The Tree of Life seen in the Sefirot of the World of the Divine

Industrial Gems, Golden Trees,

The Tree of Life,

the Guardian Angel of Solomon’s Temple

The Prophet Jeremiah and the Five Guardians of Solomon’s Temple Treasures

Part Eight

by Robert Mock MD

robertmock@biblesearchers.com

March, 2003

Topics

The Secret Mission of the Fittest Men in Israel

The Industrial Gemstones that Built the Temple

Ancient Technology in building Stone Buildings

The Palace of Solomon

The House of the Forest of Lebanon

The Hall of Pillars and the Hall of Judgment

Golden Shields for the Military and Ceremonial Bodyguard of King Solomon

The Bodyguards of King David and Solomon

The Cherethites and Pelethites

Solomon’s Grand Entry to the House of the Lord

Industrial Stone Saws used in the Stone Quarrying in Jerusalem

The Almugim Trees

Ancient Gold Plating and Electroplating

The Fruit Trees of Parvaim Gold

The Tree of Life in the Holy Garden

The Guardian Angel of Solomon’s Temple

Introduction

When the Temple of Zerubbabel was being built in the restoration of the Persian Satrap of Judah, it was stated by the ancients that the elders in the community who had seen, worshipped and participated in the Levitical services of the Temple of Solomon wept. As they watched the restoration and construction of the new temple, the glorious memories of the former temple began to resurrect within their minds. For almost seventy years, these memories had lain dormant suppressed in their collective subconscious.

The Lord of host had made a promise and a covenant with the Hebrews at Mount Sinai that they were going to be an ‘eternal nation”. If the Lord of hosts states that He will do something, it will be done. The Word of the Lord is true, it is sure; its trustworthiness will last forever. Here at Mount Sinai, He said:

Leviticus 26:44 - “Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God; I am the Lord.’”

The family patriarchs looked upon the temple and remembered the covenant with their Lord. They were looking for a restoration of Israel not to its fullest glory, but the visions of Ezekiel were fresh in their minds, that this prophet had spoken in the land of Babylon. They were wishing for a temple greater than Solomon’s Temple, but this temple was far inferior. They gave all that they had for the restoration, but even their gifts were too little.

Ezra 2:68-69 - “Some of the heads of the fathers’ houses, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem offered freely for the house of God, to erect it in its place; according to their ability, they gave to the treasury for the work sixty-one thousand gold drachmas, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly garments.”

Yet this seems such a paltry amount. They wept and cried. They had survived isolation and spiritual deprivation in a land that did not know their God. In the former days, the normative temple service always meant that they were living in the presence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Normative life was one of miracles on a daily basis.

While the younger population that were born and raised in Babylon and Persia no doubt were transfixed with their new temple that was being erected:

Ezra 3:12-13 - “…many of the priests and Levites and heads of the father’s houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes.”

It was from the heart of sorrow and the tears from his eyes, that the Lord of hosts spoke through the prophet Haggai:

Haggai 2: 3 - “Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?

Here we can now see the prophets Haggai (Chaggai) and Zechariah with Ezra the scribe as part of the guardians of the temple treasures as revealed in the Emeq HaMelekh. As mere teens or young men in their early twenties, they were part of the commando forces that dismantled and secreted all the gold treasures from the former magnificent yet aged temple of Solomon. Over four hundred years old, this relic of the ancient wonder of the world was built by the famed king known for his wisdom and the architect of the era of Pax Solomonic.

Yet with the ark of the covenant residing in the temple, the presence of the Lord of hosts stayed so ever present. According to the rabbis, the ascent of the smoke from the sacrifices always rose straight up to the unseen spiritual temple above. It did not matter whether there was a thunderstorm, a tornado, or a blinding snow storm, the smoke of the incense from the altar of burnt offerings always went straight up to heaven. A spiritual life in the presence of the Lord was a literal and physical phenomenon that was ever present in the land. This was the Land that kept the children of Israel self-sufficient and independent, but on every sixth year, a bumper crop was produced, enough so that the land could rest and lay fallow on the seventh year and the citizens of the land would not have to work. Yet for four hundred and ninety years (70 X 7 years) the inhabitants of the nations of Israel and Judah disobeyed the requirements of the Lord. As such they incurred the wrath of their God and He allowed His land to rest for seventy years, the years of their Babylonian exile. What the Lord giveth, He also can take away.

When the Glory of the Lord actually filled the Wilderness Sanctuary and later Solomon’s Temple, the glorious light would flood out of the door of the temple and all the windows surrounding the upper reaches of the temple tower. Like the vortex of a tornado, this light, the Glory of God’ would make a vertical ascent into the unseen cosmos like the pillar of fire over the Sanctuary in the Sinai desert.

The ‘Glory of the Temple” as we have seen was a wonderful sign of the very presence of God’s. This glory was not just in the physical manifestations of nature, but very building, the architecture and all the furnishings were designed for the glory of God and as a symbolic message to the future coming of their messiah, the Moschiach.

The Temple of Solomon was a temple of gold. The exterior was plated in gold. In the setting sun, the whole complex would glow like a fiery temple. The interior of the Holy Place and the entire Shrine called the Holy of Holiest was plated in red gold, interspersed with gemstones. The tapestries on the ceiling was made with woven gold, the floors of the temple were overlaid with gold.

The ten menorahs and the 49 lamped menorah were made of solid gold inlaid with over thirty-six thousand gemstones. The light from the 49 almond shaped lamps focused their beams of light to the central lamp stand and with a spectacular show of dancing lights; the beams of light would ricochet from one gemstone to another.

The ten golden tables of showbread had twelve loaves of Bread of the Presence, which were covered with pearl and gem encrusted golden molds. The two large golden cherubim that surrounded the Ark of the Covenant in the Holiest of Holies were all literal representatives of the Holy Temple in the heavenly sanctuary, but more than that, the archangels that stood in the Presence of the Lord of host Himself or guarded the gates into that ancient garden of Adam and Eve.

Yet, to the pilgrim who attended the yearly festivals, the glory of the temple was in beholding the actual ritual of the priests and the Levites as they performed the daily sacrifices. The temple doors, the Hekel, were opened wide. The entire Holy Place looking towards the Holy of Holiest was a site that the pilgrims could behold in its entirety. The sages would say that a funnel of light or fire would swoop through the eastern gate and light up the offering on the altar of incense. No, the fire from Mount Carmel as behold by the Israelites and the Prophet Elijah was not an aberrant astro-physiological phenomenon, but it became the norm of life as the pilgrims actually witnessed the Glory of God on a routine basis.

The courtyard of the temple was also a showcase or museum of natural wonders. In this Mishanah, we will witness that the technology of electroplating was known to the ancients. This process possibly was used to make the golden covered almugim coral trees and the red-grained sandalwood, almug fruit trees that were also covered in gold.

