5

Jerusalem at the Time of Solomon, 960-921 B.C.

Solomon is not mentioned in extrabiblical texts; we must therefore reconstruct his history almost exclusively from the Bible. He was the second son of David and Bathsheba and was given at birth the name Jedidiah, meaning "beloved of Jehovah" (it includes a form of the Hebrew name David, meaning "beloved"; see 2 Sam. 12:24-25). He was later, and for all time, known by his throne name Solomon (Hebrew, Shlomo), which derives from the same root as shalom, meaning "peace." Solomon was catapulted to kingship at a young age with the help of some ambitious engineering on the part of his mother. He was anointed with the horn of oil from the tabernacle while David still lived to establish a peaceful transition to something previously unknown in Israelite history—a royal dynasty. Solomon was supported in his accession to the throne by Nathan the prophet, Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the leader of the royal bodyguard (see 1 Kgs. 1:38-39). At his coronation Solomon rode the king's mule, a type of the Messiah's entry into Jerusalem a millennium later (see Zech. 9:9; JST Matt. 21:2-5).

For a brief time Jerusalem was the capital of an empire. Solomon inherited the empire of his father, King David, with relations and influence from Mesopotamia to Egypt, though the actual domain was within the traditional limits of Israelite occupation, "from Dan to Beersheba" (Judg. 20:1; 1 Sam. 3:20; see Bible Map 7). During the early decades of the first millennium before Christ, Israel was dominant in international trade, controlling the two major trade routes: the Coastal Highway (Via Maris) and the inland King's Highway. Israel collected tolls and promoted commercial relations with many countries. Solomon built a fleet of ships and conducted maritime operations from his Red Sea port of Ezion-geber (otherwise called Eloth or Elath). His partners in world trade were his adventurous friends, the Phoenicians. Solomon imported horses and chariots from Cilicia in southeast Anatolia (today's Turkey) and from Egypt, gold from Ophir in East Africa, cedar and fir (cypress) wood from Lebanon, and such other goods as almug trees (sandalwood), precious stones, ivory, apes, and peacocks (1 Kgs. 5:8-10; 9:26-28; 10:11, 22). "The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance" (1 Kgs. 10:27). Store cities and chariot cities were created in strategic parts of the nation: "Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem" (2 Chron. 9:25).

The wisdom of Solomon is legendary. Much of the book of Proverbs is attributed to him, and the biblical text indicates that he wrote three thousand proverbs and a thousand five psalms (1 Kgs. 4:32). The proverbs of Solomon are human observations and divinely inspired teachings that present universal and timeless principles for righteous living. There is no doubt that in Solomon's early years, God blessed him with great spiritual understanding. "Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men" (1 Kgs. 4:30-31). Best known are the stories of his astute judgment regarding the parentage of a baby and the visit of the queen of Sheba to investigate the intellectual prowess and fame of Israel's king. Sheba is likely the land of Saba, or modern-day Yemen in southwestern Arabia. "The queen of the south . . . came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon" (Matt. 12:42). Her reaction to Solomon's wisdom and his building projects and other accomplishments is summarized by the biblical writer:

When the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house [palace] that he had built,

And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord. . . .

And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.

Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. (1 Kgs. 10:4-7)

The queen apparently had visited Jerusalem and seen "Solomon in all his glory" (Matt. 6:29). 1

Solomon's Building Projects

Solomon fortified important military positions in the north and along the International Highway through the Jezreel Valley and the coastal plain at Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer (Solomonic gates have been discovered by archaeologists at the entrance to each of those cities). He reinforced Lower Beth-horon at the entrance to the most strategic route from the coast up into the hills around Jerusalem (see 1 Kgs. 9:15-17; Bible Map 8). 2

