Jerusalem, David's Holy City - Temple & palaces; scale models, reconstructions

Jerusalem, David's Holy City - Temple & palaces; scale models, reconstructions

The Temple of Jerusalem was a place of worship, but unlike modern churches it was not designed for communal use. Its inner chamber was a focal point for the deity's presence, and entrance was prohibited to ordinary people.

The First Temple was completed in 957BC, the Second Temple in 515BC, and Herod's Temple was completed in 26AD. Solomon completed the First Temple, the exiles returned from Babylon built the Second Temple, and Herod the Great completed a rebuilding of the Temple during the Roman era.

The commanding site

The site of the Temple was probably originally a threshing floor (see an example above), used to process grain after the harvest. The rock floor on which the Temple was built provided a solid foundation for monumental buildings.

Jebus, the walled area in the lower right of the diagram,
marks the original city of David. It sat on a small spur of land that juts out from the flat rock plateau to its north.

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Solomon's Temple: the First Temple

The architecture of the First Temple reflected designs used in surrounding cultures - the inhabitants of Israel/Palestine never developed a style unique to themselves. 

Until the time of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant was housed in a moveable tent, suitable for a nomadic people

The floor plan of the Temple was based on the layout of the moveable Tabernacle in which the Holy of Holies had been housed, up until David gave it a more permanent home in his new capital, Jerusalem. The Tabernacle was well suited to the needs of a nomadic people, as it could be set up and dismantled quickly. The plan of the Tabernacle was similar to the layout of tribal tents.

David's son Solomon completed the First Temple in 957BC - see King Solomon for a short version of his life. The building was not large. It had three rooms: a porch, the main room of worship, and the Holy of Holies where the Ark was kept. A storehouse surrounded three sides of the Temple. This Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586BC. The Temple treasures, including the Ark, were lost. 

Detailed ground plan of the Temple of Solomon and its precincts

Reconstructions of Solomon's Temple are often over-large. The First Temple was probably of a more modest size, perhaps similar in scale, or smaller, to the Egyptian Temple of Dendur pictured here.

Judging from the description in the Bible, the central building in Solomon's Temple had a floor-plan similar to the one above

Interior of the Temple with a view of the Holy of Holies - the curtain was normally closed.
The walls of the sanctuary were lined with expensive wooden panels, with gold overlay.
The real Temple would probably have been more modest in scale.

The Temple of Jerusalem is talked about as if it was a single building, but in fact the term refers to separate buildings built during different eras.

In the early years of the Israelite kingdom, the Ark of the Covenant was periodically moved about among several sanctuaries, for example those at Shechem and Shiloh. But after David moved his court away from Hebron into the fortress/city of Jerusalem, the Ark was moved there as well. By doing this, he joined Israel's major religious object to himself and the monarchy - he was trying to consolidate the loosely governed tribes into accepting him as a king. It also turned the city of Jerusalem into a central symbol of union for the tribes. David chose Mount Moriah, now known as the Temple Mount, as the site for his temple, largely because it was believed to be the place where Abraham had built the altar on which to sacrifice his son Isaac.

The First Temple was built during the reign of David's son Solomon, and completed in about 957BC. It was built primarily as an abode for the Ark and a place of assembly for the people. The building itself was not large - as modern cathedrals are - but the courtyard made up for this, far outdoing the surrounds of a modern church. The courtyard, or series of courtyards, was the place of assembly for the people.

The Temple building faced east. It was oblong and consisted of three rooms of equal width: the porch or vestibule, the main room of religious offering, or Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies in which the Ark rested. A storehouse surrounded the Temple except at its front (east) side.

The First Temple had five altars: one at the entrance of the Holy of Holies, two others within the building, a large bronze one in front of the porch, and a large tiered altar in the courtyard. A huge bronze bowl in the courtyards was used for the priests' ablutions. Within the Holy of Holies, two cherubim of olive wood stood with the Ark. This innermost sanctuary was considered the dwelling place or focus of the Divine Presence and could be entered only by the high priest, and then only on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

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From Solomon to Hezekiah

In 604BC and then again in 597BC Jerusalem was attacked and taken by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. The city was sacked, the Temple treasure was stolen, and the Temple itself was totally destroyed. A large section of the Jewish population, including all the educated and wealthy people, were deported to Babylon - Nebuchadnezzar had a policy of population resettlement.

This might have been the end of it, but in 538BC Cyrus II, founder of the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia, issued an order allowing the Jewish population to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple. This they did, but on a more modest scale than Solomon had been able to do.

The rebuilt Temple, for which there is no exact description, was surrounded by two courtyards with chambers, gates and a public square. It did not have the ritual objects of the First Temple. The Ark had been lost, and money was short, since the whole of Jerusalem had fallen into a state of ruin and had to be rebuilt. To compensate, ritual became even more elaborate than before, and it was conducted by hereditary families of Levites.

During the 4th-3rd centuries BC, the Temple was respected by Judea's foreign rulers. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, however, desecrated it by offering sacrifice to Zeus on the altar in 168BC, sparking the Hasmonean revolt, led by the Maccabees. Judas Maccabaeus cleansed and rededicated the Temple, and this is celebrated in the annual Jewish festival of Hanukka.

Map of the city as it was in the period from Solomon to Hezekiah

Excavations of the Stepped Stone Structure, circa 10thcentury BC,
believed to be part of Jerusalem's walls

Quoted from 'David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings', Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman, p269-70:

'Beginning with the assumption that the biblical narratives were reliable historical sources, the researchers identified these ruins as features mentioned in the Bible. And they used the hypothetical identifications as archaeological "proof" that the biblical descriptions were true.
A prime example is the so-called "Stepped Stone Structure," first uncovered in the 1920's. It is an imposing rampart of fifty-eight courses of limestone boulders, extending for more than fifty feet, like a protective sheath or reinforcement over the upper end of the eastern slope of the City of David. Later excavations by Kenyon and by Shiloh discovered a network of stone terraces beneath it, probably constructed in order to stabilize and expand the narrow flat surface on the spine of the ridge, and perhaps to support a large structure built there. The early excavators suggested that the Stepped Stone Structure was part of the fortification of the Jebusite city that David conquered.....
Yet the pottery retrieved from within the courses of the Stepped Stone Structure included types of the Early Iron Age to the ninth or even early eighth centuries BC. It seems therefore that this monument was constructed at least a century later than the days of David and Solomon. Who used it, when exactly, and for what purpose still remains - archaeologically, at least - a mystery.'

Above and below: the water system including Hezekiah's tunnel

The rock tunnel of Hezekiah

When Solomon died, the ten northern tribes broke away from the federation, setting up their own kingdom in the north. Solomon's son Rehoboam was left with sovereignty over only two tribes. But he still had Jerusalem. 

