Solomon's Temple | Court of the Temple & Interiors

1. Size of the court. It’s generally accepted by many scholars that since the Temple itself is twice the size of the Tabernacle, the Court of the Temple was also twice the size of the Court of the Tabernacle. There are no Bible passages that give us this information, and it’s just a guess, but it provides a valuable starting point: 200 cubits long and 100 cubits wide. I’ve also doubled the height of the curtains to suggest a wall height (I’m assuming 10 cubits).
2. Thoughts on the walls of the court. I believe the walls held more function than dividing a sanctified area from one which was not. My reasoning begins with the Mobile Bronze Basins: when a basin is near the wall, it can be filled if water is poured into it from overhead. This got me thinking that the wall probably also included a utility walkway along the top. As I read 1 Kings 6:36, the “three courses of dressed stone” refer not to the pavement but to the walls: the outer wall, the walkway above, and pillar supports, with cedar beams forming ceiling supports under the walkway. There are other ways to read this, so I won’t be dogmatic on this view.
3. Refilling the Bronze Sea. The Sea, at the southeast corner of the Temple (2 Chronicles 4:10), is not terribly far from the wall. I wondered if there wasn’t a simple system rigged up on the wall with a gutter on a swing arm that could fold away when not in use, but reach the Bronze Sea for refilling when needed.
4. Storage, rooms and corner kitchens. The wall might also serve as a storage location for wood, grain, wine and tools, and even hold private rooms for the priests (Nehemiah 13:4–5; Ezekiel 46:19). I would suggest kitchens in each of the four corners, used to boil offerings eaten by the priests or shared with the offerors (Leviticus 3–6). I’ve placed these in the corners partly because it reflects the kitchens in the Temple of Ezekiel’s Prophecy, Ezekiel 46:20–24.
5. The Sabbath canopy. This isn’t described in 1 Kings or 2 Chronicles, but it is talked about in 2 Kings 16, because King Ahaz destroyed it and walled up the King’s Gate to the Temple. It appears to be a royal canopy where the king could sit and observe Temple activities from the best seat in the house.
6. Location of the Altar of Burnt Offering. I have placed it east of the Bronze Sea with the steps facing east, an educated guess based on Ezekiel 43:17. I’m inclined to stick with a southern location: it’s closest to the king; it’s closest to where the heaviest offerings were probably processed; and Ahaz had it moved in such a way that we can be reasonably sure it was not on the north (2 Kings 16:14). Perhaps this is why Herod’s Temple also had its altar to the south.
7. The porch: 20 cubits high, or 120? 2 Chronicles 3:4 reads 20 cubits in the NIV, but 120 in the KJV, and the Hebrew agrees with the KJV. Many scholars are more comfortable with 20 cubits. Fair enough, and maybe this is the right view. However, the Hebrew says what it says, and there may have been a function for such a tower. One possibility might be a windcatcher. Windcatcher towers capture wind to help circulate cool air in a building, a bit like a simple air conditioning unit. A Holy Place covered in gold may have been sweltering on a summer day in Israel. This is a guess, of course, but I don’t believe we should be quick to discount the words as written in Scripture just because we aren’t certain about how they should be applied.
8. The Holy Place. No stone was seen, and apparently no wood either: everything was covered in gold, floor to ceiling. With ten lampstands and ten tables (2 Chronicles 4:7–8) and minimal light from the narrow windows above, the look would have been dramatic and otherworldly. I think the “narrow windows” were literally narrow windows, mostly used for ventilation and a minimal amount of light.
9. The doors and the veil. My view is that the doors to the Most Holy were always open so that the veil could be seen (see 2 Chronicles 5:7–9). If true, the veil would have been an enormous tapestry, 30×30 ft. The “fifth part” of 1 Kings 6:31 doesn’t appear to describe the doors’ width, otherwise the veil would be mostly hidden. Robert Alter and Leen Ritmeyer suggest it is an architectural detail, a pattern of “doors within doors” on the frame. For my veil design I used seraphim-style cherubim as a nod to Isaiah 6, but obviously this is pure supposition.
10. Resting place of the Ark. In the Tabernacle the Ark sat on the ground, but that may not have been the case here. Dr. Leen Ritmeyer’s map of the Rock on the Temple Mount indicates a groove cut for the Ark. It may have held a base that raised the Ark, which would make sense of the poles being seen pressing against the veil. See also my notes on the Ark of the Covenant and the Cherubim, and on Jachin & Boaz, which I believe were free-standing pillars.
11. Side storage chambers. These three-tiered chambers (1 Kings 6:5–10) would have housed tools for the priests, tithes, offerings, treasures, supplies and more. This is also likely the place where King Joash was hidden from Queen Athaliah.
12. Appendix: the courtyard of Ahaz. Ahaz could have taken away the entire Bronze Sea, but he only took the base, which indicates he still wanted it used. Why cut the bases and carts up at all? I suspect it’s because he needed the bronze for his new altar. The new altar seems to have been removed at some point, and the carts and Sea restored; it’s a detail easy to miss, but you can see this in Jeremiah 52:17.

“There’s a lot of guesswork built on guesswork here, and my model is almost certainly lacking in some ways. Please treat my work with skepticism. Even so, I hope this model helps viewers envision this space as a real, working location, not just a stone house with some items in the courtyard.”