With only a finding that perwara temple is small it makes the team's research, whether in the surrounding areas there is still another temple, or only a single temple. To answer the problems in the year 2008 conducted research stage II. This research is still working with the Foundation as Tahija donors. Based on the experience of years ago to reduce the obstacles in the implementation of the activities - especially the number of water in the rainy season - the phase II study was conducted during the dry season. Research was conducted over 20 days from the date of 5 to 28 August 2008.
However, in the implementation of this research, Archeology Center of Yogyakarta does not stand alone, because there are various institutions that competent on this site. Therefore, in the research reveals Losari Temple Sites Phase II, also involves a variety of institutions, such as: District of Magelang - in this case the Office of Culture and Tourism of Magelang Regency - as the most competent as the owner of the location of the site and as the parties that will take advantage of the existence of the Losari Temple site. Involvement of Culture and Tourism Office Regency of Magelang also supported by the Culture and Tourism Office Province of Central Java. Central Conservation ancient heritage of Central Java based on the basic tasks and functions very competent to save, preserve and restore the Losari Temple. Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Gadjah Mada University as an institution of great academic competent to develop the science through research, notably with the discovery of the new site.
Central Conservation ancient heritage of Central Java with the cost of the installation itself has been doing re-roof the perwara temple's components that had been found. With the discharged of the roof then the temple has been back to the original habitat. Although not perfect yet, because there were some stones of the roof of the temple had not been found yet, especially the top of it, but the form of the temple has begun to appear vertical. The research team of Archeology Center of Yogyakarta supported by students and lecturers of Archeology at Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Gadjah Mada University started the excavation. The involvement of students and lecturers of Archeology is funded by the Office of Culture and Tourism of Central Java, who is also finance the making of the film about Losari Temple.
It is not easy to dig up the excavation boxes because the land is very hard. It takes perseverance, patience, and hard work to be able to reveal Losari temple. Not necessarily for the digging to get the results expected. The first five failed to get results, although the determination of the location of the box has been using geoelectric survey. Failure is not sour and discourage the members of the research team. Boxes in the new lay out and began to be extracted one by one. Apparently they do not struggle vain, in the box on the P22 depth 145 cm appeared a piece of stone cross north-south, that is the bottom of the relief from the usual. The findings are part of the threshold on the second perwara temple. It has raised new hope to be able to find other temples (the third perwara temple and the main temple).
Finally, one by one the parts of the main temple and the perwara temple start to appear. After the second (middle) perwara temple started to show the door entrance, the third (south) perwara temple also began to appear, but the front of the dogs already. Temple perwara third (south) is found in the P28 and P30. Estimated the third perwara temple has the same size. After the third perwara temple was found then the main temple could be found more easily. It is usually located in front of the middle perwara temple. The part of the main temple began to be found, the first stone temple ruins found in the P29. After the box had been dug deeper and eventually extended to the south then the wall structure of the building was found. It was the body wall of the main temple in the east of the entrance of the left temple. On the wall is found mahakala relief, one of the gods guard the entrance of temples. Besides the P31 found in the structure of the body wall of the main temple or the back of the west main temple and the temple on foot. With the two sides found the body temple and the top of the foot temple temple parent's area can be estimated. Body temple is squares shaped with an estimated 360x360 cm² width, while the foot temple is 500x500 cm² width. So the problems have been solved, Losari temple is a Hindu temple, which consists of a main temple and 3 perwara temples. That have not been found successful in this research is the surround fence.
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Losari Temple, Indonesia (Part II)
4,300-Year-Old Queen's Tomb in Egypt
The 4,300-year-old monument is believed to be the tomb of Queen Sesheshet, the mother of Pharaoh Teti, the founder ancient Egypt's 6th dynasty.
Once nearly five stories tall, the pyramid—or at least what remains of it—lay beneath 23 feet (7 meters) of sand.
The discovery is the third known subsidiary, or satellite, pyramid to the tomb of Teti. It's also the second pyramid found this year in Saqqara, an ancient royal burial complex near current-day Cairo.
"I always say you never know what the sands of Egypt might hide," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).
"This might be the most complete subsidiary pyramid ever found at Saqqara," added Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence.
Surprise in the Sand
Archaeologists also found remnants of a white limestone casing for the surviving, 16-foot-tall (5-meter-tall) pyramid base. The angle of the base helped them determine that the pyramid's walls stood at a 51-degree angle.
Based on that angle, the team determined that the pyramid was originally 46 feet (14 meters) tall and about 72 feet (22 meters) square at its base.
The researchers were somewhat surprised to find a pyramid at the Teti site, since they thought the area had been thoroughly searched. Archaeologists had already found subsidiary pyramids for Teti's two principal wives Iput I and Khuit, about a hundred years ago and in 1994, respectively. Teams have been digging in the area for more than 20 years. "One hundred years ago they used to take sand and put it in unexcavated areas," Hawass said.
"The archaeologists in the past used this area as a location for the sand. No one could think there is anything here."
Tomb robbers, however, had known the pyramid was there—archaeologists found that a shaft had been created to allow access to Sesheshet's funerary chamber.
