“You shall remember that you were a slave
in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.”
There
can be no doubt that the exposure of the Israelites to Egyptian
culture, for more than four centuries, profoundly influenced their
lives and was an important element in shaping their religion. This
was especially significant with respect to Moses. It is generally
agreed by biblical historiographers that Moses was brought up in the
Pharaoh’s courts, where he received a substantial education and is
credited with having obtained the “wisdom of the
Egyptians”. The cultural influence of the Egyptians on the
Israelites did not cease during their period of enslavement. Indeed,
it continued to be felt long after the Exodus of the
Israelites under the leadership Moses. Until a few decades ago the
beginning of the Exodus was dated at about
1440 BCE. However, more recent archaeological investigations
have enabled biblical events to be correlated better with other
relevant records than was possible using only the biblical
genealogies, on which basis the Exodus that heralded
the foundation of Israel as a nation probably commenced in about
1280 BCE, during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II. Thus
the “new king over Egypt, which knew not
Joseph”,
mentioned in the passages from Exodus 1:7-14 quoted above, would
have been the Pharaoh Seti I who, according to the most recent
chronology, would have ruled from 1312 BCE to 1298 BCE.
Moses would have been born at the beginning of Seti I’s reign,
during the period when the Pharaoh’s edict was in force that every
Hebrew son should be cast into the river at birth. Ramses II
was the Pharaoh who succeeded Seti I and ruled for sixty-seven
years.
Precursors of the temple at Jerusalem
Because
the Egyptians had played such a significant role in the development
of the Israelites, it is understandable why it had been assumed for
centuries that the temple of King Solomon in Jerusalem would have
been based on a model of Egyptian origin. However, modern research
has revealed that the layout of the temple in Jerusalem was
essentially the same as the pattern that had been adopted in the
many older temples constructed in Syria, Iraq and the adjacent
regions. As those older temples were the true predecessors of the
temple in Jerusalem, some knowledge of them will establish a better
understanding of the significance of the two great pillars that King
Solomon erected at the porch or entrance to the temple at Jerusalem.
The extensive archaeological excavations that have been carried out
in Iraq and Syria since the 1930s provide strong evidence that King
Solomon’s temple did not have an Egyptian heritage, but that it was
in fact a continuation of a line of tradition that had been firmly
established in the countries bordering the eastern extremity of the
Mediterranean Sea, long before the temple in Jerusalem was
built.
Investigations
have shown that this line of tradition reflected significant changes
in human attitudes to the divinity, which had been taking place
during a period of about 2,000 years before the construction of the
temple at Jerusalem was commenced. The first temple discovered in
this line of tradition was a small sanctuary adjacent to the ancient
royal palace at Tell Ta'Yinat in northern Syria, which was excavated
during the early 1930s. This find was followed by the discovery of a
Canaanite temple in the same line of tradition, which was unearthed
during archaeological excavations that were being carried out in the
ancient lower city of Hazor during the 1950s, in northern Palestine.
Hazor had only been occupied for about 500 years when it was
completely destroyed and burnt. The destruction of Hazor occurred
about 500 years before construction of the temple at Jerusalem
began, but Hazor was never inhabited again.
During
the 1970s, while excavations that were being carried out on the
banks of the Euphrates River before constructing the dam wall that
forms Lake el-Assad, four similar temples were revealed, that had
been built at Emar between 200 and 400 years before the temple at
Jerusalem was built. Other temples of similar design have since been
discovered at Ebla and Moumbaqat in Syria, predating the temple at
Jerusalem by about 800 years. The oldest known temples of this type
so far discovered are three at Tell Chuera, which is in the
foothills of the Taurus Mountains of Asia Minor, all dating from
about 2500 BCE. The temples in Syria and Palestine are not like
the Egyptian temples of that period, but their characteristics are
similar to those of the temple at Jerusalem. These temples are
elongated about 3:1 in plan and are subdivided into compartments
like the temple at Jerusalem, with a single entrance at the eastern
end of the building and a holy place at the western end.