Golden tapestries and walkways in a forest of golden trees were all part of the Garden of Eden reminding the Israelite worshippers of their forefather, Adam and Eve, who also observed the activities of the Lord of hosts will living and cultivating that ancient garden in that land called Eden.

But how was this all made? The cutting of the limestone, the trimming of those megalithic stones, thousands of pounds apiece. The technology of the ancients gave us the twin-diamond drill, diamond faceting and diamond engraving of names on the surface of gemstones. Diamond cutting drills and engraving points were all a part of the high tech industry of Solomon’s empire. Yet in this chapter, we will now be exploring the use of industrial gemstones and gem cutting. Careful analysis will reveal that only the diamond and the corundum chip had the technological edge to perform the industrial duties needed to saw, cut, polish, facet, bore build this magnificent temple. Here we will see the use of the jeweled point bronze tube drill and stone sawing with bronze diamond edged saws that were used to saw, trim and prepared huge limestone blocks upwards to a hundred tons of weight to be used in the walls and foundation of the temple. We also see the engraving images on hard stone, and engraving images on the plated gold walls of pomegranates and cherubim.

Yet the temple was not the only impressive building structure that was made by the Phoenician trained Israelite craftsmen. At the same time, the Palace of Solomon was being built which took over twelve years. This palace complex included the House of the Forest of Lebanon, the Hall of Pillars and the Hall of Judgment. Within this Hall stood the magnificent ivory throne of Solomon overlaid with pure gold. The tools of the trade for these master guild architects, designers, and craftsmen no doubt included bronze diamond pointed gravers, bronze saw blades with diamond edges, straight saws and circular saw bits of corundum and tubular diamond drills and lathes.

We studied the potential for creating dramatic art décor pieces for the temple courtyard by raising beautiful coral tree specimens from the depths of the coral beds in the Red Sea. Yet in this chapter we also will study the technology needed to coat these coral pieces with gold. The science of gold electroplating and gold gilding was no doubt an ancient science evidenced by the ancient Baghdad Batteries presently housed in the Museum of Baghdad. At the same time, they also were experts in gold lamination as well as gold plating on stone and wood.

Even though the almugim trees are felt to be coral in nature, we will also explore in this chapter that the almug tree may also be different than the almugim tree. The almug wood brought by the sailors of Solomon and Hiram from the famed land of Ophir will be identified as a special hardwood that has anti-bacterial properties and is insect resistant. Coupled with the anti-septic properties of gold, we have the first antiseptic building on this earth.

Borseef is another favorite hiding site for the gold of Solomon and object of priceless beauty. Within the special site called the Garden of Eden in the temple of Solomon was also a tree or a tree/ pillar that symbolized the Tree of Life in the garden that Adam and Eve tended. Restructuring the model of the ancient garden of primordial man, we also find the archetype in Solomon’s temple with the two pillars, the Boaz and the Jachim. Yet beneath these two trees, the floor covering of the temple courtyard was paved with 12 ½ tons of gold and is presently hidden at Borseef.

Also in this hoard are beautiful Parvaim golden fruit trees. Were these the almug trees, the almugim trees or was there a third tree made of the priceless gold from the ancient land of Parvaim, the ancestral home in the east of the siblings, Sheba, Ophir, and Havilah, the children of Joktan, the brother of Peleg. Here also we meet the interdimensional guardian of the temple treasures, the guardian angel, Shimshiel.

Mishnah 6

The number of [building?] stones was 36,000, the same as the number of gem stones. From all these the Temple was built. There were also three-plus-one rows of Almugim trees, overlaid with fine gold and placed in the building. All those were hidden from Nebuchadnezzar by the fittest [men] of Israel. The Almugim shine like the brilliance of the firmament (sky).

The Secret Mission of the Fittest Men of Israel

Once again this inventory of treasures emphasizes that they were hidden prior to the final destruction of the Temple by King Nebuchadnezzar by a select group of chosen men, the ‘fittest (men) of Israel.’ To be fit to accomplish this task, one had to be physically fit and emotionally sound in walking spiritually with HaShem, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These were dangerous missions and the mortality was high. For those that lived, there exploits were not to be cast down into legends for the world to wonder. That today, three thousand years later we are reading the only official account of this clandestine mission, suggests the emotional stability of those selected to take the record of these secret hiding places to their death. Even Zechariah and Haggai the prophets allude to a future and more glorious day in the future of the Jews that returned from Babylon. Their knowledge of these inventories also went to their grave also. The service to the Lord of hosts was not to immortalize their name but that the Lord would use these treasures for the future redemption of Israel.

The Industrial Gemstones that Built the Temple

“The number of [building?] stones was 36,000,

the same as the number of gem stones. From all these the Temple was built”

Once again here is an enigmatic and elusive statement of ‘stones’ and ‘gemstones’ that were to used in building a future Temple. The struggle in which the returning Jews had to build a new temple after they returned from Babylon suggests that their construction skills were lacking, their instruments and tools that they used to construct was inferior, that their moral spirit and their ‘divinely inspired vision’ was lacking. If these sacred gemstones that were used to cut the stone for the building of Solomon’s Temple, to trim and smooth the surface of the limestone, to drill and bevel the edges of the building blocks, or be used to laminate the walls with gold and other artifacts of beauty, then we truly have evidence of a technology that has not been explored in Biblical history.

Like the inventory of the Mishnah 5, it is probably they were gem cutting stones with the hardness of diamond (hardness 10) and corundum (hardness). Since we do not have direct evidence how the ancients cut limestone and prepared it for the finest of building construction, evidence of these stones would give us clues of cutting, polishing, faceting, and boring that is evident in ancient structures with skills akin to the modern laser beams.

Ancient Technology in building Stone Buildings

The ancients no doubt had magnificent technology in that fact that they built wonderful buildings of dimensions that marvel modern engineers. Since the Israelites had a close affinity to the Egyptians, their near neighbors, it is not unreasonable that they shared similar technological advanced in their societies. Credit is given to research done by Petrie, Dunn and Francis and recorded in and article called, Ancient Egyptian Stone Technology.

Stone Granite Vase made on a lathe

The technology the Israelites left behind in Egypt was some of the best in the ancient world. It is this author’s opinion that the Exodus of Moses (Moshe) was parallel with the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt and that they had knowledge of the stone making technology of that era. This included circular saws, lathes or machines that rotate, and tube drilling.

In the Egyptian Museum in Cairo this beautiful stone vase from Saqqara and the Step Pyramid, in which some scholars identify its builder to be Imhotep, known in scripture as Joseph, the Vizier of Egypt. At the base the tool marks of a lathe is seen. It was the famed Egyptian archeologist, Petrie, who stated that "...the lathe appears to have been as familiar an instrument in the fourth dynasty, as it is in the modern workshops."