In addition to these strongholds and emplacements for the national defense, Solomon carried out an extensive building campaign at Jerusalem. In fact, except for Herod the Great, no individual in the long history of Jerusalem has had a greater effect on its physical character than Solomon. He intentionally strengthened Jerusalem's position as the spiritual, political, and economic center of Israel. He constructed the Temple over a period of seven years. Immediately south of the House of the Lord, for thirteen years he built the complex of the house of the king, including the "house of the forest of Lebanon." This largest of all the palatial buildings was a hypostyle hall with forty-five cedarwood columns. He also built the porch, or hall of pillars; the throne hall of judgment, the main ceremonial hall furnished with a great ivory throne with gold overlay and surrounded by lions; and a house for Pharaoh's daughter, his principal wife. All of these structures were made of costly hewn stones and cedarwood (see 1 Kgs. 7:1-11) and were probably in the large area south of the summit of Moriah where the Temple stood, where the Muslim fountain known as El Kas and the Al-Aqsa Mosque presently stand and beyond them southward to meet the old wall and fortifications of the City of David. Nothing is left today of any of Solomon's buildings in Jerusalem; the site was totally reworked by King Herod.

Solomon repaired the Millo and built the wall of Jerusalem. Some researchers believe that he enclosed at least part of the Western Hill, which was the only direction in which the city could expand. 3 He also extended the usefulness of the Gihon Spring with an aqueduct carrying water into the Kidron Valley and to a collection pool at the southern end of the city; this aqueduct is usually called the Siloam (or Shiloah) Channel. 4 The name Siloam derives from the Hebrew verb shalah, which means "to send" (cf. John 9:7). Its course runs below the city wall on the lower, eastern slope of the City of David. It is partly a stone-covered canal and partly a tunnel carved through the stone of the hill slope. At intervals were placed floodgates to allow water to flow into the valley for irrigation. 5

Government and Taxation

Solomon levied heavy taxes on his foreign territories and on his own people to finance his fortifications and building projects (see 1 Kgs. 9:15). He appointed officers over twelve administrative districts outside Judah to oversee collection of his taxes (see Bible Map 8). Each district was required to provide supplies for the royal court one month each year. 6 The daily ration was 330 bushels of fine flour; 660 bushels of meal; ten fat oxen and one hundred sheep, as well as gazelles, roebucks, harts, fowl, barley, straw, and so forth. Some have estimated that supply would have been sufficient for thirty-five thousand people—wives, officials, servants, soldiers, and others, even outside Jerusalem, for Jerusalem itself did not have that many people in those days. Furthermore, the annual payment to Hiram of Tyre for Solomon's building projects amounted to 220,000 bushels of wheat and 180,000 gallons of olive oil. These demands on the agricultural economy of his nation would have been incredibly high. 7

Solomon set up his twelve administrative districts to differ from the old tribal boundaries in order to weaken former loyalties and strengthen allegiance to his central government in Jerusalem. Judah's exemption from imposts and taxes must have been a source of irritation and resentment to the rest of Israel. During the very next generation the northern tribes rebelled against the unfair economic policies and conspicuous favoritism of the king. Solomon's name does mean "peace," but the scriptural record hints that all was not peaceful during his reign.

Besides the excessive taxation, Solomon raised a corvee, or a conscription, of tens of thousands of Israelite men. Sufficient slaves were not available, and the king did not want to deplete the national treasury, so he required male citizens to devote part of their time to cut cedars in Lebanon, float them by rafts to Jerusalem's port at Jaffa, haul them up by wagon to the capital, and build the Temple, the palace complex, and other projects.

Marriages and Subsequent Apostasy

As part of his foreign policy, and probably accompanying some peace treaties, Solomon contracted marriages to the daughters of many royal families. The decision to ally himself politically and familially with Egypt's pharaoh was unwise: "The Lord was not pleased with Solomon, for he made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter to wife, 8 and brought her into the house of David" (JST 1 Kgs. 3:1). The biblical historian recorded:

King Solomon loved many strange [foreign] women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. (1 Kgs. 11:1-3)

The warning voice had been raised centuries before by Moses:

When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites . . . ;

And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly. (Deut. 7:1-4)

The Lord knew that the Israelites would eventually clamor for a king "like as all the nations," and he gave an itemized list of what the future king should and should not do:

When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; . . .

