hundred and eightieth year after the children of
Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in
the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel,
in the month Zif, which is the second month,
that he began to build the house of the LORD.
2 And the house which king Solomon built for the
LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits,
and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the
height thereof thirty cubits.
3 And the porch before the temple of the house,
twenty cubits was the length thereof, according
to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was
the breadth thereof before the house.
4 And for the house he made windows of narrow
lights.
5 And against the wall of the house he built
chambers round about, against the walls of the
house round about, both of the temple and of the
oracle: and he made chambers round about:
6 The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad,
and the middle was six cubits broad, and the
third was seven cubits broad: for without in the
wall of the house he made narrowed rests round
about, that the beams should not be fastened in
the walls of the house.
7 And the house, when it was in building, was
built of stone made ready before it was brought
thither: so that there was neither hammer nor ax
nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while
it was in building.
8 The door for the middle chamber was in the
right side of the house: and they went up with
winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out
of the middle into the third.
9 So he built the house, and finished it; and
covered the house with beams and boards of
cedar.
10 And then he built chambers against all the
house, five cubits high: and they rested on the
house with timber of cedar.
11 And the word of the LORD came to Solomon,
saying,
12 Concerning this house which thou art in
building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and
execute my judgments, and keep all my
commandments to walk in them; then will I
perform my word with thee, which I spake unto
David thy father:
13 And I will dwell among the children of
Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.
14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
All that remains to this day of the temple that
is mentioned in this passage that was built by
King Solomon is the retaining wall of the Temple
Mount. That's it.
Given the time line of verse one, that would
place the date at about 800 BC, give or take.
This magnificent temple only last about 200
years before it was destroyed by the
Babylonians. Then after another 200 years,
reconstruction began. Finally, only 90 years
before the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem the
work that began on Herod's Temple was completed.
http://www.templesanjose.org/JudaismInfo/faq/templewall.htm
There are discrepancies in the timeline that I
use above. I've never done a careful study of
the dates and times of these events. Others
have. Feel free to disagree. The date of the
Babylonian destruction in 586 BC seems to have
wide acceptance.
One reason that I use the timeline above is
because there seems to be a limit to the time
that any empire has ever been able to maintain
a dominant position. Israel reached it's
zenith at the time that this passage from
I Kings 6 was recorded, when Solomon was king.
After his death, the decline of the nation
began. It's recorded in I Kings.
There is also an article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon's_Temple
I am disappointed when I read of all the
speculation that appears as to the origin of the
design of the temple. Secular writers attempt
to describe all the similarities between pagan
temples and Solomon's Temple, as if it is the
temple of just one more of many deities, all
of a common origin. Instead, look at the
differences. All religions are not alike. Look
at the Dome of the Rock. The differences in
architecture are no less significant than the
differences in theology. The deities are very
different. The secular doctrine of Everything
is Equal is a lame doctrine, useful only for
speculation in an effort to create confusion.
It's been effective.
So, back to Solomon's Temple. It is symbolic
of the fact that the Lord wants to have a
presence among men, on his earth. Contained in
the inner chamber is the Ark with the Ten
Commandments engraved in stone, as they were
received by Moses. The center of worship is the
law of the Lord, as he chose to reveal himself
to man. It's not an image centered religion, it's a law/covenant centered religion. In order to have the
favor and presence of the Lord, it is explicit
that we have to live in the way that he intends
for us to live. The point is that it's not to
his benefit that we recognize and follow his
plan. It's to our benefit. The covenant was
made to benefit us, not him. Under the rule of
King David and then King Solomon, the nation
enjoyed a time of prominence. For the time that
they chose to live in agreement with the
covenant, they were able to benefit. The
position of prominence was not a result of the
skill of the men in leadership. Both David
and Solomon made it clear that they were only
'earthly representatives of the King of Heaven.
That's the motivation for building a temple.
They did not see themselves as special men, they
saw their G-d as a glorious G-d. They wanted
all people to know that they were earthly kings,
but that there is in heaven a higher King to
whom they wish to give glory.
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