Solomon’s Temple is one of the most mysterious and important structures mentioned in sacred texts, playing a central role in Jewish, Christian and esoteric traditions.
The Architecture of Being – Solomon’s Temple
Solomon’s Temple is one of the most mysterious and important structures mentioned in sacred texts, playing a central role in Jewish and Christian tradition as well as in many esoteric schools. It was built in the 10th century BC in Jerusalem by King Solomon and its role was to house the Ark of the Covenant, thus becoming the centre of worship for the Jews, right up until its destruction. According to the Bible, the Temple was built on Mount Moriah, on the site where, according to tradition, Abraham brought his son Isaac to be given as a sacrifice.
Solomon’s Temple is more than a historical building; it can be understood as an archetype or map of man, both physically and subtly, being shrouded in magical symbolism. It can be viewed both as an external architectural form, and as having an inner dimension, reflected by the esoteric significance of the mystical elements it contains. The main architectural components of the temple are: Ulam (Pronaos) – the monumental entrance with bronze columns called Boaz and Jachin; the Heichal (Main nave) – the place where rituals were performed and where sacred objects were kept, such as the menorah (seven-branched candlestick), the table of showbread and the altar of incense. The third element is the Debir (Holy of Holies), the most sacred room, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, watched over by two golden cherubim.
The “Table of the Bread of the Presence” (or “The Table of Showbread”) is a significantly sacred component in Solomon’s Temple (and previously in the Tent of Meeting), with profound symbolism in Jewish tradition, and possible echoes of other esoteric traditions. Located in the ‘Holy Place’, the first room of the Temple, the table was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold, and on it were placed 12 loaves of bread, arranged in two lots of six, changed weekly on the Sabbath (Leviticus 24:5–9).
In Jewish tradition, it symbolises the 12 tribes of Israel, but from a deeply esoteric perspective, the ‘bread of presence’ is the symbol for the continuous presence (lechem panim) of the people before God, of an unbroken communion, as well as spiritual nourishment, a divine grace given by God to His people.
In mystical traditions such as the Kabbalah, and even in Rosicrucian and Hermetic symbolism, the table is viewed as an altar of consciousness, the place where the fruits of spiritual effort are offered. The 12 loaves can also represent the 12 signs of the zodiac, or the 12 archetypes or channels through which the divine energy manifests itself within creation. The gold of the table symbolises the solar, noble, purified nature of the enlightened man. In Christian tradition, they are sometimes seen as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, the real presence of Christ, the ‘Bread of Life’. Thus, it can be said that the table becomes a symbol of communion between man and God, but also of the continuous gift of divine grace as true nourishment.
The ‘Altar of Incense’ was also located in the ‘Holy Place’, very close to the Curtain that separated it from the Holy of Holies. It was also made of acacia wood covered with gold and was used exclusively for burning holy incense. The offering took place in the morning and evening, along with the cleaning and lighting of the candlestick (Menorah). It symbolised the purification and sanctification of the space before the Holy of Holies, so that prayer could then be raised like the smoke of incense before the Lord. This altar represents mediation, the subtle connection between the world and the divine, being placed before the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence (Shekinah).
The ‘Ark of the Covenant’ is placed in the Holy of Holies and represents the ‘heart’, or ‘place of divine presence’, just as in man the heart is the vital and spiritual centre. As the heart of a thing is a metaphor for its essence, so the Ark of the Covenant is considered as the quintessence, the ‘code of life’ in the human being. The pillars Jachin and Boaz mark the entrance to the temple, an image of duality (masculine–feminine, active–passive, reason–intuition). In humans, they can be understood as polarities which, when harmonised, give stability to the ‘temple of the body’.
Thus, in a unifying esoteric sense, Solomon’s Temple becomes an allegory of the Complete Man. Physically, because the body itself is the ‘Temple of the Holy Spirit’ (as the Apostle Paul says), and subtly because its structure reproduces the levels of consciousness and gradual access to the divine centre. In this sense, entering the Temple, stepping from the outer courtyard into the Holy of Holies, is equivalent to an initiation journey into oneself; the path towards an inner nature, from the profane to the sacred, from the fragmented to the whole. Three major steps are considered: entering the Courtyard as an external, profane experience; stepping into the Holy Place as the beginning of an inner life, the disciplining of the mind and heart; and lastly, accessing the Holy of Holies, representing the desire for union with the centre of being, the encounter with the Divine. On the other hand, the destruction and reconstruction of the Temple expresses the drama of the human being who has lost his original unity (the lost ‘Word’), and aspires to regain it through purification and initiation.