But he shall not multiply horses to himself, . . .

Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book . . .

. . . and he shall read therein all the days of his life. (Deut. 17:14-19; emphasis added.)

God knew Solomon, and He knew the children of Israel; the warning voice, in poignant foreshadowing, had been raised by the Lord to the king and to his people:

If ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

And at this house . . . every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?

And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God. (1 Kgs. 9:6-9)

Solomon's numerous marriages to foreign women—thereby creating a harem next to the holiest place in the kingdom—led to moral and religious excesses, 9 even to the construction of pagan shrines on the hill east of the City of David:

Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. (1 Kgs. 11:7-9).

How Solomon could erect the glorious Temple and dedicate it to the exclusive worship of Jehovah but then countenance and even contribute to the fabrication of shrines to idol gods seems impossible to understand. But it leads us to wonder about the wisdom of Solomon. Because of the king's apostate indulgences, the hilltop east of Jerusalem came to be known as the Mount of Offense (or Scandal) or "the mount of corruption" (2 Kgs. 23:13). King David drove out the Canaanites and their gods; King Solomon brought them back in.

Solomon is a most enigmatic figure. He was at once a wise and spiritually minded king, priest, almost a prophet, and yet he was a ruler of questionable wisdom. He purged his opponents (both early and late in his rule), he and his court lived luxuriously, even profligately, at the expense of his subjects, he craved political security through nuptial alliances, and—most serious of all—he went a-whoring after other gods. Despite the magnificence of his capital and the majesty and renown of his kingdom, and though Solomon was a legend in his own day, his name and the historical reports of his reign suggesting peace, yet all was not well in Solomon's kingdom.

One thing, however, definitely was well, a happy result of the mixture of Solomon's early spiritual and temporal effort. The House of the Lord, the Temple of God, that Solomon built shone for four centuries from the high point of Zion, a symbol to which all Israel could look for light and to which, even through tumultuous days of political intrigue and religious abandon, Israel's God could come and reveal his will to his prophets.

A House of the Lord

Other sanctuaries and holy places were apparently approved by the Lord and in use during the Israelite period, 10 but the Temple at Jerusalem was to be the spiritual focal point and center of worship for God's people. The statement of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well centuries later is instructive: "Ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (John 4:20). In his reply, Jesus noted that "salvation is of the Jews" (v. 22). The Hebrew word meaning "salvation" is yeshua, which is the same as the English name Jesus. Certainly Jesus, who is the salvation of all people, did come of the Jews. But the context suggests that "Jerusalem [was] the place where men ought to worship" because the Temple was located there; that is where worshippers could sacrifice to God and participate in sacred ordinances and learn of him. The Prophet Joseph Smith explained that the main object of gathering the people of God in any age of the world was "to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose." 11

As we have seen, the northern end of the eastern hill of Jerusalem, the mount called Moriah, was already a sacred site a thousand years before Solomon, and when the Israelites finally entered the land promised to their fathers, it was again the place where God chose to "put his name" (Deut. 12:5; 1 Kgs. 11:36; 14:21; 2 Kgs. 21:7). Jerusalem would become not "the holy city" (Neh. 11:1; Isa. 48:2; 52:1) but, as the Hebrew words Ir Hakodesh are translated literally, "the city of holiness." 12 Jerusalem became the city of the sanctuary—the Temple—earning the distinctively holy title of "Temple City."

