Scanned from:
The Sea Traders
Time-Life Books
Copyright 1974
Pages 122-127

The Temple Built for King Solomon

Considering how the prophets of Israel hated the Phoenician god Baal and all his works, it is ironic that the best description of a Phoenician temple comes from the Old Testament. David, the warrior who united Israel in about 1000 B.C., had little time for temple-building, but his son Solomon was determined to erect a magnificent shrine to glorify both his country and his God. Unfortunately, his people lacked the necessary skills, so Solomon contracted with King Hiram of Tyre for a team of architects, masons, carpenters and smiths who, predictably, followed a design that was widespread in the area.

The temple was a narrow stone box with walls 10 feet thick. The Bible gives its dimensions in cubits-which is awkward for scholars since there were two different standards: the regular cubit (17'/2 inches) and the royal cubit (21 inches). Experts are now agreed that the royal cubit was employed. On that basis, King Solomon's temple had the following approximate inside dimensions: length 135 feet, width 35 feet, height 50 feet.

Thick-walled, o f stone blocks which the Phoenicians laid without cement, Solomon's temple was approached by a flight of 10 steps. Two bronze columns, named Jachin and Boaz, flanked the entrance. In front was a bronze holywater basin weighing 30 tons and supported by 12 cast-bronze bulls, symbols o f the Phoenicians' own god, El.

The Interior:
A Design Drawn from the Bible

A Phoenician temple had three parts: an anteroom, then a main hall, finally a secret holy-of-holies. This basic layout suited Solomon admirably since the Hebrew and Phoenician rituals had much in common, differing mainly in the insis fence of the Hebrews on worshiping a single God who had delivered them from bondage in Egypt and found them a home in Canaan.

The reconstruction on these pages, again based on the Bible, has the small anteroom, or Main, at left. Temple activities took place in the main hall, or Hekal. Twice each day -- early in the morning and at dusk -- sacrificial services were held: animals were offered up outside and incense was burned inside. The 10 tripods are light stands whose lamps are being lit by assistant priests. A high priest ignites incense on the altar in front of steps leading to the 'holy-of-halies (overleaf). In the center of the hall is a low table with
12 small loaves of bread on it, one for each of the tribes of Israel.

The walls of the Hekal are paneled in cedar, decorated with Phoenician winged sphinxes and lotus patterns.
The lofty hall, the scent of cedar and incense, the richly ornamented walls dimly illuminated through the high recessed windows-all contributed to the mystery and beauty of the temple service. The reverence was intensified by a sense of God's near presence-just up the steps and behind the doors of the holy-of-holies:

The Holy- of-Holies: A Throne for God's Presence

The holy-of-holies was a windowless, dark cube, also paneled in cedar but less elaborately decorated than the sumptuous Hekal. No one could enter here except the high priest, and he only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, when he made a special blood offering as a plea to God to cleanse His people of their sins.

This reconstruction is based on a second striking difference between the Hebrew and Phoenician faiths. The Hebrews did not believe in idols, and although the presence of God dwelt in this holy room there was no statue or image of Him there, only a small box-considered God's throne -inside which were kept the stone tablets of Moses, with the Ten Commandments inscribed on them.

Guarding God's throne (known as the Ark of the Covenant because it represented the pact between God and the Hebrews that they would worship only Him) were two large sphinxes whose outstretched wings brushed the walls and met overhead. Made of olive wood, they were 17 feet high and inlaid with gold. The Bible refers to them as cherubim.

Nothing is known of what went on inside the Phoenician version of the holy-of-holies, except that the room contained whatever image the Phoenicians worshiped. It was there that the betyl, or holy stone, probably was enshrined. But who among the Phoenicians had access to it is a mystery.