Reconstruction by Leen Ritmeyer

WHAT DID SOLOMON’S TEMPLE LOOK LIKE? Although we have no physical remains, the Biblical descriptions offer many details, including the presence of an altar, a large bronze basin (yam) and ten wheeled carts, or mekhonot, in the courtyard in front of the building. The Temple itself was divided into three main portions: the ‘ulam, or porch, with two columns named Yachin and Boaz, the heikhal, or main hall or sanctuary, and the debir, or inner sanctuary (holy of holies). Around the outside were side chambers or a corridor, called the yatsia‘ in the Bible. The discoveries of other Iron Age temples from the Near East continue to shed light on Solomon’s Temple and its real-world context.