In 922BC the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonk I led a raid into Judah, and sacked the city, stealing the treasure of the Temple (and probably the royal women's jewelry as well). He was followed in the next century by the Philistines and Arabs, and then in 786BC Joash of Israel invaded Judah and tore down part of the wall surrounding Jerusalem.

After Hezekiah became king of Judah, he built new fortifications and an underground tunnel (see illustration at left), which brought water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam inside the city. This was an extraordinary engineering achievement, done with what are primitive tools by modern standards. 

In 1880 an inscription was discovered. It had been cut into the tunnel wall, and describes the meeting of the two groups of stone-cutters who were digging from opposite ends of the tunnel: 'And this was the way in which it was cut through:  While [...] (were) still [...] axe(s), each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to be cut through, [there was heard] the voice of a man calling to his fellows, for there was an overlap in the rock on the right [and on the left].  And when the tunnel was driven through, the quarrymen hewed (the rock), each man toward his fellow, axe against axe; and the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1200 cubits.'

Despite his best efforts, Hezekiah was no match for the Assyrians, and in 701BC Sennacherib of Assyria 'came down like a wolf on the fold', extracting a heavy tribute from Jerusalem. Eight years later Jerusalem was laid waste and its king deported to Babylon. In 586BC the city and Temple were completely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the long exile in Babylon began.

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The post-Exilic period

Layout of the city as it would have been in Nehemiah's time -  5th century BC

'Then Eliashib the high priest and the other priests started to rebuild at the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set up its doors, building the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and the Tower of Hananel.' 

Comparison of the modestly rebuilt Post-Exilic Temple (at left) and the later, grander Temple of Herod the Great

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The buildings of Herod the Great

Quoted from 'Jerusalem, One City, Three Faiths', Karen Armstrong, p128:

'Herod did not begin the real transformation of Jerusalem until about 23BC, when he had just won a good deal of respect in Palestine by his efficiency in providing food and grain for the people during the famine of 25-24BC. Many Jerusalemites had been ruined and were able to find employment as builders once work had begun in the city. Herod began by building a palace for himself in the Upper City on the Western Hill; it was fortified by three towers, which he named after his brother Phasael, his beloved wife Mariamme the Hasmonean, and his friend Hippicus. ..... The palace itself consisted of two large buildings, one of which was called Caesareum in honor of Octavian, which were joined by enchanting water gardens, where the deep canals and cisterns were lined with bronze statues and fountains. Herod seems to have also redesigned the streets of the Upper City into a gridded system, which made traffic and town planning easier. In addition, the Upper City had a theater and a hippodrome, though we do not know the exact location of these buildings. Every five years, games were held in honor of Augustus, which drew crowds of distinguished athletes to Jerusalem.'

Go to Herod's story for a brief version of the life story of this extraordinary man: one of the ancient world's greatest builders, yet also a paranoid murderer who killed most of his family 

The city of Jerusalem in the Herodian period

A model of the city in King Herod's time. All available land within the walls
would once have been covered by buildings

A model showing the view across Jerusalem towards the Temple of Herod the Great.
At left is the Antonia Fortress; in the middle is the palace of the Judean royal family

Herod the Great rebuilt the Second Temple on a grand scale. It took 46 years to build, and was completed in 26AD. It was used not only for worship, but as a repository for the Scriptures and a meeting place for the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish law court. This Temple was destroyed in 70AD after the Jewish Revolt.

The Temple of Jerusalem: general information

During the Roman conquest, Pompey entered the Holy of Holies but did not damage or steal from the Temple. However, in 54BC Crassus plundered the Temple treasury.

Most people know Herod the Great as the king who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents at roughly the time of Jesus' birth. But as well as this he was one of the greatest builders of the ancient world. Probably acting out of political expediency (the people did not accept him as fully Jewish), he decided to rebuild the Temple on a grand scale.

Construction began in 20BC and lasted for 46 years. The area of the Temple Mount was doubled and surrounded by a high wall with massive gates. The Temple was raised, enlarged, and faced with beautiful white stone. Its courtyards served as a gathering place and its shaded porticoes sheltered merchants and money changers.

A stone fence and a rampart surrounded the inner consecrated area which was forbidden to Gentiles. The Temple itself began with the Court of Women, each side of which had a gate. The court was named for a balcony running around the courtyard from which women watched the annual celebration of Sukkot.

The western gate of the courtyard, approached by a semicircular staircase, led to the Court of the Israelites, open to all male Jews. Next came the Court of Priests which contained the sacrificial altar and a copper laver or basin for the priests to wash in. The Temple building was wider in front than in the rear. Its eastern facade had two pillars on either side of the gate to the entrance hall. Within the hall, a great door led to the sanctuary, and the western end of which was the Holy of Holies.

The Temple was not only the center of religious ritual. It was also the place where the Holy Scriptures and other important Jewish literature was held. It was the meeting place of the Sanhedrin, the High Court of Jews during the Roman period.

In 66AD rebellion broke out. It was focused on the Temple, and when the rebels were defeated the Romans destroyed almost every part of the Temple, stone by stone. All that remained was a portion of the Western Wall, called nowadays the Wailing Wall. This spot is the focus of Jewish pilgrimage and prayer.

A reconstruction of the Temple built by Herod the Great and the surrounding city
of Jerusalem as it was at the time of the Roman occupation

Reconstruction of the facade was based on the image found on this coin,
which was struck by Bar Kochba, leader of the revolt in 132AD

Ground plan of the Temple built by Herod the Great

A model of the southern face of the Temple, showing the grand stairway
leading to the stoa or entrance portico. Model by Professor Avi-Jonah

The Temple built by Herod the Great was surrounded by the Court of the Gentiles.
Note the vast stone platform on which the Temple precinct stood.

The Women's Court (with patterned floor) and surrounding Court of the Gentiles.
At right is the Court of the Israelites and the Court of the Priests
(reconstruction by Alec Gerrard) 
It was within one of these courts that Jesus was confronted with the woman taken in adultery -
see Adulterous Woman and Jesus for her story. 

The Court of the Priests with the sacrificial altar

The Wailing Wall, all that is left of Herod's magnificent Temple,
formed part of the platform on which the Temple stood

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The ancient city of Jerusalem - its story

Jerusalem is one of the oldest continuing cities in the world. There were people living there as early as the 4th millennium BC, but the fortress/city began to be famous after David captured it and made it his capital. 

Hebron, to the south, had been his capital, but he had good reasons for moving his court.  Jerusalem was in a better geographical position on the border between Judah and the northern tribes, and despite the fact that he himself had taken the citadel, its position atop steep cliffs made it difficult to overrun. 

