TEMPIO DI GERUSALEMME

TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM. – A permanent, unique sanctuary for the conduct of Israelite worship, designed by King David and built by Solomon on Mount Moriah, in place of the mobile Mosaic Tabernacle (cf. Tabernacle).

I. SOLOMON’S TEMPLE

The Temple was built on the summit of Mount Moriah, a rocky hill rising about 750 meters above sea level. The area chosen was roughly rectangular, measuring approximately 144 meters from north to south and 120 meters from east to west. The Temple itself occupied only a small part of this space, leaving room for other structures. Some scholars argue that the sacred rock (sakhra), about 18 meters long, 13 meters wide, and 1.25–2 meters high, located at the center of the Dome of the Rock (ʻOmar), served as the base for the Ark (Desnoyers, III, 84–88; H. Schmidt, *Der heilige Fels in Jerusalem*, Tübingen 1933); however, the prevailing opinion holds that it was the base of the altar of burnt offerings. Access to the Temple was via several gates to the east, west, and south, approached by stairways. The Wilson and Robinson arches, spanning the Tyropoeon Valley, connected the Temple area with the Upper City.

The Temple consisted of the sanctuary, the portico, and the courts. The sanctuary was sixty cubits long (one cubit = 45–50 cm), thirty cubits high, and twenty cubits wide—twice the size of the Tabernacle. The eastern forty cubits formed the “Holy Place” (hekhal), while the remaining twenty cubits constituted the “Holy of Holies” or “Most Holy Place” (debir), a perfect cube of twenty cubits on each side. Surrounding the hekhal was a three-story structure with rooms five cubits high on the first floor, six on the second, and seven on the third, as the walls of the hekhal tapered upward, forming steps on which the structure rested. The doors were on the right side of the hekhal, accessed by spiral staircases. The windows were set in the walls of the hekhal that extended above this structure. The debir was kept in darkness, and only the High Priest entered it once a year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The roof of the sanctuary was made of cedarwood.

The portico (ulam) stood before the entrance to the sanctuary, ten cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and perhaps twenty cubits high (though 2 Chron 3:4 mentions 120 cubits, which is likely an error). The weapons of David and other gifts were displayed in the portico. Its door had no leaves (1 Kings 6:3; 2 Kings 11:10). There were two courts (2 Kings 21:5; 23:12; 2 Chron 33:5). The outer court (2 Chron 4:9; cf. Ezek 10:17) was a square enclosure with a paved stone floor, surrounded by a wall. It had bronze doors (2 Chron 4:9; Ezek 40:5) set in towers, accessed by seven steps (Ezek 40:6–26). Between the gates were rooms for storerooms and dwellings for the Levites on duty (2 Chron 31:11; Jer 35:2–4; Ezek 40:7–8). At the corners were small courts for the sacrificial feasts of the people (Ezek 46:21–24). In the center of the court stood a platform for the members of the house of David (2 Chron 6:12–13; 23:13; 34:31). The inner court was called the “court of the priests.” It was accessed by eight steps (1 Kings 6:36; 2 Chron 4:9). It surrounded the sanctuary (1 Kings 8:64), separated from the outer court by a wall built with three courses of stone and one course of cedarwood (1 Kings 8:64; 6:36; 2 Chron 4:9). It had no gates except on the west (a high gate on the east; 2 Chron 27:3). It contained rooms for various uses (1 Chron 9:33; Jer 35:4; 36:10). The dimensions of the courts are not given.

