Solomon's Temple

The multitude of readers (likely counted on one hand) eagerly awaiting the next dispatch in this blog series on the temple are no doubt perturbed that a bit of time has elapsed since my previous post. Nonetheless, I confess to a certain amount of indecision as to how to approach this portion of the study. Obviously, there is a lot of detail given in II Kings and II Chronicles to preparations for, the building of, and the dedication of what came to be known to us in shorthand as Solomon's temple, and one could write numerous posts -- or an entire book -- on this subject alone. This has been done by others. That said, my approach up until now has been to provide the broad sweep of the biblical story, and with some reluctance I have decided that I will continue that approach here.

In an earlier post, I described the patriarchal altars in Genesis as transitional structures standing between the creational accounts and the construction of the tabernacle at Mount Sinai. I emphasized that the idea of transitional shouldn't cause one to think that they are unimportant. Somewhat similarly, but perhaps more surprisingly, I will also describe Solomon's temple as transitional on multiple levels. It provides a transition between the earlier tabernacle and the later coming of the true temple, Christ himself. It also provides a transition between descriptions of the cosmic and Edenic temples described in the opening chapters of the Bible and the description in Hebrews of the heavenly temple not made with hands, which provides the ultimate pattern for all biblical descriptions of faithful temples. Finally, it also provides a transitional structure connecting, once again, those temples in the opening of Genesis with the final temple, the New Jerusalem, that descends from heaven in Revelation 21 and 22.

This may seem confusing because it challenges our ordinary way of thinking about what is literal. If my analysis is correct, then Christ is the true temple, and Solomon's temple is an allegorical -- or better, typological -- depiction of Christ. Our tendency is to think the reverse, with the physical being the literal and anything else the "spiritual" or "symbolic" interpretation. However, the New Testament seems to take the opposite approach. Solomon's temple is the typological one pointing to the greater realities fulfilled in and through the arrival of Christ, who tabernacled among us, rebuilt the temple that men destroyed in three days, and mediates in our behalf in the heavenly temple,  sweeping us into a new kingdom that ultimately will need no physical temple because Christ is there.

All of that briefly speaks to how Solomon's temple looks forward to the New Testament, but, as stated before, it points back to creation as well. In an earlier post, I justified my description of Genesis 1 as an account of temple building by pointing to the ways that Solomon's temple incorporated cosmic imagery into its design. In short, the three sections of the temple structure depicted the physical earth, the visible heavens, and the invisible heavens where only God and his angels dwell. The account of Solomon's temple adds many other features pointing back to the creation accounts. The clothing worn by its priests also presented a comparable threefold structure pointing to creation. It is also a matter of significance that the temple building refers back to the creation account through repetitions of the use of the number seven which hearken back to the seven days of creation and rest. Thus, the building of the temple took seven years, was dedicated in the seventh month in a festival that extended for seven days. There is more that can be said about this, but I will stop there.

Throughout the book of Exodus and the remaining Pentatuechal accounts of Israel's wilderness wanderings, God's glory as depicted by a great cloud of fire and smoke guided them. When the tabernacle was completed in Exodus 40, that great, massive cloud descended and filled the tabernacle with the glory of God. In the same manner, the glory of God filled the temple at Solomon's dedication. John 1 uses the same language, telling us that the Word pitched his tent among us, and "we beheld his glory, as the only begotten of the Father...." This begins a theme of Jesus' glory that is perhaps an underappreciated feature of John's Gospel. The connections from early biblical history through the temple and to Christ run deep.

While Solomon's temple, in contrast to the movable tabernacle, was regarded as permanent, it would in fact be destroyed by the Babylonians. At the end of the exile, a second temple would be built. The rebuilding will be the subject of the next post.