At David's death, the city was still quite small. David had been too busy with court intrigue and hard-fought battles to think about renovations. His son was more ambitious. Solomon used Phoenician craftsmen and enforced labor to carry out the great construction program that resulted in the building of the First Temple and the palace in Jerusalem (1 Kings 7.52, 5.27). Nothing but the best. He imported wood (cedar) from Lebanon, and the Temple was embellished and decorated with the over-the-top style then fashionable. Less was definitely not more.

The royal palace probably stood north of the city. There are no traces of this site now, since Herod demolished everything that was there to extend the astonishing Temple he built. But according to 1 Kings 7:1-12, the royal palace was built from Lebanese cedar, with a vestibule hall of columns, a throne room, residential quarters and a luxurious palace for the women of the harem - Solomon's 'thousand wives'. There would also have been extensive courtyards, onto which the palace rooms opened. The palace was quite independent of the city, with a high wall surrounding it. It was necessary to pass through a guard-house to enter it.

According to 1 Kings 6:2-3, the First Temple was a long-room temple with a vestibule hall and a separate room for the Holy of Holies (see illustration at left). There were two columns in the vestibule hall, and splendid furnishings and fittings. The walls were covered with wooden panels embellished with gold-leaf overlay. 

The houses of the citizens of Jerusalem were far simpler. Of course, this meant that people were crammed together closely, and as time passed the more affluent citizens began to build houses just  outside the city walls.

All these buildings are long gone - destroyed in war or demolished to make way for later buildings. The only part left from David and Solomon's reigns may be ramparts from the city wall. Excavations have revealed a stepped stone structure, possibly foundations, dating from the 10th century BC.

Eventually, in 538BC, the people were allowed to return to Jerusalem. The once magnificent city was a sorry sight. Nothing  seemed to remain, just a few small buildings and a demoralized peasantry living in huts, where once there had been the Temple, palaces, houses and commercial buildings. 

Bit by bit the people, led by Zerubbabel of the house of David, began to rebuild Jerusalem. They were determined to re-establish their sacred city. The Temple was restored by 515BC, and Jerusalem once more became the center of the new state. Its position was strengthened when Nehemiah restored the fortifications surrounding the city.

With the coming of Alexander the Great, Jerusalem entered the world of Western power politics. After Alexander's death, Palestine was taken over by his marshal, Ptolemy I, who had occupied Egypt and made Alexandria his capital. In 198BC Jerusalem was taken over by the dynasty descended from Seleucus I, another of Alexander's marshal. 

This was significant in cultural terms, since the new rulers promoted Greek culture and religious ideas, and tried to suppress Jewish practices. In 167BC Antiochus IV desecrated the Temple, and a revolt against the Seleucid rulers broke out.  This revolt was led by the Maccabees, who were able to expel the Seleucids. Jerusalem regained its position as the capital of an independent state ruled by the priestly Hasmonean family.

Then came the Romans. They had for some time been expanding into the eastern Mediterranean world, and in 63BC Pompey captured Jerusalem. The way for peaceful co-existence was smoothed by the machinations of the Herod family, and in 40BC Herod, who had distinguished himself as governor of Galilee, was appointed a 'client king' of Judaea by the Roman Senate. He was the friend of Mark Antony, and when Mark Antony was defeated at the Battle of Actium and committed suicide, the wily Herod was able to persuade Octavian, later Augustus, that he should remain as king of Judaea.

Herod was king for the next thirty-six years, and in this period Jerusalem enjoyed its greatest period of greatness. The Temple Mount esplanade was artificially enlarged with supporting walls (including the Western Wall, now called the Wailing Wall), to provide a platform for Herod's greatest achievement, the new Temple, which took more than a generation to build. The new royal palace was strengthened by immense towers that were built into the older walls, and the Temple was defended by a new citadel. Jerusalem also acquired a Hellenistic amphitheatre.

Jerusalem was now the religious center, the goal of obligatory pilgrimages, the capital of the ruler, and the seat of the autonomous court of the Sanhedrin or Jewish Council of Elders.

Nothing lasts forever. In 66AD the Jewish people rebelled against Rome and in 70AD the city was besieged and almost completely destroyed by the Roman forces under Titus. The Temple, Herod's most splendid building, was reduced to ashes.

A Biblical city

A city in biblical times could be anything from 6 hectares (15 acres) -Megiddo, to 10 hectares (25 acres) - Ai, Gezer and Arad. It was protected by a ring of walls, with gates or posterns. The fortification could be a wall or a rampart. Inside the walls there were houses of varying shapes and sizes, but also monumental buildings which covered a substantial part of the area inside the wall. Among these were the temple and the palace, often at the center of the settlement or in a prominent position. All the houses were accessible via streets.

A city had to be situated near a water supply, with wells in the nearby plains or valleys.

City walls had different methods of construction and size. There are mud brick walls from 2 to 6 meters thick on stone foundations, with projecting semicircular or rectangular towers. In another case, the walls were 8 to 10 meters wide. The gate had towers flanking it on either side.

The earliest type of house was the wide-room house. Its floor was below ground level and the house was entered by two steps. Benches ran along the walls. This basic form was enlarged by the addition of annexes and additional rooms, and a house often had several rooms, in which the entrance from the street was in the shorter wall.

Who	David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Hezekiah, Nehemiah, King Herod, Jesus of Nazareth
What	The great Holy City of the Bible: political capital, religious center, focus of pilgrimage, and  seat of administration and law.
Where	Jerusalem lies on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds.
When	Jerusalem is one of the oldest continuing cities in the world. People have occupied the site for at least six thousand years.

The Temple of Solomon

On this page What's the evidence? Where was it? Solomon's Temple Temple Sections Furnishings The "Sea of Bronze" Jachin and Boaz Who designed it? The Divine Presence

After King David captured the hill fortress of Jebus/Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant was installed in a sanctuary on Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount. It was there that David's son Solomon constructed the First Temple, completed in 957BC.

The building was not large. It had three rooms: a porch, the main room of worship, and the Holy of Holies where the Ark was kept. A storehouse surrounded three sides of the Temple.
This Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586BC. The Temple treasures, including the Ark, were lost.

What's the evidence?

The first Temple in Jerusalem and its furnishings are described in three passages in the Old Testament: 

1. 1 Kings, mainly chapters 5-7
2. The corresponding passages in 11 Kings Ch. 2-4 (in greater detail)
3. Ezekiel 40-43. 

Unfortunately, the only information we have comes from the Bible texts. Nothing remains of the actual building itself.

