Well, the other week I headed down south to a little place called Tel Arad. This is a really neat archeological site that has some interesting ruins that have done nothing but raise questions.

First off, here is a picture showing just a barren room. This is a Canaanite dwelling from before the Israelite conquest. The room that you see is just one that branches off of an open air courtyard. The rooms surround the courtyard. This is significant because it is a great example of a pre-Islamic courtyard house. This building style was widespread in the Arabian peninsula and apparently in the Levant (Syria, Lebanon and Palestine) because it allowed the walls of the homes to be incorporated into the walls of the city if needs be as well as provide shelter around an inner court. Some speculate that this also either played a role in the development of Islamic ideals of privacy for women in the home or came about because of these ideals being widespread before Islam. The reason this is so connected to Islam is that this was the model of house that Muhammad lived in and since his house was used as the first place of worship for his followers, it became the standard layout for all subsequent mosques. They are formed to contain an inner courtyard around which are situated rooms for prayer and teaching. (Some more modern mosques have broken from this tradition...)

So part of Tel Arad is a pre-Israelite Canaanite settlement that was apparently conquered by the Israelites some time before 1000 BC. Another picture of me here has me standing within the cultic bath/trough which remains as part of the ancient Canaanite place of worship. Next to it was an alter, which was an intersting juxtaposition as it creates the three tiered concept of creation with an underworld for spirits (the cultic trough), the regular world we live in (ground level) and the raised alter (the heavens).

After the Israelites took over here, they placed a military outpost to guard the southern reaches of their kingdom. And interestingly enough, they built a temple here. The site was quite a ways from Jerusalem and apparently they recieved permission to build this temple and use it for sacrifices. Eventually, the temple rituals done here were scaled back during a period of reform during Hezekiah's reign and were stopped completely during the reforms of Josiah.

The temple is not quite a complete replica of the temple in Jerusalem but there are some features that are very similar and some that are conspicuous in their differences. First of all, it is a complete three "tiered" temple. There was an outer court (where the congregation could gather) and inner sancturay or court where only the priests were allowed and even a Holy of Holies.

Within the outer court is a sacrificial alter which would have served as the focal point for most of the day to day activities within the temple.
Comparing this picture (on the right) with the general layout of Solomon's Temple (see the wikipedia page) there are some slight diffeneces: one the holy sanctuary is elongated here, and two the entrance to the courtyard is offset. The reasons for these small differences are unknown.

Also unknown is the reason for the biggest difference in the temple: the Holy of Holies. This small room opens up a whole slew of questions. First, the fact that it exists causes problems. According to the Torah, the High priest was to enter the Holy of Holies which was seen as the dwelling place of God on Earth once a year on the Day of Atonement in order to offer the communal sacrifice for the communal sins. If this was to happen in the Jerusalem temple, why would there be a need for a temple in Tel Arad to have one? Was this temple under the jurisdiction of the High Priest in Jerusalem? was there a High Priest assigned to this temple to see to the running of sacrifices and were the same ordinances (to use a modern term) perfomed here as at the temple in J'lem? These are interesting implications...

More intersting though is what is in the Holy of Holies itself. As you can see in this picture there are two incense alters on the steps leading into the holy of holies, and two stones of differing heights at the back, but one is on a raised platform to put it at the same height as the other stone. In the Jerusalem temple, there was only one incense alter standing in front of the veil of the temple and the platform inside was the housing place of the Ark of the Covenant (on top of which was the Mercy Seat, or maybe Throne of Atonement would be a better translation...).
But here there are two items. Some see within this outside traditions of other religions influencing Jewish religion and assert that the two stones are representations of God (Yahweh) and his wife/consort (Ashteroth). But if that is the case, why is the smaller of the two stones raised up to the level of the bigger? why is the incense alter of the one so much smaller than the other? were these just places for two other relics holy to Judaism? and of course the unabashed Christians think to themselves maybe this could be something about Father and Son?
The fact though remains that no one knows and anything is really just speculation until something more is found...