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Building the Temple Together
Learn Biblical Hebrew – expand your horizons
A Home for the Lord

In 960 BCE King Solomon took the throne, and almost immediately began to accomplish what his father could not. The Temple of Solomon was to be the largest construction project ever undertaken in Jerusalem. Solomon was endowed with divine wisdom, but even he could not accomplish this gargantuan task alone. To achieve the highest level of construction quality, Solomon enlisted the help of his Gentile neighbors to the north.


Who built the temple?

According to the Bible, “Hiram and Solomon made a treaty” (1 Kgs 5:12). The Phoenician king, Hiram of Tyre sent logs of cedar and cypress from Lebanon to Israel. This luxurious timber would form the roof beams and the intricate wood paneling within the Temple. The Hebrew word for “treaty” is brit בְרִית from the root “to bind”. This is the same word that countless times in Scripture means “covenant,” as we see God making with Noah, Abraham and Jacob.


A House of Prayer for All People

From its very inception, the Temple was designed to be a universal institution. The prophet Isaiah, addressing the "foreigners who join themselves to the Lord" (Isa. 56:6), proclaimed, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations" (Isa. 56:7). At the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, we welcome all people who are enthusiastic about the Holy Scriptures to study with us. Enroll in our live online Biblical Hebrew course and become “bound” to the people of the covenant.