Notwithstanding
the similarities in the temple layouts in Palestine and Syria, it is
evident from the diversity of their dimensions and details that King
Solomon's temple was not copied from a single design, but rather
that it followed a general type that allowed for a logical
progression from the profane outside world to the sacred inner
sanctum. The deep significance of this is reflected in the Bible by
the names given to the various parts of the temple. The temple at
Jerusalem had a single entrance at the eastern end, which was
reached by passing through the ulam, an open porch or
entrance flanked by two columns, one at the north-eastern corner and
the other at the south-eastern corner. The ulam opened
into the hekhal, the hall for daily worship by the
priests, the presentation of offerings and the performance of
ritual. The hekhal gave entrance to the
debir at the western end, which was the Holy of
Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept
and where God was said to dwell.
When
humans first emerged from their Stone Age existence and learnt to
erect primitive shelters, they developed a desire to build shrines
or temples wherein they could worship the supreme being in the
“Lord's house". Modern research, supported by
archaeological discoveries in the countries bordering the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean Sea, indicate that the original
Tower of Babel probably would have been in existence
by about 4800 BCE. It is the first structure mentioned in the Bible
and is named after Babel, one of the chief cities founded by Nimrod
in the land of Sumer, which was ancient Babylon. No direct
archaeological evidence has yet been found that positively confirms
the existence of a city and tower at Babylon before about
1800 BCE. However there is a text of Sharkalisharri, the king
of Agade who ruled in about 2250 BCE, which mentions that he
had restored the temple-tower or ziggurat at Babylon,
which implies that there was an earlier sacred city on the site. It
is now believed that the ziggurat built by Ur-Nammu,
who was king of Ur in about 2100 BCE, replaced much earlier
Towers of Babel. These ziggurats
comprised a series of superimposed platforms, each of which was from
10 to 20 metres in height and progressively smaller in area. A
temple was erected on the top platform, to which it was thought that
God would descend to communicate with mankind. Access to the temple
was gained by a series of ramps or stairways.
When
Abraham was born, probably in about 1900 BCE in Ur of the
Chaldees, he was called Abram meaning high father.
Abram, who was a son of Terah and a descendant of Shem, was the
ancestor and a patriarch of the Hebrew race. Although Abram lived in
idolatrous times he was a man of outstanding faith who believed in
one God, Yod He Waw He or Yahweh,
meaning “He who creates”. Abram’s people came to know
him as “the friend of God". After his father died
Abram moved to Harran in the far north of Syria, where he received
God's call when he was 75 years old. It was then that Abram received
Yahweh’s promise that he would inherit the whole of
the land southwest of the Euphrates River. After Abram had received
God's promise he journeyed south into Canaan, where he rescued his
nephew Lot and defeated the Amorites led by Chedorlaomer, the king
of Elam. On his return from the rout of Chedorlaomer and his allies,
Abram was greeted by Melchizedek, the king of Salem, who was called
a priest of the “God Most High”, that is of El
Elyon. Melchizedek presented Abram with bread and wine and
blessed him in the name of the “God Most High”. In
return Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of his spoils as a tithe, by
which he acknowledged Melchizedek’s greatness. He then declined
Melchizedek’s proposal that Abram should keep all of the spoils, but
said that those who had accompanied him should keep their spoils.
This was when God renewed his covenant with Abram and Abram changed
his name to Abraham meaning “father of a
multitude”.
Within
a year of that event, when Abraham was 100 years old, his son Isaac
was born, but Abraham lived for another 75 years. A severe and
extended famine in Canaan and the Negeb was the reason why Isaac's
son Jacob, who was known as the “father of the chosen
people", led the Israelites into Egypt. This migration of
the Israelites into Egypt was made at the invitation of Jacob's son
Joseph, who had been sold into slavery in Egypt many years before,
but later became a viceroy there. Moses was born in Egypt into the
tribe of Levi, who were priests from birth. We have already seen
that Moses was born at the time when a decree was in force in Egypt,
requiring all male Hebrew children to be slain at birth.