The sanctuary was lined with cedar panels adorned with bas-reliefs of cherubim, fruit, palm trees, and flowers, overlaid with gold leaf, and paved with cypress wood, all covered in gold—no stone was visible. A cedar partition divided the debir from the hekhal, with a double-leaf olivewood door, perhaps pentagonal, measuring four cubits, adorned with carvings like the rest of the paneling. There was a golden bolt (or chain). 2 Chron 3:14 also mentions a curtain woven of violet, purple, crimson, and fine linen, embroidered with cherubim, which hung in front. The door of the hekhal, also carved and overlaid, had two olivewood doorposts with cypress leaves that overlapped; it was square, measuring five cubits. Two cherubim (cf. Cherubim), ten cubits tall, stood in the center of the debir, facing the entrance; their wings, five cubits each, stretched out and touched above the Ark, while the other two wings touched the walls. On the facade of the portico stood the two bronze columns (as in the temples of Melqart at Tyre, Tell ‘Obeid in Mesopotamia, and Baalbek in Syria), cast by Hiram: one to the right, named Jachin (“He will establish”), the other to the left, Boaz (“In it is strength”); some read it as *Yakhin be’oz* (“May it stand with strength”). They were eighteen cubits high, with a circumference of twelve cubits, hollow inside with a thickness of four fingerbreadths; they bore a capital five cubits high, bulbous in shape, adorned with interlaced netting and two rows of two hundred pomegranates hanging inward, topped by a large lotus blossom.

(from F. S. Koriolitsor, *Archaeologia biblica*, Innsbruck 1977, 84, fig. 7; “Temple of Jerusalem – Plan of Solomon’s Temple: A – Outer Court; B – Inner Court; C – Portico; D – Holy Place; E – Most Holy Place; F – Chambers; a – Altar of Burnt Offerings”)

Inside the hekhal were: the table of incense, made of cedar overlaid with gold; the table of the Bread of the Presence (though 2 Chron 4:8 mentions ten loaves, five on the right and five on the left); ten golden lampstands, five on the right and five on the left, with flowers, lamps, snuffers, dishes, knives, trays, mortars, and censers of pure gold. Even the hinges of the doors of the debir and hekhal were made of gold.

In the inner court stood the altar of burnt offerings (1 Kings 8:64; 2 Kings 16:14; 2 Chron 4:1), made of unhewn stones overlaid with bronze, twenty cubits long and wide, and ten cubits high. There was also the “molten sea” (to the southeast of the hekhal, on the right), a huge circular bronze basin shaped like a lotus, used for the water needed for ablutions (ten cubits in diameter, five cubits high, thirty cubits in circumference), adorned with two rows of gourds in bronze, with a capacity of two thousand baths (about 787 hectoliters; 2 Chron 4:5 gives three thousand baths); it rested on twelve bronze oxen, three facing each side with their heads protruding forward; it was very bulbous and equipped with spouts; the water was supplied by cisterns. Ten movable bronze basins were placed on ten four-wheeled stands, each with a square bronze frame (three cubits high, four cubits long and wide) topped by a hollow cylinder for securing the basins; the description is quite complex, and removable models help illustrate II. The ten lavers held forty baths each (about 15 hectoliters) and were used by the officiating priests on the altar of burnt offerings to wash the sacrificial victims; they were placed five on the right and five on the left of the altar. There were also cauldrons, shovels, and dishes. The casting was done at the clay ford of Adamah (Damiya) near the mouth of the Jabbok, eleven kilometers from Succoth (Tell Deir ‘Alla) and Zarethan (Qarn Sartabeh).

I. THE FIRST TEMPLE — The First Temple was a reproduction of the Mosaic Tabernacle (the description in Ezekiel 40–48, which corresponds in general outline only to Solomon’s Temple, is to be regarded as symbolic) and was completed in seven years. In the seventh month, Ethanim (Tishri), in the seventh year (according to others, the twentieth year, i.e., thirteen years after its construction), during the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests transported the Ark from Zion and placed it in the *dēbhîr* beneath the wings of the cherubim. Its poles were so long that they could be seen from the *hēkhāl*. A cloud covered the house of the Lord. Solomon delivered a discourse, followed by a lengthy prayer, before the great assembly gathered there. The festival lasted fourteen days and was celebrated with vast sacrificial offerings (22,000 oxen and 12,000 sheep). Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard, and God appeared to him again (1 Kings 9:2; 3:4). The Mosaic Tabernacle from Gibeon was preserved in the new Temple, which was to serve as the sole sanctuary of the people of Israel.