Tube drilling also was an ancient technology. Once again it was W. M. Flinders Petrie who wrote in 1883:

Tubed drilled piece of granite-Saqqara (Cairo Museum)

"These tubular drills vary in thickness from 1/4 inch to 5 inches in diameter, and from 1/30 to 1/5 inch thick. The smallest hole yet found in granite is 2 inch diameter."

This piece of carved design in granite in the Cairo Museum depicts spiral grooves with regular depth and spacing that in the mind of Petrie could only be done by “jeweled points” set in a bronze tube drill.

Even in this era five hundred years before the building of Solomon’s Temple saw marks have been found visible in the basalt pavement to the east of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Here a saw was used to cut hard stone to form a level planes. The edges of the cut is crisp with parallel lines of a stonecutter with a remarkable steady hand.

The basalt was placed on top of the tura limestone of local origin that had been cut and fitted on the bedrock. Then the basalt was given a level cut forming a hard and enduring pavement around the magnificent edifice for the king.

In his book, “The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh”, the classic by Petrie, he records his finding in 1880-1881 in Chapter VIII entitled "Mechanical Methods

"The typical method of working hard stones - such as granite, diorite, basalt, etc. - was by means of bronze tools; these were set with cutting points, far harder than the quartz which was operated on. The material of these cutting points is yet undetermined; but only five substances are possible - beryl, topaz, chrysoberyl, corundum or sapphire, and diamond. The character of the work would certainly seem to point to diamond as being the cutting jewel; and only the considerations of its rarity in general,...interfere with this conclusion." …

"That the Egyptians were acquainted with a cutting jewel far harder than quartz, and that they used this jewel as a sharp pointed graver, is put beyond doubt by the diorite bowls with inscriptions of the fourth dynasty, of which I found fragments at Gizeh; as well as the scratches on polished granite of Ptolemaic age at San. The hieroglyphs are incised, with a very free-cutting point; they are not scraped or ground out, but are ploughed

Diorite bowl with inscriptions on the side

through the diorite, with rough edges to the line. As the lines are only 1/150 inch wide (the figures being about .2 long), it is evidence that the cutting point must have been much harder than quartz; and tough enough not to splinter when so fine an edge was being employed, probably only 1/200 inch wide. Parallel lines are graved only 1/30 inch apart from centre to centre."

"We therefore need have no hesitation in allowing that the graving out of lines in hard stones by jewel points, was a well known art. And when we find on the surfaces of the saw-cuts in diorite, grooves as deep as 1/100 inch, it appears far more likely that such were produced by fixed jewel points in the saw, than by the first king of the

Diorite bowl inscribed with the name of Hotep

Second dynasty - Saqqara any fortuitous rubbing about of a loose powder. And when, further, it is seen that these deep grooves are almost always regular and uniform in depth, and equidistant, their production by the successive cuts of the jewel teeth of a saw appears to be beyond question..."

"That the blades of the saw were of bronze, we know from the green staining on the sides of the saw cuts, and on grains of sand left in a saw cut. The forms of the tools were straight saws, circular saws, tubular drills, and lathes. The straight saws varied from .03 to .2 inch thick, according to the work; the largest were 8 feet or more in length..." "...No. 6, a slice of diorite bearing equidistant and regular grooves of circular arcs, parallel to one another; these grooves have been nearly polished out by cross grinding, but are still visible. The only feasible explanation of this piece is that it was produced by a circular saw."

The Palace Complex of Solomon

Now that we have a little understanding of the potential of technological tools that could be used in the building of the House of the Lord, first let us look at another construction project that Solomon was also other buildings with probably the same artisans and contractors. This complex of government buildings included the House of the Forest of Lebanon, the Hall of Pillars and the Hall of Judgment.

The House of the Forest of Lebanon

The House of the Forest of Lebanon served as the treasury of the United Kingdom. Here was the repository for the following treasures.

1 Kings 10:16-17 - “And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon….”

“All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.”

Also within this grand lodge, the House of the Forest of Lebanon, it appeared that that it was also used as a banquet house for dignitaries from around the world. Within this hall was recorded a large inventory of drinking vessels plus other vessels which no doubt were to be used for State Banquets. They were all made of a special kind of red gold, which was reserved for these vessels, the vessels in the house of Solomon, the interior lining of the Holy Place of the Temple plus the exterior and the interior lining of the Holy of Holiest where the Ark of the Covenant rested.

1 Kings 10:21 - “All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold (red gold). Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.”

The Hall of Pillars and the Hall of Judgment

Also as part of the palace complex of Solomon were the administrative complex called the Hall of Pillars.

I Kings 7:6 - “He also made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits, and in front of them was a portico with pillars, and a canopy was in front of them.”

This Hall of Pillars appeared to be attached to the Hall of Judgment which was the seat of judgment for the United Kingdom. Here was the Throne Room with the most famous throne mentioned in antiquity.

I Kings 7:77 - “Then he made a hall for the throne, the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge; and it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.”

I Kings 10:18 - “Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

Golden Shields for the Military and Ceremonial

Bodyguard of King Solomon

The reason scholars consider the House of the Forest of Lebanon to be the treasury was the fact that these large shields of hammered gold were actually stored here. Well what was their functional purpose. The first implication is that a shield was actually a military shield used by warriors. It is true that gold shields, used for ceremonial purposes, have been found in ancient archeological deposits but it is not actually states that these were military shields.

Later after the death of Solomon, it states that Shisak, the Pharaoh of Egypt invaded Jerusalem in the reign of King Rehoboam and the booty he carried back to Egypt was described.

1 Kings 14:25-28 - “ It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shisak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made.

Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them then brought them back into the guardroom.”

Do we get a visual picture. During the forty year reign of Solomon, the most impressive part of the royal entourage was the entry of Solomon as he came to worship in the House of the Lord. Here the monarch became one with his people in worship before the Lord of hosts. We have noted before this is one of the most impressive images that the Queen of Sheba carried back to her homeland.

I Kings 10:4-5 - “And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the goods on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.”

Let us take historical facts of scripture and move them in reverse. The golden shields that Shisak carried away from Jerusalem back to Egypt were actually replaced by King Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon with bronze. But what shields was he using as ceremonial military shields?

Let us analyze these a minute. We have two hundred large shields of hammered gold with six hundred shekels of gold in each shield. Then we also have three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield.