The first two descriptions in the Bible are relatively the same; the fact that Chronicles gives more details than Kings is attributed to the fact that documents which were almost contemporary with the time of construction were available to the Chronicler. 

Opinions are divided as to the description in Ezekiel. Some scholars regard it as purely fictitious, while others believe it to be an eye-witness description from the time of Zerubbabel. It is also possible that Ezekiel described the Temple as it was near the time of its destruction in 587 BC, after many alterations and improvements had been made after Solomon's reign. 

Where was the Temple?

The site of the Temple was on that part of the eastern hill of Jerusalem now occupied by the large platform (35 acres) known as the Haram-es-Sharif. A large number of scholars place the Temple close to the sacred rock (see below) which is enclosed in the Dome of the Rock. 

The sacred rock enclosed within the Dome of the Rock

The rock (above) may have been the site of the altar of burnt offerings identified by I Chronicles 22:1 as the threshing floor of Ornan which would locate the Temple west of this rock. The problem with this view is that the hill slopes away steeply from the rock, requiring the elevated Holy of Holies (debir, see below) to be supported by an enormous substratum. Another old theory (confirmed to some extent by a rabbinical tradition that the surface of the rock broke through to the debir) places the great altar over the rock. 

The rock was called 'eben shtiyah' (foundation stone) and was considered the foundation stone of Heaven and earth.

Solomon's Temple

According to the Bible, the construction of Solomon's Temple took seven years, from the 5th to the 11th years of his reign (I Kings 6:37-38). He was assisted in his work by Phoenician craftsmen lent for the purpose by Hiram, King of Tyre, who also supplied him, by contract, with timber from Lebanon. The Israelites were conscripted to provide the bulk of the labour force but the skilled workmen were Phoenicians (II Chronicles 2:7-14). Some of the materials, including the gold ingots which were to be used for the sacred objects, had been prepared by David (I Chronicles 22).

As far as we can tell, the Temple was an oblong structure consisting of three parts:

1. the ulam (vestibule) marked in the diagram above as A, 
2. the hekhal (main sanctuary for worship), later called the Holy Place, B, 
3. and the debir, C, (the Holy of Holies) reserved for Yahweh and containing the Ark. 

These sections stood one behind the other in a straight line. The whole Temple was laid out with an east west orientation, the ulam or outer hall facing east. The Temple was constructed of hewn stone (at the base) and cedarwood, i.e. masonry locked together by beams, which stood on the stone base.

Cutaway model of the ulam (vestibule), the hekhal, and the debir

Sections of the Temple

Ulam: this was the outer hall, which served as a vestibule, and was designed as a barrier between the secular and the sacred portions of the sanctuary. It was about 10 cubits long and 20 cubits wide (the cubit is approximately 0.45m. or 1.5ft.). The entrance door was in its broad side, and was 14 cubits wide. The entrance faced the rising sun, and was flanked by the two free-standing pillars, Jachin and Boaz. The height of the ulam is not given, but it must have been about 20 cubits.

Hekhal: The word hekhal  is derived from a Mesopotamian term, ekallu, a temple or sanctuary. From the ulam, a cypress door 10 cubits wide led into the hekhal. Both ulam and hekhal are treated as one whole (I Kings 6:2). Properly speaking, they formed the 'house' or Temple. The hekhal was by far the largest room in the Temple, and was 40 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. It was dimly lit by latticed windows, and had wide openings which narrowed towards the interior.

Debir: The third and inner section was the Holy of Holies. The room, measuring 20 cubits in each dimension, was designed to hold the Ark of the Covenant and the Cherubim. According to Isaiah 6:1 its floor level was higher than the rest of the Temple and it was windowless. (In ancient oriental temples, the Cella stood somewhat higher than the level of the room, or if this were not the case, the symbol of worship itself stood on a raised platform.) A flight of stairs led to the Debir from the hekhal, and it was entered through a door 6 cubits wide. Some scholars believe that it was separated from the hekhal by a thin wall (Ezekiel 41:3) or by a veil.

The Yatzia (Side-Building): The 'yatzia' was an exterior building buttressing the sanctuary, and surrounding the Temple on three sides (except the ulam and the facade). It had three very low storeys, each storey a cubit wider than the one below. Thus the bottom one was 5 cubits wide, the second 6 cubits, and the third seven cubits. The total height of the yatzia was only 15 cubits, so it was lower than the central building. Every floor had about 30 rooms or vaults, in which were kept all the vessels and instruments employed in the sacrificial rites and other objects which were not in regular use, as well as the gifts to the Temple. See the diagram above.

The total length of the Temple has been reckoned as 100 cubits, and its width as 50 cubits. The proportion between length and width was 2:1, a common measurement in temples of the ancient Near East. There was also a set proportion between the doors, which became narrower as one penetrated inward: the outer door was 14 cubits wide, the middle door 10 cubits, and the inside door 6 cubits.

Furnishings

Ark of the Covenant: The Ark stood in the Debir with the Kapporeth and Cherubim, and represented the throne of Yahweh.

Altars: There were two altars in the Temple. 

1. The smaller one was of cedarwood and was decorated with gold leaf; it stood in the hechal before the entrance to the Debir and was used for offering incense. 
2. The larger altar, made of bronze, was for burnt offerings. It stood in front of the Temple in the inner courtyard, surrounded by a ditch. It was 10 cubits high and was built in the form of stages, superimposed one on top of the other, with an incline leading from one stage to the next. 

The foundation or lowest stage was named 'Bosom of the Earth' and the uppermost 'Har'el', meaning 'mountain of God', a remnant of cosmic symbolism, possibly influenced by foreign concepts which regarded the temple as the microcosm of the world. At the four corners of Har'el were affixed four horns, the use of which is not quite clear. Similar horns were discovered in large numbers on top of limestone incense altars atMegiddo, Gezer and other places. 

Some scholars regard this altar as a later addition put up by Ahaz and modelled on an altar he saw in Damascus when he went there to meet Tiglath-Pileser. This theory is backed up by the fact that the names of its various parts resemble those in Mesopotamian terminology. 

The "Sea of Bronze"

In the courtyard south east of the Temple stood a large molten sea of bronze 'wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily'. It was held up by four groups of sculptured bulls, three bulls in each group. According to I Kings, its capacity was 2000 'bat', while II Chronicles puts it at 3000 bat (scholars suggest a bat was 22 litres, or 5 gallons). The best parallels which have been found are the stone basins from Amathonte in Cyprus and from Megiddo.

The Bible also mentions ten wheeled pedestals, each supporting a bronze laver used to wash the sacrificial victims. Such pedestals have also been found in Cyprus and Megiddo. 