Location and Description of the Temple 13

"The location of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and thus of the place where the three successive temples were built in biblical antiquity, has never been in doubt," wrote Carol Myers in the prestigious Anchor Bible Dictionary. "The site is that of the Muslim shrine known as the Dome of the Rock (Qubbet es-Sakhra). . . . This spot is presumed to be very close to the site of the three ancient temples, if not above the actual place where the innermost sanctum (holy of holies) of the temples once stood." 14

Solomon's Temple was built on Mount Moriah at the site of Abraham's and David's altars. 15 "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan [Araunah] the Jebusite" (2 Chron. 3:1). George Adam Smith explained that the rock mass (es-Sakhra) under the Dome of the Rock must have been part of the great altar of sacrifice in front (to the east) of Solomon's Temple:

Here, it is generally agreed, lay the site which he chose for the Temple, the threshing-floor of Araunah on which David had erected an altar. For here in the time of the Maccabees we find the Second Temple, and there can be no doubt that this occupied the site of Solomon's, nor that the Mosque of Omar [a misnomer for the Dome of the Rock] with its immediate platform occupies much the same site to-day: the Mount Sion of several Old Testament writers, the 'Mount Moriah' of the Chronicler. Round es-Sakhra, which is the summit of this part of the East Hill, the rock has been frequently levelled and scarped, but the present contours ascertained by the Ordnance Survey are sufficient evidence that there was upon it ample room for Araunah's threshing-floor. . . . Moreover, the Rock es-Sakhra, now under the dome of the Mosque of Omar, is venerated by Mohammedans as second only to the shrine of Mecca. From the tenacity with which such sites in the East preserve their character, we may infer that in ancient times also the Rock was holy; and Professor Stade points out that . . . it is probable that the appearance of the angel to David by the threshing-floor, between earth and heaven, was believed to have taken place on this very summit. Moreover, the Rock itself bears proofs of having been used as an altar. A channel penetrates from the surface to a little cave below, whence a conduit descends through the body of the Hill; obviously designed to carry off either the blood or the refuse of sacrifices. Similar arrangements are seen on other Semitic altars. From all these data the conclusion is reasonable that the Rock, es-Sakhra, represents the Altar of Burnt-offering. . . . Solomon, at least at first, simply used the bare Rock es-Sakhra for his sacrifices. . . . The Rock es-Sakhra became the national altar, the court around it the national auditorium. 16

Also in the court to the east of the Temple proper were ten mobile basins ("lavers" or wash-basins), five on each side. They were decorated with floral and faunal motifs and used for ritual cleansing of offerings. First Kings 7 gives details of other appurtenances of the Temple, such as basins, pots, bowls, shovels, snuffers, tongs, censers, and spoons. The "molten sea," a huge bronze basin at least fifteen feet in diameter, was supported by twelve large bulls or oxen, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, each three facing one of the four cardinal points of the compass. 17 The bronze basin or font has been calculated to have a possible capacity of sixteen thousand gallons. Temples of other religions customarily had such basins for the storage of water for ceremonial ablutions. No record of baptisms or ritual immersions in this basin has been found, though we recall that the Book of Moses and the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible mention baptism from Adam's time to that of Enoch. Joseph Smith's translation of Genesis 17 records that proper baptism had ceased among the apostate peoples at Abraham's time, and no further mention of it is made. Christians in general, and Latter-day Saints in particular, have wondered about the likelihood of baptism in Solomon's Temple. Various forms of washing of the outward body to symbolize inner, spiritual cleansing were common. The tractate of the Mishnah, which gives specifications for the ceremonies of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), indicates that the priest officiating in the slaughter of the sacrificial animal was repeatedly "baptized" (the Hebrew word used means "immersed") and clean garments were placed upon him after each immersion, before each successive step in offering the sacrifice. Doctrine and Covenants 124:36-39 allows for baptism of living persons in the ancient Temple. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained:

It must be remembered that all direct and plain references to baptism have been deleted from the Old Testament (1 Ne. 13) and that the word baptize is of Greek origin. Some equivalent word, such as wash, would have been used by the Hebrew peoples. In describing the molten sea the Old Testament record says, "The sea was for the priests to wash in." (2 Chron. 4:2-6.) This is tantamount to saying that the priests performed baptisms in it.