Notwithstanding the decree, Moses was saved by the compassion of a
daughter of the Pharaoh, previously often identified as Hatshepshut,
whose father was Tuthmosis I. As the latest chronologies associate
Queen Hatshepshut’s rule over Egypt with the period
1490-1468 BCE, there can be no doubt that it was the daughter
of a later pharaoh who rescued Moses. As mentioned earlier, it is
now believed that Moses was born at the beginning of the reign of
the Pharaoh Seti I, in about 1312 BCE. In any event there
is general agreement that Moses was brought up and educated in the
Egyptian court, later becoming the great leader and lawgiver who
delivered the Israelites to within reach of the “promised
land” of their forefathers.
It
was noted earlier that after the Israelites had lived for about 430
years in the delta area of Egypt, they were being subjected to ever
increasing hardship and oppression. To escape slavery they fled from
Egypt under the leadership of Moses, in about 1280 BCE during
the reign of Rameses II. Their escape is known as the
Exodus. During the Exodus they led a
semi-nomadic existence for about 40 years, wandering through the
wilderness of Sinai and the desert lands of Edom, which culminated
with their crossing of the Jordan River to reach their
“promised land". Because of their wanderings the
Patriarchs could not build a permanent shrine for worship, which had
been their custom in every city in Mesopotamia even before Abraham
had left there in answer to God's call.
Early
in their Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites lapsed into
idolatry. That was when Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, where
he received the stone tablets bearing the Ten
Commandments, which were regarded as a “title
deed" of Israel's covenant with God. It was during his forty
days on Mount Sinai, that Moses received God’s command that he
should erect a portable shrine and construct the Ark of the
Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was kept in
the portable shrine, called the Tabernacle, or
tent of congregation. The Tabernacle was
the sanctuary of the Israelites during their wanderings through the
desert, where they believed that “God dwelt among the
Israelites". However, the Tabernacle continued
to be used as the provisional meeting place of the people with God
long after the Israelites entered Canaan. Under the Judges it was at
Shiloh and in Saul's reign it was first at Nob and later at
Gibeon.
When
King David had consolidated his power and built for himself a
permanent palace, the lack of a permanent shrine of
Yahweh seemed invidious to him. It was for this reason
that King David said, as it is recorded in II Samuel 7:2 of the
New English Bible:
"Here
I live in a house of cedar, while the Ark of God is housed in
curtains".
However,
we are told in I Chronicles 22:8 that the Lord had expressly
forbidden King David to build a temple, because his hands were
stained with the blood of his enemies. We are also told that the
Lord said to King David that he would have a son, Solomon, who would
be known as “a man of peace" and that he would build
the temple.
King
David purchased the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite as the
site of the temple, which is within the area now called Haram
es-Sherif, the highest point on Mount Moriah at the eastern side of
the Old City of Jerusalem. Although the precise
location of the temple on Mount Moriah is uncertain, the available
evidence suggests that the Holy of Holies was at the
highest point, which is now the location of the mosque known as
“The Dome of the Rock”. The biblical records tell us
that King David also gathered treasure and collected materials for
the building of the temple. It is recorded in the scriptures that
when King David was on his deathbed he entrusted the building of the
temple to his son and successor, King Solomon, who became renowned
for his wisdom. In I Chronicles 22:6 we are told:
"He
sent for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the
Lord the God of Israel".