Jachin and Boaz

In front of the Temple, before the vestibule, were two bronze columns called Jachin and Boaz. They were free standing and purely decorative, with no functional purpose. They were elaborately decorated and crowned by bronze capitals, similar to the capital of a column found at Megiddo (see below), and were 23 cubits high and 12 cubits in circumference. Scholars suggest they were traditional stele or 'mazebot' which always had a place in the  Canaanite sanctuaries. The name of the columns remains a riddle. 

The capital of a column found at Megiddo

Who designed it?

How and where the plan of the Temple originated is not known for certain, but it probably came from Phoenicia, the home of the Temple's artisans and builders. The tripartite division into ulam, hechal and debir was very common among the Canaanites, for example in the "Fosse temple" at Lachish belonging to the pre-Israelite period. Several recently discovered sanctuaries follow the plan of the rooms standing one behind the other in a line.

A Prototype in Hazor: Another temple, somewhat better preserved than the others, has been uncovered at Hazor. This temple (below) also contained three rooms, each leading into another, and its general plan was almost identical with that of Solomon's Temple. It dates from the Late Bronze Age (13th century BC), thus preceding the Jerusalem temple. This may well have been the prototype of the Temple of Solomon. 

The Temple at Hazor. The outline of three rooms of descending sizes is clearly visible.

Seat of the Divine Presence

Solomon's Temple, like other temples in the ancient Near East, was intended for ritual purposes. Only those who belonged to the priestly order were allowed-within its precincts. The lay worshipper could not enter the Temple. In this respect, it was quite different from the synagogues and Christian churches which replaced it.

Though the Temple was erected primarily as a royal chapel adjoining the king's palace (a common practice in the Near East), it had national significance throughout its history, even though during the Divided Monarchy rival shrines existed in Bethel and Dan. On several occasions the vessels and equipment of the Temple were stolen by conquerors or surrendered as tribute. Only after the fall of the Northern Kingdom and the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah did the Temple assume paramount importance as the religious and symbolic focus of the nation. 

Bible Study Resource

Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant disappeared from the Jewish Temple somewhere before or during the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 BC. It may or may not have survived. There has been much speculation about it.

What was the Ark?

The Ark had its place in the Holy of Holies in the centre of the tabernacle, and was removed only when the whole shrine was dismantled to be moved somewhere else. 

 As to its religious significance, different scholars have put forward two conflicting interpretations: 

1. according to one school, it was a lidded chest 
2. according to another, a sort of throne. 

Both views draw their evidence from different passages in the Bible text. In Exodus 25:10-11; 37:1-9, the Ark is described as a chest made of acacia wood, about 4 ft. long and 2.5 ft. wide and high, covered with gold plates and fitted with rings through which poles could be fixed so that it could be carried. 

Kapporeth — Mercy Seat and Cherubim

Over the Ark was the Kapporeth, a gold plate the same size as the Ark, called in some translations the 'mercy seat'. The golden cherubim stood one at either end of the 'mercy seat' covering it with their outspread wings. This tradition is clearly influenced by the realities of the Temple of Solomon where the Ark stood in the Holy of Holies, sheltered by the wings of the cherubim. 

Creatures on the shrine doors in the Egyptian pharoah Tutankhamun's tomb.
They strongly resemble the Bible's description of the cherubim. 

The Bible specifies 'two cherubim of hammered gold with wings spread upward,
facing each other at the ends of the cover'

Deuteronomy 10:1-8 simply refers to an Ark made of acacia wood as a container for the two stone tablets of the Law. This became known as the Ark of the Covenant, and Deuteronomy gives no further description of it, and does not connect it with either tent or tabernacle. Archaeology has furnished many parallels to the placing of the tablets of the Law in the 'holy place' of the nation. Among ancient peoples, legal bonds and documents were frequently deposited beneath statues of the gods who were witnesses to the agreements. 

The Ark was the oldest of the symbols. It stood, apparently without being covered by any tent, in the camp of Gilgal (Joshua 7:6) right at the beginning of the Conquest. It was transferred to Bochim near Bethel (Jud. 2:1-5), then Bethel (Jud. 20:27) or according to Joshua 8:33 to Mt. Ebal near Shechem. In Samuel’s time it was kept at Shiloh (ll Samuel 1-3) until it was taken into the Battle of Aphek (1 Samuel 4:3) and captured by the Philistines (4:11). They returned it to the Israelites at Beth-Shemesh (6:11-l4) and from there it was taken to Kiriath-Gearim (7:1) where it remained until David took it to Jerusalem and installed it in "his" city. 

Floor plan of the Temple of Jerusalem. The Ark was kept in the inner-most part of the sanctuary

Remains of the Great Temple at Palmyra. Though this particular temple was looted hundreds of years ago, its most sacred objects would have been kept in the now-open niche (above) at the rear of the temple cella. The same was done with the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Jerusalem.

After the Temple had been built, the Ark was placed in the innermost sanctum (I Kings 8:3-4, 6-8) and lay there until it was destroyed along with the Temple in 587-586 BC. No new Ark was made for the post-Exilic Holy of Holies (Jeremiah 3:16) but in the post-Exilic period, the phrase, 'the room for the mercy-seat' (Kapporeth) stands for the Holy of Holies of Solomon"s Temple. Its memory remained, but Josephus (Wars 5, 5, 5) records that in Herod's Temple, there was nothing in the Holy of Holies. 

The Wanderings of the Ark

While biblical tradition insists that the Ark was housed in a tent or tabernacle and was, therefore, clearly portable, there is never any notion of taking it out of the sanctuary. Before their settlement in Canaan, the Israelites had no sanctuaries (Deuteronomy 12:8-11). Presumably, when the Israelites halted during their wanderings, the Ark containing the Covenant was temporarily covered by tent curtains and this remained the situation until it reached a more permanent resting place at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1).

In Shiloh, the Ark provided the cultic centre for the tribal federation. By the period of the early chapters of I Samuel, it was housed in a sanctuary under the care of the priest, Eli. Some time in the middle of the 11th century BC, the Philistines defeated the Israelite tribes, destroyed Shiloh and captured the Ark. In fact, the period after the destruction of Shiloh is largely a gap in the story of the central sanctuary. It seems likely that after its return and until the building of the Temple, the Ark continued to be housed in a temporary tent, not a permanent shrine. 

Some fifty years later, David formed his new official cultic centre. He connected the new worship with the ancient desert traditions of a tabernacle, and transferred the Ark to his new shrine in Jerusalem (II Samuel 6:17; 7:2), thus preserving all the awe and authority of the old sanctuary. The tent in Jerusalem under which the Ark was housed was evidently meant to represent the desert sanctuary.

What did the Ark look like? 