In this temple building dispensation the Brethren have been led by the spirit of inspiration to pattern the baptismal fonts placed in temples after the one in Solomon's Temple. 18

The Temple itself, usually called the Hekhal (otherwise meaning "palace," "large building") and Bet YHWH or Bet Elohim ("the House of Jehovah" or "the House of God"), was built with the Lord's specifications but also using Phoenician artisans, especially Hiram of Tyre and his expert and experienced craftsmen, carpenters, and masons (see 1 Kgs. 5, 7). It was double the size of the former Tabernacle in all its dimensions but still not large, only sixty cubits long by twenty wide by thirty high (using the standard eighteen inches to the cubit, 90 feet long by 30 wide by 45 high; compare the Salt Lake Temple, which measures 186 by 118 by 210 feet).

The Temple faced east and was a tripartite structure, built in three stages leading to the inner sanctuary: the porch or entrance hall (ulam), the Sanctuary or Holy Place (hekhal), and the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place (debir). At the east entrance stood two ornately decorated thirty-seven-foot-high bronze columns, apparently symbolic in nature 19 but nonfunctional, named Jachin and Boaz, "He [God] shall establish" and "In him [God] is strength." Above and to the sides of the two holy rooms were three stories of side chambers with approximately thirty rooms on each level. These rooms were utilitarian in nature, storing clothing and other items for Temple service. Inside the Holy Place were ten lampstands (menorot), five on the north side and five on the south side, which gave light to the room. Other appurtenances included the Table of Shewbread (pronounced Showbread), the bread of the Presence, which was eaten by the priests, and the altar of incense. Inside the Holy of Holies, a room cube in shape and completely panelled with cedar and cypress wood covered with gold, with no stone visible (see 1 Kgs. 6:18), sat one object only: the sacred Ark of the Covenant, which had been regarded by Israel for centuries, along with the tablets of the Law (by now the only item in the Ark; see 1 Kgs. 8:9), as their most holy symbol. The Ark with its Mercy Seat was covered with solid gold and sat beneath two large olivewood cherubim, also overlaid with gold, each measuring fifteen feet high and with a fifteen-foot wingspan (see 1 Kgs. 6). 20

When the Temple construction was completed, the appointed priests and Levites brought the Ark and the old Tabernacle 21 and all its vessels (see 1 Kgs. 8:4) to the sacred precincts with solemn pageantry, and King Solomon proceeded with tens of thousands of sacrifices and dedication services and a week-long feast and celebration.

Solomon's Dedicatory Prayer, on which many dedicatory prayers have since been patterned, is recorded in 1 Kings 8:22-53. The king knelt down before the great altar, and acting as king and priest (recall Melchizedek as king and priest), with hands spread up to heaven, he pled with the Lord to hear the prayers and forgive the obedient who "pray toward this place" (vs. 30, 35, 42, 44, 48). He expressed supplication for the Lord's eyes to always be on his House, the place where he chose to put his Name. Solomon entreated the Lord that if famine came, or pestilence, or plague, or enemies, and the people repented, that He would forgive and help them. The Dedicatory Prayer included also a foreshadowing of Israel's apostasy and exile and return again to their land of promise (vv. 33-34, 46-49).

At the dedication of the Temple fire came down from heaven to consume the sacrifices (see 2 Chron. 7:1) and the holy cloud filled the house of the Lord (see 1 Kgs. 8:10-11); the glory of the Lord was again manifest at Jerusalem. "The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time . . . [and] said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually" (1 Kgs. 9:2-3). The word of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, in the nineteenth century after Christ is reminiscent of the similar occasion in the tenth century before Christ:

For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house.

Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house.

Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out. . . .

And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. (D&C 110:7-10)

Ordinance Work in Solomon's Temple

Neither ancient texts nor modern revelations give us much detail about what kinds of ordinances were performed in the first Israelite Temple in Jerusalem (which is understandable; such sacred ordinance work is not published to the world 22). One of our few explanations is recorded in D&C 124:37-39.

How shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name?

For, for this cause I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was.

Therefore, verily I say unto you, that your anointings, and your washings, and your baptisms for the dead, and your solemn assemblies, and your memorials for your sacrifices by the sons of Levi, and for your oracles in your most holy places wherein you receive conversations, and your statutes and judgments, for the beginning of the revelations and foundation of Zion, and for the glory, honor, and endowment of all her municipals, are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house, which my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name.

Washings and anointings had been performed from the early days of Israel, in the Tabernacle in Sinai (see Ex. 29:4, 7; 40:12-13), and must have continued in the Temple at Jerusalem. Baptisms for the dead would not have been performed in Old Testament-period Temples, of course, because ordinance work for the dead was initiated by the Savior in the Spirit World following his crucifixion. 23 Solemn assemblies were called in the ancient sanctuaries (see Lev. 23:36; Deut. 16:8; 2 Chron. 7:9), and we have hundreds of verses describing sacrifices executed by the sons of Levi. Was there an ancient parallel to "oracles in your most holy places wherein you receive conversations"? Was there a type of endowment available to righteous Israelites? Were there equivalent statutes and judgments for the "foundation of Zion" in first millennium B.C. Jerusalem? Moses had received the oracles and the Torah (Hebrew, "instruction") from the Lord, and Moses set up the ceremonies and ordinances for the Tabernacle of the Congregation, at least some of which may have been carried on in the Temple at Jerusalem. Modern Temples focus on the Creation of the earth, the creation of man and woman, and the Fall and Redemption. Could the ancient House of the Lord, for example, have included conversations and recitations of the material in the first chapters of Genesis, which are preserved for us in dignified brevity? 24 Certainly the Gospel was taught from the beginning (see Moses 5:58-59), and the law of sacrifice was practiced (see Moses 5:5-8). The Saints of God have always been taught to live chaste lives, and the faithful have always longed to live the law of consecration, which Melchizedek and his people had done in Salem.

Most ordinances of the Temple require the use of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and this higher priesthood had been withdrawn from Israel (see JST Ex. 34:1 and D&C 84:23-25). The prophets of God through the Old Testament period held the Melchizedek Priesthood, 25 but the Israelites in general lived without it. "This greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God" (D&C 84:19). "The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church—to have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (D&C 107:18-19). Ancient Israel must therefore have been limited in what they received in the holy place. 26 For what they did receive, by way of spiritual growth in worship and learning, they rejoiced and praised the Lord.

Rejoicing in the House of the Lord

The book of Psalms was compiled over several centuries, beginning in the days of David and Solomon. The Hebrew title is Tehillin, meaning "praises." Many of the psalms are praises; all are songs. This is ancient Israel's hymnbook. It is the Old Testament book most quoted in the New Testament. Jesus referred to the Psalms more often than any other Old Testament book. The Psalms were mostly written, as far as we know, in the Holy City of Jerusalem. Therefore, some of the world's greatest literature, some of the most exalted outpourings of praise and sensitive expressions of devotion came out of the Temple City of the God of Israel.

Following are excerpts from the Psalms which preserve the feelings of kings and priests and saints about the dwelling-place of God on earth, the House of the Lord. (Incidentally, any statement about the House of the Lord in David's lifetime, before Solomon built the Temple on Moriah, refers either to the Tabernacle which was still standing at Gibeon [see 2 Chron. 1:3] or to the tent where the Ark was housed in the City of David [2 Chron. 1:4.]) The Psalms were meant to be sung, or at least to be recited aloud. As a conclusion to our study of Jerusalem in the days of Solomon, read the following verses from the Psalms—out loud—in a quiet place, and with a spirit of reverent praise:

In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.

