the Jewish Temple

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 From our book Synagogue's Heritage: Tabernacle, Temple, Synagogue and Church (Justin Campbell and Deslee Campbell).

This plan and side elevation show what archaeologists think that Solomon’s Temple was like, with three sections: the front porch, the Holy Place and, elevated above them, the Holy of Holies behind a heavy, colourfully embroidered curtains. The King of Tyre provided timber for the construction: the great cedars of Lebanon. Their height determined the width of the building as there were no internal columns.

Only the High Priest could enter beyond the curtain into the Holy of Holies and only on one day of the year, on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Originally this inner sanctuary housed the Ark of the Covenant with its Seat of Mercy and its two cherubim with outstretched wings but it was lost at some point and its fate remains a mystery.

The outer sanctuary, the Holy Place, held three items of furniture: the Altar of Incense, the solid gold Menorah and the Table of Shewbread, all of which the priests attended to. Titus, the future emperor, the destroyer of Jerusalem and the Temple, carried some or all of these items to Rome. There they were paraded, along with Jewish slaves, in a triumphal procession, which was, and still is, depicted on the Arch of Titus.

The front doors of the Temple were opened and shut by the Levites. The two columns in the porch had names: they were Jachin and Boaz.

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