The Clay Model from Khirbet Qeiyafa

 

“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.” ---Psalm 84:3 

The heads are missing, but you can see lower bodies and feet of birds atop this clay temple model from Khirbet Qeiyafa (see yesterday’s post), a find that is being discussed and debated in many corners of the internet. The clay container features a decorated opening flanked by lions and two pillars that Prof. Yossi Garfinkel, head of the expedition to the site, says recall "Boaz and Yachin," the two pillars that flanked Solomon's Temple. Each column stands on a lion’s head. Over the entrance, rows of wooden beams are visible, and above them appears to be a folded textile, recalling the curtain covering the entrance to the temple’s inner sanctum.  Garfinkel suggests the columns and the textile evoke similarities with the temple that would later be built in Jerusalem.