Temple Sizes Compared – bigger than a football field

by Steve Ray on January 1, 2014




The 1) Tabernacle in the wilderness, the 2) Temple of Solomon, 3) Herod’s Temple at the time of Christ and 4) Ezekiel’s Temple are compared. The football field looks insignificant compared to the temples (in more than one way 🙂

The Muslim Shrine that now sits atop Temple Mount is built over the rock where Abraham offered his son Isaac as a holocaust. Solomon’s Temple had earlier been built over this site (Gen 22:2; 2 Chron 3:1). Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and it was rebuilt when the exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem about seventy years later. It was not as elegant as Solomon’s but King Herod later rebuilt the Temple during the time of Christ. The 2nd Temple rebuilt by Herod was a glorious structure.

The Romans razed Herod’s Temple to the ground in 70 AD. In the 7th century Suleiman the Magnificent built the current Muslim Shrine in the place of the Temple where it still stands today.

Will the Jews ever build a new temple there – what they call “The 3rd Temple”? No, because the 3rd Temple has already been built! It is the one described in Ezekiel 40. The Jews think this refers to an actual physical temple they hope to build some day in place of the Dome of the Rock, but Ezekiel is actually prophetically referring to the new Temple which is Christ’s Body. We are the Church and the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, the New Temple.

I also do not believe the Ark of the Old Covenant will ever be found (no matter how hard Indiana Jones looks for it). The old Ark has been replaced by the Ark of the New Covenant just like the old Temple has been replaced by the Temple of the New Covenant. Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant.

Notice the River of Life flowing from the Holy of Holies!!

 

 

 



10 Comments

  • Joseph R Clarke says:

    Thanks.

  • Charles May says:

    A couple of comments, first the Ezekiel’s temple grounds which is meticulously detailed occupies 694 acres total. The so called temple mount is only 36 acres total but I believe history will eventually show it should be called Fortress Antonia mount. Josephus clearly describes the location of the Herod’s Temple.
    Which temple is described at 2 Thes 2:4? It can’t be Ezekiel’s because it is built after Jerusalem is destroyed and 2 Thess clearly states at the second coming, Jesus destroys it and takes captive the Son of Perdition.
    I hope you are in the City of David when I am there, I guide you on the Josephus walking tour around the wall of the city of David.
    Have a Blessed Day

    • Mark Roach says:

      And you are forgetting one more temple. The New Jerusalem in the new earth. It will have no inner temple but the whole city is the temple. Over 7,200,000 feet cubed. That just about 1,400 miles in width and length and height. Don’t forget the big picture.

  • Thom Powell says:

    This is awesome. Thank you for putting it together. I was having a hard time envisioning Ezekiel’s temple as I read about it, and this really brought it together for me. Also, I had no idea Herod’s temple was so much bigger than Solomon’s.

  • Brock Shafer says:

    I think Ezekiel’s Vision had a prerequisite in the obedience by the Jewish people.(Ezekiel 43:11)That did not happen and so Zerubbabel built a much smaller temple. The fact that it is a square that large seems to be and expansion of the holy of holies which was a square design as well. The ripping of the curtain from top to bottom at the crucifixion of Christ seems to open up a way to God’s holiness and Ezekiel’s Temple was God’s plan for this enlarged gospel. Since the Jews did not obey Ezekiel or Christ, the picture by John in the Revelation is the big picture as mentioned in a prior comment. This enlargement of the holy of holies intoa 1400 mile cube depicts the enormity of Christ’s Gospel Kingdom. It is expanding even now and God is preparing a place for Fellowship with us.

  • Michael Sproul says:

    Solomon’s Temple was destroyed in 586BC by the Babylonians, not 722BC. The 722BC date was when the Assyrians destroyed the northern ten tribes and took them captive. The 586BC date is when the two southern tribes went into captivity. I do appreciate the size descriptions of the Temple. Thanks for the work on this.

    STEVE RAY HERE: You are correct and I fixed the date. Sometimes I try to do too much too fast and make silly mistakes. Thanks for catching it 🙂

  • Ron Anderson says:

    I’m trying to visualize the galleries and smaller upper chambers in three stories described in Eze 42:5-6 but can’t see it in your rendering.

    It would be quite an expense to build a replica like Noah’s Ark, for the purposes of understanding the enormity of Solomon’s Temple, but doing one in virtual reality would be 1) far less expensive 2) more accessible to far more people, and best of all: 3) editable if/when pieces of the original temple are found that add more clarity and actual detail, or omissions/oversights in our model are noted.

    Reading Ezekiel’s description is a bit of a chore mentally storing and integrating each verse. I joke “Couldn’t he just have made an architectural drawing??”

    Nevertheless, pictures like this help a lot, even if less than perfect.

  • john says:

    Do you know the differences between Solomon’s temple and Ezekiel’s temple? For example, no curtain, no high priest etc… Do you have a list of the differences between the temple services.

    I took note of the healing waters flowing from the Holy of Holies.

    • Mike Ziegelmeyer says:

      Hi,
      How would river of life be flowing from a real temple?
      Animal sacrifices? Really?
      Christ coming was not good enough?
      Christ as high priest is not good enough?
      He WAS the sacrificial Lamb.
      Ezekiel talks about rebellious Israel and why they were taken into captivity. Ez39:21-29
      “Now. During their captivity under Babylon.
      But also brought them back.
      Not 2023?
      Ez43 they defiled His name.
      NOW. Now let them put their harlot tree in the carcasses of their kings far away from me and I will dwell in the midst forever son of man describe the temple to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the pattern and if they are ashamed of all that they have done make known to them the design of the temple and his arrangements and its exits and it’s entrances and at the end it said the oldest the law of the Temple.

      I believe God is showing them a picture of what a perfect Temple and sacrifice of those days would have been like and that would cause them to be ashamed of their iniquities but they did not and what is the law of the Temple it’s not he didn’t say the temple he said the law of the Temple.
      Plus he did not tell them to build the temple nowhere does it say to build the temple to build this Temple after the pattern after this pattern like Moses did with the Tabernacle.
      Plus we see no pattern or design of the temple that was built in the 6th year of King Darius the second temple nothing about it design or anything.
      But they were told to build it by Zerubbabel.
      Who is in the lineage in Math,Luke.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *