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Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H)

A three-room Canaanite temple whose plan foreshadows Solomon's

Conquest & Judges · temple / altar · Accepted by scholars · found 1957

Museum reconstruction of a basalt-lined temple room with offering table
Photo: Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons — Reconstructed holy of holies of the Hazor Orthostat Temple, Israel Museum.

Found 1957 — Yigael Yadin, James A. de Rothschild Expedition (Hebrew University), Area H, lower city (1957–58)

Where Tel Hazor (Tell el-Qedah), Upper Galilee (Israel)

Dates from c. 1650–1230 BCE · Middle Bronze IIB – Late Bronze IIB · Canaanite Hazor; destroyed in the period of Joshua/Judges

Now at Temple in situ (reburied); orthostats, basalt lion, offering table and bronze figurines in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

How Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H) was found

A stratified sequence of temples at the northern edge of the lower city; the final Late Bronze phase, lined with smooth basalt orthostats, was found with its furnishings crushed under the 13th-century destruction.

What it is

A temple of three rooms in a line — porch, hall and inner holy of holies with a niche — its lower walls faced with dressed basalt slabs (orthostats). A basalt lion flanked the entrance. Inside were a large basalt offering table, incense altars, a seated bronze god, a bronze bull, cult stands and a stone basin. The final phase was violently destroyed and burned.

Why it matters for the Bible

The Orthostat Temple is the closest Canaanite parallel to the plan of Shlomo's (Solomon's) temple: entry porch (ulam), main hall (heikhal) and inner sanctuary (devir), all on one axis (1 Kings 6). It shows the temple form the Bible describes was at home in the land long before Israel's monarchy. The smashed cult statues in its ruins also illustrate the kind of destruction Joshua 11 describes for Hazor, though who burned the city is still argued.

The Hebrew word: hay-CHAHL

הֵיכָל

הֵיכָל is pronounced hay-CHAHL and means temple, palace, main hall of a sanctuary (Strong's H1964).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Canaanite temple worship at Hazor · Burning of Hazor (Joshua 11:11) · Building of the First Temple (1 Kings 6)

Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H) in Scripture

Joshua 11:1 First mention of Hazor in Scripture.

Joshua 11:11 Hazor is burned with fire; the temple's last phase ended in just such a fire.

1 Kings 6:2-3 The temple's porch, main hall and inner room — the same three-part plan as the Hazor Orthostat Temple.

Questions people ask

What is Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H)?
A temple of three rooms in a line — porch, hall and inner holy of holies with a niche — its lower walls faced with dressed basalt slabs (orthostats). A basalt lion flanked the entrance. Inside were a large basalt offering table, incense altars, a seated bronze god, a bronze bull, cult stands and a stone basin. The final phase was violently destroyed and burned.

When was Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H) discovered?
It was found in 1957 by Yigael Yadin, James A. de Rothschild Expedition (Hebrew University), Area H, lower city (1957–58), at Tel Hazor (Tell el-Qedah), Upper Galilee.

Where is Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H) today?
Temple in situ (reburied); orthostats, basalt lion, offering table and bronze figurines in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Which Bible verses does Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H) relate to?
Joshua 11:1, Joshua 11:11, 1 Kings 6:2-3.

Related discoveries

Sources

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