Endnote 3 – Solomon’s Temple in Context

I have other disagreements with elements of Monson’s comparisons, too detailed to consider here. Suffice it to say that although I do not deny certain striking similarities between the ‘Ain Dara temple and Solomon’s Temple, it seems to me that architecturally the Tell Tayinat temple remains the closer parallel; and this holds even if we accept some of Monson’s suggestions including some similarity between the corridor and the yāṣîa‘ and ṣ^elā‘ot. While all three temples are clearly in the same architectural tradition, nevertheless Solomon’s Temple is, all in all, closer in design to the Tell Tayinat temple than it is to the ‘Ain Dara temple.