What really went on in Solomon's temple?

[Hagoth]

If you were to time travel to Solomon's time and enter the holy of holies in his temple you would see something like this:



The Judeo-Christian tradition tells us it was all about that little box between the feet of the two monsters. The gigantic godlike statues are just there for decoration, so pay not attention to them. But it turns out that Solomon's temple is patterned after the pagan temples of surrounding polities, which also housed statues of godlike beings. And what were those statues there for? They were the gods that were being worshiped and offered blood sacrifices.

So, at Solomon's temple they were spilling blood in olympic swimming pool quantities at a structure that just happened to contain two massive statues of what everyone else in the world would recognize as gods. My guess is that those two gods were named El and Yahweh, but who knows. Maybe one of them was female and her name was Asherah.

Just another little reminder of how we rewrite history to fit our modern needs. This comes into crystal clarity when critics of scripture are accused of modernism in their thinking, while believers never have to answer to that charge. Something to think about this Christmas season as you're listening to Handel's Messiah and thinking it's all about Jesus of Nazareth.

[alas]

Those were not the only statues in Solomon's temple that were to Gods that today we would consider to be sort of like the statues pagan's worshipped. There were actually statues, most likely to Ashera and possibly to others. We actually don't have good records of the Gods Isreal worshipped. We just have hints left over from the time that the priests of Yahweh were working hard to get rid of worship of Bael, Ashera, Wisdom, and who ever else. What we do know is that Josiah got rid of all statues that were not to Yahweh.

But by today's standards, Solomon was definitely pagan.

From the archeological evidence, Yahweh was worshipped in the very same buildings as Ashera and they were considered married. There was a statue to her in Solomon's temple, but probably not in the holy go holies.

Moses's statue of the snake he held up to cure people of snake bites was most likely a statue to the Goddess Wisdom because Isreal continued to worship Wisdom until the days of Josiah. She shows up in the Bible.

El just meant "god". So, it was basically any god and unless combined with something like as in BaEL, then it was a specific god. Elohim meant council of gods or godhead. Elohim was not the name of a specific god, but was plural and was like the word "godhead." So, a statue to Elohim would have been some kind of group, whose meaning has kind of been lost to us. The word was plural and not the royal "we". See, Joseph Smith didn't know any of this when he said Elohim was the name of the Father and Jehovah was another name for Jesus. He thought, "two names = two different people." But Jehovah/Jahweh was the only God they worshipped, at least by the time of Isiah, so Elohim should have been translated by Joseph Smith as "Jesus and friends."

According to the Encylopedia of Jewish history(??? Don't remember the name) the ancient Jews believed that the godhead consisted of God (Jahweh) Mrs. God, their Son, and their daughter. The role of the son was Savior and the Mother was the Holy Spirit, but the role the Daughter played has been lost. So, the word Elohim probably referred to this family.

[Spicy McHaggis]

So you're telling me there weren't live actors in Solomon's temple ceremony and Eve wasn't nekkid?

[Corsair]

So you're telling me there weren't live actors in Solomon's temple ceremony and Eve wasn't nekkid?

Any day now some intrepid archaeologist will come across the actual robe, green apron, and hat of Solomon himself for use in his temple. Perhaps his expired temple recommend will be in this amazing trove of artifacts. It might be signed by the hand of the prophet, Nathan.

[Red Ryder]

Remember the old "Know Your Religion Series" where CES guys paraded through chapels across the Moridor and gave firesides.

I vaguely remember attending one where the CES guy told a story of an LDS archeologist who was on a dig when they found mummified human remains. The guy continues to tell the audience that the non LDS archeologist were confused by the robe and apron that adorned the mummy.

With a wink and a nod, he quickly disclaimed that the LDS archeologist knew what it was and eluded that the endowed members in the chapel that night should too.

No wonder they stopped the KYR series of firesides.

[Hagoth]

El just meant "god". So, it was basically any god and unless combined with something like as in BaEL, then it was a specific god.

El was also the name of the Caananite father god who ruled over the pantheon.

See, Joseph Smith didn't know any of this when he said Elohim was the name of the Father and Jehovah was another name for Jesus.

And it gets really messy when we consider that Joseph Smith also used the names Elohim and Jehovah to refer to the same individual: "O thou... eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Jehovah - God - Thou Elohim, that sittest, as saith the Psalmists, 'enthroned in heaven,' look down upon Thy servant Joseph at this time; and let faith on the name of Thy Son Jesus Christ... be conferred upon him." (History of the Church 5:127)

[moksha]

Where do the names Jor-El, Kal-El, Zor-El and Kara Zor-El fit into all of this? How prolific was the House of El?

[Hagoth]

Where do the names Jor-El, Kal-El, Zor-El and Kara Zor-El fit into all of this? How prolific was the House of El?

That actually fits Joseph's theology pretty well, doesn't it? And don't forget Timmy-El, Seety-El and all of the other baby-gods enthroned in yonder heavens.

Oh, and there's General Zod and the other apostates who were exiled to outer darkness too.