TEMPLE (C6in'p'1), (Heb. hay-kawr , or ko' desk, sanctuary, or bayth-yeh-ho yaw' , house of Jehovah). The Septuagint trans lation usually renders hay-kawr , 'temple,' by of kos, olKos, house, or nah-os, va6s, temple; but in the Apocrypha and the New Testament it is gen erally called toh hee-er-on, rJ ivp6v, the sacred house. Rabbinical appellations are the house of sanctuary, the chosen house, the house of ages, be cause the ark was not transferred from it, as it was from Gilgal after 24, from Shiloh after 369, from Nob after 13 and from Gibeon after 5o years.
1. Solomon's Temple. (1) Conception. After the Israelites had exchanged their nomadic life for a life in permanent habitations, it was be coming that they should exchange also their movable sanctuary or tabernacle for a temple. There elapsed, however, after the conquest of Palestine, several centuries during which the sanctuary continued movable, although the na tion became more and more stationary. It ap pears that the first who planned the erection of a stone-built sanctuary was David (1 Chron. xxviii :12, 19), who, when he was inhabiting his house of cedar, and God had given him rest from all his enemies (2 Sam. vii :1-12; r Chron. xvii: 1-14; xxviii :1 sq.), meditated the design of build ing a temple in which the ark of God might be placed, instead of being deposited 'within cur tains,' or in a tent, as hitherto. This design was at first encouraged by the prophet Nathan; but he was afterwards instructed to tell David that such a work was less appropriate for him, who had been a warrior from his youth, and had shed much blood, than for his son, who should enjoy in prosperity and peace the rewards of his fa ther's victories (1 Chron. xxii :8). Nevertheless, the design itself was highly approved as a token of proper feelings towards the Divine King (2 Sam. vii:1-12; 1 Chron. xvii:1-14; xxviii).
(2) Preparation. We learn, moreover, from r Kings v and i Chron. xxii, that David had col lected materials which were afterwards employed in the erection of the Temple, which was com menced four years after his death, about B. C. 1012, in the second month, that is, the month of Siv (compare t Kings vi : 2 Chron. iii :2), four hundred and eighty years after the Exodus from Egypt, and was about seven years in building. We
thus learn that the Israelitish sanctuary had re mained movable more than four centuries subse quent to the conquest of Canaan.
(3) Location. The site of the Temple was on Mount Moriah, which was at first insufficient for the Temple and altar, and therefore walls and buttresses were built in order to gain more ground by filling up the interval with earth. The hill was also fortified by a threefold wall, the low est tier of which was in some places more than three hundred cubits high; and the depth of the foundation was not visible, because it had been necessary in some parts to dig deep into the ground in order to obtain sufficient support. The dimensions of the stones of which the walls were composed were enormous ; Josephus mentions a length of forty cubits. (See M0R1AH.) (4) The Temple Structure. When Solomon had firmly established his kingdom, he began the work of the Temple (1 Chron. chaps. xxii, xxviii, xxix ; r Kings v:15 sq.; 2 Citron. chap. ii). The workmen and the materials employed in the erec tion of the Temple were chiefly procured by Solo mon from Hiram, king of Tyre, who was re warded by a liberal importation of wheat. Re cent investigation shows that the foundation was sunk to an astonishing depth, and composed of stones of singular magnitude, and very durable. Being closely mortised into the rock with great ingenuity, they formed a basis adequate to the support of the intended structure. The Temple itself and its utensils arc described in i Kings vi and vii and 2 (Iron. iii and iv.
Divines and architects have repeatedly endeav ored to represent the architectural proportions of the Temple, which was sixty cubits long, twenty wide, and thirty high. The internal dimensions of the 'holy,' was forty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The holy was sep arated from the 'holy of holies' by a partition, a large opening in which was closed by a suspended curtain. 'The holy of holies' was on the western extremity of the entire building. and its internal dimensions formed a cube of twenty cubits (2 Chron. :8). On the eastern extremity of the building stood the porch rp6000s,proh'nah-os, front temple. At the entrance of this promos stood the two columns called Jachin and Boaz, which were twenty-three cubits high.