The
background to the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, the events
that occurred during the Exodus, the wars that consolidated of power
by King David, the building of the temple by King Solomon and its
subsequent chequered history, are all recounted in graphic detail in
two books that approach the subject from different perspectives. The
first is an account of the Hebrew people and their trials and
tribulations over fourteen centuries of human turmoil and change,
which Joan Comay vividly portrays in The World's Greatest
Story, which is subtitled The Epic of the Jewish
People in Biblical Times. Her narrative brings into focus
the whole spectrum of human activities that influenced the Jewish
religion, leading to the establishment of the tabernacle during the
wanderings of the Israelites in the deserts of Sinai and ultimately
to the construction of the temple at Jerusalem. The second is
The Bible and the Ancient Near East, by Cyrus H Gordon
and Gary A Rendsburg, which has been progressively updated since
1953 and correlates the results of continuing archaeological
investigations with history as recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Some of
the more esoteric aspects of the evolution of the Hebrew people are
examined by Laurence Gardner in his recent thought-provoking book
entitled Genesis of the Grail Kings, which is
subtitled The Pendragon Legacy of Adam and Eve.
Gardner begins the history of the Israelites with their Mesopotamian
origins, but surprisingly his tabulation of events during their
residence in Egypt is not based on the latest chronology. He dates
the beginning of the Exodus as 1330 BCE, instead of about
1280 BCE. As a result, his account of the early days of Moses
in Egypt and the conclusions he reaches are not the same as those
given earlier in this chapter.
King
Solomon commenced the actual construction of the temple in the
fourth year of his reign and completed it seven years later, in
about 950 BCE. He had entered into a treaty with Hiram King of Tyre,
whereby Hiram permitted Solomon to obtain cedar and cypress wood and
blocks of stone from Lebanon. Furthermore, Solomon's workmen were
permitted to fell the timber and quarry and hew the stones under the
direction of Hiram's skilled workmen. In addition, Solomon also had
the services of a skilled Tyrian artisan named Huram, or Hiram Abif,
who took charge of the castings and the manufacture of the more
valuable furniture and furnishings of the temple. In return, Solomon
sent supplies of wheat, oil and wine to Hiram King of Tyre.
The
temple at Jerusalem was 60 cubits long and 20 cubits wide, with its
axis oriented from east to west. The ulam or porch at
the eastern end of the temple was 10 cubits long on the axis of the
temple and 20 cubits wide. The hekhal, or Holy
Place, had a length of 40 cubits along the axis of the
temple and a width of 20 cubits. Contrary to popular conception, the
Holy Place was accessible only to the priests. The
members of the public were only admitted into the surrounding
courtyards, but were segregated according to their status. The inner
sanctuary at the western end was the debir, or
Holy of Holies, which was a perfect cube with sides 20
cubits long. It is probable that the Holy of Holies
was only accessible to the high priest during the atonement
ceremony, once a year.
There
can be no doubt that King Solomon's temple at Jerusalem was a
magnificent edifice, surpassing anything that had preceded it. The
temple was noted for the lavish beauty of its detail and finish, not
for its size. The walls of stone were lined inside with cedar carved
with cherubim, palms, garlands and opening flowers. The ceilings
also were lined with cedar and the floor was planked with cypress.
The floor, walls and ceiling were all overlaid with thin plates of
gold. The Holy of Holies was separated from the
Holy Place by double doors of cypress and screened
with a veil. The doors probably were left at least partly open to
provide light, because there were no windows in the inner sanctuary.
Within the Holy of Holies there were two cherubim
carved from olive wood and overlaid with gold, standing 10 cubits
high with the tips of their outstretched wings touching over the
Ark of the Covenant. In the north and south walls of
the Holy Place, close to the ceiling, there were
latticed windows to provide light during the hours of daylight.
The
main temple building was enclosed on its northern, western and
southern walls by a series of chambers that were three stories high.
These chambers served as storerooms and offices and may also have
provided accommodation for the priests. There was no entrance to the
chambers from inside the temple, but there were two external doors,
one near the southeastern corner of the main building and the other
near the northwestern corner. Each of these doors gave access to an
internal spiral staircase leading to the upper floors. The building
complex was on a platform, which was elevated above the terraced
courtyards that completely surrounded it. Access to the porch of the
temple was gained by ascending ten steps from the upper or inner
court, to which access was gained by ascending eight steps from the
great or outer court that surrounded it. The brazen altar, the
brazen sea and the lavers were in the upper court, where the
sacrifices and other ceremonials took place. The public could watch
the ceremonials from the outer court, but they were not allowed to
mingle with the priests participating in the ceremonials. The outer
court was enclosed within walls comprising three courses of hewn
stone, surmounted by a row of cedar beams. Access to the outer
court, from the surrounding environment, was gained by ascending
seven steps. It is believed that porticos and vestibules were
provided in the surrounding environment, near to the gates that gave
access to the outer court.
