To accomplish a research task that went back into 3000 years of middle east history, muralist Bernard Thomas not only followed closely the Old Testament, I Kings, Chapter 5, 6, and 7 for reference, but traveled to the actual sites depicted in the mural.
This Masonic mural portrays in the foreground what is referred to as "Men of the Craft". On the left, in the Cedars of Lebanon section, there are hewers of wood, the stages of transporting the wood, the sawing, shaping, and finishing of the wood products. The large figures are Hiram, King of Tyre, and some of his superintendents.
"The Bronze Works", located in the southern end of the Jordan Valley on the banks of the Jordan River, depicts the "Men of the Craft" fashioning unbelievably large castings of bronze from the clay soil. There are the great Temple pillars, the huge water bowl -- The Molten Sea -- which sat upon twelve bronze bulls. King Hiram's men, clad in purple, contributed the skills which accomplished these tasks for King Solomon.
King Solomon's quarries provide the carefully hewed stone for all you see in the original walled city of Jerusalem.
Here you see the "Men of the Craft" as they labor to move the numbered stones to the Temple site. As the mason chisels the stone to the exact measure required by Hiram Abiff, Solomon's chief architect, both men are seen discussing the construction project. Pure white limestone, for use in the Temple only, was quarried from the underground caverns below the cave entrance.
Solomon's Temple was erected as a House of the Lord. In the Holy of Holies chamber was placed the Ark of the Covenant, which contained God's Ten Commandments given to Moses.
Solomon's father, King David, had his palace to the far upper left in what was known as the City of David. For 400 years the city of Jerusalem stood, but in 856 B.C. it was completely burned and leveled to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar.
In 33 centuries of history, Jerusalem has suffered at the hands of man and of nature. It has been rocked by earthquakes and sacked by man. The City has endured over 20 sieges and blockades, 18 reconstructions, and two periods of complete desolation. The city has passed from one religion to another six times. The valleys around Jerusalem have been filled, the hills have been leveled, the streets and buildings destroyed, and the people exiled.
(Thanks to an unknown contributor for this write-up.)