Due to those assumed tomb raids, archaeologists don't expect to find Sesheshet's mummy when they reach the burial chamber weeks from now. But they do anticipate finding inscriptions about the queen, whose name, perhaps coincidentally, evokes the goddess of history and writing, Seshat.
Mother Love
Starting from the 4th dynasty (2616 to 2494 B.C.), pharaohs often built pyramids for their wives and mothers.
"Mothers were revered in ancient Egypt," said Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, who was not involved in the discovery.
"Building pyramids for one's mother in her dead state … was fairly emphasized in the whole vision of kingship that the ancient Egyptians had," Ikram said.
"That was something that was instituted during [a pharaoh's] lifetime and was a very public way of expressing his debt to her, his connection to her, and her importance in Egypt politically and as a symbol for kingship."
Sesheshet's son Teti might have been more motivated than the average pharaoh to pay homage to his mother. Sesheshet had come from a powerful family and probably supported his ascendancy to the throne during turmoil at the end of the 5th dynasty.
"She's one of the important ladies at that time," said Hakim Haddad, general director of excavations in Egypt.
"At the end of the 5th dynasty and the beginning of the 6th dynasty, there was a conflict between two branches of the royal families."
The American University's Ikram added, "I assume Teti thought it would be a good plan to make his mother a pyramid."
Regardless of Teti's motivations, SCA director Hawass says the newfound pyramid is special because of its association with a female ruler.
"You can discover a tomb or a statue, but to discover a pyramid it makes you happy. And a pyramid of a queen—queens have magic."
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"Crown" of Alexander the Great
Researchers said that an ancient Greek tomb thought to have held the body of Alexander the Great's father is actually that of Alexander's half brother.
This may mean that some of the artifacts found in the tomb—including a helmet, shield, and silver "crown"—originally belonged to Alexander the Great himself. Alexander's half brother is thought to have claimed these royal trappings after Alexander's death.
The tomb was one of three royal Macedonian burials excavated in 1977 by archaeologists working in the northern Greek village of Vergina.
Excavators at the time found richly appointed graves with artifacts including a unique silver headband, an iron helmet, and a ceremonial shield, along with a panoply of weapons and an object initially identified as a scepter.
"[Archaeologists] announced that the burial in the main chamber of the large rich [tomb] was that of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, who was assassinated in 336 B.C," said Eugene N. Borza, professor emeritus of ancient history at Pennsylvania State University.
But recent analyses of the tombs and the paintings, pottery, and other artifacts found there, suggest that the burials are in fact one generation more recent than had previously been thought, Borza said.
"Regarding the paraphernalia we attribute to Alexander, no single item constitutes proof, but the quality of the argument increases with the quantity of information," he said.
"We believe that it is likely that this material was Alexander's. As for the dating of the tombs themselves, this is virtually certain."
Tomb Mystery
The original excavation at Vergina was led by Manolis Andronikos, an archaeologist at Greece's Aristotle University of Thessaloniki who died in 1992.
His team found the first tomb to be a simple stone box containing human remains identified as a mature male, a somewhat younger female, and a newborn.
Tomb II, a large vaulted tomb with two chambers, contained the remains of a young woman and a mature male. Tomb III, with two vaulted chambers, was the resting place of a young teenager, most likely a male. Both of the larger tombs contained gold, silver, and ivory ornaments, as well as ceramic and metal vessels.
"[Andronikos] presented his theories [that the tombs were those of Alexander's father and his family] with great skill, and the Greek nation responded with fervent enthusiasm," Borza said.
"Indeed I was one of those who, in two early articles in the late 1970s, accepted Andronikos' view that the remains were those of Philip II."
Borza started to doubt Andronikos' conclusions, however, as he studied the evidence.
He contacted Olga Palagia, an art historian at the University of Athens, to evaluate the tombs' construction, pottery, and paintings.
Soon the duo realized the significance of the fact that Tomb II and Tomb III were built using a curved ceilings called barrel vaults.
"The earliest securely dated barrel vault in Greece dates to the late 320s [B.C.], nearly a generation after the death of Philip II," Borza told National Geographic News.
Palagia also found that paintings on the exterior frieze of the tomb reflected themes that were likely from the age of Alexander the Great, rather than that of his father.
The paintings depict a ritual hunt scene with Asian themes, suggesting influences resulting from Alexander's extensive campaigns to the east.
Treasures
The six-foot (two-meter) scepter found at the burial site is another clue, Borza added.
"We have several surviving coins issued in his own lifetime showing Alexander holding what appears to be a scepter of about that height," he said.
Additionally, a number of silver vessels discovered in Tomb II and Tomb III are inscribed with their ancient weights, which use a measurement system introduced by Alexander the Great a generation after Philip II's death.
"Once we have determined on archaeological grounds that Tomb II is a generation later than Philip II's death, we can then ask, Whose tomb is it?" Borza said.
"We have a double royal burial from this era attested in the ancient literature. Thus the tomb is that of [Alexander's half brother] Philip III Arrhidaeus and his queen, Adea Eurydice."
Borza and Palagia discussed their new analysis at the meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in January. Their findings will be published in a forthcoming study from the German Archaeological Institute.