There is a detailed description in the Bible, but of course no-one knows exactly what it looked like. On the other hand...

People tend to think of the Temple in Jerusalem and its furnishings as unique, different from anything around at that time. That was not so. Then, as now, sacred architecture was influenced by what was happening in nearby countries and states.

Take an example: every Christian church is different - designed by a different architect, catering to different congregations and beliefs. But then again they are all similar, or have features in common. 

So it was in the ancient world - and the Temple of Jerusalem and its ancient furnishings were no exception. The people who built probably borrowed ideas and designs from surrounding cultures. 

Specifications for the Ark of the Covenant

What are the specifications in the Bible description of the Ark, in Exodus 25:10-21? 

• a chest of acacia wood
• an overlay of pure gold, inside and out, with gold molding
• four gold rings fastened to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other
• poles of acacia wood overlaid with gold, inserted into the rings
• an atonement cover of pure gold
• two cherubim of hammered gold with wings spread upward, facing each other at the ends of the cover.

See the full Bible text, listing the specifications, at end of this page. 

Shrine of Anubis from the tomb of Tutankhamun; note the poles at either side,
used for carrying the shrine from place to place

The Shrine of Anubis was clearly meant to be portable, as the Ark of the Covenant was

These are the specifications. So what was around at the time? What might the designers of the Ark been influenced by?

Tutankhamun's Tomb

One of the most startling examples comes from the tomb of Tutankhamun. 

When Howard Carter opened the inner chamber, he found a statue of Anubis, Egyptian god of the dead, sitting on top of a large box covered with pure gold. It had poles inserted into rings so that it could be easily carried.

The Bible tells us that the Ark was originally transported from shrine to shrine, before David's son Solomon built a permanent home for it in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The poles of acacia, specified in the Bible, were used in much the same way as the poles on the Shrine of Anubis - to lift and carry.

The outer casings around Tutankhamun's coffin were covered with hammered gold leaf. At each corner, and on the doors, were winged female figures (cherubim?) who stretched their wings out and over the surface of the casings, as if to protect its contents. 

Surely this cannot be coincidence? Each item described in the Bible

• the winged protectors
• the hammered gold and
• the poles fitted onto moveable shrines

appears in Tutankhamun's tomb. One must assume that the Egyptian designs were copied and adapted by the Hebrew tribes of the time when they created their own religious artifacts. 

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Bible Text describing the Ark:  Exodus 25:10-21 

An artist's recreation of the Ark: James Tissot, 'Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle'

10 Have them make a chest of acacia wood--two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
11 Overlay it with pure gold, inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.
12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other.
13 Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it.
15 The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed.
16 Then put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.
17 Make an atonement cover of pure gold--two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.
18 And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.
19 Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends.
20 The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.
21 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.  

Jerusalem, ancient city
Jerusalem lies on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds - one of the oldest continuing cities in the world, occupied for at least six thousand years. It was, of course, the sacred city of the Bible and focus of  the Jewish people for thousands of years,

• a religious center for the passionately devoted Jewish people
• the goal of pilgrims ready to walk hundreds of miled to pray there
• the capital city of the ruler of the Jewish people, and  
• a busy seat of administration and law.

Though there were people living on the site as early as the 4th millennium BC, the fortress/city only became prominent in biblical history after Davidcaptured it and made it his capital. 
David and Jerusalem
David's first capital had been in the city of Hebron, butJerusalem had certain advantages.  It was in a better geographical position, lying on the border between Judah and the northern tribes, and despite the fact that he himself had taken the citadel, its position atop steep cliffs made it difficult to overrun. The diagram at right shows the walled area, Jebus, which was the original fortress captured by David. 
At David's death, the city was still quite small. David had been too busy with court intrigue and hard-fought battles to think about renovations. 

Solomon and Jerusalem
His son was more ambitious. Solomon used Phoenician craftsmen and enforced labor to carry out the great construction program that resulted in the building of the First Temple and the palace in Jerusalem (1 Kings 7.52, 5.27). 
For both Temple and palace, Solomon would have nothing but the best. He imported wood (cedar) from Lebanon, and the Temple was embellished and decorated with the over-the-top style then fashionable. Less was definitely not more. In fact, both palace and Temple were political statements: look at how wealthy we are, what resouces we can muster, how clever and creative we are.

There have been many fanciful reconstructions of the Temple of Solomon, but it was probably modelled on Phoenician or Egyptian temple designs similar to the Temple of Dendur, above

The 7th century BC Temple at Eshmun  in ancient Phoenicia has a winged guardian figure
at each side of a stone throne; this may be similar to the cherubim in the Bible - see above and below

Winged guardian figure, ivory plaque excavated at the ancient city of Megiddo

Solomon's Palace
The royal palace probably stood north of the city. There are no traces of it now, since Herod demolished everything that was there to extend the astonishing Temple he built. 
But according to 1 Kings 7:1-12, the palace was built of Lebanese cedar, with a vestibule hall of columns, a throne room, residential quarters and a luxurious palace for the women of the harem - Solomon's 'thousand wives'. 
The rooms would have opened onto extensive courtyards. The palace itself was quite independent of the city, with a high wall surrounding it. You had to pass through a guard-house to enter it.

A reconstructed ground plan of the palace at Persepolis. Solomon's palace would have been much smaller and more modest, but it may have followed the same design of audience hall with living and service quarters behind.

The living quarters of Solomon's palace probably had latticed windows like these,
to cool the building and provide privacy

Solomon's Temple
According to 1 Kings 6:2-3, the First Temple was a long-room temple with a vestibule hall and a separate room for the Holy of Holies (see the ground plan of Solomon's Temple below). There were two columns in the vestibule hall, and splendid furnishings and fittings. The walls were covered with wooden panels embellished with gold-leaf overlay. 
The houses of the citizens of Jerusalem were far simpler, situated on terraces, with the ancient Israelite type of building retained. Of course, this meant that people were crammed together closely, and as time passed the more affluent citizens began to build houses just  outside the city walls.
All these buildings are long gone - destroyed in war or demolished to make way for later buildings. The only part left from David and Solomon's reigns may be the stones illustrated at left, which are possibly ramparts from the city wall. Excavations have revealed a stepped stone structure, possibly foundations, dating from the 10th century BC.

