The Foundation Stone and the Sacred Waters of the Temple

This information contains links to a few books that have helped me understand the context and content of the scriptures. As an Amazon Affiliate, I do earn a small commission from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you). Click here to see all of my favorite books on Amazon.

The Foundation Stone and the Sacred Waters underneath are important temple images. The foundation stone, or what is often referred to as the even sh’tiyah אבן שתיה, is seen as the foundation stone of the world by many who revered the temple when it was first constructed.^[1]See: https://www.jhom.com/topics/stones/foundation.html – here it states that “The tannaitic term even ha-shetiyah (Foundation Stone) was understood in two ways during Talmudic times: … Continue reading This stone, often perceived as the metaphysical center of the world in various religious traditions, holds profound significance in temple theology, symbolizing the intersection of the divine and the earthly. In many beliefs, this stone is not just a physical entity, rather it is imbued with deep spiritual meaning, representing the initial point of creation, a sacred site where heaven and earth converge.

Michael Fishbane characterizes the Garden of Eden as “an axis mundi. From it radiate primal streams to the four quarters… it is the navel or omphalos,” this central point, primal streams extend to the four quarters… It acts as the navel or omphalos,” with the tree of life situated at “the center of this center.”^[2]Michael A. Fishbane, “The Sacred Center,” in Texts and Responses: StudiesPresented to Nahum H. Glatzer on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday by His Students, ed. Michael A. Fishbane and P. … Continue reading Another author offers insight into the choice of a tree to symbolize life, earth, and heaven in ancient cultures, noting, “Every green tree would symbolize life, and a large tree—rooted in deep soil and reaching towards the sky—becomes a potential cosmic symbol.^[3]John M. Lundquist, “Fundamentals of Temple Ideology from Eastern Traditions,” in Reason, Revelation, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, ed. Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and … Continue reading It thus serves as a “symbol of the centre.”^[4]Terje Stordalen, Echoes of Eden: Genesis 2–3 and the Symbolism of the Eden
Garden in Biblical Hebrew Literature (Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2000), 288–89. In Ezekiel 28.13, Eden is located on the mountain of God. Eden, envisioned as a lush cosmic mountain, emerges as an archetype or symbol for the earthly temple.”^[5]Gary A. Anderson, “The Cosmic Mountain: Eden and Its Early Interpreters in Syriac Christianity,” in Genesis 1–3 in the History of Exegesis: Intrigue in the Garden: Studies in Women and … Continue reading The prophet Isaiah describes it as “the mountain of the Lord’s house” (Isaiah 2:2), positioning the Jerusalem temple, akin to Eden, as a symbol of the center of the earth.^[6]“The three most important cosmic mountains in the Bible are Eden, Sinai and Zion.” Anderson, “The Cosmic Mountain,” 192. “The identification of the temple in Jerusalem with Eden is as old … Continue reading In Israelite tradition, it is believed that the foundation stone in front of the ark within the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple was “the first solid material to rise from the waters of creation (Psalm 104.7–9), and it was on this stone that God began his work of divine creation^[7]John M. Lundquist, The Temple: Meeting Place of Heaven and Earth: Art and Imagination, Thames and Hudson, 1993, p. 7. This concept is echoed in a renowned passage in the Midrash Tanhuma:

Just as a navel is set in the middle of a person, so the land of Israel is the navel of the world [cf. Ezekiel 38:12; see also Ezekiel 5:5]. . . . The land of Israel sits at the center of the world; Jerusalem is in the center of the land of Israel; the sanctuary is in the center of Jerusalem; the Temple building is in the center of the sanctuary; the ark is in the center of the Temple building; and the foundation stone, out of which the world was founded, is before the Temple building.^[8]John T. Townsend, ed., Midrash Tanhuma, 3 vols. (Hoboken, NJ: Ktav, 1989–2003), Qedoshim 7:10, Leviticus 19:23ff., part 1, 2:309–10.