Most of the ancient artifacts found at Vergina are on display today at a museum at the site of the tombs.
Death of Alexander
Alexander died of disease in ancient Babylon, near modern-day Baghdad, Iraq, in 323 B.C.
His generals appointed Philip III to take his place, and the half brother claimed Alexander's royal objects as public symbols to solidify his power, historians suggest.
Alexander's son, Alexander IV, who was appointed joint king along with Philip III, was assassinated around 310 B.C. He is likely buried in Vergina's Tomb III, which contains the remains of a young teenager, Borza said.
Historically, the only known Macedonian royal teenage burial is that of Alexander IV, he explained.
Alexander's father, Phillip II, is buried in Tomb I, along with his wife and their infant, according to Borza.
"Tomb I is from the age of Philip II—unlike the big chamber tombs, which are later—and the human remains of the three burials accord well with the assassinations of these individuals."
Winthrop Lindsay Adams, a professor of history at the University of Utah who was not involved with the study, said Borza's work builds on what other specialists have thought about the various aspects of the Vergina tombs.
The work of Borza and his colleagues convincingly make the case that Tomb II is the final resting place of Alexander's half brother, Adams explained.
"Indeed for most scholars working in fourth-century Macedonia, the original attribution by Andronikos now seems doubtful," he said. "This case is convincing."
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Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture
Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley of Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into Mexico's Gulf Coast.
Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the region, archaeologists say.
Most of the 41 artifacts "do not fit into any of the known cultures of the Valley of Tulancingo, or the highlands of central Mexico," said Carlos Hernández, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History in the central state of Hidalgo.
Many of the figures are depicted in a sitting position, with their hands placed on their knees.
Some have headdresses or conical hats with snakes at the base, which could represent Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the Aztec god of the wind. One figure shows a man emerging from the jaws of a jaguar.
The sculptures are also made of flat stucco—a combination of fine sand, lime, and water—and painted blue or green to the give the appearance of jade.
All of the artifacts date to the Epiclassic period between A.D. 600 to 900.
Some Mexican and foreign archaeologists have said the sculptures weren't ancient and thus false, Hernández said.
"But by linking all the characteristics that make them different, [such as their location in Tulancingo and time period], allows us to say that they should be considered as a product of a different culture [called Huajomulco]."
The culture is named after an area in Hidalgo.
Baffling Pyramid
Some of the artifacts were also found near the mysterious Huapalcalco pyramid in Hidalgo, whose origin has been a source of debate among archaeologists. The pyramid's proportions, along with smaller structures that were painted black and white, do not correspond to the Toltec or Teotihuacan cultures of the same area and time period. The Teotihuacan people, who lived from 400 B.C. to A.D. 700, constructed one of the largest pyramid complexes in the pre-Hispanic Americas, which refers to cultures that lived on the continent before the Spanish conquest of the Western Hemipshere.
The Toltecs, who came afterward, were made up of several groups of South Americans that together formed an empire famous for its artists and builders in the Teotihuacan capital of Tula from A.D. 900 until the 1100s.
The pottery found at the site—rough, cylindrical vessels that are gray and reddish-brown in color—is also not familiar to experts.
Based on the artifacts' discovery near the pyramid,"it is likely that the Huapalcalco pyramid has been built by people from this new culture," Hernández said.
Thomas Charlton, an archaeologist at University of Iowa, has worked in the state of Hidalgo.
He said that ample evidence—including the new artifacts—links a new pre-Hispanic culture to the Huapalcalco pyramid.
"It's a reasonable hypothesis [that] near the Valley of Tulancingo, there is a site that looks like it existed between the fall of the Teotihuacan and the beginning of the Tula [Toltec]," Charlton added.
"We know that there's an occupation [from this time] near Tulancingo.
"After the Teotihuacan, there were all sorts of smaller states throughout Mexico. It's part of the cycle after the fall of an empire."
Creative Era
Michael Smith, an archaeologist at Arizona State University, agreed.
"The notion that there would be an independent culture in [the Epiclassic] period is not surprising at all," he said.
"It was a very creative period, with rich development."
Future excavations of Huapalcalco should solidify the link to a new pre-Hispanic culture, and help archaeologists glean clues about this lost time, Hernández said.
"The [Epiclassic] period is considered a time of dynamic development—new trade, cities, and development," said Arizona State's Smith, "but one we don't know much about."
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Losari Temple, Indonesia (Part I)
The temple was buried under the very hard ground in the valley southwest of Merapi mountain. No one knows - at least until early 2004 - that there was a temple under the salak plantation in Losari village, even though the land where salak plantation is known as a bow-rice field temple. Perhaps the field would be the story that was told from generation to generation which was not meaningful if Muhammad Badri - owner of the land - did not find the temple stones in 2004.
When Muhammad Badri assisted by his neighbors were creating an irrigation channel to irrigate rice fields in the surrounding areas. They made a channel which was not too wide nor deep through the middle of his farm. In the middle of the digging, suddenly they found some pieces of temple stones. After they dug deeper, they found more stones. The digging finally reach the structure of a building that was still neatly arranged with a square hole in the middle of it. Muhammad Badri did not dare to work more.