It was subjected to enemy raids, plundering, devastation, and profanation, as recounted in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. It was looted in 925 BC by Pharaoh Shishak (1 Kings 14:26), by Joash of Israel (798–783 BC), and by Athaliah; profaned by Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon, and Zedekiah (2 Chronicles 36:14); Ahaz (736–721 BC) replaced the altar of burnt offerings with another modeled after a Damascene design (2 Kings 16:10–14). It was restored or purified by Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:5), Joash of Judah (ibid., 24:4–14), Jotham (ibid., 27:3), Hezekiah (ibid., 29:34), and Josiah (ibid., 34:3–7). Its treasures were used to pay tribute to invaders by Asa, Joash, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. It was plundered by Nebuchadnezzar during the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin and burned in 587 BC. All the most precious objects were taken as trophies to Babylon.

II. THE SECOND TEMPLE

1. Reconstruction under Zerubbabel — Cyrus (538 BC) permitted the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1:1–4) and restored the sacred vessels of gold and silver that had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar (ibid., 1:7–11). Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel (q.v.) and the high priest Joshua built the altar of burnt offerings on the ruins of the Temple and offered sacrifices there. In 537 BC, amid the singing of the Levites and the lamentations of those who had seen the splendor of Solomon’s Temple, the foundation stone of the new Temple was laid. However, the Samaritans, excluded from the construction, obstructed its progress until the reign of Darius I. Encouraged by Haggai and Zechariah, Joshua resumed the work in the second year of Darius I (520 BC), despite opposition from the Samaritans, as the decree of Cyrus was rediscovered, stipulating that the Temple should be sixty cubits in height and width (perhaps in length), with three courses of hewn stone and a further ten cubits of new timber, with the expense borne by the royal treasury (Ezra 5:1–6:12). It was completed in the sixth year of Darius (515 BC), in the month of Adar (February–March), and inaugurated with great sacrificial offerings. It resembled Solomon’s Temple in form but was far more modest and did not exceed the dimensions set forth in Cyrus’s decree. The prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah primarily refer to II. The vessels restored by Cyrus were placed within II. The *dēbhîr* remained without the Ark; a stone marked its place, and on the Day of Atonement the high priest placed the *turbōl* upon II. In the *hēkhāl* there was a single table, a single lampstand, and the altar of incense (1 Maccabees 1:21 ff.; 4:49). It had two vestibules, like Solomon’s Temple. In the courtyard of the people there were porticoes, storerooms, and dwellings for the rotating ministers (Nehemiah 10:38–40; 12:25–44; 13:4 ff.); in the center stood the altar of unhewn stones (1 Maccabees 4:38–59), followed by the bronze laver for ablutions.

Through gifts and offerings from both Jewish and Gentile princes, as well as the half-shekel tribute from Jews across all nations, the Temple was later adorned with great splendor. However, it was stripped and profaned in various ways by Antiochus Epiphanes (175–164 BC) (1 Maccabees 1:21–24; 5:47–59; 2 Maccabees 6:5). It was purified by Judas Maccabeus. Antiochus Eupator destroyed part of its walls (1 Maccabees 6:62), which were later restored by Jonathan. During the Maccabean period, it was fortified (ibid., 6:7; 13:52; Ecclesiasticus 50:1 ff.). To its north, the Hasmoneans built the fortress Baris (Birah), which Herod later embellished and renamed “Antonia” (q.v.). Alexander Jannaeus separated the courtyard of the people from that of the priests with wooden gates; the Temple was connected to the upper city by a bridge (Josephus, *Antiquitates Judaicae*, XIII, 13:5; XIV, 4:2).

In 63 BC, on the Day of Atonement, Pompey the Great entered Jerusalem and inspected the *dēbhîr* without desecrating II. In 56 BC, Crassus stripped it of 2,000 talents and gold ornaments worth 800 talents.