The large shields of six hundred shekels of gold would have had about fifteen pounds of gold in each shield. In all the two hundred large shields of hammered gold would have yielded, the counting the intrinsic worth of the artistic value, the gold bullion value of:

200 shields x 600 shekels = 120,000 shekels = 40 talents of gold

(3000 shekels = 1 talent = 75 pounds of gold) = 3000 pounds = 1.5 tons of gold =

36,000 troy ounces (1 pound = 12 troy ounces) = $12.6 million ($350 per troy ounce.

Each large shield would have weighed 15 pounds.

Now we have 300 smaller shields with 3 minas of gold in each shield. What we do know is that each mina was equal to 50 Israeli shekels or 60 Babylonian shekels. This was the equivalence of 1.260 pounds per mina. There King Solomon built 300 smaller shields of hammered or beaten gold, each weighing about 3.8 pounds.

300 shields x 3 Israeli minas = 45,000 Israeli shekels (1 mina = 50 Israeli shekels) = 15 talents of gold (3000 shekels = 1 talent = 75 pounds of gold) = 1125 pounds =

0.56 tons of gold = 13,500 troy ounces (1 pound = 12 troy ounces) = $4.725 million ($350 per troy ounce).

Each small ceremonial shield would have weighed less than 4 pounds.

Are we seeing two types of shields: military and ceremonial? This would include a 15 pound shield for the warriors and 4 pound shield for the bodyguards. We know more about the military bodyguards of King David and being a military leader, we would assume that his son, Solomon, would have kept the same type of personal bodyguards.

The Bodyguards of King David and Solomon

David fled from the presence of King Saul fearing for his life when the therapy of playing his harp in the presence of the king no longer was able to mollify Saul’s progressive depression and paranoia. David turned to the comrades he had made with Philistines and became good friends with Achish, son of Maoch, the king of Gath.

When the Philistines were later preparing to going to war against Saul, the Philistines commanders refused to let David go, fearing that he would turn traitor to them. At that time, David was released from the service of Achish and went to find his two wives at the town of Ziglag (1 Sam 29)

David and his personal entourage of 600 warriors arrived at Ziglag. It was a protected stronghold in a natural ravine and there David’s family and those of his Cherithite warriors were living. To their grief and dismay, they found the town burned to the ground by the Amalekites, and all the inhabitants gone and taken prisoners. Within the prisoners taken were the two wives of David, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel and also his children.

Here again we see Amalekites, a warring tribe of Amalek, the incestuous son of the House of Ishmael and the House of Esau. As a tribe of the Arabians, they had a pathologic and genetic hatred to the children of Israel. We are only a few months or years after Saul refused to listen to the word of the Lord and destroy this entire nation, the king, Agag, plus all the men, women and children plus all their possessions, oxen, cattle and sheep. Here was when the Lord of hosts departed from Saul as king of Israel and his progressive psychosis and depression began to take possession of his body.

David’s personal bodyguards, 600 strong were about to revolt. (1 Sam 30:1-6) As we shall soon see his body guards were Cherithite and knowing that David was once a part of the court of Saul, they were about to stone David as being responsible for this vendetta against their families.

David summoned Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod with the Urim and Thummin to consult the Lord. (Vs. 7-10) With the assurance from the Lord when the high priest summoned the Divine through the Urim and the Thummin, David and his 600 rested at the ravine of Besor, left 200 of the weakest behind to protect the supplies possession and marched on after the Amalekites raiding party.

In route as they were tracking the enemy, they came upon a wandering and lost hungry Egyptian, who was a servant of the Amalekites, left behind by the long time enemies of Israel. David, instead of killing him, actually fed and befriended him and in doing so found out that the Amalekites had also raided the land of the Cherithite in Philistia, the Negev in the southern part of Judah and the land given as possession to Caleb in the days of Joshua. (Vs.10-16)

In a forced drive, with the Egyptian as their guide, David and his warriors overtook the Amalekites, rescued all their families, wives and children plus all the booty that was being carried by the Amalekites. He killed them all except 400 who fled by camel.

David immediately claimed possession of all the booty, yet he divided it equally with not only the 400 who fought the Amalekites, but also the 200 who stayed behind in the supporting services and protected the rear supply of David’s army. As so it was, “he (David) made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.” (vs25) We have to ask, which ‘day’ was this and who was the writer? We do not know as this is the Book of Samuel. David then went on and distributed the remainder of the spoils and the vast flocks with the elders of Judah.

The Philistine host, the former comrades of David, in the meantime went against Israel routed the Israelites, killed Saul and his three sons at Mount Gilboa, cut off Saul's head, mounted his armor on the walls of the temple of Ashtoreth and nailed his body on the wall of Beth-shan.

The Dynasty of Saul was over and David, instructed by the Lord, plus using his own integrity with the booty, had effectively won the hearts of the elders of Israel and as circumstances would have it, was not a participant in the war that destroyed the Dynasty of the King of Israel, and forged a loyalty of the fierce warriors of the Cherithites, who stayed with the House of David as the personal bodyguard and protector of his palace

What we do see is that the Cherithites were living in Ziglag in the Negev. Apparently this was a stronghold of David and recognized as a Cherithite stronghold.

The Cherithites and Pelethites, the Guards of the King

The name Cherithites or the Cherithim comes from the Hebrew word, krethiv (ker-ay-thee) (Strong’s 3774) which is derived from the root karath (kaw-rath) (Strong’s 3774), which means to cut off, down or asunder, or by implication to destroy, or consume, yet specific in reference to a covenant (alliance or bargain) with the cutting of the flesh (shared blood) or passing between the pieces like God did with Abram when he cut the bullock in his covenant with Abram.

They were recognized as part of the Philistines who had made a covenant with David and he developed a trusting relationship with them. Even later in the days of the Minor Prophets, there was a recognized nation of Cherithites (Zephaniah 2:5).

The Cherithites were used by David and the later kings of Israel and Judah as executioners (2 Kings 11:4) and as couriers (1 Kings 14:27) Coming from the southern coast of the Philistine Palestine (Isa 30:14, Ezekiel 25:16, Zephaniah 2:5), scholars suggest that they were from the Island of Crete, as is felt was the homeland of the Philistines and participated in the Sea Peoples invasions of the 13th century along the coastline of Israel and on to Egypt where the invasion was stopped by the Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramses III.

There home was by the Brook Cherith, which means a 'cut' or a 'gorge' which the scholar, N. Glueck believes was one of the easternmost branches of the Wadi el-Yabus in the highlands of Gilead, east of the Jordan. It was by this brook where the prophet Elijah hid from King Ahab. (I Kings 17:5) It is of interest that he hides east of the Jordan, yet when the brook goes dry; he traverses the entire land of Israel and goes to Sidon to Zaraphath to live with a widow. This is on the coast of the Mediterranean, near above Mount Carmel, which is also in the region of the Philistines. It is of interest that Abigail, the wife of David, who later jealously criticized David as he took off his royal robes and danced naked (with only his priestly garments) before the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant was being transported to Jerusalem.

The name, Pelethites appears to be a derivative of the Pelethi, variant of Pelishti or Philistines. Peleth (Strong's 6432) comes from the root plethyiy (pel-ay-thee) means to flee meaning swiftness and was used as a courier or official messenger. As bodyguards with the Cherithites (Philistines and the Cretans) they remained loyal to David and the House of David only. As warriors of foreign blood, they did not get involved with the politics and nationalistic interests of Israel. They were totally at the service of the king with no divided passions or loyalty to any of the twelve tribes.

During the revolt of Absalom (2 Sam 15:18-22) most of David's subjects deserted him and he fled to Ammon in present day Jordan in exile. It was Joab with this loyal 'royal guard' that eventually beat Absalom and later, Sheba, the son of Bichri, another rebel leader.

With a literal picture, of the hierarchy of the United Kingdom of David and Solomon, we must question whether it also gives us a shadow-picture of the time of the end and the relations of the modern Nation of Israel with her neighbors, the Palestinians and the Jordanian especially in the region of Gilead.

In the land of the ancient Pelethites, the land of the Philistines, reside the present people also in conflict with Israel, the Palestinians. Are we seeing a replay of the ancient Philistine - Israel wars with King Saul now in the Palestinian Intifada against the Sharon government? Will this be a replay of an ancient mini-drama or a reversal of that former shadow-picture? In the prophecies of Zechariah, which the BibleSearchers believe is a literal end time prophecy, replicating the ancient Philistine wars with King Saul. Here in the land of the ancient Philistines, the Oracles of the Lord are spoken against Gaza and the other cities of the Philistines.

Zechariah 9:5-7 - “Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also and be very sorrowful, and Ekron (the northernmost of the 5 cities of the Philistines); for her Ambit (hope or expectation) shall be Yves (withered or dried up), and the king shall Avid (die, give up or surrender) from Gaza, and Ashkelon Loathe (shall not be inhabited).

“Mamzer (halachically a half-breed or a child of a mixed population from a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father) shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut-off (uproot) the Ga’on (pride) of the Philistines.

“And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: (a picture of blasphemy and violence being removed) but he who remains alive, even he, shall be for our God, (HaShem) and he shall be as an ‘Aluf’ (docile or friendly element of the population) in Judah, and Ekron (northernmost of the 5 cities of the Philistines) as a Jebusite (the people who controlled the city site of Salem (Jerusalem) when David conquered it and these people lived in peace with Israel).”

It appears that like the Pelethites of old, a remnant of the Palestinians will be able to live in harmony and peace with the Palestinian Arabs.

Yet what about Gilead, the land of the Cherithites?

Zechariah 10:9-10 - “I will sow them (the Nation of Israel) among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries; they shall live together with their children and they shall return.

“I will also (beside the worldwide assimilation of the Jews) bring them (House of Joseph and Ephraim) back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of land of Gilead and Lebanon until no more room is found for them.”

How many of the indigenous peoples in the land of Egypt, Syria, Iran and Iraq today are actually descendants of the House of Israel? The Lord of hosts may yet have another surprise for us.

Secondly, does this literal picture of the monarchy of David and Solomon give us any spiritual insight into the hierarchy which is centered around the throne of God? Whether we like it or not the biblical portrayal of heaven is very similar with the king and an imperial hierarchy. In scripture, there is no type or shadow-pictures of the heavenly hierarchy that suggest that heaven is democratic or even a republic. For those looking towards a day in which Theocracy will be re-instituted on this earth with the Messiah ruling with a ‘Rod of Iron’ need to reconsider the fact that this will not be a democratic government or a Republic with the name of ‘God’ attached to it. The servant-hood of man to the Lord of hosts is a concept not literally perceived by most evangelical or Messianic Christians today.

Obviously the Archangels are the closest to the Throne of God and become the inner body guards of the Throne and God Himself. Even on a far higher dimensional level, there have been revolts and assaults on the Throne of God and the agency of God Himself. Was it not Satan, one of the Guardian Angels, who stood next to the throne of God who revolted against God and this revolt took with him a third of the angelic hosts?

The celestial pictures of the angels streaming out from the thrones of God is surely an anti-type of the Pelethites, as couriers or messengers for the Lord. On the other hand, the armies of heaven under the command of Michael would be suggestive of the Cherithites. Of course, Michael the Archangel would be the type of the pre-carnate Christ or the signet archangel who represents Christ. There is evidence or either position and difficult enough to understand with our limitation of this three dimensional world.

Solomon’s Grand Entry to the House of the Lord

Imagine now that you were part of the ceremonial guard for the House of Solomon and each Sabbath (Shabbat) when Solomon entered the House of the Lord. On the temple wall overlooking the Kidron Valley, the trumpet chorus of the Levites had aligned themselves along the temple wall. There they raised their golden trumpets which heralded the entry of the king as he came as a servant of the Lord of hosts to worship His God and the God of his people.

The grand entryway from the House of Solomon possibly went from the Throne Room of Solomon, along the Hall of Pillars and then up the King’s Stairway he ascended into the presence of the Almighty. Here you were part of 300 Cherithite and Pelethite ceremonial bodyguards of the king, each dressed in ceremonial uniforms, holding 300 golden shields, about four pounds each, flashing and gleaming in the sunlight as the king was escorted to the stairway facing the Giant Pillars of Boaz and Joachim. Standing before the large eastern doors into the Holy Place, Solomon would kneel before the Holy of Holiest, the visible representation of the throne of God. Here the monarch of the United Monarchy went to pay his allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

What inspiration this would be to the citizens of the Nation of the United Monarchy of Israel. What a beautiful shadow picture of the future reign of the Messiah, son of David, (Moschiach) worshipping in the Millennial temple built upon the pattern given to the Prophet Ezekiel in the land of Babylon. As Yeshua (Jesus), the messiah ben Joseph, in the first century worshipped His heavenly Father, so also the Yeshua, now as the messiah ben David (the Moschiach) will again be seen worshipping His heavenly Father residing again in the Holy of Holiest.

Industrial Stone Saws used in the Stone Quarrying in Jerusalem

One of the largest construction projects in the world in the Late Bronze Age (11^th century B.C.E.) was occurring in Jerusalem, the city of David. With this realization, we might have to reconsider some of the long held beliefs on how house the House of the Lord and all the other great government buildings in Jerusalem built during the reigns of David and Solomon were constructed. One thing that is known now, one of the prime building materials was gold and one of the prime technological treasures of the Israeli construction engineers were industrial gemstones that were used to build the Solomon’s Temple.