The news about the discovery was heard by the research team of Archeology Center of Yogyakarta who had been doing a research in the temple of Singo Barong Site (Mantingan Site) in 2005 - 2 km northwest of the temple Losari site. Site hen reviewed, first team visited Muhammad Badri's house. When the teams were invited to the site, they knew that the stones in Muhammad Badri's house were the roof of the temple that was taken from the building structure. The structure of the building were still intact from the legs to the body temple. Only the roof that were already disclosed.
In 2006 there was a bid from a private foundation in Jakarta, the Tahija Foundation, to finance the activities of Archeology Research Center in Yogyakarta. Accidentally that time Losari temple site has not been proposed to be inspected, because of limited of government funds. And in fact there are many resources such as archaeological artifacts, sites, and areas that have not been examined and managed well because of limited funds, energy, and time. Therefore, the role of the private sector in research and management of archaeological resources may be one of the alternatives. Then Losari temple would be one of the proposed research when the bids from the private sector came.
January 2007 occurred cooperation Temple Losari research phase I of the Foundation with the Central Jakarta Tahija Archeology Yogyakarta. Tahija as the foundation of the funds, while the Archeology Center of Yogyakarta as the executor. In the implementation of the Archeology Research Center in Yogyakarta also involve experts from various other institutions, namely: Central Conservation ancient heritage of Central Java, Department of Archeology at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Central Investigation and Development of Technology of Volcanology of Yogyakarta, and of course the Office of Culture and Tourism District Magelang.
In the phase I study conducted for 20 days, 15 boxes of excavation had been successfully opened. The excavation done with trench techniques by following-lane alley in the range of Salak tree. The use of trench technique that can be expected to reduce or minimize the damage of salak farm caused by the activities of excavation.
Research stage 1 only found a small temple which was estimated as the Perwara temple. The Perwara temple was excavated to 4 m depth from the surface. This temple is Hindu religious background, which appeared from the corner of the roof of temple decoration in the form of Ratna (gem). Hindu temples are usually comprised of a main temple, in front of it there are three perwara temples and is surrounded by fence. If the main temple facing east, then the perwara temple facing west, to the contrary, if the main temple facing west then the perwara temple facing east. The perwara temple that already found was facing west, so the possibility to the main temple was facing east. However, it was unknown the position of perwara temple. North, central or south? It was just one perwara temple found.
to be continued...
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King Solomon's Astonishing Temple Secrets and His Metalic Messiah
The Floor Plan: Does it Reveal a Temple with a Human Form?
The greatest secret of King Solomon's temple is that it may have been constructed in the hidden form of a human body. Its architectural floor plan, in conjunction with the arrangement of its furnishings, reveals a “Temple Man” composed of three biblical figures: the Levitical High Priest, Jacob and a "Metallic Messiah." All three appear in a single composition, with one figure imposed atop the other. The measurements and description of the Temple (Heb., ha mikdash) are given in the Tanach (Old Testament) in I Kgs 6:1-35, and II Chr. 3:1-17, which is still our best source of information about this ancient (circa 950 BC) structure. Based primarily on these verses, various Jewish, Christian and secular reference works depict the holy house as a rectangular building with a triple-tiered row of cells wrapping around three of its sides: north, south and west, and with the entrance (but no cells), toward the east. See two drawings on this page. It should not be confused with the Second Temple built by King Herod about 20 BC and destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.
Importance of Tabnit, the ‘Plan’
The key to the Temple’s (or Mishkan’s, i.e, tabernacle’s) secrets is in the (floor) plan and layout of its furnishings. The “plan” or “pattern” (Heb., tabnit) of the structures and their furniture is mentioned I Chr. 28:11, 12,18,19 and Ex. 25:9, 39, 40. Tabnit is also translated as design, structure, figure, form, likeness, and shape. The Mishkan was the precursor of the Temple. Thus, in Dt. 4:16-18 the Israelites are forbidden making any likeness, form, or figure of a human or beast for worship. In Ezk. 8:10 the prophet sees repulsive forms or figures of creeping beasts, however in 8:3 he is lifted up by the form or figure of God’s hand, or an angel’s (see also 10:8). In Ps. 144:12 sons and daughters are compared to choice cut stones giving shape or form to a palace (see the Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh.
Tabnit generally refers to the form of something. King David received Divine inspiration for the form, i.e., plan or pattern of the Temple. And before him, at Sinai, Moses heard God’s verbal instructions for the form of the Mishkan,Tabnit is related to banah which means to build a structure or house –– or to raise children, since a “house” may also refer to a family. Thus, in Ru. 4:11 Rachel and Leah, the two wives of Jacob (later renamed Israel), are called the “builders” of the House of Israel. This is how tabnit directly and indirectly relates to buildings, ordinary houses, the House of God (i.e., the Temple), and humans –– and their structure, form or figure.
The High Priest as Temple Man
The picture above is the Temple Floor Plan from the previous page now trans-formed into a figure of the Levite High Priest. Within the figure are 13 bold numbers which are briefly explained below. All are in sequence except for nine (9).
1. TREASURE ROOMS, PRIESTS’ CELLS, west side – Gold and silver bullion was kept in the Temple (I Kgs. 7:51 ) possibly in its western cells. These form the High Priest’s turban (Heb., misnepet). The common priest’s cap was more globular, like an inverted cup.
