Welcome to the world of Church Acoustics

Here are 27 questions for Biblical scholars, pastors, and experts to answer about Solomon’s Temple. Please ask your pastor and church leaders and see if they understand the purpose of these questions.

1. There are carvings of palm trees on all the walls and doors in the temple.  Were these decorative, spiritual symbols, or was there a practical purpose for them?  1 Kings 6:29
2. Why were there also carvings of Cherubs and open flowers?
3. What was the purpose of these carvings on the doors to the Sanctuary and Holy of Holies?
4. Was there any other purpose for the veil on the Sanctuary wall, in front of the entrance to the Holy of Holies?
5. Is the height of the Holy Place or Sanctuary the ideal height for congregational singing?
6. Are the floor dimensions of 60L x 30W feet or 2 to 1 ratio ideal for teaching and hearing?
7. Do these dimensions offer the best conditions for hearing clear speech?
8. Are the upper windows part of a method of controlling temperatures in the temple?
9. What was the purpose of the gold on the floors of both the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place?
10. What was the purpose of the gold on the side walls?
11. Why were the walls and floor covered in gold, considering that no one other than the Levite priests was ever allowed to see the gold or to enter the temple?
12. Why was cedar used under the gold on the walls?
13. Why was Fir or Juniper wood used under the gold on the floors?
14. Did the wood offer any thermal stability in the main building, considering that people cooked and slept in the chambers around the temple?
15. Why was pure olive oil used for the oil lamps in the Holy Place / Sanctuary?
16. Are the olive oil lamps a statement or example of being environmentally responsible?
17. How much illumination did the 10 lampstands with 7 oil lamps provide?
18. Would that be enough illumination to read scriptures before and after sunset?
19. Would the design of the building using the outer rooms where each floor and roof sat on a ledge for each of the 3 levels, create an earthquake-resistant building?
20. The total floor space of the temple is 9,156 sq feet.  The Sanctuary is 1800 sq feet.  That creates a space of 7,356 sq feet for a prayer room and storage rooms, which is about a 5 to 1 ratio for supportive space to the Sanctuary.  Why are modern churches always complaining of not having enough space?  Would following the Bible in this matter solve that problem?
21. In Numbers 7:89, “Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him.”  Did this account of what happened to Moses set a precedence for how God would communicate to the Israelites after Moses was gone?
22. If it does, consider this: The Holy of Holies was a cube, 30 x 30 x 30.  Such a room covered in gold would sound awful.  Conversation beyond 3 feet would be impossible if there was no acoustical treatment.  Would there have been the need for acoustical treatment in the Holy of Holies as the priest could not get any closer than about 12 feet from the Ark of the Covenant?
23. Would the design of the temple be soundproof enough to be neighborhood-friendly by keeping worship noise in and city and traffic noise out?
24. If John 1:3 is true, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”, and King David said in 1 Chronicles 28:19, to Solomon that the hand of God was upon him in the designing of these patterns, then who is the true designer of Solomon’s Temple?
25. When Jesus said about the laws and the prophets in Matthew 5:17 “I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”  Does that include anything that Jesus designed in the Old Testament? Does this make Jesus Lord of the Worship Space? (how do you fulfill Solomon’s Temple in the New Testament?)
26. Why don’t modern churches follow the Bible’s example of what seems to be the perfect worship space?
27. Does acoustics affect how modern churches worship today?

Bible experts on Solomon’s Temple or Biblical Historians seem mute on answering these questions.  Why?  These are questions some Christians think about but never bother asking Biblical academia as they know they will not get any objective answers.  Also, some experts have a way of making you feel like you just asked a dumb or foolish question.  It is time for Christians to ask their pastors and church leaders to do the research for answers to these questions.  These are not spiritual questions, but knowing the answer could be a big help with solving many of the problems modern congregations have with their church buildings today.

Interestingly enough, there have been many times where from the pulpit, many ministers and clergy will say that everything we need as Christians come from God or something similar.  Why is it then that when it comes to church design, which includes sound and acoustics, we look elsewhere for the answers rather than use the example of what the Bible teaches?  Isn’t what Jesus designed good enough for us today?

If you know the answers to any of these questions, post your comments below.