Two mysteries of Solomon’s Temple are worth mentioning for their symbolic significance. The first is the ark, interpreted as the living heart and hidden essence of the temple, and the second refers to the destruction of the temple and the unceasing desire to rebuild it, an image of the human aspiration to rediscover the ‘lost Word’. Both refer to the inner architecture of being as an emanation of divine consciousness, and to man’s return to his divine origin.
The Ark of the Covenant – the Sacred Heart of Solomon’s Temple
Esoterically speaking, the ark contained divine wisdom, supreme knowledge (the Tablets of the Law). The two Cherubim represent the dual forces of creation and cosmic balance. Gold and Acacia represent matter (wood) and the divine spirit (gold), the union of the human with the divine. And the Ark itself can be considered the inner temple, the heart of the initiate, which must be purified in order to receive divine revelation.
As can be seen, the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ is more than just a biblical artefact; it represents the link between man and divinity, symbolising the sacred bond between God and His people. The mysterious loss of the ark is full of meaning and has tormented the minds and hearts of people for centuries.
According to the Bible (Exodus 25:10-22), the Ark had a lid called the ‘Mercy Seat’ (Kapporet) made of pure gold, decorated with two cherubim symbolising the divine presence. It was carried by the Levites with the help of golden poles, because direct contact with the Ark was forbidden. The Ark contained the two Tablets of the Law, with the Ten Commandments engraved by God. Aaron’s rod is a symbol of divine authority. The Ark is a vessel for ‘manna’, the miraculous food received by the Jews in the desert. Considered to be the very presence of God, the Ark guided the Jewish people through the wilderness and opened its paths. It parted the waters of the Jordan, allowing the Jews to enter the Promised Land. It brought down the walls of Jericho, according to the biblical account. It emanated a divine force that burned or killed those who were unworthy to touch it (e.g., the death of Uzzah in Samuel 6:7).
The Mercy Seat, the most sacred element, is literally ‘God’s invisible throne’ on Earth, from which two golden cherubim emerged, with their wings folded inward, looking at each other or facing the cover (varies according to interpretation). As we know, the ark is located in the Holy of Holies – the most sacred space in the Temple, where even the high priest entered only once a year, on Yom Kippur. In Exodus 25:22, God says: “There I will meet with you and speak to you … between the two cherubim on the Ark of Testimony.”
This place of divine presence (Shekinah) is, in Jewish and Kabbalistic tradition, the manifestation of God’s immanence in the world, especially in the Temple and in the soul of the righteous, respectively Malkuth (The Kingdom). In Christianity, the equivalents are the Holy Spirit (the active presence of God) and, symbolically, Mary (the receptacle of divinity). Christ as the incarnate Logos is another level of parallelism, just as Shekinah is the living presence of God in the Temple, Christ is the presence of God incarnate in man.
Between the two cherubim was the space where God communicated with Moses, being the channel between heaven and earth. “And the glory of the Lord (kavod Adonai) filled the tent” — Exodus 40:34. In the Old Testament, kavod Adonai refers to the visible manifestation of God’s presence, the radiant light, the sacred energy that fills the Temple or accompanies the people of Israel.
In mystical tradition, it is equivalent to the sacred heart of man, the centre where inner light is revealed. This sacred space is also the symbol of absolute silence, beyond forms, where man no longer asks, no longer questions, but simply ‘is’ in the presence of perfection. In deep meditation, it would correspond to the moment of complete emptying, beyond thoughts, where Revelation appears.
In Christianity, Kapporet is understood as the throne of God’s mercy that is fulfilled in Christ. The Apostle Paul uses the Greek term hilastērion (the same used for Kapporet in the Septuagint) and applies it to Jesus: “God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith” (Romans 3:25).
The Rosicrucians understand the Kapporet as the inner temple (Jan van Rijckenborgh – The Coming New Man), where the new soul, unites with the divine spark, an archetypal image of the axis of the world (axis mundi), where Heaven and Earth meet. It is the place where the atom of spirit sparkles, where the rose of the heart blossoms, it is the place of the sacred promise made to man.
Solomon’s Temple is the sacred place of encounter, where the hidden power of knowledge and the mystery of initiation unfold in secret, where the human will is transmuted into “Thy will be done, Lord”, and thus the soul nourished by the light of the spirit is transformed into the Grail, into the chalice in which the Pure Spirit can dwell, can reveal Itself; where the new soul is pure and freed from the blindness and dialectical limitations of the ego, knows itself as the son of God, Christ, one and the same with the Father.
In the Holy Place, the room where the table (of bread) of the nourishing presence of the spirit and the incense of prayer were raised, the defeated but also enlightened will of man prepared the creation of the sacred space of God’s presence in the Holy of Holies, forming a new spiritual covering, capable of sacred welcome. The Holy Place, as the antechamber of the established presence of the divine, was the altar of transformation, the alchemical crucible in which the burning of the Holy Incense caused man to diminish, and the space of the divine presence to grow. In the heart of the being abandoned to darkness, there was a hidden gate through which the light locked within us, returned home to the source, the ‘Father’.
The Repeated Destruction and Reconstruction of the Temple
It seems to be part of humanity’s destiny that this connection is lost and the divine presence can no longer be recognised. Perhaps all this elliptical movement around the spiritual sun, around the essence of being, from the brightest and clearest point to the densest darkness, is natural and part of the very nature of sacred being; its light reverberating even in the deepest darkness, thus proving its supremacy, its absolute existence in everything. Or looking at it from an opposite perspective, this ‘everything’, can be nothing more than the being itself, if we know how to truly understand this perspective.
Adam falls from Eden, and the temple that was built to restore sacred communion is destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again, until eventually it is realised that the temple is contained within the human being and there, and only there, can man build an eternal temple; only there will the lost covenant between man and the divine be restored. There, man will (figuratively) cast off his bodily mantle, sacrificing himself for the world, and being reborn in the pure spirit of God, he will be nourished by heavenly bread, perfumed with the incense of purity and piety, and then be received into the Holy of Holies, where the light will fill him, regenerating the creature, bringing it to its original state within creation, where everything was only HIM, the One who Is.
Some religious groups await the rebuilding of the temple; an event linked to the coming of a messianic age. In hermetic rituals, the construction of the temple is an allegory for the spiritual development of the initiate, and Hiram Abiff, the architect of this temple, is seen as an archetypal hero of esoteric knowledge.
From a historical perspective, we learn that in 586 BC, the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar II, destroyed the Temple and took the Jewish population captive. In 516 BC, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the Temple was rebuilt, but without the Ark of the Covenant. King Herod the Great expanded the temple, turning it into an imposing monument. In 70 AD, it was destroyed by the Romans, and the Ark was nowhere to be found.
The first Temple built by Solomon represents the original purity of man, but also the direct connection with the divine. Its destruction by the Babylonians symbolises the fall of man, the loss of wisdom and the need for regeneration. The reconstruction of the Temple under Zerubbabel signifies the possibility of spiritual rebirth through conscious effort. The destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans is seen as a symbol of the ongoing trials that humanity experiences. The Third Temple, which is to be built (according to prophecies), is seen as an inner reconstruction, a touch of perfection, and is also the temple of the collective body of humanity itself.
The material of this mystical temple was represented by the souls of men, who are at the same time living stones, craftsmen and co-creators of the divine purpose. But during the reconstruction of this ideal temple, something happened that disrupted the plan and delayed its fulfilment indefinitely. This was the Fall of Man; the conspiracy of the craftsmen. If you remember Genesis, you will find the same subject recounted in the allegory of Adam and Eve.
Just as Adam and Eve sought illicit knowledge and fell from Eden, missing the divine purpose, so the conspirators sought to obtain the secrets of the Master from Hiram, ultimately bringing him down. Just as paradise will not be regained by them and their descendants, so too will the reconstruction of the temple not be completed until God’s time, and the circumstances we create for ourselves, restore to us the lost knowledge and authentic secrets of our nature, and the realization of the divine purpose within us. And all these falls and rises are written in the book of books, they are known, they are normal movements in the process of creating being, or more correctly, of manifesting the only existing being, namely, God. Only from within do they appear full of drama and pain, sin and death, sacrifice and victory. But if you move away from human psychological and philosophical thinking and paradigms, you can see that they are normal paths in the process of rebirth, or more correctly, of finding oneself.
