What Was the First Temple?

King Solomon built the First Jewish Temple as a monument to God and a place of worship.

The Tanach tells us that no expense was spared in its construction - Solomon imported cedar wood and fine stone to build the structure and even overlaid some parts of the Temple with pure gold. The most important part of the Temple was a room called the Holy of Holies and it was here that the two tablets upon which God inscribed the Ten Commandments were kept.

The Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.E. This tragic event remembered to this day on Tisha B'Av.

Learn more about the Temple in: What Was the First Temple?

Image: Unknown artist's rendering of the First Temple