The concept of a fountain emerging from beneath this foundation stone further enriches this symbolism.^[9]See Ezekiel 47, where the visionary is brought to the Holy of Holies and has a vision of waters issuing “out from under the threshold of house eastwards” (Ezekiel 47.1). We see images of this in … Continue reading This living water, coming out from underneath the foundation stone in the Holy of Holies, is seen as a source of divine blessing, purification, and life itself, echoing the rivers that flow from Eden or the waters of creation in various religious texts. In the context of liturgy, these symbols intertwine, guiding the faithful in their spiritual journey, for water is the foundation of life.^[10]We see examples of this when the followers of Moses are given water miraculously while on their journey to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, both liquid types of the sacred water … Continue reading The foundation stone serves as a reminder of God’s enduring presence and the unshakable truth of divine promises,^[11]Helaman 5.12 – “Remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation… a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they … Continue reading while the fountain itself, resting in the center of the Holy of Holies, signifies ongoing spiritual nourishment and renewal, because it was this stone upon which the threshing originally took place, the goren, where all of debts were settled after harvest, where we paid our taxes anciently, and where we knew that we were safe for another year, the seeds having been gathered at the goren, the threshing floor, and where ancient Israel gathered in the Fall Festival to remember God and his protection over Israel.^[12]See: Maurice Moshe Aaronov, The Biblical Threshing-Floor in the Light of The Ancient Near Eastern Evidence: Evolution of an Institution, New York University, 1977. Together, the sacred waters emanating from the Foundation Stone and the stone itself represent a powerful theological construct that underpins temple worship, emphasizing God’s foundational role in creation and the ever-flowing grace that sustains and purifies believers who repent of their sins and choose to come unto Jesus Christ, the savior of the world.^[13]“And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and … Continue reading This imagery can be seen in many places in the scriptures of the Restoration as well as in the Biblical texts as well as in extrabiblical literature, and is often connected with the sacred world tree, or what Nephi calls the tree “whose fruit was desirable to make one happy” (1 Nephi 8.10).

The following is an excerpt from one of my favorite books on Jewish myth and thought. The book is entitled Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism by Howard Schwartz. You can find it here.

The Foundation Stone

The world has a foundation stone. This stone serves as the starting point for all that was created, and serves as a true foundation.

How did it come to exist? In the beginning, when God desired to create the world, He took snow from beneath the Throne of Glory and cast it into the waters, where it congealed into a stone in the midst of the Deep. This is the center of the universe, and from it the earth expanded in all directions. God began the creation of His world at that foundation stone, and built the world upon it.

Others say that God took a stone compounded of fire, water, and air, and cast it into the abyss so that it held fast there, holding back the waters of the deep, and the world was planted in that place. Then there are those who say that God took the Foundation Stone and hurled it to the place designated for the Temple, and raised His right foot and drove the stone down into the very bottom of the deep and made it the pillar of the earth and founded the world upon it.

Still others say that God took an emerald stone engraved with mysteries of the alphabet, and threw it into the waters. It drifted from place to place until it came to the Holy Land, and there it sank, and the whole world was firmly established on it. And that is why it is called Even ha-Shetiyyah, the Foundation Stone.

When King David decided to build the Temple in Jerusalem, he commanded that shafts be dug to a depth of fifteen hundred cubits. And lo, they struck a stone in one of those shafts. As soon as he learned of it, King David went there with Ahitophel, his counselor, and with other members of the court. They descended into the pit, and there, at the bottom, they saw the immense stone, shining like the darkest emerald.

All those who saw it were amazed, and they knew that it must, indeed, be that fabled stone, which served as the world’s foundation. Yet all at once King David was possessed by a great curiosity to see what lay beneath it. King David ordered it to be raised, but a voice came forth from the stone, saying: “Be warned that I must not be lifted. I serve to hold back the waters of the Abyss.

All of them stood in awe of that voice, but King David’s curiosity was still not sated. He decided to ignore the warning, and once more he ordered the stone to be raised. None of his advisors dared say anything, for they feared his wrath. After a great effort, a corner of the Foundation Stone was lifted up, and King David bent down and peered into the Abyss beneath it. There he heard something like the sound of rushing waters, and he suddenly realized that by lifting the stone he had set free the waters of the Deep. Once again the world was in danger of being deluged, as in the time of Noah.

King David trembled with fear, and he asked the others what they might do to cause the waters to fall back, but no one spoke. Then King David said: “Perhaps if I wrote the Name of God on a potsherd, and cast it into the depths, we might still be saved. But does anyone know if this is permitted?” Still the others said nothing, and King David grew angry and said: “If any one of you knows this and still refuses to answer, then your soul will bear the curse of the end of existence!” Then Ahitophel spoke: “Surely the Name can be used to bring peace to the whole world.” So David picked up a potsherd and scratched the four letter Name of God into it, and cast it into the bottomless pit. All at once the roar of the waters grew fainter, and they knew that they had been saved by the power of the Name.

In the days to come King David repented many times for his sin, and he gave thanks to God for sparing the world from another Flood. And his son, Solomon, had the Holy of Holies of the Temple built exactly above the Foundation Stone, for both the stone and the Temple bore the seal of God’s blessing.

Others say that after King David found the stone resting on the mouth of the abyss, with God’s Name on it, he put the stone into the Holy of Holies of the Temple. The sages were concerned that some young men might learn the true pronunciation of the Divine Name from the speaking stone, and thereby destroy the world. So they built two lions of brass, which they placed by the Holy of Holies, on the right and left. If anyone entered and learned the divine Name, these lions would roar when he came out, so frightening him that he would forget the Name. Further, a divine blessing was said to emanate from the Foundation Stone, which was bestowed upon Israel from the Holy of Holies. Some say that this blessing came from the wings of the angels and cherubim that hovered above the Foundation Stone, and that the stars and planets joined the blessing as well. But when the Temple was destroyed, the blessing was lost.

