The Mysterious Worm That Built King Solomon’s Temple
The first Temple of Solomon in ancient Jerusalem was one of the most beautiful buildings ever created. How did the ancient sculptors manage to make such a masterpiece? Did a magical “worm” help them?
The Mysterious Temple of Solomon
Whenever we discuss mysteries from the Bible, the ancient temple of Solomon and its enigmatic King Solomon remain foremost in our minds.
The Bible says King Solomon inherited his vast kingdom and endless wealth from his father, David. Solomon proved to be a wise ruler and, in just four years, constructed the first temple for God on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. The temple was an iconic masterpiece of the ancient world and served as a house of God until its brutal destruction by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC.
The Bible gives detailed descriptions of the temple and the fabulous materials that were used in its construction. According to it, the temple was built from massive quarried stone blocks, intricately carved with delicate artistry. The interiors were inlaid with tastefully decorated wood planks, with the temple's inner sanctum wholly covered with pure gold. This place was used to house the most sacred relic of the ancient world-the Arc of the Covenant.
Over the years, archaeologists, historians, and biblical scholars have grappled with one burning question. How did the ancient sculptors create such an intricately carved edifice without modern technology? How did they lift several tons of hard stone and create magical structures out of them?
Interestingly, not even a single stone of this building has been found, despite the detailed descriptions of locations mentioned in the Bible.
Is Solomon’s Shamir the Answer?
Whenever I talk about the quirks, idiosyncrasies, or oddities of history that cannot be easily explained, I often get a standard rebuke: follow Occam's razor.
For those unaware, Occam's razor is the principle stating that, of two or more explanations that account for all the facts, the simplest one is more likely to be correct. It is applied to various disciplines, including religion, physics, and medicine.
If we apply Occam's razor to the mysterious Solomon’s temple, the simplest explanation that comes to our mind is brute strength of labor. But then, while brute force can break stones, it certainly cannot intricately carve them into masterpieces. Carving requires a delicate altering of the stone to make it malleable for the craftsman to work on it.
One interesting myth about Solomon's temple claims that it was built by levitating several tons of stone using telekinesis and assembling and placing them in place using divine powers given to the builders by the Almighty. The Talmud, an important book in the Jewish religion that contains extensive details about Jewish theology and laws, also talks about a mysterious worm known as "Shamir," provided to King Solomon by God to aid him in the creation of the temple.
The Talmud tells us,
“The Shamir was, without doubt, an extraordinary object as it possessed the ability to alter stone, iron, and diamond, by its mere gaze.”
The Shamir Was a Magical Worm
According to an interesting story in Talmudic literature, King Solomon built his magnificent temple in Jerusalem with the help of a magical worm named Shamir.
While the description of the Shamir is vague and ambiguous, its magical properties are very clearly mentioned. It can work on the hardest stones and create a smooth impeccable finish.
It leaves no residue on the stone and is supposedly so dangerous that it must be kept insulated in a lead basket covered with wool and bran. And it has enormous side effects. It almost scalded Moses and even killed the temple workers. And the most interesting part is that it becomes inactive in the long run.
Can Science Explain the Shamir?
But the Talmud and other texts are pretty vague when describing the Shamir.
The Talmud describes it as a “cutting worm." At the same time, the Zohar, a group of books giving detailed commentaries on the spiritual interpretation of Moses’s journey, mentions it as a “metallic dividing worm.”
In the Tanach, a canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, it is described as a sort of "stylus (a pen made up of reed used at the time to engrave on the wax tablets) with a hard tip made out of a worm.”
The common “worm” description seems to imply that it was a living organism and not a man-made object. How can any worm be so strong and potent that it can split the strongest of stones? Could it simply have been a laser beam so intense that it could cut through rocks like butter? But again, did the ancients possess that kind of technology?
The Talmud also mentions that the “glance” of the Shamir was so strong that it could split wood and stone. What could have caused such a type “penetrating” glance?
By scientific definition and deduction, the penetrating glance can only be explained in three ways,
High or low-frequency sound waves that could disrupt the molecular structure of materials.
High-intensity laser beams.
Radioactive material.
If the Shamir was indeed any of the above, then this is the undisputed proof of an advanced ancient technology that has been lost over the ages.
Has the Shamir Been Found?
In 2018, marine biologists researching the Bohol region of the Philippines found an incredible worm in a remote river that “ate” rocks. Locally, it is known as antingaw, and scientists have named it Lithoredo abatanica.
This worm is a unique one. It eats rock and expels sand out while it burrows. So far, the worm has only existed around a narrow stretch of the Abatan River in the Philippines, burrowing into the limestone.
As a senior researcher, Reuben Shipway enthusiastically described his new find,
"These animals are one the most important species in the river and in this ecosystem. As they bore elaborate tunnels in the soft limestone bedrock, these animals change the course of the river and provide a nutrient-rich environment for other marine species to thrive. So far, this is the only place on earth that we know these animals exist."
Now the big question is, is this the Shamir?
Shipway does not think so, as this worm does not harm humans (it is pretty docile), and neither does it have any penetrative properties, as mentioned in the Talmud.
Interestingly the Talmud also mentions the disappearance of the worm. It says that the worm was explicitly created to build the temple and ceased to exist once its purpose was fulfilled. As it says,
"Once the Temple was created, the Shamir vanished away."
Whatever the truth, this little discovery can at least strengthen our belief that the ancient texts are not all myth and legend. There is a ring of truth underneath the smokescreen, and it is up to us to dispel the smoke to find the gems of knowledge lying underneath.
Sources and Further Reading
Polano, H. (2003). The Talmud. Book Tree
Editorial. Staff. (2021). Solomon’s laser.generalist.academy.
Lloyd, Ellen. (2018). King Solomon’s Magical Shamir Could Cut Through Any Stone – Proof of Advanced Ancient Technology? AncientPages.
Goldstein, Paul. (2023). Modern Physics and the Shamir. Chabad
Kidadl Team. (2023).19 Solomon's Temple Facts: Learn All About God's Royal Palace. kidadl.
Betz, Eric. (2020). Was King Solomon's Temple a Real Place? Discover magazine.
Wilson, Dawn. (2021).7 Interesting Facts about Solomon's Temple. Crosswalk.
Absolutely fascinating!
Another interesting story Ravi. Congratulations.