Description of the Desert Tabernacle and Jerusalem Temple
Biblically Significant Colors and Numbers Associated with Both Sacred Structures
God commanded Moses to use four different colors in the construction of the Desert Tabernacle, and King Solomon repeated them in building the Jerusalem Temple. The number four symoblized the earth (four cardinal directions, four seasons, etc.), and each color was a different power in creation:
The curtain that separated the outer court from the Sanctuary's Holy Place was woven of fine linen in three colors, as was the second veil which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (Ex 26:31). The second curtain, also embellished with embroidered cherubim (called "the veil" in some New Testament translations), was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross (Mt 27:51; Mk 15:38; Lk 23:45).
Four layers of materials covered the Desert Tabernacle's Holy Place and Holy of Holies (Ex 26:1-14):
The Altar of Sacrifice in the Court of the Priests was made of wood covered in bronze (Ex 27:1-2) and the Laver for ritual purification was made of solid bronze with bronze base (Ez 30:17-21). All furniture in the Holy Place was either made of gold (the Menorah lampstand; Ex 25:31-40) or wood overlaid with gold (the table that held the "Bread of the Presence of God" and the Altar of Incense; Ex 25:23-30). The only object that stood behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies was the gold-covered Ark of the Covenant with its solid gold lid with statues of two cherubim, called the "Mercy Seat" (Ex 25:10-22). In the Holy of Holies of Solomon's Temple, the Ark of the Covenant was between the statues of two huge wooden cherubim overlaid with gold that stoon fifteen feet high with their wings extended above the Ark, stretching 30 feet from on wall to the other (1 Kng 6:19-28).
The plan of the Tabernacle and the Jerusalem Temple was a three-part
division enclosed in one area, making a space composed of 3 in 1 and perhaps
representing the true nature of God:
Within the enclosure was:
Solomon's Temple and Herod's Temple (the Second Temple), in the time of Jesus, were structures based on the same three-part plan of the desert Tabernacle. In the desert Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple, and the Second Temple, the Holy of Holies was a cube-shaped room. In Solomon's Temple, it was approximately 30 feet by 30 feet by 30 feet, with its floor elevated above the Holy Place. The Desert Tabernacle was half the size of the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple, as was everything else in the desert Tabernacle. Since Solomon's Temple was so much larger than the Desert Tabernacle, ten golden lampstands provided light for the Holy Place in addition to the one Menorah that represented the "Light" of God to His people and the golden table for the twelve loaves of the "Bread of the Presence" (1 Kng 7:48-49). After the destruction of Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians, the Temple rebuilt after the covenant people's return from exile only had one Menorah and one golden table to hold the "Bread of the Presence of God."
The dimensions of Solomon's Temple were approximately 90 feet long by 30 feet wide by 45 feet high. The outer Porch or Portico leading to the Holy of Holies was about 30 feet wide (the width of the building) and 15 feet deep. 2 Chronicles 3:4 gives its height as 120 cubits. In addition to the tripartite structure of the Temple, there were additional side chambers for various functions, but the entire Temple was enclosed in one area.
