Purpose of the Temple of Solomon

The temple as the focal point of Israelite worship served as a protection against idolatry. It stood for the covenant between the Lord and Israel and was the place where God might be approached in celebration and propitiation. The outstanding feature of the Solomonic temple is that there was no idol in it, only the mercy seat over the ark and the cherubim overshadowing the mercy seat, declaring to the world that idols are unnecessary to define the presence of God or his sanctity. Because the lightless room could only be reached through a specific ritual, at a specified annual time, for the purpose of making reconciliation for the people, the "house of Yahweh" in Jerusalem was not considered a cosmic house of God but emphasized the way of salvation to the penitent and assured to them the grace of God for their joy and blessing (1 Kings 8:27-30). God was not localized or in any sense conveyed by an image, either Egyptian, Babylonian, or Canaanite, nor bound to any other form such as th…