Here in the following text we get our first clue. What was of interest in that the quarrying of the large limestone block used in the foundation and the walls of these magnificent buildings, including his residence and the residence for the daughter for the Pharaoh of Egypt, one of his wives, were done by the Phoenician and Israeli stone quarrying crews cutting the limestone with “saws”.

I Kings 7:9-12 - “All these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside to the great court. The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits and some eight cubits. And above were costly stone, hewn to size, and cedar wood. The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the Lord and the vestibule of the temple.”

We can now assume that Solomon with the Phoenician contractors, skilled in the finest of technological advances in the world at that time, had tube drills and drill bits, saws to cut limestone and large costly stones. They had the ability to bevel, mould and sculpt hard and durable stone with lathes to turn, polish stones for vases, bowls and pitchers for domestic and religious uses. They could saw with extreme accuracy large limestone blocks up to 40 square feet with parallel joints with remarkable flatness and finish. They also had the ability to transport these large stones over from beneath the quarries under the temple and to lift them to heights, maneuver them and place with extreme care one large stone upon another. This was not the technology of a primitive people. The artisan and builders of Egypt resurrected their long dormant technological instincts with the vision and skill of the Phoenicians. They did not match the building wonders of their Phoenician instructors, they surpassed them. Today we marvel not at the ancient buildings of Tyre and Sidon, but we do wonder at the mystery, mystique and awe of the House of the Lord built by King Solomon.

Yet to do this, they no doubt had the proper technological tools to cut and trim hard stones; bronze tools set with cutting points of corundum or diamond, sharp pointed graver for incising and etching on stone, large bronze saw blades embedded with diamond saw bits plus straight saws, circular saws, tubular diamond drills and lathes.

The Almug Trees

“The Almugim shine like the brilliance of the firmament (sky).”

We have studied the beauty of the Almogim Tree, which was identified in the Bava Bashra as Coral Trees or almugim. Yet we have another candidate for the Almugim Tree. The Almug and the Algum tree is recorded in 1 Kings 10:11-12 and 2 Chr 9:10-11.

I Kings 10:11-12 - “Also, the ship of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought great quantities of almug wood and precious stones from Ophir.”

2 Chronicles 9:10-11 - “Also the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones.”

Scholars have confused this with the Algum Tree imported from the mountains of Lebanon (II Chron. 2:8), known as the Cilician fir (Abies cilicia) or the Grecian juniper (Juniperus excelsa).

Yet the Hebrew, does state that algum trees were sent to Israel from Lebanon was well as from Ophir. In Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the word ‘Algum’ comes from the Hebrew word, alguwnniym (al-goom-meem - Strong’s 418) meaning sticks of algum wood, while almugim comes from the Hebrew word, ‘almuggiym (al-moog-gheem, Strong’s 484) which is in reality the plural form of almug. In reality they are the same specie or family of trees. Was algum and the almugim trees the same?

We do not know, but hints suggests that algum that was imported from Ophir was used for many practical purposes, such as walkways, stairways and terraces plus special décor articles of rarity created for their exquisite beauty, such as the fruited almug trees. Also algum wood was also used extensively in the construction of the stringed instrument section of the music department in the temple, the harps and the lyres built under the direct supervision of King David. Even so, the almugim trees in the Emeq HaMelekh were still possibly made from coral overlaid with pure gold.

2 Chronicles 2:8 - Letter of Solomon to Hiram - “Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon, for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon…”

2 Chronicles 9:10-11 - “Also the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones. and the king made walkways of the algum wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers; and there were none such as these seen before in the land of Judah.

The Almug wood as brought in great supplies from the land of Ophir where the finest gold was also mined and shipped to Solomon. It was used predominately in the temple for the terraces, stairs and balustrades, used predominately for fine joinery (II Par., ix, 11.)

I Kings 10:12 - “And the king made steps of the almug wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day.”

As we shall see in a later Mishnayots, the almug wood was also used for music instruments such as the harps, psalteries and the lyres, but it was also used to make the fruited trees that were overlaid with gold in the Garden of Eden.

Most scholars feel that almug is the same as Sandalwood which comes from a fragrant tropical wood, called Santalum album, an evergreen parasitic tree found on the Indian continent. The oil extracted from the wood has medicinal and uses in fragrances. On the other hand, Red Sandalwood come from a legume bearing tree that with pea-like blossoms and form pods, called Adenanthera pavonina or Sandalwood, Pterocarpus santalinus). It is also native to India and felt by scholars to be the real almug tree. It grows to a height of about twenty feet with a trunk circumference of four feet.

The sandalwood wood is very heavy, fine-grained, notably black on the surface, yet polishes to a rich ruby red or garnet color, because of the tannin when mixed with sapan. As such its wood is strong and has an antiseptic that make it impervious to termites as no insects will live within the wood. It was also used as a source of dye, giving a deep ruby red color to silken or woolen clothes. The aroma of its wood was used as a fragrance to the homes of the ancients.

So we see the Almugim tree as coming from the prized imports from Ophir as the oriental Almug wood, which was shipped on the Phoenician ships of Hiram by the Israeli and Phoenician sailors. These trees were overlaid with fine gold and placed in the Temple complex. This sentence structure suggested they were arranged like golden orchards (three rows) or used in single rows along walkways or corridors.

The Phoenician and Israeli craftsmen no doubt became quite skilled in woodcarving of ornamental trees that were laden with golden ornamental fruits of all seasons. How was the gold put over these wooden carved trees? Was it dipped in molten gold or was the technology of gold electroplating used by the ancient craftsmen in the 10^th century BCE.

The finish on the almugim trees must have been of such an intense polish that it appeared liked the mirrored surface of a minted Proof gold coin from the United States Mint. Its states that they ‘shine like the brilliance of the sky” or better they reflect the brilliance of the sky by the mirrored finish on the gold. Here again we are introduced to a technology that is suggestive of electroplating gold.

Ancient Gold Plating and Electroplating

The modern technology of electroplating was resurrected in 1800 by a Count Alassandro Volta who designed a battery called the Voltaic Pile. The Count used the primitive electricity machine with the experimenter, Luigi Galvani to connect to frog legs and watch them jump.

Well the neither Count nor Galvani were the first to discover the use of electricity generated in a battery.  The ancients were using electricity generated in small batteries twenty five hundred years ago to produce an electrical current used to coat small objects with a thin layer of gold. This was called electroplating.  The thickness of the gold electroplate coating depended on how strong and how long a current could be used to attract gold to the object to be coated.

The Baghdad Battery - Baghdad Iraqi Museum

According to most texts the "voltaic pile," or electric battery, was invented in 1800 by the Count Alassandro Volta. Volta had observed that when two dissimilar metal probes were placed against frog tissue, a weak electric current was generated. Volta discovered he could reproduce this current outside of living tissue by placing the metals in certain chemical solutions. For this, and his other work with electricity, we commemorate his name in the measurement of electric potential called the volt.