In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. (Ps. 76:1-2)

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. (Ps. 24:3-4)

I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord:

That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. (Ps. 26:6-8)

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. (Ps. 27:4)

We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. (Ps. 55:14)

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. (Ps. 63:1-4)

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. (Ps. 65:4)

My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere].

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Ps. 84:2, 10)

Psalms 120 through 134 are called "Songs of Degrees" or "Songs of Ascent," and they were apparently sung while ascending the Temple steps to the Holy Place. There are fifteen of them, the same as the number of steps leading to the inner court, at least in the Second Temple. Psalm 122 expresses deep-felt praise and gratitude for the Holy City of Jerusalem and for the House of the Lord.

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:

Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.

For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.

For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.

Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.

Notes

^1. The writer of 1 Kings 10 remarks that "Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked" (v. 13)—even a son, according to some traditions. Ethiopians claim that the land of Sheba is really their ancient land of Ethiopia and that for centuries their rulers have been direct descendants of a child born of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. It was written in the 1955 constitution of Ethiopia that the royal line "descends without interruption from the dynasty of Menelik I, son of the Queen of Ethiopia, the queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of Jerusalem." It should be noted, however, that there is no positive evidence to support such a tradition.

^2. See also Aharoni and Avi-Yonah, Macmillan Bible Atlas, Map 112.

^3. See Paton, Jerusalem in Bible Times, 89-101. Compare Aharoni and Avi-Yonah, Macmillan Bible Atlas, Map 114.

^4. Gill, "How They Met," 22-23.

^5. The Siloam Channel is mentioned three times in the writings of Isaiah. The first is a poetic allusion to the "waters of Shiloah that go softly" (Isa. 8:6). The other two, found in Isaiah 7:3 and 36:2, are geographic references to "the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field" (see also 2 Kgs. 18:17). The "conduit" is the old Siloam Channel; the "upper pool" refers to the Gihon Spring and its small collection pool, from which the Siloam Channel drew; and the "highway of the fuller's field" refers to the Kidron Valley. Ogden and Chadwick, Holy Land, 212.

^6. In 1 Kings 4:7-19 is a list of the twelve districts with their procurement officers. One of the twelve officials, the one over Mount Ephraim, was named Ben-Hur, and two others were the king's sons-in-law.

^7. Rasmussen and Ogden, Old Testament, 333.

^8. This princess may have been the daughter of Pharaoh Siamun (or Tiamun) of the twenty-first dynasty, who reigned at Tanis in Egypt's Delta.

^9. Read from the Book of Mormon on the excesses involved: Jacob 1:15 and 2:23-24; cf. also D&C 132:1, 38. Some wives of David and Solomon were given to them by the Lord through the prophet Nathan, but Doctrine and Covenants 132:38 clearly suggests that some were not given to them by the Lord. The plurality of wives per se was not the issue and was not abominable; rather, it was the kings' abuse of the law that was abominable. See Deut. 7:1-4.

^10. For example, Gideon's shrine in the eastern Jezreel Valley (Judg. 6:24-26); Solomon's high place at Gibeon (1 Kgs. 3:2-5); and Elijah's altar on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs. 18:30; cf. Judg. 19:18). The only Israelite temple ever found in archaeological excavations was uncovered at Arad in the Negev. This temple has a strikingly similar layout to and was contemporary with Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. See Aharoni, "Arad," 18-27; New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations, 1:83.

^11. Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 308; emphasis added.

^12. Many centuries before David and Solomon, the great general and prophet Enoch had "built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion," two of the same names later used by these kings. See Moses 7:18-19.

^13. Josephus describes Solomon's Temple in Antiquities 8.3.