Hiram
was responsible for casting the two great pillars that were set up
at the porch of the temple, one on each side. The porch did not have
a roof and the two pillars at the entrance to the temple were free
standing. In operative freemasonry there is a tradition that when
King Solomon named the two pillars he was standing in the Holy
Place and looking through the entrance door towards the
east. Thus the right pillar, called Jachin, was at the
southeastern corner of the temple and the left pillar, called
Boaz, was at the northeastern corner of the temple,
which is consistent with the description given in the sacred
writings. The pillars were hollow, 18 cubits high and four fingers
thick. They were cast hollow to save scarce materials and also to
reduce their weight for handling and transportation. The suggestion
that the pillars were used as archives to store the constitutional
rolls is an embellishment that is not founded on fact.
The
pillars were cast vertically in moulds that were dug in the ground,
using the “lost wax" method that the Assyrians had
developed during the Bronze Age, probably in about 1200 BCE during
the reign of King Shalmanesar. When castings are made using the
“lost wax” process, the outer mould is formed
concentrically around an inner mould of sand or other suitable
material that is coated with wax. When the molten metal is poured
into the mould, most of the wax melts away leaving a thin skin of
slick material, which allows the casting to be removed easily when
it has cooled. Because pillars, like those at the porch of King
Solomon’s temple, were common in Syria, Phoenicia and Cyprus at that
time, the “lost wax” method of casting was well known
to the Tyrian artificers. Each pillar in King Solomon’s temple was
surmounted by a double capital, which had a combined height of
5 cubits and probably was cast in two parts. The lower section
of each capital, called the chapiter, was embellished with lotus
work comprising four open and everted petals, each petal being
4 cubits wide. The upper sections of the capitals were not
spheres, as is usually stated, but were large bowls. They did not
represent what was then known of either the terrestrial globe or the
celestial sphere. Modern research has revealed that the bowls
surmounting the pillars almost certainly were vessels to contain
oil, which could be ignited and would burn steadily.
Archaeological
investigations reveal that similar decorated pillars were used in
Palestine and Cypress during the period 1000 BCE to 900 BCE, which
spans the period during which the temple at Jerusalem was under
construction. The bases of similar pillars have been uncovered at
the sites of the temples at Hazor and Tell Ta'Yinat, each of which
also had two columns at their entrances. The Greek historian
Herodotus (c.484-425 BCE), who was called the “Father of
History", travelled widely throughout the lands that
bordered the eastern half of the Mediterranean Sea. In his treatise
called Histories, Herodotus described two great
pillars near the temple of Hercules at Tyre, making special
reference to the fact that they “shone at night". The
two great pillars that stood at the porch of King Solomon's temple
were erected and dedicated before the temple was completed. In I
Kings 7:21, in relation to Hiram's work, we read the following:
"And
he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple; and he set up the
right pillar and called the name thereof Jachin; and he set up the
left pillar and called the name thereof Boaz."
The
wording of this text is unusual in some respects, because it allows
for more than one translation. The expression “he set
up", which is repeated three times, appears at first sight
to be used to add emphasis to the statement, but there is another
equally valid interpretation. This is because the Hebrew word that
is used for a column or pillar is
'mwr, which is a derivative of the root word
'mr meaning to found, to lay the
foundation of, to establish, to
stand or to set up. Moreover, a
pillar is frequently used in the scriptures in a
symbolic sense, when it can have a variety of meanings. On at least
one occasion 'mwr is used to signify the house
of the living God, as it does in I Timothy 3:15. The
possibility of an alternative translation is supported by the fact
that the two names given to the pillars are also common words that
would usually be translated with their ordinary meanings. For these
reasons a portion of the text could be translated as “I
establish God's House in strength", from which may be
derived the following expression:
"For
the Lord said, in strength will I establish this Mine House that it
shall stand firm forever."