In 1957, archeologist in Iraq unearth a strange small vase about the size of a human hand. It was dated to the Parthian rule of ancient Bagdad in the era of 250 BCE to 224 BCE. It was first examined and described by German archeologist Wilhelm Konig in 1938. After careful research, they determined that it was battery designed to produce an electrical current. Who discovered it is not known, but the place of discovery was a site called Khujut Rabu, outside of modern Baghdad today. It is presently on display in the Baghdad Iraqi Museum.

According to Konig’s findings, the earthen shell was a clay housing with an asphalt stopper with an iron rod sticking through. Inside the iron rod was surrounding a copper cylinder. Reminiscent of a battery, Konig published his first paper in 1940, which was quickly buried in the onslaught of World War II.

World War II prevented immediate follow-up on the jars, but after hostilities ceased, an American, Willard F. M. Gray of the General Electric High Voltage Laboratory in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, built some reproductions of the Baghdad Battery. Under scientific examination, the solder used to attach the copper end to a central copper cylinder in the 3^rd century model was identical to the modern solder compound of 60/40 used today. When a grape juice electrolyte solution was poured into this battery replica, a two volt current was produced, which was enough to electroplate silver.

The Internal Design of the Baghdad Battery - Baghdad Iraqi Museum

Yet it took a German research scientist, Dr. Arne Eggebrecht, who also built a replica and used it to electroplate several gold items. According to Dr. Eggebrecht, many of the ancient gold museum pieces in the Baghdad Museum were actually electroplated in gold. The question that does need to be asked, are some of these museum collection pieces actually artifacts from the Temple of Solomon?

As we look at all the objects within the Temple of Solomon that were gold, we once again begin to wonder about what ancient technology was used to produce these objects of exquisite beauty.

The artisan work of gold plating over another object was obviously known to the ancients. With all the objects within these Mishnayots, we find gold laminating the walls of the temple over limestone walls. We find vessels made of solid gold, tablets made of wood and covered with gold, coral trees coated with gold, almug wood made into artificial trees, harps and lyres were also covered with gold.

Yet, the ancient had another type of gold application called gold ‘gilding’. Gold gilding involved applying a gold coating to a surface of an object without the use of an electrical current. Here they combined powdered gold with mercury that was mixed in an amalgam paste not dissimilar as the gold fillings used in dental caries. The mixture was painted onto the surface, and then heated so that the mercury is boiled off, leaving a gold film or deposit on the surface. It is still used today in metal to metal restoration.

Antimony Electroplated sword scabbard

It was actually another inventor, Dr. Colin Fink, who invented the tungsten light bulb, who analyzed a sword scabbard in 1933 and discovered that it had been plated with antimony sulfide. Yes, over three thousand years ago, the Egyptians were electroplating antimony onto a copper base.

Yet gold electroplating was not only used to fuse or bond gold to a more base metal such as silver, this technology was used also on wood and stone?

According to Alan Millard, professor of the University of Liverpool's School of Archaeology, Classics & Oriental Studies, the concept that Solomon’s temple was plated in gold, scoffed by most orientalists, was not unreasonable and is mentioned in many ancient texts.

"We are told, for instance", he points out, and “that the statue of Athena in the Parthenon was plated with gold which could be unhooked and melted down when times were tough. In due course plates were, in fact, melted down, and there is even a record of the number of coins made from them. There is also physical evidence of gold plating - for instance, traces can be found in Egyptian tombs. The gold seems to have been thicker than gold leaf - around the thickness of a milk bottle top."

Mishnah 7

The counting of precious stones, Margaliot gems, silver, and gold that King David dedicated to the Great Temple was: 1,000,000 talents of silver, 100,000 talents of gold and trees made of "Parvaim Gold" which bore fruit, 600,000 talents of fine gold from beneath the Tree of Life in the holy Garden. All these were revealed to Hilkiyah the Scribe, who gave them into the safekeeping of the angel Shimshiel to guard until King David arises, to whom he will hand over the silver and gold, including the gold that Shlomo contributed, and the talents of gold and priceless precious stones. All these were concealed, hidden, and safeguarded from the army of the Chaldeans in a place called Borseef.

The Secret Mission of Hilkiyah the Scribe - Hiding Place at Borseef.

In an unknown location, called Borseef, Hilkiyah the Scribe concealed these treasures from the Chaldean army, presumably before the final destruction of Jerusalem 538 BCE. These were treasures gathered by King David and dedicated to the Holy Temple. Here is this inventory. Understand we are using a very conservative number for the talents of gold and silver. In this thesis we will be using only 1/1000 of the translated number in order to remain on a safe and conservative interpretation.

· 1 million (1000) talents of silver or 75,000 pounds of silver.

1000 Talents of silver bullion = 75,000 pounds = 37.5 tons =

900,000 troy ounces = $3.6 million ($4.00/oz)

· 100,000 (100) talents of gold or 7,500 pounds of gold.

100 Talents of silver bullion = 7,500 pounds = 3.75 tons =

90,000 troy ounces = $31.5 million ($350/oz)

· Trees made from “Parvaim Gold” which bore fruit.

The Fruit Trees of Parvaim Gold

This is the name of an unknown place or country where gold was procured for the decoration of Solomon’s Temple (2 Chronicles. 3:6) Scholars suggest that it is derived from the Indian Sanskrit word, purva, meaning eastern.

The Tree of Life in the Holy Garden

600,000 (600) talents of fine gold from beneath the Tree of Life

in the Holy Garden (Garden of Eden)

What then was the Tree of Life? Was it a literal tree in a literal garden? Was it a mystical and other dimensional tree in a paradisiacal garden in a heavenly sphere? Was it as some Jewish sages believed that the garden was a literal three dimensional garden patterned after a heavenly garden in a multi-dimensional heaven?

Let us review the pattern or blue print of the garden in Eden. To leave or exit the garden and the presence of the Lord, Adam and Eve traveled east out of the garden. This was the route taken when they were ‘cast out of the garden’. To return to the presence of the Lord, they would then travel west into the garden. There was an eastern gate flanked or guarded by a cherubim and a seraphim (flaming sword). Within the garden were two trees, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.

In Solomon’s Temple was an Eastern Gate where the priests left the temple premises and the presence of the Lord in the Holy of Holiest. When the priest returned, he returned in through the Eastern Gate and as he approached the Holy of Holiest, recognized as the Residence of the Lord of hosts, he had to pass through two pillars, the Boaz and the Joachim. The question then needs to be asked, did on the two pillars, the Boaz or the Joachim, represent the Tree of Life? If so, which pillar did represent the Tree of Life?

