Solomon’s Temple

Solomon’s Temple was built by King Solomon and completed around 957 BC. According to the BIble, during its construction, “only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built” (1 Kings 6:7, NIV). Around 586 BC, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and looted and destroyed the Temple. They also exiled the Jews to Babylon.

In an earlier passage in the Bible, King Solomon’s father, King David united the Israelite tribes and captured the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites.

He had wanted to build a Temple to house the Ark of the Covenant that had been brought in to Jerusalem, however, the Lord told him not to build it, and that it would be his son, Solomon, who would build the Temple. The Ark of the Covenant was then placed in the innermost room of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, which only the High Priest could enter and only on the Day of Atonement.

The Temple of Solomon was built on Mount Moriah, now known as the Temple Mount.