1. Excavation of the Stepped Stone Structure.  2. The Structure in its surroundings. 3. A 19th century photograph of Jerusalem, showing the area (middle right) before excavations began

When Solomon died, the ten northern tribes broke away from the federation, setting up their own kingdom in the north. Solomon's son Rehoboam was left with sovereignty over only two tribes. But he still had Jerusalem. 
In 922BC the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonk I led a raid into Judah, and sacked the city, stealing the treasure of the Temple (and probably the royal women'sjewelry as well). 
He was followed in the next century by the Philistines and Arabs, and then in 786BC Joash of Israel invaded Judah and tore down part of the wall surrounding Jerusalem.
Hezekiah's Jerusalem
After Hezekiah became king of Judah, he built new fortifications and an underground tunnel (see illustration below), which brought water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam inside the city. This was an extraordinary engineering achievement, done with what are primitive tools by modern standards. 
In 1880 an inscription was discovered. It had been cut into the tunnel wall, and describes the meeting of the two groups of stone-cutters who were digging from opposite ends of the tunnel:

'And this was the way in which it was cut through:  While [...] (were) still [...] axe(s), each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to be cut through, [there was heard] the voice of a man calling to his fellows, for there was an overlap in the rock on the right [and on the left].  And when the tunnel was driven through, the quarrymen hewed (the rock), each man toward his fellow, axe against axe; and the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1200 cubits.'

Water system including Hezekiah's tunnel

The Assyrians destroy Jerusalem
Despite his best efforts, Hezekiah was no match for the Assyrians, and in 701BC Sennacherib of Assyria 'came down like a wolf on the fold', extracting a heavy tribute from Jerusalem. Eight years later Jerusalem was laid waste and its king deported to Babylon. In 586BC the city and Temple were completely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the long exile in Babylon began.

This panel from the Lachish relief in the British Museum shows captives being led away from
the city of Lachish - but the scene at Jerusalem must have been similar

Eventually, in 538BC, the people were allowed to return to Jerusalem. The once magnificent city was a sorry sight. Nothing  seemed to remain, just a few small buildings and a demoralized peasantry living in huts, where once there had been the Temple, palaces, houses and commercial buildings. 

Plan of the city as it was in Nehemiah's time -  5th century BC

Bit by bit the people, led by Zerubbabel of the house of David, began to rebuild Jerusalem. They were determined to re-establish their sacred city. The Temple was restored by 515BC, and Jerusalem once more became the center of the new state. Its position was strengthened when Nehemiah restored the fortifications surrounding the city.
With the coming of Alexander the Great, Jerusalem entered the world of Western power politics. After Alexander's death, Palestine was taken over by his marshal, Ptolemy I, who had occupied Egypt and made Alexandria his capital. In 198BC Jerusalem was taken over by the dynasty descended from Seleucus I, another of Alexander's marshal. 
This was significant in cultural terms, since the new rulers promoted Greek culture and religious ideas, and tried to suppress Jewish practices. In 167BC Antiochus IV desecrated the Temple, and a revolt against the Seleucid rulers broke out.  This revolt was led by the Maccabees, who were able to expel the Seleucids. Jerusalem regained its position as the capital of an independent state ruled by the priestly Hasmonean family.
Herod the Great and Jerusalem
Then came the Romans. They had for some time been expanding into the eastern Mediterranean world, and in 63BC Pompey captured Jerusalem. The way for peaceful co-existence was smoothed by the machinations of the Herod family, and in 40BC Herod, who had distinguished himself as governor of Galilee, was appointed a 'client king' of Judaea by the Roman Senate. He was the friend of Mark Antony, and when Mark Antony was defeated at the Battle of Actium and committed suicide, the wily Herod was able to persuade Octavian, later Augustus, that he should remain as king of Judaea.

The city of Jerusalem in the Herodian period

The West Wall - all that is left of Herod's magnificent Temple

Herod was king for the next thirty-six years, and in this period Jerusalem enjoyed its greatest period of glory. The Temple Mount esplanade was artificially enlarged with supporting walls (including the Western Wall, now called the Wailing Wall), to provide a platform for Herod's greatest achievement, the new Temple, which took more than a generation to build. 
The new royal palace was strengthened by immense towers that were built into the older walls, and the Temple was defended by a new citadel. Jerusalem also acquired a Hellenistic amphitheatre.

Reconstructions of the Temple built by Herod the Great rely heavily on this ancient coin,
 showing the facade of the Temple; it was struck during the Bar Kochba Revolt 132-135AD

(Above) Two reconstructions of the Temple of Herod the Great

Jerusalem was now the religious center, the goal of obligatory pilgrimages, the capital of the ruler, and the seat of the autonomous court of the Sanhedrin or Jewish Council of Elders.
Nothing lasts forever. In 66AD the Jewish people rebelled against Rome and in 70AD the city was besieged and almost completely destroyed by the Roman forces under Titus. The Temple, Herod's most splendid building, was reduced to rubble.

And another thing...

'Beginning with the assumption that the biblical narratives were reliable historical sources, the researchers identified these ruins as features mentioned in the Bible. And they used the hypothetical identifications as archaeological "proof" that the biblical descriptions were true.
A prime example is the so-called "Stepped Stone Structure," first uncovered in the 1920's. It is an imposing rampart of fifty-eight courses of limestone boulders, extending for more than fifty feet, like a protective sheath or reinforcement over the upper end of the eastern slope of the City of David. Later excavations by Kenyon and by Shiloh discovered a network of stone terraces beneath it, probably constructed in order to stabilize and expand the narrow flat surface on the spine of the ridge, and perhaps to support a large structure built there. The early excavators suggested that the Stepped Stone Structure was part of the fortification of the Jebusite city that David conquered.....
Yet the pottery retrieved from within the courses of the Stepped Stone Structure included types of the Early Iron Age to the ninth or even early eighth centuries BC. It seems therefore that this monument was constructed at least a century later than the days of David and Solomon. Who used it, when exactly, and for what purpose still remains - archaeologically, at least - a mystery.'

Quoted from 'David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings', Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman, p269-70

'Herod did not begin the real transformation of Jerusalem until about 23BC, when he had just won a good deal of respect in Palestine by his efficiency in providing food and grain for the people during the famine of 25-24BC. Many Jerusalemites had been ruined and were able to find employment as builders once work had begun in the city. Herod began by building a palace for himself in the Upper City on the Western Hill; it was fortified by three towers, which he named after his brother Phasael, his beloved wife Mariamme the Hasmonean, and his friend Hippicus. .....
The palace itself consisted of two large buildings, one of which was called Caesareum in honor of Octavian, which were joined by enchanting water gardens, where the deep canals and cisterns were lined with bronze statues and fountains. Herod seems to have also redesigned the streets of the Upper City into a gridded system, which made traffic and town planning easier. In addition, the Upper City had a theater and a hippodrome, though we do not know the exact location of these buildings. Every five years, games were held in honor of Augustus, which drew crowds of distinguished athletes to Jerusalem.'