The term curtains/veils covering the entrance to the Holy Place and separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies is a misnomer since they were thickly woven textiles of considerable size and as thick as a man's hand. Solomon's Temple also had huge carved olive wood double doors that led from the Porch into the Holy Place, which was approximately 60 feet long by 30 feet wide by 45 feet high. Cedarwood panels covered the entire interior, carved in floral decorations, palms, and cherubim. Cherubim are the class or order of the angelic beings who guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:24) and four of them surround the throne of God in the heavenly Sanctuary, constantly sing His praises (Rev 4:6-11). These cherubim have the faces of a calf (the Greek word refers to a heifer or young bull), a lion, a human, and an eagle, symbolic of what is noblest, strongest, wisest, and swiftest in creation. Since the 2nd century AD, these four creatures have appeared as symbols for the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Two colossal bronze columns flanked the entrance to the Holy Place of Solomon's Temple (1 Kng 7:15-22). Their names were Boaz and Yachin (Jakin/Yakin), meaning respectively "in strength" and "He will establish." Biblical scholars believe they were to represent the Pillars of Cloud and Fire, the manifestation of God leading His covenant people in the Exodus liberation (Ex 13:21-22). The first-century-AD Jewish priest and historian, Flavius Josephus, wrote about them in his book, Antiquities of the Jews and the Phonecian architect who built the Temple. Josephus wrote: Moreover, this Hiram made two [hollow] pillars, whose outsides were of brass; and the thickness of the brass was four fingers' breadth, and the height of the pillars was eighteen cubits, and their circumference twelve cubits; but there was cast with each of their capitols lily-work, that stood upon the pillar, and it was elevated five cubits, round about which there was network interwoven with small palms, made of brass, and covered the lily-work. To this also were hung two hundred pomegranates in two rows. To one of these pillars, he set at the entrance of the porch on the right hand and called it Yachin; and the other at the left hand, and called it Boaz (Antiquities of the Jews, 8.3.4 (77-78). Bernini's great bronze baldachin (Baldacchino), the canopy placed over the High Altar at the Vatican, was inspired by the work of the artisan Hiram who built the pillars for Solomon's Temple.
While the pillars of Solomon's Temple, through which one had to pass to enter the sacred space of the Jerusalem Temple, represented the Pillar of Cloud and the Pillar of Fire in the Exodus experience, for Christians they prefigured Jesus Christ: He who has two natures, both of man and God. It is only through Him that we can enter the sacred space of the heavenly Sanctuary at every celebration of the Mass.
Since the old Temple was, and the Church Sanctuary of the New Covenant Kingdom is, the meeting place between heaven and earth, the description of the heavenly Sanctuary is also of interest. Exodus 24:9-10 describes the floor of the heavenly Sanctuary as a clear sapphire blue. Exodus 24:10 confirms this description when Moses and the delegation God selected ate a sacred meal, sealing the Sini Covenant, in the presence of God while sitting on the side of Mt. Sinai and looking upward into the heavenly Sanctuary. The prophet Ezekiel also viewed the floor of the heavenly throne room looking upward, in Ezekiel 1:26 and 10:1. Both the covenant ratification delegation and Ezekiel saw a clear or crystal blue color associated with the floor of the throne room and perhaps in association with the throne itself. In the Book of Revelation, St. John entered the heavenly Sanctuary and described the floor of the heavenly Sanctuary looking "like a sea of glass" (Rev 4:6). John also saw the seven colors of the rainbow around the throne of God. His impression of God sitting on the throne was associated with the color of emeralds; however, there are blue-tinted emeralds or the translation between the Hebrew and the Greek may be the source of the confusion (Rev 4:1-6). The vision in Exodus and Ezekiel's vision of the sapphire-blue floor agree.
Significant numbers that appear in the Bible and the
construction of the Desert Sanctuary and the Temple:
3, 7, 10, and 12 are identified as the "perfect" numbers in Sacred Scripture:
Other numbers of importance (including their multiples):
See the document "The Significance of Numbers in Scripture" for a more detailed explanation on the symbolic meaning of numbers in Sacred Scripture.
In the first century AD, Flavius Josephus described the Jerusalem Temple, including the improvements King Herod the Great added and as Jesus would have seen it. Josephus wrote: Now the Temple was built of stones that were white and strong, and each of their length was 25 cubits, their height was 8, and their breadth about 12 [...]. The Temple had doors also at the entrance, and lintels over them, of the same height with the Temple itself. They were adorned with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars interwoven. And over these, but under the crown-work, was spread out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height, the largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great skill the workmanship was done. He also encompassed the entire Temple with very large cloisters, contriving them to be in a due proportion thereto; and he laid out larger sums of money upon them than had been done before him (Antiquities of the Jews, 15.11.3 (392; 394-396)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2007, revised 2020 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.