9. At Megiddo.
(1) A Hebrew Temple.—In the course of the excavation at Megiddo a temple was found concerning the sacred nature of which there can be no such doubts as in the case of the building just mentioned[209]; ([Fig. 222]). This temple was in the Israelitish stratum, and so is of especial interest to the students of the Bible. It was situated in the highest part of the city. The whole space was not excavated, but the portion uncovered was 131 feet long and 115 wide. It was of the same period as the palace in which the seal of Shema the servant of Jeroboam was found, and contained more drafted stones than the walls of that palace. In one of the rooms of the temple stood two stones that were certainly “pillars” such as are denounced in Deuteronomy. One of these was 7 feet 8 inches high; the other, 7 feet high. The room in which these pillars stood was 30 feet long and 10 feet 7 inches wide. In building the wall of this temple a stone was used that had once formed the voluted capital of a column; ([Fig. 224]). Probably this stone was taken from an earlier Philistine building.
In the grounds of the temple, which were once regarded as holy, several jars containing the skeletons of children were unearthed. These had apparently been offered in sacrifice and buried like those found in the high place of Gezer.
While the walls of this temple were built of larger and more carefully cut stones than most of the other walls in the city, no effort seems to have been made to give the temple a definite architectural plan. Large towers were found near it, but, as the temple was at the east end of the city, these formed part of fortifications. The fortifications and other buildings crowded upon the temple, so that, had an effort been made to make it architecturally imposing, the effect would have been lost.
(2) A Palace Chapel.—The people of Megiddo seem to have been particularly fond of the type of worship represented by this temple, for in a room to the east of the palace of the Hebrew governor was a room containing three “pillars,” in which the remains of a number of terra-cotta goddesses were found.[210] This was apparently the private chapel of the palace. This room was almost 40 feet long and 32 feet 10 inches wide; ([Fig. 223]). Its beginnings antedate the Israelitish period, since they come from the stratum before the conquest.
(3) Another Chapel.—What seems to have been still another place of worship equipped with the necessary “pillars” was found in the Hebrew stratum between the governor’s palace and the southern gate of the city.[211] It would appear from the connecting walls that this sacred place may also have been intended for the special use of the occupants of the palace. This room was not quite 30 feet long and a little less than 20 feet wide. It contained six stones which Dr. Schumacher took to be “pillars.” Like those at Petra and Taanach, they had evidently been shaped with tools. They did not stand in a row or in any regular relation to one another. This might throw some doubt upon the religious significance of the stones. Could they not have been columns used in supporting the roof of the building? Since a small stone object that had religious significance in the high places was found in this room, together with a most remarkable incense burner, it is probable that these were religious “pillars” and that the room was a little chapel. The object was of limestone and about 7 inches long. It was lying at the foot of one of the “pillars.” The incense burner was made of a greyish soft limestone. It was a little over 9 inches in height. The diameter of the bowl was 6⅜ inches. The stone was cut so that the bowl rested on a pedestal, which was divided by rings into two portions, each of which was cut so as to represent a circle of overhanging leaves; (see [Fig. 225]). The whole was decorated with reddish-brown and cobalt-blue paints. The decoration of the rim of the bowl is a geometrical design, that on the bowl itself represents a sort of conventionalized lily blossom, while the leaves suggest those of the palm.
These discoveries make it plain that the Canaanite temples of Palestine, which the Hebrews took over, were simply high places in miniature, enclosed in walls and probably roofed over, though the roofs have disappeared. The feeling that led to the change from the open air high place was the same as that underlying the saying of David: “I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains” (2 Sam. 7:2).
10. The Temple to Augustus at Samaria.—The excavations at Samaria[212] have brought to light the foundation of the temple erected by Herod the Great in honor of Augustus.[213] This was a temple of a very different type. It was patterned on Græco-Roman models and everything was done to make it architecturally impressive. Unfortunately, the results of the Harvard expedition have not yet been given to the public in detail, but from the imposing stairway, discovered during the first season of the excavation, together with the partial plan of the building as then uncovered, and the outlines of its walls as a later season’s work disclosed them, one can form some idea of the imposing appearance of this structure. A massive stairway led up to a large platform surrounded by large pillars. This formed the portico. Back of this stretched the walls of the temple. The general form of the building seems to have been similar to that of the large temple at Jerash, which will be described in [Chapter XIV].[214] At the foot of the stairway leading up to the temple was found a large altar, and near this a fallen statue of Augustus. For outlines of the temple, see Figs. [216] and [221].
These ancient places of worship which archæology has brought to light are eloquent witnesses of the pathetic way the men of Palestine “felt after God, if haply they might find him” (Acts 17:27), and the pathos is not lessened by the fact that they thus continued to grope, even after the clearer light was shining about them.