Who Built Solomon's Temple?

Study Guide: Who Built Solomon's Temple? — Centre Place

Lecture Title: Who Built Solomon's Temple?

Presenter: John Hamer, Toronto Centre Place

Producer & Chat Moderator: Leandro Palacios

Original Livestream Date: November 18, 2020

Video Reference: YouTube Stream

Transcript Source: Transcript Who Built Solomon's Temple? - Centre Place

Integrated Knowledge Base: Glossary Knowledgebase

Source Tag: 201118

(00:00:00) Introduction: The Pantheon Analogy & The Problem of Attribution

• The Roman Pantheon inscription: M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT ("Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made this when consul for the third time").
• The historical reality: Agrippa's original building burnt down; the existing domed masterpiece was constructed over a century later by Emperor Hadrian.
• The archaeological analogy: Asking "Who built Solomon's Temple?" requires distinguishing between ancient literary attribution and actual historical, architectural construction.

(00:01:19) Common Historical Misconceptions: Crusaders, Templars, and Herod

• The medieval Crusader confusion: 12th-century European Crusaders identifying the Umayyad Islamic Dome of the Rock (built 691 CE) as the Templum Salomonis, from which the Knights Templar took their name.
• King Herod the Great: The massive stone retaining platform (including the Western Wall) was constructed by Herod in the late 1st century BCE to support his colossal Second Temple expansion, sweeping the bedrock clean of earlier strata.
• Archaeological reality: No excavations have ever occurred or can occur directly beneath the Dome of the Rock; any First Temple remains were likely leveled during Herod's construction.

(00:08:33) The Architecture of the First Temple in Biblical Description

• The literary blueprint in 1 Kings 6–8: A classic tripartite long-room temple plan:
  1. Ulam (Vestibule / Porch)
  2. Heikhal (Main Sanctuary / Holy Place)
  3. Debir (Inner Sanctuary / Holy of Holies housing the Ark beneath olive-wood Cherubim)
• Flanked by two colossal freestanding bronze pillars (Jachin and Boaz), built using Lebanese cedar supplied by King Hiram of Tyre.
• Comparative archaeology: The architectural plan matches contemporary Iron Age Syro-Hittite and Phoenician temples (e.g., Ain Dara, Tell Tayinat).
• Nature of ancient temples: Not congregational assembly halls (like churches, synagogues, or mosques), but literal private "houses for the deity" where only high priests entered, while public sacrifices took place on outdoor altars.

(00:11:38) Historiographical Distance: When Was 1 Kings Written?

• Ancient authors are reliable primarily when describing their own contemporary environment.
• The Deuteronomistic History (Joshua through 2 Kings): Composed in the late 7th century BCE under King Josiah (c. 622 BCE) and edited in the 6th century BCE Babylonian Exile.
• The 350-year gap: Describing King Solomon (10th century BCE) from the vantage point of late 7th-century BCE Jerusalem is comparable to Homer describing the Trojan War—preserving mythic memories and legendary motifs rather than journalistic history.
• The Chronicler's Sanitization: 1 & 2 Chronicles rewriting Kings centuries later, removing David's affair with Bathsheba, the murder of Uriah, court intrigues, and Solomon's idolatry to create a pious hagiography.

(00:17:35) The "House of David" & The Myth of the United Monarchy

• The Tel Dan Stele (9th c. BCE): Inscription mentioning the "House of David" (Beit David), confirming that the Judean royal dynasty traced its lineage to an eponymous ancestral founder named David.
• Biblical depiction: Solomon ruling a magnificent commercial empire from the Euphrates to Egypt, commanding thousands of horses and chariots, with fabulous gold revenues.

(00:27:30) The Archaeological Reality: The Low Chronology Revolution

• Mid-20th-century archaeology (Yigael Yadin): Assigning six-chambered ashlar gate complexes at Megiddo, Hazor, and Gezer to Solomon based on 1 Kings 9:15.
• The Low Chronology (Israel Finkelstein & Neil Asher Silberman, David and Solomon):
• Radiocarbon dating places those monumental city gates and palaces in the 9th century BCE under the Omride dynasty of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Omri, Ahab, and Jeroboam II), not 10th-century Judah.
• 10th-century Jerusalem: Excavations in the City of David reveal that 10th-century Jerusalem was merely a modest, unfortified highland village of a few hundred people—a tribal chiefdom incapable of grand imperial administration, dwarfed by nearby Philistine Gath.

(00:31:00) When Was Jerusalem Actually Built Up? The 8th-Century Boom

• The demographic turning point: The Assyrian conquest and destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE.
• The refugee influx: Tens of thousands of northern Israelites fled south to Jerusalem, transforming the small town overnight into a sprawling, fortified regional capital.
• The real builders: King Hezekiah (reigned c. 715–686 BCE) and King Josiah (reigned 640–609 BCE), who built the Broad Wall, the Siloam Tunnel, and expanded the Temple into a major state sanctuary.

(00:34:00) The Polytheistic Reality of the First Temple

• The pre-Josianic Temple was an inclusive, polytheistic/henotheistic royal sanctuary.
• 1 Kings 11: Solomon establishing shrines for foreign deities (Astarte, Chemosh, Milcom).
• 2 Kings 23: Josiah's purge removing the Asherah pole from the Temple, demolishing quarters for male cult prostitutes, destroying horses dedicated to the Sun god, and abolishing incense to Baal, the sun, moon, and constellations.

(00:45:00) Conclusion: Who Built "Solomon's Temple"?

• The Temple was not built in a single royal burst in the 10th century BCE by a legendary Solomon.
• It began as a small highland royal shrine under early Davidic kings, was progressively enlarged over centuries into a grand Phoenician-style sanctuary by monarchs like Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah, and was retrospectively attributed to King Solomon by late 7th-century Deuteronomistic historians creating a golden age foundation myth.

(00:55:00) Live Audience Q&A with John Hamer & Leandro Palacios

• Discussion of the Temple's orientation, comparisons with the Ain Dara temple footprints, and Masonic legends regarding Solomon and Hiram Abiff.

Glossary 1: Archaeological Sites & Epigraphy

Glossary 2: Bible Passages

Glossary 3: Books Mentioned

Glossary 4: Chronology & Historical Events

Glossary 5: Geographic Locations

Glossary 6: Graphics, Charts, Maps & Timelines

Glossary 7: Linguistics Terms

Glossary 8: Non-English & Ancient Words

Glossary 9: People Named

Glossary 10: Philosophical Concepts & Theodicy

Glossary 11: Previous Lectures or Episodes

Glossary 12: Religious Studies Terms

Glossary 13: Scientific & Archaeological Terms