2. Herodian Enlargements — Herod captured the Temple in 37 BC, in the tenth month (Tishri), with great slaughter and the burning of some porticoes. Thereafter, to win Jewish favor, he undertook its restoration and nearly rebuilt it anew, making it exceedingly magnificent (20/19 BC). Herod had the northern wall demolished and the other sides reinforced; except for the eastern side, they were exposed and steep. On the lower level, the walls reached over 300 cubits in height. He doubled the esplanade. The present Haram esh-Sharif covers 1.544 square kilometers. The northeast and north corners, extending as far as the Antonia Tower, and the southwest corner are Herod’s work. The construction proceeded in stages so as not to interrupt the cult and avoid arousing Jewish suspicion. Herod procured 1,000 transport carts, employed 10,000 workers, and for the sacred precincts used exclusively 1,000 priests, whom he had trained in stone and woodworking. The old foundations were removed and new ones laid, 100 cubits long and 120 cubits high; these later gave way and were repaired in Nero’s time. Some of the stones used measured 25 × 8 × 12 cubits. The priests’ work was completed in eighteen months. Even in Jesus’ time, construction was still underway (cf. John 2:20: “forty-six years,” i.e., from 19 BC to AD 26/27). John 8:59 and 10:31 refer to the stones used to stone Jesus.

In the vast Temple that resulted, various porticoes, gates, courtyards, and the sanctuary could be distinguished. The entire enclosure formed an immense trapezoid (462 × 491 × 310 × 281 meters), surrounded by magnificent porticoes of white marble, at the center of which rose a series of lofty structures, gleaming with gold, silver, bronze, and variegated stones, crowned in the northwest by the massive and ornate Antonia Tower.

The outer porticoes, all of marble, encircled the Temple on all four sides. The most famous were Solomon’s Portico on the east and the Royal (Basilica) Portico on the south, so named for its proximity to the palace of the kings of Judah. It had four rows of columns (162 in total), forming three aisles. The last row was set against the marble wall. Each column could barely be encircled by three men; they were 27 feet (7.98 meters) high, with double spiral fluting and Corinthian capitals. The two outer aisles were 30 feet wide and 50 feet high, extending one stadium in length; the central aisle was half again as wide.

The “Court of the Women,” 135 cubits long and 135 cubits wide, lay between the “Great Gate” and the Gate of Nicanor. Women were not permitted to go beyond II. According to Middoth, II, 5, there were raised platforms in it to enable the women to view the ceremonies. At the corners of the court were four square chambers of 40 cubits each: that in the northeast for the storage of wood, that in the northwest for lepers, that in the southwest for wine and oil, and that in the southeast for Nazirites. Between the last two was the treasury. Toward the north were the trumpet-shaped chests for receiving offerings; the treasury chambers were called gazophylacia. From the Court of the Women the altar of burnt offerings could be seen, though not all the ceremonies.

The “Court of the Israelites,” entered by fifteen semicircular steps leading to the Great Gate, where the woman after childbirth and the suspected adulteress were brought, was 11 cubits (east-west) by 135 cubits (north-south), a total of about 300 square meters. All pure male Israelites could enter it, and it held about a thousand persons. Here the Levitical musicians and singers were stationed. It had two gates, on the north and south, and various rooms in its walls.

The “Court of the Priests,” 2½ cubits higher than the Court of the Israelites, was separated from it by an ornamental stone parapet about 1 cubit high. It was entered by steps at the center. It was 135 cubits wide and 176 cubits long, surrounding the Sanctuary. Around the court ran porticoes, and in the walls were various chambers: in the southwest corner the Chamber of Hewn Stone (lîp̄k̄āh ḥaggāzîṯ), where the Great Sanhedrin met and which had an entrance also on the ḥēl; beneath the wood chamber was the room where the high priest dwelt during the seven days preceding the lot-casting. In the middle of the court, opposite the Great Gate, stood the altar of burnt offerings (15 cubits high, 50 cubits long and wide); around it were arranged the instruments for slaughtering, skinning, and dividing the victims. The laver, with two channels for drainage, received water from ‘Ayn ‘Atan near Orṯā (Bethlehem).

