Friday, July 06, 2018

What are the mezuzot in Solomon's Temple?

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: The Doorways of Solomon’s Temple What is a “mezuzah” in the Bible? (Megan Sauter).
Despite the Biblical description and archaeological parallels, there are still some mysteries about Solomon’s Temple. For example, 1 Kings 6:31 describes the doors between the outer sanctum and the inner shrine of Solomon’s Temple as having five mezuzot (the plural form of mezuzah). What is a mezuzah? In the Bible, mezuzah is normally translated as “doorpost.” However, in the context of Solomon’s Temple, doors with five doorposts do not make sense.
This essay summarizes a BAR article from 2015. The article itself is behind the subscription wall, but the essay gives you the gist of it.

The BAR article is: Madeleine Mumcuoglu and Yosef Garfinkel, “The Puzzling Doorways of Solomon’s Temple,” July/August 2015.

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