Jerusalem, Solomon's kilometer
Jerusalem
Solomon's kilometer
Solomon's Jerusalem was just a kilometer long, north to south. It extended from the Temple hilltop to the Hinnom Valley, which lay below the City of David at the southern bottom of the ridge. A kilometer is just three-quarters of mile. But in Solomon's day, Jerusalem, with it's first Jewish Temple and a new palace, became quite the attraction. Perhaps Solomon's most famous guest was the Queen of Sheba, wherever Sheba was. Scholars can only guess.Jerusalem Temple on bedrock
Solomon built his Temple on bedrock at the top of the ridge. Some people today call that hill the Temple Mount. King David lived down the hill in the City of David. It was a smaller, walled city below the top of the ridge.Solomon's pagan shrine
"Solomon built a hilltop shrine for worshiping Chemosh, god of Moab. And on the Mount of Olives, the ridge of hills east of Jerusalem, he built a shrine to worship Molech, another repulsive god of Ammon. He built similar places of worship for all his foreign wives, so they could continue worshiping their own gods by burning incense and offering sacrifices" (1 Kings 11:7-8, Casual English Bible).Jerusalem, uphill, upgraded, upended
Solomon's Temple lasted 400 years, a tad beyond expectations of "builder's grade." Babylonian invaders from what is now southern Iraq destroyed it and the entire city in 586 BC.Jews deported
Babylonians exiled the surviving Jews to what are now Iraq and Iran. Persians of Iran conquered the Babylonians 50 years later and freed the Jews to go home. They rebuilt an apparently more modest Temple in 516 BC. That means from 586-516 BC, Jews had lived without a Jerusalem worship center for 70 years. Then, 70 years after they built the second Temple, Nehemiah, a Jewish winetaster for the Persian king, got permission to go to Jerusalem and repair the walls. He served there as governor for about 13 years.For Bible features
Stephen M. Miller's website and The Casual English BibleSolomon’s Temple and Palace
Solomon's Temple and Palace
Solomon's Temple and Palace
Solomon spend two decades building the Jerusalem Temple and his Palace...7 years on the House of the LORD and 13 years on the house of the king.Excerpt from 1 Kings 7
2“Home of the Lebanon Forest” [2] was largest room in the palace. Builders erected cedar pillars everywhere. They shaped the room into a huge rectangle around three rows of cedar pillars, 15 pillars in each row. That totaled 45 pillars. The room measured 50 yards long, 25 yards wide, and 15 yards high. [3] 3For a roof, builders put 45 rafters—huge beams—across the tops of all 45 pillars. Then they covered the rafters with cedar. 4Builders cut three rows of windows on each side of the room, with them facing each other. [4] Workers cut three doorways on each side, close to the entrance at the front of the room. 5They framed all the doorways with four-sided posts and placed the doorways across from each other.PILLAR HALL AND JUSTICE HALL
6Solomon built a room called Pillar Hall. He laid it out 25 yards long by 15 yards wide. [5] Then he added a front porch with pillars supporting a roof. 7He paneled the courthouse, Justice Hall, entirely of cedar—from floor to ceiling. This is where he would judge court cases. 8Solomon ordered his house built behind Justice Hall, and along the same design. He followed that pattern, too, for the home of his Egyptian bride, Pharaoh’s daughter. 9All these buildings were made of cut stone, chiseled, and sawed to fit. For feature articles about the Bible Stephen M. Miller's blog and YouTube channelSketch of Solomon's Temple and Palace
Map Jerusalem falls
Map Jerusalem falls
Map Micah 3, Jerusalem Falls.
9 Listen to me you rulers of Jacob’s people,
You leaders of Israel
You crooks who poison justice,
And cheat fairness.
10 You have built Jerusalem
In the blood of my people.
You have built my sacred Zion[2]
On the solid rock of evil.
11 Your judges settle cases for a bribe.
Priests will teach you if you pay.
Prophets will advise you for a fee.
Yet they all have the nerve
To invoke God’s support.
They say,
“Absolutely, the LORD is with us
Nobody’s going to hurt us.”
12 Tell it to Jerusalem
When it’s a plowed field.
This city is coming down,
Collapsing into a pile of rocky ruins.
The stately Temple Mount, abandoned,
Will grow into a wooded hilltop.
Micah 3:9-12
Map Jerusalem Falls
Solomon’s Temple
Solomon's Temple
Replacing Solomon's Temple
Jews rebuilt their own destroyed houses before they rebuilt God’s house—the Jerusalem Temple.
God didn’t like that one bit.
He had the prophet Haggai tell ‘em so.
“You say it’s not yet time to rebuild the LORD’s house from the ruins. But I’ve noticed it is time for you to live in nicely appointed houses paneled in wood” (Haggai 1:4).
Jews ordered to stop building in Jerusalem
Jews apparently felt they had good reason not to rebuild the temple. They had started the work as soon as they got back from exile in Iraq. That’s where Babylonians forced them to stay for 66 years. Persians from what is now Iran defeated Babylon and told the Jews they could go home. Settlers who had moved into the region objected. They didn’t want Jews dragging their dead nation up out of the dirt. So, they threatened them. Later, they convinced a new Persian king to stop all building projects in Jerusalem. Eighteen years afterward, Haggai shows up, but for just four sermons—one a month.How to get good crops through carpentry
On August 29, 520 BC, at the end of what sounds like a terrible year for farmers, Haggai tells them how to fix it. He says God broke it. And God will fix it. But only if they get back to work on the Temple.“I’m the LORD and I did it. I hit you with heat, mold, and hail. But you didn’t get the message. You didn’t come back to me” (2:17).Jews rushed back to work on the Temple before the month is up: September 21.
Jews get the blues rebuilding the Temple
But they apparently get bummed out by December. Perhaps it’s because the Temple isn’t shaping up as magnificent of Solomon’s Temple. Haggai apparently pumps them with a reminder about a good harvest ahead—and with the promise that this Temple will be bigger and better than Solomon’s.Solomon's Temple
Balage Balogh / ArchaeologyIllustrated.com
Licensed to Casual English Bible