The porch was reached from the Court of the Priests by twelve steps. Its facade was entirely gilded, 100 cubits high and long, but only 11 cubits deep, projecting 20 cubits to the right and 20 to the left from the body of the rear structure, which was 60 cubits wide. The portal was 70 cubits high and 25 cubits wide, without doors, and from it the nave could be seen. The door opposite, gilded like the wall, led into the “Holy Place” (hêkhāl); it had golden doors, above which were golden vines (a symbol of Israel: Is. 3, 14; Jer. 2, 11; Ez. 19, 40), from which hung clusters the size of a man. Before the door hung a curtain woven of violet, fine linen, scarlet, and purple, wondrously worked. In the porch were tables for placing the showbread and many gifts offered by kings and princes, e.g., the golden lamp of Helena, queen of Adiabene, and the golden table of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

The sacred building was 60 cubits high and long and 20 cubits wide, divided by a curtain into the “Holy Place” and the “Holy of Holies.”

**TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM** – Plan of Herod’s Temple:
A Court of the Israelites
B Balustrade of stone
C Reserved space
D Stairway to the platform
E Court of the Women
F Beautiful Gate
G Platforms for the women
H Chambers: 1. for Nazirites, 2. for lepers, 3. for wood storage, 4. for wine and oil
I Court of the Israelites
K Stone parapet
L Court of the Priests
M Porch
N Holy Place
O Holy of Holies
P Buildings surrounding the sanctuary
R Rooms for various uses
S Aqueduct bringing water to the great laver
a Eastern Gate
b Double Gate
c Triple Gate
e–f Western Gates leading to the lower parts of the city
g Altar of burnt offerings
h Great Laver
i Door of the porch
k Door leading to the palace of the Hasmoneans
l Gate of the staircase leading to the Tyropoeon Valley
m Gate leading to the royal palace (upper parts of the city)

The roof was double, and perhaps above the columns ran another row up to the ceiling, which was of carved wood with various figures. The central nave ended in a bridge, of which the Robinson Arch remains, connecting it with the Xystus near the palace of the Hasmoneans. The southeast corner overhung the Kidron Valley by 400 cubits. It may be the πτερύγιον τοῦ ἱεροῦ (pinnacle of the temple) of Mt. 4, 5. The Portico of Solomon, perhaps restored by Herod, rose on the east above a scarp of huge stones fixed with lead. Like those on the north and west, it had two aisles formed by three rows of monolithic columns of white marble, 25 cubits high. The porticoes were 30 cubits wide and extended 6 stades. They served as shelter from the weather, for walking, for hearing the teachers (Jn. 10, 23; Acts 3, 11; 5, 12), for the sale of animals and the changing of money. The sellers, however, also encroached upon the outer courts.

The gates of the outer enclosure were four on the west: one (possibly Barclay’s Gate) led to the royal palace by a bridge, two to the suburbs, and one to the city by a staircase descending to the valley, called Kiponios (Coonius), perhaps corresponding to Bāb es-Silsileh; two on the south, in the middle, beneath the portico, one double (to the district of the el-‘Aqṣā mosque) and one triple, called the Gate of Hulda (“the mole”); on the east, the Gate of Susa, later called “the Golden Gate”; one on the north, called the Gate of Teri or Tadi, of unknown identity. Herod also built an underground gallery from the Tower of Antonia to the eastern gate, with defensive towers.

The courts, uncovered and paved with stones of various colors, were four: of the Gentiles, of the Women, of the Israelites, and of the Priests. The “Court of the Gentiles” (to which pagans also had access) extended from the porticoes to the peribolos, a stone balustrade 3 cubits high and finely polished, in which were set, at equal intervals, columns bearing inscriptions in Latin or Greek forbidding Gentiles and the unclean to proceed further on pain of death (Flavius Josephus, *Bell. Jud.*, V, 5, 2; VI, 2, 4; *Antig. Jud.*, XV, 11, 5). Two such inscriptions have been found. The ḥēl (“enclosure” or platform—προτείχισμα = antemurale) was the raised platform (10 cubits wide) on which stood the wall enclosing the Temple; it was reached by 14 steps, was 10 cubits wide, and ran all around the Temple. Gentiles and the unclean were forbidden to enter it (cf. Acts 21, 29–30; perhaps also Eph. 2, 2).

