A Biblical artist’s conception of the great Temple to the Lord, planned by King David in 1000 B.C. It was destined to be built by

his son, King Solomon. It occupied the top of Mt. Zion, where Abraham had taken Isaac for sacrifice according to the Lord’s

direction. It occupied the same site on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount as today’s Moslem Dome of the Rock.

Fig. 1. The Great Solomonic or First Temple in Jerusalem

Artist’s Conception: Steve Miller

From “The Bible…Basically”

This enormous construction project came about fully 500 years before Rome’s great building program. In a highly institutionalized manner, the First Temple brought into the city the rituals and feasts that earlier were centered in the mobile wilderness tabernacle as the

Israelites had moved it about in the desert for centuries Through time the Temple in Jerusalem became the religious and political

focus of all Israeli thought and culture.

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In modern Jerusalem, the Western Wall (a retaining wall for the upper 45-acre pavement) is the only remaining section of Solomon’s First

Temple and King Herod’s Second Temple, extant during Jesus’ earthly ministry. To the Jews this site is the holiest on Earth because it links them directly to their ancient Israelite heritage. Directly above this plaza, local Moslems control the top of the Temple Mount which houses the Dome of

the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, both among Islam’s holiest sites.

Through the centuries the wall’s stones have been stolen, borrowed, returned, rebuilt and rearranged. The photo above displays many stones from the Israelite period which can still be seen at the very lowest levels of

the wall, some as long as 27 feet in an unbroken form. Today’s faithful Jews insert written prayers in spaces between the stones. Jewish young

people from all over the world come to celebrate their coming of age.

Fig. 2. The Western Wall in Today’s JerusalemPhoto Credit: John Fryman

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