Others say that the angels above and Israel below all hold fast to the Foundation Stone, which rises up to heaven, and comes to rest among the righteous. And if that stone, which hovers in the air, should fall to the earth, it would be a sign that that the days of the Messiah were at hand.

A myth in Y. Sanhedrin 29a asserts that God used a shard to hold back the waters in exactly the same way that King David did: “God prevented tehom (the lower waters) from rising up by placing a shard above the waters, on which He had engraved His Name. The seal was removed only once, in the time of Noah. Then tehom united with the upper waters, and together they flooded the earth.” In Sefer ha-Zikhronot 1:6, a clearly related midrash reports that the earth was created from the snow beneath the Throne of Glory. God took it up and scattered it upon the waters. Then the water congealed and became the dust of the earth. This is linked to the verse For he says to the snow, “Become earth” (Job 37:6).

This talmudic legend about King David demonstrates the immense sanctity of Jerusalem, and especially of the site of the Temple there. King David sets out to dig the foundations of the Temple, and strikes the Foundation Stone of the earth, upon which God built the rest of this world. This confirms that Jerusalem is the very center of the world, as it was portrayed in ancient maps.

At the same time, this tale is a divine test, not unlike the tests of Adam and Eve, of Abraham in the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, and of Job. Even though a voice from the stone warns him not to lift it, King David, not unlike Pandora, lifts the Foundation Stone and sets free the powers of chaos, the waters of the Abyss, which threaten to inundate the earth as in the time of Noah. In a desperate moment, David writes the Tetragrammaton, the secret Name of God, on a shard and throws it into the abyss, and the power of God’s Name causes the waters to retreat. (Note the echo to nuclear war in this episode. David learns that the Foundation Stone must not be tampered with, as we have learned the dangers posed by tampering with the atom.)

The Zohar (2:91b) states that the fate of the shard, and therefore the world, rests on man’s moral conduct. Whenever a person swears falsely using God’s Name, that Name on the shard disappears, allowing the waters to burst out and destroy the world. To protect the shard and all of humanity, God has appointed the angel Yazriel over the shard. The angel has 70 graving tools, which he uses to ensure that the letters of God’s Name are replaced on the shard as quickly as they are erased, saving the world. Thus the rising of the waters of the abyss is a continual threat to the existence of the world.

1 Enoch 66:1-2 offers an alternate explanation of how the waters of the abyss are held back: “And after that he showed me the angels of punishment who are prepared to let loose all the powers of the waters beneath the earth in order to bring judgment and destruction to all those who dwell on the earth. And God commanded those angels to hold those waters in check, for those angels held power over those waters.”

In the alternate version of the myth, King David brings the Foundation Stone into the Temple (despite the fact that it had not yet been built—this was done by Solomon). Still another variant of the myth describes the stone ascending to Paradise, resting among the righteous. In yet other versions, it is described as hovering in the air. In fact, the motif of a sacred object hovering in the air between heaven and earth is quite common. There are versions found among the Samaritans—where a stone is described as being suspended in the air for worship, and among both Jews and Arabs—where the Rock is said to hover in the air inside the Dome of the Rock. In another Arabic myth, the object that is hovering is the grave of Mohammed. For more on this motif, see Zev Vilnay, Legends of Jerusalem, 23-24.

David Re’uveni reports an Arab tradition of a cavern carved into the Foundation Stone, where Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon, and Elijah are all said to have prayed, and their souls still are said to gather there to pray. This cave is still there, inside the Rock.

Another source suggests that a meteor fell down in the place where the Holy of Holies was later situated. The tradition refers to 2 Samuel 24:16 and 1 Chronicles 21:26.

Sources:

Mishnah Yoma 5:2; Y. Yoma 8:4; B. Yoma 54b; Y. Sukkah 54d; B. Sukkah 49a; Sefer haZikhronot 1:6; Genesis Rabbah 70; 1 Enoch 66:1-2; Zohar 1:231a-b, 2:91b; B. Sukkah 53a-b; Y. Sanhedrin 29b; Y. Pesahim 4:1; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 35; Midrash Tehillim 91:7; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 26:4; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Pekudei 3; Midrash Tanhuma, Kedoshim 10; Midrash Konen in Beit ha-Midrash 2:24-39; Seder ‘Arkim; Midrash Shoher Tov on Psalm 91; Targum Yerushalmi on Exodus 28:30; David haRe’uveni p. 25; Zohar 2:222a-b; Der treue Zions-Waechter 3: nos. 40-44; Likutei Moharan 61:6.

Further Reading:

Margaret Barker, The Gate of Heaven, p. 18-20; Mother of the Lord, p. 192.

Man and Temple by Raphael Patai, pp. 54-104.

Legends of Jerusalem by Zev Vilnay, pp. 23-24.