9. PRIESTS’ CELLS, south and north sides – These form the arms. Only one entrance is named (I Kgs. 6:8) but Ezk. 41:11 includes a second.The entrances correspond to the onyx stones the High Priest wore on his left and right shoulders. Each was engraved with the names of six Israelite tribes, twelve names total, Ex. 28:9 -12.
2. TWO LARGE STARS – These are two10-cubit tall cherubs of goldplated olive wood (I Kgs. 6:23), they form Temple Man’s eyes.
3. THE ARK of the Covenant – This was a goldplated chest with a solid gold lid topped by two small cherubs (small stars).The chest is his nose. Its poles were attached to its long sides rather than its short ones. They were drawn forward, I Kgs. 8:8, after the Ark was installed in the Holy of Holies and depict extended nostrils.
4. STAIRWAY – A short staircase led from the Holy Place to a slightly elevated Holy of Holies.The stairway is his neck/throat.
5. INCENSE ALTAR – This small goldplated altar (I Kgs. 6:22) is the heart. Its sweet-smelling smoke depicts prayer and the spiritual life.
6. TABLES OF THE SHOWBREAD – On these goldplated tables (I Kgs. 7:48) were bread and wine, symbolizing flesh and blood, i.e., the humanity of national Israel, the High Priest, and the Messiah.
7. THE LAMPS – These (II Chr. 4:7) provided light while portraying a Tree of Life. Their seven flames each stand for the seven days of Creation Week and also the seventy nations of the world. Light may symbolize divine knowledge and the spirit of God.
8. THE PORCH – This antechamber, the ulam, (I Kgs. 6:3, II Chr. 3:4) corresponds to the human pelvis (hips) and depicts procreation, or more specifically, birthing (parturition), because this is the area of the genital organs.
10, TEN LAVERS – Five bronze lavers were on the north and five on the south near the Porch. These signify the ten fingers of the hands. They were for washing off any residue of blood in the sacrificial meats (I Kgs. 7:38; II Chr. 4:6). They were mounted on wheeled carts and each laver held 40 baths of water.
11. JACHIN, BOAZ – These large bronze pillars by the Porch were named Jachin and Boaz (II Chr.3:17) and are the Temple Man’s legs, Viewed standing, they portray two plants or trees and also the two kings, David and Solomon.
12. SEA OF BRONZE, TWELVE BULLS – This huge laver held 2000 or 3000 baths of water and was for the priests to wash their hands and feet (II Chr. 4:2). The laver depicts the basin of the Red Sea. Water too may depict God’s spirit and knowledge but also conception, and union (devekut) with him. The twelve bulls (v.4) are the twelve tribes of Israel.
13. THE SACRIFICIAL ALTAR – This (II Chr. 4:1) is the Temple Man’s feet, and also a king’s square footstool. The Altar signifies election/separation, war and conquest (victory), atonement for sin, and national Israel’s marriage to the Lord.
Garments of White Outside, Gold Inside
The exterior of Solomon's temple, like the Second Temple built by Herod centuries later, was made of the brightest white limestone blocks. Their color corresponds to the High Priest's "Garments of White" worn on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On the remaining days of the year, however, he wore the "Garments of Gold" and these correspond to the Temple’s gold interior. In his book, Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel (1985), pp. 169- 171, Professor Menahem Haran of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, provides some details of how the furnishings of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) correspond to the garments of the High Priest. Some Christian scholars have noted this too. Ezekiel 16:10 - 14 portrays national Israel as a woman (wife of God) dressed in the furnishings of the Tabernacle which gradually transforms into theTemple (v.14).
Jacob’s Dream and the Temple
Jewish tradition tells us that Jacob (forefather of the twelve tribes) saw the Temple in advance in his dream at Bethel. After seeing angels ascending and descending on a stairway, he says in Genesis 28:17, "This is none other than the
house of God ...," and in v. 19 renames the place Beth-El, House of God, which is a frequent biblical designation for the Temple. As shown below, Jacob's raised head corresponds to an elevated Holy of Holies and his ‘pillow stone’ (v. 11) to the Even Shetiyah or "Foundation Stone" where Abraham had earlier bound Isaac (22:9 -11). In other words, as he slept – unbeknownst to him – his head and body prophetically became a model for the Temple which was built atop Mt. Moriah. Today this site is called Haram al-Sharif by the Arabs, and theTemple Mount by Jews and others.
Jacob Builds the Temple?
Why was Jacob given the dream at this time? Because, although he was fleeing the wrath of his brother Esau, he was also on his way to Mesopotamia to find a wife and create a family, i.e., a “house,” as explained before. Isaac practically ordered him to leave and start his own family (Gen. 28: 1, 2), he is told to go multiply and become an “assembly of peoples,” v. 3. His two wives are later called the “builders” of the House of Israel (Ru. 4:11). Jacob, therefore, built a human temple, a house of twelve tribes, and centuries later those twelve, with the aid of the Phoenicians, built Solomon’s stone temple which was called the ‘House of God’. Hence, the dream concerns the building of these two houses.