A few rabbinic sources have suggested that the Holy Place of the Temple was the Garden of Eden. This author would suggest that the temple courtyard if yielding to this Garden of Eden pattern and typology would best represent the Garden where Adam and Eve lived.

600 Talents of gold bullion = 45,000 pounds = 22.5 tons =

540,000 troy ounces = $1.89 billion

The Mishnah states there was “600,000 (600) talents of gold from beneath the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.” Even very conservative, 600 talents of gold or 27,000 pounds of gold were saved from ‘beneath the Tree of Life’. Where was this gold that was taken from beneath the tree? Was it in the cavern system beneath the Temple, which would make a very good secured storage place? . Or was the floor of the ‘Garden” covered with gold? The outside and the inside walls of the Temple of Solomon was coated in various types of gold, but there is no mention as to how the floor was made. It is presumed that the floor was made of Limestone or wood. Does this Mishnah suggest that the floor of the courtyard (garden of Eden) was made of gold? When we consider the heavenly pattern, we see a heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, whose ‘streets were paved in pure gold.’ Would we not consider that as the earthly temple was patterned after the heavenly temple, it would not be inconceivable that the floor of the temple was also paved in gold?

The Guardian Angel of Solomon’s Temple

What is of interest is the reputed collaboration between beings of two different dimensions: Hilkiyah the Scribe and Shimshiel the angel who was given guardian custody of the treasures. Is this just a legend or a fable? The intent of guardianship was that these treasures given to the Lord of hosts by King David were to be kept into custody until King David would be resurrected again. There is a lot of theology imbedded within this Mishnah.

According to ancient traditions of angeology of the Jews, angels were created to be guardian being for people, places, planets, nations or wherever or whomever the Lord of hosts chooses to guard or protect. The sages suggest that the angel that Jacob fought and almost overcame was the ‘angel of Esau’. Daniel the prophet had delayed transmission of information from God because the angelic messenger was hindered by the ‘angel of Persia’. Here in this Mishnah, we become acquainted with what appears to be the guardian angel for the Temple of Solomon, Shimshiel.

Monetary Conversion Table

Talent- In the Hebrew system of measurement we have the following: The talent, mina, shekel, Öpim, beka, and gerah.

Talent - 3000 shekels 75.600 pounds.

Mina - 50 shekels (60 Babylonian) 1.260 pounds.

Shekel (‘to weigh’) 0.403 ounces

Fractional Shekels:

Öpim, beka and gerah.

12 English tons = 2000 pounds

1.00 pound = 12 troy ounces

The Prophet Jeremiah and the Five Guardians of Solomon’s Temple Treasures The Emeq HaMelekh – The Story of the Five Hebrew Priests who Hid the Treasures of Solomon’s Temple

Go to Part One – “The Emeq Ha Melekh (Valley of the Kings) - The Hebrew Account of Hiding the Ark, the Sanctuary and the Treasures of Solomon’s Temple”

Go to Part Two – “The Hiding of the Ark, the Furnishings and the High Priest Garments with the Sanctuary of the Congregations”

Go to Part Three – “The Copper Scroll, the Anointing Oil, the Temple Incense and the Ashes of the Red Heifer”

Go to Part Four – “The Exile of Judah and Babylon the City of Wonders - Section One”

Go to Part Five – “Babylon, the City of Wonders – Section Two”

Go to Part Six – “Baghdad, the 49 Lamped Menorah, Bread Molds, and the Table of Showbread”

Go to Part Seven – “The Garden of Eden, the Margalit Pearl, Almugim Trees, Golden Tables of Showbread and Industrial Gemstones”

Go to Part Eight – “Industrial Gems, Golden Trees, The Tree of Life, the Guardian Angel of Solomon’s Temple”

Go to Part Nine – “The Cosmic Golden Curtains”

Go to Part Ten – “The Garments of the Priests, Levites and the High Priest”

Go to Part Eleven – “The Harps and Lyres of King David”

Go to Part Twelve – “Treasures at Ein Kahal, in a Wall at Babylon And at Tel Bruk where the Willow Tree was in Babylon”

Go to Part Thirteen – “The Twelve Stones for the Tribes of Israel, David, son of David, a righteous king over Israel and the Gihon River at the Final Restoration of Israel”

Bible Searchers Sites

The Oracles of Zechariah by Robert D. Mock MD

Jeremiah and the Five Guardians of Solomon’s Temple Treasures by Robert D. Mock MD

Vendyl Jones Research Institute Sites

Vendyl Jones Research Institute Home Page

Emeq HaMelekh by the Vendyl Jones Research Institute

The Copper Scroll and the Excavations at Qumron by Vendyl Jones

Dead Sea Scroll Deception Part One by Vendyl Jones

Dead Sea Scroll Deception Part Two by Vendyl Jones

Dead Sea Scroll Deception Part Three by Vendyl Jones

The Ark of the Covenant by Vendyl Jones

A Door of Hope by the Vendyl Jones Research Institute

Ashes for Beauty--The Mysterious Ashes of the Red Heifer by Jim Long

The Gate Between Two Walls, by Vendyl Jones

Vendyl Jones and the Ark of the Covenant by Gerard Robins

Temple Mount Sites

The Temple Institute on recreation the Furnishing for the New Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem by the Temple Mount Organization

The Gihon Springs Temple Site by Ernest Martin

Emeq HaMelekh Sites

Emeq HaMelekh by Robert D. Mock MD

Emeq HaMelekh by the Vendyl Jones Research Institute

The Temple and the Copper Scrolls by the Order of the Nazorean Essenes

Emeq HaMelekh and the Ark in King Tut’s Tomb by Emeq HaMelekh by the Vendyl Jones

The Treasures in the House of the Lord by Lambert Dolphin

Gold and the Temple of Solomon

Ancient Electricity by Dennis Ramsey

The Baghdad Battery by the UnMuseum

Gold Plating by the Ancients by Allen Millard

The Curtains of the Temple by the Zion Messianic Jewish Fellowship

Ancient Stone Technology

Ancient Egyptian Stone Technology by R.F. McKenty

Advanced Machining in Ancient Egypt by Christ Dunn

Technology of Ancient Ireland by Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton

Ancient Rare Metal Technology in Ireland by Ireland Educational Broadcasting Corp.

Message from BibleSearchers

BibleSearchers scans the world for information that has relevance on the time of the end. It is our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to “watch and be ready”. Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the progression of evil on our planet earth. In our readiness, we seek to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will be manifested in its fullest. Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual readiness for a world of peace. Our defender is the Lord of hosts. The time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet earth. The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the love of the God of Israel. In a world of corruption and disinformation, we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or mis-information. We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah and the testimony of the prophets of the Old and the New Testament.

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