**8. Reconstructing the First Temple Using Architectural Computer Software: Problems and Solutions**

Together with the architect Roy Albag, we prepared a three-dimensional reconstruction of Solomon's Temple, using computerized architectural software. The basic data were of course taken from the biblical text. As work proceeded, various architectural problems emerged, to which the biblical text does not provide clear answers. Detailed discussion of the main problems and the solution chosen to overcome them is presented elsewhere (Garfinkel and Mumcuoglu 2016, pp. 181–88). The final graphic results are presented here in four figures. Figure 7 presents the ground plan of the building, Figure 8 presents a longitudinal section through the building, Figure 9 presents the building in an isometric view, and Figure 10 presents the façade.

**Figure 9.** Isometric reconstruction of Solomon's Temple based on our analysis of the text and relevant archaeological data.

**Figure 10.** Reconstruction of the façade of Solomon's Temple based on our analysis of the text and relevant archaeological data.

## **9. Summary**

As noted in the introduction, modern scholarship debates the question of whether it is possible that a temple was built in Jerusalem as early as the 10th century BCE. The new finds uncovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa and Motza give a clear positive answer to the question, for a number of reasons.

1. Culturally speaking, the building model from Khirbet Qeiyafa attests that the architectural concept of state-sponsored construction already existed in the 10th century BCE in Judah, and that it included recessed frames around doorways and the arrangement of roof beams in groups of three (triglyphs).

2. Practically speaking, the temple at Motza shows that temples were built in Judah and that they included five architectural components: two columns in the front, Forecourt, Outer Sanctum, Holy of Holies, and side chamber. These components are known from the temple at Ain Dara in Syria, as well as from the biblical description of Solomon's Temple. It seems that the building at Motza was a modest, rural imitation of the style of the large, grand temples built in ruling centers in the Iron Age Levant.

3. From a literary point of view, the biblical description of the plan of Solomon's Temple, which describes two columns in the front (Jachin and Boaz), Forecourt, Outer Sanctum, Holy of Holies, and side chamber, conforms in all of its components to the temples at Motza and Ain Dara. The biblical description of the superstructure, doorposts with "four *mezuzot*" and "five *mezuzot*" and *slaot* all around, conforms to the façade of the stone building model from Khirbet Qeiyafa, which includes doorways decorated with recessed frames and roof beams organized in groups of three (triglyphs). The stone model helps us to understand the biblical text much better, and we can see that the description of Solomon's Temple includes typical architectural components of public and royal construction during the Iron Age. The very presence of the stone building model and the Motza temple creates a major problem for the minimalists, who argue that the entire description of the construction of the Temple is a literary creation of a time centuries after the age of Solomon. The stone model and the Motza temple show, independently of the biblical tradition, that this construction style was indeed known in Judah in the 10th and 9th centuries BCE.

4. Another aspect that should be emphasized in the context of Solomon's construction projects is the number of recessed frames around each opening. In Solomon's palace, there were three recessed frames. At the entrance to the Outer Sanctum of the Temple, there were four recessed frames. At the entrance to the Holy of Holies, there were five recessed frames. The more important the house or the room, the greater the number of frames around the door. As it is said with regard to Hanukkah candles, "One ascends in holiness and does not descend." In fact, we can see that the biblical tradition actually uses an architectural language that is able to rank and emphasize the important doorways by means of construction style.

5. The type of temple architecture described in the biblical text was known in the Levant only during the Iron Age and was discontinued in later periods. Thus, we can infer that the text relates to an Iron Age context rather than to a later one.

One of the main tasks of the historian is to compare and cross-reference sources. If different sources attest independently to the same phenomenon, the historical reliability of that phenomenon is greatly enhanced. Thus, the biblical description of Solomon's Temple, the stone building model from Khirbet Qeiyafa, and the temple from Motza correspond to one another, hence confirming the historicity of the biblical tradition.

**Author Contributions:** Y.G. and M.M. were equally involved in the research and writing of this article. Architect Roy Albag organized the 3D reconstruction of Solomon's Temple.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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