The Amazing Metallic Messiah
The illustration on the right shows how the metals of the Temple’s interior relate to the High Priest’s outer ‘garments of gold’ and reveal the Metallic Messiah (heavenly
ruler). How do we know the metals have this secondary meaning? Because their type and order reflect those of King Nebuchadnezzar’s metal statue, below, which itself symbolizes an unholy, secular world ruler.
For the interior goldplating of theTemple’s Holy of Holies, Holy Place and Porch, see I Kgs. 6:20 - 22 and II Chr. 3:4 -10. For the bronze furniture outside see I Kgs. 7:15 - 27, 38 and II Chr. 4:1 -12.This gives the Metallic Messiah a head, torso and pelvis of gold, but hands, legs and feet of bronze. His silver shoulders and arms correlate with the silver plated cells (‘houses’) of I Chr. 29:3 - 5.
However, we remove the silver plated cells which form the turban (see at right) because we are viewing a nude man who is the counterpart of another nude figure, King
Nebuchadnezzar’s metallic statue, below. Hence, we compare one nude figure with another, not a clothed one with a nude one. Also excluded is the Sea of Bronze
because it is not part of the natural human anatomy.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Metal Statue - The account of this huge metal statue which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon saw in a dream is found in chapter 2:1 - 35 of the
Book of Daniel, but our focus is primarily on vv. 31 - 33.
This statue, v. 31, of four metals has a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, v. 32, legs of iron, v. 33, and feet of iron fused with baked clay, v. 33. The clay counts as one with the iron, so this man is made of four metals. However, Temple Man, i.e. the Metallic Messiah, consists of only three metals: gold, silver and bronze. These same three were also in the Mishkan (tabernacle), Exodus 25:3, 31:4; 35:5. But the four metals depict four successive world empires, standing for Man’s ungodly earthly rule until the last days. Hence, as Man’s rule is summed in one man of metal, so too God’s forthcoming reign is portrayed in a single Metallic Messiah figure.
‘Messiah’ is a transliteration of mashiach, which means the anointed or anointed one. A Jewish king was ‘anointed’ by having olive oil – symbolizing illumination – poured on his head so that he might know how to rule his people. But Metallic Messiah (the Messiah) is anointed with God’s spirit and rules worldwide from the Jerusalem Temple Mount.
The Mishkan (Tabernacle): Did it Have a Hidden Human Form?
Various writers have attempted finding a human figure in the Mishkan (tabernacle) built by Moses when the people received the Law at Sinai. Christians think they see Jesus in its furnishings and Jews a kabalistic Adam Kadmon in its floor plan.Is there a hidden human figure in it? Yes and No. What the floor plan reveals, rather, is half a man. An argument for the full figure of a man – no matter what some writers claim – cannot be convincingly made from its furnishings or floor plan. Only by examining the structure in retrospect – from the viewpoint of Solomon’s temple – can such a figure perhaps be seen, and even then it is only a partial one. There is no complete Mishkan Man there, too many body parts missing. No eyes, hands, pelvis, legs, etc.
Priestly Cells and Silver Socket
The Mishkan had only two main rooms instead of three, the Holy of Holies and Holy Place. No Porch. Its two rooms were half the size of the Temple’s and one third its height. Everything in it was portable, including its foundation which was made of 100 silver ‘sockets’ and 5 bronze ones. The sockets were heavy metallic blocks with holes which held the Mishkan’s frame, i.e. its walls, upright (Fig. D). It is the sockets’ layout, figures A, B, and C, that reveals a partial man.
Figure A shows the Mishkan's floor plan of one hundred silver sockets and five bronze ones; Figure B, the outline of a man's head, torso, shoulders, and arms; and figure C merely makes the partial man more evident by addition of peforated line.
The layout of the silver sockets is given in Exodus 26:19 - 36, and that of the bronze ones and their number (5) in v. 37. The number of silver sockets (100) is in 38:27. In 26:31 - 33 the curtain or veil which separated Holy of Holies from the Holy Place is mentioned (see v. 33) and we are told that this special curtain (paroket, meaning separatrix, the feminine of separator) was suspended by four goldplated pillars (i.e., posts or beams of acacia wood) which were inserted into four sockets of silver. These four sockets form the shoulders of Mishkan Man, figure C, above. But note this: there was no silver inside Holy of Holies or Holy Place of the Temple, only goldplated or solid gold objects were permitted in these two rooms which had goldplated walls.
However, silver appears to be inside the Temple’s Holy Place when the priestly cells are arranged to form the arms and shoulders of Temple Man, and this is a clear indicator that the cells, some of which were store rooms, correspond to the silver sockets of the Mishkan, which itself had no cells at all. The cells also formed Temple Man’s turban.The 100 silver sockets of the Mishkan and the 90 silver plated cells of the Temple relate to the ages of Abraham and Sarah when they had Isaac, but silver by itself relates to the priesthood and the sacrifices.
The Sexual Symbolism of the Temple
For certain, Solomon’s temple displays sexual symbolism in quite specific ways, but not in the manner Bible scholars imagine. According to them, the twelve oxen which supported the enormous Sea of Bronze were fertility bulls, and the two bronze pillars, Jacob and Boaz, were phalli (male sex organs). They have been saying this for decades, and while they are partially right – there is sexual symbolism involved – they are also wrong in major ways.