God's
promise to King David and King David's response to God are both
relevant. They are recorded in I Chronicles 17:12 and I Chronicles
17:24 of the New English Bible in the following
words:
“It
is he shall build me a house and I will establish his throne for all
time."
“Let
it stand fast, that thy fame may be great forever and let men say
'The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God'."
It
has often been said that the pillars were named with the intention
of enshrining the memory of King David's ancestry through his
maternal line, because Jachin occurs as a Simeonite
name and was a name used in a priestly family, as well as through
his paternal line because Boaz was a wealthy landowner
of Bethlehem and the great grandfather of David. However, experts
have shown convincingly that the names of the pillars were key words
used by oracles who sought to bestow power on the dynasty of David
and to express Solomon's gratitude to the Almighty prior to the
dedication of the temple, when the oracles would have used words
such as “Yahweh will establish (yakin) thy throne for
ever" and also “In Yahweh is the king's strength
(boaz)", which are consistent with the alternative
translation given above. The pillars set up at the porch of the
temple at Jerusalem have also been interpreted as sacred obelisks
with their blazing, smoking wicks recalling to the worshippers the
pillars of fire and cloud that led Israel of old through the
wilderness. These immense fire altars or incense stands were similar
to their Phoenician counterparts and would have illuminated the
facade of the temple on Mount Moriah at night, whilst also catching
the first glint of sunrise in Jerusalem and producing a cloud of
dark smoke during the day. Hence both interpretations would have
been equally valid.
In
ancient times, temples not only were the focus of religious
activity. Often they were the real centres of power in a region,
especially when the priesthood was in the ascendancy. Temples also
served as state treasuries, being filled with booty when the nation
was powerful and overrunning its enemies, or emptied to pay tributes
to its overlords when in a state of oppression. King Solomon’s
temple at Jerusalem was no exception. After the temple was completed
there were many years of affluence while King Solomon was at peace
with the neighbouring peoples. Throughout that period of affluence
King Solomon used forced labour and imposed excessive taxation to
carry out his many building projects, during which huge quantities
of treasure were accumulated in the temple. Rehoboam, King Solomon's
son by the Ammonite princess Naamah, assumed power in about
930 BCE. Spurred on by his rebellious and demanding
contemporaries, Rehoboam told the people that they would be taxed
and punished even more severely than before, which soon brought an
end to the loose confederation of tribes that ostensibly had been a
united kingdom. With the encouragement of Shishak, the King of
Egypt, ten of the twelve tribes of Israel revolted under the
leadership of Jeroboam, who previously had incurred the wrath of
Solomon. After the revolt Jeroboam became the first king of the
separated kingdom of Israel in the north.
Rehoboam
remained king of the kingdom of Judah, based in Jerusalem, but he
feared the interests of Shishak, the king of Egypt who had supported
Jeroboam in his activities. Rehoboam fortified the cities of Judah,
including Bethlehem. Judah was also strengthened by an influx of
priests and Levites who had deserted the kingdom of Israel, in
protest against the breakdown in religious practices that had become
prevalent in the northern kingdom. Rehoboam and his subjects
prospered for a time, until idolatrous practices gradually corrupted
their worship of God. It is recorded in I Kings 14:25-28 that
Shishak raided the temple and palace in about 925 BCE, when he
took all the treasures of Jerusalem as a tribute and established his
rule over the land. The prophet Jeremiah pointed out that these
calamities had occurred because the nation had sinned in the sight
of God, which led Rehoboam and his people to repent. Several years
later, when Shishak had departed, the worship of God was restored.
