The Floor plan of the Temple
Several years ago Debbie and I, as well as others in the ministry, were involved in a project known as Olam haMikdash (Temple World) in Israel. This project was to build a life size model of the Temple in the Jerusalem area. The model would be open to the public with guided tours and Temple re-enactments. The goals of Olam haMikdash were to raise Temple awareness among Jews and non-Jews, to discover the correct layout of the Temple, and to train the priests and the public for Temple Worship. All three of these goals were extremely important in the ultimate ambition of building the Temple. Working along with our team was the Temple Institute of Jerusalem. The plans for Olam haMikdash were moving along with a well-known Israeli corporation, which had developed another theme park in Israel, contracted to make the plan a reality. Then the Arab Intafada began and the collapse of the Israeli tourist business. All projects of this nature were forced to be abandoned. However, in this case not everything was down the drain. All three goals, minus the life size model, are still very alive and on the front burner.
There is a prophecy in Ezekiel 42.6-10 stating that a model of the Temple was to be built before the actual building of the Temple. The sages stated that those who saw the model would live to see the actual building of the Temple, the resurrection of the dead and the coming of the Messiah. To build a model of the Temple is easy. To build an accurate model of the Temple is almost impossible. However, with G-d all things are possible. The difficulty in building a model is the amount of controversy over how many buildings were around the Inner Courtyard, how they were arranged, what was their size, what was the size of the cubit that was used, how were they designed, and how were they used. These are just a few of the thousands of difficulties. No excavations have been allowed on the mount by the Moslems who do their best to destroy the few remains that date back to the Temple periods. The texts often seem contradictory and very difficult to work in. This is a gross under statement. In order to work out the details and problems of the layout of the Temple we began to build a model of the Temple and its Inner Courtyards in our office. Steve Salter worked for several years on this model. Today this model sits unfinished at our facilities. Steve was assisted by Nolan Armstrong in working on this model. The building of this small model of the Inner Courtyards (¼" to a cubit making the model 6’ by 8’) has been also abandoned for two reasons. The first is lack of finances and the second is that there is another way to build a model of the Temple.
As we research the layout of the Temple the floor plan is constantly changing. We are learning more each day. The strides we are making in working out the problems and conflicts are nothing short of a miracle by HaShem. We are learning more now in one month than we previously learned in a year. When we were building the model Steve would build a section and then have to tear it apart because some new information changed the plan. In addition, often when a portion was built, a particular ceremony or action in the Temple would show that this design was not functional. The more we built the more it became obvious why HaShem had required the building of a model. You certainly could not work out the details while building the actual Temple. So if a small scale model of the Temple is not practical, how do you fulfill the requirement to build a model?
You build the model on a computer using 3D and Virtual Reality. Nolan Armstrong has been working on this computer model now for almost four years. This model is of the highest quality that modern technology allows and is constantly updated with each new discovery. You can see samples of the work as well as some of the building process by going to Nolan’s website (by clicking HERE).
I personally have been working on a book on the layout of the Temple. This book will be published by the Temple Institute. All information we discover is sent to the rabbis for their critique. We frequently present information that is contrary to what has been presumed about the Temple. We are so appreciative of the attitude of the rabbis in this area as they have always been open and supportive of our research. My wife Debbie and I along with Nolan constantly go over each piece of information refining the floor plan. This, of course, continues to turn up new information requiring constant re-writes. This book is the most exhaustive work on the individual buildings that has ever been attempted. Each chapter is on a different building and is complete with many drawings by Nolan, artwork from the Temple Institute, charts and references. Hopefully Volume One will be finished early in 2005.
SOURCE: Hatikva Ministries