It might be asked, why would the Temple involve sex? – and the short answer is 1) because it displays a definite Edenic theme in its decorations and architecture and 2) Eden itself was a place of fertility, displaying the Creator’s powers to produce all types of life in abundance and 3) the land of Israel, ‘the Promised Land,’ is biblically presented as a new Eden, and finally and most important of all, 4) the Divine plan for mankind’s spiritual redemption is portrayed through the human birthing process. And since creating children involves sex, the Temple depicts human sexuality.
I do not intend explaining the above points, they are meant only as a broad answer, although I do have specifics in mind.The four deal with the question of why, Let us see how this is so. Forget notions of fertility rites and sacred prostitutes in pagan temples. The Temple design (see Ezk. 43:10, 11) includes human procreation, true, but as an analogy of redemption instigated by teshuvah, which means repentance and return. It is a clever and covert analogy in stone whose revelation was reserved for our time, I believe.
A Biblical Puzzle
Temple students have known for ages that there are some features of the Temple’s description that appear contradictory or at least puzzling, and perhaps the most well known of these concerns the height of the Porch (ulam): was it 30 or 120 cubits high? To appreciate this puzzle and how it relates to the Temple’s symbolism, compare the two temples at the right. The First is King Solomon’s (circa 950 BC), and the Second (circa 20 BC – AD 70) is King Herod’s. Herod was an Idumean (Edomite) and a descendant of slaves, not Jewish by blood.
Note that the Second Temple has a much wider front than the First, making its rooftop appear like an inverted letter T. This is because two chambers of knives were added to the Porch’s interior, one chamber on left and another on the right,This turned the Second Temple into Ariel, the “lion of God,” wide at the front, narrow at the back, so Jewish sources say. The two temples were about the same size, it seems, except for their height. Here and at other points the Second Temple deviated significantly from the inspired architectural plan given King David and passed on to his son Solomon. The interior of Solomon’s temple was only 30 cubits high, Herod’s 30-40, but with a 90 cubit Porch, a huge difference. But from the exterior Solomon’s may have been 40 cubits tall (the Bible does not give exterior measures) and Herod’s 40-50 with an 100 cubit Porch. Why this large difference in height between the two temples? – and is there any biblical authority for it?
King Herod’s 100 Cubit Porch
In a book whose title or author I no longer recall, except that it was written by a Jewish woman, it is said or implied that Herod set out to outdo Solomon. The First Temple was too short, he would build a taller one, and the biblical justification for it was II Chr. 3:4 where a height of 120 cubits is given for the Porch. This verse has given scholars headaches because it cannot be easily reconciled with I Kgs 6:2 where height of the holy “house” (Holy of Holies and Holy Place combined) is recorded as 30 cubits. While it is true that the height of the Porch (ulam) is never specifically given, an 120-cubit height for any room is nowhere recorded either in the Book of I Kings. Only II Chronicles 3:4 (probably written by Ezra the prophet) contains this odd measurement. Here is how scholars treat it:
1) The verse is simply ignored – the most popular way of “explaining” Bible difficulties!
2) The chronicler was exaggerating the Porch’s height in order to inflate the Jewish national ego.
3) Some scribal error occurred. A scribe intended writing 20 cubits but wrote 120 instead.
4) Maybe the Porch was truly 120 cubits high, after all.
The first two points do not merit any commentary. As for point three, most Bibles, whether distributed by Jewish or Christian publishing houses, retain the Masoretic text with its 120 cubit height for the Porch. However, not too long ago the New International Version broke with this practice and now gives the height as 20 cubits.
Its footnote informs us that some Syriac and Septuagint manuscripts contain this smaller number. This, of course, would make the Porch shorter than the remainder of the Temple building. Pertaining to the last point (4), various scholars dismiss an 120 cubit Porch saying that a.) the Porch is nowhere called a tower, but ulam, which is always translated as porch, portico, hall or vestibule, and b.) a Porch this high would probably be unsafe in a strong wind because of its narrow base. But Herod avoided this problem by adding 30 cubits of height (dead space) to the rest of the building, thus bracing the 90 cubit Porch. Is point three (3) adopted by the NIV Bible the most logical one, then? I think not.
Drawing at right: Herod raised a whole new temple and added 60 cubits of mostly dead
space to the Porch’s 30 cubit tall interior. But outside the Porch was 100 cubits high: 30+60+10= 100 (the 10 includes 4 cubits for a parapet wall on the roof and 6 more for the foundation). In this manner Herod dwarfed Solomon’s Temple, but he did not necessarily build a better one.
Solving the Puzzle
Drawing at left: this shows what Solomon’s temple would look like with a height of 30 cubits (I Kgs 6:2) and a Porch of 120 (II Chr, 3:4), not very visually appealing. No ancient or modern architect would want to claim such a miscreation, the Porch is four times the height of the building!