^14. Anchor Bible Dictionary, 6:354, s.v. "Jerusalem Temple." See also New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations, 2:736. It has long been assumed that the ancient Israelite Temples were located where the Dome of the Rock has stood for thirteen centuries, although there is at present no way to verify the assumption archaeologically. Professor Asher Kaufmann concluded from his years of research that the two Temples actually stood about one hundred meters north of the site of the Dome of the Rock. See Kaufmann, "Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood," 40-59. Dr. Leen Ritmeyer, on the other hand, has convincingly argued that the traditional location must still be regarded as the site of the Temples. See Ritmeyer, "Locating the Original Temple Mount," 24-45, 64-65; New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations, 2:743.

^15. Ben-Dov, Shadow of the Temple, 33; Simons, Jerusalem in the Old Testament, 382-83. See also Chap. 3, n. 9.

^16. Smith, Jerusalem, 2:58-59, 60, 64, 67. Smith notes the dimensions of es-Sakhra as 17.7 by 15.5 meters and 1.25 to 2 meters above ground level, or, according to another researcher he cites, about fifty-eight feet by fifty-one, and from four to six feet high—all of which dimensions, Smith concludes, are too great for it to have stood in the Holy of Holies (61, fn. 1). Eminent professor/archaeologists G. Ernest Wright and Floyd Vivian Filson concurred that the Rock was the spot for the altar of burnt offering; see Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible, 105; see also Kenyon, Jerusalem, 58; Yadin, Jerusalem Revealed, 13; Amiran et al., Urban Geography, 16; Avi-Yonah, Sefer Yerushalayim, 187; Reznik, Holy Temple Revisited, 113, 158; Mare, Archaeology of the Jerusalem Area, 22; Finegan, Archeology of the New Testament, 192, 196.

^17. Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 377; Kenyon, Jerusalem.

^18. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 104.

^19. In Madsen, Temple in Antiquity, 135-50. Some have wondered if the highly decorated pillars perpetuate the familiar tree of life motif.

^20. An interesting comment on the elaborate adornment of Solomon's Temple is recorded in Nephi's description of his own Temple, the first Nephite Temple: "I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine" (2 Ne. 5:16).

^21. According to Sotah 9a in the Talmud, the Tabernacle was dismantled and placed under Solomon's Temple. See Talmud of Babylonia, trans. Neusner, 72-74.

^22. "The detailed history of the performance of the saving ordinances of the gospel as practised in ancient times was never recorded in any detail, because such ordinances are sacred and not for the world." Smith, "Was Temple Work Done in the Days of the Old Prophets?" 794. Joseph Smith's journal entry for 4 May 1842 records that he was "instructing them in the principles and order of the Priesthood, attending to washings, anointings, endowments, . . . [and] setting forth the order pertaining to the Ancient of Days [Adam], and all those plans and principles by which any one is enabled to secure the fullness of those blessings which have been prepared for the Church of the First Born, and come up and abide in the presence of the Eloheim in the eternal worlds. In this council was instituted the ancient order of things for the first time in these last days." History of the Church, 5:2; emphasis added.

^23. See D&C 138. "Before the resurrection of our Lord, ordinance work for the dead could not be carried out either in the temples in Palestine or on [the American] continent. . . . Following the Savior's resurrection, ordinance work for the dead must have been carried on in sacred structures erected in the Mediterranean world." Sperry, "Ancient Temples," 827.

^24. Hugh Nibley states: "The rites of the Temple are always a repetition of those that marked its founding in the beginning of the world. . . . After a life-time of study Lord Raglan assures us that when we study all the rituals of the world we come up with the discovery that the pristine and original ritual of them all, from which all others take their rise, was the dramatization of the creation of the world. And Mowinckel sums up the common cult pattern of all the earliest civilizations: 'It is the creation of the World that is being repeated.'" In Madsen, Temple in Antiquity, 25-26; emphasis added. See also Parry, Temples of the Ancient World, 118-25.

^25. "All the prophets had the Melchizedek Priesthood and were ordained by God himself." Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 181.

^26. "As long as prophets . . . were around, a full endowment could be given the righteous; otherwise a limited endowment within the Aaronic Priesthood would probably be administered." Sperry, "Ancient Temples," 826.