The “Holy Place” (hêkhāl = qôdheš) occupied the first 40 cubits in length and contained the seven-branched candelabrum, the table of the showbread, and the altar of incense. The “Holy of Holies” (dêbîr) was a perfect cube of 20 cubits. Nothing was in it; it was inaccessible, untouchable, invisible to all (Flavius Josephus, *Bell. Jud.*, V, 5, 5). The three stories (with 38 chambers) built against the sacred edifice, 60 cubits high and with windows, were like those in Solomon’s Temple. They were reached by two entrances from the porch. The wall of the sacred edifice rose 40 cubits above them, reaching a height of 100 cubits, and had windows for the hêkhāl. The roof sloped slightly and was surrounded by a parapet with very sharp golden spikes to protect it from birds.

According to Flavius Josephus (*Bell. Jud.*, V, 56), “nothing was lacking in the outward appearance of the Temple to astonish the mind or the eye… From afar it appeared like a mountain of snow, for it was not gilded but exceedingly white.” Its architectural style was Greek, but adapted to Jewish mentality and customs. Oaths were sworn by it, and it was a crime not to speak of it with reverence (hence the accusation against Jesus: Mt 26:61; 27:40 and parallels). A *praktēnós* (Lk 22:4, 52; Acts 4:1; 5:24, 26) maintained order there. Herod probably placed a golden Roman eagle over the “Beautiful Gate,” which provoked disturbances (*Flavius Josephus, Ant. Jud.*, XVII, 6, 2–4; *Bell. Jud.*, I, 33, 2–4). It was plundered by Sabinus (4 BC), and during the ensuing revolt the porticoes were set on fire. Under Coponius (AD 6–9) the Samaritans profaned it by scattering human bones within. Pontius Pilate (AD 26–36) seized its treasury to build an aqueduct. Jesus often frequented Herod’s Temple, but never passed beyond the Court of the Israelites. The archangel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the *hêkhâl* (Lk 1:11, 21). Mary entered for the offering of her firstborn and her purification, encountering Simeon and Anna. At the age of twelve Jesus remained with the teachers in one of the rooms beneath the porticoes (Lk 2:46). Memorable episodes include the expulsion of the merchants, the woman taken in adultery, and the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday; he taught in the treasury, foretold its destruction to the apostles who were admiring its grandeur, the size of its stones, and the wealth of its votive offerings (Mt 24:1–2). At his death the veil was torn in two.

The Temple is also linked to the events of the Apostles and the nascent Church (Acts 3–23). Under Ventidius Cumanus (AD 48–52) some 1,000 or 2,000 Jews died in the Temple (*Flavius Josephus, Bell. Jud.*, II, 12, 1; *Ant. Jud.*, XX, 5, 3). Paul was arrested there on the pretext of having brought Gentiles past the *peribolos* (Acts 21:20–23, 10) and was led from the porticoes to the Antonia. St James the Less was martyred there. Completed under Albinus (AD 62–64), its 18,000 workers were left unemployed; in the same year the Jewish War broke out (AD 66–70), during which internecine strife and slaughter took place within the Temple. It was burned in AD 70, and—contrary to Titus’s orders—by a soldier’s impulse on the fifteenth day of *Ab*, the same day Solomon’s Temple had been burned. Among the spoils carried in triumph to Rome were the golden table of the Bread of the Presence, the seven-branched lampstand, and the Law scroll (*Flavius Josephus, Bell. Jud.*, VII, 5, 5; Arch of Titus). On its site Hadrian erected a temple to Jupiter (AD 120). Under Julian the Apostate the Jews attempted to rebuild it to refute Christ’s prophecy (Mt 24:2), but flames burst forth from the earth, killing the workers, and the work was abandoned. Pious Jews still weep at sunset every Friday over the outer ruins called the “Wailing Wall.”