Herod did not outdo Solomon with a taller building, however, because in constructing it, the Temple’s hidden and Divinely inspired anthropomorphic elements were erased. Jacob and Adam, the High Priest, or the Metallic Messiah cannot be found in Herod’s uninspired architectural manipulations. Bigger is not always better and this is one example. Yet, amazingly, the rabbis of his time – and even today – seemed to admire the Second Temple more than the First!
The solution concerning height lies in the Temple’s symbolism of fertility. And to portray this fertility it was created at a miniature Garden of Eden, while at the same time depicting key events in Israel’s history. In this way the Temple had a universal aspect (Eden) and also a particular one (Israel). It was constructed on Jewish soil, yet it was to be a “house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7). Even Jesus recognizes this universal theme in Mark 11:17. And in Isa. 2:2-4 the prophet
links the house of God (the Temple) with the name Jacob and a reference to all nations.
Therefore it should be no surprise that Adam’s “deep sleep” while Eve was being created (Gen. 2:21, 22) corresponds to Jacob’s sleep at Bethel. Jacob is the “Adam” of the Jews. Adam was a father of the world, Jacob the father of the Israelites. Jacob was fleeing his brother’s wrath when he left for Mesopotamia, but he also had a second motive: to find a wife and start a family. And in the dream, the Lord assures him that he will have descendants whose number will be like the “dust of the earth,” (28:14). In similar manner, Adam is given a wife so that he could be “fruitful and multiply, fill the earth” (1:28). Consequently for both men – one in the Garden and the other at Bethel – their sleep is associated with their wives and raising a family, ‘building a house’. Adam builds the world; Jacob, national Israel, which is part of the world too. And all of this involves fertility, so we might say both men
were super-fathers.
Yet there is a spiritual aspect to it all, which is namely this: they were to produce children in God’s “image and likeness,” which means his inward character, having his attributes. Otherwise the world and/or Israel becomes corrupt and unredeemable, even by the Law.
The Solution and its Meaning
The 120 cubit Porch is the male genital organ, here symbolizing procreation. The Temple’s entrance, which had no doors, is the woman’s birth canal. Temple Man’s genitalia is androgynous depicting both genders. The figure of 120 signifies Jacob’s 12 tribes enlarged (10 x 12 = 120).
The whole Temple displays the human birth process as an analogy to spiritual redemption, which itself signifies being renewed or reborn. But the birth process is somewhat reversed: one’s sins are atoned for at the Altar, his spirit is united with
God’s at the Bronze Sea (this is conception or devekut, union with, or cleaving to God), then as one passes through the Porch he or she is born into – not out of – Temple Man’s body.
But lay Israelites never entered the Temple. Instead, the Levite priests portrayed this process for them. In this way each Israelite signified their becoming a kingdom of priests, Ex. 19:6. This topic is related to the ‘sin offering,’ korban chatet for atonement, but I cannot use space explain it here; the details are explained and illustrated with graphics in my unfinished manuscript. Hence, the 120 cubits symbolize Israel’s priestly birthing and increase, but the 30 cubits are quite literal and apply to the height of the whole building, Porch included.
The Sexual Symbolism of Jachin and Boaz
While the twin bronze pillars named Jachin and Boaz are not phallic symbols as some Bible scholars have claimed for decades, they do play a sexual role according to the symbolism of the Temple. Also, according to their description in I Kgs. 7:15-22 they were not “fire altars,” as claimed in some Christian sources. Therefore, we may put aside this age-old notion made popular by Robert Smith and W.F. Albright. Maybe the pillars’ glossy capitals did catch the “first glint of the Jerusalem sunrise” but they still were not cressets, fire altars, or giant torches lighting up the night, nor were their bowl shaped capitals ever filled with burning oil. The pillars, rather, portrayed two trees or plants.
The drawing at left: Jachin and Boaz depicted two identical large plants. The plant was a hybrid creation whose capital symbolized a giant water lily and its shaft or stem, the trunk of a palm tree. The lily had a metallic netting or network upon which were suspended decorative pomegranates (7:20, 42). Some sources say that the Hebrew wording implies two bowls for each pillar (Tanach, Stone Edition, p.818). If so, the lower bowl was inverted, representing the drooping leaves of a palm tree, but the top bowl which is a lily cup was upright, as shown at left. The lily was the love flower of the Ancient Near East and in this instance symbolizes God’s love for David and Solomon, the two kings who had the most to do with founding and establishing Israel as a kingdom and planning for and constructing the Temple. David means “beloved” and Solomon’s second name Jedidiah (II Sam. 12:24, 25) “beloved of God.” Palm trees depict peace and prosperity, the mark of King Solomon’s reign.
But if the lily cup symbolizes love, exactly how does this make Jachin and Boaz sex symbols? Observe above (Temple Man lying down) that the Porch is the male organ and that the capitals seem attached to it. Furthermore, they are high up on his legs. What else can the capitals be except his gonads or testes! This why they had a netting or network (I kgs 7:41) and pomegranates wrapped around them. The netting is the rough, textured skin of the scrotum, while the pomegranates copious seeds depict male sperm. Surely this signifies national Israel enlarged, something yet to transpire in the Messianic Age ahead of us when she becomes exceedingly fertile ‘like the Garden of Eden,’ Ezekiel 36:35.
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