Quoted from 'Jerusalem, One City, Three Faiths', Karen Armstrong, p128

Ground plans, excavations, information: BIBLE ARCHITECTURE: JERUSALEM

King Solomon's Temple, King Herod's Temple: BIBLE BUILDINGS

Solomon's Palace in Jerusalem: BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: PALACES

For  information on Jerusalem in later centuries, see ISLAMIC ARCHITECTUREJerusalem

What was the Tabernacle?    

Bible Study Resource

The 'tabernacle' (mishkan in Hebrew) was the portable tent shrine containing the Ark of the Covenant, carried by the wandering lsraelites before they settled in Israel. According to tradition, it was erected as a temporary structure at the Shiloh sanctuary and carried by David’s followers to Jerusalem where it remained until Solomon’s Temple was built. 

The combination of Ark and Tabernacle represented Yahweh‘s dwelling place. 

The priestly traditions of the monarchy kept the old name of the desert tent of assembly (ohel mo‘éd Exodus 33:7-11) but also called it themishkan (abode) to indicate the manner in which God who dwelt in heaven might also make a home on earth.

In the opinion of some scholars, there was a process of development: 

• First came the oldest tradition, the Elohistic. lt stressed the role of the Mosaic tent where Yahweh talked to Moses 'face to face' (Exodus 33:11) or 'mouth to mouth' (Numbers 12:8) but gave no details of what it looked like or how it was furnished. 
• A later (priestly) tradition (Exodus 25-31, 35-39) is that of the idealmishkan (tabernacle). 

These traditions crystallized into their present form at a relatively late stage. With the passage of time, the original meaning became obscure. The priestly picture of the tabernacle is, nevertheless, more than merely a reflection of the ideas of the later period. lt contains an echo of authentic pre-Jerusalem tradition which can be disentangled from all the later accretions and distinguished within the traditions in the Pentateuch and the historical books (Samuel, Kings, Chronicles).

Moreover the motif of the desert Tent, whatever its shape and size, continued as the central religious institution, from the earliest times right through to the Tent of David. 

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A modern re-imagining of the portable Tabernacle in the pre-Davidic period.
The post-Exodus Tabernacle may have been more modest than this reconstruction

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Traditional Description

The description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-31 and 35-39 shows ascending degrees of holiness from its perimeter, the outer court, through the holy place, to the holy of holies, right at the centre. 

• The Court: the Tabernacle stood in the centre of the camp in a rectangular
  enclosure measuring 100x50 cubits, (approx. 150x75 feet). The entrance was closed by a colourful embroidered screen. Embroidered curtains hung from pillars standing in sockets of bronze to screen off the rest of the area. 
• The Altar: in the centre of the court stood the altar of burnt offering, made of a hollow chest of acacia wood sheathed with bronze. At each corner was one of the four horns of the altar. A bronze grating covered the lower half of the altar, from the ground to a projecting ledge halfway up the side. This allowed for sacrificial blood to be dashed against the sides and base of the altar. The altar was also fitted with rings and poles so that it could be carried. Beside the altar stood the bronze laver of water for the ablutions of the priests. 
• The Holy Place: the inner sanctum was furnished with  1. the table of shewbread, (the bread of the presence), with its golden plates, dishes or cups for frankincense, and other flagons and vessels needed for the ritual;  2. a golden candlestick (possibly a seven-branched lampstand or menorah) which faced the table of shewbread and was supplied with golden snuffers for dressing the wicks of the lamps;  3. the square altar of incense, made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, also fitted with rings and poles. This stood in front of the veil which separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies and upon it incense made of sweet spices was offered night and morning. 

The lay-out of the Tabernacle, and later the Jerusalem Temple, was probably similar to many other temples in the ancient world (see the temple at Bel Palmyra above), with ascending degrees of holiness culminating in the Holy of Holies at the back of the cella

The Holy of Holies

This was a square of approximately I5 ft. which contained the Ark of the Covenant and the golden slab of the mercy seat (kapporeth) with a cherub made of pure beaten gold at either end. 

These priestly descriptions of gold, silver and bronze work, magnificent edifices and sumptuous carvings and decoration present obvious difiiculties. They are not appropriate to the materially poor community liberated from Egypt and they are quite unreal in terms of technical skills before the l0th century BC. Many scholars regard the descriptions as an ideal picture drawn by later priestly writers either to serve as a model for the Temple before it was built, or based on what actually existed in Solomon’s Temple. 

The use of the actual Temple of Solomon as a model for imaginative descriptions of the earlier Tabernacle, according to the first view, is particularly apparent in connection with the forms of the altars. To begin with, bronze only came into use in Israel for building and decoration during Solomon"s reign (I Kings 7:l3-l4). Similarly, the horns which figure so prominently in the accounts of the altar’s decoration (Exodus 30:3-4) appear from archaeological finds to have come into vogue in Israel only at the beginning of the monarchy. The Bible only mentions them (apart from this one instance) against the background of the monarchical period (I Kings 1:50-51; Psalms 118:27; Jeremiah l7:l ; Amos 3 :14). It seems, therefore, that they belonged to the Temple, not to its forerunner, the Tabernacle. 

Many of the other items mentioned in the priestly description of Exodus 25-31 and 35-39 cannot be fitted into any realistic picture of a portable shrine such as the Mosaic Tent and Ark which travelled in front of Israel (Numbers 10:35-36). Instead, it seems more likely that the desert sanctuary was conceived as a collapsible version of the Temple of Jerusalem, measuring exactly half as long as that structure, but keeping the tradition that God‘s earthly dwelling was a 'Tent'. 

Archaeology of the Tabernacle

What the tent in fact looked like may perhaps be suggested by the bas relief on the Temple of Bel at Palmyra (Tadmor), dating to between the 3rd and lst centuries BC and showing a portable tent shrine (see below). 

Bas relief on the Temple of Bel at Palmyra

This, again, is very reminiscent of the pre-Islamic 'qubbah’, a big red leather tent with a domed top in which the sacred objects of the tribe were housed. It accompanied the tribe into battle and was believed to guide them during periods of wanderings. The holiness of the tent was second only to that of the objects it contained. It was both a container for these protective objects, and the focal point of worship where priests gave oracles. 

See other fascinating links between
Archaeology and the Bible

See other fascinating links between
Archaeology and the Bible

Find out more

Ark of the Covenant

Archaeology of Jerusalem

Solomon's Temple

Herod the GreatMad, bad, dangerous

Ancient palaces

Jerusalem maps

Herodium, palace fortress 

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Stories about the Temple of Jerusalem
________

  Zechariah & the angel

 

Jesus lost in Jerusalem 

Adulterous Woman

For information on the architecture of Jerusalem in later centuries, see 
Islamic architecture