Rehoboam was not a great king and his reign was marked by sporadic
wars with the northern kingdom, which continued until his death in
about 915 BCE. Nevertheless, he was buried among the
“good kings" in the city of David.
Later
kings used accumulated treasure to purchase the friendship of
allies, or to pay tribute to buy off invaders, including Hezekiah
during his reign of about thirteen years as co-regent with Ahaz.
Hezekiah became the sole king of Judah in about 715 BCE and
became one of its most outstanding kings, renowned for his
exceptional piety, his measures for religious reform and his
vigorous political activities. Hezekiah reopened the temple and
cleansed it of everything that made it unfit for use, then restored
true worship. He also reaffirmed the ancient covenant between Yahweh
and Israel, when he received the celebration of the Passover on an
unprecedented scale. At Hezekiah’s invitation, many Israelites from
the northern kingdom also attended the Passover festivities.
Hezekiah is also celebrated for building a reservoir and tunnel to
supply fresh water to within the city walls of Jerusalem. All of
these events are recorded in II Kings 20:20 and in
II Chronicles 32:30. Hezekiah’s son, Mannaseh, ruled as
co-regent with his father during the last ten years of his father's
reign until Hezekiah’s death, probably in about 685 BCE.
Idolatrous
kings succeeded Hezekiah. They desecrated the temple and allowed it
to fall into decay, until the time of Josiah more than three
centuries after the temple at Jerusalem had been completed. The
temple was then in need of extensive repairs, which could only be
financed by contributions made by the worshippers. Josiah carried
out an even more thorough reformation than Hezekiah had, including
the destruction of all of the “high places" that had
been used in idolatrous worship. He eliminated every vestige of
heathen worship and once again reinstated the celebration of the
Passover, at a level surpassing even that of Hezekiah. Josiah died
in battle at Megiddo in about 609 BCE when Necho II, the
king of Egypt, advanced through Palestine to assist the Assyrians at
Harran. Despite the strongest of assurances that he had received to
the contrary, Josiah thought that the Egyptians were a threat to his
kingdom and therefore opposed Necho II. Finally in
587 BCE, during the reign of Zedekiah the last king of Judah,
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon looted the temple and sacked
Jerusalem. It is recorded, in II Kings 35:13, that the two
great pillars of the temple were broken up and that the metal was
carried off to Babylon. It is of interest to note that in Ezekiel's
vision of the ideal temple, during his exile in Babylon, he intended
to replace the two great pillars with wooden columns.
Pillars,
or columns, have been symbolic objects used among all communities in
all ages of recorded history. Sometimes they stand in solitary
splendour, but often they are arranged in groups. Single pillars commonly
serve as memorials, some of the most famous being the obelisks that
were erected at the ancient temple complexes in Egypt. As memorials,
individual pillars typify two of the fundamental symbolisms of a
column or pillar, which are firstly as an emblem of the higher mind
that is receptive of the spirit of truth and love and secondly as an
emblem of the perfected soul. The latter symbolism especially is
reflected in Revelations 3:12, the New English Bible
version of which tells us:
“He
who is victorious – I will make him a pillar in the temple of my
God; he shall never leave it. And I will write the name of my God
upon him, . . .”
As
the two great pillars of the temple at Jerusalem have already been
discussed in some detail, it only needs to be mentioned that twin
pillars suggest stability and imply strength. Groups of three
pillars suggest cooperation and imply perfection, typified by two
harmonizing trios of Wisdom, Strength
and Beauty together with Faith,
Hope and Charity. Four-pillar groups
suggest completeness and imply fulfilment, of which the “four
pillars of the kingdom of heaven” are typical. They
represent four symbolic states that are the foundation for human
aspiration towards spiritual being. Those four states are
earth, a symbol of the physical state,
coupled with water, a symbol of the intermediate
plane of nature that connects the physical state with the
mental plane, coupled with air, a symbol of the
mental plane and also fire, a symbol of
the fount of spiritual life.
