Solomon's Temple

Under Solomon, who began his reign in about 970 BCE, Jerusalem acquired a regional status and doubled in size. Solomon achieved legendary status; his wealth and wisdom were said to be prodigious, and he embarked on a massive building project. Jerusalem became a cosmopolitan city and was the scene of Solomon's most ambitious construction program. The Solomon's Temple was dedicated to Yahweh and designed to house the Ark of the Covenant. The Temple, though full of "pagan" imagery, became the most cherished institution in Israel.

Once the Ark was installed in the Temple, the site became for the Israelites a "center" that linked heaven and earth. Like the Sacred Mountain, the Temple was a symbol of the reality that sustains the life of the cosmos. It represented a bridge to the source of being, without which the fragile mundane world could not subsist. Because the Temple was built in a place where the sacred had revealed itself in the past, worshippers could hope to make contact with that divine power. The existence of the Temple let the sacred enter the world of men and women.

The Temple was also the source of the world's fertility and order. When a nation adopted the local ideal of sacral kingship, it was up to the king to uphold justice, or else, there would not be peace, harmony, and fertility in the kingdom.