The Emergence of the First Temple

     Researching for the final presentation has enabled me to learn more about the history of Jerusalem and its Jewish ties then I ever would have on my own. One significant event in the city's long and illustrious history that stood out to me specifically was the story of the emergence of the First Temple in Jerusalem. While I did have a basic understanding of the event, going more into depth was very interesting to me.

    In the tenth century BCE, King Solomon, who was the son of King David, took on his father's legacy to build a temple for God. King David had the initial divine inspiration to build the temple, but God told him that his son would be the one to build it in the end. Therefore, upon Solomon's inheritance of the throne, the site was already identified and materials were laid out for its construction.

    The site on which the First Temple was built, the Temple Mount, was already a very significant location to the Jewish people. The site is thought to be the place at which Abraham almost sacrificed his son to God, and as well the location where Adam was created (the first man). Therefore, the Temple Mount seemed like the perfect location for God's majestic temple.

    After its construction, the Temple possessed divine significance based on what it held. To backtrack a bit, the Temple was the successor of the people's main way of worship while they wandered the desert, which was the tabernacle (a portable sanctuary used by the Israelites). However, the Temple became the new standing place of worship and housed the Ark of the Covenant, which had extreme significance to the Israelites.

    However, the Temple did not last forever. In 586 BCE, the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar II, which was a traumatic event in Jewish history and led to the Babylonian exile, where many Jews were taken captive to Babylon. The destruction also signified the end of the united monarchy of Israel and Judah and had a profound impact on the religious and cultural identity of the Jewish people.

Artist's rendition of the First Temple

Source: https://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/Jerusalem/templemount.html#:~:text=The%20First%20Temple%20was%20constructed,in%20the%20Kingdom%20of%20Judah.