Most Holy Place
The inner sanctuary measures twenty cubits in length, width, and height. Olive-wood doors mark its entrance (1 Kings 6:20,31–32).
Key points
- The innermost room is set apart for the ark.
- Look for: An enclosed rear room beyond the main hall.
- Illustrated location: Most Holy Place
- A reconstruction of Solomon’s First Temple from 1 Kings 6–8 and 2 Chronicles 3–4. Ten lampstands and ten tables follow Chronicles; this is a different building from the Second Temple described by Josephus. The house and inner-room proportions follow Kings. Courts, furnishing spacing, vertical details, and the exposed cutaway are schematic. The upper side-chamber stories are omitted. Smaller furnishings, including the Ark, are enlarged or simplified for visibility. The texts do not specify an exact visual blueprint or the forms of the cherubim. Pillar heights and the Sea’s capacity differ between Kings and Chronicles; the relevant landmark notes preserve those differences. Symmetric rows on both physical sides are one reading of the right/left descriptions. Rashi instead places the lampstands together south and the tables together north, interpreting right/left relative to Moses’ original furnishings. The gilding of all ten tables, altar horns, entrance steps, and exact furniture profiles are inferred display choices, not details stated together in Chronicles. Small service vessels, including the hundred golden basins of 2 Chronicles 4:8, are not individually modeled.
- Christ and the sanctuary (Scripture): The Temple’s inner sanctuary housed the Ark. John 2 identifies Jesus’ body as the temple, while Hebrews 9 describes Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary once for all. These passages inform Orthodox understanding of the church sanctuary and Holy Table.
- The church is not a reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple, and Christian Eucharistic worship does not continue its animal offerings.
Scripture
- 1 Kings 6 — The inner sanctuary measures twenty cubits in length, width, and height. Olive-wood doors mark its entrance (1 Kings 6:20,31–32).
- 1 Kings 6:1–35 — Christ and the sanctuary: The Temple’s inner sanctuary housed the Ark. John 2 identifies Jesus’ body as the temple, while Hebrews 9 describes Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary once for all. These passages inform Orthodox understanding of the church sanctuary and Holy Table.
- John 2:19–21 — Christ and the sanctuary: The Temple’s inner sanctuary housed the Ark. John 2 identifies Jesus’ body as the temple, while Hebrews 9 describes Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary once for all. These passages inform Orthodox understanding of the church sanctuary and Holy Table.
- Hebrews 9:1–12, 24–28 — Christ and the sanctuary: The Temple’s inner sanctuary housed the Ark. John 2 identifies Jesus’ body as the temple, while Hebrews 9 describes Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary once for all. These passages inform Orthodox understanding of the church sanctuary and Holy Table.