Temple also symbolized the hearing ear of God: Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day toward the place of which You said, My name shall be there, and that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. (1 Kings 8:28-29). It was also a place of refuge for the stranger: Moreover concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your names sake. (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by your name (1 Kings 8: 4143). The Temple is the house of prayer for all people where all nations of the earth should fear God: Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My House of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7). What we know about Solomons Temple The on-going, intensive research now being conducted by The Temple Institute, and other groups in Jerusalem, will soon bring us more published and accessible information on the Temple of Solomon. Until now most of the published descriptions of the temple have been based on the Bible only. Extra-biblical sources (Ref. 2) describe the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of ancient Israel as being housed in a special building in the Temple courtyard named the Chamber of Hewn Stone (Lishkat ha-Gazith). We have descriptions of the ritual bath (mikvah) used by the high priest. The mikvah was supplied by flowing (living) water from the spring called Ein Eitam which is in the hills of Bethlehem near the Pools of Solomon which are still extant. The spring was 23 cubits above the level of the Temple court. Two chambers in the Temple are named in the Mishnah. One, the Chamber of Secrets, was where the devout placed their gifts in secret. The poor received support from these gifts also in secret. The Chamber of Utensils was also a room for storing gifts from which distribution was made every 30 days. The vaulted Chamber of the Hearth (also mentioned in the Mishnah) was the room the eldest sons could stay and young priests sleep with the keys of the Temple Court in their custody. A fired burned continuously there to keep the occupants warm. Incense for the temple was prepared by a family named Abtinas in the upper story of a special building in the courtyard, the Chamber of Abtinas. We can easily imagine that rooms were needed for wood storage, for extra copies of the sacred vessels, for priestly garment storage, for temple records. Access tunnels came into the temple underground (according to more than one historical account) and some of the storage rooms were underground. These underground rooms and tunnels have apparently not been cleared, entered nor explored since the destruction of Solomons Temple on the 9th of Av, 586 BC!
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 21:49:35 +0000
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