Therefore, the tragedy of Hiram Abiff is a parable of cosmic and universal loss; an allegory of the failure of a divine plan, or a natural ontological fall in the grand plan of divinity. He is the ‘Master Architect’ of Solomon’s Temple, who possesses the ‘Word of the Master’, a sacred mystery, a symbol of Knowledge and divine Truth. His death leads to the loss of the Holy Word, where absolute Truth and supreme Knowledge are lost through the corruption and fall of man. The ‘Word’ is not a simple word, but the divine Verbum, the Logos, that is, man’s direct connection with the Sacred.
After the destruction of the Temple and the loss of the priestly tradition, the Name was hidden, and the initiate sought its restoration through inner purification. In Hermeticism and Gnosticism, the ‘Word’ is the primordial Light that man seeks after the ‘forgetting’ caused by the fall into matter. In the Corpus Hermeticum, the Divine Logos is the one who saves the soul, and its loss signifies the state of ignorance. The Christian mystical tradition identifies the ‘Word’ with Christ (“In the beginning was the Word…” – John 1), and its loss is due to the separation between man and the Logos through sin. Recovery is through Initiation into Christ, that is, Resurrection. The ‘lost Word’ is not just a symbol, but a universal archetype of the human condition, the loss of contact with the Divine and the longing for its restoration. Because of this disaster, humanity today finds itself in this world of imperfect knowledge, limited faculties, uncertain happiness, perpetual labour, death, and frequent bitterness and pain.
The Master is slain. The high light and wisdom meant to guide and enlighten humanity are lacking. The full radiance and perfect knowledge that were to be ours have disappeared from humanity, but in divine Providence we still have a glimmer of light, the spark of the atom of spirit deep within our hearts. The tomb of Hiram, the master, is ourselves. At our core, deeper than dissection can reach or investigation can penetrate, lies buried the ‘vital and immortal principle’, the ‘brilliant ray’ that connects us to the Divine Centre of all life and that never completely extinguishes, no matter how evil or imperfect our lives may be. This is the eternally living Christ, whom we have received from the Father for our ascent.
We are the tomb of the lost guiding light of the master. He is buried ‘outside the Holy City’, in the same sense that Adam’s posterity was placed outside the walls of Paradise, just as the Divine Logos by entering into matter and animating it, placed Itself outside the manifested Kingdom of God. And at the same time, the path to rebirth has opened within us. The allegory of the Master’s death expresses the universal truth that mystical death must precede mystical rebirth. “Do you not know that you must be born again?”, Paul warns us. Die to the world and be reborn to God.
The same symbolism is found in Christ, who dies and is reborn as a human being. It is the Word that is immersed in matter through the act of creation and then, through the act of sacrifice, places humanity on the path of the cross, the path of the rose. It claims the soul of the world in the light of the spirit, as an emanation of the Father, reiterating the light of the primordial Logos within the creature through the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the witness of the times to come, the speaker of truth and the voice in the heart of our minds. Like Hiram, Jesus was crucified and killed by the ecclesiastical Pharisees who were masters of the law, but the law was dead and without spirit, and he was buried in the heart of fallen man, where self-forgetfulness dwelt. As the Bible tells us, His lifeless body was not found, the tomb being empty. “Why do you seek the Lord where He is not”, we are told.
The Son of Man and the Son of God rose in the kingdom of the Father, building in the soul of humanity the path of sacrifice, the path of return home. On this path the soul does not die, but is revived; the only one who sacrifices himself is the individual self, the ego. “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. And so, Jesus, the great master, disappears, but remains alive, subsumed as truth and life into the essence of humanity, of being, in the heart of man, but especially as the path of redemption through the sacrifice of each of us, and not only through the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. Jesus showed the way of sacrifice that must be followed; he lifted up fallen Adam and opened and facilitated the way for humanity, but humanity must accomplish this themselves.
