Solomon's Temple: what might have been

I tried to imagine a scenario where King Solomon would conclude “The end of thing is better than its beginning…”. he said that in Ecclesiastes 7:8. He does that a lot in Proverbs too, he leaves us wondering, what made him say that?

 I can’t prove it but I’ll bet he was remembering projects that start with such hope and promise and flitter away. He built the famous temple in Jerusalem after all, the one that the Babylonians destroyed about 400 years later. He was a builder. A builder understands the deadline changes and bureaucratic messiness of seeing a project all the way through.  But bureaucracy, like flesh eating bacteria has evolved.

Imagine the wise king navigating through modern bureaucratic hurdles before actually designing. A council of elders would insist union contractors laid the stones and that all  masons be certified, same with the iron workers. Anyone with a skilled craft (carvers, chiselers) might hold up work and demand higher wages. Where would he find another stone engraver? Investors might pull out of the project if the Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) weren’t complete or up to date.

Imagine if an endangered beetle were spotted during the digging phase and work needed to stop, proper areas roped off undisturbed. The project grinding to a halt until an expert from the wildlife preservation fund (WPF) could write a report, verify migration patterns and sign off.

How might he react if the law firm representing displaced Canaanites had threatened to sue him? Not to win money for the tribe but to share in all revenue traders would make from traveling pilgrims. The temple might have cut Baal worshipers off from a convenient place to sacrifice infants. Other groups (Philistines, Edomites) might join the lawsuit in an ‘undue hardship for religious accommodation’ brief.

Could he have gotten the permits to build from the local authorities without hiring one of their relatives to "supervise" the project? 

He would certainly have wished for the ‘end of the thing.’

With a project of such scale and time, a large number of mathematicians would be needed. Could they get the proper work visas?

What about insurance? Laborers would have needed it from falling stones not laid securely in the wall or a plank of cedar threatening to crush an unsuspecting victim. Permits would not be issued until everyone associated with the temple was licensed. 

I am sure he’d of prayed “Dear Lord bring the end of this thing!” every night before slept exhausted, head pounding.

If the gold melted and laid down over the floor didn’t meet specifications what could Solomon have done? If the Bureau of Precious Metals (BPM) found the gold to be of a lower quality they would have shut down work until a replacement could be found, same for the wood. Cedar and Cyprus were both used for different parts of the structure. A non-fire retardant plank could have finished off the project until the carpenters could find an approved glaze for the wood.

A project this big and expensive would need security to keep raiders out. The guards better meet National Council on Security and Protection Professionals (NCSPP) regulations. If they don’t, well you know…

I started to realize that this morass of official channels and red tape was a real thing about the time One World Trade Center in New York opened its doors. The project was approved in the spring of 2006; they opened to the public in 2014. No modern building takes that long to assemble. My guess is rent-seeking groups hobbled the effort and slowed down a straightforward A to B job with roadblocks. Solomon was fortunate here. 

The end of a thing is better than the beginning, Indeed.

David Childs (his firm designed the Burj Khalifa) is the architect who designed the angular structure for the changing New York skyline. I hope he learned how to navigate the jumble of regulations and unnecessary delays.

Wonder if he reads Ecclesiastes?